Product: Language of the Leaf

Product:

Language of the Leaf Teas

www.languageoftheleaf.com

I’m so excited to review this product as it was a package sent to me from Neeta Khanna (founder, Language of the Leaf) herself after she saw my Zimbel’s review. So about four weeks ago I received this package and have pretty much been getting drunk on teas ever since.

Assorted Language of the Leaf tea packets

In fact, as I sit here writing this, I’m sipping on a lovely Rooibos Sunset tea . Outside, the leaves are the same colour.

Fall 2009 © photohogger

Language of the Leaf: Rooibos Sunset

The Rooibos Sunset tea is much like a walk in the crisp fall weather with crackling leaves underfoot and a real sense of being at one with nature.

Language of the Leaf: Rooibos Sunset

Its citrus flavour is refreshing and light and the high level of antioxidants makes it a winner all-around. I should also mention that this tea arrived as a wedding give-away sample; the tea in a gorgeous silken tea bag in a cute round metal container.

Language of the Leaf: Rooibos Sunset as a wedding giveaway

Language of the Leaf: Rooibos Sunset tea bag

The Wedding Blend, a white tea infused with peach nectar and speckled with pink rosebuds is appropriately titled as it would make a very good wedding give away.

Language of the Leaf: Wedding Blend (as a wedding giveaway)

I found this to be a really enjoyable after-dinner tea. We’d purchased a rose-bud tea in San Francisco from a wonderful tea shop sold to us by a very knowledgeable salesman and he told us that the rose buds are great for complexion and said to relieve menstrual pain. I find the pure rose-bud tea to have too strong of a sweet scent (much like rose water), so the blend of white tea, peaches and roses was more tolerable.

Language of the Leaf: Rooibos Lemongrass

The Rooibos Lemongrass tasted much like the Rooibos Sunset, I couldn’t quite detect the difference, but I’m not complaining since I longed for more of the Sunset after the tea bag was finished, so this works just as nicely.

I have to admit that I am not a fan of green teas; I’ve never come across one that I’ve liked (until now), mostly because of their sometimes powdery and always bitter aftertaste.

Language of the Leaf: Queen of Siam Green Tea

That said, the Queen of Siam is a green tea with a lemon ginger finish and I was hesitant to try it, it was the last one of the batch left for me to try and the lemony scent reminded me of NeoCitran, but then I tasted it and it was wonderfully not lemony at all…rather, gingery and smooth with a mild hint of green tea. Very soothing. We cracked this tea pack open at work one day when one of my friends was feeling a cold coming on…she agreed that it was very calming.

Okay, can I please talk about the Biscotti now? WOW! Imagine your grandmother’s biscotti, or if your grandmother didn’t make biscotti, imagine she did and now imagine it in liquid form. Okay, that probably didn’t make it sound too good, but honestly, I was floored that tea could taste as if I were actually biting into a biscotto. It’s great with or without milk. Amazing. Truly a tea to make you feel warm and fuzzy all over!

And lastly, y’all know how much I love my Earl Greys (and I have had some really pathetic EG teas…bags and loose leaves,but I shan’t name any names…*cough Twinnings Lipton David’s Tea cough*), and Language of the Leaf’s Earl Grey is what I really should be talking about since it’s what brought this whole review together! I fell in love with this LotL’s EG at Zimbel’s Cafe a while ago, enjoying it with some soy or lactose-free milk in the afternoons as a wake pick-me-up. I love the smell of it; it’s got a milder scent of bergamot but it’s not mild on taste. A wonderful version of EG that I adore and continue to purchase from Zimbel’s, even with a batch of it at home. The one time Zimbel’s didn’t have EG, I decided to try the Ginger Peach Apricot black tea; I found it to be deliciously gingery and robust in fruit flavour.

I’d like to thank Neeta Khanna for this opportunity to review her fabulous teas, it was such a treat! And thanks to Language of the Leaf for making the days leading into winter so much more enjoyable.

Chocolate Festival

October 19 – 25

It’s the 4th year of Toronto’s Chocolate Festival!  And it’s happening right now in the city!

Print your coupons here and sample some of the tastiest desserts in town!

You’re welcome

Spice Safar

Location:

270 Adelaide St W, Toronto

www.spicesafar.com

In the heart of downtown Toronto you’d be hard pressed to find a sexy lounge with a decent menu to offer. And let’s be honest, a menu is one thing, an actual edible tasty meal is another. Fear not, I’ve found the place that has it all. It’s called Spice Safar.  It’s a lounge, restaurant, cafe, bakery and high-end boutique.  And it not only promises a luxurious experience, it delivers.

Nevermind that it was by invitation that we “journeyed” to the new Spice Safar location at Adelaide and John. We were ready to shell out for the night out, but thanks to executive chef Matthew Sullivan and the friendly crew running the place that evening, we were treated to a couple of couture mixology drinks and a full out taste of everything on their menu!

At $15.95 for a fancy mixology drink, you may think that the price tag is quite hefty but the unique concoction with modified molecular ingredients is surely a million light years away from your standard cosmo or lychee martini.

So it was incredibly hard to choose from the drinks menu with all the ingredients being so different and intriuging. We finally decided upon the Lavender Sour (vodka, lavender tea, cane juice, ginger, egg white) and the Blue Hemingway (rum, fresh cane sour, mint, hose bitters & flaming absinthe).

Their absinthe is made in-house and just watching our drinks being made was enough entertainment for the night (not to mention the fire show we got later on!)

The Lavender Sour and Blue Hemingway was served on a wooden trays along with a glass of sparkling water and grapefruit mousse to cleanse the palate. The mousse was so light and airy; I’d be happy just having my palate cleansed. Forever.

Miguel Aranda, Spice Safar’s mixologist who fares from the Big Apple was away that evening but his apprentice Florian expertly concocted our drinks; making my Lavender Sour sans the egg white (something they’re still working on perfecting and I have to admit I was a little bit relieved).  The Lavender Sour was lovely – bringing to mind all things Hawaiian; distinctly tropical and refreshing.

The Blue Hemingway was crisp. My sharp yet, I suppose, inferior mixology-taste buds detected it to be a cross between mojito and absinthe. It was a lot easier to drink and more enjoyable than the Absinthe House Frappe we had at the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans.

Next were the dishes, mainly tapas style fare, starting with the special of the day, the executive chef’s version of bruschetta: polenta topped with cheese and garnished with pea sprouts and grated endive and sprinkled with a Spanish olive oil (imported weekly).

Next was the Chicken Satay, marinated in Malaysian chili lemongrass sauce and grilled. Finished with a soy chili coconut glaze. $8.95

So you’re thinking, how hard is it to mess up chicken skewers, right? Well, to compare let me remind you of the half-cooked meat sticks at Elephant & Castle. At Spice Safar? Great presentation and tasty to boot!

Mini Burgers – 3 Dry aged ground top sirloin patties, served on in house made poppy seed buns, with a cherry tomato relish, smoked gouda cheese and a fresh thyme and truffle aioli. $11.95

I could have eaten just the buns alone; they were so good! Add in the Kobe beef and the relish…these mini sliders were little bundles of joy (I say little out of context for the portions were quite generous).

Next up:  the dumplings, chicken with fresh ginger $8.95 – pan seared and finished with yuzu juice and soy sauce. Filled with market vegetables, sweet and Yukon gold potatoes and sesame seeds.

Just looking at the photograph now, I’m reminded of the succulency and texture of this dish. Loved it…wanted want more!

Tagine – braised lamb shank, market vegetables, sultana raisins, Safar-inspired Moroccan spices. Served with peach chutney and grilled flatbread $9.95

I am admittedly not a lamb eater, however after the first bite (and then subsequent irresistable bites) ascertain they did something right; not only was the meat tender, the gravy was savory.  You lamb-fans will love this dish; it’s undoubtedly fresh – this I know because it reminded me (I know, I’m constanty reminiscing of past meals) of the organic lamb I ate growing up in Africa.  

At this point we were already stuffed, and then to finish off Matt & Jaclyn brought out a lovely cheese platter!

Cheese charcuterie plate (for 2) – local artisanal cheese, served with a roasted almond and pistachio paste, seasonal fresh fruit, dried figs, in house made sour dough bread and marinated vegetables $19.95 

If memory serves me well, there was a blue cheese from Guelph, and pasturized cows milk from North Bay and BC topped with pears, blueberries, kiwis and figs.  So, you know how blue cheese stinks?  This blue cheese was something else – no offending smell and such a mild taste (I even forgot my lactose-intolerancy for a while).

The pistachio paste and olive tapanade were both amazing!  There were three degrees of Spanish olive oils, beginning with mild to a more peppery blend.  Soooo good.  And that bread!  MMM.

Later we were impressed by Flo’s amazing fireshow and absinthe shots.  Smooth…both the show and the shot.

We’d like to thank (l-r) executive chef Matt, Jaclyn, Florian and Riyad for showing us a great time and letting us take photographs to remember the experience!

Here’s a little excerpt on Matt Sullivan from their Facebook page:

The executive chef responsible to introduce the SpiceSafar food experience to Toronto has recently returned from a culinary journey on the Old Continent. Matthew not only worked at high-end gastro-pubs in Glasgow, Scotland, but he had the privilege to work with the most influential chef in UK’s history, Heston Blumenthal in his 3-star Michelin landmark restaurant. The Fat Duck has been voted by most critics as one of the two best restaurants in the world and is on the leading edge of molecular gastronomy. This extraordinary experience alone has fully prepared Matthew for the task of leading the team introducing the SAFAR couture comfort food to our Toronto audience. His creative flair, first rated skills in food sciences and his great wine knowledge all make him the perfect guide to take us all on truly flavorful epicurean discoveries.

