burger – Tiana Feng

So I ate a frozen burger…

September 3, 2015FoodLeave a Comment

About to find out wtf this tastes like http://t.co/YrZPxmKZT0—
Tiana Feng (@tianafeng) September 03, 2015

I found frozen burgers on sale at my local grocery store. This might as well be a Dollarama review because they were $1 each. How could I not try it at least once?

I took it to work and I was slightly embarrassed to go in the kitchen and reveal this box and encounter the appalled faces of co-workers. Luckily, no one was there. I took my burger out of the freezer and opened one side of the plastic wrap as instructed, leaving the burger still in it. I stuck the burger in the microwave for one single minute.

Beep beep. I open the microwave. The aroma is familiar, a little hospital-like with a side of sadness. Well, sort of like McDonalds. The wrapper was a bit hot to hold so I grasped it with a paper towel. The cheese was melted and the meat a brownish colour. There was no tomato. I don’t know why there’s a photo of a tomato on the box.

The size of the burger was like a junior burger at any fast-food chain. If you like fast-food you might actually like this sub-par burger. I found it tasted a lot like a regular cheese burger at McDonalds, underwhelming with a weird sweetness to the bun. I ate the entire thing in like a minute because it was relatively small and unsatisfying.

What was I thinking? Why did I buy a frozen burger. Let alone 2 (yes there is a second still in the fridge).

Wild Burger

March 21, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

For my birthday, my friend Nilabjo (yes that’s a real name) bought me a Travelzoo gift certificate for Wild Burger near Yonge & Eglington.

I’ve never heard of it prior to getting the certificate but their menu selection quite literally lives up to their name. They offer a variety of burger meats including elk, bison, venison, ostrich, kangaroo and camel. They also advertise sustainable food and flavours that represent the diversity of Canada.

I chose the camel burger which came with a sweet cilantro sauce, brie, baby spinach, mango, dried fruit salsa and onions. I’ve never had camel but it had a texture and consistency of beef but was much lighter tasting. I loved the cilantro sauce and I thought all the ingredients married together. There was also a nice crunch that I wasn’t sure if it was from the spinach or something else.

As my side, I chose the duck fat fries garlic fries. They were great on their own but I also tried dipping them in a selection of house-made sauces. One of the strangest was a banana-mustard.

Nash settled on the Chimichuri Elk Burger that had chipotle aoli, brie and a fried egg. Elk is a lean meat so this can be downed so easily!

He accompanied his burgers with fried pickles. I stole quite a few because they had a perfect crunch. They were sliced in a way that didn’t give you too much pickle or too much breading.

To drink I tried a Social Lite for the first time in Lemon Cucumber Mint. It was an alcoholic cooler of some sort but I didn’t find it as flavourful as the fancy cocktails you could find around town. It advertises no sugar, but I feel like it needed it.

We really enjoyed our burgers at Wild Burger and now I’m itching to try all the other types of patties!

Pray to the Burger’s Priest

January 27, 2015Food, Restaurant Reviews4 Comments

A while back, we visited The Burger’s Priest for the first time. I don’t know why it was that we hadn’t gone there considering our burger love and the hype but I guess the Queen East location was too far so we went to the one on Queen West.

In case you didn’t know, Burger’s Priest has a regular menu displayed at their restaurant but they also have various secret options that are available for those who dare to venture.

Nash ordered The Tower of Babel (pictured above). Yes, all the burgers have rather biblical names. Between two grilled cheese sandwiches were two beef burgers, lettuce, tomato and the veggie burger deemed “the option”. Why on earth would you want a veggie burger AND meat patties you might ask? Well, their version of a “veggie burger” is a custom blend of cheesygoodness sandwiched between two portabello mushrooms AND deep fried. Yes that’s why. After eating this, you’d probably end up needing to pray for your survival.

I ordered the less scary Holy Smokes. It was a double cheeseburger with deep fried jalapenos. The kick and crunch were a very nice addition.

It was very unnecessary to do this, but I ordered the chilli cheese fries. Because why not? They were oozing with cheese.

If you ever need a serious splurge of calories. Burger’s Priest is definitely the place to be.

Burgers and Truffle Fries @ Holy Chuck

October 29, 2013October 29, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Fork in photo is unrelated to burger eating.

