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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!
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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..
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Well, i was saving this little article for a little later in the month, but an honest comment on our Wendy’s article by Steve recommending Harvey’s made my mind up – and moved it a little earlier!

One of the many things i love about Canada is the food. Not only do you get an incredible choice of places to eat, you also get quality which unless you pay top money for, you don’t get in the UK.

On May’s trip out to Canada, i set out to hold true to my word that i would visit as many places to eat that people will commonly see – since you have such a great choice of places, its always good to make an informed one right? So, on this quest i found myself at the doors of Harvey’s.

Harvey’s is a fast food restaurant chain that operates in Canada, with locations concentrated in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, as well as the Maritimes, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Alberta. It serves hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings, and other traditional fast food fare. Harvey’s is the second-largest Canadian-established restaurant chain behind Tim Hortons, and is the fourth-largest burger chain in Canada. So when you’re eating here, you’re truly eating Canadian Food!

With so many different restaurants to eat, you’ll find each one has its own unique characteristic. Harvey’s i have to say was my favourite of all the restaurants in Canada as far as their special characteristic goes.. This is because they specialise in giving you the freshest burger they can.. Freshly grilling it and then taking it over to a counter. From here the member of staff will ask you what you want on the burger – so rather than being restricted, asking for a burger without blah blah blah, or with extra pickles – you can get your burger made up exactly how you want it.. SO if you want everything on – just ask for everything! (more…)

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Yep, it’s another foody place! This time though, we’re not talking about a huge chain – this time its a single restaurant! The Sunset Grill in Gravenhurst, Muskoka.
By all accounts it was a generally miserable day weather wise, and we’d been to the Muskoka Store and it had more or less been raining continuously for a day. This is not normal weather for this part of weather.. grey skies may be common sight in Britain, but generally days of rain and cloud is not the norm here.. We’d gone to Gravenhurst to have a look around – and you’ll see a more general article on Gravenhurst in the next couple of months, but basically its a town built on the edge of a lake. Here on the wharf – with a car park right next to it is the Sunset Grill.

This is where we had lunch. If you head in – I’d recommend the Coffee, it was fantastic and with the added bonus of free refills its worth every penny! The menu has many classics – such as the BLT – or if you wanted to go for something more traditionally Canadian you could have the pea meal bacon on a bun. These sandwiches come served on a plate with veggy sticks (of cucumber and carrot), along with a separate dip, and a separate dressing for your sandwich. I had the BLT and it really was worth having – I’d recommend it to you – but .. what i liked the most? One of us couldn’t finish the Pea meal Bacon in a bun.. well there was my chance! Not only was the pea meal bacon cooked perfectly, it was really tender and thickly cut. The bread cake/bun was really soft – and of coarse it came with the veggy sticks and condiments. (more…)

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Ok ok i know this looks like the craziest thing for me to write about, but this is our 100th Article and i thought i’d do something .. unexpected! .. But seriously you’ll have to trust me on what I’m going to say next.
You may think you’ve been to McDonald’s.. Judged it to be what you think it is.. and who knows maybe you decided it wasn’t worth you eating there anymore.. but trust me.. McDonald’s in Canada, is NOT McDonald’s in the UK.

Ok, now before all the crazy legal stuff starts coming in – technically yes it is the same company but what I’m really getting at here is that there’s the food quality in the UK … and then a few hundred miles up is the food quality from McDonald’s in Canada.

Ok, where to start.. The problem is I’ve had so many unpleasant experiences with McDonald’s in the UK its difficult not to let this article become a giant rant about the UK arm, but let’s take Service first.
Now, it maybe that the McDonald’s restaurants round where i live are simply very bad, but I’d say 3/4 times i go there would be some problem.. Usually you ask for one thing and you get another, be it size or sandwich.. Or you ask for the chicken selects and you get no dips.. or what about you get your food in the drive through – set off and then remember you should have asked for salt or tomato sauce? I have been to McDonald’s in Canada far far too many times for it to be good for me! and I’ve only ever once had a problem with the order. Not only that, the people who serve you are extremely friendly and very happy to help – and the method they use through drive through is that when you put your order in, they ASK everyone, do they want ‘salt or ketchup with that’ so no more being without! (more…)

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Well, i haven’t done an article on somewhere to eat for a long time, so i thought I’d feature one of the most commonly seen restaurants you’ll see while out in Canada.

Wendy’s is a burger restaurant chain, though it’s not really comparable to McDonald’s or Burger King for its food as it prides its self on serving ‘good old fashioned hamburgers’. The only chain you may know that is in the UK which serves food very similar to Wendy’s is Wimpy – though personally i think the beef in Wendy’s burgers is actually better.

The first time i had a Wendy’s burger was in 2005, at Niagara Falls. I actually chose the triple burger, which i think is about the same as a 3/4lber – Now, on that occasion i thought that Wendy’s made pretty greasy burgers, there was fat dripping out as i ate it, which didn’t serve as a particularly good first impression. However, the next year in 2006 we called at Wendy’s in Newmarket, and i had the same burger but it was so much better, and not a drip of fat escaped the sandwich.
I think the main thing about Wendy’s is that they really do give you real hamburgers, made with some very good quality beef. I’d go as far to say that Wendy’s is THE burger place (of all the chains) to go to get the best quality burgers .. so far as the beef is concerned anyway. Recently, i cut back on my triples, because seriously – double is way good enough! (more…)

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Well here’s the first of the big brands you’ll see when you’re out in Canada, and it really is my favourite. When you’re out in Canada DO NOT come home without having had at least one cup of Hot Chocolate, and if you like that – then try the French Vanilla Coffee!

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons is a coffee shop, doughnut shop and a place to eat all rolled into one – and on top of that it’s Canadian! These places are dotted absolutely everywhere, so stop off, relax and enjoy their hot chocolate with a doughnut or two. Or, try their timbits, which are doughnut holes – you can either choose what flavours you want or you can ask for a random variety. The other fantastic thing about Tim Hortons, other than everything tastes so good – is the price. While we were out a couple of weeks ago, we got two extra large Tim Hortons Hot Chocolates (1pt cups), and a box of 10 timbits – and it came to exactly $5!
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