Passionate about Hamburgers

There was this TV game show that I watched posted a question: "Where is the origin of hamburgers?" It was a multiple-choice question and the choices for the answer were: (A) United States of America; (B) Mongolia; and (C) Hamburg. If we work on the principle of elimination, then (B) is an unlikely answer, so left (A) and (C). (C) seems too obvious to be the correct answer, so (A) must be the answer. It is unarguably that hamburger is an icon when it comes to American food, but it was the Mongolians who first sandwiched a minced- meat patty in between two pastry breads. So, the correct answer is (B).

However, when it comes to the modern hamburgers that we know today, I think there is no dispute that it is the American fast-food chains that popularised them to the world.

Cheese Burger in Paradise is a typical American restaurant on Kalakaua Avenue along Waikiki Beach of Hawaii. An American restaurant menu will never miss out hamburgers.

As it was my first time on the American land, I wanted to try out something more extraordinary, so I ordered a Veggie Burger. As I was still quite full with a big cup of frozen yoghurt from the well-known store just opposite, I had the burger without any side dish. The wholemeal bun that sandwiched the vegetarian patty was nice, with oats spreading around the top adding to the texture of each bite. I can't remember the taste of the patty, so it wasn't the highlight of this meal.

When I went on a photography tour with O'ahu Photography Tours, I asked the tour leader about hamburgers around Honolulu and he recommended me this Teddy's Bigger Burger just beside my hotel. So, I went there straight for lunch after the tour.

The setting looks like any burger chain but the hamburgers are claimed to be made to order. It is also claimed that each patty is 100% ground meat. Well, only the real food served would tell.

I ordered a Big Combo with a 5 oz Original Big Burger, Fries and Drink. The drink is free-flow with a dispenser outside the cashier and food counter. I only had a cup of Coke Zero and couldn't get a second round of drink because I was too full after the burger and fries.

The burger was really big and there was very generous portion of fries. The burger was really good with very fresh and crunchy lettuce, juicy tomato, very sweet onion, sweet and sour pickled cucumber, and of course a juicy beef patty. In my opinion, the hamburgers here are way better than the burgers from those popular chains. If you happen to be in Hawaii, don't forget to try out their burgers.

When I was heading back to my hotel from my visit to Pearl Harbour, I saw Chili's on my way back and I decided to drop by for dinner. I like the food served at Chili's in Malaysia and I wanted to try how it was in its homeland.

The House Salad with my choice of ranch dressing was very nice. I requested for the avocado slices with additional charge but they added more value to the salad. What a fantastic choice I had made!

My main course was the Southern Smokehouse Bacon Burger with deep-fried onion rings that I couldn't resist after looking at the menu. The burger was better than the one I had in Malaysia because the beef patty was juicier and tastier. The bacon slices were crunchy and the onion rings were heavenly!

I guess most of the people reading this post will ask me: "So, what's the verdict?" Well, for balance of taste and value for money, Teddy's Bigger Burger is an obvious choice. For gourmet burgers, then it is non other than Chili's.

The Nicholas that is the Nicholas

Two years ago, I misread that there was no entrance fee to the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. In fact, the section that I read in the travel guide was for the St. Nicholas at the Old Town Square. I had not enough time to visit this St. Nicholas Church with free entrance two years ago, but I finally made it to the inside of the church this year on my third trip to Prague.

This St. Nicholas Church was completed in 1735 by the same architect who constructed the St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town Square. Therefore, there are many similarities between these two St. Nicholas churches.

The design of the church is baroque style from the inside to the outside. Some people even call the church a wedding cake of the Old Town Square because it is just so pleasing to the eyes.

During World War II, the Czech army units stationed at the church helped in the restoration of the church alongside the artists of that era. The visually splendid stucco decorations above the ground that we see today are the hard work of these people during those days.

Nowadays, this church functions as a church in the day and a concert hall by the evening. We actually wanted to listen to the concert session starting at 5 p.m. but the time set by our tour guide to meet up did not permit us to do so.

I guess that to experience a concert session here, it has to be on my fourth trip to Prague. I also don't know why I ended up in Prague thrice, but Prague just has this charm to make me there again and again.

Before I finish up this post, I googled for St. Nicholas Church again and found out that these two St. Nicholas churches that I have been to are not the only churches with the same name. There is another St. Nicholas Church in Vršovice!