Little did I know, my interest of the Southern cuisine started early watching American movies where people would order Pecan Pie or Cobbler from their local diner. Though it wasn’t until I watched Tropic Thunder, particularly Robert Downy Jr’s role as Kirk Lazarus (a white American Actor playing an African American Soldier), that cinched the deal to take on the the flavours of the south with his remarks about ‘cornbread’ and ‘crawfish’.

From the outside of the restaurant, the Burlington looks like a small, modern and rather unassuming location. The food was good. The company was good. The atmosphere was good. The service was good. I want to go back (again).

Iwa drew us in with its dark-coloured, contemporary fancy decor, which made it stand out from the random stores featured on the Victoria Avenue mall strip, but it was the all-you-can-eat buffet for $36.80 caught us hook, line and sinker.

F’s sister wanted to surprise him with a belated birthday dinner, but she wasn’t sure how I wanted to let him know about the dinner without giving away that it was for his birthday. It took me a while, but I made up some story about a small civil ceremony a friend was having and that F just had to be there because I already had RSVP’ed for two.