Toronto Eats – Page 3

BANH MI BOYS

June 18, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

392 Queen St. West | Toronto, ON
http://www.banhmiboys.com/

Banh Mi Boys have been the all the rage for quite some time now so I knew I had to make a special trip downtown just to try one out for myself (also because Satya was craving a banh mi). After getting lost…multiple times (never give directions to a girl…or just me), we finally arrived!
We walked into a small a small restaurant that seat only about 20 people with bold colours and an awesome graffiti mural on the walls.

The menu, oh the choices! I wanted to try everything.

Satya opted for the spicy Five Spice Pork Belly Banh Mi and boy was he one happy camper eating it.
Delicious is his only comment, haha. I had a bite and it was life changing! The crust of the bread was crispy and the inside was soft. The pork belly was so tender and flavourful and the pickled radish & carrots and cucumber just gave the banh mi some extra freshness and made the sandwich lighter.

Just look how good that looks! He was quite annoyed that I made him wait an extra 20 seconds before he could devour it for this picture.

I opted for the the Braised Beef Cheek Steamed Bao because I ate before coming…so silly I know. But my bao was so good! The beef tasted like the beef you would get in spicy Shanghainese noodles (which btw I love!), super tender and packed full of flavour! One down side was that I felt the combination of everything was too soft, maybe some next crunch would make it exceptional but overall I was happy.

We also had to get the Kimchi Fries! One of the best loaded fries I’ve ever had…maybe even better than Smokes if I dare say. Loaded with kimchi, pulled pork, sweet mayo and cheese for $5.99, at first I questioned the priced of the fries…$5.99 for fries?! But as soon as I saw and tasted it, it was well worth every penny.

You know something is extraordinarily good when Satya is full but is willing to finish up the whole box. If you know him you know when he puts his fork (or chopsticks) down he won’t pick them up again but he devoured the rest of this even though he was stuffed. I was recommend sharing this between 3 – 4 people if everyone is getting their own banh mi.

I’ve been telling everyone about how I lost my Bahn Mi Boys virginity and everyone raves about the deliciousness of the bahn mis and everyone has their own favourite which probably means everything on their menu is fantastic! Can’t wait to go back and devour a banh mi myself!

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!

BIFF’S BISTRO

February 6, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

4 Front Street East | Toronto, ON
http://oliverbonacini.com/Biffs

Going to Biff’s for Winterlicious/Summerlicious has been an annual thing for Carmen, Philip, Viv and I, the first time we headed here was because I read good reviews and their dinner menu was only $25 and who couldn’t pass that up (but this year it was $35)? Take a look at their Winterlicious menu.

Having such busy schedules, we try to at least all get together at least once a year!
I apologize ahead of time for the picture quality, the lighting was really bad.

I love the atmosphere of Biff’s, it’s like you’re actually stepping into a light and airy French bistro. As soon as we got seated, we got a warm bread basket with some sour dough rolls (I love warm bread, +1 for Biff’s already). I was incredibly hungry so I literally inhaled one, only after smothering it with butter!

Biff’s has a daily special for $1 oysters after 5pm, how can you go wrong with $1 oysters? Philip and I started with half a dozen oyster between the two of us. They took kind of a long time to come but I guess they were taking their time shucking fresh for us. Fresh, salty, briny and served with a red wine mignonette, lemon and fresh horseradish. Simply Delicious.

We also got the Roasted Bone Marrow Pudding, $12.00, it was served with three pieces of toast, parsley salad and Maldon salt. I swear they mixed in some pureed mushrooms or something because it had a strong mushroom flavour but it was still super tasty. The toast was a little too toasted for my liking and the Maldon salt was unnecessary.

Okay. Time for the bones of this blog, my Winterlicious meal!

Carmen, Viv and I got the Cured Albacore Tuna. It had a little pickled radish salad and a harissa aioli, even thought I’m not sure what harissa is the whole dish was delicious! The radish salad gave a nice fresh crisp texture in contrast to the soft buttery tuna & aioli.

Philip got the Pâté de Campagne, it was nice cause the pâté wasn’t completely smooth and had a new meaty texture to it. Really, really good.

For our mains, Philip and I got the Roasted Pork Belly. It was served with pork crackling, braised cabbage and half a fingerling potato. It was my first time eating pork crackling and it tasted like the pork version of shrimp crackers, super crispy and light. Over all the dish was great, good contrast with textures and the flavours were mellow, clean and not heavy at all…even though you’re eating a chunk of pork belly. The portion was small but I don’t think I could’ve eaten a piece of belly bigger than that nor would my butt like that.

Viv got the Skin Roasted Arctic Char for her entree, served with lentils and green beans. She thought the fish was a little over cooked but an overall good dish.

Carmen got the Flatiron Steak Frites (sorry no picture), having a sharp steak knife was the only compliant; Carmen was having a hard time cutting the steak with what seemed to be a butter knife.

Carmen and Viv got the Gâteau aux Amandes which is basically almond cake. It was light and airy but I thought it was bit dry but no complaints from either of them and they seemed to really enjoy it.

Croissant & Chocolate Bread Pudding is what I got and I absolutely loved it! it was rich, soft and fantastic. Paired with caramel sauce which is my absolute favourite flavour ever! It was a win for sure.

The service was phenomenal, the servers were attentive and several people came over to make sure we were enjoying our meal and everything was okay.

Loved the food, atmosphere and service!

CAFFE DEMETRES

February 4, 2012September 16, 20192 Comments

90 Allstate Parkway, Suite 102 | Markham, ON
https://demetres.com/

I’ve blogged about the amazing chocolate cake Demetres has here but this time we went for what Demetres is famous for, their crepes and waffles!

This place gets super packed on the weekends and you’ll probably have to wait for about 15 – 20 minutes for a seat but it’s sure worth the wait.

