burgers – Page 2 – Tiana Feng

Burgers & Fries @ This End Up

March 29, 2014Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We were in the Dundas West area for a party so we stopped by This End Up for dinner. A reservation is recommended. We didn’t have one and walked in randomly but luckily there was space at the bar. The space is relatively small and everywhere else was already reserved (Note: It was a Saturday).

I ordered the Chutney Burger ($14 pictured above) which had pork belly, cheddar, tomato and apple chutney, umami mayo and arugala. It was definitely one of the messier burgers I’ve eaten but it was totally worth the sticky hands. The chutney was flavourful and the burger cooked to a tender medium. The fries were so addictive that I finished them regardless of feeling full after the burger.

Nash went for the simpler Better Mac ($14) which was 2 ground patties, lettuce, cheddar cheese, pickles, onions and a special sauce. He ate it in minutes so I assume it was delicious.

We will definitely be back again when we’re in less of a rush to try some of their cocktails and other menu items.

Lunch @ Duke’s Refresher + Bar

March 28, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Lunch with Nash’s parents landed us randomly in Duke’s Refresher + Bar, across from the Eaton Chelsea hotel where they were staying. It’s a sports bar that looks like it would have been perfect (and probably was) for the big olympic hockey game. It had a very homey vibe. There was even a thing on the menu where you could have your own personalized beer mug up on the shelf to be used every time you returned. What an adorable idea!

I had The Woody Burger ($12.95 pictured above) which was a BBQ brushed patty with American Cheese, “really special sauce”, carmelized onion on a bacon-infused foccacia. I loved the sweetness of the sauce and bread, which was not only bacon infused, but had a visible piece of bacon in it.The sandwich was also not heavy, a great choice for lunch.

Nash had the Hopped Up Fish & Chips ($14.50), craft beer-battered fish with a slaw, fries and of course tartar sauce. He also said it wasn’t heavy and light considering it was fried.

The bar also has it’s own house-made hot sauce which to me wasn’t that spicy but more of a nice flavour combination. We loved it on our fries.

There are also over 40 beers on tap and I had a lovely Coffee porter. If you’re looking for a casual pub to hang out in near Eaton’s Centre, this is a good one with decent food too!

Miniature Burger Kit by Happy Kitchen

March 24, 2014Candy, Food1 Comment

I couldn’t resist when I saw this miniature burger kit by Kracie’s Happy Kitchen when I was at Pacific Mall.

As always, the instructions were entirely in Japanese so I colour matched all the packages.

There were many packages of powders and I actually did it wrong at first because there were many orange ones. I ended up having to compare the text on the packaging with the instructions instead. The set needed the microwave to form the fries, bun and patties.

The result was a set that resembled a miniature McDonalds meal and strangely tasted like it too! The fries were salted, burgers meaty and soft drink fizzy. It was strange yet fascinating at the same time.

You can watch me make the burgers in my vlog.

Burger Socks

January 15, 2014Fashion, Food, PhotographyLeave a Comment

For Christmas Nash’s little sister @immicaylaB got me these awesome burger socks by Sock It To Me.

I actually don’t own that many pattern socks and these are totally adorable so I decided to do a mini-shoot with them.

For these photos I used the Canon 50mm 1.8 II lens. It’s difficult to use for selfies because it has difficulty auto-focusing. So basically I estimated by manual focusing and using a remote. This is the only full-selfie photo that turned out.

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

Bison Burgers @ W Burger Bar

October 17, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I’m always up for trying burger places I haven’t been. I spotted W Burger Bar outside College station so me and Nash hit it up while we were in the area. The interior design was pretty fancy and I was actually surprised to find that the burgers were quite affordable. The menu contained bison, kobe beef, lamb, chicken and more. Both of us got bison burgers but added our own toppings. My burger had chipotle ketchup, bacon and sauteed onions. Nash added a portobello mushroom and monterey jack. I enjoyed my bison burger, it was nice and meaty and the ketchup was a nice pairing.

As a side, we shared an order of 1/2 sweet, 1/2 regular fries. I love that they had that as an option! It’s a great compromise for those that can’t decide and they gave us a decent amount for $3.50.

Watch my vlog for the day:

Burger Day @ Wychwood Barns

June 3, 2013June 3, 2013Food1 Comment

Burger Week was last week and 64 restaurants around town put a special $5 on their menu. Yesterday, all these places gathered together at Artscape Wychwood Barns for Burger Day. Slider versions of the participating restaurants’ $5 burger were served all-you-can eat style.

The event started at 11am, but we didn’t arrive until 1:30. A few of the vendors had already given out all their burgers. If Soup Stock last year taught me anything, long lines don’t necessarily mean the best product. This pushed us to try some less buzzed places with shorter lines.

We pounced on Emma’s Country Kitchen’s line because it was short. This was a vegan burger but it was a nice light start. The crispy corn and chickpea fritter was actually very good! I could eat 10 of these.