Spice Safar is an innovative, elegant and aesthetically pleasing space with a concept unique to Toronto’s restaurant scene.  Can’t wait to go back!

Rude Service @ Whole Foods (Whole Hearth), Yorkville

Location:

87 Avenue Road, Toronto

Cost: Hot chocolate $2.99 (mint shot $.50), cooked sushi combo 6.49, avocado roll $5.99

Server: Boshan

To clarify; this review is not about the Whole Foods Market in Yorkville….which I actually like very much and can’t complain about. Instead, this post is in regards to the absolutely disgraceful service we received at the Whole Foods cafe, Whole Hearth (located on the street level of Avenue Rd.) one afternoon after a day at the spa.

It’s very surprising that such a location as this in Yorkville (or anywhere, for that matter) would have staff like this employed.

Imagine this, if you will. Three perfectly relaxed women, sauntering into the cafe for a mid-day snack after a leisurely few hours at the Nova Spa across the street. Each picking a sushi snack tray from the freezer section and standing at the cashier ready to pay.

At once we notice how Boshan is incredibly short with us…ringing in my friend’s sushi while impatiently gesturing for mine as well. I tell him we want to order a hot chocolate which he doesn’t even acknowledge, still waving for my sushi tray. I try to tell him that my sister and I will be sharing our hot chocolate (my friend had also ordered a hot chocolate) but it goes unacknowledged (although appears on the receipt).

We take our sushi to the table (sans hot chocolate) and begin to eat, all the while looking to see if our hot chocolates are being made. Instead he seems to be occupying himself with other tasks and then begins moving around from one end of the cafe to the other.

At one point, my sister stops him mid-walk and asks about our hot chocolates to which he snaps, “In a minute, I’m not going in that direction..”, meaning he was heading away from the coffee counter. Seriously?

Finally..and I mean by this time, my friend has already finished her sushi, he plops down her hot chocolate whereas ours is nowhere to be seen. So again, my sister begins to ask for an extra cup for the hot chocolate (assuming he plans to bring it) to which he rudely retorts, “In a minute, after these customers”. So now they are other customers waiting, but weren’t we also waiting?

Eventually we receive our drink (and the second cup) but are not happy with it (besides the manner in which it was produced, it didn’t taste all that good either).

Later he returns with some ‘leftover samples’ from the bakery – some pizza which he shoves in front of our faces without explanation so I ask what kind of pizza it is, veggie or meat (my sister is vegetarian). His response? A classy, “chicken!” and then whips it away from me offering it to my friend who helps herself.

Wow.

As we get up to leave, we’re barely out of our seats and gathering up our things when he comes over and starts moving the tables apart. I was practically still sitting in the chair. Yikes!!

My sister and I were appalled and even my usually zen-like friend was amazed at his actions.

Forget Whole Hearth, we sure got a WHOLE lotta attitude! What a horrible person to keep employed. Shame on you Whole Hearth.

Montreal: Chu Chai

Location:

4088 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal, QC

Cost: approx $90 for two (incl. glasses of wine)

www.chuchai.com/

Mock duck, you say?

I never thought I’d actively scope out a vegetarian Thai restaurant…but that’s what we did when we were in Montreal. Coming highly recommended from more than a few friends, Chu Chai is a trendy zen-like Thai resto boasting authentic thai dishes made from completely veg/vegan friendlyproducts (ie. soya, tofu, seitan).

In Toronto I’ve only tried a handful of veg restaurants, such as Fresh, Cafe 668 and Le Commensal, that too mostly under the persuasion of my mock-meat eating friends, so I’m no expert on the best veg restaurants in Toronto. I’ve heard Vegetarian Haven, Urban Herbivore and Hibiscus are good but haven’t gotten around to trying those out, yet. [By the way, a great site for you veg eaters is the Toronto Vegetarian Association: www.veg.ca]

Now back to Chuchai! With no reservations, we took a cab out to St. Denis around 9pm on Saturday night, and found the place to be pretty packed. We were assured that we’d be seated as soon as they could get us a table leaving us to wonder about the one vacant table to our left. We were then told that the table had been reserved but the patrons were now more than 1/2 an hour late. I guess that table had our name on it, afterall.

Eyeing the dishes on the tables made us realize how famished we really were but a quick glance at the menu proved we’d be taking a while longer to decide what to eat!

Finally, after much deliberation and chats with our friendly and helpful server, we decided on won ton soup and dumplings in peanut sauce to start.

The dumplings in peanut sauce was not only lip-smacking good, it was
plate-scraped-with-fork-many-times-over-because-you-can’t-literally-lick-the-plate good. Damn. Just remembering it now makes my mouth water.

And the won ton soup was a perfect complement to the sauciness of the dumplings. Yum!

Next we got a mock beef and duck dish.

The mock duck curry was amazing with pineapples, green peppers and tomatoes.  The beef dish suggested to us came with bamboo shoots and was also a curry (I was expecting more of a dry/fried dish – should have gone with the beef with chili and basil afterall!)  Still, they were both really good.

Both had amazingly accurate meaty textures from the seitan (wheat-gluten) in highly flavourful curries; however, the mock duck beat out the beef dish that was recommended to us.

My only gripe is the miniature portion of the serving of rice…argh! Seriously? The sticky rice we ordered (not included with the dishes) arrived in a fancy basket which I thought was at least the depth of the basket…only to discover that the rice was sitting in an even shallower basket within!

There was barely enough rice for one person in there! We had to order a second, plain rice, which came in a white ceramic bowl; still a small size but more of the standard side-of-rice bowl. Combined it was barely enough to finish the curries (which didn’t stop us from finishing the curries, mind you – they were so tasty).  Besides the ridiculousness of the rice portions, Chuchai is a winner in taste, presentation, and service….a delicious place for both veg and non-veg eaters.

We’re already planning to bring my sister and family of vegetarians out to Chuchai; and I have to admit, I can hardly wait to go back (even though we both felt slightly ill afterwards…perhaps from all the soy/gluten or peanut sauce?  Not sure).

Also, Chuch the restaurant next door, under the same ownership, is more of a casual (and cheaper), take-out place which allows you to BYOB but perhaps instead, I can Bring My Own Rice?

Eastern Japanese and Asian Fusion

Location:

2318 Royal Windsor Dr, Oakville

Cost: approx $15 pp

We were craving some sushi take-out and decided to give Eastern a try on the basis that you just never know!
Well, who knew, indeed? Eastern is amazing.

We went in to check out their take-out menu and decided they certainly have a variety of foods (from sushi to thai to chinese). And once we spoke to Andy we decided on keeping it simple with a salmon bento box and a spicy schezuan chicken dish with rice. While we waited we were served tea and it’s at that point that we decided we liked that place (even before tasting the meal).

And it was a damn good meal, let me tell you.

Tasty and spicy (with real dried red chilies) schezuan chicken (with loads of chicken).

The peppers, green onions etc were all very fresh (unlike the slightly rotten tasting veggies so common in many asian restos).

The bento box sushi was incredible; the tempura just perfect.

They also have all-you-can eat sushi for $12.99 at lunch and $19.99 at dinner (I believe, but will confirm).

Now a definite favourite in the ‘Ville!

Language of the Leaf Package!

I just received my first product in the mail to review!

A huge thanks to Neeta Khanna at Language of the Leaf for sending me a giant box of teas! I can’t wait to try everything. Anyone who knows me or at least reads my blog will know how much I love Earl Grey tea and if you happened to read my Zimbel’s Cafe review you’d have noticed how pleased I was with Language of the Leaf’s EG. It’s wonderful.

I plan on getting drunk on teas this weekend and will have my review up soon!

Montreal : Les Glaceurs

Location:

453 Rue Saint-Sulpice
Montreal, QC

www.lesglaceurs.ca/

We just happened upon this cute pink cafe on our walk through Old Montreal and boy were we happy we did! Our friends C&K hadn’t been to this ice-cream/cupcake place before either, so it was a real treat for all of us.

There were many gorgeous cupcakes; it was so hard to decide!

So, much like the Seinfeldian black and white cookie, we went with the vanilla cupcake and the brownie cupcake.

Iz..how you say…pretty, non?

And damn, that frosting was kickass!

Pho Ai My

Location:

221 Spadina Avenue, Toronto

#73

#58

I can’t remember the last number…..but these were our numbers (a consistent order amongst a few of my fellow diners).

Mine (#73) was the vermicelli with chicken & spring roll dish (what I always order at Vietnamese restos):

And while we were all in agreement that the new (flat, melamine-esque) plates they’re serving in are boring, we were all in favour of the taste (um….of the food, not the plate).

#58, the vermicelli with pork…

And #?, the beef vermicelli with lemon grass

It’s clean and minimalist…it’s the one with the indecipherable white sign outside; the “white place” we call it (with zero partiality).

It’s been decided, we like this place.

Montreal!

Off to Montreal for the weekend!

Got a few recommendations (thanks A!) under my belt, such as Daou for Lebanese and Chu Chai for veg Thai.

Any other places I must try?

***Update*** My friend M  just recommended the following (Thanks M!!) so I had to share her list:

Sushi: http://www.maiko-sushi.com/montreal/en/mtl-index.htm

Thai vegan: http://restomontreal.ca/portal/chuchai/index.php?lang=en

Thai for real lol: http://www.chao-phraya.com/

Fondue place(fantastic): http://www.fonduementale.com/

Pub but fancier and a gazillion beers (try the Shoune a l’erable): http://www.bieresetcompagnie.ca/

Lebanese lunch place: Basha and it’s on the second floor…there should be a Sports Expert store below it : http://www.restomontreal.ca/restaurants/index.php?section=viewresto&resto_id=159&lang=en

Tapas…amazing: http://www.casatapas.com/

Brunches:

http://www.cafesouvenir.com/cafesouvenir/

BEST croissants EVER. NO questions asked. LOL : http://www.premieremoisson.com/Home/

A diner type place that’s pretty famous and really good: http://montrealbreakfastreview.com/dustys

OH!! How can I forget. You want an insane poutine??!!!! Go there:
http://www.restolabanquise.com/

Stoney’s

Location:

323 Kerr Street, Oakville

Cost: Sunday Brunch approx $9 per entree

After all the hoopla and hype over Stoney’s; we finally made it for brunch on Sunday and I have to tell you…I am a little bit disappointed.

