The Bison, Mountain Bistro - Banff. Alberta, Canada

Happy with our food at Jasper, we moved on to the next closest city, Banff. If you live in Canada, it's one of the must visited place in Canada. It's located right in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and it's beautiful. It might be the fourth/fifth time we went there, but we were still amazed to see the beauty of it.

Anyway, let's go back to food, since that's what we all care about ^_^.

For our fine dinning experience in Banff, we chose the Bison Restaurant. It is the only restaurant that we know that serves Bison. While it was the third visit for my husband, it was the first for me. It's located right in the heart of Banff.



For appetizer, we ordered the Corndog. It's really good. While it's not my favorite food, the flavor is really interesting.



For entree, we both ordered from the suggested menu. I ordered the Bison while my husband ordered the beef tenderloin. To say that they both are good would be an understatement. They are really really good. I really like my bison, it's really rich (although I'm not sure if I can distinguish between Bison and Beef >_<). My husband's tenderloin is amazing too. Even our side dishes were good. I especially like the whipped potatoes (they mixed it with goat cheese) on my husband's plate. While I'm not a big fan of the pear salad on my plate (not use to have fruit with meat), my husband still found it good and ended up finished the plate for me. So, no complain on anything on the plate for us. ^_^

Grilled Beef Tenderloin, Alberta "aaa"

Grilled Bison

On top of those foods, like any other western restaurants, we were served with free bread as well. Their breads, in our opinion, are one of the best that we ever had in restaurant. Believe it or not, we are still taking about it even now especially when we are out to buy some bread. The waiter said that the bread was made by the bread store right in front of the restaurant. So, while it might not fall directly into what the restaurant served (since it may change from time to time), we still think we should post it up, considering how good it tasted.


So, our bill this time added up to $116, including 18% gratuity. While it was quite expensive for us, we would definitely go back there since they have really good food. It think the price is totally worth it.

In case you are interested, here is their website:
http://www.thebison.ca/

Selamat Makan!
(It's an Indonesian expression equivalent to bon appétit !)

Karouzo's Steakhouse - Steak, Seafood, and Pasta

First visit during our honeymoon was the beautiful Jasper with it's world's famous view of Rocky Mountains. Karouzo's is located in the heart of downtown. From outside you can see beautiful mountains. We went there during summer. Though it wasn't our first time there, the view was still beautiful and breathtaking.


So, there we were, at Karouzo's Steakhouse restaurant, at the starting point of our obsession over trying on as many restaurants as possible (given the very limited budget that we had ^_^). It wasn't a very crowded restaurant. It might simply because we went there after lunch hour (around 2 pm), but I was expecting more people (there were only 4-6 other customers there).

For appetizer, my husband and I shared a plate of baked potato skins. They were really good. Not the best that I ever had, but were really good. They were rich, crispy, and quite filling. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is its pile of chives. I'd prefer it to have less chives. Nevertheless, they're still yummy and since it's dried chives, it's pretty easy to take them off.


For entree, I ordered "Rainbow Trout" and my husband ordered the prime rib. I liked my trout. It was cooked beautifully, with enough flavor in it, though my husband wasn't a big fan of it.


Well, I guess the man likes his beef because he really enjoyed his prime rib. If I could complain, then the only thing I'd complain about is their side dishes. Maybe it wasn't my lucky day, but the side dishes were kind of bland. So, we got a perfect excuse to didn't finish our vegetables that day >_<



So, with those three dishes, our bill added up to $64.02, not including gratuity. While we noted that the food were good, they weren't super memorable. We actually had to see pictures to remember what we had there at the end of our honeymoon.
Would we recommend it? Yes.
Will we go back there? Maybe.
While it's a steak house, it is apparently a Greek restaurant (I read it in some discussion forum), so maybe going with their Greek Menus might make your dinning experience more memorable.

Here is the link of the website in case you are interested in visiting it.
http://www.karouzosjasper.com/index.htm

Enjoy!

Introducing: New Contributor ^_^

Hi there!

Before I'm adding on this blog, I thought I would like to first introduce myself. I am a sister/sister-in-law of two original creators of this blog. Yes, their love for food has transferred to us over time.

By us, I mean me and my wonderful husband. We got married last summer and tracking all restaurants that we've gone before has became our thing. We started out during our honeymoon and decided to keep a simple record of all restaurants that we've visited since we got married (excluding any fast foods restaurants, and yes, we kind of consider Chinese food to be fast food since we do take outs most of the time).

So, enjoy and hopefully these information can be any help to you when deciding to visit these restaurants. Please remember, though, most of these restaurant we only visited once, so it might not do justice to the restaurant. What we are sharing is personal opinion. Any comment is welcome.

Chocolate Bread Pudding Recipe

Several weekends ago, I made this pudding and brought it for after-meeting dessert for a small gathering for 20 people. Some people asked for the recipe, and so, here it is!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 11"x7" baking dish -- lightly buttered
• 4-8 slices of bread -- toast until lightly crisp, then cut into large pieces

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 cups of milk
• 1.5 bars of semisweet baking chocolate

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)
• dry raisin as desired (optional)
• 1 tbsp confectioners' sugar (optional)
• Note: you can also use cinnamon-raisin bread instead of regular bread

Directions:

1. Scatter the bread pieces (and dry raisin) in the prepared baking dish.
2. In medium saucepan using low heat, combine milk, chocolate, and butter. Stir until chocolate has melted. Keep this mixture over low heat.
3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Pour the eggs mixture (and cinnamon powder) onto the warm milk mixture, and stir continuously until combined.
5. Pour the mixture over bread. Let sit, while you do no. 6.
6. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Bake until pudding has puffed and is firm, about 30 minutes. (Well, the original recipe said 30 minutes, but in my case, it's closer to 40 minutes)
   
8. Cool at least 10 minutes, and dust with confectioners' sugar before serving

Notes:

• This pudding can be served warm, at room temperatur, or cold.
• To chill, let cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• For variation, you can serve the pudding with fresh fruits on its side.

