REVIEW | ISLAND CAFE & BISTRO | EDMONTON

 

** This restaurant is now closed. **

 

Word has been quickly traveling around town about the new Malaysian restaurant located on 170th street, just a short drive away from WEM. Tucked in between a Sleep Country and a liquor store, the family-run establishment is both small and quaint. I've been wanting to try this place for a while now, and considering that I work only minutes away from the area on Saturdays, a visit seemed to be overdue.

Island's claim to fame is serving genuine Malaysian cuisine (their words, not mine), and to my knowledge, the only place in town serving mille crepe cakes. Since Tropika has been one of my favourite restaurants since I was a kid, I was curious to see how Island's homemade approach to Malaysian food would compare.

When we pulled up around 5:30 on a Saturday, most of the smaller 4-top tables on the side were taken. They also have two larger tables that would accomodate larger families and groups nicely.

Once seated, we were given menus to peruse. The menu is an interesting mix of both Malaysian dishes and "Western delights." I'm not a big fan of when restaurants do this, because I'd rather they focus on one thing and do it right. And from a customer perspective, why on Earth would you dine at an ethnic restaurant and choose to order chicken tenders? That's what I call a missed opportunity. I'm sure they have their reasons though -- to accommodate the picky eaters in a group? Appeal to the kids? Who knows.

We started off with the roti canai with curry sauce, $3.95 for 2 -- a steal compared to Tropika where only one will already set you back at $4.50. This was definitely the stand-out dish of the night, and dare I say, better than Tropika's. (That's high praise coming from me by the way. I live for their roti canai.) Served piping hot, the roti was just a tiny bit crisp on the outside, revealing soft, tender and flaky layers throughout. Yum.

We also ordered one of these to go for my dad at home, and after placing our take-out order, the waitress thoughtfully came back and let us know that the roti canai would be better served hot, and would we still want it? I appreciated the gesture since it shows that they take pride in their food and hold it to a high standard. We still ended up ordering it, and even at room temperature, my dad ate the whole thing and declared it to be very good.

For the rest of our dishes, we each ordered our own plate, but ended up sharing everything anyways. (Sharing is caring!) My mom decided to go for the special of the day which was the Malaysian style sambal prawns ($12.00 I assume?), served with a salad of cucumbers and pineapples, homemade prawn crackers, and a choice between steamed or coconut rice. My mom decided on the latter, but we couldn't really detect any coconut flavour or actual coconut in the rice. It's possible that they sent out the steamed rice by mistake though.

Sambal is a sauce traditionally ground up by mortar and pestle, using aromatics such as garlic, onions, lemongrass, chili peppers, and fermented shrimp paste, to name a few. The lemongrass was the predominant flavour for me, and while there was a decent portion of fresh prawns in the bowl, I couldn't help but feel that the flavour was less pronounced than I would've liked. It was still decent though.

My sister ended up choosing the Malaysian style chicken curry ($12.00) which also came with prawn crackers, salad, and choice of rice (she chose steamed). The chicken curry was actually the same curry sauce that came with the roti canai, only this time there was a leg piece and a chicken thigh in the bowl. My sister really liked the dish, saying that it tasted very similar to the Vietnamese chicken curry (cà ri gà) that my mom makes at home, only a tiny bit thicker in consistency. These types of curries are generally thinner than their Indian or Japanese variants anyways. Her only gripe about the dish was that it was a little too oily. Easy fix if you skimmed the oil off on top.

My dish was the Malaysian laksa curry noodles ($12.00), which came with vermicelli, tofu puffs, shrimp, fish balls, slices of fish cake, a hard-boiled egg, and beansprouts. Laksa broth is typically rich, creamy, and spicy, flavoured by curry with hints of coconut. If you can tell by the picture, and disregard the oil droplets floating around, the broth was quite thin and too pale-looking. It just felt and tasted a little watered down.

