Primal Grounds is a ‘cappuccino bar and eatery’ in SW Calgary (3003-37St S.W., your best bet is to drive there but if going for lunch, try to go a little bit before noon as it tends to get busy). The place itself is nice, but the tables are pretty small and when the place gets packed, you can hardly hear each other. Nice patio, but right by the road… Fresh lunches and homemade soups and desserts’. For a lunch, expect to pay around $15. I had their “famous turkey sandwich” which was indeed delicious (10.50) and a pop, which came to $13. You can also get a soup and sandwhich combo or pasta for lunch. Definitely try the zucchini cocolate cake ($5.75) – yummy…
Amandine Bakery September 25, 2009
I love pastry. Pastry filled with mushrooms, pastry with sweet cheese, pastry with salty cheese, pastry with meat, pastry with vanilla filling, yummy pastry… Amandine Bakery and Pastry is located on Centre Street (2610 Centre St, N), easily accesible by bus from downtown. Like other places in Calgary, it closes at 6:30pm and at 4:00 pm on Sunday (I will never understand the logic of closing places just when people are finally getting home from work…). And, like most other places in Calgary, it sells the usual stuff: croissants, danishes, cookies, apple pies and some desserts. I was disappointed with this predictability: where are those thousand and one different pastries I was hoping for? There’s more to pastry than croissants and danishes… But in the end, I got a danish and a croissant and paid $3 for them. The croissant was not at all impressive, but the danish was very yummy.
Eating Out under $50 – Kinjo Sushi and Grill September 21, 2009
Even if you don’t like sushi, you should go for the show! The owner/chef is hilarious! We went there for a b-day, and the chef sang ‘Happy B-day” accompanied by a chorus of helpers and gave us chocolate sticks. We also liked the sushi boats – sushi plates are placed on boat-trays on a moving belt. You pick what you want – each plate is a different color. Each color is a different price. In the end, they just calculate how many plates you had. You can also order tempura dishes from a menu.
All in all, the place is worth at least one visit! For a party of two, expect to pay something around 35 – 40 (before tip). We had: assorted veggies tempura (3.70), assorted seafood tempura (4.80), and sushi plates (ranging from 3.25 to 3.75). Try the Japanese beer (5) or sake. And yes, there are options for those who are not huge fans of raw fish – like the delicious smoked salmon sushi or the tempura dishes.
Kinjo Sushi and Grill is on Macleod Trail (7101 Macleod Trail S, calgary).
