Kua ‘Aina

I have been away and stop writing my blog for 3 years. Just though I have to come back and share my experience dining at Kua Aina. Besides the original restaurant in Hawaii. Kua Aina has 1 branch at the Mitsui Outlet Park Linkou District New Taipei. We tried this place before shopping, its our first time to try Kua Aina, although were not a kind of burger hunters.

This burger restaurant does not have a large drinks selection is more like fast food store. And with several additional sandwiches, a choice of breads and that's it.

Me and my husband had the same order. We had the pineapple burger its was juicy.

And for my son he had a bacon burger as well. The thinly fries are crisp somehow it reminds me the potato snack Pik-NiK.

The brulee pancake made our day! It was deliciously sweet and succulent. I would love to come by again and try their sandwiches and avocado burger. If you want something different from Mc Donalds or Burger King, Mos Burger etc.etc but still fancy something American inspired, clean and very fresh ingredients, I will recommend Kua 'Aina.

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Kua 'Aina Burger
Tel No: (02)2606-8663
新北市林口區文化三路一段356號1樓​
No. 356, Section 1, Wenhua 3rd Rd, Linkou District, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Frank's Texas BBQ

Nestled on Taoyuan County, as everyone knows Frank's Texas BBQ holds a charming cowboy atmosphere. As you're driving along the road of Dasi Township, you could easily pass it by. The rustic wood structure with triangle roof-top on one end is where the indoor dining area is located, and serves a set meal authentic American Tex Mex cuisine.

After we went to Taoyuan Hsien Kou for tulip flower festival. My family and I happened to arrive in past 1:00 PM it was crowd and we waited for a few minutes to be seated. As you enter Frank's Texas Grill you'll notice right away that this place is too crowded and tight with young people. Right after the entrance, is the counter with American flag and wagon wheel chandeliers on display that has transformed into a peice of ranch style Texas. They also have a sound system and play American or classic country music which adds to the atmosphere.

We ordered their set meal combo serve with bread, salad with drinks of your choice: Claire had the 8.oz fillet mignon loaded with baked chili bean in tangy sauce, fries, mashed potato, coleslaw, corn and compliments with cheese cake for the dessert. The fillet mignon was a perfect medium rare. It tasted great and a nice texture to it.

My husband choose the 10.oz red wine pepper steak consisting beef with red wine cream sauce, serve with baked chili beans, coleslaw, mashed potato and corn. The beef had an awesome and impressive flavor, and proved to be incredibly tender and juicy. The creamy sauce, blended from meat juices was exquisite and was a fantastic tender meat. He also loved the fresh of their slaw! Since his not a big fun and not that impressive of American dinning. I was suprised when he told me that we will be back next time and we will try their other dishes.

Charles choose the wrangler rib eye 10.oz special with baked chili bean, coleslaw, mashed potato and corn. Like the other steak it was delicious!

And I had the grilled lake trout with Mexican rice. I really loved my fish, it was very fresh and cooked to perfection.

The Mexican rice, baked chili bean, and hot salsa sauce a great side dish for my grilled fish was a pretty health sized plate.

We ordered fish and chips loaded with fries for all of us to share. It was huge when it came, we expect it just a little. Below on the menu is on the level of snack age. This fish and chips can be consider as a main course also.

The fish and chips plate featured 3 fresh fillets I guess it was a cod that were flakey and perfectly fried. The battered not too heavy it was light and crispy and delightfully golden. And I loved the tartar sauce, based on mayo and chopped pickle relish. I'm just thinking there's a lot of oil or cholesterol to kick in.

And we were serve with this very simple fresh salad before our main course.

The meal came with complementary fresh bread. They were warm soft middle with butter filling, crispy crusty outside.

For my dessert, I choose the A&W root beer float in a nice big frosty mug with creamy vanilla ice cream on the side of root beer.

We also shared the hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream. It featured huge chunks of apple was good but comparing to the apple strudel it wasn't impressive to our linking.

The plain cheese cake is fluffy when you stick your fork. It just melts in a sweet cloud of goodness not too sweet, just right!

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All in all, just the right environment for great barbeque and definitely worth stopping for. The service was fast, the meal was very good, the dessert probably wasn’t needed.