On a positive note, I did like the toppings that Island decided to include, especially the tofu since they're like little sponges that soak up extra flavour. But fish cake and fish balls? It was a little redundant to have both. Overall, I thought that the laksa was okay, meaning I've had better.

Since my dad was at home (and can't cook to save his life), we also ordered the Malaysian style nasi lemak ($12.00) for take-out. Nasi lemak is apparently the national dish of Malaysia and the ingredients that accompany the dish vary depending on who makes it. Island's version contained coconut rice, five chicken wings, a hard-boiled egg, roasted peanuts, a salad of cucumber and pineapples, and prawn crackers. I think the dish also came with a side of sambal sauce, but I forgot to include it in the picture. I didn't try it and couldn't ask my dad what he thought of it, but it looked like a slightly dry dish to me, albeit a decent portion for the price.

And then probably the most anticipated dish of the evening for me -- a slice of their mille crepe cake! A mille crepe cake is an architectural masterpiece, and consists of many layers of crepes, sandwiched with a pastry creme filling.

Island Cafe & Bistro does a variety of mille crepe cake flavours, as well as custom ones as well! In the restaurant, it's $7.00 a slice, but you can order ahead and buy a full cake (7" for $60, 10" for $80). Some of their flavours in their wheelhouse include: original (vanilla), maple walnut, kaya coconut, green tea matcha, mango creme, pina colada, crème brûlée cheesecake, cookies n crème, and dark chocolate banana cream. The flavours in bold were the ones being offered that weekend, but it changes up during the week.

You can better appreciate the many layers of crepes from this angle!

My sister and I ended up splitting the crème brûlée cheesecake mille crepe cake ($7.00), which came plated with a caramel drizzle. The cream cheese frosting on top overpowered whatever crème brûlée flavour the pastry cream had, but I still really liked it. The cake was rich (and maybe a tiny bit stodgy), without being too heavy. I'd love to try their other flavours, especially their green tea matcha and their mango crème!

I was even inspired to make my own mille crepe cake at home, and found it to be a pretty easy process, although time-consuming. I made about 10 small chocolate crepes, and sandwiched them simply with whipped cream and oreo crumbs for a cookies and creme inspired cake! Perhaps I will document my further attempts in a future blog post to come!  

Overall, it's worth checking out Island Cafe & Bistro. Though some improvements can be made to their food, they're bringing a unique product to Edmonton's restaurant scene, both in terms of Malaysian cuisine and their mille crepe cakes. It's a breath of fresh air.

Island Cafe & Bistro

www.islandcafeandbistro.com 

9923 170 St NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 481-0884

- CT

REVIEW | FAMOSO NEAPOLITAN PIZZERIA (WEM) | EDMONTON

 

** This restaurant is now closed. **

 

Famoso is well known for serving Neapolitan-style pizza in a casual and relaxed atmosphere. Their pizza tries to adhere to the strict standards of the "Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletana," an organization that upholds the art of making true, authentic Neapolitan pizza. For Famoso, this means importing Caputo 00' flour straight from Italy, stretching every pizza dough by hand, using San Marzano tomatoes, and fior-di-latte or mozzarella di bufala (fresh mozzarella made with cow's or buffalo milk respectively). Their pizzas are then baked in their signature wood-fired, dome-shaped ovens at 900°F for 90 seconds. 

I don't exactly remember when Famoso first hit the scene, but in the blink of an eye, their one location on Jasper Ave. quickly turned into two, which turned into three, etc, etc. There are now almost 30 locations across Canada, with 7 franchises in Edmonton alone.

LT (my sister), AL (my sister from another mister), and I arrived at the West Edmonton Mall location on a Thursday evening around 6. We were planning to catch a movie at Scotiabank Theatre at 7, and thought Famoso's would fit the bill for a quick dinner beforehand. Though it was cutting it close, we were in and out within the hour, missing just the first few minutes of our movie.

