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I went to meet my parents back from Lanzarote last night at Manchester Airport Terminal 2.. and when we were walking to the terminal through the carpark.. my partner said ‘im sure i just saw someone with a Tim Hortons cup’ and i replied in a dismissive manner.

We got into the Arrivals and there’s a Spa shop on the left, and to our amazement — THEY SOLD TIM HORTONS COFFEE AND DOUGHNUTS!.. We picked ourselves up a coffee and doughnut – and for the UK – at a reasonable price – the Doughnuts were 89p each but if you bought a Large coffee, hot chocolate, laté or cappuccino – with a doughnut you could get both for £2.19! ..

Anyway — that’s my swooning over the amazing story of Tim Hortons in the UK over with . . So – Today’s article is courtesy of the Metro. On the tram heading to work – and find a great article featuring Montreal and the food aspect of the city – so Here is ‘Take a big bite out of Montreal’ By Sarah Baxter of The Metro:

Foodie Canada: Gordon Ramsay got into a bit of a stew when he opened his first Canadian venture in Quebec’s largest city. But it does just fine without him BY SARAH BAXTER

In August, Gordon Ramsay launched his first restaurant in Montreal. On opening night, the sprinklers went doolally and diners were forced to evacuate. Unfortunate? Perhaps. But I think Montreal was trying to tell him something: a watery way of delivering its own f-word.

The Quebec city doesn’t need Sweary Gordon. It has an incredible food scene already. This metropolis, floating on an island in the St Lawrence River, mixes French, north American and immigrant influences to mouthwatering effect. And there’s always another great local deli/chocolatier/charcuterie the next block up. (more…)

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Tags: Foodies, Foody, Metro Article, Montreal, Tim Hortons in the UK
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Its Friday, and a long weekend coming up – so i thought I’d feature a foody place today!
Having been in Canada for only a day or so, we decided to check out Dairy Queen’s hot food.. and i have to say i was impressed! I’m fairly sure I’ve mentioned before – in the UK, Burger King is my preference – with its flame grilled beef burgers. Dairy Queen is one of the restaurants in Canada to also flame grill their burgers – giving that unmistakable taste of flame grilled beef!

DQ has done something i didn’t think would happen – it has beaten my favourite place for a burger – Wendy’s, and nabbed the title for its self. The burgers from DQ aren’t greasy, and the vegetables on them aren’t limp neither – and they seem to find the best quantity of each condiment they put on – to avoid the burger being too mustardy or too covered in sauce you can’t appreciate the taste of anything else.

In our first visit – i gave the 1/2lb Grillburger with Cheese a try – its a bun with two 1/4lb burgers, cheese, pickles, a slice of tomato, and lettuce with mayo and the usual sauces. The 1/2lb burger — is a big eat! So get it if you’re really hungry – but if you are looking for lunch and want the same taste you can get an equally great tasting burger if you get the 1/4lb Grillburger with Cheese.
The fries are good too – they’re crispy on the outside and soft inside, cooked perfectly every time i went – and salted perfectly – that being not too much or too little. They’re best compared to Burger King fries in the UK.
Drinks wise – they have all the usual suspects – though as i almost always have iced tea with any combo (meal) i get in Canada, I didn’t catch whether they have Pepsi or Coke.. and oddly on their website it lists both.. That could mean some stock Pepsi and some stock Coke.. but I’ll have to double check next time I’m out! (more…)

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It’s Monday! It’s also March tomorrow, so how about we stop thinking about those post-Christmas diets now hm?

If you haven’t been to Canada yet, you’ll almost certainly walk into restaurants and find something on the menu called Poutine. Now, don’t be scared of its particularly unique name! Poutine is actually something that most people in the UK can relate to.. We have all (well.. most of us) gone to the chip shop and got either Chips with Gravy, OR Chips with Cheese .. Well .. although technically it wouldn’t be technically correct – if you had cheese and gravy on the same tray of chips, that is almost poutine! Now, i say almost because for it to be truly poutine, the cheese needs to be cheese curds, not just your normal cheese.

As you can see from the picture, poutine is definitely not the most elegant looking of foods, but lets face it, it beats the looks of mushy peas now doesn’t it! Besides, Canadians have always been known for their no-nonsence approach, and food in my opinion should always be about flavour, and not looks. (more…)

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Well, its been a while since we had a foody article! So i thought it was time for another! Today – Red Lobster in Canada!
If you love seafood as much as me, this has to be one of the best places you can call at for dinner! Red Lobster is a U.S. chain of seafood restaurants which operates in Canada. It is aimed at the mid-level “casual dining” segment of the market. The menu includes a variety of specialty seafood and non-seafood entrees, appetizers, salads, and desserts. Red Lobster’s goal its to establish a place in which all guests have the opportunity to experience fine dining.

