Big Smoke Burger (Square One)

Not too long ago we heard about Big Smoke Burger and our immediate reaction was: omg not another burger place!
Anyway, given how much we enjoy trying out new places, we thought why not give it a try, especially since it was highly recommended by a friend. We ordered Crazy Burger (requested halal beef patty) ($14.95 with onion rings and pop) and Spicy Burger (requested halal beef patty) ($14.72). Upon seeing the total ($29.67), we were skeptical and were waiting impatiently for our order to be prepared and for us to dig in.

To our surprise, the fresh beef patty (non-processed) lived up to our expectations and we loved the toppings on both the burgers. Actually one of us loved the Crazy Burger (alapeno havarti, coleslaw, chipotle mayo, bbq sauce, hot peppers & lettuce), whilst the other one thought Spicy Burger (caramelized onions, spicy chipotle mayo, tomato & lettuce) was better.

We thought the fries were quiet good. They were very similar to New York Fries in taste. The onion rings were good as well; just that we personally find it difficult to finish an entire order of onion rings.

We visited Big Smoke Burger’s Square One (Mississauga) location. The sign clearly indicates that you have to ask for halal beef and/or chicken. We wanted to try out their poutine, but we were informed that the gravy on poutine is not halal. We were very thankful for their honesty.

We can’t wait to go back and try other burgers on the menu!

Big Smoke Burger is located in Square One Mall’s food court. For more information, please visit: http://www.bigsmokeburger.com

Intense Poutine Craving

 

We had the biggest poutine craving a few weeks ago. What triggered our craving were our blog stats, which kept showing people searching for “halal poutine Toronto”. The problem was, we didn’t know where to go. We wanted GOOD poutine; a poutine that would be worth the calories. For someone living in the east end of Toronto, we were surprised that we had such a hard time finding a place. Our options were:

– Crown Pizza

– Affy’s

– Flavour’s Cafe

– Big Moe’s

All three options were a bit of a drive so decided against them. That is where our list ended.  We were certain that there must be more places to grab poutine at but nothing was coming to mind!

After a lot of thought we remembered that Sizzling Skillet has decent poutine. Since we live a few minutes away, we hoped this place would satisfy our craving.

One word for the poutine: awesome! It doesn’t get any better than waffles fries smothered in gravy and cheese. They sprinkle red pepper on top which really elevates this french fry dish.

So the next time you are in the east end and are craving poutine, visit Sizzling Skillet.

Address: 

2290 Markham Rd

Toronto, ON M1B 2W4

Phone: 

(416) 321-9991

Website:

https://www.facebook.com/sizzlingskillet

Fry Haus

Halal German Food? We don’t think we have ever seen those three words together. So when we found out that Fry Haus serves halal meat, we ran (literally) to check it out. Newly opened on the intersection of Gerrard and Parliament in downtown Toronto, Fry Haus is serving up German fast food.

The first thing we noticed was how tiny this take-out joint was. There were a few seats inside to wait while you order but no seating otherwise. The next thing we noticed was the menu, which was rather confusing. Our eyes couldn’t settle on any particular item on the menu boards because of the German names and terminology that was used.

After taking a good 10-15 minutes, we decided to order the Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich and Fries with 5 Pepper Ranch Dip. We had really wanted to order one of specialty french fry dishes but were too overwhelmed to decide on which one to get. So we stuck to getting regular fries instead.

Chicken Schnitzel is basically pounded chicken that is battered and deep fried. For the Chicken Schnitzel Sandwich, we got to pick our toppings and sauces. We got onions, pickles and some special kind of special coleslaw, along with the Haus Burger Sauce and the 5 Pepper Ranch Sauce. Again, there were so many different sauce options that we just randomly picked a few.

And voila! This is what our sandwich looked like. 

Although it looked mouth watering good, we honestly thought that it would be on the bland side. We are relieved to say that we were wrong. The sandwich was SO good…like SOO good! Sorry for the lack of adjectives but that’s the best way to describe it. This was one good deep fried piece of chicken and went so well with the sandwich and toppings. The chicken was crispy and tender and om nom nom delicious! The sandwich was quite big considering it was only $5. We highly recommend trying this.

We had heard a lot of their fries. Even the regular fries are supposedly special because they are double fried and what not. However, we thought the fries were pretty standard. They were comparable to fries at other fast food joints. We dipped our fries in the 5 Pepper Ranch Dip, which made the fries more enjoyable. Again, we regret not ordering their speciality french fry dishes. We ran into to some friends who ordered the Currywurst mit Fritten, which had fries, sausage and curry gravy and they were raving about it. They also tried the burger and said it was one of the best burgers they have ever tried.