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Frank's Texas BBQ-邊界驛站 (Taoyuan Branch)
桃園縣大溪鎮瑞安路二段249-1號
249-1, Ruian Road, Section 2, Dasi Township, Taoyuan County
Contact No: 03-3881559
Website:
Frank's Texas BBQ

Shakey's Pizza-San Fernado, Pampanga

We were on our way home, when I decided to load some fuel. After loading gas I decided to eat our lunch at Shakey's since it was near lunch time. Ensconced it is right beside in the area of a gasoline station which makes it ideal for dining area for those having long drives or long journey.

The staff will always welcome us with a warm smile. The employees are very polite, friendly and helpful. I have had good conversation with them on that day.

The restaurant's interior will surely catch your eye. You will notice the wall with a huge colorful poster which features Shakey's logo. I love the ambience because it is like a typical American diner.

We ordered the root beer float and chocolate milkshake. When our drinks arrived, we knew that it was the start of a very good meal. Both the drinks were just super yummy! I had the super fizzy root beer float with a generous scoop of ice cream. The root beer is smoother, not so gassy but tastier is so different from what I had drank in can.

After a short minutes the slobber-licious chocolate milkshake arrived in this tall, slender glass.

Now for the creamy mushroom soup topped with croutons, as soon as my son dunked the spoon into the thick and creamy soup. He said to me for a couple times its yummy mommy. It was very creamy and very delicious.

The chicken 'n' corn soup, I thought it's just going to be a simple soup with toasted bacon bits in it. It was not too salty and it wasn't too bland and I like it a lot!

I try the Greek salad and loaded with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, green bell peppers, feta cheese, salami and olives. The salad was also good and crisp while the vinaigrette served on the side was tangy and well seasoned. A group of ladies seating beside on our table, when she saw I was focusing on the salad. She told to her companion in a funny way. Why that girl she's eating salad maybe she's Italian.  It is not that unusual seeing other people eating salad isn't it? Specially when you know that what you eat is healthy. I just ignored them. Anyway I got my fresh salad on my tummy and so delicious!

I almost forgot if this is a solo or regular size of Shakey's special in thin crust, loaded with beef, Italian sausages, pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, green bell pepper and onions. The pizza as actually very good, I was surprised! The crust was soft and crisp, the cheese was tasty and the pepperoni was just right. I think the pizza that tastes good cold as well as hot.

Classic spaghetti with 2 garlic bread which I love their spaghetti because of the way how they cooked not that soft unlike in Jollibee. They do cooked in al dente it with that sweet and tasty spaghetti sauce. It goes well with crisp garlic bread.

For dessert; We shared the oatmeal cookie a la mode topped with vanilla ice cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup. The cookie it was crunchy and the ice cream together with the bitterness of chocolate sauce melted in your mouth with every bite.

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Overall this place is a fun place for adults and kids, it was clean restaurant. The food was hot and tasty, we sure loved and enjoyed our dining experience here. We'll definitely  recommend for those travelers passing by Pampanga and looking for a quick rest and something to eat.

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Shakey's Pizza Sn. Fdo Branch
Km.60 Barrio Dolores, Olongapo-Gapan Road.
City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Philippines
Contact No:  (045) 860-7777
Website:
http://www.shakeyspizza.ph

Häagen-Dazs Tianmu Taipei

We have been to the other branch and had a fantastic time. But this is the best Haagen Daz branch in Taipei offers a setting with a lovely tree in the patio. You can spend hours here just talking or chatting with family or friends, while eating fancy presentation of the nationwide ice cream chain offers different flavors of ice cream and sorbet, specialty dessert creations and signature frozen beverages and some hot drinks.

The glass shelf on the main counter is adorned with a collection of ice cream cakes.

We came along way and drive around Tianmu. Since Haagen Dazs its my husband number 1 favorite ice cream parlor, we had tried their new dinners plate creation. And he choose the "Strawberry Splendor'' a combination of vanilla and strawberry ice cream immersed in a sweet strawberry sauce with marshmallow and strawberry jelly.

This vanilla ice cream flower shape top with chocolate and scoop of strawberry ice cream with jelly and white marshmallow. So cute! Of course lovely dish that brings everything looks so gorgeous and tasted beautiful of sweet and citrus.

