falafel

TABULE

February 13, 2017September 16, 2019Leave a comment

2901 Bayview Avenue

North York, ON

Tabülè is a Middle Eastern chain restaurant in Toronto located on Queen Street East and Yonge Street, with their newest addition inside Bayview Village Shopping Centre. I had the pleasure a few weeks ago to preview the stunning new restaurant and enjoy a delightful meal of classic Tabülè dishes alongside co-owners as well as husband and wife, Chef Rony Goraichy and Diana Sideris.

Palate-cleansing pickles, an assortment of olives, hot peppers, turnips and dill pickles, $2.

Sample Platter, $14.00, served with warm pita bread.

Which consisted of Hümmus (chickpea purée, lebanese tahini sauce, fresh lemon juice & a touch of garlic), Babaganüj (puréed BBQ eggplant mixed with lebanese tahini, garlic and fresh lemon juice), and Labni homemade (Lebanese yogurt cheese mixed with garlic & topped off with za’atar). I was pleasantly surprised that my favourite dip would be the Labhi.

Tabülè (hand chopped parsley salad with whole wheat bulgur, tomatoes, onions and a hint of mint tossed in a light lemon & olive oil dressing).

Falafel gluten free vegetarian patties consisting of crushed chick peas, split fava, parsley, garlic, onions and spices served with tahini, $6.25.

Hallüm Salad with baby arugula, onions & seared hallüm cheese tossed together in a pomegranate dressing, $9.95. I absolutely love halloumi cheese so it was a no-brainer that I would love this salad.

Fried cauliflower drizzled with tahini, $7.75.

The Fried eggplant topped with a lemon garlic dressing, $6.50, was one of my favourite hot appetizers of the day.

We got to sample a platter of grilled meats consisting of Tawük (grilled marinated chicken breast that is hormone and antibiotic free), Lahmeh (Ontario veal tenderloin), and Grilled Lamb Chops. Everything was served with rice and house salad, the rice was nicely flavoured and fluffy, I could be buckets of

The star of the entrees were the lamb chops, Ontario lamb dry aged in-house grilled and seasoned to perfection. It was hard resisting thirds.

Garlic Shrimp Entrée sautéed shrimp in a tomato garlic sauce, a little spicy, $19.95

We ended off the meal with some Middle Eastern tea and sweets. Baklavas are bite-sized sweets made with phyllo pastry, honey, pistachio and cashews, $5.75. It was my first time trying Künafa Ashta (phyllo pastry layered with custard and topped off with rose water syrup), $6.95, at it was absolutely delicious. I am 900% sure I polished off the plate by myself and I would definitely revisit Tabülè just for this dessert alone.

The space is gorgeous and inviting with touches modern elegance and splashes of colour and gold all over, a super Instagramable room! The front of the restaurant has table seating as well, giving you the feeling of sitting on the patio without all the elements of the weather. The atmosphere, service, hospitality, food and drinks were amazing – I can’t wait to be back for a fancy relaxed meal.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

ROSE CITY KITCHEN

February 16, 2014September 16, 20192 Comments

406 Queen Street West | Toronto, ON
http://www.rosecitykitchen.com

Rose City Kitchen is a new addition on the Queen West & Spadina Strip, serving up quick and delicious Middle Eastern Sandwiches and snacks. Last week I was invited to a preview of what the restaurant was all about. This tiny shop makes everything in house and also has their own special pita sandwich recipe. How it works is you can choose from 5 different sandwiches and then you have the choice of 4 different protein you can fill your pita with, chicken, steak, falafel or halloumi cheese.

We got to try the Basic Vegetarian Poutine with aioli, tabouleh and grated cheese. A Great take on a Canadian classic. The poutine was delicious, it was light, flavourful and I couldn’t stop picking at it. You can get it topped with chicken, steak, falafel or halloumi cheese.

The Falafels (deep-fried patty made from ground chickpeas, spices and seasonings) have a fluffy inside with an incredibly crispy exterior, so good with he hummus.

The interior is small with a few high top tables and stools and is mostly a grab and go kind of place. The atmosphere has a clean industrial feeling with pops of red and black around the space. On one side of the wall there is a giant photograph of Petra (the archeological city in Jordan), the kitchen is open where you can see the gorgeous red titled stone oven where they make all their pitas in.

The RCK original with Steak (humus, tabouleh, home fries, carrots, lettuce, garlic oil, cherry harissa).

The Greek with Chicken (Tzatziki, pickled red onions, tomatoes, Cabbage, Iettuce, oregano, garlic oil, halloumi).

The Moroccan with Chicken (harissa, couscous, cabbage, red onions, tomatoes, almond. Apricots, parsley, chickpeas).

The Lebanese with Chicken (garlic sauce, pickles, lettuce)

They also have the Egyptian which isn’t pictured and it comes stuffed with eggplant confit, chickpeas, dates and garlic oil.
Rose City Kitchen is a nice healthy addition to the Queen West area and an alternative to all the burger joints you find nearby.

