It's sad how much I miss airports and making travel plans (I can plan a mean itinerary). But alas, traveling was not in the cards yet again this summer, so we made do with another road trip to Calgary. This time around, my sister and I were joined by our cousin, JD. The more the merrier!
First order of business in Calgary is always brunch! We decided to try Sammie Cafe, a small, casual sandwich joint located in Marda Loop. Sammie is sister to Brekkie, a popular breakfast restaurant in West Springs.
The restaurant is on the smaller side, but during the warmer months, they do have a patio with lots of picnic tables outside. The vibe is fun and casual, and the service was super friendly to match.
I was eyeing a few items on their "all-day" menu (namely their katsu sandwich and japa fries), but when we arrived around ~10:30, we were only given a brunch-specific menu. Oh well.
I decided to go for the chili crab bennie ($17.00) with dungeness crab, chili sauce, lettuce, tomato, avocado, soft poached eggs, and hollandaise. There was a generous amount of crab and a good creaminess to the hollandaise, but I thought the dish was really missing some texture. Between the soft crab, avocado, and soft bun, it all felt rather one note. A toasted English muffin would have done wonders.
JD went for the green eggs and ham ($16.00), a cute name for a croque madame, topped with a pesto fried egg and warm maple syrup. He thought it was good but not anything mind-blowing.
LT got the braised brisket eggie ($11.00), a breakfast sandwich with sesame soy marinated brisket, crispy fried egg, lettuce, tomato, chili crisp, garlic mayo, and cilantro mayo. Beef was tender and there was a good combination of flavours. Again, good, but nothing mindblowing.
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We were just around the corner from Village Ice Cream at Garrison Corner so it was a no-brainer to stop by. Between Village Ice Cream and Made by Marcus, Calgary has it good!
I guess we were on the cusp of July and August so there was almost twice as many seasonal flavours available. I went for a kid's scoop ($3.00) of strawberry milk tea with a handmade waffle cone ($1.00). I love how kid's scoops don't have an age limit because it's still a good amount of ice cream packed in there. The strawberry milk tea was actually one of their vegan flavours, a soy coconut milk base steeped with black tea and churned with fresh strawberries. The soy flavour was actually more prominent than the coconut which was surprising to me. The black tea wasn't too bitter, but it helped temper the sweetness of the strawberries. Best bite will always be their still-warm waffle cones.
Next on our agenda was to grab some giant cookies from Chunk'd. Located in Kensington, Chunk'd is a new bakery that initially began as a cookie delivery service. They're known for their over-the-top cookies, stuffed with tons of filling and chocolate.
Chunk'd seems to have a core menu of flavours, but there are a couple that change out every week. The cookies are $5.50 each which seems pricey until you hold one. They're pretty hefty!
We decided to get three cookies in total. LT got "the chosen one," a classic loaded chocolate chip cookie. I also picked one of these up for AL, who I was meeting up for dinner later that night. We didn't try this one until the next day, so the dough felt a bit more stiffer. Best advice is to probably warm it up in the microwave for ultimate gooeyness.
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Afterwards, we made our way downtown to check out High Park. It's essentially the top floor of a parkade that they've converted into a cool rooftop "park." There's some picnic tables and some cool art installations, but I think the main draw is the downtown views.
Since we already paid for parking at High Park, we decided to walk the 15 minutes over to Central Library. Going to a library doesn't exactly scream fun times but the architecture, both inside and out, is pretty amazing. I would highly recommend visiting at least once to see it in person.
It was such a hot day that after walking back to get our car, we desperately needed refreshments to cool us off. The only parking we could find at our destination was for H-Mart customers, so we actually walked around the store to offset the guilt.
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Our original destination was actually Thé Moon Tea House, a super aesthetic cafe that serves bubble tea, coffee, and soft serve. It's a light and airy shop with plenty of moon motifs around.
We had the following drinks:
- Golden Moon ($6.50): passionfruit juice and mango cold pressed juice with jasmine green/kung fu black tea, coconut jelly and moon pearls
- Blush cloud ($7.00): strawberry slush with cloud foam topping, coconut jelly, and moon pearls
- Hawaiian light ($6.50): kumquat juice and pineapple cold pressed juice with jasmine green/kung fu black tea, seasonal fruit, aloe, and moon pearls
The drinks were refreshing but unfortunately we found the pearls a bit hard. We probably got a bad batch or the pearls weren't cooked enough at the time we visited.
We didn't have too much planned, so we decided to rest up at the hotel for a little bit before checking out Market Mall. We've always gone to Chinook, or the CORE, so it was a nice change of pace. While at the mall, we came across The Dapper Doughnut, a stall serving up mini doughnuts in an array of flavours. We went the simple route and just got a dozen cinnamon sugar ($6.99). Classic. Who needs to go to the Stampede really?
I had dinner plans that night, so LT and JD decided to get takeout from Takumi Sushi to enjoy at the hotel. We had Takumi Sushi during our last trip to Calgary and really enjoyed it. They got the same party tray C ($68.95 + 10% off for takeout) as last time, which includes four pieces each of salmon and tuna sashimi, two pieces each of salmon, tuna, toro, and amaebi (sweet shrimp) nigiri, and three sushi rolls of your choice.
- Salmon battera (6 pieces): avocado inside with torched salmon, spicy mayo, unagi sauce, and jalapeno
- Unagi battera (6 pieces), unagi inside and outside with unagi sauce and nori
- Signature special roll
(8 pieces): deep fried scallop, avocado, and cucumber inside with
torched chopped scallop, spicy mayo, spicy sauce, and jalapeno
Everything was pretty much the same as last time except LT wanted to try the unagi pressed sushi. It's a pretty good value and the sushi is pretty fresh. Would recommend.
For my dinner, AL picked me up from the hotel and drove us over to Famoso over in Country Hills. It's been ages since I've had Famoso but I do enjoy their pizza. My favourite is definitely the cavoletti which comes with fior di latte, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts, prosciutto crisps, dates, walnuts, and honey. I just ask them to omit the Gorgonzola because I'm not really a blue cheese fan. I got the 7" pizzetta size which comes with a side of soup or salad. I went for the napoli salad which comes with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, red onions, carrots, chickpeas, and house balsamic vinaigrette. Simple but satisfying.
We were pretty full at this point but AL wanted to take me to her neighbourhood ice cream shop. Leavitt's Ice Cream Shop, or LICS for short, is an old school ice cream store. They've been open since 1982 and serve up a wide variety of ice cream flavours. Walking in, the store has nostalgic, family-run vibes. I went for a baby scoop of key lime pie which was tart and sweet. Perfect way to end the night walking by the Bow River.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
- CT
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