Burger Foundry

A long time ago a friend told us we HAD to get to Burger Foundry, and it had been one of those that had been in the back of my mind for awhile but we had never gotten to (like so many other places – Adelaide simply has too many options!)

We were both already hungry when we decided to make the move and head to Magill where Burger Foundry is, and I thought I’d better check to see if you need to make reservations (which you don’t because as I found out they mostly do take away).  It was about a half hour drive for us to get to Magill so as you can imagine both our stomachs were rumbling by the time we got there.  My first thought when we arrived (after driving around, up and down side streets to get a park) was no wonder you don’t need to make reservations – the place has two four seater tables and a few chairs for those waiting for their orders.  I felt like such a noob for trying to make a reservation – clearly going to trendy eateries has not rubbed off on me!

It took me awhile to decide what I wanted, not because I couldn’t find something I liked the sound of… it was more that I was at that hungry point where everything looks like roast chickens dancing around and I wanted one of each burger.  Eventually I decided on the Rocky Mountain High which was a house-made beef patty, mesclun greens (I still have no idea what “mesclun” is, but it looked and tasted like lettuce to me), caramelised onion, bacon and cheese (naturally, I got some tomato sauce added on there too).  

Paul ordered the Jamaican Jerk which had spicy caribbean thigh fillet chicken, mesclun greens, tomato and mango salsa.

Before you read on, I would like to point out that a lot of people love this place.  They get take away, they eat in, they go back again and again.

I wasn’t impressed.  We ordered and were told they had run out of fries.  That’s cool, I could see the guy making the burgers and they were pretty big – we wouldn’t need the fries anyway.  Then we were told it would be about a 30 minute wait.  Well, we’d already paid and weren’t about to leave without trying these bloody burgers, so we waited.  We went for a walk and found an amazing little Mexican street-food place which I would have rather been eating at, but shortly returned to Burger Foundry because it was cold and windy and I was wearing a dress (clever). 

While I was ever so patiently waiting for our burgers (taking care not to start chewing on my arm), I watched them at work.  The guy making the burgers does every single one with such care and precision I had to appreciate it.  They only had one guy grilling out the back, one putting them together and one girl (who appeared very new, quiet, and nervous) taking the orders - not that that really mattered... we all start new and nervous at some point in our lives. 

So after a solid 45 minute wait, I was hungry and frustrated and when we FINALLY got our burgers what could have been a really lovely tasty experience was kind of ruined for me.  I ate in anger, which I assure you is not a pretty sight.  I was grumpy and taking bites out of this thing in my hands like it had kicked my dog (I don't actually have a dog... I'm just trying to make a point).  

Hunger anger for me, unfortunately, is a common occurrence.  Perhaps not common, but its not unheard of.  My parents used to make a joke that if I was in a bad mood they just needed to throw some food at me (har har), so Paul still very much enjoyed his burger and would definitely go there again (just not with me because this experience has ruined the place for me). 

Second the best...

I know it seems we've been slack, either not writing or not date nighting, although I'm sure there's few of you out there that couldn't blame us - the silly season will be silly! 

As much as I love using date night as an excuse to try new places and discover new foods, what's the point of finding these delicious delights if we don't get to go back because we're already off to the next place?  And I know there's 7 nights in a week so why don't we go another night you say - but all our other nights are taken already and also we don't have endless funds. 

Anyway, as it has happened towards the end of last year we had unintentionally been revisiting old favourites.  "Old" favourites being Devour Dessert Bar (their menu had changed a bit so obviously we had to get back there), Paesano and TGI Fridays.  My goodness did I have a good time!

Devour happened when we were sitting at home on a Sunday night, not hungry enough to cook dinner (or too lazy…) and I was doing what I do best, sitting at my computer browsing the internet.  Up from somewhere comes a picture of a tasty looking dessert and in a heartbeat I was out of my pyjamas and into my "I can eat as much dessert as I want because I haven't had dinner" clothes.  

