TC Sandwiches

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Location: West Edmonton Mall
Hot topic: Vietnamese subs

This place seems to be one of the only places in Edmonton I've found so far that specializes in Viet subs. There is a small menu consisting of the basics like sate beef and chicken subs, pork, Viet deli meat.

Along with the meat the subs are filled with cilantro, jalapeños, pickled daikon and carrots, cucumber and some special sauces. Subs are 5.50$

I had the the grilled beef sub. The sub was good, but I have to say there was something about the meat in my sandwich I didn't quite like. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, perhaps the texture or the flavor, but I don't think it was very fresh. Other than that the sub was great. Love the cilantro and the cucumbers and the bread was perfect. Crusty on the outside without falling apart and making too much of a mess, and soft and chewy on the inside.

Grilled Beef

Sate Beef

Pho Hoa

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Location: West Edmonton Mall
Hot topic: Pho

So here is another great place for pho. From my experience the pho is better compared to some newer trendy places like Phobulous. Service is simple and quick, don't expect a friendly talkative waiter, which is great in my opinion. Just give me my food goddammit! Lol.  If you care about good service and friendly waiters, you probably shouldn't go here. Its a very take your order and bug off sort of place.

Sometimes this place is dead, but it seems to be very busy in the evenings, especially weekends.
I recommend the pho with beef balls (7$ regular, 8$ large) and the red bean drink. Nom nom nom.

Beef ball Pho

Dream Tea House

Cuisine: Beverage
Location: Off Whyte Ave
Hot topic: Bubble tea

Home of bubble tea! Pretty straight forward, big drink menu (3.80-4.50$). However, the shaved ice dessert is something worth mentioning. You can pick 4 out of 10 topping ranging from taro, tapioca, condensed milk, fresh fruit, lychee jelly, green apple jelly etc (about 4.50$).

I recommend the shaved ice with condensed milk, tapioca, red bean and rainbow jelly.

Twisted Yogurt

Cuisine: Dessert
Location: South Park and one in Sherwood Park
Hop topic: Real frozen yogurt

Twisted Yogurt has finally opened its doors on Edmonton's side side!! Ive been waiting for months! The self serve concept for Twisted Yogurt is great because you can create whatever you want and how ever much you want. While the Southpark location is rather small, the interior is well designed and very cute. It is a great place to go for a date, after a movie or just any old time. Another thing to add is the fact this place serves real frozen yogurt, not that fake stuff. That's why it has a bit of a tangy taste.

This self serve yogurt bar boots a variety of flavors, dry toppings and fruit. You take a cup, go to the machines and pick from an assortment of flavors from plain, chocolate, green tea, grape, strawberry, berry flavors, the list goes on. You can also get 2 in1 mixed flavors where 2 flavors of frozen yogurt come out twisted.

As for toppings there is a massive amount of topics you can choose from fresh fruit, cereal, gummy candy to dried goods. Some of the fruit they have include: Marciano cherries, peaches, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberry, mango, pineapple, kiwi. Some dry toppings include crumbled Oreo and Skor, gummy candy, shredded coconut, nuts and seeds, cereals etc etc. In the end you can top your yogurt up with chocolate or butterscotch syrup and sprinkles.

After filling up your cup you weight it.

Price range 2-6$ per cup, depends on how much you fill it up!

http://www.twistedyogurt.com

Picture from their website of the Southpark location

Eggnog and chocolate twist

Groupon Coupons

So I came across this site called 'Groupons' the other day which sells coupons for local stores/restaurants for a fraction of the price. Each day there is a new deal. So far i've bought a 30$ coupon to Famoso for 15$ (so thats a 15$ saving), and 10$ for 10 Bikram yoga classes (these classes are 15$ each normally). You just pay through your credit card on the site. So far so safe. Then you print off the coupon.

Certainly worth checking out. Plus these coupons have an expire date for some time in 2011 so no rush to use them either.

http://www.groupon.com/edmonton/

Sunterra

Cuisine: Deli
Location: Manulife Place (Downtown)
Hot topic: Salad bar

Nom nom nom.

