I had read numerous reviews – all positive – about Sweet Mango (9120 82 Avenue), a new-ish Vietnamese and Thai restaurant located in a south side strip mall. As such, it has been on my list of places to try for some time, and I finally had the opportunity to do so on Saturday.

Driving up to the restaurant, Mack and I were greeted by Sweet Mango’s signage summing up its food philosophy: “A modern Vietnamese fusion dining experience”. As with other local fusion experiments, I was curious to see what their interpretation would be, and as it turned out, it was comparable to Matahari – they offer dishes more accurately described as “Westernized Asian” than “fusion”.

At any rate, my first impressions of the eatery were encouraging. Their equivalent of “Please wait to be seated” was a cute “Please be a patient mango”, complete with an image of the fruit. As well, the interior could have easily been a page out of an IKEA catalogue, with moulded white plastic new-age chairs, a clean modern paint scheme, and stalks of decorative bamboo in vases leaning against the back wall. The large tables (uncommonly sized in a food bracket which typically strives for space conservation over comfort) are perfect for those looking for a place to spread out and study, an observation potentially sanctioned by an advertised 10% discount on food for students with a valid ID – not a bad deal from an off-campus, non-pub establishment.

We were promptly seated, and each provided with a leather-bound book encasing beautifully put-together menu pages, complete with full-color pictures and detailed descriptions of dish options. I was impressed with the variety available, which spanned the usual grilled meat/vegetable rice plates, vermicelli bowls and pho, to more interesting choices like crispy tofu fries, Thai salads, and mango prawns. Though we had resolved to “eat healthier” just a day earlier, that ideal went out the window when we decided to order our respective benchmark dishes for Asian eateries – his being Spring Rolls ($3.75/3) and Ginger Beef ($11.95), mine being Pad Thai ($13.95).

We were hoping the wait for our food wouldn’t be too lengthy, as we had a show to attend immediately following dinner, and though there were only two waitresses covering the entire dining room, we didn’t stay idle for too long. Our appetizer arrived promptly, with a dessert-sized plate for each of us. While perfect for our spring rolls, the plate was much too small to comfortably eat our entrees from. But that was a minor complaint – the spring rolls were good – crisp from being freshly fried, and our two main courses were everything we expected them to be – inoffensive, predictable versions of our favorites. The pad thai was indeed spicy (as we had been warned on the menu), so it was fortuitous that we had the sweet morsels of fried beef and stir-fried vegetables as a tapering heat escape.

Though the dishes they offer, in my opinion, is not rightly described as “fusion”, for the quality and the dining room surroundings, Sweet Mango is a welcome addition to the Asian restaurant scene in Edmonton.

Annie and I had tried OPM (1820 99 Street) in South Edmonton Common a few weeks after they opened, and like most restaurants that attempted to ride the fusion wave (L’Azia comes to mind as well), we thought it failed miserably.

OPM was the location of Megan’s birthday dinner on Saturday, and a gathering of friends wasn’t a bad reason to give the restaurant another go. By the time Mack and I arrived, quite a sizable group were already seated at one of the long, high tables in the lounge.

Mack and I decided to split two dishes. OPM’s citrus spin on his perennial favorite, the Orange Ginger Beef ($13.49), was a no-brainer, while our second selection was geared toward my personal craving for a noodle of some sort – the ‘Old World’ Chow Mein ($12.49), egg noodles tossed with chicken, bbq pork, black beans and vegetables.

For a busy Saturday night (no reservations, of course), and such a large party, I was pleasantly surprised that our food seemed to take no time at all. Though the plates themselves appeared to be small, the servings turned out to be quite filling. I actually ended up enjoying the ginger beef more, complete with a guilty side of those crunchy fried noodles often found atop “Asian”-style salads. In my opinion, the chow mein was too bland, though Mack enjoyed it well enough.

All in all, I thought their tapas menu functioned quite well to encourage sharing among friends, and as long as you aren’t expecting “authentic” Asian cuisine, the service and decent food doesn’t make for a bad night out.

The rest of the pictures are here.

