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Racine's

Racine's is one of the best restaurants that I ever been to in Fredericton. Located in the heart of downtown Fredericton on Queet St., it has a lot to offer on its lunch menu. Price ranges between $10 and $14 for a main course, which is pretty decent, given that fresh ingredients are used and presentation is simply marvelous.

Burgers, sandwiches, wraps, flatbread pizzas, Asian bowls etc. have their ways to fit your taste. I've been here for lunch a few times and tried the chicken burger, sandwich, and flatbread pizza. Just like always, I tried something different this time - the Asian bowl. With a choice of mild/medium/hot, egg noodles/rice pilaf, chicken/beef/shrimps, I ordered hot egg noodles with chicken.

The Asian bowl for $11.

Fiona ordered the Chicken Burger.

Stephanie had the Philly Steak Sandwich.

Renée had the Beef Wrap.

Tracy had the Cordon Bleu Sandwich that was new on the menu. "Cordon Bleu" is a French term, literally translated as "blue ribbon," that originally referred to an award for culinary excellence given to women cooks! The term can now apply to any superior cook (yes, men too), and also to this dish (chicken, ham and Swiss cheese slices, breaded and sauteed).

The Cordon Bleu Sandwich.

Indian Buffet

This is the best Indian buffet restaurant I've ever been! Buffet Maharaja is acknowledged as the largest Indian cuisine buffet in North America. With over a hundred food items on its buffet menu, it attracts many Indian cuisine lovers, from within and outside the Montreal city. The buffet section is divided into a few divisions and just to mention some of my favourite dishes:

(A) Appetizers: vegetable samosa, yellow lentil soup, pakora etc.
(B) Meats: Butter chicken, Tandoori chicken, beef curry, chicken curry, chicken korma, lamb sag (spinach), egg kofta etc.
(C) Vegetarian dishes: Chick peas, aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower), begun bhortha (spiced roasted eggplants), lentil curry, sag panir (spinach and cheese) etc.
(D) Rice dishes: Briyani etc.
(E) Breads: Nan bread, papor etc.
(F) Desserts: Golab jamun, carrot halwa, jelabi etc.

Isn't that overwhelming?! At least I was overwhelmed! If they're offering such a great variety of food, how much do they charge?? Well, you'll be really surprised...

Monday - Wednesday: $10.99 for lunch and $14.99 for supper.
Friday - Sunday: $11.99 for lunch and $16.99 for supper.

Where else can you find authentic Indian cuisine that beats the price?? Not even close! It's a must go in Montreal for sure!!

Address: 1481, René-Lévesque Bld. West, Montréal, Québec H3G 1T8
Tel: (514) 934-0655

Here are pictures taken from this past June during my second visit to Buffet Maharaja. Mom and Dad enjoyed the food a lot too!

My first plate.

Mom's first plate.

My second plate, with more butter chicken ;)

More?? Yes, my third plate!






My dessert/fruits plate.





Dad's plate, with his favourite Tandoori chicken.

Frank's Finer Diner

What kind of restaurants catches your attention? Restaurant shopping is a term I'd use for myself. I enjoy visiting different restaurants and even if I'm back to the same restaurant, I'd prefer trying a different dish! Why? It simply because I love varieties! You never know what you really like until you've tried enough to figure that out. What if you made a bad choice? Well, learn from the lesson never to do it again, just like what we ought to do in life, isn't it?

Frank's Finer Diner is one of the best restaurants I've ever been in Fredericton. It's unique with its 50's dining settings and even some waitresses on their roller skates. A homey ambiance, friendly staff, reasonable pricing, and comfortable settings have made this restaurant a success! We had to line up for seats on a Sunday afternoon.

The 50's restaurant settings.

A nicely setup miniature electrical train and tracks.

The Hot Turkey Sandwich that I ordered.

Dave had this Ham Dinner which offered as the daily special.




Paul had wings, veggie sticks, and a generous serving of onion rings and poutine!





Betty had Chicken Sandwich with salad. A big serving!

Dorrie ordered a Crispy Chicken Wrap with mashed potatoes.

We had a great meal together after the church service. Frank's Finer Diner is located at the Two Nation's Crossing, north of Fredericton. It's opposite of the new Wal-Mart. This is my second visit in one and a half years. The reason for having a Hot Turkey Sandwich? I missed my turkey for Thanksgiving! The house fries were very crispy and delicious. The gravy on sandwich was great too, although I should have asked for whole wheat bread instead of the white bread served by default. The turkey though, could have been better, since it's mainly dark meat. With an extra cost of $1, you could get all white meat. Nevertheless, nothing could beat the real, whole home-baked stuffed turkey!

Jubilee Chinese Buffet

The Jubilee restaurant that offers Chinese buffet! They claimed to offer over 100 Chinese/ Canadian buffet food items.

Paul, Eric and myself decided to visit the Jubilee restaurant for their super Chinese buffet! The supper buffet was $14.99. The price has gone up quite a bit over the years. It was around 5:45 p.m. when we arrived. The restaurant was crowded. Oh well, it's buffet, so we helped ourselves with these:

My first plate.

My second plate.

