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L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

August 10, 2012Leave a comment

Shop 315 & 401, The Landmark
Central, Hong Kong

“Awarded three Michelin stars by the MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong and Macau 2012; L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon opened its doors in Hong Kong in 2006, based on a new concept which Joël Robuchon created in Tokyo in 2003. The décor of the L’Atelier restaurant series is contemporary chic featuring lush red velvet seating complemented by dark wood furniture.“

When my sister told me we were going to have lunch at a 3 Michelin star restaurant I was ecstatic! This was going to be my first Michelin star dining experience ever and I was going to savour every last bit of it.

Walked into a super sleek restaurant with the main colours being deep reds and black, ultra modern if you ask me. Not a lot of table seating just some bar top tables and a bunch of seats around the bar which surrounds an open concept kitchen.

As soon as we were seated we got presented a giant bread basket full of different kinds of breads from your regular dinner rolls to small little croissants to bread sticks stuffed with ham & mustard. The best bread basket I’ve ever received and it was so hard to stop myself from trying each one, I resisted to only four kinds.

We started off the meal with an amuse bouche, I don’t really remember was was in the shot glass but I know it was delicious! In the little white bowl was lobster consommé with crab meat at the bottom.
For my appetizer I got Le Haricot Vert (green bean salad with foie gras rolls and parmesan cheese). I love the presentation of the plate, so refined and elegant. Out of all the appetizers I think I got the best one, really light and refreshing. It was also my first time tasting foie gras and I must say I really enjoyed it.

As for my main I got Le Black Cod (Black cod fillet with smooth daikon cream and virgin olive oil). This is the best cod I’ve ever had, I don’t think I can say that enough times. It was perfectly cooked, super flavourful and buttery (just looking at it is making my mouth water). The daikon cream was so smooth and light. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life it would be this plate right here.

I got the La Foret Noire (Black forest with vanilla ice cream and cherry sorbet). I never like anything cherry flavoured besides the actual fruit but this sorbet was so delicious, light and refreshing. So yummy!

One of the most delicious meals I’ve had, everything was perfect (besides the awkward waiter) from the atmosphere to the beautiful presentation and the well thought out combinations of flavours, taking old flavours that work well together and making them even better.

Buster’s Sea Cove Truck

June 19, 20121 Comment

“Busters Sea Cove has been a staple at the St Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto for over a decade. Known for our fabulous fresh grilled fish, calamari, fish and chips, locals and tourists alike have made our spot a downtown favorite.”

I honestly don’t think there’s anything better than good seafood and when I found out Buster Sea Cove had a food truck that sold lobster rolls I had to check it out.
You can find where they are each day if you follow their twitter (@bustersseacove) or even like them on Facebook , the food truck is usually dock somewhere different each day so all over downtown can get their lobster rolls.

Look at that gorgeous lobster roll!

We finally arrived! On this particular day they were parked on the corner of Queen Street East & Jarvis with three other food trucks.

Walked up to the truck and didn’t even have to think about it, the words “lobster roll” just came rolling off my tongue, $13.00.
The lobster roll came with a slice of lemon, pickle and a bag of Mrs. Vickie’s chips…I guess that kind of justifies the $13.00 lobster roll.

The bun was butter up on the outside and grilled and there was a nice helping of lobster salad which by the way was super fresh with not a lot of fillers (just some mayo, parsley and celery). It was so good, I could’ve eaten 5 in one sitting! Only compliant was that the sandwich was smaller than expected but it did fill me up.

I would advise getting some extra napkins cause your fingers will be greasy and buttery by the end of your consumption. And because this is a food truck there isn’t any seats for you so you have to venture off finding a quiet curb or park to enjoy this delicious sandwich.

I used to live literally 5 minutes away from St. Lawrence Market and totally regret not heading to Buster’s more often! Next time I’m downtown again I will definitely drop by St. Lawrence Market for some awesome seafood!

Fish Soup Noodles House

April 15, 20121 Comment

Fish Soup Noodles House
505 Highway 7 East Unit 50-53
Markham, ON
L3T7P6

I was going through my friend’s pictures she took on her recent visit to Hong Kong and landed on a photo of fried fish skin. The first time I ever had fish skin was at Fish Soup Noodle House and it was only out of curiosity but to my surprise it was so absolutely delicious!
I’m not a big fan of offal or skin but it just looked so crispy, I just had to try it.