Enjoy! And happy baking!

Thai Tom (Seattle) - Probably the Best Thai Food in Seattle

Last week, my wife and I went to Seattle to meet with our family there. Then, we decided to go for lunch together. My wife was in the mood for Thai food and she suggested that we visited Chaiyo Thai restaurant. We have been to this restaurant before and their food were pretty good.

However, our cousin told us of a better Thai restaurant in town. That restaurant was always crowded, and usually there was a waiting time up to 15-20 min before we could even get in. The place was called Thai Tom, and we decided to give this restaurant a try.

Thai Tom Restaurant Menu

Surprisingly, the restaurant had a similar atmosphere as the Kintaro Ramen Restaurant in Downtown Vancouver. The place was fairly small and crowded. I would say that this was the most distinctive Thai Restaurant I have ever visited. The environment reminded me of restaurant in Asia. You could see the chefs cooking when sitting at the bar. One chef was preparing all the ingredients while the other one utilized the multiple burner to cook the food as shown in the following image.

Chefs were busy preparing customer's order

The best seat in this restaurant would be at the bar overlooking the fire from the stove. We ordered three items for the two of us. I order Pad Thai and my wife order Swimming Rama.

For side dish, we ordered Deep Fried Tofu with Peanut Sauce. The tofu was great, the skin was hard because it was deep fried, but the inside was still very soft. The peanut sauce was freshly prepared by the chef and it had a very unique delicious taste. The deep fried tofu was indeed top notch.

Deep Fried Tofu with Peanut Sauce

I purposely ordered Pad Thai, because I had tried it at multiple Thai restaurants and none had met my expectation to date. Hence, I wanted to know if this restaurant offered different Pad Thai that would suit my taste. True to our cousin's promotion, that was the best Pad Thai I have ever tasted, and I would definitely try it again next time I visit.

Tofu Pad Thai

My wife's order was Swimming Rama - rice with sautéed chicken and spinach poured with peanut sauce and peanut :) The chef used the same peanut sauce as the one on deep fried tofu. My wife loved her order.

Swimming Rama

For all menu, we were given the option to choose the level of spiciness, 1 to 5, 1 is the lowest, and 5 is the highest. In term of customer service, the waiter was not friendly at all. When we finally got a seat in the restaurant, the waiter asked us what we wanted to order, and if we couldn't tell her right then, she would give our place to other people. We were shocked, but we could stand it as long as the food was awesome (and it was!). We will visit this place again next time we go to Seattle.

Sop Konro Karebosi

Sop Konro is my most favorite food in Makassar. My favorite Konro restaurant is Sop Konro Karebosi located at Jl. Gunung Lompobattang to eat Sop Konro. Everyone in Makassar must know this restaurant. Karebosi is the name of big soccer field located near the restaurant.

Sop Konro Karebosi with All Food They Offer

The main item for Konro is beef's ribs (Iga Sapi). We eat it with rice.

Sop Konro

Originally, the restaurant only offers Sop Konro and Kikil (Beef's Tendon), but about 8-10 years ago, their branch at Kelapa Gading, Jakarta, invented the new menu, BBQ Konro (Konro Bakar). They basically BBQ the ribs and pour special made peanut sauce on top of it. The BBQ Konro also comes with soup on the side.

Konro Bakar

The meat's tenderness plays crucial role in determining how good the Konro is. I have tried Konro at several other restaurant, they are not as tender as the one sold by Sop Konro Karebosi. If you have chance to visit Makassar, Konro is a must try food.

Soto Banjar Jalan Sangir

During my last visit in Makassar, I got chance to visit Soto Banjar located at Jalan Sangir. The restaurant does not sell Soto Banjar only, but it also sells other type of food. We decided to order the following items.

Gado-Gado (Indonesian Salad)

Gado-Gado is usually referred as Indonesian Salad. It is made of various vegetables poured with peanut sauce. My wife loves Gado-Gado at this restaurant because it does not use bean sprout and it also contains tempe (i.e. fermented soy bean) and tofu.

Nasi Rawon (Rawon Rice)

Nasi Campur (Mix Rice)

My dad ordered Nasi Rawon. The item came with rice, sambal goreng, cucumber, abon, and a bowl of Rawon meat soup. My wife ordered Nasi Campur; the rice came with more items compare to Nasi Rawon. Her Nasi Campur also came with a bowl of Rawon meat soup. I believe Makassar is the only city in Indonesia that sells Nasi Campur with Rawon meat soup.

Soto Banjar

My mom and I ordered Soto Banjar. It contains chicken meat, egg, noodle, lontong, and perkedel. The taste is similar to Soto Ayam, but Soto Ayam has stronger spices. I accidentally put too much chily on my soup and it's pretty hard to describe the original taste. However, I like it and I will definitely visit this place again in the future.