Re-visits

I do re visit restaurants and provide updates.... but I do not know how to set it up in the system such that it is by restaurant....

so check out, once more, the restaurants that you are interested in... for an update... like Jo Moon Ting.... etc. Karma karma in the indian section.....

I also find that 'by restaurant' gets more hits...

tell me if I am wrong...

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Tuscon, Thruway and other pubs/eateries

2007 10 22.... add another one of those pub non-descript eateries to the list called Tucson on Bank at Hunt Club..... some interesting bands, and items on menu, but ingredients suck, so quality of output is so-so. Service, pretty well like all other pubs. The Fosters ads work on the way in....


Thruway Restaurant in Carleton Place & other family/pub restaurants

This story is really about asking the locals where to eat..... one of my cardinal rules, or pet peeves....; ask a chink where to eat chinese, a paki, Indian, a jap, Japanese... etc.

Actually that would be a paki..Pakistani... (there is no difference except for religion....) but I couldn't think of anything derogatory to say about Indians... except those crazy Sikhs.... the Singhs... that is... They are like the newfies to Canadians, as they are to the Indians.... the butt of all jokes.... the joke is that the turban retains heat.... Indians would love this one...

Anyway, if you are ever by Carleton Place this is where the locals eat.... It's a wonderful family restaurant with beer, vino and reasonably priced food, for large portions.... good service (Brodie was fast, efficient, friendly and just the right distance away....), like heart & crown (I'm thinking the new place on Preston, which I have also been) and other pub type places in Ottawa, beats eating at Macdonald's, Timmy's or the riverfest... the food really sucked at riverfest... and that was the reason I was down there....

Prices are $40 for dinner for one, not cheap, but average nowadays.... but I had 2 x 20oz drafts for only $10 before taxes and tips... and a rib steak dinner for $19. This included soup or salad, the steak was a decent cut and size... much like the ones I used to have at La Strada's for $36... a Delmonico rib steak... with great home fries... and veggies and mushrooms and ... well... you get the idea. Friends had fried chicken.. not bad, but good value... shrimp pasta, ... all good...

Sort of like Ruby's on Corner Gas... only the food and drink is more like Heart & Crown.... actually probably food is better cause the guy can cook.... and he buys & serves good ingredients. 6/10 for those who want a rating.

But I do play a lot of golf in the area and have friends... scots most of them... in the Perth ... Pike Lake areas ... so here's a place to eat if you're in the area... good family/pub place in the heart of Carleton place... 10432 Hwy 7.

UUUooohhhh... there is another.... on the same strip, but I have not tried... in the spirit of star wars....

Use the force.. Luke.... use the force....

This is where the locals eat.......

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Sweet Basil, Anna's and Nokham's

Ottawa Thai Restaurants

I was asked recently what I thought of the Ottawa Thai restaurants scene and which was the best and the one I would go to…

I will put a little more meat around this piece, but initially the baseline will be:

Sweet Basil and Anna. Run by the same guy… forget his name… a multi syllable monstrosity like Visakhapatnam… (which is an Indian sea port by the way…) original owners of Siam Bistro and Siam Kitchen…. (I wouldn’t eat at these nowadays… as they are run by non-thai cooks…..maybe even chinese….) Tastes at Anna and SB, and I have never been to Thailand… for Ottawa and Canadian standards, probably the best, but way expensive than necessary. ‘It is food fit for a Thai king’. Think he had some royal connections or aspirations….. and also some involvement on the monopoly/restrictions of food and recipe exports from Thailand….. (think Anne DesB did a piece on them/this about 15 years ago…..)

Nokham’s and it now has a sister restaurant run by his daughter. ‘Noble Thai’ or snobby Thai… trying hard to be king, pretty traditional based on Anna and SB.… but way expensive again.

On the cheap side now… Bangkok Thai on Dalhousie. Peasant foods run by peasant Thais... very good value for just about pretty close to the taste of Anna and SB. I take all my friends there if I am buying.

And chinese thai... Royal Thai, also on Dal… owned by the same chinese guy as Palais Imperial and Mandarin Ogilvy. Another one of those chinese guys seeing the margins in Thai food….. Not too expensive, but I have heard the food is not very good… I have been and think it’s ok for what it is… chinese thai… not the Anna/SB standards. Cheap thai is better.

And the Anna and SB standards are unfortunately the only ones I know. I have had thai food in Toronto which was pitiful compared to Anna’s as well as on the east coast. Of course these are walk in’s with no prior knowledge or info… the worst way to visit a restaurant, but I thought I would be safe in Toronto! Wrong...

And of course this does not include those near Thais or Thai bistros that have relatively good food… like 4 cuisines, hot peppers etc… Like everyone has a pad thai, which is chow mien, essentially. I think the Loblaw’s one is pretty good….

The only others that I would say aren’t great are the green papaya’s, coriander’s, etc that I have tried, but not as memorable as you guessed it… Anna’s and SB. And prices are close to Nokham and Anna…so….

Reports from friends who have visited Thailand are that the place is as bad as they make it sound… cheap sex… and odd sex and child sex….; and it is really cheap for meals…. And street food is actually quite tasty… but… Guess you have to be a king to get food in Thailand….

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