The Great Burger Hunt – King’s Head

Where delicious beer and food meet on a regular basis in my stomach!

Some burger reviews need to be done while drinking.  It is just the way the cookie crumbles, or in some cases, the feta on top of your delicious burger.  Sadly King’s Head does not serve cookies, or feta on their burgers.  Strike one?  Nope.  The delicious beer selection they offer makes up for the lack of cookies and feta.

I think the tab Alyson , Tyrone , Kevin , Rhonda and I racked up proves it….

But enough about the beer, this is a burger review after all!

The group of us decided to meet at King’s Head for a couple (yeah I know… we had more then a couple) beers before heading out to a Winnipeg Fringe show.  Of course we decided to just sit on the extended patio and drink and eat delicious food, which caused us to miss a Fringe show.

For those who have never been to King’s Head I can assure you that everything on the menu is good.  The menu is broad and consists of everything from sandwiches, curry dishes, scotch eggs, samosas, a few desserts and of course a great vegetarian selection of food.

PHOTO BY TYRONE DEISE

I knew I wanted to do a burger review here, as I eat here quite often, but I always put it off because I love their curry dishes.  Finally I caved and ordered a burger that night though, the Big Khanuja Burger – with its 7oz beef patty topped with lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, mushrooms, onions, bacon, swiss (or cheddar or mozza), mustard and mayo on a Kaiser.

The burger itself was quite thick but did not have much flavour to it, which was a big surprise considering King’s Head uses their spices so well in other dishes.  Of all the toppings on the burger the only thing I would have changed was less jalapenos.  They can overpower everything else and that is what happened, albeit slightly, when I bit into the burger.  Considering those two things are minor this burger was excellent.  Plus they put on tons of mustard which in my opinion is the greatest condiment ever invented, so I usually put tons on my burger anyway.

What the burger lacked, the spices, the fries did not.  Having a nice spice, albeit a bit saltier then normal kept them from being too tasty as I found myself reaching for my beer to quench my thirsty taste buds.  Although I know they usually have better fries I will still give the rating based on this experience.

This is one place you should stop in for food whenever you are in Winnipeg as you will almost never be disappointed.

What I got - Big Kanuja Burger $9.99 (before tax)

Burger Taste : 4/5

Fries Taste : 3/5

Price Value : 3/5

Menu Selection : 5/5

Overall :  3.75/5

King’s Head

120 King St

Winnipeg, MB

957-7710

Surfing Teahupo’o

Beautiful and scary

Surfers are crazy.  Let us just get that formality out of the way.  But to surf something like Teahupo’o , the glassy wave in Tahiti, where many surfing competitions are held, is insane!

Unlike big waves like Jaws and Mavericks , Teahupo’o is vicious for a different reason.  When the wave comes crashing down, more then often tossing a surfer into the drink, it comes crashing down directly on a reef.  Yes that is correct.  No big deep ocean for the surfer to swim in once s/he falls… only a few feet and you are tossed into pointy, jagged, sharp, probably going to hurt… reef.  Also unlike the big scary waves Teahupo’o does not grow in height, so when the wave grows, it grows in thickness, meaning it will toss more water on you then over top of you.

Yikes!

The beauty of seeing someone surf this waves is unreal, albeit terrifying.  So when I caught this slow motion video of surfers attempting (I say attempting for a reason) to surf Teahupo’o on Gizmodo I couldn’t resist, I had to share it.

Fuller's ESB

From a brewery I need to try more of their beers!

Beer : Fuller’s ESB

Brewery : Fuller Smith & Turner PLC

Brewed In : United Kingdom

Style : Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB)

ABV : 5.9%

Price : Unsure of the price as it was given to me by Adrian , so ask him!!

Notes : Year round availability in cans, bottles, and on tap if you can find it!

Story : This is a beer that Adrian special ordered from the MLCC and was kind enough to share a few cans with me.  Hopefully the weekend we spent drinking made up for him parting with some of his cans of ESB!!!!

Appearance : The ESB is a dark amber beer with a few bubbles and not much retention to the one finger white fizzy head.

Smell : Subtle hints of caramel but that is really about it.  Not much nose to this one at all.

Taste : The caramel from the nose really comes out in the taste.  Hops, which are hidden in the finish, balance this beer out very well.  Unsure but I think I may have picked up a bit of molasses as well in the first few sips but it seemed to have disappeared behind the caramel after.

Mouthfeel : Smooth and medium bodied with not much carbonation but it leaves a slight tingle on the tongue.

Drinkability : A very easy drinking beer with a bit of flavour.  This is quite possibly a perfect session beer for camping.  ESB being available in cans makes it even better for camping.  The bitterness I was expecting was not there but overall I would drink this beer on a regular basis if it were available.

A Poem

Lobster Boy

There once was a boy,

Who looked like a lobster - bright red.

'twas the sun that made him that way.

Everything was burned red, especially his head.

Lobster boy worked outside,

Making himself a brighter shade,

Every day,

The sunscreen he used was the highest grade.

When the sun went away,

Lobster boy glowed,

And lit up the room,

In which his cold bath flowed.

The cooling water helped his skin,

And it was the only time he could relax.

He admired his red body in the mirror after,

Looking like a red warrior as he made his arms flex.

So Lobster Boy,

Now known as the Red Ranger,

By friends,

Saved then all from immense danger.

They were thankful,

And gave him a gift,

It was a red car,

So he would always have a lift.

Then something happened,

The sun disappeared,

Behind clouds,

And then some pasty white skin appeared.