Golden Rice Bowl, Edmonton

While waiting for friends to show up, I  ordered a bunch of dim sum dishes at the Golden Rice Bowl, and then hurriedly took a picture before they arrived and polished off all the food.

Golden Rice Bowl dim sum

Golden Rice Bowl dim sum

They’ve done a good job of spiffing the place up – general renovations in the restaurant and bathrooms, new tablecloths and cutlery, and chair covers. They’re trying to be a little more creative with the food too. One dish I had (sorry, no photo) was a dumpling in chicken soup. It was a nice attempt, but the dumpling was rather ordinary and dense. I would have preferred a true boon tong gao to go along with the soup, which had a strong chicken flavour. Every other thing I had was good (not too greasy, not dry).

One thing did raise my eyebrows though – the bill. They must have jacked up the prices a bit more to pay for all the renos or something. This was one of the more expensive dim sum lunches I’ve had in a while.

With a little more creativity and new ownership, GRB could be one of the better dim sum places if not the best in the city. It will be interesting to see where this restaurant will go. They’re making a huge marketing effort too (commercials, a twitter account, a new website).

Golden Rice Bowl
5365 Gateway Boulevard
Edmonton, Alberta
www.goldenricebowl.ca

*Disclaimer: My parents know the manager of the restaurant, but he never remembers who I am and this review is based purely on my own opinon. I didn’t get any freebies or discounts.

Golden Rice Bowl on Urbanspoon

Sofra, Edmonton

A group of friends and I planned a night out at Sofra, a Turkish restaurant that none of us had tried before. The interior is small but interesting – lots of wood and a giant horse statue at the entrance. Each table has a charm embedded into the table surface – a glass eye as a charm against the evil eye. I did think about taking a photo of one, but I decided that it would probably give me bad luck or something and erred on the safe side.

To drink, I tried some Turk Cayi – Turkish tea. It arrived in a tiny cup with a spoon and a sugar cube. And it tasted like orange pekoe. Yeah, I felt a little ripped off.

Turk Cayi (Turkish tea)

Turk Cayi (Turkish tea)

Two people tried the pideler – traditional forno-baked pizzas.

The first was the Tavuklu Pide, a chicken, tomato, green pepper and cheese pizza.

Tavuklu Pide (chicken pizza)

Tavuklu Pide (chicken pizza)

The second was a Kiymali Pide, a ground beef pizza with with vegetables and cheese.

Kiymali Pide (ground beef pizza)

Kiymali Pide (ground beef pizza)

Both pizzas had plenty of cheese and the toppings tasted okay, but the pizzas didn’t wow anyone at the table except for the light, flaky crust. Continue reading

Dragon Boat Festival

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. I was going to write a post about how it began, and how joong (or zongzi in Mandarin) – sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves – is an important part of the festival. But I’ve been a little too busy lately and haven’t had a chance to take any photos. So instead, here’s a little background reading for you:

Wikipedia – Dragon Boat Festival

Joong – the Asian tamale