I have a confession. I ate Brussel Sprouts on Friday and I didn't hate them.
For years and years, my mother has been trying to get me to eat my sprouts. Just one with a meal when I was about six. I was probably a pain, but eventually would eat one if soused in vinegar. To take away that awful vegetal taste. Then one was two. Then three. I still hated the taste, but without eating some, it was no dessert.
Mum tried all sorts of ways to get me to meat sprouts. Chopped up in a stir fry. Boiled. Steamed. Baked. Pureed. In a cream sauce. Wrapped in bacon. Stuffed inside a donut, sprinkled with chocolate flakes*.
They still tasted of sprouts. Like Morissey's voice ruined The Smiths (ducks) for me. I don't care how good the music and the lyrics are, that whining is still there under or over it all. The taste of sprouts pervaded all the tricks and preparation Mum tried.
So I grew up, and then could be an adult and refuse the Brussel Sprouts (or devil's little cabbages, as I like to know them as). And Mum could have sprouts however she wanted with out a bratty son not wanting them.
And the on Friday, I went in Foo Ramen. A tiny little space, dedicated to serving big hot bowls of ramen noodles, prepped in about half a dozen ways. I'd just finished up at Discover Tectoria and wanted something fast and full of good stuff before heading home. Ramen in good vegetable broth seemed like the answer.
So clearly I ordered the Pork Donburi special. Rice, pork and greens. I didn't read the list of greens to hard. I may have seen 'sprouts' and just parsed them as pea shoots or bean sprouts. When my bowl came out, I still didn't notice the little cabbages of doom.
Instead I coated the rice in a thin layer of the spicy, savoury sauce they have on the side there. Spicy, slightly sweet but with big layer of savoury happiness. Combined with the simple white rice, my stomach and taste buds were happy, and fast.
I tried the pork, which was crispy, shredded little pieces, generously piled against the heap of rice. Also really good, with the crunch of the meat added to the flavours and textures so well. The chimichurri paste also added to medley of good stuff going on.
Then I lifted a fork of the mixed greens up and noticed this quarter of a brussel sprout sitting there, spiked on the tines. I frowned. Why was this in my awesome meal? What devilry had turned this awesome pork donburi into a flash back to one of the few foods that I can't stand? Where was the vinegar?
Sod it, I thought, and ate it.
Oh. It wasn't crunchy and dense and full of a sharp, bitter tasting flavour. It was soft, and really didn't taste of much except for a very mild kale. I didn't hate the chef. I didn't send it back for containing undercover Brussel Sprouts (the menu is pretty clear). Instead I added a touch more of the chill paste, and polished of the whole bowl. Including three or four more of these pan-fried sprouts. And a big bunch of crisp pea shoots.
This doesn't mean you can feed me sprouts now. But it does mean my taste buds may just have changed.
And I really should go back for the ramen sometime.
Foo Ramen Bar, 762 Broughton Street : http://www.fooramenbar.ca/
(*) Okay, I may be lying about some of these preparations.
February 21, 2016
February 14, 2016
Ampersand 27, Whyte Avenue, Edmonton
At the start of the year, I went to Edmonton. On the train. Most of the train ride there was awesome, but for some reason, the last three hours I felt horribly ill. On arrival, my friends picked me up and I retired straight to the bedroom, where I continued to feel the after effects of whatever I had eaten that upset me.
So that pretty much wrote of my first day in Edmonton. Luckily, a solid diet of cheesy films, hot tea and a good company sorted me out, and by the next day, I was ready to face the cold, frigid, Edmonton day.
After a walk around the legislature building, the parks and looking out over the frozen Athabasca, we went to Whyte Avenue to play boardgames at HXGN. A cafe not unlike Victoria's own Interactivity Board Game Cafe. Just only 90% as awesome. We played some good games, drank hot coffee, and then wandered along Whyte to '&27'. It was cold on that walk. I am very glad for the warm scarf my friend had given me (in the silver and honolulu blue of the Detroit Lions, naturally). I was also very glad to eat here.
Even though I didn't have too much (didn't want to risk too much), what we did eat was all full of flavour. It showed a lot of innovation and flair in the kitchen. Except for one item, where I was just confused.
Firstly, I paid for filtered, pure water... advertised with the promise that all profits went to Mealshare. I like the Mealshare concept. I don't like paying for a simple glass of water, and I really don't know who Q-Water is and why I should think their water is any different from what comes out of the tap. Then again, the assumption that someone is looking after your tap water leads to Flint, Michigan.
But, my friend, the Book Seller and Gourmet, did get a very tasty cocktail which lead to much grins and happiness spreading across her face. But not as much grins and happiness as the shared starter of peanut fries.
