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South St. Burger Co. – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been to Cross Iron Mills a few times now, and I’ve always noticed a long line any time of day at South St. Burger Co so on this particular occasion during my visit, I craved and sat down for a burger.

We ordered a Hamburger Combo to share as it was kind of a snack. Our combo, we ordered it with a poutine instead of regular fries or onion rings. South St. Burger’s uses New York Fries for their sides, and says they are the best sides. I must say, I’ve never been a huge fan of New York fries for some reason, and this time didn’t make me change my mind either. The gravy was really salty, and it didn’t taste like any other brown gravy I’ve had… and even though the fries weren’t soggy and offered a nice crisp and soft on the inside – the poutine just didn’t satisfy me.

The hamburger I must say, I’m sure the beef patty was really delicious, but it was overwhelmed with all the toppings that they put on. They must’ve over-dressed it, as I tasted mostly the garlic mayo and mango chutney we added to our burger.

The toppings that the customer is able to choose from is extensive, with a huge array of everything! You’re able to pick your cheese, type of mustard, ketchup, mayo, relish and a sauce, plus the veggies you’d like on your burger. It is really nice you can personalize a burger, but as mentioned, I think they went a little over-board with loading on the toppings.

With it all said and done, it was a decent burger – not cheap, but it was good. It certainly didn’t seem like a beef burger though. So, in search of the perfect burger status – I’m still searching!

South St. Burger Co.

261055 CrossIron Blvd
(403) 274-3955

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Shogun Teppan-Yaki – Birmingham, England

Sushi from Shogun Teppan-Yaki has been a place where my sister has talked about for years as a place to take us! We finally went, and it was wonderful! Located in Birmingham in a huge mall called The Mailbox, it’s a wonderful Japanese restaurant with lots of options, from a sit down menu featuring noodles, sushi & sashimi, set meals, and much more, there is always something on the menu to satisfy any craving.

There is a sit down area with a rotating conveyer belt with sushi – and you just pick out what you want to eat, and is charged a flat rate. If you’re looking for entertainment, this is also the place to go as they offer teppanyaki for their customers.

We sat down and ate all the sushi we could with the flat fee. The sushi was really fresh and delicious – and we sat right by the window as the sushi first comes out of the kitchen. We tried a lot of dishes, from your standard sushi like salmon sushi, which was really fresh and tasty.

We had some tempura and this was crispy and not greasy. It was really nicely fried and the batter is excellent.

My favourite that I tried was the shrimp and mango sushi which is a sushi I haven’t tried since now. It’s sweet and savoury and I really enjoy this combo.

Shogun is an excellent place to visit if you’re in the area and craving for sushi – plus hungry! I would recommend Shogun whether you’re in for some entertainment, or just to fill up your belly. Even though I didn’t enjoy the teppanyaki myself, I did have a glimpse of a family enjoying it for lunch – and it sure looks like fun! πŸ™‚

Shogun Teppan-Yaki

Shogun Sushi/Noodle Bar Ltd
27-29 Wharfside Street
The Mail Box
Birmingham
B1 1RD

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Le Restaurant de Paul Covent Garden – London, England

While we were in London, we visited Paul twice! The first time, we went in for lunch, and tried delicious PAUL’s Hot Chocolate which was a delicious rich hot chocolate that coats the spoon and coats the mouth and stomach as we digest it! It’s really good, and I would call it “drinking chocolate” more than enjoying “hot chocolate”. What a wonderful treat it was!

For the lunch, I ate mixte crepes which was a perfectly cooked crepe filled with ham, emmental (cheese) and bechamel sauce. It was really creamy with the cheese and bechamel sauce, and once you cut into the crepe, the emmental oozed out. It was perfect! We also ordered the Champignon Crepe which was filled with mushrooms instead of ham.

We also had an order of Croque Madame which was ham, cheese, bechamel in toasted bread topped with emmental and a fried egg. There was a little salad on the side, and some toast! I didn’t try it, but it looked super delicious – and nothing was left on the plate at the end of this lunch (all plates), so you know it’s really good!

The second time, we went in more as a light snack midday! It was a nice treat after doing a lot of touristy events to sit down and relax over a cup of coffee. I had a delicious Mocha Light which was made from the chocolate that is thick and creamy! It was one of the best mocha’s I’ve ever had, and I think it has everything to do with the hot chocolate that Paul’s is famous for.

I enjoyed a piece of Coconut Flan which is ultimately a coconut tart that was really coconutty, light, soft piece of cake. We also had a Palmier A light, crisp sugared Puff Pastry Biscuit.