Do we recommend you try Fry Haus? Most definitely! Their food is best enjoyed fresh so try to eat it right away. We did bring one sandwich home and by the time it got home, the chicken was no longer crispy. So try and find a spot nearby to sit and munch of the delicious food.

Address:

296 Gerrard St E

Toronto, ON

M5A 2G5

Phone: (416) 901-3100

Max’s Chicken & Seafood

Check out our review of Max’s Chicken & Seafood on Halal Foodie.

“Naturally, we compared the food at Max’s to the food at this same establishment. We feel that comparing Max’s to them is like comparing apples of different kinds: Gala vs. Macintosh.  Even though the apples look similar, they have different tastes.”

Click here for the full review.

Big Mamma’s House – Burgers & Ribs

We have been wanting to try Big Mamma’s House – Burgers & Ribs since we heard about it at the Halal Food Fest. Unfortunately, we couldn’t try it at the Halal Food Fest due to long lineups and along with the fact that it was pouring that afternoon. Since we were in the Durham area recently , we decided to try it out.

Big Mamma’s House has a look that resonates with burger joints from the 60s and 70s. We loved how it’s well maintained (nice and clean sitting area). Since it was getting pretty late in the evening and it was almost closing time, we quickly ordered:

The Big Momma’s House burger: This burger was well enjoyed by our guest who was looking forward to  a double beef patty burgers. All the ingredients gelled well, that made the burger quite flavourful.

The Big Spice: This was one of the burgers we were very much looking to try. We found this burger just as delicious as the preceding burger.

The menu is expansive you can be assured that hopefully everyone. We could tell within the first few bites that the burger patties were made from scratch and prepared right in front of us.

We tried their fries and loved the fact that they were hand cut with some skin still on. One word: tasty.

There are now gourmet burger joints all across GTA and if you happen to be in Pickering, Ajax and Whitby area, you should try out this burger joint.

For more information, please visit: Big Mamma’s House – Burgers & Ribs

Mushkaki

Check out our review of Mushkaki on Halal Foodie.

“The KK was the most interesting dish we have tried to date. It was pan-fried bread cut up into bite size pieces, topped with various sauces and chicken or beef. Chef Osman explained that it is actually a Somali paratha called Sabayad that is used in KK. The dish had lots of flavours and textures, which our palates enjoyed quite a bit.”

Click here to read the full review.

The Burgernator: Revisited

We love The Burgernator. Like, really, truly love! It genuinely makes us happy to know that a Muslim owned burger joint is making waves in the city with their gourmet burgers. It had been awhile since we had visited The Burgernator so we decided to pay a visit after our trip to the Ripleys Aquarium (which you guys should check out).

At our most recent visit, we ordered the Fully Loaded ($10.99) and The Big Bang ($10.99). The Fully Loaded is two beef patties (12 oz total), cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce and burgernator sauce. We asked them to remove the fried egg as we were a little nervous about having a fried egg in our burger (although we are sure it tastes awesome). This burger was awesome! The beef patties were so well cooked that they were falling apart as we ate the burger. The burger was messy to eat but totally worth it. We do not recommend eating this in the car! Make sure you have both your hands free to eat it (a third hand might be useful too).

The Big Bang had beef patty, buffalo chicken strips, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce with roast garlic rosemary aioli. Om nom nom is definitely the best way to describe it. The crunchy chicken strips definitely are the highlight of this burger. Some people may find the burger a little bit bland, but dip it in the aioli and/or ketchup and you will definitely enjoy it more. The fries were great as well!

The owner, Amer Mokdad, who cooks the burgers himself, took the time to mingle with the customers. He was very nice to bring ice cream for our toddler who was a bit cranky and crying. That is what we call customer service!

We can’t wait to go back and try more of their delicious creations, inshallah! We will leave you with a picture from our trip to the Ripleys Aquarium.

The Burgernator Address: 

269 Augusta Ave

Toronto, ON

M5T 2M1

(647) 748-0990

Big Al’s Flyin’ Phillys: Revisited

Check out our review from our third visit to Big Al’s Flyin’ Phillys:

“The Notorious BBQ Sandwich consists of thinly sliced sautéed ribeye steak, cheese (we picked American cheese), onions and BBQ sauce. It was the most scrumptious cheese steak we ever took a bite of. There was a generous portion of well-cooked, super tender steak, which is the heart and soul of any good cheese steak sandwich.”

Click here for full article.