I did not quite know what peanut fries would be, half expecting them to be some sort of extruded peanut mass, deep fried and kinda sickly. Instead it was a generous cone of chips with a salty, savoury dusting of something peanutty. We suspected it was some sort of peanut super powder, used in fitness shakes or something like that. They were incredibly moorish, but also quite rich tasty so hoovering them down wasn't an option. Instead we just ate them one at a time, slowly, savouring the flavour of hot potato and peanut goodness.
We shared a portion of the Smoked Chicken Gnocchi. I was expecting chicken and gnocchi. What we got was a pile of big, chunky pasta-dumplings, covered with some squeaky curds and a poached egg. There was a pepper and rosemary strewn over it as well. This made for a dish that had an interesting mouth feel, with lots of warm, chewy flavours. The chicken? Hidden IN the gnocchi, in tiny little bits, with a not super-obvious level of taste. But it was there, though I didn't get much of the smokiness I expected.
To finish, as my stomach was already feeling full, we got the pork belly on a bed of corn and beans. I really want to know if the dish was intended to have the pork cold. If it was intentional, fair enough. it worked, though I much prefer pork belly to me hot and steaming. Then the fat combines with the beans and corn to add all sorts of extra flavours. Cold, it was still tasty, but the flavours didn't combine with the home baked beans and the spicy mesquite corn. Which I loved. The fritters tasted like a very savoury custard to me, but the Book Seller and Gourmet didn't agree, and we couldn't pin down the rich, slightly creamy flavour in there.
The space itself would fit right into Victoria. Slightly pretentious, without being overbearing. Keen and friendly waiters. The long curved bar takes up one big corner, while the dining area has a mix of tables... large family style rounds and smaller intimate two person squares. Big glass frontage, but double glazed to keep us warm in the winter. And a Whyte Avenue side patio space for when this becomes the buzzing place it is in the summer.
So that pretty much wrote of my first day in Edmonton. Luckily, a solid diet of cheesy films, hot tea and a good company sorted me out, and by the next day, I was ready to face the cold, frigid, Edmonton day.
After a walk around the legislature building, the parks and looking out over the frozen Athabasca, we went to Whyte Avenue to play boardgames at HXGN. A cafe not unlike Victoria's own Interactivity Board Game Cafe. Just only 90% as awesome. We played some good games, drank hot coffee, and then wandered along Whyte to '&27'. It was cold on that walk. I am very glad for the warm scarf my friend had given me (in the silver and honolulu blue of the Detroit Lions, naturally). I was also very glad to eat here.
Even though I didn't have too much (didn't want to risk too much), what we did eat was all full of flavour. It showed a lot of innovation and flair in the kitchen. Except for one item, where I was just confused.
Firstly, I paid for filtered, pure water... advertised with the promise that all profits went to Mealshare. I like the Mealshare concept. I don't like paying for a simple glass of water, and I really don't know who Q-Water is and why I should think their water is any different from what comes out of the tap. Then again, the assumption that someone is looking after your tap water leads to Flint, Michigan.
But, my friend, the Book Seller and Gourmet, did get a very tasty cocktail which lead to much grins and happiness spreading across her face. But not as much grins and happiness as the shared starter of peanut fries.
I did not quite know what peanut fries would be, half expecting them to be some sort of extruded peanut mass, deep fried and kinda sickly. Instead it was a generous cone of chips with a salty, savoury dusting of something peanutty. We suspected it was some sort of peanut super powder, used in fitness shakes or something like that. They were incredibly moorish, but also quite rich tasty so hoovering them down wasn't an option. Instead we just ate them one at a time, slowly, savouring the flavour of hot potato and peanut goodness.
We shared a portion of the Smoked Chicken Gnocchi. I was expecting chicken and gnocchi. What we got was a pile of big, chunky pasta-dumplings, covered with some squeaky curds and a poached egg. There was a pepper and rosemary strewn over it as well. This made for a dish that had an interesting mouth feel, with lots of warm, chewy flavours. The chicken? Hidden IN the gnocchi, in tiny little bits, with a not super-obvious level of taste. But it was there, though I didn't get much of the smokiness I expected.
To finish, as my stomach was already feeling full, we got the pork belly on a bed of corn and beans. I really want to know if the dish was intended to have the pork cold. If it was intentional, fair enough. it worked, though I much prefer pork belly to me hot and steaming. Then the fat combines with the beans and corn to add all sorts of extra flavours. Cold, it was still tasty, but the flavours didn't combine with the home baked beans and the spicy mesquite corn. Which I loved. The fritters tasted like a very savoury custard to me, but the Book Seller and Gourmet didn't agree, and we couldn't pin down the rich, slightly creamy flavour in there.
