avatar_fragger

Foreign Dishes and Restaurant Adventures

Started by fragger, March 30, 2010, 07:52:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

fragger

Good stories about burgers, Art :-X

In Australia we have the big burger chains like McDonald's and Burger King (known here as Hungry Jack's, for some reason). As far as I could tell from my last visit to America (well, Hawaii actually), the names and compositions of the food choices are the same here as there.

One thing you'll find all over Oz is the ubiquitous "takeaway food" shop, also known jokingly as a "Chew 'n' Spew" (almost always unfairly). They're everywhere, even in the pokiest little out-of-the-way towns. These places will sell a multitude of food types, all of it to take out: all kinds of sandwiches and salads, meat pies, sausage rolls, steak sandwiches, barbecued chickens (or portions thereof), rolls filled with roast beef, lamb or chicken - all sorts of stuff. Many will also do fish and chips and other seafood such as prawns and calamari, and some will do things like quiches, focaccias, lasagnas and pizzas. There are no set in stone menus in these places, you can get anything with whatever you want, or if you want something that's not on the menu, they'll make it up for you. No two of these sorts of shops are alike. It's not exactly haute cuisine, but it's good, basic, hunger-satisfying food.

All this is by way of getting to the point that all of these shops will do hamburgers, and once again generally, they're way better than anything one can get in a McDonald's ("Macker's", or "Slack Mack's" in the local vernacular). There's one just around the corner from where I live, and if I'm up for a burger, I'll go there and ask for one "with the lot". This will get me a whopping burger containing a minced prime beef patty about 6 inches across and about 5/8 of an inch thick, topped with fresh lettuce, tomato, beetroot, fried onion, several strips of bacon, a poached egg, a slice of pineapple, and grated cheese, on a sesame-seeded bun that's robust enough to accommodate all said ingredients without suffering major structural fatigue. The bun is fresh too, not loaded with enough preservatives to make it viable until after the next Ice Age. And everything is perfectly cooked, i.e. I don't end up with streaks of greasy juice all down my shirt front. It's not "fast food"; you have to wait for it to be cooked and assembled, but it's worth the wait.

The only trick is handling one - well, that and getting one's mouth around it. If I buy one from my local shop I can take it home, put it on a plate and attack it with a knife and fork, but if I get a burger like this while I'm out and about somewhere, I find that once I've picked it up, I can't put it down again until I've finished it, if you get what I mean ;D

PZ

Nice description, fragger - I'm drooling at the thought of that prime burger.  ;)

While not nearly as good, we went to Salmon, Idaho not long ago and visited a small mom-and-pop restaurant called the 28 Dinner Club, which was little more than an old house with a dilapidated interior (there was even a door that was partially hanging off it's hinges).  I didn't expect much so I just ordered a ground, hand formed chuck burger, and my wife ordered the prime rib (I rarely order prime rib these days because it is usually so poor in quality).

When the food came, my burger was on an 8-inch hoagie roll and the meat was nearly an inch thick - a burger so large I could hardly get my mouth around it - and flavorfull! - tender and beefy - one of the best burgers I'd had in a while.  My wife gave me a bite of her prime rib and it was probably the best I've had in at least 10 years - melt in your mouth tender, and full of flavor.

It just goes to show that you cannot determine the quality of food by the quality of the building, as I've had some of the worst meals in my life from some of the most expensive buildings on the planet.

mandru

Quote from: PZ on July 19, 2010, 07:23:00 PM

It just goes to show that you cannot determine the quality of food by the quality of the building, as I've had some of the worst meals in my life from some of the most expensive buildings on the planet.


One thing I am touchy about is that I like my meat cooked thoroughly.  No pink, no blood dripping on my plate.  If I wanted raw meat I'd just have them trot the cow in and I'd chew directly on its haunch.

I've learned that on average 18 people each month die in my State from E. coli contamination introduced through undercooked meats served in restaurants.  Sadly Ive become obsessive about this to the point that I've even established that if you attribute numeric values to the letters of the alphabet (e.g. a=1, b=2, c=3 and so on) I can show mathematically that "rare = raw" when you add up the numbers.  (r + a + r + e = r + a + w)

I've become used to "know it all" chef's that think their preferences in preparation supplants how I actually request my food to be prepared.  I have to ask for steaks or burgers to be prepared "Extra Extra Well done", just to get it cooked beyond the medium rare stage but even that's not a guarantee that it will arrive at the table in edible condition.

We went to a local Hard Rock Cafe and I had ordered a burger using my standard request for extra extra well.  When the burger arrived I started dressing it but it struck me as odd that the kitchen had already liberally applied ketchup to it.  Then it dawned on me what I was looking at.

I put the lid back on the burger and called the waitress over and had her check the copy of our order on her pad to verify that I had indeed ordered ++well and then asked her to go bring the manager as we had a serious problem.