Okay, so you stand in line, make your order, get a number, pick up your own drinks, seat yourself and your food is brought to you. I get it guys, I get it. But I have to ask why.

Why must you make your own tea/coffee and gingerly navigate your way to a table through the throngs of seated patrons? Perhaps even spilling some hot tea on the way to the outdoor patio? I feel that if I have to make my own tea standing at the milk/sugar counter in a restaurant on a Sunday morning, I might as well have stayed at home and done the same. Likewise, having to clear dirty utensils from the table shouldn’t be on my morning list of things to do…at a restaurant. And if you’re already getting the food brought to your table; why don’t they just take orders at the table?

Also, running out of soy milk/lactose free-milk is not really acceptable when you’re only open from 9am to 3pm on Sunday.

Our meals took a very long time to arrive (and we came after the breakfast crowd) that by the time they did arrive our hot drinks were cold and there were no offers made for refills. And while the service is friendly, we still had to call out for clean utensils to our server as she walked away after plunking our plates down (without even a glance) and also requested salt and pepper which was forgotten until we asked a second time. We also had to return to the front counter to remind them about the forgotten banana bread we’d ordered (more on the taste of the banana bread later).

So, before you get your underpants in a knot, let me just say that I don’t consider myself a brunch snob although I am somewhat of a French toast connoisseur having cooked variations of it myself since I was, maybe twelve, and with it usually being my sole order at breakfast/brunch places all over, I can confidently say this:

The French Toast at Stoney’s is just…okay.

On the positive (or maybe for some, negative) side, it is massive. The presentation is nice and the price is good for that much French toast. The plate was literally stacked with three huge slabs of bread. I say bread because it was literally too thick for the eggy-ness to fully penetrate the bready centre.

I dislike cutting into French toast only to find dry bread staring back at me. Admittedly the coating of brown sugar and cinnamon was tasty, but it wasn’t enough coating and the too few fruits (although I did like the surprise of star fruit) on top of the mountainous “slabic” toast and teeny cup of maple syrup on the side was simply unjustly proportioned to the bread. However, I will happily admit that the side of bacon I got was perfection, although it’s hard to screw up strips of fried pork.

The frittata was good…I’m hugely into artichokes so that part was great. Ordering egg whites didn’t make it any less greasy…(this coming from someone who ordered bacon on the side, I know) and the mixed greens salad might have been better with the dressing on the side, but I suppose we should have ordered it that way.

Lastly, having to brush away the wasps and flies at our table (even before the food came, likely because the table hadn’t been cleaned before we sat down) we had to eat quickly when our food finally did arrive. Argh, certainly not very relaxing the way a Sunday brunch should be.

And that home-made banana bread ($2.50) I told you about earlier? Don’t do it. Absolutely no banana taste and oily to the core. No nuts even! Possibly the worst banana bread ever (best banana bread is still the one from the road-side stall in Maui).

There you have it guys…Foodhogger’s Stoney’s experience.

Undoubtedly some people’s favourite joint to brunch, but overall, I’m not a fan of the system they have there…too much work involved for a lazy Sunday morning. Perhaps I’d go again for a sandwich or pizza at lunch where their cafeteria system would work. It’s a good thing it’s in the ‘burbs…a place like Stoney’s wouldn’t survive in the city on that sort of system. Fusaro’s in Toronto also has a cafeteria style system, but it’s during the week and for lunch…they know better for brunch on the weekend…it’s full table service; just how people want to eat on a Sunday, otherwise what’s different than cooking up some french toast at home?

TIFF eats!

I’m wondering where the stars will be dining during TIFF this year…

I know the Windsor Arms Hotel will be packed tonight for the Artists for Peace and Justice Awareness Bash…and Demi Moore is likely to be there.

I’ll be doing a photo gig there next month, so I’m looking forward to that but for now, where else in the city can we spot the celebs?

Sassafraz? Bistro 990? Rosewater Supper Club? One? Lobby?

They’ll most likely be heading to the snootiest places in town and least likely the most flavourful venue s…but stars don’t really eat, do they?

Photo from last year’s TIFF by Photohogger.

Elephant & Castle

Location:

212 King Street West, Toronto

Cost: $50 with tip

www.elephantcastle.com

As far as pub food in the city goes…this place has got to have the blurst (read: worst).

It’s got a great atmosphere for after work or late night drinks, but I’ve got to say the food is absolutely mediocre.

So, the mahi sandwich with fries was just okay…which is not saying much.   

It certainly was better than the chicken skewers, which were…disssssguuuust. 

Unless you like your chicken pinkish….

The bruschetta was alright.

And the fish fritters with chips (crisps) was sub-par.

Thank Guinness for beer!  I’m happy my half pint of Guinness was so generous…I needed it!

Quesada’s

Location:
234 Wellington Street West, Toronto

Cost: $8-15

www.quesada.ca

My friend who’d just moved to Toronto from Calgary treated me for lunch at this place; I’d heard many good things about the food, so I was excited to try it out.

Let me first say though, that I have yet to find a really tasty burrito. Burrito Boyz failed to impress. After three tries and various combinations, it still hasn’t wowed. I’m still wondering what the fuss is about. But I digress.

Back to Quesadas…

A narrow space on the corner of  Wellington and John which outlines their ordering procedure on the far end of the wall prior to the assembly of burritos.

I ordered a small spicy chipotle chicken (hot) ($5.35) which claimed to be “tender chicken marinated in our own spicy chipotle heat”.  I must confide…there was no heat in this whatsoever.

The hot sauce helped some…but  I still wanted the flavour to come from within the burrito.  Is that too much to ask?  Thank goodness for sauces!

My friend ordred the Chile-lime shrimp, “burrito in the buff” which is the burrito minus the tortilla.  AKA, a salad.

And a Tango Mango Odwalla drink:

Fully packed during lunch, the burritos must be impressing some people.  My quest for a tasty burrito however, continues…

By The Way Cafe Round 2

Location:

400 Blor St West, Toronto

Cost: Approx $20

www.bythewaycafe.com

Recently went to BTWC again for a friend’s birthday brunch gathering.

The french toast stuffed with apples and brie sat very well with the birthday girl.

(I ordinarily flock towards french toast, but can’t do brie and didn’t feel like regular french toast that day – *gasp* I know).

Instead, I ordered the omelette with chorizo, jalapenos and onions (minus the cheddar). I still can’t believe it comes with a Montreal bagel, too!

I was really glad for the spicy chorizo and jalepenos in the omelette ’cause otherwise it was lacking a bit of something…some herbs? Thyme? Oregano? The other girls who ordered omelettes said the same of their omelettes..that it was missing a little somethin’.

My friend ordered the burrito…which was quite good although again, needed a little hot sauce in my humble opinion.

My veg friend who couldn’t eat eggs that day was at a loss of what to order that didn’t have eggs in it…waffles would have been a better choice than the baba ganough that she ordered with pita. As an appetizer shared between..many…it would have been great, but as a meal for one it faired well below average and the eggplant tasted a bit burnt or if you’d rather, overly smoked. A definite disappointment.

Something a little more veg friendly for breakfast instead of salad and other more lunchy-type options would be better. Possibly the waffles are the only thing that qualified in this case.

The OJ, on the other hand, was splendid.

And the cheesecake seemed to be a hit amongst the others.

Looks like the baba ganough isn’t deflecting the customers at all; BTWC is a much happening place…with a constant stream of patrons flowing in and out. With their lovely, sunny patio and friendly service, it surely is a nice brunch spot in the Annex.

By the Way Cafe

I’m sorry, but this place is just begging for a text message review.

Something like this perhaps?

~

Loc:

400 Blor St W, TO

BTW, i wn 2 dis plc on Blr St W 4 brnch 1 Sat morn aftr yoga cls & ws plsntly surpsd by da cozy atmsphr & frndly srvic. Da scrmbld egs totly hit da spot.

but OMG u guyz Twngns Erl Gry rely sux!

~

Going to BTWC again this Saturday for a friend’s birthday breakfast…will post more on that soon.

Grazie Ristorante

Location:

2373 Yonge Street, Toronto

www.grazie.ca

Went to Grazie recently for a friend’s birthday dinner.  The place was packed and as is the case with a lot of restaurants in the city, they don’t seat you unless your whole party has arrived, and they don’t take reservations.  

We ended up waiting I think a little over a half hour but let me tell you, it was fully worth it.  And, I’m not even going to try to remember each dish….they were all too good to be true, so instead, here are the pictures…

 

 

The food is incredible!  Large portions and such intriguing flavour combinations.  I’m so glad I was with a bunch of dear ones who like to share ’cause it was really nice to try everything.

Thank you, indeed!

Mistaan Catering and Sweets

Location:

460 McNicoll Ave, Toronto

Simply the Best. Samosas. Ever.

As Miranda Priestly would say,

That’s all.

Nando’s

Locations:

939 Eglinton Ave E
Toronto, ON

815 Britannia Rd W
Mississauga, ON

Growing up in Africa, I remember eating Nando’s chicken and absolutely loving it, so when I first discovered a Nando’s in the east end of the city, I was thrilled about the prospect of once again tasting the flame-grilled Peri Peri saucy chicken. Now this was pre-Foodhogger but I recall it not being as tasty as my memory had me believe…I walked away disappointed a little.