If you recall our previous visit, you'll know that I tried my very first soufflé… and my very last.  While I knew it was not to my liking, I also knew it was no ones fault but my own - try something new, she said, it'll be fun, she said!  So this time I was sticking to what I knew (or had heard, seen and smelt) was damn good.  Chocolate filled cinnamon donuts with raspberry sauce and honeycomb ice-cream.  

I enjoy food.  I enjoy it a lot.  But it is rare that I find something so mind-blowing and tastebud tantalising that my eyes light up and a big goofy smile forms across my face for the entire time I eat (trust me, not a great look.. especially when you're eating chocolate).  I mean the entire time.  I was making those embarrassing "oohhhhhhh my goodness this is SO good" words and the "mmmmmMMMMMm!!!" noises that go with it.  I've heard of a couple of people being a little disappointed at Devour because it's a small menu, but I think I would always manage to find something I liked there (even if it didn't give me the same… experience… as the donuts).  Everyone needs to try this place, even if it's just once!

Paesano, another spur of the moment date night.  We were out late (well, late for us - it was 8.30pm and we still hadn't had dinner - the silly season!) on a Sunday and we both had work the next day.  We were in town and took a stroll along O'Connell Street as we have done so many times before.  Not a lot of places were still serving food - but Paesano was.  It was comfortable, I had enjoyed it last time and was confident I would again… hopefully Paul would avoid spilling coffee all over himself this time, hehe. 

I stayed safe with what I knew and had the calzone I had last time - I am happy to say it held up!  I know it should be expected that when you order the same meal at the same restaurant that it would be the same, but from previous experience that's not always the case.  The service was good, we had a lovely waitress and the food (as I've said) was really good.  It's just a nice and easy place to go back to. 

Our most recent second visit was to TGI Friday's.  It's terrible how much I enjoy this place… and how much I enjoy stuffing my face with their flame grilled tasty burgers.  We'd just seen a movie in the morning at Gold Class (spoilt!) and obviously haaaaaad to go to TGI's while we were at Marion.  Their menu had changed ever so slightly, but just enough that I had to search and read descriptions of the burgers to remember which one I got, which didn't work because I really could not remember.  Regardless, I got a burger.  A bacon cheeseburger to be exact.  

I won't lie, it wasn't the over-the-top "can't talk - eating/can't put burger down because I need to eat more as soon as this mouthful is swallowed or maybe even before that" experience I had last time, but to be fair - my expectations were set pretty high.  This cheeseburger didn't have any tomato sauce on it, which was fine because there was some on the table… but you know how when they put the sauce on the bun and by the time the meal gets to you the sauce is the same temperature as the burger?  Yeah I like that, but when you put it on yourself its so noticeable and cold, it's just something I don't like.  And you can't ask them to put the sauce on because its at the table already.  

The onion rings blew my miiiiind - and went so well with the sauce that Paul got with his chicken tenderloins (oh yeah, we ordered a bit).  Paul didn't talk while he was eating his pasta and described it as "really really good" haha.  I won't lie, I didn't enjoy it as much as last time.  I'm not sure what was different, I really do think the different burger made a difference, but it doesn't really matter.  We still have vouchers for Gold Class but I think I've had my TGI fix, I'll be trying somewhere new next time!

Devour Dessert Bar

This little gem hides little way away from the city centre, but don't think for one second that hinders its influx of customers.  Everyone seems to know about this place.  I had heard of it, sort of, but never had any idea of where it was or the type of place it was - if I had only been told I wouldn't have been so surprised!

The feedback I had heard was fantastic and I had never been to a "dessert bar" (although on Urbanspoon they seem to be popping up everywhere).  We tried it out on a Saturday night and they don't take reservations, but they said if we came in around 8pm we should be fine to get a seat.  

Trying to find it on Prospect Road tested our "looking for a store while its night with not a lot of lighting and also I didn't have my glasses" skills, but we managed (and managed a park nearly right out the front too).  We were seated at a long table as soon as we entered and were given our menus, which was about an A5 page of drinks and an A5 page of desserts. 