The manager arrived in a pre-dispositioned huff but compared to the barely contained rage I was packing by the time he got there he quickly put it aside.  After confirming my order with the waitress' pad I revealed what had been served to me.  By breaking the patty open we determined that the burger itself was cooked to medium but that the cook had poured blood from somewhere else in the kitchen onto the burger after cooking it.

***(Approximately 1500 characters unnecessary story line (mostly dialogue) edited out)***

So it worked out a creator autographed Les Paul gold top custom was spared, no chefs were bludgeoned, I spent zero time in the cooler and we've never gone back to the Hard Rock.
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

Art Blade

Wow.

1) Fragger: nice story, well told and it put a smile on my face (and it made me hungry)  ;D

2) PZ, nice story, too :) Reminded me of the adventure I had in Barcelona with that mate of mine whom I dragged through narrow stinking alleys to that "restaurant" with the halfways toothless chef (I told that story here before), a horrible place with an excellent meal which on top was very cheap as in it didn't cost much.

3) Mandru: oh dear. Horrible story from your point of view.

Which reminds me:

A) in my country we have very  strict laws (and controls) regarding food quality and licenses for selling cooked meals. If anyone caught something in a restaurant that put him into hospital, it would make headlines the same day. Which means, it almost never happens. So if you eat medium or rare meat here in these parts, you will survive it  ;D

B) We are not used to burgers other than ++well done. We don't get to choose any other option, either. All we know is steak or filet or tenderloin or sirloin (basically all the same) which may be ordered rare/medium/well done, everything else will be well done.
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Great stories - the good, the bad and the ugly ;D

PZ: I couldn't agree more, the quality of the establishment is no guide to the quality of the food. When in Hawaii, my then girlfriend and I decided to treat ourselves to a slap-up meal in a "five-star" restaurant. I can't remember the name of it now as it was 25 years ago, but it was on top of a building and had a tremendous view - so much for the plusses. I ordered a fillet mignon. What I got for my arm was a piece of meat about the size and chewiness of a hockey puck, three marble-sized tomatoes and five baby carrots. Or should I say, embryonic carrots, as they were each about an inch in length. Oh, there were a couple of artful squiggles of colourful sauce along the sides of the carefully arranged tidbits of food, but I would rather have had them knock ten bucks off the bill and allow me to do that myself. As a meal, it was a great piece of abstract art. When I was finished about five minutes later and the waiter came to remove my plate, I almost asked, "That was a lovely entree - what's for the main course?" but I didn't want to make a scene in front of my girl. I can't remember what she had, only that we went to Burger King afterwards to fill ourselves up.

mandru: OMG, I hate to think where that blood came from. Maybe the cook sourced it from his own hand. Gee, I can't imagine why you never went back... But I'm relieved that the Les Paul didn't suffer as a result ;D Now that would have been a tragedy. Impressive bit of mathematical analysis there too, btw. Who says there's nothing to numerology?

Funny stuff, that, and very clever, nice one ;D :-X


Art: It's close here, but not quite as strict, regarding food standards. The regs are much more rigorously applied now than they were, say, twenty years ago, but we still hear the occasional horror story. I could write a book about some of the hair-raising restaurant experiences that have been reported in this country in days of yore. I know, because I reported a couple of them myself - such as observing with disbelief as not one but two garden slugs were having a good old slither around in a large bowl of salad whilst attending an office Christmas do in a local well-known restaurant some years back... We didn't stay long.

JRD

I have to say that I really like rare meat... really, really like it bloody!  ;D

Even burgers should be pinky-ish on the inside for my taste, but regarding taste, it's like a$$ - everybody has its own  :P

We do have McDonald's here and some other burger chains (not burger king though)... I kind of like it every once in a while, but only if I don't have a better option and if I'm in a hurry - you know what you gethow long it's gonna take and how much you'll pay for it regardless on where you are.

The best burgers I used to have were in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a place called "Toninho e Freitas"... they not only have the best burgers in town but also make an excellent Beirute - roastbeef, lettuce, tomato, egg and mayo served on pita bread (what we usually call Arabic or Syrian bread).

The sandwich is HUGE... I mean, really HUGE... if you ask for one, the cook will make you half of it, if you are with a friend, he'll make you one to share!  8)

They also make their own mayo (not sure if they still doing it nowadays since health authorities and laws are more strict regarding mayo), which make up for an unique taste.

They had a challenge there... if you can eat two Beirutes, you don't pay - "and I will be cooking them, mate" the chef will say. He's a fat chap, wearing a greasy apron and chewing a toothpick, his place used to be a counter going around the place, the fry plate and that's all.

Order a milkshake and get a 2 + glass of a thick creamy delicious shake, order curly fries or onion rings and get a bowl full of it!

Definitely not a place to go alone!  ;D

Many nights out with my friends ended up there... and many after match burgers too - there's a football stadium nearby!

