Dunn's, Vancouver - Not Quite A Deli

When I think of deli sandwiches, I picture a pile of bright pink slices of meat stuffed between two rustic slices of bread. That mental image must have been planted in my head by the movies I've watched usually involving old men sitting around in delis, since I had never actually tried one of these things myself until my recent visit to Dunn's in Vancouver.

The inside of Dunn's looked like it was entirely furnished and decorated by an upscale department store like David Jones. It was classy enough, but everything looked shiny, and of an identical age. It had a slightly plastic feel which was well out of line with how I pictured any deli sandwich shop to look. At least it was clean, and there were plenty of spare seats.

Sadly there were no weathered old characters at Dunn's when I was there. They probably don't go to Dunn's anymore since it went non smoking. Undeterred, I ordered the classic six ounce version of the Montreal Smoked Meat Deli Sandwich. The concept of protein-heavy smoked meat sammy's originated in Montreal, over on the other side of Canada, but I wanted one now.

And before long, it was delivered to my table, looking like it was chopped in half with an axe, judging from the gaping sandwich in front of me. The halves were splayed open, revealing the layers and layers of cured, smoked then steamed beef brisket, dribbling juices all glistening and warm.

The rye bread was fresh enough, but it looked very small and mass produced; once again not quite fitting within the concept of a true deli sandwich. Luckily the meat was superb. At least ten layers of meat all heaped together, with a small smear of mustard on the bread being the only other flavour imposed on the sandwich. Half a dill pickle was slumped over the side of the plate, and there were a couple of the standard sauces on the table as well, just in case anyone wanted to smother the delicate flavour of the meat.

Thanks to the softness of the meat and the freshness of the bread, the whole thing was just a little too easy to gobble down, and it was all over in a matter of seconds. I wouldn't say that the sandwich was small, but I would have expected a bit more for almost ten bucks. It wasn't as filling as you might think either, and I could have easily ordered another one, if only I hadn't been acutely aware of how that would affect the cost of my lunch.

AVERAGE

Dunn's offer larger versions of their sandwiches, with eight ounces of meat instead of six, as well as combo deals that come with salad and fries, but those start to get very expensive. I enjoyed my brief visit to Dunn's, and my time spent sampling their best known sandwich, but I won't be going back. The atmosphere verges on tacky and the sandwiches reflect that vibe as well. On top of that it just isn't good enough value to justify a repeat visit. I've been there now, I've ticked it off my list. Now I just have to wait until Montreal before giving this style of cuisine another shot.

The bill (for 1):
1 x 6oz Montreal Smoked Meat Deli Sandwich - CA$9.50
1 x Lager - CA$5.50
TOTAL: CA$15 (before tax) (Approx. US$14.50)

Restaurant address: Dunn's Famous BC, 827 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5J3, Canada
Website: dunnsfamousbc.com

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

Fat Frank's, Edmonton - Must Love Dogs

Hotdogs. Uniformly shaped, pink, rubbery tubes of meat and meat-by-product, ironically containing every animal except dog; and served on a lot of streetcorners here in Canada. This review was inevitable.

Fat Franks is a chain of 'dog vendors which usually operate from your standard sidewalk hotdog carts. We found one run inside a proper little shack on the side of the road, looking clean and smelling smokey. It would do just fine.

Before extras. Like a blank canvas.

The chain is best known for it's Honey Ham Smokie, so we ordered one of those, as well as a chili cheese dog. A fellow customer explained to me that a smokie is a sausage of higher quality, both in terms of spices and meats used. High quality hotdog eh? Sounded like an oximoron to me.

The most interesting thing about the hotdog culture is the vast array of condiments that you are encouraged to use to dress up your otherwise dry dog, which allows for endless variations of flavour. My pet sandwich smothered with raw onion, cucumber relish, sauerkraut and curried mustard. No surprise that after all that I couldn't make out the honey ham flavour at all. It was just a big, messy hotdog. Did I say messy? I mean it was an astronomical, apocolyptic dreadnaught of destruction. Imagine the Exxon Valdez spill if it was filled with curried mustard. Oh, and it was blowing a gale at the time. And there were no seats. Got the picture? I probably should have skipped the part where I tried to eat the thing, and just smeared it all over my shirt and trousers, just to save time.

Our end result.

The chili dog had the added benefit of extra richness thanks to the meat, with the drawbacks being the awful liquid cheese sauce dripping all over it, and the fact that this hotdog had become something closer to a soup once even more condiments were committed to the concoction.

Beer mustard. What a great idea.