This palmier was really good, as most of the ones we’ve had was hard instead of crispy… so to my delight, this palmier was one of the best!

petit panier de pains was another treat that was actually shared within the table, and it’s a petit basket of assorted bread. It was good alone, with butter, with jam, and with both! πŸ™‚ Pizza Provencale which was a slice of pizza topped with cheese, tomato and black olives was a vegetarian delight.

29 Bedford St
Covent Garden
(020) 7836 3304

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Baozi Inn – London, England

We went into Baozi Inn for a snack, while we were in England, we ate every meal twice, including snacks — so, this was one of many snack meals that we enjoyed! Baozi Inn is located in London’s Chinatown and it’s a little place, but seats a lot of guests. The service was fast, the food was good, and the prices was very reasonable!

The interior was decorated beautifully – traditional Communist China, which really is quite neat! It is a huge part of China’s history and what not, but I’ve never seen any place do their interior decoration to reflect this time period. It was lovely though.

We ordered a few munchies, of course their bao’s (buns) since that’s what the restaurant is called. We tried their Pork Baozi which was a bun stuffed with juicy minced pork and onion. We also tried the House Special Baozi which for the day was Pork filled. Both of the steamed buns was quite large – especially compared to the ones we get get here at home, say T&T. It wasn’t over steamed where it’s mushy or soggy, and it wasn’t steamed for awhile and sitting there waiting for a guest to order it – as it wasn’t hard either. It just tasted like a wonderful bun that was really fresh.

We also ordered 2 orders of dumplings, and tried Chengdu Dumplings which were pork dumplings in Chilli Oil and Garlicky Sauce. The pork dumplings were boiled and seasoned with chilli oil and crushed garlic. It was extremely tasty, as the strong chilli oil and garlic taste was what we tasted more of, instead of the dumpling. But, the dumpling made a great vehicle for the topping as it was a tasty dish.

Finally, we tried just the Boiled dumplings stuffed with minced pork – served Beijing style with vinegar dip. It looked really plain when it got to the table, but because it wasn’t dressed up with anything, you could really taste the freshness of these dumplings, and it was fresh and delicious. The meat filling was indeed juicy and the skin was rolled quite thin and cooked well as the juices from the inside didn’t leak out until I bite into the dumpling.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience here at Baozi Inn, and I must recommend it to anyone going that way! Not just a snack either, those noodle dishes and what not look and smell great! I would love to go back to get more of everything, plus more!

Baozi Inn

25 Newport Court
London
(020) 7287 6877

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Bugis Street Brasserie – London, England

This restaurant is located inside the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington, London and this was the hotel we checked into. After a long walk to the hotel from Trafalgar Square, we quickly went downstairs after putting our belongings down and headed to Bugis Street Brasserie.

We got seated and the staff here are extremely friendly. The waitress spoke to us in Cantonese through the duration of our evening at Bugis Street, which was probably practice for her, as I don’t think too many Asians would eat Chinese food while on holidays to London.

The Hainanese Chicken Rice – 桷南鸑ι₯­ that we ordered was quite a large portion, with a big bowl of rice, probably more than a quarter of the chicken, and some sauces that came with this order (which is typical) was really pleasing to the eye and the stomach. This dish was the most pleasing for me, as I had a cold during this time – and a bowl of rice always satisfies an Asian’s belly. It wasn’t hot and warming though – like my next dish.

We ordered the Singapore laksa θΎ£ζ²™ which is a spicy noodle soup that really originated more from Malaysia in my opinion, even though it`s called Singapore Laska… but it does have a Chinese name – which always always fun to think about the Asian dishes and their names (“laksa” meaning “spicy sand” in Chinese, and this is from the sandy or gritty texture in the sauce from the ground dried prawns). Anyway, enough with my tangent, this belly warming noodle soup was full of intense Asian flavours such as lemon grass and ginger. A hot and spicy bowl of soup right before bedtime makes for a restful sleep. This dish wasn’t so spicy that you’d need to use the washroom during the entire evening, which was wonderful! This bowl of Laksa wasn’t authentic to me, but it was a very tasty bowl of noodle soup!

Finally, we ordered something much more Chinese which was Fried noodles with shredded chicken ζ‚θœη‚’ι’ and the noodles in this dish was really thin and delicate… which meant a lot of short pieces, but the flavour was plentiful, and the chicken slices was generous in portion sizes and slices.

Overall, I really enjoyed this stop for dinner #2 of the evening at Bugis Street Brasserie, after a long hike from dinner #1. It was extremely satisfying to the tummy, the body and the mind! It was a wonderful way to wind down the evening as everything was so pleasing and satisfying.

Bugis Street Brasserie

Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington
Scarsdale Place
Kensington
London
W8 5SR
United Kingdom
44 (0) 20 7937 7211