Fed up with junk food! Must try the healthy and tasty Vietnamese dishes.
Finding a place to enjoy the Vietnamese Food in Kamloops is extremely tough for many Vietnamese students like me. For many Canadians, Kamloops is used to being a small town, so the number of Vietnamese people staying here is minor. Even though there are few Vietnamese Restaurants in Kamloops, the taste of the food did not meet expectations. Therefore, I decided to fly to Calgary to travel and try some Vietnamese dishes. I heard from my boyfriend that Calgary contains many Vietnamese Restaurants around the city, so I will have more chances to visit and try the best bowl of pho from these restaurants.
Taking the tour with my boyfriend to go around downtown Calgary is the best choice for me to understand the history of this city and see the beautiful views downtown. Most tourists usually take a taxi or Uber to travel around the city. However, I prefer taking public transportation to go around downtown with my boyfriend. When I take the bus or C-train, I can see the street views, the wonderful building, and even the Calgary Tower. Additionally, Downtown Calgary has many malls, high-quality restaurants, and even Vietnamese Restaurants. After going around downtown at 11:00 am, we choose a Vietnamese restaurant to fill up the empty stomach. Here is the list of three places that personally are my favourite. By tasting some dishes in there, I hope everyone will love it.
- Ha Long Bay Vietnamese Cuisine
Looking for this restaurant is not burdensome because it has located in the center of downtown. When I entered the restaurant, the aroma of BBQ meat and pho made my mouth-watering. This is the familiar place
for having a good bowl of pho for many customers because their way of cooking still retains its rich and delicious taste of Vietnamese food. Furthermore, this restaurant is family-owned, so all the flavours of Vietnamese food are preserved and
passed on to the next generation. The vermicelli with grilled ground pork and spring roll are my chosen dishes. However, in my opinion, the best dishes were salad rolls with peanut sauce. These are the perfect combination for the appetizer. Furthermore, do not skip Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. This is the best drink that you cannot miss. The restaurant has some dishes for vegetarian people and gluten-free options for clients with a special diet.
Location: 240 7 Ave Sw, Calgary, Alberta.
Review menu at: http://www.halongbay.ca/
2. Pure Street Food
Walking along the first street, we see the big building with the First Street Market sign. This new food hall in Victoria Park is home to nine local
food vendors offering coffee, pizza, Vietnamese food and more. This market usually opens every day from 11 am to 7 pm, so many people can come to have lunch, snacks, or even dinner. However, Pure Street Food is a hidden gem in this place. Even though Pure looks like the food court, it has sold many authentic Vietnamese dishes made from head-chef Lam. When I ask the staff about the restaurant’s popular dishes, most of them recommend the sesame donut with char siu pork. After first biting, I was speechless when I tasted this donut. OMG! The flavour is bombarding in my mouth. The flavour is spectacular when combined with the sweet, juicy from the char siu pork and a little bit sour from mayonnaise sauce and pickle. The second dish I have tried is dry egg noodles with chicken broth. The aroma of sauce and broth makes me fly to heaven. I can feel the sweetness from the bone and the riches of the sauce mixed with the egg noodles. All the ingredients are combined perfectly, making the bowl of noodles spectacular. If you want to have tasty dishes, you need to wait in the long queues. However, I think that is worth waiting.
Location: 1327 1 St SW #6, Calgary, AB T2R
3. Pure Kitchen and Bar
Before leaving Pure Street Food, one staff suggested that I come to another branch of Pure. This restaurant looks like the new and upgraded version of Pure Street Food. Therefore, I decided to listen to him visit on a cold day. This is a suitable time for a hot bowl of pho with assorted beef meat. The restaurant’s first impression is the beautiful views and the soft sound of music. It is a high-end restaurant with a
friendly server. The menu in this location is variable, with many Vietnamese fusion dishes, such as papaya mango salad, pork belly and shrimp Banh xeo taco, etc. After listening to the introduction from the server, my boyfriend and I decide to order my favourite donut, papaya mango salad, and sate pot au pho. These two appetizers are like a switch to open a new door to welcome us to enjoy the great taste of pho. When the server brings the pot au pho for us, it is the superstar of the meal. We can figure out the scent of the broth in which from the cinnamon, grilled onion, beef bones. I do not know how to describe the flavour of this one correctly because it is massively delicious with the spiciness from the sate. Furthermore, it contains many ingredients such as beef ball, beef ribs, flank beef, steak, and tendon. These ingredients bring out the rich flavour of the bowl of pho. The restaurant also provide the gluten-free option and vegetariandishes for customers with special diet.
Location: 815 8 Avenue Sw, Calgary, Alberta.
Reviews the menu: https://www.purekitchenbar.com/
Visit my video about my date in Calgary: https://youtu.be/q9h2-7919JE
