REVIEW | LONDON LOCAL | EDMONTON

** This restaurant is now closed. **

British food certainly doesn't have a great reputation in the culinary world. The most commonly used adjectives to describe it would be mushy, greasy, bland, and any shade of brown.

Located in a south side complex near Ellerslie, London Local hopes to reverse your preconceptions -- offering a contemporary Canadian take on some classic English dishes.

London Local is a casual restaurant with a modern pub feel. It's run by owner Evonne Li and Chef Lindsay Porter (who previously helmed El Cortez and Woodwork).

SC was back in town for the long weekend so we decided to meet for brunch. There was a bit of confusion when we arrived at noon on Sunday, as we were only given menus for their Sunday roast. We weren't exactly in the mood for a three-course roast as our first meal of the day, so we inquired about brunch, which according to their website, is served on weekends from 10:00am-3:00pm. Our server checked with the kitchen and it appears as though their special Sunday roast begins at noon, but we would still be able to order from the brunch menu.

In the morning, there's nothing quite more British than the full English ($18.00) breakfast. Also known as a "fry-up," the full English is a full plate of food that will also keep you full for hours. London Local sticks close to tradition with two fried eggs, sausage, rashers, black pudding, roasted potatoes, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and a side of brown toast. It's a bit heavy and greasy but if you were ever in need of a mid afternoon nap, make sure to order this for breakfast.  

I've been on a scotch egg ($14.00) kick lately, so I knew I had to order it when I saw it on the menu. The scotch egg consists of a medium poached egg covered in sage and fennel sausage and then deep fried in a breadcrumb coating. 

Since I had Chartier's scotch egg just a week before, it was only natural for me to compare the two. While London Local's scotch egg was definitely smaller in size, I actually liked it better since I found the sausage was more tender and juicy. (Both are great renditions though. I personally think all eggs should come wrapped in a sausage blanket.)

The scotch egg also comes with housemade HP sauce. It's a thick brown condiment that's sweet, fruity, and a little tangy. I've never had HP sauce before so I have no idea what the original is supposed to taste like, but I enjoyed it. 

The scotch egg is available anytime as an appetizer, but during brunch, it becomes more of a meal with a side English garden salad.

Get ready for this ingredient list! Arugula, peas, dill vinaigrette, drizzled salad cream, pickled onion, plum, apple, beets, tomato, peashoots, beet pickled egg, pumpkin brittle, and crispy onion. (It's also gluten free!). It sounds like a ton of random ingredients thrown in a bowl but it all somehow works together. I personally loved it! Lots of different textures and flavours. It also went really well with the scotch egg as it balanced out the oil and fat.

SC was reading the daily feature blackboard and knew right away that she wanted the goat cheese cheesecake ($10.00) for dessert. It came served with sliced strawberries, berry compote, and slivered almonds. I had a couple bites and it was pretty good. Although goat cheese is pretty overpowering on its own, I thought it worked great in the cheesecake as it just made the cream cheese flavour even stronger.



At London Local, you'll find a little piece of Britain in Edmonton. I don't think there would be anything better than coming back on a snowy winter day and tucking into their Sunday roast.

London Local

www.london-local.ca 

2307 Ellwood Dr SW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 752-2244 

 

- CT 

SNAPSHOTS | CALGARY | SEPT 2018

Back in September, I took a little day trip out to Calgary to visit SC. I didn't think there was enough pictures to warrant individual blog posts so here's a short and sweet recap of our food adventures in YYC!

Itinerary:

• charbar
• Mari Bakeshop
• Oishii Sushi
• Made by Marcus 

C H A R B A R

 

Simmons Building
618 Confluence Way SE
Calgary, AB 
(403) 452-3115

Located in the East Village, charbar joined forces with Phil & Sebastian and Sidewalk Citizen Bakery in re-purposing the historic Simmons Building. charbar is sister restaurant to Charcut, a Calgary favourite steakhouse. charbar is slightly different than its predecessor, with an Argentinian concept, a cuisine also known for its affinity for beef.

A trip to Calgary would be blasphemous without brunch, so we decided to try charbar's brunch for something unique.

SC ordered the vine tomato & sustainable tuna salad with garlic milk aioli (full size $18.00) . SC had a traditional leafy green salad in mind so she was surprised when the actual dish came out. It had yellow and red vine tomatoes with shredded cooked tuna, capers, and aioli. I tried a bite and thought the aioli was quite creamy and garlicky. It'd be a bit heavy if you were eating a whole portion of the salad to yourself though.

I decided on the fried eggs and empanadas ($18.00) with chimichurri and hot sauce butter. The menu doesn't specify the empanada filling so it probably changes from time to time. On my visit, the flaky crust was filled with shredded pork in a taco-esque seasoning. Although flavourful, it was a bit too salty for me.


Although our dishes could use a few tweaks, charbar's unique brunch menu is worth checking out if you're tired of the same old choices for breakfast.

