Sherman's Food Adventures: Norland Grill

Norland Grill

Ah yes, the dependable lunch spot in the middle of nowhere.  Generally located in industrial areas and/or technology complexes, this type of establishment caters to the clientele who look for an inexpensive, quick and dependable meal. Hence, there is very little expectation that the eats will be interesting or memorable.  However, there have been some instances in the past where a dish had surprised me.  So with that in mind, Emily and I stopped by Norland Grill (formerly Burger Time) in hopes of more than than ho hum food.

With both a few Korean and Japanese choices available, the menu was still pretty much predictable with breakfast, burgers, sandwiches and soup available.  Trying to adhere to being different, we got the Teriyaki Chicken with rice as one of our selections.  Consisting of chicken breast, this was a fairly healthy version where there wasn't much grease.  It rested on a bed of veggies on a sizzling cast iron plate.  As much as the chicken wasn't exactly juicy, it was still fairly moist for white meat.  Flavours were mild due in part to the conservative drizzle of sauce.  As much as it wasn't extraordinary, the Norland Burger was pretty solid.  It sported a hand-formed beef patty, bacon, onion rings, cheese, lettuce and tomato.  The patty wasn't overly dry while the bacon and onion rings were crispy.  Sure, the side of fries were Cavendish from Costco, but they were prepared correctly.

On another visit, we had the Beef Dip and yah, it wasn't that impressive.  Consisting of deli roast beef (and not much of it) and a beef bouillon dip, this was significantly worse than what I can make at home (and I'm not trying to brag...).  At the very least, the bun was soft and appealing as well as the Cavendish fries.  We also got the Bulgogi with rice and it was remarkably better than the beef dip.  It featured sizzling marinated beef that nicely caramelized (as well with the onions).  Hence there was quite a bit of sweetness, which meant the rice was essential.  The beef was fairly tender while being meaty in texture.  So yah, Norland Grill pretty much does what a lunch spot is expected to do.  However, the Asian dishes weren't bad and we liked the people there too.

The Good:
- It does the job with 3 out of 4 dishes being fairly good
- Not overly expensive
- Nice people

The Bad:
- You need to have reasonable expectations
- Don't offer a beef dip if it is deli roast beef   

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