My third plate.

My fourth plate shared with Eric.

Last but not least, desserts!

Food I enjoyed at this restaurant? I voted for the seafood! Fresh mussels, steamed haddock fillets, stir-fry shrimps, yumm.... and of course, I liked the Singapore-style noodles too! We were stuffed at the end of the meal. It was great, but it won't be a place where I'd visit often, because I lose control of what I eat for buffet, and that's bad! It'd be a nice treat though, once in a blue moon ;)

One-day meal journey in Saint John

Breakfast

Venue: McDonald's (near Lancaster Mall)
Menu: Blueberry pies

The blueberry pie from McDonald's which I have been wanting to try. Two for $1.39. It was tasty and value for money.

Lunch

Venue: Sampan Restaurant at Lancaster Plaza (640 Manawagonish Rd.)

Menu: Dim Sum +_*

Rice porridge with century egg and pork, yau char kuey, and egg plants with stuffed meat. Yummy!

Steamed buns, pork belly, fried tofu, pot stickers etc.

My favourite egg tarts with flaky shells! Meat rolls in bean curd skins, squid curry, and more!

Pork dumplings, pork ribs, shrimp dumplings, and char kuey teow (fried rice noodles).

The food was tasty, even though it was rather greasy and fatty. Oh well, "dim sum" is the way it is! It was a Chinese food indulgence that happened once in a blue moon. There were nine of us at the table and everyone was stuffed by the end of the meal. Good food and great time chatting. Nevertheless, "yum cha" (a.k.a. morning tea) should only be taken as a treat once awhile!

Coffee Break

Venue: Starbucks

Menu: Pumpkin spice Frappuccino (*limited time only*)

Green tea Frappuccino and my pumpkin spice Frappuccino (right). They were tasty and refreshing!

A drive-thru Starbucks?! Nice!

Starbucks, a place which I don't visit very often. Why? Well, I don't usually drink coffee (since caffeine doesn't work on me) and drinks here are super expensive! I'd rather buy a meal than getting a cup of coffee. Having said that, it was a treat to myself today!

Supper

Venue: Lemongrass Thai Restaurant (42 Princess St.)

Menu: Tom Yum soup, vegetarian Pad Thai noodles, tamarind, shrimp, Malaysian chicken curry, and chicken green curry.

Very unique ceiling lamp. A stalk of flower hanging upside down! Very artistic indeed.

Tom Yum soup ($16) with shrimps, baby corns, and mushrooms. Lemongrass, lime leaves, and fresh cilantro added flavours to it! I'd prefer the soup to be thicker and spicier though.

Pad Thai noodles ($13) are rice noodles cooked with Pad Thai sauce, peanuts, red peppers, tofu, bean sprouts, green onions etc.

Tamarind shrimp ($17) cooked with mushrooms in the sweet and sour tamarind sauce. I enjoyed the large shrimps a lot!

The green curry chicken ($15) cooked with cubes of eggplants. The curry was light in colour instead of green that I expected. Perhaps the word "green" came from the green chili padi they used.

The daily special dish, Malaysian chicken curry ($17) which tasted a lot like curry laksa! Yumm...yumm...yummy!!

Six of us sharing all these dishes. That's the awesomeness of dining in a group. You get a variety of food!

Our first choice was Suwana Restaurant for Thai supper. It was fully booked when we got there. Apparently, someone would have to make a supper reservation three months in advance!! Oh well, hope I get to try their Thai dishes on my next trip to Saint John.

The food at Lemongrass Restaurant was great, although I was a bit let down by the Tom Yum soup. My favourite dish of all, was certainly the Malaysian chicken curry!

Poutine...

I've heard so much about this George's stall with its famous poutine. Where can you find them? Well, they're located right across from the bars on King Street, in front of the Victory meat market. A strategic location! The busiest time would be after the bar-hour. Standing in the cold while waiting for a cab at 2 a.m. after a couple of drinks, most people will be craving for some warm and savoury food (of course, cheesy & fatty too). Poutine it is!!

By the way, I "happened" to be there after having a drink at Dolan's pub, celebrating a friend's birthday. Someone who's new to Freddy and had not experienced the wild nightlife in the city of Freddy!

Poutine with gravy ($4.50) from the George's.

The George's stall.

The menu. Take your pick!

It was good that I was given a few napkins to put the bag on poutine on. As you may guess, the bag and napkins were covered with grease when we were done eating. The fries had a strange texture, as you might have noticed from the picture above. Was it from the frying process, or the texture of potato itself? I can't tell... One thing next though, the poutine was served with shredded cheese instead of cheese curds. It tasted different, in a good way. The fries were crispy despite their strange appearance. Overall, I enjoyed it, especially with ketchup added into it. Nonetheless, I'd still prefer the typical Montreal poutine with cheese curds! It's more chewy and you get stringy cheese!

Poutine from Chez Ashton in Quebec. Voila!

What else would you do in Quebec city, besides spending a day visiting the old Quebec city? Go look for some great poutine! Where to? Chez Ashton! It's a fast growing fast food restaurant in Quebec. The poutine was highly recommended by a local friend when I first visited the Quebec city in September 2006.