TABULE

September 28, 2013September 16, 2019Leave a comment

810 Queen St East | Toronto, ON
http://tabule.ca

Tabülè opened it’s second location on the east side of town in Leslieville, this new Tabülè is modern and chic with a combination of rustic and modern decor. During summer they even open up the front windows to create a bigger space.

They started us off with an array of pickled vegetables (cucumbers, olives, raddish and peppers).

We got the Babaganüj, pureed bbq eggplant mixed with lebanese tahini, garlic and fresh lemon juice, $5.50, to start. Come with some warm pita to dip, it was creamy, rich and flavourful.

Kefta – two skewers of charcoal broiled ground mixed lamb and beef with onions, tomatoes, parsley, garlic and spices

I love Tabülè’s Falafel vegetarian patties consisting of crushed chick peas, split fava, parsley, garlic, onions and spices fried and served with tahini $5.75. They were ridiculously crispy but the inside was soft with a fresh herbiness.

We got the Kefta (two juicy skewers of charcoal broiled ground mixed lamb and beef with onions, tomatoes, parsley, garlic and spices $14.95) to share. This was kind of a disappointing dish, I had such high hopes for it considering the rest of the meal was delicious, the skewers were dry and tasted like a not-so-good meatball. I just felt like the dish needed some sauce of some sort, in the end was asked for some hot sauce.

Overall the food was good but we got terrible service, we had to wave down multiple servers. Most of them walked off not even glancing at us. No one came over to ask how our meal was and it just seemed like everyone was too busy to pay attention to us even though the restaurant wasn’t packed.
I had so much more I wanted to try but I’ll probably head over to the original location to give Tabülè another go.

PAESE RISTORANTE

June 9, 2013September 16, 2019Leave a comment

333 King St W | Toronto, ON
http://paeseristorante.com

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to Paese Ristorante for their Messy Meatball launch party, the night was designed to promote their new late night meatball menu. The party took place at their King Street West location. Chef Palik and his team designed a fun and out of the box menu all about meatballs.

Everyone got a Paese messy meatball bib, ultra cute. We took our seats and they started us off with a glass of prosecco and then the meatballs just kept coming!

Cute little menu with all the different meatballs.

Falalfel Balls Chick
Pea and fava bean falalel’s, pickled cucumber, cured tomatoes, and green goddess crema.

Pepperoni Arancini Balls
House smoked mozzarella, salsa verde and chili mayo.

Close up of the melty cheesy goodness.

Meatball Caesar a.k.a The Duce
Caesar made with San Marzano tomato sauce and top with a meatball.

This one was probably one of my favourites of the night! This is just crazy ridiculous and you must be a mad genius to come up with a cocktail like this. Moses McIntee, the bartender, claims it to be the best hangover cure.

PAESE Meatballs House
Ground beef short rib, sirloin brisket and pecorino, braised in tomato sugo.

Polenta Fries

It was a consensus at the table that these were too salty and crispy.

Chicken Wing Meatballs
Spicy pepperoncini chicken meatballs with gorgonzola dipping sauce.

Balls on Buns
Smashed ball, tomato sugo, dill pickles, potato chips and provolone on a brioche mini bun.

Meatball Margherita
Mozzarella, basil, tomato sauce, and one giant meatball in the middle.

The purpose of the single meatball is supposed to make it interactive with the customers and servers, the servers break it up table side for you. But honestly the star of this was the pizza crust; the perfect combination of thin & crispy to chewy & doughy.

Parmesan & Black Pepper Cashews

These are the perfect beer nuts! If I wasn’t stuffed to the brim I would have devoured the whole bowl myself.

At the end of the tasting we all got complimentary first cold pressed olive oil courtesy of Paese Ristorante, a lovely parting gift.
I’ve never been so full from a tasting menu, everything was great and a huge thank you to Chef Christopher Palik and his amazing staff for putting together such an amazing party.
I will definitely be back for their regular menu, fantastic pizza and meatballs.

Shoom Shoom

February 20, 2013Leave a comment

7355 Bayview Ave Unit 6
Markham, ON
http://www.shoomshoom.ca/

Shoom Shoom serves modern Middle Eastern cuisine, I came here with my family one night to check out their all you can eat soup and salad bar. Basically it’s $13.99 for just the soup and salad bar but you can add a main dish for only $3. The main comes with your choice of meat (range from chicken kebobs, salmon kebobs, chicken shawarma, lamb or beef kebobs) or falafel and two sides (fries, sweet potato fries, middle eastern rice & steamed vegetables).

What I love about the salad bar is that they have dips (hummus, babaganoush etc.), grilled vegetables, different kinds of salads (couscous, tabouleh etc.), they have such a wide variety of choices! They also have two kinds of soups which are equally fantastic.

Just some of the things I got from the salad bar, I literally went back 3 times.

I got the lamb kebobs with sweet potato fries and middle eastern rice, everything was delicious. The fries were extra crispy and the lamb was tender and perfectly cooked.

My mom got the falafel dinner with sweet potato fries and vegetables. The falafels are super crunchy, crispy and delicious!

Shoom Shoom is an affordable, healthy, delicious all you can eat restaurant. I really love coming to Shoom Shoom.