Famoso's is also well-known for their interesting service concept, which integrates both counter-ordering and full-service. At most Famoso restaurants, you would seat yourself at any empty table where menus will already be laid out. Peruse their giant menu, and whenever you're ready, head over to the counter to place your order, keeping in mind your table number. From then on, waitstaff will be bringing out your food and taking care of your table for the rest of the time.

It makes for somewhat of a disjointed dining experience, and because of that, I never really understood the concept. I mean, why couldn't they have just taken care of your table from the get-go? Even though that's my usual sentiment, the casual service does come in handy when you're in a hurry. And because we were in a hurry this night, by Murphy's law... they were implementing changes and offering full-service only, which took a little longer than we would have liked. Now, I'm not sure if this servicing change will be reflected in all Famoso restaurants, but it was certainly the case on this night at the WEM location.

But enough rambling -- onto the food!

Another change that Famoso unveiled recently (like 3 days ago even) was the addition of two new pasta dishes. Upon some encouragement from myself, LT decided to try one of them out and chose the Elicoidali bolognese ($13.50) which had artisan Elicoidali pasta, house-made beef bolognese sauce, and Grana Padano cheese shaved over top. Apparently Elicoidali is a fancy Italian word for helix, describing a tube-shaped pasta similar to rigatoni. My sister didn't even want to attempt the pronunciation when ordering.

Verdict? LT regretted not ordering a pizza instead. When I tried a bite, I could see why. It was basically thin, watery tomato sauce on lukewarm pasta...

I like you Famoso, but I think you should just stick to the pizza business.

For my order, I chose the same thing that I always get at Famoso's. The cavoletti pizzetta ($10.50), from their "pizza biache" or white pizzas category. All of the white pizzas are topped with a white sauce (duh!), which is a combination of EVOO, garlic, and oregano. Fior-di-latte, fresh basil, and pecorino romano finish them off. The pizzetta portion (roughly 7") is the perfect individual size and could satiate any decent appetite.

The cavoletti was actually the brainchild of a customer, who submitted a recipe that they wanted to see on the Famoso menu. Let me tell you, that person is a genius. The cavoletti pizza contains oven-roasted brussels sprouts, prosciutto chips, gorgonzola cheese, dates, walnuts, and finished off with a drizzle of honey. Sound like a weird combination? It strangely works. First off, the brussels sprouts are slightly bitter with a nice char while the proscuitto chips are salty and crispy. The walnuts are crunchy while the dates and honey provide a contrasting sweetness, giving the pizza an amazing "sweet and salty" vibe. I usually ask for the gorgonzola cheese to be left off, but since I forgot today, the gorgonzola just added some pungency in between some bites.

The pizza crust is thin, slightly charred, albeit a little too chewy rather than crispy. One pet peeve of mine is that the centre of the pizza gets a little too soggy due to the toppings, but I guess it can't be improved much.

AL also went for her go-to order which is the italian ham and crushed pineapple pizzetta with a side Caesar salad ($14.00). I've never tried the ham and pineapple at Famoso's before, but it's a tried and true, fail-safe combination so you can't really go too wrong with ordering it. Plus, AL really likes it and so I trust her opinion.

Overall, I like Famoso well enough. One thing for sure is that Famoso is quite consistent, making it a reliable option for eats. It has enough variety to appeal to anyone, making it ideal for families and groups, and really now, who doesn't like pizza?

Just don't order the pasta.

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria (WEM)

famoso.ca

8882 170 St NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 487-0046

 

- CT

AT HOME | SPICY SALMON POKÉ

When you hear the word poké (pronounced po-kay rather than po-kee), you're no doubt reminded of Hawaii, where the dish originates. While I haven't been to Hawaii (yet!), I was inspired to make this dish while watching my favourite vlogger family (ItsJudysLife) document their vacation to Hawaii.

The word poké itself is a Hawaiian verb that means to section, slice, or cut. Makes sense, considering that poké is literally raw fish cut into cubes, marinated, and then tossed together like a salad. There are literally so many different versions of poké out there and the possibilities truly are endless.