Then recently, I found a Nando’s in Mississauga and those same childhood memories came flooding back; I just had to try it again. This time it did not disappoint…there was heat, there was flavour and there was plenty to go around.

The spicy fries were mighty deeelush.

The rice was nowhere near as good as it was back in my childhood days.

And there’s definitely nothing spectacular about the salad…definitely could have done without it entirely!

But it’s possibly the sauces that make Nando’s Nando’s. The sauces! First the garlic…

And then the all-important hot sauce…

The chicken was great…and we’d ordered some skewers as well…

We got a hot and a medium spiced chicken, but either they’d gotten mixed up or it was all very hot (although not hot enough for some).

All in all; satisfying and a fair recreation of my fond memories….I suppose the only thing missing was the African scenery…

ki

Location:
181 Bay, Toronto, ON

www.kijapanese.com

**Updated with pics**

181 Bay, Toronto, ON

Went to Ki for a friend’s surprise 30th birthday party.

Everything was paid for…the drinks, the appetizers and the cake! The sushi, the popcorn shrimp, the chicken wings…everything was absolutely delicious! You know I’m not a sushi connoisseur by any means but I tried everything and it tasted goooooood (and we’d already had dinner at Mercatto earlier!).

With it’s gorgeous interior, it makes a nice date place…romantic with flattering lighting, haha.

Fusaro’s Kitchen

Location:

147 Spadina Avenue, Toronto

Cost: $10-15 for lunch

www.fusaros.com

This is a long overdue post; I guess because it’s such a frequented lunch spot for me that I simply thought I was having a home-cooked meal at times!

If you don’t get there by 11:45am at the latest, be prepared to wait in a long line up that runs out the door!

The pre-made pizzas, sandwiches, quiches etc are all very good – a pizza slice will only set you back a few dollars and is way better than Mama’s Pizza. I really like the croissant with chicken, olives and feta (a bit o’ cheese never hurt anyone)…although it’s a tad salty.

The panini’s and pastas are made to order and add $2 for a side salad…

Their daily specials are listed on the fairly new blackboard on the side (Fusaro’s has undergone some interior design changes in the last couple of years – going from orange walls with black and white photography to plain blue walls with the menus on blackboards – for a more minimalist look or realistically, more spatially accommodating for the sheer volume of the lunchtime crowd.

I’ve had many a pasta dish here and I have never had a bad experience.

I have heard from my yoga instructor however, that she gained weight eating the salads here (So, note to self, and to you reader). It’s all that dressing – which they actually do put a bit too much of .

I even hosted a birthday brunch here a few years ago (the Evite was aptly titled: “Let’s get some f*****ckiin freeeeeench toast” a la 40 year old Virgin).

Someone else got the calabrese, like so:

Salmon & eggs:

Eggs florentin:

Not a lot of people know about the brunch on Saturday, but it’s lovely and not at all like the cafeteria-style-lunch-time atmosphere. The food, on the other hand, is just as good

Pizza Girls

Location:

114 S Clematis St
West Palm Beach, FL

www.pizzagirls.com

Probably the best. pizza. I’ve ever had.

We craved this pizza, not days later, but hours later…..honestly. Go.

Aji Sai

Location:

467 Queen St. W, Toronto

It seems Queen street is constantly reinventing itself…new restaurants…new condos….new yoga studios. There are the staples: Gandhi’s, New York Sub, Subway and then the newbies: Leslieville Cheese Market and the maybe not so new anymore, Aji Sai Japanese restaurant.

These were the sorts of dishes we shared around…

I’ve been to Aji Sai twice now, and both times were hits…it’s a great work lunch spot especially if you’re one to share.

Product: Mo’s Bacon Bar

Cost:  $10  (Thanks go out to A.L for telling me about this chocolate bar and buying it for all of us to try!)

Everyone who knows me knows I love bacon.

I feast on the stuff at all-inclusive-vacation-buffets and am known to add it as a side to my french toast if it doesn’t already come with someone else’s breakfast (when that someone else doesn’t eat bacon).

So bacon chocolate, you say?

Why, it’s ultimately a chocolate bar with bacon bits.

Salty (a bit too much so) and sweet.

And strange.

I’m still undecided as to whether I liked it or not.  I’m certain I would not eat it all the time like my mint Aero, or even buy a whole bar for myself…but sharing and in small doses, it’s like an other-worldly-Willy-Wonka-esque chocolate bar that only your imaginary tastebuds could dream up.

I think the packaging could really use some work, too.  I guess the folks over at Vosges thought a greasy strip of bacon alongside a jaggedy-edged piece of chocolate with a few bacon bits tossed at the top left corner for good measure, would really sell the flavour of this unique bar.  And who the f*** is Mo?

Lola’s Commissary

Location:

634 Church Street, Toronto

Cost: Approx $25 pp

www.lolascommissary.com

I think seeing “sexy potatoes” on their online menu (although I think it’s actually “sexy sweet potatoes”  on the menu) is what sold us to eat here. That, and the recommendation from a friend at work whose paintings also hang in the restaurant
Our gaggling girlie troupe landed on the (beautiful) Lola patio for brunch this past Sunday and never before have we been able to so freely enjoy a brunch in such a large group (8).  Mil”dread”’s wouldn’t seat us, other brunch places don’t take brunch reservations but at Lola’s Commissary (open 6 weeks, now), it’s not a problem. 

We took a while perusing the unique menu and daily specials which were such a mix of dishes that we had to take another few minutes to decide. 

 In the meantime we got some drinks…

The service is friendly and accommodating. The food is fancy brunch fare (a tad pricey but tasty to boot) and gorgeously presented!

As usual I got the (straight up – challah bread dipped in egg custard) french toast due to my loctose-intolerancy and not being able to stomach the cheesecake french toast.  I also got a side of fresh fruit ($6) and a side of sexy potatoes to share around ($6).

The other items ordered were as follows.

Multigrain waffles with a side of berries, dense and filling…

The egg white frittata (goat cheese, mushrooms, spinach and hemp pesto)

 

Eggs Lola: poached eggs, ancho chicken, torillas, avocado, creme fraiche

Lobster and goat cheese omlette

Roasted trout with quinoa and tabouli

 Beef hash brunch feature

 

Therese DeGrace (executive chef) came out to greet us which was super. She’s wonderfully warm and took the time to chat with us, which was really pleasant and so uncommon in the city!

The interior of Lola’s is sort of industrial chic with brick, wood, high ceilings and tall windows. 

The paintings in the dining hall lend a certain mellow sweetness to the vibe with the upstairs catering to more of a loungey atmosphere with funky retro seats and laminated fantastical art on the walls.

Even the washrooms are spa-like and immaculate, with artwork adorning almost every surface (including a wall outside the restaurant).

The complimentary Nutella Cheesecake dessert was delish and perfect split eight ways.

Lola’s is a definite must-try in the Bay/Bloor area – the patio alone will make you want to spend your whole afternoon there. We certainly did! And unlike so many other places in the city, our patronage was welcome! We’re already planning our return!

Dimmi Bar & Trattoria

Location:

140 Cumberland St, Toronto

Cost:
$9-15 for a pizza

www.dimmibar.com

We walked around for about an hour before deciding on a place to have dinner. Somehow the places on Yonge St. (Green Mango, Friendly Thai) didn’t appeal to us and Craft Burger further North didn’t entice everyone. Finally, after checking the menus at Nervosa Trattoria and Hemingways, we decided that Dimmi’s had the best options (or maybe by then we were just really, really hungry).

(I didn’t want to lug my giant camera along all day, so these photographs are courtesy of my friend A.R.)

We ordered a couple of pizzas to share around: The Bruschetta ($9), the Funghi ($15)…and the Margherita ($11) to go. And my friends got the calamari ($12 which came with a side salad); they claimed it was tasty and filling (I refuse to eat calamari after a horrible – mostly exaggerated- life-changing experience).

The Bruschetta pizza was quite tasty and moist which was what was lacking in the Funghi mushroom pizza. The Margherita also tasted good (flavourful with the basil, which I love) on the drive home (I had to try a slice!).

Our service was attentive in a nice, non-intrusive way…perhaps the standard for Yorkville restos? All around a quaint little restaurant in Yorkville with, I’d say, reliably good food.

Thai Satay & More

Location:

187 Cross Avenue Oakville, ON

Cost: buffet $11.95

www.thaisatayandmore.com

“What’s the ‘more’ in Thai Satay and More?”

That’s the question I was asking on Sunday when we discovered that TS&M was one of the only few places open for dinner on a Sunday evening in the Ville. Stoney’s was closed.

The buffet at TS&M seemed quite scarce…so I asked whether the stainless steel containers would be refilled. The answer was yes, so we thought we’d give it a try since our options were limited anyhow.

My vegetarian friend pointed out that the restaurant was authentic because of the paintings of Thai royalty on the walls. She also wanted to order off the regular menu seeing as most of the items in the buffet had eggs in it. The owner (I believe) came up to us and told her that she could have the same items from the buffet made to order without eggs instead of her ordering from the menu. On the one hand, it seemed nice and personal of him to offer to cook the items sans eggs, yet on the other hand (and as my veg friend pointed out) it was perhaps a bit lazy of them to not want to cook anything off the menu.

I don’t think we could really taste the authenticity from the buffet – the mango salad was good – probably the most fresh tasting of the items. The eggplant that my veg friend received wasn’t terrible but at the same time lacked any real flavour. (As usual, I had to douse it in hot sauce). We were reminded of how good Flip, Toss & Thai is!

The pad thai in the buffet was stuck together in a dry heap and the little morsels of chicken dish I tasted (although peppery and good) did not get refilled until we were done eating (!).