The space itself would fit right into Victoria. Slightly pretentious, without being overbearing. Keen and friendly waiters. The long curved bar takes up one big corner, while the dining area has a mix of tables... large family style rounds and smaller intimate two person squares. Big glass frontage, but double glazed to keep us warm in the winter. And a Whyte Avenue side patio space for when this becomes the buzzing place it is in the summer.
February 07, 2016
Free Birthday Food - Denny's and Red Robin, Mayfair, Victoria
This past Monday I turn another year older. I went in search of free stuff you might get for your birthday. Plenty of offers for 2 for 1 deals, or 25% off. But the two good offers I found (and used) were:
a) Free Denny's Grand Slam
b) Free Red Robin Gourmet Burger.
So as part of my birthday fun day, I went off on my bike to try out these two (and get in a 25km bike ride as well to burn of some of the calories).
Denny's, 3100 Douglas Street
Denny's offer a free Grand Slam breakfast for you on your birthday. You can mix and match four items from their list, so I decided on pancakes, bacon, hash browns and sunny-side up eggs. Coffee is extra, but a three bucks for bottomless coffee, that's not so bad.
It was a very wet and raining Monday morning, so I had the place pretty much to myself. This didn't stop my table having a good speckling of toast crumbs for whoever was their last. The staff were pretty fast attentive all throughout, and the coffee was kept well topped up. Two of my friends joined me, including a big Denny's Breakfast fan ("I love me some Denny's" - true quote). We all got slams.
Mine was fair to good. The pancakes were the size of large side plates, fresh, and cooked beyond the point they taste like paste and before the point they taste like cardboard. There was a whipped scoop of butter on top. Don't think this is a tiny ice cream scoop. It's not.
The hash-browns are the real deal, grated potatoes, fried up and still slightly greasy, yet crispy on the outside. The eggs were done okay... I could have tested them further with scrambled eggs, but as I had a long day ahead of me, bad eggs would have put a damper on things. But based on what I got, I'd try it next time. The bacon was probably mostly water when it was put on the grill.. as it came out as two shriveled rashers, crisped to nothing much at all. Sad loss of a pig to the world.
Everyone seems to have a Denny's horror story, about how there local one is the worst in the city/province/country. I've heard it about Victoria, but it's been there so long, in a town with lots of breakfast joints, it can't be the WORST. It was just breakfast done the way it's done in 2,000 other places. No flair, but the same meal every time, more or less.
Still, it did what it said, it wasn't bad, it filled me up too. It was free. Same time, same place next year?
Red Robin, 800 Tolmie Avenue
I went off from Denny's, avoiding a rainstorm, and headed out toe Cecelia Creek Gorge park. I went down the mountain bike trials course there a couple of times (easy route, I've got a road bike, and bad balance). That was fun. Then I head over to The Pedaler to start a loop of Victoria they've designed and I'm writing a puzzle hunt for. More to come on that, hopefully.
18km later, I was outside the Red Robin, which sits proud above the triple-lane highway into downtown core. It has no bike parking outside, so I strapped my bicycle to one of the concrete posts that hold up the signage.
The building is under renovations, so half the place is torn up, and a lot of the walls and floors are bare, or tarped over. It's not so bad that it's dusty and dirty, just a bit battered while they work on it. I got a seat in the bar area (it might have been called the club lounge, which is a five dollar description of a twenty-five cent place). Found out the free burger deal, which had just gone to an online club I had to join. They have about twenty burgers on the gourmet list, which is the birthday freebie, plus another set of premium sandwiches. And the normal hodge podge of starters.
But I wanted free, but nothing super heavy, so went with the turkey burger. Topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon, it's a super with extra cheese and turkey. I wasn't expecting much, and had the broccoli option as my side. You know, for healthy reasons.
The burger was actually damn fine. Moist, flavourful and the veggies were all crisp. The ciabatta bun soaked up some of the juices, which made it extra tasty. The bacon was far better cooked than the rubbish at Denny's. All over, a good burger.
The broccoli was cooked to the bright green (or a little beyond), not soggy. Covered in butter, I think, so maybe not that healthy, but still, felt better than a bunch of supersized fries. The sides are meant to be bottomless. I would have got more broccoli, but didn't see a server again until checking out to leave, and I really didn't need it. I did quite like the Red Robin special flavouring salt, which has a bunch celery salt, dried tomatoes, garlic and onions in it. This tasted good on the greens.
