Fogg N’ Suds
10720 Cambie Road, Richmond, BC
1323 Robson Street (Location visited)
Vancouver, BC
Unless you are living under the rock, or probably an American or Canadian without any too much connection outside of North-America, the Football World Cup is currently going on in South Africa. Yes, football, as in that sports that you actually use your feet to kick a ball 90% of the time, unlike *ahem* American football. Go ahead, we can have a discussion about naming conventions and what not but, unlike, NBA, NFL, MLB or even NHL, where the “championship” is local (read: North-American minus Mexico), the FIFA World Cup is a global event. It is a simple sport and, if you want to play, you only need a team and some open space. Hell, at times you can even “improvise” a ball and some sticks to mark the goal. Rules are quite simple and, unlike the before mentioned sports, what is called on the field sticks. No instant replay, no fancy technology. (Sorry, England, you got your Wimbley Goal 30+ years ago…).
Now, putting all those issues aside, given the time difference and, in part due broadcasting, one of the games were scheduled around noon our time, which means going for lunch to watch the game! Going to a fancy type restaurant for lunch to watch a game sounds a really bad idea so, instead, PO and I went to more adequate places to watch the football games: a pub. In this case, we went to Fogg N’ Suds, located in the same block as Hon’s in Robson. In fact, it is right in front of Dea Bak Bon Ga on the second story!
The day we went it was still the initial round so, oh, well, the games might not have been as exciting as the ones playing this week in the round of 16/round of 8. Still there was your share of customers going there for drinks and pub fare. In PO and my case, food and drinks as well.
In PO’s case, let’s just say he can handle alcohol way better than me so he started with some beer. Feel free to call me wimp for ordering just pop but, hey, you don’t want to see me do my work while tipsy! Anyway, they have quite a long list of beer including some specials so variety might not be an issue. As for PO’s beer, he didn’t quite like it but, as he mentioned, he should have asked for more details – the beer was wheat based and he does not quite like that type…
We decided to share an appetizer so we ordered chicken wings, specifically, buffalo wings. I will have to say these wings look bad, as it they were quite small. Furthermore, it didn’t have much in term of spiciness. If I have to compare them to the ones from Wings Pub & Grill or House of Wings, these were definitely subpar. The only saving grace was that they were cooked nicely but, then again, how difficult it would have been to do so?
For our “main”, PO went for a burger, specifically, the American burger – BBQ sauce, side bacon and cheddar. It is quite large, it had all the fat components and will set you back $13. Will keep the rest of the details as I ordered a similar one but a small twist…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a tweet saying “Is this burger “shameless” enough to be called a shameless burger?“. Well, that is exactly what I ordered, their “Famous Shameless Burger”, which has mushroom, cheddar, bacon and an all-beef wiener ($15). I was so ashamed to order this that I ask for a side salad rather than fries! 
(Of course, the waitress had a confused look when I wanted that side of greens).
As mentioned above, it had your share of fat intake for the day. It put my previous experience with the wiener in a burger experience to shame (OK, that didn’t sound right…) Anyway, all the fact did add up to something as the meat patty was actually acceptable. It wasn’t undercooked nor burnt and, in fact, it was still moist to a degree. The bacon was also good as it was quite crispy. The cheddar was meh but I wonder if it was real cheddar rather than some form of processed cheese… As for the wiener, unfortunately, it was the worst part of the burger. While I was given the suggestion to take it out before eating it, I went to eat it as is. From a structural perspective, there was a challenge but that wasn’t something I cared much about. Instead, is that the taste of the wiener didn’t complement the burger. In fact, it tasted like an over-sized cheap sausage… (OK, once again, it didn’t sound correct…). Probably had they used a different version? Like a wurst?
Had I scaled back and went for something similar to the American burger, I think it would have been an interesting experience. But, overall, the food is what you would expect from a pub. Nothing fancy and not necessarily exciting either. While the wings were subpar, the burger was decent (though, the question is whether it is worth the $12/$15). But, if you go to a pub for the reason most people go for, i.e., drinks, Fogg N’ Sudd seem to provide a good alternative. However, in my case, since I am not much of a drinker, that partially answers the question.
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