AVERAGE

The flavour of each dog was dominated by whatever condiments were plopped on top, so my advice would be to get whatever the most basic, cheap hotdog is available, and then dress it up with a kilo of extras. There was no major difference between the smokie / regular dog in my opinion. Ill happily try another smokie at another vendor, in another town, but as far as Fat Franks go, Ill stick to the basics.



The bill (for 2):
1 x Honey Ham Smokie -CA$5.25
1 x Chili Cheese Dog - CA$5.70
TOTAL: CA$10.95 (Approx. US$10.50)

Restaurant address: Whyte Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

Paratha King, Dubai - Not Quite Fit For A King

Most countries tend to use more rice than flour, or vice versa. India is one of the few countries who seem to be happily obsessed with using both as often as they can, sometimes even on the same plate! When you consider rice dishes like biryani or mandi, and then think about delicious sub-continental breads such as naan or roti, I think there is definitely room at the table for all the different carbohydrates. I am an efficient person, so I try to pack as many types of carbs into a single meal as I possibly can. It just saves time.

And so I found myself at Paratha King, trying to decide between all the various stuffed parathas and rice dishes on their very, very, very, very long menu. I think I've mentioned before that I get intimidated by unnecessarily long menus. I swear some places just write up every single conceivable combination of their ingredient base and give each combo a different name. Why not just take 'The Pizza Hut Approach'? Just list all the available bits and pieces, and let the customer choose what they want to have stuffed into their particular dish. I mean let's face it, a stuffed paratha is the Indian answer to the pizza, since just about anything can be safely shoved into one, dipped in sauce, and devoured by people who often don't care what they are eating at 4am.

But this was 2pm, so I felt like my dining decision should be a little more carefully thought out. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I asked for one of whichever the most popular spicy paratha was on the menu. "Hara Bhara Paratha" was the answer, and so that musical sounding recommendation became my lunch for the day. The Hara Bhara paratha sounded good on the menu board, stuffed with pieces of spinach, green onion, sesame seeds, diced chilli and even some tiny bits of potato. Good to see they hadn't forgotten Ireland's favourite carbohydrate either.

One nice addition was the 'salad bar', although that's not an accurate description of the stuff that was on offer... chic pea 'chana' curry, daal, sour pickle, chillies, yoghurt, raw onions and a number of other little extras were all laid out inside a sterile-looking stainless steel counter. Sounds good so far.

My paratha was delivered on a plastic lunch tray, with little indents for the extra stuff which I happily piled on. Nothing like a brightly coloured meal to make me hungry!

The paratha itself was dry and bland, with no measurable degree of spice. The strongest flavour came from the tiny bits of mashed spinach, which were fresh enough, but apart from that, the whole paratha was just a tasteless lump. It was overdone to the point of slight charring on one side, while the other side felt a little bit like play dough. The side dishes were a mixed bag - The chana was forgettable; a bit spicy, but as salty as the Dead Sea. The daal was passable; a little watery, but definitely a step up from the chana. Chillies were old and soft, onions were crisp and fresh, plain yoghurt was thick and fresh, while the mint yoghurt was warm and watered down. Why the hell does one location have such enormous variation of quality between such simple things as side dishes?!

The insides of the paratha looked good, but were almost tasteless.

OK, relax. What do we do when we start to get mad? We pump ourselves full of sugar, of course. That's what I needed, a dose of good ol' fashioned sweetener. It always makes things better.

I ordered my favourite Indian dessert, Galub Jamun, which are essentially just little balls of vanilla cake batter which are deep fried and then drowned in a bath of sugar syrup where they stay until sold. What could possibly go wrong? It even looked great when it arrived at my table. It was only when I punctured it with my spoon that I discovered the problem - They had almost microwaved them to death. The good people in the kitchen had taken two otherwise perfectly innocent little lumps of galub jamun and stuck them inside a thousand watt microwave oven for a bit too long, which reduced their already-tender insides to a molten, sticky pulp of tongue-searingly sweetness. I would have preferred them to be served the same way 99% of sweet shops sell these things - at room temperature. They were still edible, but only after I blew on them for about the same length of time as a 102 year old man with an iron lung would spend extinguishing the candles on his birthday cake.

AVERAGE

Between the bewildering menu, the saddened paratha and salad bar offerings which ranged from okay to bad, I was not exactly impressed by Paratha King. Maybe the Hara Bara Paratha was not in fact their most impressive dish. I have to say that after I had placed my order, I sat and watched a number of other various dishes emerge from the kitchen, all of which looked better than the lethargic lump that I had to contend with. It's that promise of potential, thanks to the endless menu variety which kind of makes me want to go back again at some stage, just to dig through a few more different things, and see if it gets any better. I'm not always an optimist, but in this case I think it's a safe bet that it could only improve, which is why this place just scrapes into the Average category.