Chez Ashton is famous for its winter promotion scheme. The price of poutine drops according to the temperature. When the temperature is -30 degrees Celsius, the customers get a 30% discount on a poutine! How neat is that ;) Hence, winter storms may deter people from driving on the street, but they can't stopped the long line ups for the poutine served with piping hot gravy at the Chez Ashton!!

On top of that, I've tried new varieties of poutine served in Montreal. To be more specific, at the la Banquise restaurant located at 994 Rachel Est., which known to have the best poutine in Quebec! What excuse can you come up with for not visiting la Banquise when it's open 24 hours? I was there with Mom and Dad this past June and ordered the "Elvis Poutine." Creative, eh?

There're 25 different dishes of poutine offered, including Matty Poutine, Kamikaze Poutine, Poutine B.O.M., and 3 amigos. They can be eaten as main course as the serving size is large and other ingredients (meat and veggies) added to them besides fries. The restaurant was so busy when we left around 11 p.m. There was a line up for take-out. Amazing! I'd highly recommend this restaurant to those who're visiting Montreal! Don't miss it ;)

The Elvis Poutine, served with ground beef, peppers, and sauteed mushrooms.

Resto la Banquise in Montreal. A must go!

Chinese Restaurant in Sydney, NS

Four of us in the group wanted to get some reasonable priced seafood in the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia. However, we found out that the bargain for seafood is not necessarily better on the coastal area, sadly... and we decided to go for some Chinese food!

There were quite a few restaurants listed under the YellowPages, and we finally picked the Hong Fa Restaurant. It seems to be one of the more established ones. It was about 15 minutes walk from the motel. Nice evening breeze, I didn't mind it at all, except that everyone's stomach was growling at that time, around 7:30 p.m.

Just as other typical "Chinese" restaurants, they serve combo meals and ala carte which you can order for the table (which usually is more authentic). I opted for something simple from the combo menu.

Presenting to you my dish of combo ($8.99): chicken fried rice, egg roll, chop suey, and fried scallop balls with sweet sauce. It was a decent meal, scallop balls were a great change from the regular chicken balls. Haha... at least I got some seafood ;) Taste wise, however, could have been better. One good thing though, dishes were prepared with MSG!

Seafood Meal

A cozy and friendly place in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, the Fortress View Restaurant & Suites. I was there for supper, longing for my seafood fix (which turned out to be my early birthday supper, what a surprise :)). Freshly baked rolls and oat cakes (or more like oat snaps) are served. Yumm... it can't get any better! Supposedly, we were able to overlook the fortress of Louisbourg from our table, but it was getting dark at that time and we didn't a chance to see much.

The restaurant, however, already had some neat Halloween decorations put up.

I ordered fish cakes and beans for my main course. It's known as the famous Luoisbourg dish! It was served with warm sliced bread and sweet relish on the side. It was a wonderful meal ^v*

Quizno's

Flatbread pizza for a snack? Sounds good to me ;) The spicy buffalo chicken pizza at the Quizno's! I perfer the flatbread pizza over the thick crust pizza, even though pizza crust was my favourite when I was little. Mom & Dad will save up pizza crust just for me :P

It was after a picture shooting trip in downtown Fredericton that we (roommates and I ) decided to have a quick bite before going home for supper. It was cheesy and spicy (pretty sure Tabasco sauce was on it). Their subs are great too, but had the pizza for a change. A good change, I believed.

East Side Mario's

The Knowledge Park (accross from Regent Mall) in Fredericton is a booming area. By the end of this past summer, there are numerous newly established businesses, such as Home Depot, Michaels's (craft store), Dollarama, Winners, Montana's Restaurant etc., and not to forget, the East Side Mario's!

What brought me here? Well, I heard the commercial on radio over and over again, and people who have been there really liked it. Hmm... with an adventurous attitude as usual, I'm gonna have to try out this restaurant that people have been talking about!

It was about 15 minutes wait on a Wednesday evening. We were there at 5:30 p.m. Apparently, it was really crowded it was first opened, about two weeks ago.

Fresh and tasty garlic bread loaf served with butter. I wished it'd be more crunchy though, and taste best with cream of mushroom soup, yumm...

This is my garden salad that comes with my main course. It's quite a generous serving. With some parmesan cheese and ground black pepper sprinkled on top, it's delicious!

Here comes my main dish, the linguine chicken tettrazini ($14.99). It's served with seasoned chicken breast, roasted mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes, and creamy Alfredo sauce (claimed to be deliciously trans fat-free on menu). It's very tasty and filling for me. However, for guys, maybe they'd appreciate a bigger portion.

The Tuscan Chicken Salad ($11.99), an entree salad that my friend ordered. It includes grilled seasoned chicken breast, navel orange slices, julienned figs, red onions, mixed greens tossed in balsamic vinaigrette and topped with toasted walnuts and goat cheese. It looks appetizing!

Overall, it was an enjoyable meal and I wouldn't mind a second visit :) Nevertheless, I find it a bit pricy, and I'd prefer what the Old Spaghetti Factory has to offer, in terms of servings and ambience.