Fourth.

Thanks to my 4 month long hiatus I have had the chance to explore more food around the world!! YAYYYYYY!!

 No jokes, I have literally visited 10 different countries in Europe and have had the amazing opportunity to eat to my heart's content. Why have I been travelling around Europe? Well, I have been on an exchange program through my school and have been studying in England for the past 4 months. Although England is famous for not exactly having the greatest cuisine, I would love to introduce some of my favourite places. BUT, today I want to briefly introduce some of the foods that really stood out throughout my travels in Europe so the post for England will come at a later time.

 The countries I have visited include the following: Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Scotland, and of course England.

Sneak peak:

 







 Unfortunately, my camera decided to break down in the middle of my trip so I actually lost a lot of my pictures. Please bear with me as I attempt to describe these amazing snacks and foods. I guarantee that my descriptions probably will not be able to fully explain to you these sensations.

 Top 5 Memorable Foods 

1. Langos (Hungary)

 Langos is essentially a deep fried flat bread - already sounds deliciously fattening right? It is a famous street food generally found in the markets. There is a large variety from the simple garlic butter and cheese to one filled with vegetables, meat, and Hungarian sauce.

 2. Ribs (Vienna, Austria)

A friend of mine introduced me to a restaurant called Ribs of Vienna located in Vienna, Austria. They have a large variety of sauces for the ribs that you can experiment with. The service was amazing, our waiter was extremely friendly and very helpful in choosing the menu. My friend and I ended up getting 3 different types of sauces each (Spareribs mixed on the menu). As this was several months ago, I can't recall which ones I got, but I can guarantee that you will not be unhappy with experimenting. If in doubt, ask the waiter for recommendations - they're usually very helpful and won't let you down =D

   

On a side note, the ribs are quite big and I remember that I couldn't finish all of it. Our waiter even suggested that we share a menu, but we decided we wanted to experiment different sauces. For more information about the restaurant here is the official site: Ribs of Vienna Official Site The atmosphere was also very nice. It is underground and I believe it used to be an old winery.

   

 3. Cornish Pasty (England) 

 The pasty is said to have been invented by the farmers of England in the olden days. Farmers were too busy to have a proper meal so they decided to stuff a piece of pastry with meat and potatoes and such. It still remains a popular on-the-go menu in England and can be found in major train stations and just about anywhere, really. It also comes in a wide variety (my favourite by far has to be the steak & ale). I must admit it's not sensational but it's something that you randomly crave for once in a while - especially if you stay in England for a long period of time. It was for me at least =P  

 4. Baguettes and butter croissants (France) 

 Honestly, there is a reason why these two pastries represent France. Although I visited only one pastry shop, they were delicious. I also did not get a chance to line up in front of the pastry shop in the morning to have fresh baguette, but I have heard that it is delicious when it is fresh.

5. Pizza (Italy)

Again, there is a reason why Italy is famous for its pizza. If you visit any pizzeria (Pizzerias are where they bake the pizza over an open fire), you will not be left disappointed. However, I felt that, of the places I visited, Venice, Florence, and Naples had the best pizza. I must admit, Pisa was somewhat of a disappointment - not much to see and not the best food. This may be because I was in the touristy area. 

One thing I have learned throughout my trip is that local restaurants that are hidden in the smaller streets are the most delicious places. Places that have already become famous among tourists seem to have declined in value and increased in price. The best tip I can give to travelers is don't be afraid to explore with local foods and local restaurants.

Third.

So recently, I had the fortune of visiting Miami.
Being the foodie that I am I had to visit my favourite restaurants and I will introduce some of them here.

First of all, Samurai.
They specialize in sushi and teppanyaki (also known as hibachi).

For those of you who do not know what teppanyaki is, it's where the chef cooks on a large surface grill in front of the guests. I've always enjoyed the chefs and their little tricks every time I visit Samurai. One thing to note, how much you will enjoy your food and your time at Samurai depends on how open you are. When the chef is doing little tricks, it is nice to appreciate their efforts to entertain you. Give them a little smile and laugh. The more you appreciate and show fascination, the more tricks they will perform for you.

The menu can be found HERE.
In the past I have always gone to Samurai during dinner time for special occasions like birthdays and the bill has always been off the roof. This time, I visited during lunch time with my family to discover to my surprise the very low prices on their lunch menu. I strongly recommend the steak teppanyaki. The lunch menu comes with your choice of salad or soup, your choice of meat, fried vegetables, fried mushrooms, and fried rice.

As for the atmosphere, it is VERY loud with all of the clanking noises of metal and the chatter of the people. Definitely not a place for a nice romantic date. It's more of a place to catch up with girlfriends and enjoy some entertaining cuisine. One thing to note is that you may end up sharing your table with other people so be mindful of this.

On to the food. First we were given these cute plates. To the left is the menu.


As I am also a huge fan of the pina colada, I had to order the haiku colada.

The haiku colada contains malibu rum, pineapple and coconut with a strawberry puree swirl as indicated in the menu.