The pad thai my veg friend got was better than the one in the buffet…

but by then we’d filled up on the scraps….like chicken wings, veg fried rice and spring rolls.

Overall, there was nothing really authentic about the whole dinner. And the dessert of fried bananas and fruit (if you can call one small square slice of cantaloupe – cut into four to share (!) and a few slices of oranges, fruit) did nothing for us.

As my other friend retorted as we left, perhaps the “more” in Thai Satay & More is the personal touch we were given although it certainly would be far better if there were “more” food in the buffet, instead.

I may give this place another try and order off the menu next time.

Zimbel’s Cafe

Location:

410 Adelaide Street West

In place of Mosaic, there now is Zimbel’s Cafe! It must be hard for them to get everyone’s attention being hidden away in such a quiet street as Adelaide especially with Timmy’s on the other corner and Le Gourmand and Starbucks dominating the Richmond/Spadina area. However, I think business will pick up ’cause they’re really good!

They’ve done a great job with the interior design – love the Eames furniture – and photography on the walls. They also are a catering company and cater all sorts of events from Weddings to Corporate Lunches to Film Sets and have been in the business since 1981.

(Above photo courtesy of Andrew Zimbel)

The teas are from Language of the Leaf and yummy (pricer than Le Gourmand though but it’s loose-leaf and Le G is known to mix up my Earl Grey with Earl Grey Green tea and not have the water hot enough sometimes).

The food is tasty at Zimbel’s, as well. From the muffins, croissants and the banana bread (with sunflower and cranberries = excellent!) to their lunch menu (I had the salad with grilled chicken once), it’s all very fresh and good.

And the service, although still novice, is getting there.

Great place to try out instead of your usual coffee/tea train destination!

***My friend who recently tasted the “knee buckling” brownie had this to say about it:

“To classify its deliciousness and sugar power, I’d say it was a spectacular punch to the back of the head, kapow!” – Mack Carruthers

PYO: Farmer’s Market

The Farmer’s Market on Thursdays is kind of fun…it’s a bit of the burbs in the city.

$.75 sunflower (from Andrews’ Scenic Acres), blueberries & strawberries (from Warner’s Farm, Beamsville – blueberries are not that sweet), corn AND an apple crumble (from ASA)…..

Getting home should be interesting.

Wanda’s Belgian Waffles

Location:

331 Yonge Street, Toronto

I love that this is called a cafe, yet there’s barely enough standing room for two! Meant to be more of a street vendor (order through the window) this little ‘cafe’ serves up the best waffles I’ve ever had from the street! Forget morning breakfasts and brunches, you can pick up a tasty hot waffle after a horrible dinner at Salad King and be totally content.

Run by a father and son team:

I’ve read some complaints about the sanitary conditions of the joint (not washing hands after taking money) but when we went and as you can see in the pics, gloves were worn throughout.

Sure it’s a bit messy and gooey if you order the ice-cream and strawberries on top, or if you wait a bit too long to eat it (like in our case but still damn tasty!):

I’d say it’s a marvellous way to grab a fun treat split between friends!

Charley’s Crab

Location:

456 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL

www.muer.com

Our first place to dine in PB was Charley’s Crab…a highly recommended restaurant along the beach.

Apart from the Guinness that was poured out of a bottle (egh)…

the sandwiches we ordered were amazing and I’m not a huge sandwich person! (We quickly realized that most of the lunch fare in PB was sandwiches and/or burgers.)

Our server suggested the Bistro Chicken Sandwich with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, field greens & balsamic vinaigrette, which looked like this:

and tasted great although it was a bit heavy on the goat cheese (for me, but then I don’t do cheeses well). The second sandwich, the Chili Dusted Ahi Sandwich – chargrilled with bacon & pepperjack cheese, and honey mustard aioli, served with French Fries and coleslaw was kick-ass!

Juicy and very filling!

We got it with green beans instead of fries, and I could have done without the slaw entirely. Still a very satisfying lunch for a day at the beach.

Hamburger Heaven

Location:

314 South Country Road, Palm Beach, Florida

Cost: $25 for two

Hamburger Heaven is a cute little diner in Palm Beach and one of two places suggested to us to get breakfast in the area – I’m sure there are more joints to grab freshly squeezed OJ, but HH was super close to our hotel and the beach which made it perfect.

We didn’t make it in time for breakfast the first day…missed it by more than a few hours (breakfast is served until 11am and we were there around 3!), but our lunch consisted of what we considered to be makeshift breakfast dishes…ie. quiche (eggs and spinach) and fruits!

It was gloooooooooorious!!!! Ta DA!

And we thought we’d try the special of the day – Blackened tilapia on salad….my oh my was it ever delush! SO glad we missed breakfast! It was the perfect 3pm meal!

We did make it in time for french toast and eggs the next day though! And they remembered us and sat us in the same booth – so sweet! The service was amazing, they didn’t make any fuss seating us in a booth even though there were just two of us and even though they had a lineup later for lunch with groups of four waiting. It just reminded me of horrible Mildred’s Temple Kitchen and their huge a** fuss of seating us!

We had freshly squeezed OJ (how could you not?). Omg you guys, soooo good!

The eggs, toast, side of potatoes and….bacon….

I always get french toast for breakfast…and these were tasty (I have to admit Testa’s was better, though especially with their serving of fruit on the top) but I was loving the giant Texas style toast.

The breakfast was all very good but I think it’s called hamburger heaven for a reason and we really wanted to come back for one of their burgers but they were closed on Sunday, our last day there! Oh well, next time for the hamburger! We ended up jokingly calling this place Hamburger Helper but it truly is a little taste of heaven.

Is David’s Tea overrated?

Is David’s Tea overrated?

I just had David’s “English Breakfast” tea from Dark Horse and (with milk added) it looked the way a half-drunk-cup-of-tea-filled-with-water looks like in the sink and it tasted like how you would imagine that half-drunk-cup-of-tea-filled-with-water in the sink would taste like.

Gross. Yeah.

Overrated, I think.

Julie & Julia

Saw this last night – fun chick and food flick!

Not enough Julia though…wanted more of Meryl’s Julia Child – what an incredible performance!

I’ve never tried cooking any of Julia Child’s recipes so the movie was a definite inspiration.  Is there such a thing as chicken bourguignon?

PYO: Berries!

Location:

9365 10th Sideroad, Milton/Halton Hills

www.andrewsscenicacres.com

So, this was my second time at Andrews’ Scenic Acres in Milton – the first was for pumpkin’ picking.

As we walked in (***update***no admission fee), we were told that there were strawberries and raspberries ready for picking – and were given two baskets – a larger one for the strawberries and we were told to hop on the berry bus which was just coming down the road.

So, we hopped on and were taken down a little way to the strawberry fields. Upon our descent I asked one of the three teenagers where the best place would be to start picking. She directed us to the far end of the fields and said we’d get some good strawberries there and for the raspberries to go equally as far behind a thicket of trees. So we set off with our baskets in hand. The farm was fairly crowded; full of people doing the same thing. We didn’t see too many berries but we plucked quite a few that we thought were decent.

We noticed that the strawberries weren’t that big and decided that what we’d gotten was enough and went on in search of the raspberries.

Near the raspberry bushes, we saw more strawberry fields and what’s this?? GIANT strawberries!!

Why, it seemed that girl sent us off in the wrong direction – perhaps to scatter the crowd? Boo. There were far better sized strawberries in this location. Too bad our basket was almost full! Nevertheless, we plucked some more and then went to check out the raspberries, which were plentiful towards the back of the raspberry rows.

We went through the aisles and finally discovered some really nice fat ones, ending up with a juicy basketful.

Then we hopped back on the berry bus which stopped to pick up some people in the blueberry fields – I didn’t know we could pick blueberries too, so we decided to get off the bus and look for some blueberries (my favourite!). The bus tried to take off while a family (the mom had a baby in her arms) was still climbing on board, which I thought was irresponsible, as did everyone else who shouted at the driver (just a young boy, again).

I had no idea blueberries were so gorgeous! Some didn’t look ready but we managed to find a nice batch that were. Yum!

After this, we jumped back on the berry bus and back to the farm.

We decided to check out the playground area as my 9 year old niece was with us and wanted to play, and then we decided to get something to eat at the food stand…a hot dog and a veggie burger.

Now, we were seated near the food stall, and close to the entrance and were just about to begin eating…I was literally starting to take a bite out of my hot dog, when this man came up to us and scolded us for not having paid for our berries first. I was like…huh?Wha?

He said we couldn’t just buy food and eat before paying for the berries! I was absolutely dumbfounded, “Excuse me?” I said. To which he replied that once we got off the bus we were to pay for the berries immediately and that’s what they tell you on the bus when you get off. At this point I started to get annoyed by his tone and accusation of what, stealing the berries? I told him that we were going to obviously pay for the berries and were not aware that we had to pay for them before doing anything else on the farm and that nobody on the berry bus (or at the entrance, for that matter!) bothered to mention this and that I could go in and pay right then and there! At this, maybe feeling bad for accusing us of stealing, he half-heartedly said we could finish eating first. I decided it would be best to pay and get that done, so I started to head to the barn to pay, and saw him following me. Honestly? I turned to him and told him that I thought he’d been quite rude and that he shouldn’t have assumed that we were stealing the berries because we had really been having a nice time at the farm enjoying the warm weather and he’d completely ruined the experience for us.

Once inside (and once I paid – $28 for all three baskets) I asked to speak to the owner of the farm and this young man turned up. I told him what had happened and he apologized and said that the older man who had yelled at us was in fact the owner and that was how he was. I told him how unfortunate it was for him to have dealt with the situation the way he had as it had really brought a damper to the day.

Once outside with my baskets (the handles now stamped with smiley faces on them indicating that they were paid for) I went back to my hot dog!