Almost immediately I noticed the "no eftpos" mention at the bottom of the menu and remembered I did not have cash - neither did Paul.  He volunteered to go for a quick wander and get some cash monies while I ordered both our drinks and desserts (as it was table service and Paul had disappeared they took awhile to take my order - I assume because they were waiting for him to get back… or they just took awhile). 

It gave me a good opportunity to take the place in.  It was so much smaller and darker than I had expected, but I loved it because it made it feel so cosy.  There was some very dim lighting and a lot of candles.  Nothing really matched but everything didn't match together perfectly - it was well done!

Just after Paul had left, there was an Asian girl that came in by herself (and before we go any further I'd like to take this moment to let you all know I'm a people watcher, not a creep, and yes, there is a difference hehe) and signalled "3" with her fingers - she was meeting friends.  I continued switching between my phone and gazing around.

So after waiting awhile to place my order, I waited another 10 or so minutes for Paul to get back.  A solid 25 minutes had passed with not a word from Paul and I started getting a bit worried, especially because we had passed a couple of ATM's on our way so I knew they existed in the area.  Eventually I got a "I'm on my way back - long story will be about 10 minutes" text message.  How on earth did he manage to go for a 10 minute wander??  As it happened, Paul did not have great luck with the first 3 or so ATM's he passed and ended up having to walk a loooooong way so we could enjoy our dessert.  

Anyway - remember that Asian girl that was waiting for friends?  So after Paul got back another Asian girl came in, signalled she was after a table for 3 and sat down near us.  I then told Paul about how the other girl had come in and done the same thing and none of her other party members had shown up yet.  Paul then went on to tell me off for assuming they were together because of the Asian thing.  Then we had a hushed conversation about the facts of the situation and I settled it with FINE…. but wouldn't it be funny if they were waiting for each other but they had separate tables and couldn't see each other because of the positioning of those tables, other guests and the dim lighting.  All I have to say is winner winner chicken dinner.  Both of those girls were very patient because I would have been calling my friends being all "where are you I'm by myself and I'm at this table near this weird chick that I think is talking about me because she keeps looking at me"  but neither seemed to realise the other was already there.  I will repeat this though - people watching, not creepy because it's different.  In an anti-climatic ending the girls eventually called each other and discovered they were both there… not too sure what happened to their third party member. 

Our beverages arrived and Paul had his now regular order of iced coffee with soy milk and no cream or ice cream and I had a hot white chocolate and it was so creamy and white chocolatey and almost marshmallowy - mmmmmm.

Onto what you're all here for - the food.  I was extremely disappointed, not in the food but in my dessert choice.  I've never had soufflé and had no real idea what it was besides it was a thing that rose really high and it was kind of a big deal to get one right.  But I'm trying new things remember?  So I went for it.  Regret.  The texture freaked me out, I had no idea what I was eating… is it cooked or is it mousse or is it just soggy?  Wait but it feels like air and it looks like there's so much of it but how I am I done already?  This is a place I desperately want to go back to so I can try something that I'm at least a little familiar with and give it the feedback it deserves. 

Paul's dessert choice however, looked like perfection.  Mini cinnamon chocolate filled donuts (those that know me know how much I love a good donut!) and ice cream and raspberry sauce.  My goodness if it's still on the menu I know what I'll be getting next time!  

It was a really gorgeous night and I hear the menu changes every so often - an excuse to always go back to try the new stuff, right?!  I would recommend getting there early-ish (around 8-8.30) if you can as it got really busy towards about 9.30, although they do well getting a lot of people in there without it seeming too crowded.  

Fishtail Buffet and Restaurant

After my spill in the last post about how buffets are good but I'd rather pay good money for one good meal rather than choosing from a whole bunch of different meals…  Guess what we did.

It was completely unintentional, well, not completely.  But we didn't realise that buffet was our only option and by the time we realised it was too late!  It was one of those nights where we walk around O'Connell Street and try to decide where we feel like eating.  Of all the glorious places on O'Connell Street we found our way to the Chinese buffet.  Don't judge!  