Sizzlo’z Flame Grilled Chicken

With the sudden increase in Portuguese Flame Grilled Chicken restaurants, what sets apart one restaurant from another?  We think it is the customer service and creative menu items. We experienced this at our recent visit to Sizzlo’z at the Dixie location. Judging by the high customer traffic on a weekday evening, we couldn’t have guessed that this restaurant opened up only a few months ago.

We were surprised by the fairly large size of the restaurant, which had lots of seating. The interior was well-lit, had large windows, was accented with bright colours, and best all, it was very clean!

The menu was quite extensive so we took our time to place the order. We ordered Sizz Peri Bites ($4.25), Greek Salad ($2.99), Coleslaw ($2.99), Beef Patty Sandwich with Sizz Fries ($8.99) and Half Chicken with Potato Wedges ($11.49). We liked the fact that plates were brought for us and we weren’t expected to eat out of the serving dishes. 

We started with the Sizz Peri Bites, which were jalapeño peppers stuffed with chicken, coated with batter and deep fried. We were surprised that the pepper was not hot at all, which makes them kid friendly. The Sizz Bites were crunchy and made a nice appetizer. The Greek Salad was fresh and had just the right amount of dressing. For a bunch of people who don’t eat salad, we were able to finish all of it.

The Beef Patty Sandwich with cheese was a standard burger. The beef patty was cooked well and it is was juicy. The Sizz Fries were amazing as always. The Half Chicken (mild flavour) was exceptional as the chicken was tender and full of flavour!  We savoured every bite of it. Mmm! The potato wedges were probably our favourite side of all. It was basically baked potatoes topped with peri sauce and sprinkled with red pepper. It was finger licking good and we wished we had ordered more of it!

To end our dinner, we ordered Coconut Mango Ice Cream ($3.50). We have had this ice cream before and it has always been delicious. At Sizzlo’z, the ice cream was topped with caramel sauce, which we really liked as it complemented the mango and coconut flavours wonderfully.

Overall, we enjoyed the food at Sizzlo’z very much and highly recommend trying their flame grilled chicken and potato wedges. It is a family friendly restaurant with good customer service. The owner himself was working the front line and took the time to speak with customers, which is always great to see.

Locations:

5120 Dixie Road (The one we visited)
Mississauga, ON
L4W 4J7
Phone: 905-624-2322

5606 Tenth Line West # 1
Mississauga, ON, L5M 7L9
Phone: 905-814-8100

Whistling Copper Kettle

So there’s a new addition to the growing list of halal fast food restaurants in GTA: Whistling Copper Kettle. We learned it will be opening in October 2013. Yesterday night we couldn’t really decide where to eat (out) and we recalled Whistling Copper Kettle. We called them up and learned they’re open for business!

Whistling Copper Kettle is located at 5425 Creditview Road (Credview & Bristol), next to Shopper’s Drug Mart. This used to be the old Salt & Pepper. The ambiance and decor is fairly average. However, their menu is expansive, including Western, Hakka Chinese and some South Asian fusion menu items. We are sure there are enough items of please everyone.

We were feeling fairly adventurous and eager to try a variety of dishes, so we decided to order:

• Chicken Club Sandwich
• Copper Kettle Special Chicken Steak
• Karachi Bun Kabab
• Philly Cheesesteak

Our order arrived within 10-15 minutes. We first tried the Chicken Club Sandwich. The bread was nice and crunchy accompanied with toasty taste. The chicken, egg,  cheese and other toppings had very subtle taste, yet it was a tasty sandwich that also felt very nice and light. We enjoyed the accompanied fries and coleslaw as well.

We next tried the Copper Kettle Special Chicken Steak. We were reluctant and didn’t know what to expect. Gotta say we enjoyed the chicken very much as well as the white sauce. The chicken breast was juicy, but also flavourful. We were pleasantly surprised and happy that we tried this dish.

We then tried the Philly Cheesesteak, which we found different from the traditional Philly Cheesesteaks. It had fried onions, fried bell peppers and oregano seasoning on it. It certainly was filling. We found the oregano a little overpowering.

Lastly we tried Karachi Bun Kabab. It was chicken shami kabab with chutney and onions on a nice kaiser bun. Overall the taste was great; however, it was slightly dry.

We particularly enjoyed the Chicken Club Sandwich and Copper Kettle Special Chicken Steak. We anticipate visiting again and trying other items on the menu. The owner did indicate that they strictly use hand-slaughtered meat. The owner also mentioned something along the lines of it being the franchise of the original Copper Kettle.

Whistling Copper Kettle
#2 – 5425 Creditview Road, Mississauga, ON
(905) 816-9200