So I ordered the "Tiramisu Charm" rich in tiramisu ice cream and aromatic tiramisu cake and silky coffee ice cream in tiny pastry cups.

I love that the name of this one tiramisu charm  was fantastic and delicious as well. It was like a sponge cake with a layer of cream in the middle.  The small scoops of ice cream is latte coloured and very smooth.

My daughter ordered the "Swiss Roll Tempting" once again a combination of Swiss rolls with strawberry ice cream, decorated with mango and raspberry sorbet.

Superb!! as well as my daughter just loved this roll. The crepe crust and cream strawberry filling it was a hit for my little girl afternoon tea.

The sorbet and white chocolate was amazing and fantastic decor too.

And for my son always stick to his favorite "Banana Split" basically this creation, consists three scope of ice cream that allowed to choose each ice cream flavour on your own with carmelized banana, crepe biscuit, almonds and sliced strawberry, drizzle with chocolate syrup.

For the drink two of us choose the apple tea serves up a bountiful cup of rich fall flavors! Overall, this dining experience was a pretty good and enjoyable one, staffs were pretty attentive. The ideal place to melt away an entire afternoon. The atmosphere was relaxing although a bit pricey but worth to visit!

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Haagen Dazs Tianmu Branch
台北市士林區天玉街38巷18弄1號
No. 1, Alley 18, Lane 38 Tien Yuh St.
Taipei.
Contact No: 2-2874 5223
Website:
http://haagen-dazs.com.tw/

Europeanize American Restaurant

I was recently pleased to find a restaurant near by on our area. That place is Europeanize American Restaurant that there was something for everyone could all enjoy in fantastic homemade burgers, steaks, fajitas, salads, risotto and pasta dishes.

There is always room for a bar with character where you can dine well with plasma televisions are on display for you to watch some t.v shows any time of the day or night and the restaurant is all those things, a stylish modern place with a good beer and an array of pub food that goes beyond the usual boundaries. 

We order a chicken ceasar salad it was very tasty and serve fresh, I did like it actually.

So then we had a plates of crisp potato fries for our side order. It covered in elevated ingredients of gravy meat sauce with cheese that will make your favorite. The fries and gravy matched perfectly.

I order my favorite bacon cheese burger with french sauce. The burger comes on a buttered and toasted brioche bun with bursting flavorful juices that is always fresh and unexpectedly delicious.

Look at that? The bacon stuffed cooked in light and soft texture are absolutely delicious! They are much better than traditional burgers, because as the cheese melts it makes the meat really tender and juicy along with the sauce.

The platter also comes with two quality of healthy sliced and fresh vegetables served with very crispy french fries and ketchup sauce.

We also tried the Chicken fajitas, the chicken meat was served on a sizzling iron plate with onions, chopped thinly lettuce and peppers. I will say the chicken was the best part, but it was not as good as I remembered it, but still flavorfull.

It came with grated cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes salsa, sliced avocado. The meals are assembled as you move down the line of ingredients, and you can customize your fixing. Experiment with the garnishes to create your own flavor on your tortilla with or w/out meat and shredded ingredients, you can have that.

The corn tortillas served along with this dish.

 Salmon burger

The salmon full of light flavors and raw veggies are balanced with refreshingly crunchy cucumber, fresh lettuce, tomato and creamy mayo sauce with ketchup that adds a sassy tang.

Refreshing drinks include the main order.

I got an iced coffee was very bland! Food was great but most annoyingly we had to wait for more than 30 minutes to get our meals. It was not a busy mid-day. When we arrived it was empty of customer until we left the restaurant and the service was very slow. But surely I would love to come back again because of the burgers was so fresh, juicy and delicious and definitely something I would recommend everyone try at least once, but don't expect for a large of selection of soup they only offer a soup of the day/dessert only.

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European and American Restaurant (歐風美式餐廳)
No. 279, Chung Hsiao Road, Hsinchu City-beside RT Mart
地址：新竹市忠孝路279號
Contact NO: :03-5711155

Website:

Europeanize American Restaurant Info
11/24/2011 This place is closed