The place has recently been renovated or taken over or something of the like and were having their "grand opening".  Shame they did it on a finals weekend when Crows had a home game!  Out the front there was a board that had what I had assumed was the menu.  I assumed correctly but in the wrong way.  It listed all the meal options (without prices next to them) and had a buffet price.  The way it was set out made me think that we could have the buffet or one of the things listed.  Incorrect.  

It was a weird buffet, I would call it a westernised Chinese buffet with some Indian dishes too.  Because that's exactly what it was.  There was a bar marked "entree" which held your soups, salt and pepper squid, spring rolls and of course fries!  Soggy, saltless fries.   The bar marked "mains" held the classics to the likes of honey chicken, lemon chicken, some beef dish that I always see on menus but now cannot remember the name of, fried rice, butter chicken, lamb korma - the usuals!

 I wasn't actually as excited as I look...

To be honest, while the place looked amazing, the food was not anything to call home about.  It was overpriced for what I could stomach (although if you're a biiiiiiig eater then you'd probably get your money's worth!) and I left feeling full and a little sick.  The food didn't sit great with Paul either.  

Overall, I would go back to the Walker's Arms buffet before I went back to Fishtail because Walker's Arms is cheaper and… well the food (in my opinion) is better!

Walker's Arms

I remember as a kid getting so excited about getting to go to Charlie's all you can eat diner.  Not because I ate a lot (although I may or may not have absolutely filled myself to the brim) but because the idea of being able to pick from all these different foods, and go around a couple of big long tables and pick the food that was bad for me then eat two bowls of swirly ice-cream was just aaaaah-mazing.

Please don't take this as a reflection on my parents parenting.  They didn't let me eat anything that I wanted… buuuuut at the same time we were usually there for big family do's and I was with other kids and it was hard for them to control my servings.  

As a kid I guess I didn't have a wide "pallet".  All the high fat food made in absolute bulk tasted wicked good to me and I was quite happy shovelling it in.  I didn't look around at it all and think, hmmm, I would rather have spent that money on a really nice meal - oh how times change! 

Walker's Arms is a place we frequent with friends for drinks.  I'm sure most of you have heard about the award winning beer garden and the imperial pints they serve (as well as the tasty schnitzel … I think it was tasty, those imperial pints get to you quick!) …but you MUST have heard of the buffet. 

I had been mentioning it to Paul for awhile that I wanted to go there because I still have the eat all the food memories as a kid and just imagined it would be this delicious, quality buffet where I could stuff myself full more than when I was a child because who was going to stop me, and I was grown therefore could fit more in.  His sister's boyfriend went and said it was pretty good and end of discussion. 

We made the reservation (FYI you have to make a reservation for the buffet) and the next night we were on our way!  We drove around a bit to find a park and then we headed in the wrong way.  There's a particular "buffet" side of the building and we ignored the signs that said to go through that way and instead we around the "beer garden" side.  Follow the signs people, it will save you some hassle.  There are two booking times for the Buffet, being 5.30 and 7.30.  We opted for 7.30 and were casually herded into the eating area once the 5.30 lot were truly done. 

The animalistic feelings didn't stop there.  I mean the crowd wasn't aggressively trying to get to the food or anything, but there was a growing impatient line of people all wanting to eat from troughs.. I mean... from plates.  Over flowing with dirty food.

 (taking sneaky pictures of the buffet - scuse the dodgy shots!)

I'm not making it sound great, but that's not my intention I swear!  It wasn't dirty food, but it was like food court food, and I don't always feel entirely satisfied/clean/healthy after a food court meal.

The variety of food was awesome.  Pizza, all your standard asian, a couple of curries, roast and veggies, lots of prawns and a huge salad bar.  But you don't need that variety to make the trip worth while.  

my first and second plates - chicken nuggets, spring roll, honey chicken, fried rice, dim sim, potato bake, calamari, veggies, pizza, bread and prawn cracker!