Now they remodeled the place and it looks too fancy for my taste... it's been years since I last went down there... too bad some great places turns to crap as soon as they have a name! Prices go sky high, quality go downhill  :(
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

mandru

To add to the ongoing dragon fruit saga, I earlier reported the $8 sadly mistreated tennis ball sized fruits I'd encountered.  Things have kicked up a notch.
On my last trip to the supermarket I found dragon fruit that were as perfect and lovely looking as those pictured in Art's post about them.
( http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1472.msg27142#msg27142).

This time around they were priced at $9.99 a pound and weighing one of them revealed its cost right at $12 for one fruit!  :D

I'm gonna keep watching and waiting.  :-\
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

Art Blade

Send me only $10 (free shipping) and you'll have a dragon fruit in your mail. Maybe a month from when the money arrived. Oh and never mind post office clerks to brutally stamp the stamps on a bulky envelope. I hear some of them like to hammer those until they are really flat.
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

mandru

- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

JRD

Yesterday I had an amazing dayin London.

After an afternoon at the Tate Britain I met some friends and we went to what seems to be the oldest pub in London. Built in 1538, the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was destroyed in the great fire of 1666 to be rebuilt in the following year and is pretty much the same as it was back then.

The place is truly amazing. A dark wooden place with a great atmosphere and the smell of mold :-(). We had a few real ale and traditional lager beers in heavy wood tables in the basement, that leads to a wine cellar built in 1909. It is a great place to stop by whenever you are in London. Not too busy, I dare say that if you manage to go there on a week day, you'll find normal Englishmen there and not just tourists... service was very friendly and prices are absolutely normal  :-X

Here are some images of the place. At the front door is a board with the names of all kings and queens of England since it was open!

We then went to an Italian restaurant in Chelsea as one of my friends happens to know the chef... what a great place as well - Osteria dell'Arancio ... typical Italian place. All emplyees are from Italy, some doesn't even speak english!  :-D

I had a Burrata di Andria con pomodori tiepidi (Burrata cheese from Andria served with warm cherry tomatoes and marjoran) for starters. The Burrata cheese is a big white ball of cheese which is incredibly creamy in the middle and very, very tasty, served on a deep plate with the sauce on the bottom. Main course was Parpardelle pasta with tomatoe sauce with sausage and spices on top... outstanding meal. Valpolicella wine chosen by my friends (all Italians by the way  >:D ) and coffe and montenegro to finish... Art will remember that montenegro from the Bar Italia in Soho... a liqueur made of herbs... great taste and not too strong (for me at least  :-\ )

A night to remember for sure and a place to come back!
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

Art Blade

I do remember that, hehehe :)

Very nice, JRD. I'm very much tempted ;)
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ

Oh my goodness, you have me drooling!  :-D

The pictures are excellent  :-X

fragger

Great story and pictures, JRD :-X You've got me hankering for Italian now!

I find it amazing to think that in England (and Europe in general) people can eat and drink in establishments that were frequented before my country of birth was even known about, much less settled. Makes me aware of just how far back civilized history extends in Britain and mainland Europe. There certainly aren't any 472-year-old pubs in this part of the world ;D

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

JRD

Funny thing is that the place is located on a busy street with buses and cars and heavy machinery making some works for the olimpics 2012. Buildings around the place look some 20 years old with normal modern architecture. What happens is that the place was established on a pretty calm place some centuries ago and the city grew around it. One can easily walk past the place and not notice it as it is somewhat "inside" other buildings (I actually did that and only realized that this weekend  ::) )

Just like you fragger, a place that is almost 100 years old in Brazil is considered an incredible and ancient place to visit. I know a small cosy restaurant near by my place in Rio where it says "Since 1947" at the front and it is amazing for me!  ;D

The oldest brewery in Brazil dates back to 1853! By then, this pub in London had a long list of queens and kings at the front board!  ;D ;D ;D
Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

PZ

I just love good food and drink  :-))  B-$

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Lol the emoties, PZ ;D Beer and a barbie... Ambrosia and manna to an Aussie :-()

JRD: I can dig it, mate. Here, any place older than a mere 100 years or so gets National Heritage status. Anything older than 200 years gets Aboriginal Tribal Preservation status ;D

mandru

Quote from: fragger on August 17, 2010, 06:57:08 AM
Here, any place older than a mere 100 years or so gets National Heritage status.

A disturbing concept since I still have pairs of socks I bought new years back that are getting close to qualifying under that criteria.   ????
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

fragger

ROFL :-() :-() :-() :-() :-()

I had a pair like that myself once, but they walked out on me.

JRD

Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

Art Blade

Ah dang it. At first I read it as if mandru "bought those socks New Years, back that are.." which didn't make sense to me. Now I've got it, "bought new, years back." Ta-dah. Hehe  ;D
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

PZ


mandru

 ;)

Sorry the missed comma caused confusion Art.
- mandru
Gramma said "Never turn your back 'till you've cut their heads off"

🡱 🡳

Similar topics (2)