Finish it in 30 minutes and eat for free！ A "basin-sized burger" weighing 2.35 kg

Text and photos by /Dad Seahorse

Located in Victoria on Vancouver Island, Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, Canada. It has the highest average annual temperature in the country and is known as the "warmest city." In spring and summer, flowers bloom profusely both inside and outside the city, creating a breathtaking spectacle of vibrant colors.

Aside from the abundance of gardens, visitors to Victoria should not miss two Western restaurants with mysterious menus. If you’re feeling a bit adventurous or enjoy a little light gambling for fun, dining here will definitely get your heart racing and your face flushed with excitement.

The Basin-Sized Burger Restaurant – Fountain Diner

If a burger is served on a basin, that might not be anything special. But when the waiter places the burger in front of you, your jaw will surely drop — the burger has a diameter of 30 cm and a height of 15 cm, about the size of a medium-sized basin. The patty alone uses 13 beef patties, and the entire burger weighs 2.35 kg. Holding it for more than half a minute makes your arm sore... Is this a family-sized burger?

Of course not. This is a gimmick from Fountain Diner. Fountain Diner is a restaurant that serves all-day American breakfasts, with team jerseys hanging all over the walls — a very traditional Western-style eatery.

Known as the "Alpine Burger," it’s a special challenge dish at the restaurant. Anyone who orders this dish will have the waiter start a countdown timer as soon as the burger is served — if you can finish the entire burger within 30 minutes without any help and leave nothing behind, your meal is completely free. Plus, you’ll get your name in the restaurant's “Hall of Fame” and receive a “Big Eater” T-shirt.

According to the photos on the “Hall of Fame” wall, not many people have successfully completed the challenge — only about 20 in total. You might expect the winners to mostly be burly men, but most of the photos feature slender young men. It reminds one of Kobayashi from Japan’s “Glutton King” TV show, who dominated year after year, or a petite woman who beat men from around the world — truly inspiring.

If you don’t dare to take on the challenge but still want to try this basin-sized burger, no problem. A single burger costs CAD $29.99, or a combo with fries for $39.99, but only for dine-in. Even if you gather seven or eight friends, no one will go hungry.

Fountain Diner
Address: 102 – 2800 Bryn Maur Road, Langford, BC V9B 3T4
Website: http://fountaindiner.ca/

Coin Toss for Your Life – Floyd’s Diner

Walking into this red restaurant in downtown Victoria, aside from the walls covered in colorful paintings of Hollywood stars from the 1950s and 60s like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, The Beatles, and Audrey Hepburn — aside from concluding that the owner is a crazy movie fan — there’s nothing particularly outstanding about the place.

But when the waiter hands you the menu, you’ll notice one dish highlighted with a thick black frame: "The Mahoney." That’s where the adventure begins.

As soon as you order this CAD $16 Mahoney, the adventure starts. There’s no fixed menu for this dish — whether it’s breakfast or lunch depends entirely on the chef’s mood. Ingredients may be mixed together, with no restrictions on meat or rawness. The only constant is the super-sized portion. On this day, Dad Seahorse and travel show host Xiao Gang ordered breakfast. What arrived was two 20 cm large flour bowls filled with fried hash browns, ham slices, bacon, hot dogs, four slices of toast, scrambled eggs, and half a bowl of diced cantaloupe, honeydew, apple, and banana.

Weighed down in our hands, the group of eight quickly polished off the breakfast. But the real challenge came at checkout.

You can choose to simply pay CAD $16 and walk away like any other customer. But if you’re feeling lucky, you can play a game with the owner: flipping a coin to decide the bill. The owner flips the coin, and you guess the side — if you win, you pay nothing and can walk out with a flourish. But if you lose, sorry, you’ll have to pay double the bill... No backing out once you’ve made the bet.

Although the meal isn’t expensive, it makes for a nerve-wracking dining experience with adrenaline pumping and your heart thumping as the coin is tossed in the air. Want to try your luck at a 50% chance of getting a free meal? Head to "Floyd’s Diner" (Floyd’s Diner)!

Floyd’s Diner
Address: 866 Yates St. Victoria, BC Z8W 1L8
Website: www.floydsdiner.ca

Dad Seahorse
A Gemini man born under the air sign, he worked as a senior marketing and PR executive for a multinational corporation before the age of 45. After turning 45, he moved to Canada. Alongside his teenage sons, he plays the role of a father amidst the foreign springs of cherry blossoms, summers of sunshine, autumns of maple leaves, and winters of snow and rain, while also documenting his experiences in Vancouver.

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