The most classic recipe calls for ahi tuna marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, among other ingredients. Instead of going the traditional route, I loosely followed a recipe by my new favourite food blog, Two Red Bowls. Seriously, their blog is goals.

The hardest part of following the poké recipe was finding fresh fish that was exactly that -- fresh. After all, I didn't want to kill my family via tapeworm. I scoured the T&T in West Edmonton Mall to pick up whatever we didn't already have in our pantry. They had a small selection of frozen sashimi-grade fish, but I decided to cheat a little and just picked up a couple of packages of their prepared salmon sashimi at the sushi counter.

While there, I also picked up an avocado, a package of tobiko, and seaweed for wrapping.

The marinade called for sesame oil, mayonnaise (kewpie ftw), sriracha, and soy sauce.

Aside from the mayonnaise, I kind of eyeballed everything else. A squirt of sriracha, a couple of dashes of soy sauce, and a few drops of sesame oil. It's pretty much trial and error, based on your own personal tastes, so you might have to sample and adjust as you go along.

Before mixing: the salmon sashimi cubed up, chunks of avocado, a couple of heaping teaspoons of tobiko, and the aforementioned marinade.

And because I'm a dork, I plated it up real pretty using some of the garnishes from the sashimi platters.

You can eat it as is, or you can serve it on top of salad or rice. My family and I just wrapped it up in seaweed and were good to go.

Aloha!

- CT

REVIEW | WOK N ROLL | EDMONTON

Eggs, bacon, and toast? Pshhh, everyone knows that the best kind of brunch is dim sum.

For me, dim sum is family time. And for the majority of our lazy Sunday outings, we find ourselves at Wok N Roll since it's convenient and relatively close by. Wok N Roll, besides winning the restaurant pun game, is more like your typical neighbourhood Chinese joint than a destination restaurant à la Urban China or Emperor's Palace.

It's not fancy by any means, but that's the way I prefer it. Waitstaff who remember you, tasty food that comes out hot, and almost a peaceful atmosphere when compared to the hustle and bustle of other dim sum restaurants. Although, let's be real, peaceful is a subjective term in the Chinese language (you should meet my family and you'll know what I mean).

At Wok N Roll, dim sum is ordered by ticking off a laminated menu with a dry-erase pen. It's kind of ingenious (and a bit more environmentally friendly). Like I've mentioned before, I prefer ordering dim sum on a check sheet rather than the traditional push-cart method. This ensures that the food arrives to you fresh and hot, and that you actually get what you want to eat without having to stalk or stare down the push cart ladies. Even worse is when you're not in prime table real estate, and you get left forgotten with only the leftover stuff that no else cared to grab along the way.

Onto the food! (You might want to grab a snack, it's a long post.)

Crystal prawn dumplings or har gow ($4.50) is a staple item and a must-order at any dim sum restaurant. Although it's a simple dish in concept, it's a tricky one to execute. The dumpling skin must be thin and translucent, yet sturdy enough to pick up without breaking. The filling is typically a mixture of whole shrimp pieces mixed with shrimp mousse to form a ball. It's a good one here in my books.

Another popular item is steamed pork dumplings with fish roe or sui mai ($4.50). A mixture of pork, mushrooms, and shrimp pieces, you can see for yourself that they're large and quite meaty. Good stuff.

Steamed chicken feet in chef specialty sauce ($3.95) is another quintessential dim sum item. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater (for the most part), but chicken feet is where I draw the line. You see, I'm not a weirdo with a foot fetish... and I'm also not a fan of gelatinous textures or tiny little bones (which these guys have). But if you're really interested and into this sort of thing, my family will gobble these right up so I assume it's well prepared.

Wok N Roll has a couple of different savoury buns, and these mushroom and chicken buns ($3.95) are one of them. My mom usually orders these to bring home so that my dad has part of his lunch for the day after. So I didn't try these, sorry.