Paul's first and second plates - veggies, bread, pizza, potato bake, fried rice, dim sims, honey chicken, calamari.... we have similar tastes!

What did it for me was the dessert bar.  Chocolate cheesecake, lemon slice, mini sticky date puddings, apple crumble, fruit, fresh cinnamon donuts and of course, self serve ice-cream.  It was off the chain.  After my first plate of food I inspected the dessert bar and only had a tiiiiiny second plate because there was no way I was going to be too full for dessert. 

If you rate date night on a scale of 1 - 10 on how badly you need to unbutton your pants/ unzip your dress at the end of the night, it was a successful date night! 

Chuy's Thai

SORRY for the extreme lack of posts!  Date Night has been put on the back burner for (hopefully) a limited time only.  With sickness and the finding a new rental for me and Paul to move into.. YES that's right.  Paul and I are moving in together!  It's been a busy few weeks of going to inspections and doing applications and being tired and having things on, date night has not happened since TGI's.  But for those following, there's still a bunch of places we've been that I haven't posted about so in the next couple of weeks (we start moving the coming weekend!) I think I'll posting those.  They may not be as detailed as more recent date nights as my memory isn't always great - but maybe i'll make some stories up that COULD have happened just to spice things up ;)  

This was one of those "lets walk down O'Connell Street and see where we haven't been" kind of date nights.  Granted, there's still a lot of places there we haven't been… but we're working our way towards it!  In video games I like to collect everything and finish it to 100%… I think my date nights will be the same.  

We ended up at Chuy's because it was, well, kinda cheap, and we both like Thai food.  It was fairly empty, but we were there early so it might get busier during the non-grandparents eating hours.  As usual, both hungry so we ordered quickly.  I had salt and pepper squid and Paul had chicken of some sort, possibly sweet and sour.  Lots of rice.  For whatever genius reason, I decided to put my glass of water on the window sill.  I can't remember the reason why, maybe I wanted more room for our food, or perhaps I was trying to stop myself from drinking it all before our meals came out.  Regardless, I forgot it was there.  Of course I did!  And quickly got sick of my bag at my feet and put it on the window sill.  Knocking over and smashing my full glass to the ground, under the table and over the window.  What a fantastically difficult spot I smashed it in!  Cleaning it was awkward for the waitress and while I did my best to help… I think I made it worse.  So after "pulling a Paul" (for those of you that don't remember, see here)  I didn't order another drink and we ate.  We ate quickly and we paid and we left.  

The food was okay, it was pretty standard and nothing mind blowing that I couldn't get somewhere else.  But not a bad place and prices were a bit alright!

TGI Fridays

I just don't even know where to start and finish with this one.  I'd heard of TGI's a fair bit from a few people but have never thought to look it up or ask what it's like.  Just accepted that it was awesome and we should go there.  We saw a voucher for it while flicking through the entertainment book, it was for 30% off I think and it seemed like a good deal, because I want as much $$ off as I can get! Nothing wrong with being a little cheap :) 

In Australia there's a fair few in Melbourne and one in Adelaide.  Good ol' Adelaide.  That one is in Marion which for us in the hood (the north eastern hood that is) it's a bit of a trip (not really, but a little bit).  Paul picked me up from work and we were on our way on a chilly Friday night.  I had looked up the place during the day at work and my jaw dropped at the menu.  AMERICANA.  Burgers burgers steak ribs potato jackets steak DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING.  I didn't see onion rings on the menu which I was super disappointed about.  And I was glad we had our voucher because while it wasn't ridiculously expensive, it was a bit more than we had on a standard date night. 

Neither of us have reeeeeally frequented around the Marion shopping centre, and frankly to me it's a bit intimidatingly big.  I've never really made an effort to go there except to get to the all you can eat Pizza Hut (the things I do for food) and even that's on the outside.

SO we drove around the giant shopping centre for a little while trying to find where it was.  Called to find out where and they started naming what they were near.  Not sure why I called really because I was just doing the ol' "ohh yep yep okay great thanks we'll see you soon"… I had no idea where they were still but I didn't want them to judge my lack of knowing where things are. 

