Undercover Gourmet

Name: Evonne Li 

Residence: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Why I’m Undercover: It is never my goal to spy on a restaurant and write nasty reviews, rather I aim to uncover and share with you the good eats and hidden gems from around the world. I know a lot of people can relate when I say “I love food”, but I mean it when I say, “I really love food”. I’m constantly watching Food TV, I plan my vacations around what foods I’m craving, I cook practically every day, and I have spent the last 15 years saturating myself in the food industry, both education (NAIT Culinary Arts graduate) and career wise. My friends and family come to me for cooking tips and restaurant suggestions. I guess in a way I’m slightly disappointed I haven’t put all this experience to better use (TV personality, professional food writer… hint, hint!), so I guess in this day and age, what better way to share with others your thoughts an opinions than in blog form. I hope you enjoy!

Published Article(s): Alberta F&B Magazine - Emerging Beverage Trends

Favorite Foods: Oysters on the half shell and sea urchin is my current death row meal, cheese (especially Dutch), Ruffles sour cream and onion chips, curries, maki rolls, steak tartar, macaroons, almost anything deep fried or in cream sauce.  

Least Favorite Foods: Generally, there isn’t a type of food I dislike, and consider myself to be very open minded. I think anything that is prepared well, no matter whether you like the ingredient or not, will taste good. But if I had to choose, it would be green peppers and tofu. I’m not sure what I have against green peppers, considering I really love the  red, orange, yellow, and hot varietal. As for the tofu, I’ve had it prepared very well in the past, I just don’t really like it. Minus the nutritional value, there aren’t any other benefits. It’s not a good thickening agent, and rather than having its own unique taste, tofu merely acts like sponge and soaks up other flavors.

Scariest Food Experience: Gongzhou China. It was a hot pot restaurant on the side of a very busy and dusty road. The meats were stored in a pushing cart with clear doors. No evidence of it being refrigerated, but that was the least of my concerns. The food was delicious; the soup we used to cook the meat was flavorful. Then some writing on the wall caught my eye. There was a list of available meats listed in the far corner. Chicken, beef, pork, and then my stomach turned. Dog. Dear lord what did these crazy people feed me?!  Our host assured us that it definitely was not dog meat, but as the meal progressed he would often pick at the slices of meat with his chopsticks, as to second guess his statement. To this day I still don’t know exactly what I ate that night. I think it’s better if we leave it a mystery.

Favorite Food Celebrities:

Anthony Bourdain – I love his attitude, his philosophy on food, and his travel adventures are ever so amusing

Guy Fieri – driving across America around eating butter soaked greasy goodness, how can you go wrong?!

Alton Brown – his skits can sometimes get very dorky (my favorite is “lactose man”), but his lessons are extremely informative.

Gordon Ramsey – need I explain?

Countries Visited: Canada, United States, Colombia, Hong Kong, China, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium

Contact: Questions? Comments? Suggestions? If you think there is a better restaurant or food pick out there, I will try it out! Feel free to email me:

hungry ["at" symbol] undercovergourmet [dot] ca