Fish Soup Noodle House is famous for their fish base soups, obviously but you can also order hot pot (I’ve never been for hot pot, it wouldn’t be my first choice).

This is the Hainanese Chicken Rice which is one of the better things on the menu. If I liked chicken thighs I would definitely order this and recommend it. The meal also comes with a bowl of fish broth soup, all for $6.50.

Love the rice!

This is what I got: Deep fried fish slices and deep fried fish skin with udon in chicken broth. It also comes with a piece of imitation crab and white radish.

Now for the only thing that will make me come here! Deep fried Fish Skin.

It doesn’t look very appetizing but boy is it good! It’s best quickly dip in some broth so it softens up the tiniest bit.

The thing I like about this place is that you can pick the type of broth you want, the type of noodle and whichever topping you would like; I like having choices.
The deep fried fish skin is a must try!

Inakaya revisited

April 10, 2012Leave a comment

Inakaya
126 Willowdale Avenue
Toronto, ON
416.224.8881

I visited Inakaya a few weeks prior and it left me wanting more so what better excuse to come back than for my birthday dinner! Blog post here.

We got there around 6:30pm and it was already packed, the waitress carefully explained the specials and we took our time deciding what to get.

We started off with the Tempera Udon & the Nabeyaki Udon, it was a great start to the meal cause it was somewhat cold outside so it definitely warmed us up from the inside out!

I could eat 10 bowls of the udon myself, the best thing in the bowl is the broth.

We also got the Sushi Moriawase again, same great quality as the last time. So good and so fresh!

The Grilled Squid was perfectly grilled, not chewy at all with a light smokey, charred flavour.

I don’t remember the name of this fish but it was super meaty and served with grated daikon, a little bland but i dipped it in some soy sauce and it was great.

On my last visit I saw multiple tables get the Beef Amiyaki and I knew I had to get on my next visit. I was super excited when it came to the table, couldn’t smiling.
You have a choice between the regular beef or the Wagyu Beef Grill ($40), I was perfectly fine with the regular beef. The beef was tender and you could cook it to your own preference which is great, also accompanied with a soya based dipping sauce.

This is the famous Volcano Roll, $18, that’s on everyone’s blog and a must get just to say you’ve tried it.
“Butter and olive oil sauteed sliced onions, blanched zucchini, rolled and torched sliced certified Angus beef on top, served on an iron plate with teriyaki sauce and thinly sliced scallions in volcano fire”. The beef was super tender, not spicy and to be honest it kind of tasted like beef fried rice.

I fell in love with Spicy Scallop rolls a while but and since it was my birthday I had to get it. This came at the end of the meal so I was pretty stuffed and I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I could have. One complaint I have is that the scallop to rice ratio was off, wish there was more scallop! We also got a Dynamite Roll, nothing special though (no pictured).

All in all great dinner and everyone needs to try Inakaya, definitely make a reservation if you plan on visiting.
One of my favourite authentic Japanese restaurants in the GTA.

Green Grotto Tea Room

March 28, 20121 Comment

Green Grotto Tea Room
7030 Warden Avenue, Unit D2
Markham, ON

If you live in Markham you know there’s only a couple of things to do at night: 1. go to Demetres, 2. drink bubble tea, 3. drink bubble tea. Oh, and drink bubble tea.

There’s not a lot to do unless it’s food related. I’ve had my fair share of bubble tea and I’ve been to quite some bubble tea places if I do say so myself.
My new favourite bubble tea joint is Green Grotto!

The bubble tea is less sugary in my opinion and you can actually taste the tea flavour opposed to just flavoured sugar water. Another bonus is that they serve you unlimited bowls of buttered popcorn!
I got the Original Green tea with Tapioca, so goood! And they serve different sized tapioca balls!
Unlike most other places, Green Grotto has much more than the regular flavoured jellies and tapioca balls, they have aloe, grass jelly and…I don’t remember the rest!