We got there.  It was normal for about 5 seconds then it was just loud noises (Anchorman, anyone?).  But not like yelling across the table at each other loud, just constant noise.  There was a lot of people around the bar and it took me a little bit to realise that people just go there to drink on Fridays (or other days I assume but for the fun of it lets say Fridays).  We sat down and got introduced to our waitress and ordered drinks.  Standard stuff.  All of a sudden a bell starts going.  Not like a door bell.  Like a clangy WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING THERE'S A FIRE hand held sounding bell (held into a microphone and turned up).  Then someone starts yelling something and everyone at the bar cheers and then it's back to normal.  We were obviously the only first timers there because I didn't see anyone else flinch (or get on their knees on their chair to look around and see what was happening/try to take photos "subtly" like I did).  

We got to order our meals before the bell started again, and still again I had to look around then look back at Paul like LOL are you even hearing/seeing what's happening right now?!  I still looked each time it went off as if that would help me understand.  It didn't.  If you're looking for a romantic night out where you can be cute and look into each others eyes do not come here.  

I started with potato jackets which I wasn't that keen on.  I think they were deep fried maybe and they just tasted weird, so I ate the healthiest bit (the cheese and bacon, obviously) with a bit of the potato that didn't taste all fried.  I'm sure that's the exact thing some people go nuts over, just wasn't for me.  When I was debating whether to get chicken wings or the jackets I asked our waitresses advice and she said if you like spicy things go for the wings.  I don't so I didn't, but for those of you out there that do - get them and tell me how they are!

I'm sorry to be crass, but FUCK the potato jackets.  Forget them and never think about them again.  I had the best goddamn burger of my life (not comparative to Burger Theory because it's different).  If you like the flame grilled perfection that is a Hungry Jacks whopper you will LOVE the cheeseburger at TGI's.  Because - yeah you better believe it - it  tastes like a bigger, better but very similar version of a whopper.  Oh my lordy.  The thing was in my hands (another similarity - it takes two hands to understand!) the entire time I was eating it, which embarrassingly enough was not a very long time at all.  I didn't touch the fries, I didn't need them.  I was so completely fulfilled by the burger I'm lucky it wasn't bigger because I would have eaten it all regardless.  I didn't even offer to share any, but Paul seemed pretty caught up in his ribs so I don't feel all bad. 

Even though I was so full from the burger (and the potato jackets) I think I was so caught up in coming somewhere that we wouldn't usually go that I wanted to "make the most of it".  So I did what any binge eater would do - I ordered more food.  Granted, we did order it a solid 15 minutes after our mains got taken away.

Dessert.  We didn't go all out crazy and get one each.  We did however, get the biggest dessert they had on the menu… What of it?  It had rich chocolate cake, vanilla and chocolate ice-cream, cream, strawberries, rich chocolate fudge sauce aaaaaand a curly wirly.  Talk about mind-blowing sugar overload.  

It was so good I didn't know what to do with myself.  I was so full I was about to explode but I didn't have enough self control to stop.  Really, I think it's actually some kind of issue but for my tastebuds it's fantastic.  We ate as much as we could, then the iced mocha that Paul had ordered and forgotten about came out.  It was a "well, you're paying for it so you should probably at least drink some of it" kind of situation.  I genuinely felt a little bad for him, because watching him drink it made me feel sick with fullness and I couldn't imagine how stretched his poor belly must be.   But like the man that he is, he drank it.  

It all came to about $94 I think, but with the voucher it was only $60 something, which was a huge discount to us and much appreciated by our bank accounts.  So car ride home I had to unzip myself and didn't talk a lot.  It was a bad move on my part eating so much, but looking back I had no regrets.

I would love to go to TGI's again, I think i'd just stick to the burger though.  And maybe with more of a group to appreciate the loud noisy crowd vibe.  Two enthusiastic thumbs up.