UPDATE: I did in fact make another trip over to the patriarch of the paratha, and ordered something as different as possible, in the interests of giving them a fair go. I went with the hyderabadi biryani, vegetarian obviously. It was a colourful pile of bright green rice and fried shredded onions, covering a smaller, slightly mushy pile of various other vegetables. The rice was fresh and fluffy, and the veggies had about as much flavour as a vegetarian dish could expect to muster without being garnished with a leg of lamb. It was filling, tasty enough, and improved my view of Paratha King on the whole. That said - it was a lot more expensive than other, better biryanis found in Dubai, and the side dish salad bar setup was identical to my last visit, with the same mix of hit-and-miss dishes that amount to very little.
I now happily rate this as a solid 'Average' based on both times I have been to the restaurant.

The bill (for 1):
1 x Hara Bhara Paratha - 14 Dhs
1 x Galub Jamun - 6 Dhs
1 x Chai Tea - 3 Dhs
TOTAL: 23 Dhs (Approx. US$6)

Second visit bill (for 1): 
1 x Hyderabadi Biryani - 18 Dhs
TOTAL: 18 Dhs (Approx US$5)

Restaurant address: Internet City, Building 12, Dubai

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

McGettigans, Dubai - Every Town Has An Irish Pub

A Friday just isn't a Friday in Dubai without attending a brunch in some form or another. From 5-star champagne fueled events to the cheap and cheerful, you can find it all. The standard brunch format is an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink 3-hour sprint which regularly deteriorates into a gluttonous, messy affair. 

The Friday brunch at McGettigans Irish Pub was therefore a breath of fresh air. For a set price, you could choose a main meal from a reasonably wide selection of standard and some more adventurous pub food and the meal came with three drinks (including Magners on tap which automatically elevates this meal in my opinion). There was no rush to consume as much food as possible and drink copious quantities of alcohol to maximise the value of the brunch. It was casual and relaxed - the way a brunch really should be.

Given we were at an Irish pub, I felt compelled to embrace the "Irishness" and ordered a McGettigan's fry-up to accompany my pint of Magners. The fry up came with the usual fried egg, hash browns, beans and mushrooms that you would expect. The white pudding and bacon were great - the black pudding was a little too much for me, but my Scottish companions eagerly snapped it up. I'm glad I wasn't starving because while it was a fair portion, it certainly wasn't huge. It ticked the boxes of what one should expect from a fry-up but didn't offer anything more. I am not sure what I expected, but I think I am sometimes left disappointed by restaurant experiences when I feel that I could honestly make the meal just as well as they did - I am no masterchef, but this fry up was pretty basic. Tasty, but basic.

Our other order was the fish and chips served with mushy peas and tartare sauce. The fish was good quality and nicely battered - just enough to give some weight and crispiness, without dominating the flavour of the fish. The chips were hot and crispy, just as chips should be.
While it didn't blow us away or leave us begging for more, it was good, honest food and a decent size serving.

AVERAGE

McGettigan's is no trateur or La Petite Maison - but that is not why you go there. You go there for a relaxed atmosphere, a place where you can enjoy a quiet drink sitting outside in the beer garden or take up residence in one of the comfortable indoor booths for the afternoon. It's brunch menu is simple and so is the food - but simple is not always bad, and it is nice to do away with the fuss of fancy brunches and just enjoy some good old fashioned pub food done well. Happy to recommend this place, but it has stiff competition in the land of the 5 star brunch!

The bill (for 2):
2 x brunch - 129 x 2 Dhs
TOTAL: 258 Dhs (Approx. US$70)

Restaurant address: Bonnington Tower, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Cluster J

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.

Karachi Darbar, Lahbab - HIghway Cafeteria, Middle Eastern Style

One good thing about the Middle East is that even roadside diners on dusty highways have something interesting on their menus. The Lahbab branch of the Karachi Darbar Pakistani restaurant chain is one example. The chain has a reasonably good reputation in Dubai for offering good value Indian and Pakistani staple dishes at all times of day. There is a vast stretch of dirt between the highway and the restaurant, which gives trucks plenty of space to pull over. There were quite a few 18 wheelers parked outside this place, which is usually a pretty good sign of cheap and cheerful dining nearby.