Hey Meatball‘s slider was like a mini version of their sandwich with their signature tomato jam.

This juicy burger from Habits Gastropub looks pretty plain photo-wise but it had the best flavour. It was stuffed with short ribs and cheddar. The citrus beet-relish was my favourite part.

Gameday served up a classic tasting burger. I think mine was missing teh chimichurri.

New food start-up Bold Creations was the best finding of the day. Their burger was made with Boerewors a South-African sausage. Oh and there was also brie, and goat cheese. And a sauce with a kick. Definitely the flavour punch of the day.

Greasy spoon The Lakeview‘s slider had some crunchy onions.

I love The Works but I thought their (more half burger) slider was lacking the excitement that is usually found in the restaurant’s menu of 72 burgers.

Slider Revolution provided an Asian twist on our bunned friend and the other had a semi-sweet bacon jam.

We accidentally stood in Beer Bistro‘s line for fries that came in a generous portion (for free).

Utopia Cafe had a lovely Italian sausage and beef patty. It was juicy and had a spicey ketchup.

Stockyards had by far the longest line yesterday. Coincidentally we actually went to the actual restaurant on Friday to grab the full burger. It was so packed we had to sneak our burger to the McDonalds across the street to eat it. It was definitely worth the trip for their delicious chicken-fried-steak burger.

Next year I’m definitely going to try to get there close to opening hour!

Fried Chicken @ The White Brick Kitchen

April 25, 2013April 25, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

The White Brick Kitchen is nestled in the middle of Koreatown. It’s the perfect place to go to if you’re in the area and looking for something that is not bibimbap or pork bone soup. They serve American comfort food. The menu includes things like burgers, salads, fried chicken, mac n cheese, chilli and more.

On Foursquare their Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($17) was highly recommended so that’s what I went for. For my side I chose the mixed greens in a lemon vinaigrette. It also came with two scallion biscuits which were nice and moist. Nash loves green onions, so he was a huge fan.

The fried chicken, was probably the best fried chicken I have ever had. It was also literally half a chicken, so quite worth the hefty price tag. There was a honey mustard dipping sauce with it but I accidentally thought that was salad dressing. Silly me, but it still worked in the salad. It didn’t matter because the chicken batter was so delicious (and strangely creamy) that it didn’t need any dipping.

Nash ordered the Brisket Burger ($13) with a side of BBQ kettle chips. They reminded me a lot of my home-made potato chips. The brisket burger had some lovely pickles (which they brine in house). The burger itself was very light. Additional toppings were a bit expensive, but I had enough chicken to feed the both of us.

We’ll definitely be back soon for brunch where they have housemade beef bacon and deep fried eggs!

Burgers and Tacos @ Tallboys

January 25, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Before yesterday’s installment of The Big Smoke Music Festival, we grabbed food inside the venue, Tallboys Craft Beer House.

I ordered the Pan Seared Fish Tacos ($12). The fish sat in a soft corn tortilla with guacamole salsa fresca, lettuce and sour cream. They were served with fries. They’re very similar in style to the fish tacos at Tacos El Asador with just the right amount of coriander. The fries made it a decent amount of food, and I swear they had a little bit of sour cream in them because of their interesting taste.

Nash had the Tallboys Signature Bacon Chili Burger ($13). The chili was mixed in with melted cheese and onions resulting in awesomness between two buns. They also have a burger with kimchi in it which we will definitely come back to try.

Since we were at Tallboys, it was only appropriate that we did get some tallboys. I had the Nickel Brook Green Apple Pilsner. It was a good amount of sweetness in a beer. Nash had some kind of cider, I forgot.

We’ll definitely come back again since the food is decently priced. Also, we learnt that the menu is half price on Sundays with a drink!

Two Bite Saloon

January 14, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Last month, before the holiday me and Nash ventured into the newly opened Two Bite Saloon at Bloor and Shaw. We popped in right at opening hour at 5pm and the whole dinner we were the only people eating besides a few sketchy looking people having drinks at the bar. This was a bit strange considering it was just right before the holidays and Blogto and TheStar had written about the place the month prior.

As an appetizer, I had the Kale Salad ($5). I had previously not tried kale (I thought it was just a hype vegetable), but I enjoyed the “salad” which was very rich in flavours because of some smoke-ham and Parmesan cheese. I actually loved the addition of smokeyness to what people have been calling the new hype healthy veggie.

For my main dish I had the Ribs ($17). The ribs were smoked and drenched with a very tasty barbecue sauce. It was served with lightly seasoned fries and a buttermilk slaw. I didn’t care much for the slaw as I found it too creamy, but I happily ate the fries.

One was eaten before I could take a picture!

Nash had five of the sliders ($14 I think). He had two pulled pork, two pemeal bacon and I forgot what the last was. They were a bit bigger than the food truck sliders we had tried previously and 5 was pretty filling.

It was a bit pricey but we enjoyed our meal. We’ll probably return one day to splurge on some of their interesting cocktails!