(That pump is a gigantic scoop of ice cream, they never skimp on the ice cream here.)
Jessica and I shared the Moo La La cause I can never finish one myself. It had Nutello iced cream, sliced almonds, sliced bananas and chocolate sauce. We finished it at a pretty impressive speed.

Cherry got the Strawberry Shortcake, she said it was alright but she likes the one at Destiny’s better. I try it but I’ll take her word for it.

Sau shared a the Life Sentence waffle with her friend Kelly. Peanut butter ice cream, brownie chunks, slices of banana on a waffle!? What more could you ask for?

This is what Harriet got, I’m not sure what it was called but I know it had mocha ice cream, Oreo crumbs and chocolate sauce.

I love Demetres and will always be a go to place for dessert!

DANNY’S FISH & CHIPS

February 4, 2012September 16, 20191 Comment

4721 Highway 7 | Markham, ON

I drive by Danny’s fish & chips all the time but the thought of going in never crossed my mind until last night when I was craving for something deep fried and greasy. Looking up different fish & chip joints near my house I decided on Danny’s.

We came around 7pm on a Friday night and the place was packed! To be honest I was a little shocked that it was that busy and we had to wait but not for too long. Danny’s is a family run restaurant with the father and son on the fryers while the daughters served. I love family run businesses, something about them just makes me what to spend my money there more!

My mom and I decided to share so we can get more! No complaints from my mom since I offered to treat her to dinner.

My mom got the halibut & chips, $10.99, it came with one piece of fish and a mountain of fries…oops I mean chips. Everything was fried well, the fish was cooked perfectly and so were the chips but I tend to like my chips crispy so I wasn’t a big fan.

I got the shrimps, $11.49, I didn’t get chips cause I was going to eat my moms but I guess they threw in some cause my plate looked pretty empty. I came with packaged cocktail sauce (lame, I wished they made their own). The shrimp were great like really good, meaty and crispy but $12 for 7 shrimp? Kind of steep don’t you think?

How could we go to a fish & chips place without getting mushy peas?

These were really good, even my mom said so and she’s been to England plenty of times and has eaten plenty of fish & chips with mushy peas.

I liked Danny’s but I wouldn’t say they have the best fish & chips in town so I guess my search isn’t over yet.

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.

A LA KITCHEN

January 5, 2012September 16, 2019Leave a comment

21 Fairburn Dr Unit #18 | Markham, ON
http://alakitchenshanghai.com/

After much deliberation on where to go for my father’s birthday, we settled for A la Kitchen. This is my second coming here and after being quite impressed with the first time, why not come again? A La Kitchen has been open for quite a few years (5-6?) now but it wasn’t till recently have I tried it and they serve up some good Shanghainese food.

We started off with some appetizers, from top left going clockwise: pan-fried shrimp, cold bean curd with mushrooms, drunken chicken, more bean curd and jelly fish. (Sorry, I don’t know the exact names of each dish.)

This is so good! It’s basically fish pieces that are deep fried in a batter with seaweed pieces served with ketchup. The fish is perfectly cooked, the batter isn’t too thick and I love the hint of seaweed which isn’t over powering at all; it’s just perfect and I could probably eat the whole dish myself. Highly recommend.

I think this is called something like salted pork belly soup with bean curd & bamboo shoots.

I don’t really know what this is called in english or chinese but it’s egg whites cooked with crab meat served with a raw egg yolk. You usually mix the yolk in with the whites so the residual heat will actually cook the yolk and also eaten with black vinegar. Yum!

This is a popular Shanghai dish called Dong Po Pork which is made by slow braising pork belly in soy sauce with bok choy. The pork belly was tender but it wasn’t melt in your mouth nor as moist as I expected, it was just okay.

How could you go to a Shanghainese restaurant without trying their xiao long biao (soup filled pork dumplings)? These weren’t the best I’ve had but one of the best I’ve had in Toronto, the skin wasn’t too thick and the filling was moist and flavourful.

On the top is a piece of lion’s head, don’t worry it’s not actually lion. It’s a giant pork meatball braised in some sort of sauce, this was definitely probably the yummiest thing I ate that night. The dish came with two giant meatballs and I probably ate one all by myself.
The bottom is crispy duck served with a little white bun, I didn’t like it as much so I just gave it to my mom to finish.

We ordered a bunch of other dishes too but these were my favourites of the night.

BAR BURRITO

November 7, 2011September 16, 20192 Comments

230 Commerce Valley Drive East, Unit #5 | Markham, ON
http://www.barburrito.ca

Have I mentioned how much I love coupons and discounts? Did I ever mention that my life long goal is to become an extreme couponer? Well groupon has this new tab for deal that you have to redeem the same day, it’s call “Now! Deals”. Bar Burrito is one of the many restaurants that are part of this deal, Bar Burrito is also a 5 minute drive from my house, and burritos are one of the many cheap foods I enjoy!

Why not? This was my first time trying Bar Burrito and honestly when I walked in I was “Ugh. Bad choice”, it was empty and nothing in that room made it look inviting at all.

EMPTY!

As we were waiting we were becoming more sceptical of this place…after about what felt like forever (probably just 10 minutes), we got our burritos and headed home. We settled in and opened our neatly wrapped burritos, this is what I opened up to!

Nice and toasted! Loved the extra texture it gave the burrito.

In all the burritos you get rice, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and your choice of meat (choice between chicken, steak, shrimp or chicken/steak mix). You can add jalapenos, salsa and corn (free of charge) also you got a choice between spiciness. . We were both surprised about how good it tasted! I got medium on the spiciness scale and I was dying near the end! So next time I would definitely get mild next time…and I would certainly come back again.

With Groupon, we spent $12 for two burritos.