It must have been my Mum’s enthusiastic reception of NAIT’s Student Showcase Buffet at it’s School of Hospitality on a segment of “What’s Eating Theo” on CityTV that drove me to make a reservation for us last year. When I called in October to inquire about the next available date, I was told that a table on April 11, a wait of a good six months, was the best we could do. Despite the fact that the buffet is only a once-a-week occurrence during the September-to-April school year, I thought such a lengthy wait list was telling of the quality of the food served. As well, the dishes shown in the CityTV segment included kangaroo chops, something rarely seen in the Edmonton market, leading me to believe that the menu was skewered towards the difficult-to-prepare and the exotic. Turns out I was wrong on both counts.

Mack picked me up from work, but we left a little bit later than we should have. By the time we reached the vicinity of NAIT, it was already past our scheduled 11:15am sitting time. We circled around the various lots and parkades for a good fifteen minutes, and finally found some empty spaces near the HP Centre. Note to anyone heading to the buffet, especially those with later seating times – plan to arrive at least 20 minutes before, as available spaces are incredibly hard to come by.

We entered Ernest’s, the School of Hospitality’s restaurant, at nearly 20 to noon. We were told that we had to vacate our table promptly at 12:15, which left us with about half an hour to make the most of the buffet, something we weren’t told when I initially made the reservation. Thankfully, they had seated my parents already, and both my Mum and Dad had filled up one plate each by that point.

We were offered coffee or tea immediately, though later we saw that other patrons were given an additional option of Coke in glass bottles. Sparing no time, Mack and I picked up plates and headed to the salad bar to start our rounds.

We worked out way through platters of cheese, canapes, grilled vegetables, and even a student carving prosciutto from a slab. Most of the meat, seafood and pasta stations were concentrated in the centre, though two were lone tables on the periphery.

Had I been smarter, I would have picked up more to try on the first go-around, but from what I did get to sample, I liked the Moroccan chicken the best. My Mum and Mack preferred the lamb kabobs, while my Dad enjoyed the prime rib roast. I was disappointed that there was nothing “exotic” or even remotely unique on the menu.

In my opinion, the dessert spread was better than the appetizers and mains. An assortment of chocolates, cakes, and tarts greeted us. The warmed cinnamon buns were my favorite, while Mack quite enjoyed his New York-style cheesecake.

I want to place a caveat on this review, as to be fair, a combination of our late-start, parking challenge, time pressure, and the overwhelming expectations created after a six month wait negatively colored our experience of the buffet overall. For those who arrive early and have the opportunity of a more leisurely meal and are well aware of the hour-long time limit, I’m sure a good time can be had. But because of all of the factors above, I can’t honestly say I enjoyed myself that day.

The full set of photos are on Mack’s Flickr site.

I used to lament often about all of the “lost” restaurant opportunities in high school, having dined more times than I could count at Boston Pizza. Mack would always rebuff my complaints, since a) nothing can be done to change the past, and b) he always believed it was the company held, and not the food, that was paramount. Though I loathe to cede to his wisdom, I must say that he might be right.

I’ve written only in passing about Zuppa (9843 110 Street), the default take-out midday purveyor of choice in the Grandin area. Besides one blissful eat-in lunch of their home-made soup and side of baked pita chips, my other experiences have been less than noteworthy over the years, complete with greasy omelets, weak coffee, and a demonstrated philosophy of quantity over quality with their bland wraps and pastas.

Likely not helped by the lack of choice in our immediate neighbourhood, Echo and I ended up there for lunch on Thursday. We joined a very long line at 11:45, as the three staff members shuffled through the typical business lunch crowd. A quick once-over of their specials and their regular menu convinced us to split an Italian Grill on Focaccia ($6.50) and their famous Warm Cheddar Chicken Caesar Wrap ($8.50).

While Echo paid for our order (thanks again for lunch!), I snagged one of the tables by the window. It seemed that just after she sat down to join me, our food was ready, and was brought to us by the cheerful busperson.

Only included with dine-in orders, a side pasta salad was present on both our plates. As expected, the servings were huge, so much so that I only managed to finish the salad and my half of the panini. Between bites of the crunchy Italian Grill (slightly spicy from the cuts of meat, and held together nicely by gooey, melted cheese), catching up with a friend made me realize that food should fade into the background, and in good company, even lacklustre entrees are somewhat elevated.

I suppose this review reads like a backhanded compliment to Zuppa, and though I don’t mean it in that way exactly, lunch there brought me to the belated epiphany that with all of my focus on food lately, I have tended to forget that who I dine with is just as important as what I am eating.