Back to top

M A R I   B A K E S H O P

 

529 Riverfront Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(587) 356-4461

Part of the reason (well, maybe the main reason) why we chose charcut for brunch was its close proximity to one of my favourite bakeries in Calgary (Yann Haute is another favourite). During my last trip here, I absolutely fell in love with Mari Bakeshop and knew a repeat visit was warranted.

There's almost always a half dozen or more roll cake flavours, so it could be a hard decision selecting just one. We decided on the cookies and cream roll cake ($4.50). Like before, the cake was light and fluffy, and the cream, studded with chunks of Oreo cookie, was not too sweet.

I follow their Instagram so I can keep updated on their special flavours. I'm hoping their bing-su rollcake with condensed milk cream, azuki, mochi, and kinako will still be in their flavour rotation next time I'm in town!

Of course, my favourite goodies from Mari are their choux! We got a box of six ($14.00), which saves you a dollar if you were to buy them individually ($2.50). I'm a bit fuzzy on which flavours we ended up getting but rest assured, the choux are always delicious!

Back to top

After some car troubles and a shopping trip to CrossIron later, we debated our options for dinner. Japanese was the clear winner, and after a bit of research, we went the AYCE route.

O I S H I I   S U S H I

 

Riverbend Centre
8338 18 St SE #338
Calgary, AB
(403) 475-8333

Oishii Sushi is located in the south Riverbend neighbourhood of Calgary. It's a larger space than I expected looking from the outside.

AYCE dinner is $29.99 a person or $35.99 for the deluxe menu. We didn't think the options on the deluxe menu were that appealing, so we stuck with the regular menu which already had a ton of food choices.

Salmon, tuna, red snapper, mackerel sashimi

Special scallop sushi, spicy shrimp sushi, salmon rose sushi

Takoyaki, scallop karaage

Prawn tempura, yam tempura

Spider roll

I'll have to give Oishii Sushi credit for having a ton of selection, but like all AYCE establishments, it's the same story of quantity over quality. You're probably better off spending the money at a proper Japanese restaurant and be comfortably full (sans the stomach ache).

 

Back to top

Always room for dessert! I often wonder why Calgary has awesome choices for artisanal ice cream (Village Ice Cream, Made by Marcus) but Edmonton does not. Someone out there must have a business plan...

M A D E   B Y   M A R C U S

 

221 19 St NW
Calgary, AB 
(587) 353-9414
 

I think what makes Made by Marcus stand out from their competition is their unique ice cream flavours. Village Ice Cream has what I feel are "safer" flavours, but Made by Marcus isn't afraid to experiment and push the boundaries. They also sells pints which you can purchase in Edmonton at Blush Lane Organics, so no need to drive three hours!

We decided to go to their second location in Hillhurst, which was a little further away but had easier parking. (Note that their soft serve and sundaes are only served at their 17th Ave location.) We both ordered one scoop ($5.00) which actually comes with two scoops of ice cream. You can choose up to two flavours with your "one scoop" which I actually didn't realize until after. If you were really only after one scoop, I think you can order their kid's scoop.

SC got Jon's greatest hits, a seasonal flavour, and wildberry lavender which was actually vegan (made with cashew milk). I decided to get their lemon curd wild blueberry which was nice and tart.
 




Thankfully we ended our food-filled day on a good note. Ice cream has this magical ability to make everything better.

Back to top

- CT

REVIEW | CHARTIER | BEAUMONT

In just the few short years that they've been open, Chartier has become the heart of Beaumont, literally and figuratively. With Beaumont being just a half hour drive south of the city, the French-Canadian restaurant welcomes anyone and everyone through its doors. It's become a local favourite for brunch, lunch, dinner, and dessert.

Chartier came to be after a successful Kickstarter campaign raised over $100,000. The public was clearly hungry for some good rustic French food.

From the moment you walk through the doors, the restaurant is ever so charming. It's the definition of country chic, with reclaimed wood, animal horns, mismatched chairs, and vintage plates and cutlery. Because the restaurant would not be there without the help of its Kickstarter supporters, there's also a giant wall map towards the back, with individual donor names making up Chartier's "family".

When we arrived for Sunday brunch, the room was buzzing. Thankfully we made a reservation and were seated right away. Since it was mostly everyone's first time at Chartier, we opted to order a bunch of dishes to share. In hindsight, our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs. The food is rich with monster portions, so bring your appetite!

Perhaps the greatest Canadian invention (ever) to come out of Quebec is the humble poutine. French fries, cheese, gravy ... match made in heaven. We ended up ordering the breakfast poutine ($15.00), a super decadent version with Montreal-style gravy, peppered bacon, cheese curds, truffle hollandaise, and a soft poached egg. It's a hearty portion that comes in its own cast-iron skillet. The fries are skin-on, thick-cut, and triple-cooked. They weren't super crispy, but crispy enough with a soft, fluffy inside. Surprisingly with all of the components, it wasn't too salty. Perhaps it was the creaminess of the egg yolk and hollandaise that tempered the salt. It was also the only dish that we managed to finish since we couldn't stop eating it!      