I don’t usually get meals at bubble tea places but I was hungry so I decided to get the Minced Pork on Rice with Marinated Egg, $4.99. Yum, filling and cheap!

One thing you must eat at any bubble tea place is the Condensed Milk Toast. An ultra thick slice of Chinese bread drowned with condensed milk and toasted! So-absolutely-delicious!

Green Grotto is a tiny place so I wouldn’t recommend coming with a large party. Picture taken from where I was seated (the back corner of the restaurant).
They also have an extremely large collection of magazines ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Magazines for men and I’m pretty sure English magazines.

Health Herb Harmony

March 21, 2012Leave a comment

Health Herb Harmony
500 Highway 7 East
Richmond Hill, ON
http://www.herbal3.com/

Who loves 荳腐花 (tofu pudding)? This girl! And the only place where I get it is Health Herb Harmony. One of the top reasons I come here is cause they serve it in a bucket!

This picture makes me so giddy! The tofu is super silky and you can make it as sweet as you want.
You also have the option of eating it cold or hot, I usually get cold on hot summer nights!

The Keg Steakhouse & Bar

March 11, 20122 Comments

The Keg Steakhouse & Bar
162 York Blvd
Richmond Hill, ON

My dear friend Carmen is going to Korea to teach English for a year, we headed to The Keg for one last dinner together before she left!
Going to miss you! 😦

The Keg annoyingly doesn’t take reservations on the weekends which is kind of ridiculous in my opinion considering we had a party of 13. We got there at prime dinner time and we were told we would have to wait 1.5 hours for a table, the wait wasn’t as horrible as I thought it was going to be. They passed around little appetizers to people who waited which I thought was nice but sadly none of us got any and she never came back with more.

After waiting for quite sometime we were finally seated, our waitress introduced herself, told us about the specials and gave us complimentary warm bread which was served with butter, yum!
She gave us some time to decide on our drinks and appetizers while nibbling on the bread.

A few of us shared the Calamari, lightly fried, with red peppers, jalapenos and a spicy sweet ginger garlic sauce. I thought this was an overall good appetizers, everything was nicely fried, crisp and tender. I really like the fried jalapenos which gave a settle kick of spicy and you don’t normally see deep fried jalapenos. I also liked how the calamari was small, it’s a good dish to share.

Probably half the table got the Grilled Top Sirloin. If you’re looking for something super meaty and packed full of grilled-summertime-outdoor-steak flavour.

A bunch of us got Prime Rib, classic hand-carved with horseradish and au jus. Prime rib was incredibly tender and the au jus made it extra moist and flavourful. I got the mashed potatoes and it was so buttery and delicious, love how they kept the skins in.

All steaks are served with the choice of: baked potato, roasted garlic mashed potato, fries, twice baked potato, rice pilaf and mixed vegetables.

Despite being absolutely stuffed to the brim, Jess, Jen and I decide to share a dessert, Billy Miner Pie which is mocha ice cream on a chocolate crust with hot fudge with caramel sauce and almonds.

Everyone loved this, I really liked the almonds with the ice cream cause it gave it some crunch.
Oh and the caramel sauce, I love caramel sauce!

Overall the meal was good but I guess you can’t go wrong with good company! I would definitely recommend The Keg if you’re looking for a less expensive steak house.

P.S. Carmen I’ll miss you! Have a safe flight and have LOADS of fun in Korea! Updates and pictures as often as you can!

Fushimi Authentic Japanese Cuisine

February 16, 20122 Comments

7501 Woodbine Avenue
Markham, ON
http://www.fushimi.ca/

Here’s a look at their AYCE menu.

Fushimi opened up a few months ago where Taste of Japan used to be. With a fresh coat of paint and a new sign, Fushimi emerged.

Besides the paint everything was the same, the layout of the restaurant, the tepanyaki tables and probably the servers.

The menu is quite extensive with a lot of items you don’t really find at other AYCE sushi places. Example the picture below, I don’t remember the name of this roll but it was awesome (kani, tuna, avocado and fish roe all wrapped up in thinly sliced cucumber)!