The steamed rice roll with prawn and chives ($4.50) is listed as such on the menu, but fair warning, there aren't any chives. Just small shrimp pieces within a silky rice noodle roll and then drizzled with soy sauce. This is my sister's favourite dish here. 

On the right is another example of an item getting lost in translation, deep fried lobster dumplings ($4.50). The word lobster comes translated from the Cantonese name, but you'll only find pieces of shrimp mixed with shrimp mousse inside. So, I'm sorry if you were getting excited for lobster, but at I least I warned you! The wrapper is thick and crunchy, while the inside is steaming hot. My favourite part of the dish is definitely the sweet mayo dip that comes on the side. It definitely deserves breaking the "no double dipping" etiquette rule.

Another one of my favourite dim sum dishes is the steamed rice roll with preserved dried meat (pork floss basically) and chinese donut ($4.50). In the words of Martin Yan, this dish is a perfect example of "texture contrast." Brownie points if you watched Food Network and understand my reference. Boo if you don't.

A more unique dish to Wok N Roll is their stir fried radish cake ($6.50). It's a more pricier item, but the plate is huge and worth getting. Tender, bite-sized pieces of radish cake is wok-fried with x.o. sauce, bean sprouts, and red pepper flakes. The result is both spicy and fragrant. Yum.

This next dish combines two dim sum favourites into one dish so you get the best of both worlds -- pan fried shrimp paste on two kinds of veg. ($4.50) -- that is, if you consider tofu to be a vegetable... Again, the shrimp is bouncy, while the tofu and eggplant bases are both silky and well-cooked. The sauce is also not too heavy and well-seasoned.

Another item worth getting (in my opinion) is the pan fried bean curd roll with prawns ($5.25). It's akin to deep fried shrimp spring rolls, but the bean curd wrapper is just slightly chewier than your norm. It also comes with a side of black vinegar for dipping, but I think the roll has enough flavour on its own.

We're in the home stretch! (Thanks for reading this far down btw. You da real MVP!) 

This was our first time ordering the deep fried squid ($6.95), so we didn't know what to expect. The squid wasn't too chewy and the batter was nice and crispy, but every bite was just laced with MSG. You can probably even see some of the granules if you maximize the picture and look closely enough. If you're worried about "Chinese restaurant syndrome", maybe stay away from this dish.

Final dish of the day was dessert! Steamed egg yolk sauce buns ($4.50) are an amazing thing. The egg yolks that they used must have been bright orange since the colour was so vibrant. Warning you now, don't just bite into these buns unless you want molten lava dripping down your chin. Simply break them apart and let the oozing filling cool down a bit.  The filling is very rich on the salted duck egg yolk taste but overall, I'm a happy girl when these come out.


I've read a few reviews where the service at Wok N Roll is horribly inconsistent, but I genuinely like the servers here (... although I died of embarrassment when one of them witnessed me hitting myself in the face with my chopsticks. She laughed along with my family. *sadface* FYI, chopsticks can be lethal weapons). Now to be fair, my family and I are regulars so the service we receive might not be representative of everyone's experience but I do see them being pleasant and cordial with every table. My final say, give this place a try. The food, whether it's dim sum or dinner, is tasty and pretty cheap compared to other restaurants. It's a true neighbourhood gem.

Wok N Roll 

woknrollrestaurant.ca

12730 82 St NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 478-9797

 


- CT

REVIEW | CANTEEN | EDMONTON

** This restaurant is now closed. **

 

I've been wanting to try Canteen for a while now, and I was finally able to cross it off my bucket list this past Sunday with a belated birthday brunch with the besties. 

Alliterations. It's what I do best.

Canteen is a somewhat-casual and modern 50-seat restaurant nestled on the ever-revitalizing and trendy 124th street. They're open from Tuesday to Sunday, offering a variety of different menus depending on the time of day. 

