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| - Alright, who's ready to get their raunchy on?! Wait, what? What'd you mean? Its NOT a strip club? Oh shucks!
With a name like Shanghai Cowgirl - I can only think of how successful this would be if it were transplanted to an expat neighbourhood in Shanghai as a gentleman's club. Alas, there were no sexy ladies here. Only servers with plenty of tats, and a lot of "interesting" characters that dined here. Almost as interesting as the plastering of bumper-sticker-like propaganda - Saigon hookers and dildos? Those belong more in a Hangover movie than it does at a diner. Or maybe I'm just not the right target audience for such "artistic" displays. Speaking of art, you will find a wall of it for sale. Its very emo-goth if you ask me - but hey if it floats your boat...
I came armed with a Team Buy voucher. I had heard that this was one of the go-to places to get some decent food if you're a night owl as they are open ridiculously late.
The booths will make any girl insecure about her size - damn are they narrow. If you are claustrophobic than this probably isn't the place to go. On the flip side, if you're a klutz, most of your spillage won't end up on your lap because there's but a wee crack of space between your upper body and the actual table.
The menu is typical of a diner - fries, burgers with some fusion items thrown in there like noodle bowls, fried rice.
I ordered the Ghetto Chicken - mostly because I was weirdly drawn to the name of the dish. It was a disappointment. KFC, which costs significantly less does up chicken better than this place. The batter was a brown that was too-dark to belong on a piece of fried chicken, and blander than hospital food. The actual chicken itself had no taste either. It came served on a bed of (burnt) carrots, asparagus and mashed potatoes. Sadly, the best part of the dish were the mashed potatoes, and even they needed a sprinkling of salt.
William T. got a burger with blue cheese and mushrooms. The blue cheese added a nice creaminess to the burger but the mushrooms were virtually unnoticeable. The sweet potato fries were depressing to look at, as they were limp and not very crispy.
The only memorable part of the night (other than the activist male patron who sat behind us butchering his poor female dining companion about his left-wing ideas) were the Pierogies. We got ours with char siu pork, ginger, scallions and chili pepper flakes. It was topped with a dollop of sour cream. I must say the sour cream is a nice touch, as they smoothed over an otherwise starchy and rather grainy pierogi wrapper. The inside was filled with potato and cheese. I thought the bit of sweetness from the char siu marinade and the spicy chili pepper flakes were great flavour enhancers.
Verdict:
For 3 food items and 2 drinks from the bar, our bill came up to about $62. That's a little steep for a diner. At about $10 for a base burger and then $1-$2 for extra toppings, a burger can set you back $15. I think that for a diner, their price point is a little off - but then again I'm sure rent in this neighbourhood isn't cheap.
For food that your dad can grill up on a BBQ or that your European grandmother can make, I'd say eat at home instead of dishing out at Shanghai Cowgirl. However, since I don't have a European grandmother - I'd probably come back here - but only for the pierogies.
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