Its located in the Manulife Place building downtown (in the same building as Holts) and has awesome fresh and super health food. There is a salad bar there that I've gone to pretty much everyday for the whole summer. The salad bar is based on weight so you pick out what you want and then you weight it.

You can pick from: 3 types of 'lettuce', chicken breast, cottage cheese, frit, cheese, cubed smoked ham, beets, pickels, eggs, cherry tomatos, alfalfa, tuna, the list goes on, and you can top it off with sunflower seeds, almonds, dried cranberries. There are also lots of dressings and even olive oil and balsamic vinigar and lemon juice for a healthier option.

There are also an assortment of sandwhiches and wraps, pizzas, pastries, healthy deli salads, and drinks available.

Everyday there is a 'big pan speacial', daily carve and daily pasta. The big pan specials typically alternate between jambalaya, butter chicken, ginger beef, shepards pie etc etc are are always 5.75$. The dail carve rotates around salmon, chicken and roast beef (serves with some sort of veggies and a carb), and pastas change each day too. They are always between the 5-7$ range.

Food here is very well priced and healthy.

Watermelon and my yum yum veggi sandwich

The outside

Famoso

Cuisine: Neapolitan pizza
Location: Jasper Ave, North Common, South Common, Magrath
Hot topic: Pizza and flat bread sandwiches

So I <3 Famoso pizza.

This is a must try place. Thats all I'm going to say. 

Mon-Thurs is "Pizza and a Movie Night" where with the purchase of any pizza you can buy a Cineplex Odeon movie pass for 6$, OR you can do the pizza and movie deal where you get a movie pass and a margarita pizza for 16$.

Super cute date place too!

And dont forget the tiramisu for dessert! It is a-mazing!
http://www.famoso.ca/


PS. I recommend the Wise Guy flat bread sandwich with the tomato bisque soup! To die for!

Tiramisu

Wise Guy and Rosted Tomato Bisque

 

Punjab Sweets

Cuisine: Indian/Punjab
Location: 34 ave
Hot topic: Buffet

So I know there are a lot of nice Indian/Punjab restaurants in Edmonton that rate higher on the quality and decor scale then good old Punjab Sweets, however, I still like this place because its simple and straight up. The buffet serves all the items most of us would typically go for first, butter chicken, samosas, tandori chicken, curries, naan etc etc.

I like the butter chicken and the tandori fish. The fish it a bit dry but I like it. The butter chicken is rather sweet in flavor but its awesome.

Don't expect much in terms of decor if you go there, you'll notice its a converted Humptys or Wendys. ive heard people say bad things about this place, but I've been here several times and I have no complaints. Service is nothing to rave about, I dont even know if there is any service there haha, but its a buffet so its straight forward and in the end you go to the counter and pay. But stick to the food and I'm sure you'll walk out the door very satisfied.

Dinner buffet: 13$

Eva Sweets

Cuisine: Belgian waffles
Location: Varies
Hot topic: Waffles

So I can not get enough of these waffles. I hate regular waffles, but trust me there are no ordinary waffles. They are sweet, chewy waffles that can be topped with whip cream, strawberry and blueberry sauce and maple syrup. They are also fabulous all on their own, crazy, I know.

Eating them is the easy part, finding them however is not so easy. Eva Sweets operates out of a big van and travels around downtown, so finding them during the winter is a little difficult seeing as they don't get much business during the winter months and hibernate for a while. But look out for big downtown events especially at Churchill Square and guaranteed you'll find them. Good luck!

Plain: 4$
With toppings: 5$ Cash only

Phobulous

Cuisine: Vietnamese
Location: Next to where the old Fiore was
Hot topic: Pho

So Phobulous is a cute little Vietnamese restaurant near the university that serves quick and straightforwad Viet food. Cute decor, food/menu is nothing mind blowing, but it's still good.

Unfortunately for pho's sake, its the worst I've had in the city. Oily and the meat balls taste funny. The menu set up on the other hand is super cute.