At 12:30 on a Sunday morning, the restaurant was bustling and filled to the brim with equally trendy brunch-goers. They say that walk-ins are always welcome, but it's a good thing we made reservations as a table cleared out just as everyone arrived in our party.

Prior to coming in, I made quick study of the brunch menu on their website and narrowed down my choice to 4 out of the possible 7 mains. Their brunch menu reads that good. They could do with updating their website though, since there were a couple of small changes I noticed when scanning their actual menu in the restaurant. 

Our friendly waitress sold KN on the special of the day, which was a halibut and potato cake ($18.00) served over a bed of sautéed broccoli, with two poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, and a bit of crab. Those were her exact words -- "a bit of crab" -- which translated into maybe a few small pieces here and there. It's almost not worth it to include it in my opinion. It also wasn't the most attractive dish to photograph, but KN thought that the dish was quite savoury and good overall. I had a bite of the halibut and potato cake and thought it was well-seasoned.

AL decided to go for the Dutch baby pancake ($17.00), which comes topped with rhubarb compote, back bacon, two farm eggs, walnuts, and smoky syrup. The Dutch baby pancake reminded me of a yorkshire pudding, as it's baked in a cast iron pan and then falls as soon as it comes out of an oven. I had a bite of the pancake and it seemed to be just a blank canvas, highly dependent on the syrup and compote for sweetness and flavour. AL liked her dish, but thought that it got soggy way too fast.

SC ordered their chicken and waffles ($18.00) which is a dish that changes weekly in terms of flavours. This weekend, it was a whole wheat waffle with buttermilk fried chicken, smoked syrup, and chunks of apples, pears, and persimmon. Very autumnal. I like how they do weekly variations on the dish since it shows how creative their culinary team can be. You can order chicken and waffles every single time you come in but still get to try something new. And why wouldn't you? The chicken was absolutely amazing with its well-spiced crunch. KN thought that Canteen's variation was better than the one at the Common (review here), and I'd have to agree. 

For the sake of my blog, I wanted to order something different from everyone else, and so I chose their crispy pork belly ($18.00) which came with two eggs, sweet potato hash (underneath the eggs), creamy grits, and three slices of toasted baguette. Can we just take a minute to appreciate that runny yolk and slab of pork belly?

.
.
.

Okay, minute over.

I've heard of grits before (thanks to my obsession with Food Network back in my elementary and junior high days) but I've never actually tasted or seen it. It seems like it's a staple in Southern U.S. but unheard of in Canada. The only way I can describe it is that it's almost like a porridge, with no real distinguishable flavour other than that it's savoury. The sweet potato hash was a nice balance to it, while the egg was perfectly cooked and almost silky in quality. But the best part of the dish -- definitely the pork belly. I've always wanted to use the word unctuous (in a good way) to describe something and I feel it applies here. Highly recommend this dish just for the pork belly.

Good eats at Canteen with good friends. You can't ask for anything more.

 

- CT 

REVIEW | LEE HOUSE | EDMONTON

I don't know about you... but I'm feeling twenty-twooo!

This past Wednesday, I celebrated my 22nd birthday by listening to Taylor Swift's '22' all day. I know, I know... the lyrics are overplayed on every 22-year-old's Facebook status or Instagram caption, but it's become a rite of passage these days. (Also, that must be a new world record for how many times 22 was said in a paragraph.)

For my birthday dinner, I ended up choosing Lee House Korean BBQ Restaurant in Chinatown since I had a strange craving for Korean food. As a family, we don't eat Korean food very often so it was a nice change of pace from our usual Chinese, Vietnamese, or Japanese outings.

 
Lee House is a family-owned restaurant with two locations, the original being in Old Strathcona and their new expansion in Chinatown. The original location has supposedly been re-branded into an express-type of joint, offering a smaller selection of quick dishes. Their Chinatown location has instead become their full-service restaurant, offering their original menu along with some new dishes that take advantage of the built-in BBQ grills at each table.

