Burlington Ribfest

Billed as the largest Ribfest in Canada, the Burlington Ribfest seemed worth checking out. We headed out early to avoid the awful traffic on the 403/QEW overlap and we indeed managed to avoid the worst of it.

As we drove down towards the lake in Burlington, I was somewhat surprised that it actually seemed nice. Janice, who frequents the industrial wasteland portion of Burlington/Hamilton, agreed that it was nice although it wasn't a surprise for her as she ribfested here last year.

Now, in terms of the ribs, there were a lot of ribbers. An overwhelming number in fact. We recognized some from earlier ribbings but we wanted to try something different. We spied Bibb's which Janice recognized from chowhound discussions. Their claim to fame here is that they have the only baby back ribs in the park. As a result they charge $1 more. Janice and I may like ribs but we're certainly not rib experts. Despite the dollar we figured we'd try out these "baby back" ribs. After getting over the initial disappointment that you seem to get fewer ribs in a baby back rib rack, we found that the ribs were very meaty. There was possibly a little too much fat for our liking but overall the sauce was good, the ribs tasty and we enjoyed the rack. The sides (beans and 'slaw) were also good and the slaw was fridge-cold which is always nice from a food poisoning-prevention perspective.

Anyway, this is probably the last ribfest for us this year. Will we back to Burlington ribfest next year? Maybe, the ribs were decent and given the selection, it seems like there are other up and coming ribbers that we need to check out.

Taste of the Kingsway

Lots of good treats here!

Green mango - $6 for pad thai (kinda boring) + green mango curry chicken (very good & lots of chicken) + 1 spring roll (large and sufficiently crispy).

Kingsway Fish & Chip - $6 for two mini pieces of battered fried fish + a hearty serving of chips & tartar sauce. This place is always good, although not exactly good for the arteries!

Chutneys Indian - $5 for a rather small portion of butter chicken and plain rice. Definitely not worth the money and probably the worst butter chicken I have ever eaten. The chicken was pretty tomato-y and lacked flavor. Where's the creamy goodness??? Ian and I both felt happy that we haven't wasted our money and eaten at this restaurant. The head booth lady was also rather mean and rude to her assistant. Kinda awkward all around.

Cafe Demetre - $3.50 for a decent sized waffle cone with lots of premium ice cream choices. Cookeo for me and Tira Misu for Ian.

Tandoori Flame

After an hour or two bemoaning the lack of Indian buffet in our neighborhood, we hopped in the car and ventured out to Brampton to Tandoori Flame.

The lunch buffet was about $17 each and included just about any Indian dish you could ever want. Lots of rice, veggie & meat curries, three kinds of tandoori chicken, grilled veggies, salads, appetizers etc etc. I don't think Ian or I had a complaint about anything and usually we are rather picky. There was so much selection here, one had to be strategic to avoid filling up the tummy before sampling everything.

Desserts were also good - rice pudding, gulab jaman, bright orange stuff, squares, cake & ice cream bar. I was especially impressed with the ice cream - it looks like they actually replace the tubs pretty frequently. Most of these self serve buffet ice cream buckets appear to linger for months with just a little bit left on the bottom than people are too scared to eat.

As a side note check out the website for a laugh. It is quite slick and NOTHING like the restaurant!!!