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Eating out: Burger Foundry @ St. Morris, Adelaide

May 15, 2012 by · 4 Comments

Burger Foundry
08 8431 3231
389 Magill Rd
St Morris, SA 5068

I’ll be honest with you. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I learnt that I’d be moving to Adelaide. I love Melbourne with all my heart and I cannot imagine myself anywhere else. For years, many have told me how much of a ‘hole’ Adelaide was. And when my friends found out I was moving to Adelaide, the condolence messages came flooding in. It did nothing to help, let me assure you.

But much like how there is beauty in everybody, there is beauty in every city. Over the 1.5 years that I have been frequenting Adelaide, I have come to love many points of Adelaide. It isn’t that Adelaide doesn’t have good food, it is that you need to look for it a little harder than Melbourne. While Adelaide may not have the coffee and cafe culture that Melbourne has, it does have a buzzing dessert cafe culture that Melbourne doesn’t.

So while we may not have the chain of burgers, Grill’d, or the very famous burgers from Huxtable, instead we have Burger Foundry and boy do they know burgers.

Sometimes it feels like good things aren’t celebrated as much in this state of churches. Through chatting with the locals (on that note, it will be a long, long time before I ever consider myself to be from Adelaide.) I found that not many knew of the gems that surrounded them. Burger Foundry seems to be one of them. None of my friends that I’ve spoken to (excluding the one who introduced them to me) knew of Burger Foundry. Well then.

Burger Foundry is located on Magill Road, St Morris. It’s not too far from the city: A quick 15-20 minute drive should get you there. But then, this holds true for most of Adelaide. The place is so small, you can get anywhere really quickly!

The restaurant isn’t big, in fact there’s two tables and that’s it. Most opt for takeaway and on my very first dine-in experience, I found out why, but more on that later. The menu boast of a range of different burgers ranging from beef, chicken to veggie burgers. They also offer a side of chips or green salad for the health conscious. But then, if you were health conscious, you wouldn’t be eating at Burger Foundry.

You order at the counter, and a quick minute or two later you are handed your burger. The service is top notch and incredibly fast tho I’ve read reviews that service can be slow and very inefficient. (This was not the case with us.) We sat down with our burgers and I then proceeded to gawk at it. Because in front of me, sat the biggest burger I had ever seen.

“There is no way I’m getting that into my mouth.” were my famous last words to my partner.

Okay, so that doesn’t really show the scale of the burger. I was really thrown off my game by the sheer size of the burger, I didn’t know how to eat it! Feeling a tad like Dagwood, I struggled to pick up my burger and began my mission of chowing down.

Here’s a rather unsightly photo of me trying to conquer the burger so you get a sense of scale. I promise you, holding that burger up was a lot harder than it looks!

So how were the burgers? They were juicy, fresh, flavourful and every bit as good as they claim to be. And it was so big, I couldn’t finish it. The patties were juicy, the cheese beautifully melted and the bread was soft with a beautiful crust. I highly recommend it to every burger lover out there! And since I could only finish about half the burger, I could probably get two meals out of the one burger for the one price. Perfect.

The one negative of the place that I experienced came after the burger eating was done. Being incredibly saucy and juicy, I had burger juice all over my hands. Yuck. At which point I found out that they didn’t have a sink for you to wash up at, nor a washroom. Um. I really didn’t want to drive my car with burger juices all over my hands!!! Thankfully I had water and wipes in the car, but it was still rather unpleasant having to wash my hands on the roadside. Next time, I’m doing takeaway.

I know there’s a fair few bad reviews out there for the place, and a lot of very mixed reviews, but trust me on this. They are capable of pumping out a good burger. There’s also a fair few complaints about their prices. Obviously, you lot must not understand the value of paying quality for quality. Sigh.

What do you think? Do you think charging higher prices for quality is reasonable?


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Filed Under: Adelaide, Burgers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Eating Out: Las Chicas @ St Kilda, Melbourne.

May 6, 2012 by · 14 Comments

Las Chicas
03 9531 3699
203 Carlisle St
Balaclava, VIC 3183

I love eating breakfast in Melbourne cafes. That’s something I sorely miss after moving to Adelaide. It’s not that Adelaide doesn’t have them – Adelaide just doesn’t have the extensive variety of cafes we do in Melbourne. And they also don’t offer the same quality of food. Le sigh.

Las Chicas was one such breakfast. A breakfast eaten so long ago that I have all but forgotten it. I remember it was the first time I was meeting brownie expert Barbara from BeesKnees Brownie and we had somehow chosen Las Chicas as our rendezvous point. (And if you have not tried her brownies before, you are missing out on something very important in life.)

