Contented Carnivore at Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus

Roed Hus Sliders

Having heard great things from @thepolishviking and having a Groupon in hand to Sloppy Hoggs Roed Hus, we took the chance to visit after a long morning spent checking out the Star Wars Identities Exhibit at the Telus World of Science.

Located near the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in a small strip mall, one enters a small, but warm and inviting space decorated with stone, and consisting of a mix of cozy booths, as well as more flexible seating of tables and chairs.

Delectable Dining at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Roast Marrowbone

Having tried Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck restaurant a few weeks earlier during our vacation in Europe and having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we decided on a whim to see if we could get into his London based restaurant, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Luckily being listed on TopTable - the United Kingdom equivalent of North America’s OpenTable, a restaurant reservation website – we were able to quickly make lunch reservations, significantly easier than making reservations for The Fat Duck.

La Taqueria Trio at Mucho Burrito Muy Bruto

La Taqueria Trio

I was invited to try La Taqueria Trio at Mucho Burrito, a new and limited time offering, available only until May 3. To be honest, I had never even walked into a Mucho Burrito until I went in to try La Taqueria Trio even though there’s a Mucho Burrito a block away from where I live and I pass by it often.

Mucho Burrito is based out of Mississauga, Ontario, hailing itself as the new alternative to Mexican food and as “one of the hottest restaurant concepts to enter Canada.” Their concept being made to order Mexican food, allowing diners to choose whether they would like a burrito, taco or quesadilla, whether they’d like a small or large portion, white or whole wheat burrito, what toppings and sauces they’d like, and so on. Although it might have been a unique concept in 2006 when they first started operations, it’s hardly unique now with competitors like Taco Del Mar and Burrito Libre now commonplace in Edmonton.

Whimsical Delights at The Fat Duck

The Fat Duck

I had always wanted to go to The Fat Duck, even before I started my food blog. I had tried convincing the humans on our last trip to Europe to visit, but they couldn’t bring themselves to spend that much on a meal at the time. Least to say, they regretted not going last time, so on this trip, they made sure they got a reservation.

The restaurant is in the small town of Bray, meaning if you’re coming from London that you have to take a train from Paddington Station to Maidenhead, then either walk or take a taxi to Bray. When we pulled up in front of The Fat Duck, we saw a small, white, unremarkable building with nothing to indicate that it was The Fat Duck, except the easily recognizable logo for the restaurant, the fork, knife and spoon.

A Posthumous Review of 104 Street Grill (CLOSED)

Seared scallops, boar bacon vinaigrette,
wilted spinach and shallots

Even though 104 Street Grill is now defunct before I got a chance to post this, I've had some requests from readers to see my post anyway. So here is my posthumous review of 104 Street Grill .

We were invited to give 104 Street Grill a try when they first opened and they generously sent us a $50 certificate to encourage us to come for a visit. Unfortunately, they opened just before I went on my whirlwind tour of Europe and there was no way to squeeze it into an already busy schedule. However, they generously let us utilize the certificate after our return, once we had recuperated from eating out more in a month than we generally do in a year!

Occupying the former home of Ric’s Grill, the dimly lit room was filled with worn, dark wood tables and comfortable looking booth seating. We opted to start with the seared scallops, boar bacon vinaigrette, wilted spinach and shallots. The boar bacon was smoky and slightly sweet, but tended to stick together and had a somewhat chewy texture, which unfortunately stuck to my teeth and I wished that it had been cooked until it was crispy. The vinaigrette tasted nice but was a tad too acidic for my taste and the scallops were sadly watery tasting and chewy.