When you order the lunch menu, you'll get to choose between 2 appetizers: salad or soup. I strongly recommend the salad as the soup just tastes like soy sauce in hot water. You must note that the dressing on the salad is pretty tart. I find that the tartness of the salad is actually very stimulating for your taste buds.


When I visited this time I had the chance to try a bit of everything (steak, chicken, shrimp, and scallop). My personal favourite was steak again cooked to medium-rare (keeps the juice inside). Shrimp and scallop were ok (I would say the amount you enjoy this would depend on how much you really love shrimp or scallop). The chicken was the worst by far as it was very dry (cheapest menu, go figure).

They also give you 2 sauces. I'm not quite sure what each of them are called but one is a creamy colour and the other is brown (seemed like sauce for the meat - how you make use of your sauce really depends on your preference). I particularly enjoyed the creamy sauce - smothered it all over my fried rice.

This is what my plate looked like.

I know the picture isn't too appealing but trust me it is delicious.

Bonus: The heart my chef made for us.

Second.

A while ago I had the chance to explore a new restaurant called Earls. I particularly went to the branch in Mapleview Mall in Burlington.

If you plan on going on a Saturday night, I strongly recommend you make a reservation or go earlier than usual as it was quite a long wait (about 1 hour - 1.5 hours). The atmosphere is very similar to that of Joey's - dark and loud. It's a nice place to go for a date or a girls' night out. Dress-code-wise, it would be nice to dress up a little nicer than usual as most people do seem to go for special occasions. The menu for Earls can be found HERE.

I chose the 7 oz. angus beef top sirloin with fries (medium-rare). A little tough but juicy.


TIP: I always order medium-rare and they usually make it right. Cooked just right on the outside and pink on the inside. On the other hand, my sister usually orders medium-well and most of the time they burn the outside which usually leads to a complaint. So, if you don't mind your steak being a little bloody, go for the medium-rare, it won't disappoint =)

I can't really comment on the other menus as I didn't get a chance to taste them properly. But, this is one of their burgers - very filling not a bad taste.



Then, because it was my sister's birthday we asked if there was anything special and our server brought us the smaller dessert menu.

The New York style cheese-cake with blueberry (on the house).



It was delicious - blueberries tasted very fresh and the cheesecake didn't have such a strong taste of cream cheese that you can find in the cheesecake in places like Second Cup. In my opinion, both taste great - really just depends on personal preference as to whether you like the stronger taste of cream cheese or not.

First.

My first post will be dedicated to a very dear friend of mine who inspired me to really get this blog going. She is also the one who introduced this restaurant to me. It is called Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill located in Bayview Village. For those who do not know where this is. It is a mall right by Bayview Station in Toronto. Based on my visit, this area seemed to radiate somewhat of an upper-class vibe.

The restaurant itself was very nice with a relaxing atmosphere.
We were seated near the entrance.


On to the food. The menu can be found HERE.
My friend and I went during lunch so THIS was what we had to choose from.

According to my friend, they usually give bread to munch on but, for some reason they didn't give it to us...

Either way, we decided to order the smoked chicken fusilli and the margherita pizza.


The margherita pizza.

As you can see from the picture the pizza was quite thin, kind of like the New York-style pizza. The bread was slightly salty which balanced well with the clean taste of the toppings. Definitely worth trying for those who prefer non-greasy, clean-tasting pizza.


The smoked chicken fusilli.

Other than the wild mushrooms which I personally dislike, the pasta was also very clean-tasting. There wasn't much sauce which could potentially make the pasta very dry. However, I felt the pasta was also cooked very well so that it wasn't too soft and it held just enough moisture so that it would not go dry due to the lack of sauce.

After the main meal, we moved over to Pusateri's.
A description of the store can be found HERE.
If you move far into the corner, there is a bakery filled with mini cakes and other delicacies. My friend and I chose to try the red velvet cheesecake and another type of mini cake, the name of which I have forgotten.


Can't exactly remember the name of the cake but the top is raspberry jelly and the cake part was pistachio flavoured. The outer layer is a little hard with extremely soft bread on the inside. Although this cake was amazing I personally enjoyed the red velvet cake better =P

Tip: I find that any type of cake (especially cheesecake) goes really well with black coffee. The coffee at Pusateri's was also very flavourful - slightly more sweet than the regular black coffee you can find at Starbucks or Tim Hortons.

Begin.

First, to introduce myself, I am Ms. Pink Polka. Pig - a university student and an extreme foodie at heart. To share my passion for delicious cuisine I decided to develop this blog and share my knowledge of the amazing restaurants located all around the world. How am I going to engage everyone around the world? Simple. Another passion of mine is travelling and I have had the fortune to travel to many different countries across the globe. Consequently, I have visited some very reputable restaurants and will have the chance to do so more in the near future. Some of the areas that I will focus on will be the US, Canada, Korea, and Europe (soon to come). 

Note: I can assure you that all of the restaurants that I have visited are affordable. As I am still a student, this blog will be geared more towards other foodies who are looking for affordable places to visit. With that in mind, I hope that you will be able to make the best out of my blog and bon appetit!