I won’t go into detail what the breakfast dishes were, how they taste and such. It’s been too long and I think reviewing such a meal is unfair. Instead, here are photos of that breakfast – to remind me of what I’m missing out on.

Breakfast of champions: Bagel, eggs and hollandaise sauce.

Such luxury! Simple flavours made with quality ingredients make for a breakfast to die for. I’d kill for good breakfasts like that in Adelaide – I guess the hunt continues! (Yes, I’ve been to East Terrace Continental, no, I’m not impressed. Sorry)


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Filed Under: Balaclava, Breakfast, Melbourne Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Eating out: The Wine Company @ Sentosa Boardwalk, Singapore.

May 4, 2012 by · 8 Comments

When I was back in Singapore, I took the chance to meet up with my girlfriends once again. If there’s one thing that sucks about being away from home, it is the fact that I can’t hang out with them. As it is, I try to catch up with them everytime and this time we decided to meet up again at The Wine Company

There are a few different outlets for The Wine Company, but the spot chosen for our lunch was Sentosa Boardwalk. I was delighted because I haven’t been to Sentosa since I was 8 years old, and also there was the mention of Wine. How could one not be excited by that? I arrived early so I decided to take a slow stroll down the boardwalk. The view was gorgeous and if it had been just a tad cooler, it would have been perfect.

The Wine Company had a gorgeous glass front that allowed diners to enjoy the beautiful harbour view from their table. The back of the restaurant was adorned with a beautiful stained glass window that reminded me of churches gone by. The decor was simple but tasteful, and it being fairly early in the day, there was only one other table in the premises other than my own.

However, the design of the place fell flat when it came to the ceiling. It’s as though the interior designer decided that nobody ever looked up and so left the cooling ducts and connecting pipes exposed. Unfortunately, this meant that instead of looking classy and sophisticated, the restaurant looked like it was hacked together from a warehouse. Sigh.

Before I get onto the food we had that day, I would just like to point out my pet peeve. Unfortunately I do not have a photo of this but it irked me so much I forgot. I ordered red wine to go with my dish of the day and it came in a dessert wine glass, filled to the brim. REALLY!? Hate hate hate hate hate. Especially because this is supposed to be The Wine Company, they are supposed to KNOW wine. *rage* what is this I don’t even….

Ahem. Okay. Food.

Not all of these dishes were for me, mind. Else I wouldn’t have fit through the door again. I did have nibbles from other people’s plates and I have to say that the starters were pretty darn tasty! They again, what fried thing isn’t?

Gorgeous looking lamb shank (S$28), won’t you agree? However it was a little bland and could not live up to the standard Rochford had set, pity.

All in all, I think that while the location is superb and the view gorgeous, the food isn’t quite up to the standard you’d expect and certainly the staff needs to be trained on which wine glasses go with which wines. While I enjoyed my lunch there, it was more to do with the awesome girly company than it was influenced by the meal and the quality of the dishes. So-so food at a beautiful location.

Perhaps better luck at their other outlets?

The Wine Company

6 Sentosa Gateway
#01-08
Singapore 098072
Tel: (+65) 6376 9029
Fax: (+65) 6376 9079

Opening hours:
Lunch is by reservation, call 6316 5108
Monday – Thursday, 4pm until late
Friday, Sat, Sun, eve of PH & PH, 12 noon until late

Filed Under: Singapore, Western Tagged With: , , , ,

Travelling Taiwan: Eating out – Hotpot in the winter is BEST! 火鍋世家

April 28, 2012 by · 8 Comments

Western winters seem to be all about casseroles and stews. While tasty, they never quite hit the spot like a good hot pot does. Upon meeting up with my sister’s friend in Taipei, we decided to visit Shida Nightmarket and the nearby hotpot restaurant: Huo Guo Shi Jia (火鍋世家). Since that’s a fairly long name to type, I’m going to refer to it by HGSJ from now on.

HGSJ is located about 5 minutes from the Taipower Building MRT Station (Exit 3). Just head towards Shida nightmarket and you will be able to find HGSJ easily.

Travelling Taipei Tip #8:

Make sure you note down which exits you need to get out from a MRT station. Taking different exits will sometimes lead you to completely different places. There are maps all around the station for you to work out the exits needed as well.

In HGSJ, hotpots are individual hotpots. They are sunken into the table and everybody gets their own. On a nearby table, there is an assortment of different condiments and dips you can pick to go with your hotpot ingredients. If you can’t figure out what some of the dips are, there is a helpful sign that tells you what each one of them is, even in English. Perfect! You don’t have to stick to just one dip either, you can mix and match to your liking! The dip I made up for myself was a combination of 4 items from the selection. Yum.