One thing that bugged me was it was hard to differentiate the rolls that you would typically know. Above on the left is the normal rainbow roll but on the right is what Fushimi calls their Dynamite roll.
Just seemed like they would take a shrimp tempera roll and put a different sauce on it and call it 5 different things, it just wasn’t that exciting compared to other AYCE places.

Nicely fried tempera but the shrimp were tiny!

This is the tuna tartar it has tempera flakes, masago mixed in on top of some sushi rice with spicy sauce. It was good but the texture was just too mushy for me.

The ice lights up under the sushimi, how tacky! Honestly my face lit up when it did! Also the sushimi was pretty fresh.

Deep fried soft shell crab. Too fried as in it cut the roof of my mouth with no a whole lot of flavour.

Chicken Yaki Tori. Can someone say tacky? I liked how they used chicken breast though.

For some reason if we ordered multiple orders of the same dish, they would put them on separate plates instead of putting it all on one big plate, needless to say our table was towering with dishes.
All-in-all fushimi was okay, not the greatest but decent.

Glow – Fresh Grill and Wine Bar

February 14, 20121 Comment

Glow – Fresh Grill and Wine Bar
1090 Don Mills Rd
Toronto, ON
glowfreshgrill.com

Cherry and I went to Glow at Shops on Don mills last night for a girl night, our deciding factor was the “Glowlicious” menu. Glowlicious runs from January 23 – February 13 and some of the proceeds will be donated to The Sandbox Project which I personally think is awesome! The fact that I can enjoy an awesome dinner for $25 and help out children and youth at the same time is a great idea.

You could pick from three appetizers, three entrees and their selection of mini desserts.
The lunch menu is only $15 and dinner is $25.

I love the atmosphere at Glow, intimate, inviting, warm and they have a colour changing ceiling! Who doesn’t love when the ceiling changes colour?! They also have a somewhat open kitchen which is awesome.

We got the Grilled Calamari, $13, which was topped with oven dried grape tomatoes, olives & capers over a bed of baby spinach. So tender and flavourful, we both absolutely loved it.

I started off with the crab cake, I thought it was decent nothing really that special about it. It was pan fried so the outside wasn’t crispy (which is how I like it) but all in all it was alright.

Cherry got the onion soup which was the soup of the day, it was a basically a French onion soup without the best part! I had a sip and I thought it was good, loaded with onions, not overly salty and it was piping hot when it arrived.
(I don’t have a picture because it was too dark.)

I decided to get the Chicken Parmesan, it was served with sauteed sweet peppers, cheese and a warm arugula. The chicken was incredibly crispy and hot when I bit into it, +1.

Overall it was an average dish.

Cherry got the Baked Ocean Perch with a Niçoise salad, one surprising thing was that the perch fillets still had the bones in them. We weren’t sure if there was supposed to be bones in it but there were a lot. Cherry even called over the waitress to ask, she assured us that was how the fish was served. It was just weird, I’ve never been to a restaurant where the bones were still intact to the fillet.
Besides the bones, the fish was well cooked but under seasoned.

I got the Peanut Butter shot and Cherry got the Lime Meringue shot.
Nothing special to be honest.

Glow is a nice restaurant but it wouldn’t be my go to restaurant considering there are so many options at Shops on Don mills.
All-in-all I had a good food but better company!

Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

February 10, 2012Leave a comment

I made a cake last week to for a long needed fam jam, I didn’t want to make anything to extravagant or anything too sweet so decided on something simple like strawberry short cake.

Here’s the recipe here!
I only have 9″ pans and it worked great, next time I would double the recipe to get 4 layers (2 cakes cut in half).

The sponge was light and moist, I didn’t even need to use a simple syrup.

Here are some step-by-step picture instruction on how I assembled the cake.

1. firstly, I cut the cake in half and spread some strawberry jam on the bottom. Considering that strawberries aren’t really in season, I bumped up the strawberry flavour with jam.

2. Spread a thin layer of sweetened whipped cream on the bottom, fill with sliced strawberries then spread another thin layer of cream on top on the strawberries. This helps both layers stick together.

3. Top with the other half of cake and mask with the whipped cream.

Making it all smooth.

4. Decorate accordingly.

This recipe is a definite winner and will probably use the sponge recipe over and over again!