I was trying to get a bite of the damn thing when the older man showed up again! I think he must have either spoken to (his son?) the young man inside and realized how rude he’d been ’cause he started apologizing for his behaviour and saying that people often visit the farm and steal the berries and leave the baskets lying around. I told him that I understood but he should rather execute a better system of paying for the berries or employ more people to guide the visitors instead of going around accusing honest citizens of theft.

He agreed with me and apologized again and said that other farms had more people and that he should perhaps do the same. I reminded him that nobody on his berry bus had mentioned anything about this nor had they said anything at the entrance, so he should really make changes to that system if he wanted people to comply.

He did offer to give me a fresh hot dog but at that point I just wanted to eat the one I had (it was about 3pm by this time and I still hadn’t eaten!). Still, I thanked him and told him that this wasn’t our first time on his farm and that we loved coming to it and that I totally understood where he was coming from, and so there were no hard feelings.

We left it at that, and then my niece did the pony ride that was offered there and we left.

I’m not sure how many people know of the payment policy, but there you go, now you know and do comply with the rules unless you want to be told off in front of everyone for just trying to have some lunch at Andrews’ Scenic Acres!

Pearl

Location:

207 Queens Quay West, Toronto

Cost: $50 for two

www.pearlharbourfront.ca

Unfortunately I don’t have any pics of this experience…I did take one shot with my phone but that didn’t do any good without a macro setting.

So, we were looking for a place to dine that wasn’t pub fare and remembered this Chinese restaurant in the area that we’d never tried.

We were seated at a nice table with a lovely lake view but our server was a tad impatient while taking our order. We really wanted to try the crispy potato nest dishes (either chicken or shrimp) but were told that they weren’t anything special, and so we asked him which dishes he recommended. As you know, I like spice, so his suggestions were the chicken in a homemade hot n sour sauce ($15.50) and the Country Style E-Mein (soft) noodles with chicken, shrimp, scallops and veggies ($16.50). This sounded good to us and we also wanted the chicken won ton soup ($5.25). We almost got the grouper as well but our server said it would be a lot of food.

At this point, with the nice view (what you’re really paying for) and the fancy dishes on the menu (and fancy prices!) we were really expecting something…fancy.

[And maybe there's something that we missed out on here but we did ask about the best items on the menu, so it should have been great.]

So, the soup was pretty good (although the mushrooms tasted canned) but then, I found a stone in my soup. When we (discreetly) told our server about it he said we should have told him before eating the soup. I guess he’s right, if only stones floated! Too bad I had bitten into it on my last spoonful which scooped it from the bottom of the bowl! He was not happy with us! But nor were we.

I must say the noodles were really tasty although they were also really greasy (ring-around-the-mouth-grease) and the chicken dish we got lacked flavour (supposedly the best chicken dish on the menu). We used up all the hot sauce in our little serving dish.

They did take the soup off of our bill so that was nice I suppose, but otherwise I didn’t think it was worth it for greasy chinese food. The portions weren’t that significant either, but maybe that was the point. Certainly a disappointment for dinner, although not sure how well it fares for its dim sum lunches, which I’ve read is good.

Ichiban Sushi

Location:

262 Queens Quay West, Toronto

www.ichibansushi.com

When we lived in the city, one of the closest sushi restaurants to us was Ichiban Sushi; we were constantly ordering in from there (or dining in).

For reliably standard sushi, Ichiban doesn’t go wrong.

Truscott Italian Bakery and Deli

Location:

2425 Truscott Dr, Mississauga ON

I’m sure you will agree, there’s nothing quite like freshly baked bread; the smell, the taste, the warmth, it’s all so very good! 

I definitely heart bakeries. When I was growing up there was a lovely little bakery called Hot n’ Crusty where the breads were baked fresh every morning; it was always such a treat to go there.

Recently we discovered Truscott Italian Bakery & Deli – a quaint little bakery right in the middle of a parking lot on the border of Oakville/Mississauga. It’s been there only eight years yet it appears as though the parking lot was built around it.

I imagine though, that the past eight years have been enormously successful judging from the steady stream of customers at 8 in the morning! 

The cappuccino on the patio sounded like a great idea!

The breads! Rows of crusty, floured, multigrained loaves.  I wanted to try them all…and in due time I will, but to begin….we got some fresh buns, croissants, and this:

Spacatelli….which I’ve never had before, but which was undeniably fresh (and still warm!!!).

The trays of muffins, pies, cookies and pastries were astounding!

 

I’ve yet to try their hot-table items, but I got their mini cakes/tarts for a tea party recently and they not only looked pretty they were pretty delectable, too.

Then there’s their deli meat counter which boasts a variety of European meats, the huge selection of pastas (I recently purchased some corn pasta [gluten free] and added to it the all natural Mediterranean Garden’s “fiery hot arrabiata” pasta sauce, which was fantastic), fancy imported drinks (lemonades and juices), farmed fresh eggs, and of course a massive collection of olives and olive oils!  Heaven!

With our morning breakfast made complete with the addition of a divine ”elephant ear” – stuffed full of chocolate – we were ready to start the weekend!

I’m sure many start their weekends this way and I for one can’t wait to do it again!

Product: Ricepod Wasabi Mix

From: Fresh & Wild

Location:

69 Spadina Avenue (King & Spadina)

Cost: $2.99

My friend just offered me some of this. 

It says it’s ’spicy’ on the package but I know spicy; I laugh in the face of spicy. Bwhahaa.

I had two that were stuck together and my head just exploded. 

It’s raeally hared to teaype with brain awell ovwer teh kyewbaord.

Salad King

For this review of Salad King, I’ve invited one part of the wonderful couple (and fellow bloggers) I dined with at SK, to contribute her take on this restaurant which will be up soon.

~~

A couple of the neon lights in the “Salad King” sign were out when we went – so it read “SAD KING” …which is absolutely APT for this dump of a restaurant that 275 of you on Urbanspoon claim is the best Thai resto in Toronto.

Are you kidding me?  Where else are you people eating that this has become the place to go for Thai??!

To start, we ordered the Papaya Salad (which boasted “dried shrimps”…the salad that came to our table had non-existent dried shrimp (must have been so dry that it shriveled away?) and a garnish that had black spots on it.  Good start, right?

Our “medium” heat Shrimp Delight ($8.95 – Shrimps, bell peppers, onions, yellow bean sauce, chilli sauce, lime juice, steamed rice) arrived with neither heat NOR shrimp (nor delight for that matter!) and plenty of accompanying liquid “spicy” water. We weren’t aware we’d ordered soups?

The Spicy Fish dish ($8.95 – Red cod fillet, lime leaf, carrots, onions, bell peppers chilli, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, steamed rice) came with hardly any fish although what was there certainly was still swimming..in a pool of oily liquid!

And the Evil Jungle Prince ($6.75 – Egg plant, baby corn, peas, carrots, onions, chilli sauce, lemon grass, bamboo shoots and steam rice) which was supposed to contain eggplant and veggies came with one tiny piece of eggplant, plenty of frozen peas and a generous portion of WATER!

How disgusting.

I asked the server whether the dishes were always that watery – to which she replied ‘yes that’s how they are made’.  I told her it was a disappointing meal to which she shrugged and moved along to serve the next table of assembly line patrons.

Salad King will forever be SAD KING to me – it’s the worst thai food I’ve ever had and I’m really sorry that so many of you think that that’s what Thai is supposed to taste like!  I’d really love to see where else the 275 of you are eating and stay the hell away from those places!

Foodhoggering

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Craft Burger

Location:

573 King Street West, Toronto (this review)

Other location:

830 Yonge Street, Toronto

Cost: $10 burger combo (includes can of pop or water & fries or onion rings)

www.craftburger.com

It used to be El Penco. *Sniff sniff* how I loved El Penco…the chimichangas were so cheap and so good. And the sandwiches were always made with love.

Craft Burger’s burgers are made with…hands.

As much as I still do miss El Penco, I have to say Craft Burger is sloooowly winning me over. I still dislike the interior cramped-ness; eating in makes me feel claustophobic (somehow it always looked way bigger when it was El Penco..*sigh*).

Oh, I’m also not a fan of the fries; do they have sweet potato fries?

The Classic Burger is $5.65 or you can do the combo for $10 and get a can of pop or water and fries or onion rings. I’ve yet to try anything BUT the classic burger though…old habits die hard (I’ve only been to CB twice). I hear the cookies are some of the best in the city?! Is this true? Somebody tell me. I also hear the veg burger is amazing….again, will have to test out this theory…someday only though ’cause lookit how delish this is:

It’s a tasty burger. I wouldn’t say it’s the BEST burger in town ’cause I wouldn’t know. You’d have to tell me which is the best. Down the street at Banknote you can get a pretty decent burger combo that’s mighty good, too.

But how about the size of the onion rings:

At those sizes, I think there were only a couple of onion rings in the bag.

So is it open late for dinner? (A friend of mine responded with: “Then it should be called Craft Dinner”…haha, she is so witty, that one.) And the answer is yes, they’re open till 10pm (Mon-Thurs) 11pm (Fri-Sat) and 9pm (Sun) and it’s much tastier than Kraft Dinner (some may disagree).

David’s Tea

Location:

336 Queen Street W, Toronto

Cost: $6.50 for 50g

www.davidstea.com

Beside the well-known Rivoli on Queen St. there is a sliver of a store that looks like it could be an urban bubble tea cafe. It’s urban alright, but not bubble tea. The place is called David’s Tea and it boasts over 100 varieties of loose-leaf teas.

The first time I walked in, I wasn’t greeted by any of the upbeat staff which surprised (and offended) me, although I must admit I sort of liked perusing the shelves of tea cups and pots and eyeing the wall of stainless steel tea canisters labelled ‘pu’er’, ‘earl grey’, ‘rooibos’ without being harrassed.