I would have paid $10.49 for this burger normally. That's a pretty good price. On the flip side, the beer isn't. I paid $8 for a 'jumbo size' Sam Adams. It looked like a normal sized beer to me. And no where did I see the price quoted at such a rip off price. I drank better beers for less at Churchill later on in the evening.
Would go back again for the food. Was very pleasantly surprised by the quality for the price. Would not drink there. Was unpleasantly surprised by the quality for the price.
a) Free Denny's Grand Slam
b) Free Red Robin Gourmet Burger.
So as part of my birthday fun day, I went off on my bike to try out these two (and get in a 25km bike ride as well to burn of some of the calories).
Denny's, 3100 Douglas Street
Denny's offer a free Grand Slam breakfast for you on your birthday. You can mix and match four items from their list, so I decided on pancakes, bacon, hash browns and sunny-side up eggs. Coffee is extra, but a three bucks for bottomless coffee, that's not so bad.
It was a very wet and raining Monday morning, so I had the place pretty much to myself. This didn't stop my table having a good speckling of toast crumbs for whoever was their last. The staff were pretty fast attentive all throughout, and the coffee was kept well topped up. Two of my friends joined me, including a big Denny's Breakfast fan ("I love me some Denny's" - true quote). We all got slams.
Mine was fair to good. The pancakes were the size of large side plates, fresh, and cooked beyond the point they taste like paste and before the point they taste like cardboard. There was a whipped scoop of butter on top. Don't think this is a tiny ice cream scoop. It's not.
The hash-browns are the real deal, grated potatoes, fried up and still slightly greasy, yet crispy on the outside. The eggs were done okay... I could have tested them further with scrambled eggs, but as I had a long day ahead of me, bad eggs would have put a damper on things. But based on what I got, I'd try it next time. The bacon was probably mostly water when it was put on the grill.. as it came out as two shriveled rashers, crisped to nothing much at all. Sad loss of a pig to the world.
Everyone seems to have a Denny's horror story, about how there local one is the worst in the city/province/country. I've heard it about Victoria, but it's been there so long, in a town with lots of breakfast joints, it can't be the WORST. It was just breakfast done the way it's done in 2,000 other places. No flair, but the same meal every time, more or less.
Still, it did what it said, it wasn't bad, it filled me up too. It was free. Same time, same place next year?
Red Robin, 800 Tolmie Avenue
I went off from Denny's, avoiding a rainstorm, and headed out toe Cecelia Creek Gorge park. I went down the mountain bike trials course there a couple of times (easy route, I've got a road bike, and bad balance). That was fun. Then I head over to The Pedaler to start a loop of Victoria they've designed and I'm writing a puzzle hunt for. More to come on that, hopefully.
18km later, I was outside the Red Robin, which sits proud above the triple-lane highway into downtown core. It has no bike parking outside, so I strapped my bicycle to one of the concrete posts that hold up the signage.
The building is under renovations, so half the place is torn up, and a lot of the walls and floors are bare, or tarped over. It's not so bad that it's dusty and dirty, just a bit battered while they work on it. I got a seat in the bar area (it might have been called the club lounge, which is a five dollar description of a twenty-five cent place). Found out the free burger deal, which had just gone to an online club I had to join. They have about twenty burgers on the gourmet list, which is the birthday freebie, plus another set of premium sandwiches. And the normal hodge podge of starters.
But I wanted free, but nothing super heavy, so went with the turkey burger. Topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon, it's a super with extra cheese and turkey. I wasn't expecting much, and had the broccoli option as my side. You know, for healthy reasons.
The burger was actually damn fine. Moist, flavourful and the veggies were all crisp. The ciabatta bun soaked up some of the juices, which made it extra tasty. The bacon was far better cooked than the rubbish at Denny's. All over, a good burger.
The broccoli was cooked to the bright green (or a little beyond), not soggy. Covered in butter, I think, so maybe not that healthy, but still, felt better than a bunch of supersized fries. The sides are meant to be bottomless. I would have got more broccoli, but didn't see a server again until checking out to leave, and I really didn't need it. I did quite like the Red Robin special flavouring salt, which has a bunch celery salt, dried tomatoes, garlic and onions in it. This tasted good on the greens.
I would have paid $10.49 for this burger normally. That's a pretty good price. On the flip side, the beer isn't. I paid $8 for a 'jumbo size' Sam Adams. It looked like a normal sized beer to me. And no where did I see the price quoted at such a rip off price. I drank better beers for less at Churchill later on in the evening.
Would go back again for the food. Was very pleasantly surprised by the quality for the price. Would not drink there. Was unpleasantly surprised by the quality for the price.
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