Reviews for Foreign Concept in Calgary, AB
Found this restaurant on avenue magazine and decided to give it a try. Overall I would rate is 4.5 and here is why. Pros: Nice... decoration full of Asian culture, you have a choice between dining area and sit behind a bar for a quick drink. The staff isfriendly and knowledgeable. Food is amazing. Cumin lamb is surprisingly tasty, papaya salad has all the right flavours, porkbelly melts in your mouth, Peking duck is on the less greasy side and tasty,l.Winner of the night for me is the squid inkspaghetti with Tom yum coconut flavour sauce and loaded of seafood. It’s a must order. Cons: no AC on a 31+ days isn’t verypleasant, papaya salad portion is small (1-2 people), nothing special with the steelhead trout. And this one is my personalbias: one of the pictures on the wall has this lady wearing traditional clothes that’s holding a hookah used for opium back inthe days (I could be wrong in terms of what she is actually holding). It didn’t set the impression right from the start, but Iwould still give it 4.5 rating for the incredible food. Read more
Really great food, the composable dishes like the Lemongrass Glazed Duck Breast are super good - all the food is interesting,... and very tasty. Mama Ly's Pork & Shrimp Imperial Rolls were awesome (and really filling), next time we were told to try the FishSauce Caramel Brussels Sprouts with rice. Read more
We had one of the best dining experiences of our lives tonight at Foreign Concept! The papaya salad was sweet and delicious with... its wonderful dried satay. The duck dish was just perfect and very filling, and the calamari with green curry was creative andperfectly salted to my taste. Oh and the lemon curd beignet was to die for ! Also contrary to another review I read, we feltportions were generous. What really put the meal over the top was the very kind and genuine attention from Lanny who took careof us. Another highlight of the night we appear to have by coincidence been sat next to the owner of the restaurant Duncan Ly! Read more
Our first time eating here—early Valentine’s celebration— and one of the few restaurants that live up to its hype in our... opinion (yup—he and I both agreed ????). Kudos to our attentive server for making the experience enjoyable. 1. Green Mangoand Papaya Salad: A must-try! All the flavours balanced from the sourness of the green mango, refreshing basil, to the textureof the beef (normally chicken sate) jerky. 2. Lemon grass glazed duck breast & duck confit with ‘crepe’. The Asianinfluence and French technique work in harmony when you bite into the self-prepared wrap. Omg, the perfectly-cooked duck breast,so tender & juicy ???? 3. Steelhead trout with scallion rice noodles with a gocchujang-based shrimp paste: This fish is thewinner in my eyes because you know me and how much I love eating fish. It’s not often that you find chefs that cook fish thatis tender & flakey while still delivering a perfectly crispy skin. This is a dish that you must gather all the componentstogether—crispy skin, flakey trout, scallion noodles, and the shrimp paste to truly capture its flavour ???????? 4. LemonCurd Beignet with a coconut sorbet & strawberry coulis: I’ll be the first to say I’m not a huge fan of French pastries. Ilike it, but often find it too heavy for my tastes. Another well-executed dish where all flavours worked in harmony. The crunchof the deep-fried pastry; the light zing from the lemon curd; a touch of the mint garnish; the tartness from the strawberry; thebalanced coconut sorbet—all of these flavours together had Danny & I fighting for the last bite. We can’t wait to go backthere again ???? Read more
I came here with my girlfriends for their Chinese New Year dinner special. The food was absolutely savory and delicious. I... didn't think I would be full as the portions are more traditional "fine dining" portions, but the flavors were remarkable, andby the end of the last course I was full. I was overall very impressed with the food and service here. Our waitress was veryfriendly and attentive. There was a Chinese Dragon Dance performance as well, it was a lot of fun to watch the dragons and tohear the drums. My girlfriends and I had a memorable experience here. I will be going back for sure. Read more
Fantastic food, very unique taste and nice ambiance. Tried the lamb, fish, pork belly, duck & squid ink pasta. The papaya &... mango slaw was also very refreshing and delicious. The dessert was also quite good. Highly recommend! Read more
The food was delicious. Great Asian flavours with a modern flair. The service was excellent as well. Looking forward to going... back and trying new things. Read more
Each dish we had, had so much flair to it. They are quite unique. Favourite dish highlights: - The sliders were savoury and... melts in your mouth. - The Siu mai was to die for. - The duck with crepes was a different take on Peking duck. - The milk baoswere light, not overly sweet and felt like little pillows in your mouth. Service was exceptional and the drinks were delicioustoo! I'd highly recommend going here. Cheers. Read more