The next time I went in admittedly intrigued by the tea offerings and expensive fancy tea pots, I was offered a little ceramic shot glass filled with a peach-something-or-other tea. A tiny droplet hung off the side of the cup, which I scooped up and tasted fully expecting some pleasant orchard peach flavour. Instead, I received the bitter taste of dishwashing detergent! It wasn’t a taste the peach tea could wash away after either, that’s for sure. Once again I left with a bad taste in my mouth, this time, literally.

Then Spring came along and whilst on a break with some coworkers, we were greeted with a $2 special iced tea stand outside the store. We decided to try the almond spring tea (black tea, almond oil, toasted almonds, rooibos, chocolate, caramel, vanilla and coconut). This time, I luckily didn’t come close to tasting any utensil cleaning substances, but found that it was a tad too vanilla-y and and also a bit bitter. It needed loads of cane sugar to sweeten it up for me.

Then one day, I finally bought some loose-leaf tea: Earl Grey, Zing Me Tea and Kiss my Lips. The Earl Grey is good – perhaps not as strong as I’d like, but it’s reliable. The Zing Me (chinese black tea with ginger bits and lush pieces of peach and apricot) is just fantastic! It claims to induce “an instant feeling of well-being” and I have to say that it truly does! Must be the peaches or the ginger. I’ve yet to try Kiss my Lips (chinese black tea, vanilla, peppermint, chocolate bits and spicy red peppercorns) but I loved the minty chocolately smell. In fact it looks like potpourri so I’d probably be just as happy putting it in a bowl and air-freshening my work space. **update** The Kiss my Lips was a definite dud. Overly strong minty smell and aftertaste with a muddied hint of chocolate. Definitely not recommended. I’d much rather bite into an Aero mint chocolate bar.

I’ve also been fascinated by the tea pots at David’s Tea, especially the Brewt which I’ve seen at work firsthand and find completely marvelous, but most of them range from $25 – $75 and $179 for the svelte Eva Solo Tea Maker (!).

I also feel $6.50 is a bit much for only 50g of tea, and if I had more tea experience I’d be better able to voice an opinion, but it does seem to be a popular choice in the area (even coffee houses such as Dark Horse Espresso has started serving it).

Dark Horse Espresso Bar

Location:

215 Spadina Ave., Toronto

Cost: $3.50

I have coffee breath.

That said, a coffee junkie, I am not. Rather, I am content hanging out with the Earl. Earl Grey. In fact, I feel as though it must have been me who single handedly finished all the tea bags at Le Gourmand ’cause they were all out last week.

So, when it comes to coffee, I am a novice. I am familar with…let’s see…..Nescafe…Maxwell House…Bru. Give me a ‘French press’ and I know not what is required of me. Until today, that is.

Dark Horse Espresso Bar really IS an espresso bar. Hardly a tea on the menu. There was English Breakfast and a ‘mystery’ tea (the friendly cashier explained that it was fruity) but right then I didn’t care to explore that unknown territory. Instead, I felt drawn to explore even lesser known territory (for me) and chose the featured coffee on the menu, which was Ethiopian, French pressed.

If you’re a coffee drinker, this will all sound awfully tiresome to you but the process of waiting 3 min and then plunging the press was all new to me.

We were told that the Ethiopian coffee would be best tried on its own, without milk or cream, at first, to really appreciate it’s sweet flavour. I did, and instantly needed large doses of sugar and lactose-free milk. Then it really was sweet.

It was nice to sit back in the lounge upstairs and gaze upon the many locals who had set up camp (with laptops) at the two large communal wooden tables.

Each of them working furiously away with French presses, large mugs and little plates of delectable treats beside them.

It’s only been open for a few weeks, but already DHEB has become a welcome, local hang-out for the espresso addicts in the neighbourhood.

I’ll be back there soon myself. Afterall, an unsolved mystery awaits.

** Update ** Went there again last Friday, and they had a wider selection of TEAS (INCLUDING Earl Grey!) -  the teas are loose-leaf,  from David’s Tea (on Queen) and generally good.  The EG wasn’t the best, but it was nice to have it come in a french press.

Product: Godiva Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

Godiva Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

€ 6.25 ($10-12 CAD)

www.godiva.be

Nutella what?

My BIL brought us this incredible Godiva Hazelnut Chocolate Spread from Portugal….it’s am.az.ing. I’m currently munching on a slice of toast slathered with the stuff (and a bit of mango jam!) and it’s sinfully divine.

Perfect on toast or on crepes (with some wonderful Niagara ice wine jam our dear friends A&P gifted us with recently)!

I haven’t seen this available in Toronto anywhere – maybe try Whole Foods or some European gourmet shop, but otherwise you can shop online at the Godiva store and treat yourself to this smooth and exquisite delicacy.

Frugal Fare #3: Back Alley Woodfire BBQ & Grill

Location:
188 Augusta Avenue, Toronto (Kensington Market)

Cost: Lunch specials (Mon – Fri only) $5.99 -8.99

Beside Back Alley Woodfire BBQ & Grill is a fancy place called Amadeus; you can’t tell from the exterior but inside, the cream-coloured walls, dark wood and cloth napkins don’t exactly call out “lunch specials!” and certainly not “lunch specials under $10!!”. No.

We felt like Portuguese food, but not $25 Portuguese seafood. For dinner maybe but not for a hurried lunch date. And where the chicken at? Next door, apparently. So, Back Alley it was to be.

The rustic interior and giant woodfire ovens made for a cosy atmosphere and the wallet-friendly menu wasn’t too shabby, either. The lunch specials are a good deal – which makes this #3 in Foodhogger’s Frugal Fare in the city.

We got the quarter chicken breast and the shrimps in a herbed lemon sauce…each including a salad, which was fairly good and arrived promptly to the table.

Granted the portions aren’t massive, and the sides a bit bland – especially the rice with gravy drizzled over it, but there were 5 jumbo shrimps (in the shell) which weren’t altogether terrible.

The chicken breast looked a tad mightier in size, but a bit fatty for my liking and lacking in any true flavour.

Not an entirely satisfying meal – I think I really really wanted some hearty Portuguese BBQ instead, like churrasqueira-style chicken from Bairrada Churrasqueira Grill on College St….mmm..yummeh – but it’s probably our own fault for not ordering something that would benefit better from a smouldering wood oven. Something like ribs?

Definitely worth another try.

Frugal Fare #2: Mini Bar

Location:

116 Spadina Ave., Toronto

Cost: $1-6

Mini Bar is #2 in Foodhogger’s Frugal Fare in the city!

It may be mini, (literally a hole in the wall on Spadina, south of Camden on the West side) but Rachel & Susan (pictured) are doing a splendid job serving fresh sandwiches ($3), sushi ($5.75), edamame ($1.50), miso soup ($0.95), tea, coffee, juice, bagels, fruits, candy and more from the depths of this tiny shoppe.

The two ladies are wonderfully warm and friendly and speedy!

Their straight-forward menu:

 My tuna sandwich for $3.50; delicious & home-made tasting:

Mini Bar’s fantastic, but don’t go, ’cause it’s a hidden gem in the city and we want it all to ourselves!

Motimahal

Location:

1422 Gerrard St East, Toronto (Gerrard St. or Little India)

Cost: $10-15

The Indian McDonalds, we call it.   Much like the famous golden arches the red  Motimahal signage is iconic to Gerrard street.

(Top photo via Flickr: Andrew Alexander)

It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Little India and definitely one of the best, if not the best. The consistent food and familiar tacky interior makes Motimahal a reliable (and recognizable location in Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood/Hollywood) and  satisfying place to dine in the East end.

The cafeteria-like “diner” setting, with slanted laminate seats, red tables and ceramic tiled walls (with only recent update of painted red swirls and circles) is all part of the charm.  As is the plastic trays, cutlery and  styrofoam cups filled with water from steel jugs.

Also, your urge to wipe the table or seats down with paper towels is entirely normal.   As is suppressing the urge to pee so as not to visit the washrooms downstairs (which are, actually, not that bad).  This place is not for everyone…and yet, everyone seems to come here.  There is always a steady stream of customers chowing down on veg thalis (the best in the city), masala dosas, tandoori chicken and naan (my favourite), chaats, samosas, butter chicken (incredible),  just to name a few.  There is also a colourful array of indian sweets for you to choose from.

My favourite dish is the tandoori chicken with naan; ask anyone – this is what I will, 90% of the time order from Motimahal.  This time I went with the tandoori WINGS (it was 3pm and this was our ’snack’ time between shopping).

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned how much I dislike cilantro, but I do.  It’s more the smell of FRESH cilantro that makes me nauseous.  However, for some reason, and this baffles my loved ones (and me),  I do like a good bit of cilantro chutney – the kind that comes with tandoori chicken and that little side of carrots and onions – it’s just so tasty (with tandoori chicken and that little side of carrots and onions).

My sister’s love for chaat is like my love for tandoori chicken.   Whenever she visits; there’s nothing like a good bite of chaat (mixture of potato cubes, crispy fried bread and chickpeas, garnished with onion, coriander, hot spices, topped with yogurt).

It’s very simple…if you’re looking for a place to eat in Little India, look no further than Motimahal (or Udupi for South Indian cuisine but I’ll save that for another post).

New Timmy’s!

Blue Mountain Bistro has shut-down and a shiny new Timmy’s HAS OPENED TODAY in its place!

It’s got a great corner; north-east of Spadina/Adelaide.

BRB, gotta go get me some timbits.

Astoria Shish Kebob House

Location:

390 Danforth Avenue, Toronto

www.astoriashishkebobhouse.com

I trust you’ve already heard of my love affair with Greek food. I simply adore it.