The frontage of the restaurant is colourful and clean, and the interior is basic without appearing barren. The patterned tiles on the walls and floor help to liven up the place, and the red & gold chairs looked like they were plucked straight out of a 19th century opera theater.

I ordered a mutton biryani, since it was midday, so it would definitely be fresh. It arrived at the table within a couple of minutes, along with a bunch of friends including curry sauce, some raw vegetables and a mint-yoghurt sauce called raita.

Fun fact about biryani is that is is typically served with the lumps of meat hidden underneath the pile of rice. So when you are served it looks just like you have a giant plate of yellowish rice in front of you. The visual presentation of the dish might not be the best, but the method ensures that the meat stays hot and moist underneath the fluffy, insulating layer of rice.

The mutton in my biryani was great. So soft that it was clear the meat had been slowly cooking for over 3 hours. It fell off the bone with only hardly any effort, and didnt have too much bad fat attached to it. The rice was good, with a modest quantity of the required herbs and whole spices added for flavour.

The curry sauce tasted mostly of tomato, with almost no spice heat, but it worked well with the rice, adding moisture and some richness. The raita was watery, which was a sign that the sauce had been watered down, as a cost saving measure, which is a common practice in the more budget indian and pakistani places in Dubai. But again, the mild flavour added to the overall dish, giving a fresh mint flavour to the rice.

The table water was free, since it was from the tap. It isn't going to kill you, as long as you don't have too much in one sitting. The drawback for me was that my poor glass had more chips in it than your average casino, which meant I had to be extremely careful when trying to take a sip.

I ordered a chai tea after the meal, since it's always nice to finish with something a bit sweet. Luckily it was served in a styrofoam cup, so I didnt have to worry about cutting my face off. It was piping hot, sweet and had that nice smell of cardomom to it which is what makes chai so good to begin with.

AVERAGE

Karachi Darbar in Lahbab is not going to be the place you want to seek out specifically for a meal. It is however a very acceptable option for a simple and affordable lunch if you happen to be passing by. Each component of a dish is not best in it's class, but the sum of those parts equals something that you cant help but enjoy. 

The bill (for 1):
1 x Mutton Biryani - 10 Dhs
1 x Chai Tea - 1 Dhs

TOTAL: 11 Dhs (Approx. US$3)

Restaurant address: about 100 metres past the Lahbab roundabout, on the Dubai-Hatta Road. Its on your left, heading towards Oman. for the exact location, take a look at our map.

Fiesta Bistro - It's what's on the inside that counts

There is a lot to be said for presentation. Well presented eateries can justifiably charge more for their food, since 'atmosphere' is an asset, and therefore has value. All that atmosphere doesn't guarantee that the food you end up with is any good mind you. The point of this blog is to find the most interesting food out there, without letting the vibe of a destination sway our judgement too much.

So the other morning while in Karama, next to a bus stop, outside a supermarket, we stopped in at the Fiesta Bistro for a quick breakfast. We resisted engaging in any of the advertised buffett options, such as all you can eat soup and a sandwiche for only 25 dirhams. I couldn't think of anything worse than filling up on soup, so it was an easy decision.

We ordered a Turkish coffee, a latte, a blueberry muffin and the exciting sounding 'breakfast pizza'. The coffees were fresh and hot, but the turkish coffee was poured and the pot was immediately confiscated, which was a shame. The muffin was a little dry, which was surprising considering it was early in the morning, so there should be no reason for it to be that way.

I was starting to worry that Fiesta Bistro was just another forgettable little food shack... And then my breakfast pizza arrived. Chicken sausage, turkey bacon , two types of cheese and shallots all built over a very freshly made pizza base, with an egg cracked underneath all the toppings. The base was still puffed up from it's recent trip to the oven, and the cheeses had melted into the egg in the best way possible. A full breakfast, handheld. Genius. All for the same price as the soup buffet. Why wasn't the breakfast pizza on the chalkboard of daily specials?

So as I sat there enjoying this dish of early morning creativity, I didnt mind that the location of the place wasn't the best, or that the atmosphere of the place was cheap and a little stale.

AVERAGE

I suppose the lesson is that you really cant judge a book by it's cover, or a restaurant by the terrible things it puts on it's specials board.

The bill (for two): 
1 x Latte - Dhs 13
1 x Turkish Coffee - Dhs 10
1 x Blueberry Muffin - Dhs 12
1 x Breakfast Pizza - Dhs 25




TOTAL: Dhs 60 (Approx. US$16)


Restaurant address:Next door to Spinneys Supermarket, on the main road, about 200 metres from Karama Metro Station.

for exact locations of all reviewed restaurants, take a look at our map.