[Calgary] Vin Room

April 30, 2010
Vin Room
2310-4th 4 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2S 1X2
(403) 457-5522
http://www.vinroom.com/

Oysters

half a dozen - freshly shucked + daily mignonette (we chose the baked the oysters)

Grilled Flank Steak

confit fingerling potato salad + double smoked bacon jus (full order)

The steak were a bit too raw so they were not as tender as we had hoped. However, the potato salad was very good.

Polenta Fries

manchego cheese + olive polenta + roasted red pepper aioli
These were kind of taste-less and so the aioli sauce was somewhat mandatory.

Lobster Nachos

pickled red peppers + green onions + heirloom tomatoes + hot sauce

This nacho dish did not use the typical tortilla chips and they were more so thinly fried pieces of dough. They were extra crispy and went well with the lobster and the cheese. We will definitely get this again.

Seared Ahi Tuna

shaved fennel + chilies + pickled green been salad + seared Ahi tuna

Simple but nothing special.

Elk Salami

Canadian + 30 grams
We were interested in trying out some of the lesser common animals. These were actually delicious and were not too salty.

Beer

cocoa + marshmellow stout

This sounded interesting but tasted very bitter. Definitely not a stout lover.

[Calgary] Milk Tiger Lounge

April 27, 2010
Milk Tiger Lounge
1 4 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R0Y1
(403) 261-5009
http://www.milktigerlounge.com/

Milk Tiger Lounge is a tiny place on 4th street SW and also they don't have a large sign on the outside of the restaurant so you really need to look out for it (update: They now have a metal tiger cut-out). They have a small but relaxing patio which would be ideal for summer.

House made ginger beer. The ginger taste was definitely strong as I had that spicy tingly feeling in my throat. I love it :D

Petite Bouchées

Spaghetti and meatball on a stick
This was very interesting as there were little bits of spaghetti mixed into the meatballs.

(Clockwise starting from top left) Beet salad w/ maple walnuts, goat cheese and balsalmic, Spicy pork bundle w/ tomato and garlic paste, Mini caprese salad on crostini, Flank steak wrapped in bacon w/ garlic chili lime aioli

Strawberry and brie “bubblegum”

Raspberry and Garlic Baked Brie Garnished with apple and walnut w/ bread

Spicy Chocolate Brownie Cake
I was really anticipating for this but unfortunately it did not have enough of the "spiciness" that I was hoping for. The cake was not very sweet and nothing really special about it.

[Calgary] Amato Gelato

April 26, 2010
Amato Gelato
2104 Kensington Road
Northwest Calgary, AB T2N3R7
(403) 270-9733
http://www.amatogelato.com/

Raspberry Tartufo

Our favourite out of the two dessert from Amato Gelato. The chocolate was not too overwhelming and so we can taste the raspberry center as well.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Cherry Center
We thought that both the white chocolate cheesecake and cherry center were on the sweet side so we did not like this as much as the raspberry tartufo.

[Calgary] Sushi Club

April 26, 2010
Sushi Club
1240 Kensington Road N.W.
Calgary, AB T2N 4X7
(403) 283-4100

Soya Sauce

Sushi: Mackeral nigiri, toro nigiri, negi-toro roll, some weird roll with cream cheese and tempera shrimp.

Sushi: one of their special roll which they identified as a "medium" roll, however to me its more like "small". The roll had avocado, mango slices, cream cheese, and some prosciutto. It was weird and definitely not really worth it.

Generally, we did not leave with hopes to return. The food was not really "authentic" Japanese but rather weird-ified :D

[Calgary] Muse Restaurant

April 10, 2010
Muse Restaurant
107 10A Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 4M7
(403) 670-6873
http://www.muserestaurant.ca/home.htm

For my birthday this year (yay my happy 22nd) we went to Muse on Kensington after reading many good reviews about it. After checking their website, we saw that they had a 9 course tasting menu and wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, we didn't call 24 hrs in advance and therefore had to settle with a 5 course instead (sorry for our descriptions, it's kind of our first time so we didn't catch everything the waiter told us).

After sitting at our table, we were given a small bowl of organic popcorn drizzled with truffle oil and sea salt. The oil was very strong when the waiter placed it onto the table, however, the taste was not near as strong (only the bottom pieces were drenched with salty truffle-ness).

Amuse-bouche was a bacon, parmesan foam in some liquid. (Sorry for the bad photo quality!)

We were then given a bowl of bread which, if we heard correctly, were Terragon and parmesan bread. They were buttery, dense and flaky.

1st Course: The soup had shitake, roma tomatoes, sweet corn, shives, machengo and was simmered down with consomme. We thought that the soup was somewhat on the salty side. Overall, we found that it was nothing really special, or what we learned today it was missing the "wow" factor.

2nd Course: Crispy beet with scallops on roasted endives and pear puree. The scallops were the highlight of the meal. They were sweet and juicy with a little raw-ness inside.

3rd Course: Foie gras on asparagus and hedgehog mushroom and covered in an apple sauce. The foie gras was very rich and was hard for the two of us to digest after :P. The asparagus and hedgehog mushroom were somewhat on the salty side for us though.

Palate Cleanser: Raspberry and amerie banana sorbet was good, especially the banana and it definitely helped us get ready for the main course. Even though at this point, we were almost 90% full.

4th Course: Braised lamb shoulder with zucchini and roma tomatoes topped with fried wonton rolls. We both agreed that the lamb shoulder was very tender, however, since I am not a lamb lover, I did not love the slight gamey taste it had. Also the zucchini and Roma tomatoes under the lamb shoulder were covered in a very salty sauce.


5th Course: White chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries and blackberries along with raspberry coulis meringue cookies. Although at this point I was over-the-top full, I had to finish this dessert. The mousse was not overly sweet and along with the fresh fruit, the dessert was delicious and light. The raspberry coulis meringue cookies were also were light and flaky.

Overall the food was delicious, however, we found most of the food a bit too salty. But we should also note that we did have a chat with the assistant chef and found that all the chefs in the kitchen (beside the assistant chef) was a smoker and that would have affected their taste buds. In general, the dishes were nothing special-but then again, maybe we have been reading too many funky food blogs lol.