Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Burger Joint (Edmonton)

Location: near the intersection of 23 rd Ave 91st street on the south side (near Costco)

The Burger Joint on Urbanspoon
 
My friend and I visited The Burger Joint for the first time today and were happy and satisfied with our meal. The restaurant itself is located in a quiet business strip mall which is a bit unfortunate because it's a decent place that I would suspect would be very popular if it was located in a more visible and busier area. The restaurant itself is very casual with several tables where you can seat yourself and is brightly lit with simple modern decor.
 
I forgot to take a picture of it but there are check sheets on table where you check off what type of burger you want and pick the toppings and sauces. There are several burgers to choose from (beef, grilled chicken, buffalo chicken, breaded chicken, lamb, donair, double beef, veggie) along with at least 14 different sauces and at least 20 burger toppings (cucumber, roasted corn, grilled mushrooms, veggies, etc). There is also a list of premium burger toppings for around a dollar which included different cheeses, calamari rings, portabello mushrooms etc. The burgers without the addition of premium topping range from 6.99 to about 8$, very reasonable. I liked it because there was a large range of complementary burger toppings which included more than the typical lettuce and tomatoes.
We had a coupon for free fries which the purchase of a burger so that was a nice bonus. The fries came with a side of ketchup and this really good mayo/onion/pepper dip. They also had several shakers up at the counter where you could season your fries (cheese power stuff, vinegar, Cajun spice, hamburger spice, onion power, etc).


My friend order the grilled chicken burger with cheese, mushrooms, lettuce, and spicy bbq sauce. She said it was really good and very filling.



My burger (8$) consisted of a homemade beef patty, lettuce, tomatoes, feta, mushrooms, black and green olives, roasted corn, and cucumber. I really enjoyed it and it wasn't greasy and didn't leave me feeling gross afterwards.

For the love of....

Amazing treats from Elm Cafe in Edmonton before the Raj Patel talk at
UofA International Week. Creme brulee, AB beef crostini, duck and
cranberry, and sweet pear crisps with goat cheese, beet, and dill.

Green tea and red bean mochi from T&T brand

Green tea mochi with red bean and whipped cream filling

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

No week is complete without a stop at Duchess. Banana pie with vanilla
bean whipped cream

What a beauty. Raspberry macron with fresh raspberries and rose ganache

Gettin' back to basics

Okay okay...I think I am finally done catching up with all my travel adventures. Now I can get back to blogging about Edmonton eats.
 
For those who actually enjoy my travel adventures don't despair...because I'm heading on another one in a couple months!! I will be back in Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, and Indonesia but will be adding India and Hong Kong to the list. So excited!!
 
Keep tuned!

Co Co Ichibanya (Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand)

I ate at Co Co Ichibanya in Siam Paragon Mall in Bangkok last time I was here and was looking forward to finally taking Coel during our Christmas vacation. Co Co mixes some of my favorite foods (egg, rice, and curry) into one yummy, satisfying dish.
 
Thai's love Japanese things so it's kind of fun being in Bangkok and trying a range of Japanese inspired food without having to be in Japan (eg the Japanese desserts I blogged about and Co Co)


I love plastic food menu things

Omelet with fried chicken, rice, and Japanese curry. Sorry about Coel's hand,
he gets a kick out of trying to ruin my photos.

Pork cutlet with cheese and Japanese curry over rice

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Continental Treat Valentines Day Dinner (Edmonton)

Continental Treat on Urbanspoon

For Valentines Day Coel surprised me with an amazing dinner at Continental Treat. Continental Treat is one of our favorite restaurants in Edmonton because we love the service and atmosphere...and of course the food. The Valentines dinner at Continental was a single seating private function that included wine pairings from Enkidu winery in Sonoma. The owner of the winery was at the restaurant and was happily on hand to answer any questions people had about the wine. There was also a pre-dinner cheese tasting courtesy of Everything Cheese in Edmonton which was wonderful and great a live jazz band.
 
The whole thing lasted about four hours due to them spacing out the meals and the wine. They did a great job at spacing the meals out to give couples plenty of time to converse without leaving us hungry.

 

 
We really enjoyed the wines from Enkidu and will certainly be looking to pick some up soon.
 

Shrimp appetizer

Yummy wild mushroom soup

Melt in your mouth fillet mignon, mushrooms,
baby carrots, over potatoes and house gravy


Chocolate cake
 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Shabu Shi (Central World, Bangkok, Thailand)


This sushi and shabu shabu restaurant is one of the most brilliant restaurant concepts I have ever seen. Located in Center World Mall in Bangkok, the restaurant fuses sushi with hot pot in an easy, creative, and fun way. Shabu Shi is all you can eat and features an unlimited assortment of great sushi and individual hot pot as well as drinks.



Conveyor belt with hot pot items such as vegetables, meats, fish, noodles,
dumpling etc.
Each seat has its individual hot pot station where you pick what type of broth you want and pick dishes off the conveyor belt in front of you. There are tons of different things to choose from and many different sauces and condiments to add to your broth. You are also able to control the heat settings for your individual hot pot.


All you can eat assorted sushi

Nom nom nom

Hot pot items


Angry Birds for your hot pot! Made from fish.

Popular among the lunch crowd

My personal hot pot
Coel and I really loved food and were excited by the concept. I will certainly be back next time I'm in Bangkok.

Samui Eats (Thailand)

 
Nom nom nom
 
 
Delicious pandan and brown sugar sticky rice

Fermented shrimp fried rice

I honestly forgot what this is. I think its veggie and flat noodle stir fry

My favorite vegetable in the world...morning glory

Market at the Fisherman's Village in Bophut



Amazing crepe cake with strawberry coulis

The most regrettable meal we had during our entire trip. I was craving naan
bread for some reason so we decided to stop here. Not only was it a waste
of money but the food was sub par and we certainly could have
spent our money eating way better food.

Fish


There was a blackout while we were out to lunch but we
managed to get some ice cream before it all melted in
the stores. Here is Coel's sundae from Swensens. All the
generators were down and when we left most of their ice
cream was already half way melted.


Samui Bound (Thailand)

Koh Samui
 
 
Cute little puppy we couldn't help but play with

Mummified monk

Temple of the mummified monk


Baby elephant

I forgot what the waterfall was called but it was nice because you could go
swimming in the river below it



Coel and I at Palm Coco Mantra Hotel Koh Samui

Palm Coco Mantra Hotel

I couldn't help but take a photo of the name of the laundromat we
did our laundry at

Grandfather rock. I didn't get a good picture of it but it looks like a penis.
There is also 'Grandmother rock' but we couldn't see it.