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Windsor Arms Hotel Tea Room

February 23, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

18 St. Thomas Street | Toronto, ON
http://www.windsorarmshotel.com/

I’m pretty sure 90% of the people going to the Windsor Arms Tea Room right now bought the online coupon from one of those Groupon-like sites cause I sure did. They were have a 2 for 1 deal right before Christmas and how could you pass up a deal like that?
I bought one for my mom’s christmas present and decided to go on Family day with my mom, my sister and Chris.

I felt so sophisticated and grown up walking in, sitting, opening the menu and choosing my tea. The room was sat in was super elegant and bright, I loved the decor and everything!

And quite a large selection of teas to choose from, I got the Chai Arms which is just a chai tea. Nice and spice-y.

Table set-up with a plate of strawberry jam, berry jam and devon cream. The plate we already out before we got there which I didn’t really like. I just feel like someone could have walked by and coughed all over it, I would have much preferred if that just had it all set up in the kitchen and brought it out when we got seated.

The mini sandwiches there was smoked salmon with salmon caviar, grilled chicken and sun dried tomato cream cheese with cucumber. My favourite was the smoked salmon then grilled chicken. I’m pretty sure the sandwiches were pre-made so the bread was a tiny bit soggy but overall they were good. We also got one Goat Cheese and Caramelized Shallot Tart, it was basically a quiche and they warmed it up, it was pretty good.

There were two scone per person and there were a choice between plain and black current. Not really a fan of their scones, they were light but not flaky, maybe I’m just too used to the ones I make.

Four different mini pastries, going clockwise starting from the top left one: some sort of cheese cake, a white chocolate mousse with cherry, a dense chocolate-like brownie and a lemon meringue tart. Nothing was outstanding, everything was just mediocre.

We finished with strawberries and cream, who doesn’t love anything with cream?
Overall it was a nice experience but I don’t think I would pay full price for this.

GUU IZAKAYA

February 23, 2012September 16, 20193 Comments

398 Church St | Toronto, ON
http://guu-izakaya.com/

Guu Izakaya is the first and original Guu restaurant in Toronto and it now also has a sister restaurant called Guu SakaBar, I did a review quite a while back here.

When Izakaya first opened the wait time would be 1-2 hours on average, coming back 2 years later it’s no different. They don’t take reservations so it’s first come first serve yet people still wait but once your Guu virginity has been stolen, you’ll be hooked for life. Amazing food and amazing service and a very up lifting atmosphere.

We started off with the Hotate Carpaccio, $6.80, Hokkaido scallop sashimi with a wasabi dressing. The scallops are so fresh and sweet.

Cherry order the Salmon Natto Yukke, chopped salmon with natto, shibuzuke, takuan, wonton chips, garlic ships, scallions and a raw egg yolk. You mix everything together until it’s all harmonious and you wrap it with seaweed. I’m not a big fun because of the texture, it’s a little slimy for me.

If you come to Guu you must get the Gindara, grilled black cod with Saiyko miso & white wine sauce. It just so moist, buttery and flavourful. Japanese black cod is always a thumbs up in my books.

Gyu-Suji Nikomi which is braised beef with spicy miso and daikon radish. The beef was so tender and the spiciness was perfect for me. This was daily menu and it was $5.80. If I had some noodles I could eat bowls and bowls of this.
(The yellow-ish paste is mustard.)

This was also on the daily special, Amaebi, fresh B.C sweet shrimp and it was $6.80 for 5 piece. So fresh and sweet.

Maguro Tataki, $6.80, seared B.C tuna with a ponzu sauce and garlic chips.

Kinoko Bibimbap, rice, mushrooms, & cheese with a seaweed sauce in a sizzling bowl. What’s not to love about this dish? I always order it when I’m at Guu, it was so good that we ordered two. It’s kind of sad how much 3 girls can eat.

This is my all time favourite at Guu, it’s the Kakimayo, $7.20 for two oysters, which is baked oysters with mushrooms, spinach, garlic mayo topped with cheese. It’s so creamy and delicious…as I’m typing this my tummy is starting to rumble and the fact that I have to describe how good this is makes me sad cause I won’t get to enjoy this anytime soon! If you’re a fan of oysters, you must order this and if you aren’t you still have to order this cause it might change your mind about oysters.