In recent years, Red Lobster has received a number of awards including “#1 Best Seafood” in a 2009 Zagat Consumer Survey, “Healthiest Sit Down Chain Restaurant in America” from Men’s Health magazine’s 2010 “Eat This, Not That” guide and Restaurants & Institutions’ Consumers’ Choice in Chains award in the seafood category.Guest satisfaction scores have also climbed nearly 10 percentage points to 78% in 2009. But why?

Well, they really put a lot of effort into their food, making sure its sourced correctly, and even cooking – they use wood-fire grills which help give their seafood a unique flavour of old-style cooking.

Red Lobster was founded in 1968 by entrepreneurs Bill Darden & Charley Woodsby. Originally billed as a “Harbor for Seafood Lovers”, the original restaurant in Lakeland, Florida was followed by several others throughout the Southeast. General Mills acquired Red Lobster in 1970 as a five-unit restaurant company. The chain expanded rapidly in the 1980s. (more…)

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It’s another foody article! While we were over in may our family happened to pick up on an advert in one of the local news papers for a place called Jester’s Court. It was advertising a number of meals however the one we decided to take a look at this place for was for brunch.

The unique, historical restaurant is nestled into picturesque downtown Port Perry. Locally, they are well known for their fantastic service (one of their waitresses was voted #1 around), their great patio ….. and their ghost! They offer great food, outstanding service and a cozy atmosphere on two levels inside plus outdoor patio during the warmer months. You can relax by the fireplace to dine with your special someone. Just quenching a thirst? Try one of over 15 domestic & imported beers on tap!

We arrived outside this pretty building covered with ivy and framed with trees, and it looked almost familiar, like an old british pub you’d find in a small village. Luckilly for us there was a parking space right outside the restaurant on the street, though if you cant find a space here there are spaces further along the street or round the block.

Inside, we were taken to our table and we ordered our drinks from the waitress. We were then instructed that we were free to then help ourselves to the buffet!
The building its self is actually a haunted house, so it has a very homely feel to the place, and the buffet is set up in what is a small conservatory which is off the side of the building. The food on the buffet is all kept hot using heated metal cantine-style containers and neatly set out on tables down the side of the wall.
Food available was a whole variety of fruit, sausages, bacon, italian chicken, eggs benedict and sautéd potatoes to name a few, though they also had waffles which deserve a mention! (more…)

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Hooray! It’s another Foody article! Now this time we’re once again focusing on something i would consider to be an evening meal restaurant.
Swiss Chalet is a chain of Canadian family restaurants originally founded in 1954 in Toronto, Ontario. There are currently over 200 restaurants in Canada and the United States, as of 2008. The name Swiss Chalet originates from the design of its original restaurants, which featured exposed beam architecture, resembling a chalet one might find in the Swiss Alps!

Now although i have probably managed to capture this restaurant in one of the least desirable ways, on a dull rainy day – (for which i apologise!) These restaurants usually actually look pretty unique and stylish.
Now, remember what i said about all these restaurants generally having a unique point about them, if it isn’t the general style of their restaurants, Swiss Chalet’s unique point is their chicken. Swiss Chalet is best known for rotisserie chicken and smoked barbecue ribs, which are traditionally served with such side dishes as french fries, baked potatoes, salads, rice, and vegetables. Chicken dishes are also served with Chalet Sauce, a dipping sauce that is somewhat similar to barbecue sauce gravy.. well .. that is one interpretation of it. Their dipping sauce, something which Swiss Chalet are very proud of, is one of the strangest dipping sauces I’ve actually come across. It is fairly runny, rather than thick so it will coat anything dipped into it – lightly. I would probably describe it more of a light tomato sauce with a hint of BBQ, with possibly a cinnamon and or nutmeg twist. I think it’s for the spice’s reason that the sauce isn’t necessarily to everyone’s taste, though i like it – and that’s all that matters to me! — If you go – why not try it and let me know what you think to it!
(more…)

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Well, we start the new CanadaTrip year with a foody article! This time however, rather than a lunch-type restaurant we’re looking at more of an evening meal venue. Montana’s Cookhouse is a Canadian restaurant chain headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario! They have
very distinct, themed restaurants so you’d be struggling to confuse them with any other Restaurant!

Montana’s is known for their ribs, steaks, rotisserie chicken and other lodge fare. The restaurant aims to be a family/casual concept, rather than fine dining. The theme of the restaurant is of a lodge/wilderness setting and they try to provide guests with an escape to simpler times and places. When you enter the restaurant you may be surprised to find various items mounted up on the wall and suspended from the ceiling .. one of the items being a truck!