Last year, for Nash’s birthday, I started the tradition of taking him to a ridiculous burger joint. We do burgers all year, when they’re in the vicinity of where we happen to be but on birthdays we’ll actually travel for the next wacky thing. Anyway, this year we ended up at Holy Chuck at St. Clair Station.

Their menu has a variety of interesting creations. Nash ordered The Village Cow ($12.99), which had two patties and seared, melted kefalotiri cheese, red onions and greek olive oil. We’ve never heard of that cheese before, but it was deliciously fried and creamy. He also had a side of fries which came in a generous portion.

I went for the Le Croissant Du Paysan ($12.99), which was egg, pancetta, fries and burger on flakey croissants. The croissants were soft and sweet. Altogether the burger was like a very complete breakfast.

Ok time for the star of the show! Since it was his birthday, I totally splurged on the Black Truffle Fries. Real truffles were always a thing I dreamt about after watching too much Food Network but Holy Cow had actual shavings on their fries (and one of their burgers that we didn’t order)! There was also a nice aged cheese on the fries but we were more intrigued by the unique wood-like taste of truffle. It was really addictive. To top it off, it was also served with a truffle mayo. So much truffle, but so much delicious. These are fries I’m still thinking of a few days later.

Watch my Vlog of the day.

Bison Burgers @ W Burger Bar

Union Burger and the Magical Coke Machine

September 12, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I’m stuck in Mississauga this week house-sitting. I was watching an episode of Burger Wars and ended up with a gourmet burger craving. I then researched to see if there were places besides chains where I have already been (Five Guys, Big Smoke) and stumbled on Union Burger.
The place is on Living Arts Drive, right across from Square One Shopping Centre. The interior design of the place was modern and sleek.

I ordered the Peppercorn Goat Cheese Burger. It had cracked black pepper, caramelized onions, lettuce, BBQ sauce and of course goat cheese. I couldn’t really taste the pepper as the BBQ sauce was a little over powering.

I chose onion rings as my side. The breading texture reminded me of Burger King’s onion rings, but crunchier.

I finally had the opportunity to try one of the new Coca-Cola freestyle machines.

The machine allows you to mix and match your own soft drink flavour. I stuck with a classic vanilla coke. Maybe next time I’ll be more creative.

They’re not the best burgers in the world but Union Burger has some affordable and tastier alternatives to the fast food chains.

Hogtown Smoke at a Jager Party

June 21, 2013Food, StreetLeave a Comment

Found my old NXNE friend Jessica Stuart!

Last week during NXNE there were plenty of day parties. The one I ended up staying the longest in was the Exclaim! and Jagermeister BBQ.

Everybody in the Toronto music industry was around so it was nice to catch up and relax amidst a hectic week. To drink, there was free Jager shots, Monster energy drinks and Pabst. Attendees were given punch cards for food and drink.

Me and Nash with patties from the mysterious snack truck.

There was a snack truck full of everybody’s guilty pleasures: chips, chocolate, candies, cookies and more. Everything free. The guy seemed lonely so I visited the truck multiple times. Apparently he was doing market research, so his data is going to have some weird Asian girl eating one of everything.

The cards entitled us to one small sandwich (or poutine) from onsite food truck Hogtown Smoke. I ordered the brisket sandwich and there was tons of meat sandwiched between the little bun! There wasn’t too much to it (no slaw), but it was tasty on its own. There was also a huge selection of hot sauce by the truck from mild to adventurous for those looking to tickle their tongue.

Nash got the pulled mushroom sandwich, mostly because while in line we were wondering what that would be like. He’s also a mushroom fan. I liked the smokey flavour they were able to injected in it.

Eating burgers with The Almighty Rhombus

It was a lovely day of sun, music, friends and food!

Party photos by @plafleur and Jagermeister Canada

Frankie’s Burgers

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I saw Frankie’s on Restaurant Makeover but I didn’t know it was right at Queen and Ossington (an intersection I frequent). The new signage bravely deems it “World’s Best Burgers” and as a burger lover, I had to try it.

I had the Smokin’ Hot Honey with a side of fries. It had jalapenos, crunchy onions jalapehno havarti, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and smoke mayo. It was pretty much the meat lovers type of burger. My favourite part of it was probably the sweet BBQ sauce. The fries were homemade with sea salt. The portion sizes were very generous

Nash had the Aristotle burger which was a lot like a Greek salad on a burger. His sweet potato fries came with BBQ sauce.

