You don't know cheesy chips until you've tried this...

I can't remember how this all came up but my old college buddy Jo and I have finally achieved our goal for this year - to sample the poutine at the Maple Leaf pub in Covent Garden!

It's been on my 'Things I'd Like to Eat This Week' list for weeks (and still is actually cos it was YUM). There have been occasions where I was in the area but unable to get to it. I've been back home where Jo lives, yet she was ironically away in Canada...

But yesterday, finally, we were both in London at the same time and seized the chance to head to the Canadian-themed pub, the country that poutine originates from. We got out the menus, though I'm not sure why we bothered to look really, since we'd already decided about 2 months ago!

Jo had a serious food critic face on when the dish came out, ready to evaluate intensely - though it was funny that we both whipped our cameras out to take photos - me, obviously food-obsessed; Jo, her obsession a bit more centralised on this dish.

Queen of Poutine, Jo has tasted (what is officially) the best poutine in Canada...

...so expectations and emotions were high. I had nothing to compare it to (apart from bog-standard cheesy chips of course but seriously, no contest). We dug in, Jo expertly and elegantly and me, a bit messier trying to get to grips with the strings of cheese.

The funny thing is, I'm not a big fan of chips, or cheese for that matter, but the combination of chips, cheese AND gravy is divine! It was lovely beef gravy (darnit, I can't have this during Veggie Jenny then) and soaked the chips without making them too soggy.

The reason why the cheese looks different is that the proper poutine uses cheese curds but it tasted great to me and Jo seemed impressed too. Good thing as well, seeing as we had hyped up this moment for a long time - there's nothing worse than having a build-up to a meal and ending up disappointed!

And the best thing was that I didn't feel horribly stodgy afterwards, like you tend to do after a bit of junk food - in fact, I had a lovely warm feeling in my stomach.

So thanks for introducing this to me Jo - and next time, we will eat again in a place that has a moose!

Me, Jo, and Charlotte the bear