For dessert we got the Almond Tofu and the cheese cake of the month which was something with mochi. I absolutely love the almond tofu they have, it’s silky, smooth, creamy and somewhat refreshing. The cheese cake was mediocre, not the greatest but it wasn’t bad.

I love Guu Izakaya and I always will, I will never mind the wait because the food is just so awesome and the service is even better.
But warning: don’t come here for a first date, you won’t be able to hear each other over the constant loud yelling or the conversations being held right beside you.

For the three of us we spent $110 and I’m pretty sure we ate more than the table of 8 beside us.

NINO D’AVERSA BAKERY

February 21, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

3120 Rutherford Road | Vaughan, ON
http://ninodaversa.com/

Decided to stop by Nino D’Aversa for a quick lunch before heading to Vaughn Mills to do some shopping.
Nino D’Aversa has multiple locations all over the GTA, the one in Vaughn is pretty new and it’s huge. I love the open concept of the bakery / restaurant, with the dark brown cabinets, pillars and seating.

We got a couple of things to share, this is the Chicken Parmigiana
and it came with two sides of your choice. We got mushrooms with pea and sauteed rapini. Perfectly cooked chicken, tender, moist and flavourful. The sides were good too even though I very much dislike rapini because of the bitterness. Also I think this giant plate was only around $11, what a steal.

As soon as I saw this I knew I had to try it! It’s a Risotto Ball all so know as Arancini di riso, it was humongous like literally the size of a softball! Nicely fried with a thin crispy crust and nice and creamy inside.

It was stuffed with pea and served with your choice of spicy tomato sauce or just regular. This was $5, I thought it was a little expensive for a ball of rice.

This is the personal sized pizza! Seriously two people could share one. The crust was incredibly thin and who doesn’t love thin crust pizza?! I had one small slice because I was pretty stuffed.
Highlight: they have a wood burning oven for the pizza!

After having lunch, we were all too full to even contemplate on having dessert but I did have a quick look at all the goodies. A copious amount of pastries and cookies but too bad the gelato section was closed for the season.
But next time I will definitely save room for dessert!

NIWATEI JAPANESE RESTAURANT

January 20, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

I have a soft spot for J-town, I love getting sushi from their fish market and the Cafe Green tea has the best Japanese curry with bread chicken ever! So I thought I would give Niwatei a try since my sister was raving about their ramen, also because they had a Groupon for $20 worth of food for only $10.

It’s a tiny restaurant with about 10 or so tables and an open kitchen.

It got kind of busy while we were eating even on a Tuesday night.

I came here with my mom and we got one ramen set, one ramen and a appetizer.
This is my Miso Ramen for $7.80; I thought the soup base was too salty and there wasn’t enough chashu in my bowl, only two small slices. The upside to my meal was that the ramen noodles were really good, they were perfectly cooked with a nice chewy texture.

My mom got the Tonkotsu Shio Ramen set for $12.80 which comes with an appetizer of your choice and dessert. My mom also made a comment about the temperature of the broth, it just wasn’t as hot as we wanted it.
*Note the ramen set is only available for dinner and weekends, also J-town in closed on Mondays.

This is the karaange chicken which is basically fried chicken. It was nicely fried with a light crust and a hint of spice.

My mom got the Mini seasoned Beef with rice as her appetizer. I had one bite and needless to say I ate the whole thing, the beef was tender, the onions were nicely caramelized and the sauce was sweet and savoury at the same time. It was so good, I stopped eating my ramen just so I could eat this.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake was the dessert of the day, it was dry and lacked chocolate flavour. My mom said it was probably day old from the grocery store which is probably true…sadly.

Honestly I don’t think I will be going back Niwatei anytime soon, I would rather pay a little more at Ippai and get hotter broth and more chashu or pay less and go to Cafe Green Tea for basically the same thing I would get at Niwatei.