While the burgers were pretty good I don’t know if I’d consider them the “World’s Best”. They’re not particularly unique or special but they definitely don’t disappoint.

Our Quest to The Burgernator

April 1, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Nested in the boutiques of Kensington Market is recently owned burgery The Burgernator. The eatery had black walls that were decorated with a Terminator / RPG quest theme.

The washroom played along with a sign that says “Duty Calls” and a Burger Manifesto took up one wall.

The menu was also inscribed on the wall with action packed burger names.

I ordered the Atomic Burger which had a deep fried herb crusted cheese, tomato, lettuce and sun dried tomato aiole on top of a patty of freshly ground beef. This was the first time I had a burger with a slice of fried cheese and the herbs added to the batter was definitely a lovely touch. The sun dried tomato aiole balanced the heaviness with something light. There was a bit of greasiness created by the fried cheese so this burger can get quite messy.

Nash had the Asta La Vista, Birdie which had guacamole, jalapenos and jack cheese on a chicken breast. The peppers gave it a nice kick.

We’ll definitely destroy one of the other burgers when we find ourselves in the area again.

Delicious Burgers at The Works

October 25, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I took Nash out for an early birthday dinner tonight. We decided that instead of something fancy we’d hit up one of the many burger places that we haven’t tried yet. We headed to The Works Burger on the Danforth. There’s also plenty of other locations for those of you who don’t live in Toronto.

The restaurant played on a construction work-site theme. It was very casual; like a burger joint should be. We even got our soft drinks in measuring cup-esque glasses.

The best part about this place is they have over 72 different burger combinations. That’s right 72. The menu also includes other delicious sounding things like fried pickles and an onion tower. However, we came for a burger, so that’s what we got.

The menu was categorized by types of burger combinations, from the most popular, strange, sauced, bold, meat and veggy. You could also choose from a variation of meats (beef, chicken, salmon, portobello, ground turkey, veggie). We both had the elk. I had the Beverley Hills Lawsuit with a side of Bold Slaw.

My burger had egg, leaf spinach, Havarti and double smoked bacon. The elk was lean and delicious. I gobbled the entire thing up and did not feel like death afterwards. The combination of ingredients tasted like a very delicious quiche in a sandwich. The Bold Slaw came in a generous serving size and had a little bit of a kick from the jalapeno juice and white pepper. I would have been happier with a smaller serving of that, as I did not end up finishing the slaw. The flavour was too pungent for me to have such a large portion of it.

Nash had the Neil Young burger with a side of cucumber. Who optionally chooses cucumber??!!!.

The toppings included grilled eggplant, fresh avocado, salsa loco and feta cheese. I stole a giant bite of it. I really liked that the avocado was a literal piece of fresh avocado and not some mushed guacomole-like paste. There was a nice texture to it and the grilled eggplant went really well with the salsa and the feta. Flavour explosion in one bite!

This was seriously one of our favourite burger places (and if you are a regular reader you know we’ve been to a lot of them). We’ll definitely be stopping by again to eat one of the other 70 combinations!

Yummy Fish and Chips at Hurricanes

October 13, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

I don’t normally dine at bars unless someone recommended an item on their menu. This was the case with Hurricanes, located at Bloor and Dovercourt. I was told their Fish and Chips ($12) were off-the-hook, so that’s what I got.

There was a gigantic piece of fried fish on a bed of home cut fries. There was tartar sauce and coleslaw at the side. Fish and chips is not a thing I usually order from restaurants (unless the place only serves that) but this was delicious! It was nice and crunchy and the fish in the middle was soft and moist. I didn’t even use much of the tartar sauce.

Nash got a burger. It was nothing special, but the grilled flavour was nice. A bit pricey though with a base price of $11 considering that every ad-on (bacon, cheese, egg, onion ring, jalapenos etc) was $2 extra and could result in a $20 burger that we could get much cheaper elsewhere.

Their menu has some other neat things I want to try including Doritos crusted mozzarella sticks and “The Big League Dog”. The atmosphere is very relaxed, so it’s a nice chill place to hangout and have a drink with friends and eat some bar food.