The mushrooms on toast bennie ($16.00) starts with a base of their housemade sourdough. Mushroom mousse, sauteed mushrooms and pickled red onions are topped with poached eggs, truffle hollandaise, and balsamic glaze. If you love mushrooms, this is the dish for you. It's savoury, earthy, and a little tangy.

If you ask me, the scotch egg ($15.00) came out looking more like a dinosaur egg. It was huge! A 64-degree egg is surrounded by crêton-style spiced pork sausage, coated with panko, and then deep fried. It's served on a nest of smashed baby potatoes and arugula with smoked maple mayo and black pepper jam.

The egg was perfectly cooked within the shell of peppery sausage. I liked the sweetness and creaminess of the maple mayo but thought the overall dish was much too heavy with the additional side of baby potatoes underneath. I think having just the arugula would be the perfect foil to lighten up the scotch egg (if that's possible).

Because we are gluttons for punishment, we also ordered their feature cinnamon bun ($7.00). The feature is $1 more than their regular cinnamon bun but we decided to go for it since the creation that day was maple and bacon. The menu describes their cinnamon buns as "so, so big" and they really aren't kidding. I was expecting the bacon to just be sprinkled over top but there were actual bits of bacon within the fluffy folds of the dough. We only managed to finish half and took the rest to go.

Chartier's goal and mission is to have you leaving their restaurant full. Well, they certainly accomplished that.

Chartier

www.dinechartier.com 

5012 50 St #102

Beaumont, AB

(780) 737-3633

 

- CT 

REVIEW | DAORE | EDMONTON

** This restaurant is now closed. **

 

Southeast is apparently where it's at for Korean restaurants. In the area around 34th Ave and 93rd St, I could already count five Korean restaurants in that small radius. Ginseng, Miga, Pocha Seoul, Korean Grill, and Daore. I'll make my way to all of them eventually, but let's start with Daore.

Daore originally opened its doors in 2015, but reopened in October 2017 under new ownership. They recently celebrated their first birthday a couple weeks ago, so it felt like a good time to try them out.

Super cute and clever hanok-inspired logo!

We arrived on Sunday around noon, and there was a decent amount of customers. It wasn't super busy, but not too quiet either. It's a large space but it still feels charming.

Their menu has plenty of choice, with all of the traditional Korean dishes you expect to find. They also have a menu pictorial which is super helpful for those who are new to the cuisine. 

All of our dishes ended up coming in rapid fire succession, along with four plates of complimentary banchan. Kimchi, soybean sprouts, seaweed, and braised potatoes. Fair warning, the kimchi packs quite the punch.



To start, we ordered one of my favourite Korean dishes, hameul pajeon, which is a seafood and green onion pancake. They offer it in two sizes, small ($15.00) or large ($25.00), depending on the size of your party (or appetite rather). We ordered the small and it was still plenty to be shared among three people, with leftovers even.

The pancake was nice and crispy, and packed full of green onions and squid. It wasn't too dense like most pancakes as it had a good ratio of batter to ingredients. I also think they add shredded potato (or something to that effect) in order to achieve that crispy lattice on top.

I've been seeing pictures of their mandoo ($15.00) on Instagram and thought they were too pretty to pass up. You could definitely tell they were handmade by the intricate folds. Each order comes with eight dumplings, your choice of steamed or pan-fried. We ordered them steamed just because our other dishes were fried. The filling consisted of ground pork, glass noodles, and chives. The texture was quite soft throughout, so I'm thinking the pan-fried version would make them tastier.

The classic LA galbi ($24.00), or Korean-style grilled beef short ribs, makes a grand entrance on a sizzling plate. There's about three strips worth of meat, and they cut it up for you into manageable pieces. The meat took some effort to chew off the bone, but the flavour was fine. It also comes with a bowl of rice. 

Our final dish was sujedonkas ($15), deep fried pork cutlet with rice and salad. Donkas has Japanese origins (tonkatsu), which they say comes from European influence (schnitzel). Not to bore you with history but it's essentially breaded and deep-fried meat. The sauce they serve alongside is tangy and sweet, similar to the Japanese style, rather than the traditional Korean gravy. It was one of our favourite items of the meal, and super worth the price for the portion you get.



Before you finish your meal, don't forget to grab a cup of complimentary sikhye for dessert! Believed to aid digestion, sikhye is a sweet rice beverage, usually containing malt and rice grains. Daore adds a bit of ginger to theirs which lingers nicely on the palette. It's served chilled so it's really quite refreshing at the end of the meal. 

I'll have to make my way around the other Korean restaurants in the area, but Daore is certainly worth a return trip.

Daore

www.daore.ca

9332 34 Ave NW

Edmonton, AB

(780) 433-0526

- CT