Back in the day, the building used to be a grocery store until it sat vacant for years. They've done a nice job of overhauling the space as the interior was inviting and clean, with warm wooden touches and art throughout.

Since it was a Wednesday evening, it wasn't busy at all, with only a handful of tables being occupied. As a result, service was friendly and pleasant, with food coming out pretty quick. 

As is customary with any Korean restaurant, they load your table with some complimentary banchan before the rest of the food comes out. The selection that day was pickled radish, seaweed salad, bean sprouts, and kimchi. 

No visit to Lee House is complete without ordering their signature dish, the Lee House Legendary Chicken Balls or "Kan Poong Gi" ($16.95). Usually when you hear chicken balls, you think about the Western-Chinese variation of the dish, that basically includes a small chunk of chicken encased in a giant sphere of dry batter. It's terribly unauthentic, and I actually don't think I've ever eaten Chinese chicken balls in my life. But it's much different at Lee House, where it's all chicken, hand-rolled and lightly dredged in potato starch, then deep fried until crispy. They're glazed in a red sauce that is sweet, spicy, and vinegary. Good stuff.

My sister's must-have at any Korean restaurant is Jja Jang Myun ($10.95) which is a Korean-Chinese noodle dish with a black bean sauce containing diced onion, potato, and beef. The ingredients are pretty indistinguishable, and you're meant to toss the noodles around until they're coated with the sauce. What I've come to realize is that my sister and I have very different tastes in food since I've never had a jja jang myun that I've loved (please prove me wrong though if you have any recommendations!). I mean I'll eat it if it's there, but I wouldn't go out of my way to order it. It's either the texture of the noodles or the taste of the sauce that doesn't jive with me personally. 

We didn't know that the Kan Poong Gi already came with a small bowl of rice, so we ordered the kimchi fried rice ($12.95) to have alongside it. The dish had wok-tossed sticky rice, fermented kimchi, pork belly, and a fried egg over top. This dish is probably the Korean equivalent of butter chicken or sweet and sour pork, but my mom and I really liked it. There wasn't a whole lot of pork in the dish, but there were plentiful pieces of kimchi strewn throughout the rice. It was also surprisingly on the sweeter side despite its appearance.

For our last dish, I originally wanted to order the Gang Jung Chicken which was described as crispy-fried chicken thigh strips and rice cake sticks, tossed in honey soy sesame glaze, with green onion and peanut. Unfortunately, the waitress said they didn't have it that day, and so I had a brief moment of panic and ordered the dukbboki ($9.95) despite the fact that I don't even care for rice cake sticks all that much. Though in my defense, it was two items up on the menu, and all I could think about were the the rice cake sticks in the original dish that I wanted.

Their dukbboki comes in two variations, either in a sweet ginger soy sauce or a sweet and spicy Korean chili sauce. We chose the latter, which also came with fish cake, cabbage, green onion, and a hard-boiled egg. And yes, this was our third carb dish of the night. In hindsight, I should've ordered another meat dish, perhaps one of their BBQ items to try them out, but I've realized that I don't make good decisions under pressure. Also, by the time I realized, I didn't want to make any inconvenience of cancelling an order that was probably already being cooked (#anxious people problems). But that's besides the point. The rice cakes were okay, they were sufficiently chewy while the rest of the ingredients soaked up the spicy sauce. Our lips were warm, numb and tingling afterwards.

Overall, Lee House is a solid choice for Korean food especially if you live north of the river where Korean food is practically non-existent. What's the deal with that?

Lee House

10704 97 St NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 438-0790 

  

- CT

P.S. This was the cake that my sister surprised me with and that we enjoyed at home after our dinner. God bless T&T and their cute, reasonably-priced cakes. The inside was just a simple vanilla sponge with buttercream and white chocolate shreds. A little dry, but the cuteness factor makes up for it.