Montana’s is somewhere we always try to go to at least once during our trips, and their menu is full of fantastic quality food at great prices. There’s one thing that we always try to have when we are out – and that’s the starter Nachos.. but don’t get it just for yourself! We made that mistake once, the first time we went out in fact.. if you do, you will get a heck of a lot of nachos, so get them to share, but with their mix of blue and normal corn chips, as well as the various toppings you can buy as extras to go on them – they’re well worth every cent. (Hint: get them topped with pieces of steak!) (more…)

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OK! time for another foody article. On the rounds of all the main eateries of southern Ontario we came upon Arby’s. This on the face of it to be honest kind of looks like a burger place, but it isn’t! Like I’ve said, the majority of all these restaurant chains have a unique factor which sets them apart from the rest, at Arby’s its the actual products they sell. Arby’s actually are famous for their roast beef sandwiches!

Now, the photo above is certainly not one of my favourite photos.. it was taken on the move so i’ll apologise for that! However, my trip to Arby’s was actually in fairly high expectation. I’d heard their roast beef in their sandwiches was so tender.. Given the recommendations i was thinking i was in for a pretty decent treat. And besides – I was in Canada, and along with the US, Spain and Australia, it’s a beef loving country – with good cause due to the quality of their beef.

We parked up outside the adjacent Tim Horton’s and went inside. Its interior was the usual comfy fast food restaurant feel, similar to most burger kings in the UK. Immediately i was a little surprised. I had kind of expected the sandwiches to have really nice thick pieces of roast beef in them, but from what i could see in the pictures was more of a very thinly sliced .. wafer thin in fact – beef on a burger bun. I quickly put that to the back of my mind though – it doesn’t matter how the meat is cut right? providing you have enough of it on the sandwich!

Well – we all know from McDonald’s in the UK that we should never trust the pictures on the menu, but i was thinking – this is Canada, half hearted doesn’t exist!
We decided to have just the Beef ‘n’ Cheddar sandwich, though not the Combo, as really we were hoping to just try their signature beef sandwich. Fries are fries ultimately in Canada, it doesn’t matter where you go – you wont be disappointed in them, and though the Curly Fries here at Arby’s are one of the things they are well known for, i would be surprised if they were any better than the particularly high standards that all Canadian fast food restaurants set across the board! (more…)

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Its Monday, and time for a foody article!
Taco Bell is an American restaurant chain based in Irvine, California. It specializes in Mexican-style food and quick service.
Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, nachos, other specialty items and a variety of “Value Menu” items.

The one we go to is in Lindsay, it’s a joint restaurant as interestingly this particular store has one counter, one set of tills but you can either get KFC or Taco Bell (or both if you wanted)!
One of the things i like about Taco Bell is that it has simple, cheap food which fills you up well. It’s also something that we have rarely seen, even though there has been Taco Bell stores in the UK.. they all closed down in the mid 90s.

The food items i usually get are the 2 taco combo, which you can choose from hard or soft tacos, or like we usually do – get one of both, and then upgrade it by having Supreme fries with it. Supreme fries are something that i believe is only available in canada. You get a cardboard tray with (skins-on) fries piled on it. On top of the fries you then have taco-mix mince, sour cream, onions, diced tomato and chives – i wouldn’t miss having supreme fries with my meal! (more…)

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Well this is going to be an interestingly mixed article for the longest day of the year! But it is another foody article! One of those places i made sure i visited while out this May! The sacrifices i make for our readers!!
One of the big brands you will see while in Canada is A&W. This is a burger resteraunt but it specialises in selling its own unique brand of root beer.

That was it’s stumbling block for me.. But i promised i would go in and have a look – so i did!
When i first went in, maybe rather silly of me – i couldn’t see anywhere where it said it sold any other drinks other than root beer so i asked for just a burger rather than the combo, luckily though someone else with us had the combo and asked for a diet coke. Now I’m sorry to all those of you who love root beer.. but i really cannot stand it. For people in the UK who want to know what it is most like? Well, its most like dandelion and burdock, but it tastes completely of Germolene. . . which makes it very difficult for me to enjoy! At this point however on our trip i hadn’t tried genuine Canadian root beer, only British root beer found in a couple of supermarkets. But lets move on from my root beer dislike!

The menu does push the root beer an awful lot, all the combos are pictured on the menu with burger, fries and the trademark glass of root beer with the foam top – but worry not! A&W do sell other drinks as well as root beer, in fact they are one of the stockists of my favourite Cola – Coke. Not only do they do coke but they also do iced tea, sprite, minutemaid and a variety of Milkshakes.. oh yes and rootbeer floats too..
(more…)

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