Oh Canada

My week in Alberta, Canada was fantastic.  For someone who comes from the desert, the weather was great, a bit chilly but bearable and oh my, the trees and foliage was so green.  If any of you haven't visited Banff or the surrounding National Parks in Alberta, Canada, I would really suggest it because aside from the green, the water is gorgeous.  The lakes and rivers all run aqua blue with little contamination because the source of the water comes from glacier melts that has a concentration of rock flour.  The rock flour that scatters the light and makes the water blue comes from the glaciers grinding up the rocks into tiny granules like flour.  I tried to take as many pictures as I could on my 2 gb memory which was around 180 pictures until I realized when I got home that there were 4 videos that took up half the memory.  Definitely pay a visit to Canada and you won't regret it.

Because we lived in a resort, there wasn't many opportunities for us to explore the restaurants and eateries around the area.  But we did eat at a couple of Chinese restaurants and a fast food chain.  I will be writing about all of them in separate entries.

In the small town of Banff located at the foot of Banff National Park, my family craved for some food for dinner.  But everything that wasn't fast food was very expensive so we resorted to some Chinese food because we knew the portions would be sizable and my brother counts as 2 people.  Not surprisingly there was a Chinese restaurant right in the center of the town on the third floor called Silver Dragon.  It's easy to miss the entrance but it's there I promise.

106 3rd Avenue SE, Banff, Alberta, Canada 

Silver Dragon is a good sized restaurant and very clean with a good view of the rocky mountains if you sit near the window.  The waiter was very nice and immediately seated us at a table that had the view of the mountains instead of sticking us off to the side which happens very often.  The dishes were quite authentic, or at least more authentic than take out Chinese food and we ordered 4 dishes that I may or may not be able to translate correctly.

The beef noodle soup is one of my all time favorite dishes and Silver Dragon did not disappoint at all.  The stock was savory and the noodles were clearly handmade so it's chewier and more tasteful.  The vegetables like the broccoli and carrots were also a good addition to it so at least you were eating some veggies with your food.  There was enough to go around.

My dad prefers to eat vegetables over meat so there always has to be some vegetarian dish and this time we chose a tofu dish that look and tastes like the dish tofu family style.  The tofu used in this dish is fried tofu so there is a yellow skin on the outside with the normal tofu in the inside.  My mom raved about the tofu because it was so soft and fresh tasting which I guess none of the Chinese restaurants in Tucson had that quality.

 

雜菜牛湯麵 Beef and Miscellaneous Vegetables Noodle Soup and 雙菇紅燒豆腐 Two Mushroom Braised Tofu

  

The last two dishes were meat dishes that sound slightly unappetizing to a normal person mostly because I have no idea how to translate and "pickled mustard" never really sounds good.  But trust me, these dishes are amazing, at least if you don't have a picky palette.  We expected the Sichuan Chicken to be somewhat spicy but it only has slight sting to your tongue so if you can't take much heat, don't be fooled by the name of this dish.

梅菜扣肉 (top) Pickled mustard pork and
 川椒油淋雞 the chicken

川椒油淋雞 Sichuan Pepper Oily Chicken

And last but least, the pickled mustard pork.  Ooooo soo nasty sounding.  I guess it's to weed out all the people leaving the brave souls and you should be one of those.  If you don't want to eat the picked mustard, just eat the pork and your taste buds will be just as happy.  You might be surprised to see that the meat is literally a layers of fat and meat like a thick piece of bacon meat but as you should know, fat adds to the flavor.  Just don't eat too much of it because absolutely no benefit to your health.  

I apologize for not being able to describe the taste of these dishes for you but all I can say is that they are all savory dishes, salty and delicious.  You must eat all the dishes except the soup with rice like most Chinese dishes because there is too much flavor and you might just not be able eat anymore after a few bites.  But beware, Silver Dragon charges around $2 for each bowl of rice but they will not charge if you refill, at least for us they didn't.

If you are some kind of budget, this may not be the restaurant for you because the dishes can be quite expensive but compared to the other restaurants around the avenue, it's probably one of the better deals.  Silver Dragon did not disappoint at all.  The waiter was friendly and the food was heavenly so it's a place worth going if you're craving some Chinese food.