Everybody gets a plate of vegs for the hotpot. My friend cheekily mentioned that technically you could come in and only have vegs and not pay anything since they only charge for the meats you have, but don’t get any funny ideas!! We did order meat since, what’s a hotpot without meat? (Sorry vegetarians)

Gorgeous. This meal really hit the spot and as I remember it, it came up to less than 40 aud for 3 people. If ever you are in Taipei and near the area, do try this place out. Simple, straightforward and no nonsense hotpot goodness.

HGSJ is a chain. It’s low prices means that it is very popular with students from the nearby universities. Free flowing drinks are available though I did find their milk tea to be a tad too sweet. The service is good with the waitresses diligent in adding in your soup base. You are able to pick different soup bases ranging from clear to spicy ones. As per usual, soup bases gets sweeter as you add more things into the soup. Quality of the meat was standard, nothing too extravagant which is expected for the price. Value for money, definitely.

*火鍋世家涮涮屋(師大店)*
台北市大安區雲和街21號(政大書城旁)
０２-２３６７００２２
上午11點至晚上11點

http://www.suabu.com.tw/

See all other chain locations here:


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Filed Under: Chinese, Taipei, Things to do in Taipei Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Travelling Taiwan: Eating out at Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐

April 26, 2012 by · 9 Comments

I came to Taiwan with the intention of eating myself silly. I definitely did that and more during my trip as you will have seen and will continue to see for the rest of the week. Evenso, I very nearly skipped past eating at Din Tai Fung as there are Din Tai Fung outlets in Singapore and Sydney, so did I really want to waste my time and tummy real estate on this?

I was told, Yes, yes I did, as Din Tai Fung hailed from Taiwan and the quality of their dumplings there are way better than the ones found elsewhere. With that in mind, one early morning saw my sister and I walking towards Din Tai Fung from the MRT station.

The glass window, the line of dumpling makers, the intense concentration from the mask-clad workers… these are all Din Tai Fung’s signature. Be it Singapore, Sydney, or Taiwan, it seems at least that the branding is consistent with Din Tai Fung eager to draw folks in with their pre-meal show. (Din Tai Fung does have outlets in other parts of the world, but as I’ve never been to them, I cannot say for sure.)

Though a queue was forming outside the restaurant as we approached it, we were allowed to waltz right in thanks to the power of a booking.

Travelling Taiwan Tip #7:

If you know where you want to be dining for sure, make sure to call ahead and make a booking else you’d be stuck in queues for hours at the popular restaurants!

Din Tai Fung is known for their Xiao Long Bao (小籠包) which are little steamed bao/dumplings filled with meat and soup. Biting into one would release the flavourful soup and in that mouthful of tender bao skin, meat and soup, you will find the perfect balance of flavour and texture. Delicious! And since they were famous for it, how could I not order it?

Even so, I found the XLBs (NT95 for 5pcs) to be so-so. The skin was tender and smooth, but the flavouring was a little lacking. While tasty enough, there was no wow factor and I’ve actually had better XLBs before. Oh well.

Shrimp Noodle Soup with Vegetable and Bamboo Shoot (NT170) – what with the previous days of street food and greasy fried foods, the sister and I were keen to get something light to cleanse our systems. So we went with this noodle soup which was quite delightful. The noodles had a lovely bite to them, the soup was nice and clear and it was the perfect cleansing dish to refresh us once more for all the grease and oil out in the streets. (please note that the typical Australian palate will find this bland.)

Steamed Sticky Rice and Ground Pork Shiaomai (NT130 5pcs) were interesting as I’ve never seen them before. What a curious shape! Unfortunately this was bland with the ground pork not quite making up for the lack of flavour. Pity.

Pork Buns – forgot the price and didn’t take a pic of the menu, whoops! Skin was a little too thick, too much chewing involved. Still, the filling was tasty and while unmemorable, it definitely did its job of filling us up.

I’ve left the best for last: Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wonton (NT160 for 8pcs). The wontons had the softest skin possible that melt in your mouth, the fillings juicy and plump and the spicy sauce was to-die-for. Everything came together to make one hella of a dish and I would have licked the plate if I hadn’t been in polite company. (The other diners, not my sis). If there’s any reason to go back to Din Tai Fung, this would be it. YUM.

The total bill came up to a lot less than I had thought. It was actually extremely reasonable! I don’t remember the exact figures but it came up to less than 700 TWD (23 AUD) for the both of us. I don’t know how this compares with the local economy, but for me, this was an amazing price to pay for both of us at such a well known restaurant. I’d definitely come again.

Find Din Tai Fung in Taipei:


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Filed Under: Chinese, Taipei, Things to do in Taipei Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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