And at Astoria, there’s so much more to love. The portions are gigantic!

This particular day, we were out on the patio; which is always packed in the summer months (I’m SO looking forward to that, aren’t you?) and the sun was shining and the beers were cold.

We had the “Astoria’s Appetizer Platter”, which consisted of deep fried calamari, dolmades (grapevine leaves stuffed with rice, herbs and spices) spanakopita (spinach & feta cheese pastry) and two homemade dips (we chose hummus and tzatziki, I believe).

[I had an awful experience with calamari once which involved: barely cooked calamari + some form of sausage + smoky lounge (back when smoking was allowed indoors) + car-sickness = a lovely bout of  vomiting ]

Now then, if you’re not completely revolted, let’s continue…

Calamari, when breaded and deep fried like this, is quite alright….I think.

I think part of ordering chicken souvlaki is knowing that those potatoes will also be there. Happy potatoes.

Oh souvlaki, how I love thee.

Funnily enough though, three out of the four of us had some…er… “discomfort in the digestive tract”, after our meal at Astoria (I had the chicken, one had pork and the other lamb).  It’s never happened before, but it’s true.  Unless…

Dear calamari, I think it’s best we part ways.

The Jason George

Location:

100 Front Street East, Toronto

I’ve been to the Jason George twice. Both times I had the fish n’ chips. Hey, why change a good thing?

It’s crispy, flaky, tender, tasty. And the yam frites are scrumptious.

Whether indoors or out, the ambiance is fun and friendly.

A great local pub.

Watermark Irish Pub & Restaurant

Location:

207 Queen’s Quay West, Toronto

www.watermarkirishpub.ca

Surprise, surprise. The Boathouse Grill is now CLOSED (thanks to Qinn & Glenn for the update)! Aren’t we lucky that its replacement is the Watermark Irish Pub & Restaurant; docking along the Harbourfront very soon.

We love other Fab Concepts pubs, such as Murphy’s Law, Pour House & Foggy Dew so I’m sure Watermark will hit…the..er…mark.

Grand opening Party is on May 20th!

Can’t wait to try it. (Mmm…Guinness).

Boathouse Grill

Location:

207 Queens Quay W, Toronto

Cost: $10-15 per entree

Take a look at their menu on the site, here:

www.boathousegrill.sites.toronto.com

Now…

Yes, the food tastes as bad as it looks on the menu.

Let’s see, where should we start? Perhaps with the veggie burger?

Vegetarian Burger – soy based vegetarian patty made from our special recipe (which one would that be, the especially gross one?) and topped with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and feta cheese 9.99

Pardon me, but are those slimy, slug-like onions, caramelized? AAH, I see! And the giant-ass dollop of feta cheese? Was that to mask the fact that this is ultimiately a giant, rugged piece of leather?

Wait, how about that Caesar salad…

BoatHouse Chicken Caesar – crisp Romaine lettuce and garlic seasoned croutons tossed in our house caesar dressing, topped with grilled shaved breast of chicken 11.99

The word ’seasoned’ was a typo, I’m sure? Or meant to be taken very lightly? Or did you mean perhaps the winter season…very stark, bland….cold?

Let’s move on to the pizza then.

Tucson Pizza – Grilled breast of chicken, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, seasoned tomatoes and goat cheese 12.99

Oh lovely, managed to get “caramelized” and “seasoned” altogether in one sentence, eh?

And that, um, bottle of seasoning…must have been all out, hmm? Or perhaps used up on the wings??

Chicken Wings – “Plump chicken wings, tossed in seasoned flour and fried to golden perfection. Served with your choice of hot, medium, mild or honey garlic sauce. 1lb – 12.99. 2lbs – 19.99

‘Fraid not! Again the word “seasoned” used so carelessly to describe what is probably a mixture of flour and what, salt? Let’s take another look at those carrots, too, shall we?

Please sir, may I have some more? Nay, me thinks even Oliver Twist shan’t have wanted more.

Beware, Boathouse Grill is an absolute dud of a restaurant. It’s good for a view of the lake, but that can just as easily be taken in with a simple sit-down on the boardwalk with a Timmy’s drink & donut. THAT is much more satisfying, I assure you.

Peter Pan Bistro

Location:

373 Queen Street West, Toronto

Cost: $10 per entree

www.peterpanbistro.com

A landmark on Queen St. West since 1921 (read the history here), Peter Pan Bistro has always been a prime lunch time spot, perhaps for it’s ambiance (spectacular tin ceiling) or delicious lunch dishes for under $10.

Whatever the case, how befitting it was to have a baby-shower gathering at a venue named Peter Pan.

I was more interested in the dessert menu than anything else that day.

Mmm…..Death by chocolate sounded like the way to go!

Very rich, very deadly. (I think I passed out about 1/2 an hour after eating this. )

Everyone else’s dishes looked fantastic (and from what I heard, tasted just as good!)

You can see the expectant Mom’s beautiful polka-dotted belly in the background of this shot, nicely contrasted by the pretty almond cheesecake and wildberry tea. Here’s a close-up of the almond cheesecake.

Lemon tart.

Warm beet salad, honey roasted pears, walnuts, goat cheese on mixed greens $9 – photo credit: Jen D.

Daily special – Omlette – photo credit: Jen D.

“Bistro Salad”, olive oil & rosemary cake, arugula, proscuitto & tomato, finished w/ a two minute egg, truffle oil and shaved parmagiano $10 – photo credit: Jen D.

With new condos springing up everywhere, Peter Pan Bistro, now in it’s 88th year at the corner of Peter and Queen, is practically a historic site, so go now! Go and enjoy it.

Flip, Toss & Thai Kitchen

Location:

141 Harbord St. (at Brunswick Ave.)

Cost: Approx $15 each for a soup & entree

www.fliptossthai.com

When I called to make reservations, the lady on the phone was so polite, hesitating only when I asked for a table for six, but then graciously took down my name and confirmed the reservation. Later, on my way there, a friend of mine called asking if she’d found the right place, as she was seeing only a counter with a few stools and a table with six chairs around it. I told her those six chairs were for us! I guess we were all surprised by the ambiance; which is minimalist to the max (read: no washrooms); only a few seats, an order counter, a cola box and a blackboard with most of the menu listed.

[It's ironic that we dined there during Earth Hour; it may have been the only place with it's florescent light spilling out into the night...or at least as far across the street to the laundromat with it's own florescent sparkle].

Still, whatever the ambiance lacks in at FT&T, the cuisine more than makes up for and we can thank former Salad King chef, Suzchen Sun, for that.
There’s the same chili scale system that Salad King has, but the service and flavours are authentic to FT&T.

= ½ chili

½ chili = ¹/₆ tbsp chilies
1 chili = ¹/₃ tbsp chilies
3 chili = 1 tbsp chilies
And so on

Our host, Wei was extremely patient with us, addressing our vegetarian needs with helpful alternatives and suggestions. The reason we picked this place, we told him, was because it’s #3 of the top 10 vegetarian places to eat in Toronto (according to Urbanspoon) and we’re so glad we did.

Here’s why:

Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup $3.89

We were also able to put in a special request for Hot and Sour VEG Soup for $3.65 (same price as the Chicken Coconut milk soup) which came with tofu instead of shrimp. ‘Twas indeed hot and sour! Most of us were coughing because of the heat, but the flavour was great and I was content having more than two shrimps in my soup! The only downside to the soup (for us) was biting into largish chunks of lemongrass and ginger(?); however, the surprise of it was only slightly and temporarily off-putting.

Basil Chicken $7.26, served with rice (and blurred in the background, Spicy Tofu $6.79 [served with rice])

I opted for the 3 chili (medium) heat – and didn’t find it too hot at all, but I’d ordered the Thai Basil Fried Rice $7.02, which wasn’t already spicy, like the Spicy Eggplant or Spicy Tofu.

Boy, was it ever tasty!! Best fried rice I have ever had…I normally wouldn’t have finished a whole plate of rice, but I gobbled this up and even considered ordering another to go!

Spicy Eggplant $7.04 (served with rice but opted for rice noodles). I only tasted this, but again, wow! I wish I’d ordered it!

Pad Thai $7.79. Wonderfully not ketchupy like the one at Spring Rolls.

Thai Bangkok Noodle $7.79. By this time I was too stuffed to try it – but I heard that my fried rice was better than this

At Flip, Toss & Thai Kitchen, the service is refreshingly friendly but it’s the food, my Goodness, the FOOD which is simply FANTASTIC! So fresh, so quick….as easy as a flip and a toss (har har). They also deliver and do take-out! What more could one ask for? It’s evident by the sheer quantity of customers that filtered through (for sit-in, take-out and pick-up) while we were there that this place is doing great!

I’ll certainly be back!

E-mail from Charlie

From : “charlie”

CHARLIE’S BURGERS
The Anti-Restaurant
www.charliesburgers.ca

The Anti-Restaurant is about the food experience first. It is not-for-profit, so the costs involved resume their proper place as something simply incidental to the event.

WHEN?
At random intervals.

WHERE?
At random locations.

WHO’S COOKING?
A Chef who CAN and still loves to – someone whose love of a kickass meal has not been dulled by soul-crushing food and beverage managers and bean counters – someone creative, innovative and fun. We’ve got a long list here in Toronto but more suggestions are welcome.

HOW MUCH?
Total cost of food divided by number of attendees – our goal is to keep it around $75 – $150 per person.

WINE?
Paired appropriately.

DRESS CODE?
No, but we don’t want your chest hair in the salad, got it?

WHO?
FOOD LOVERS. No screwing around. If you can’t/won’t eat certain things, this is probably not for you. Chef rules. This isn’t “Fear Factor” – but there will be meat, seafood, raw stuff, and occasionally something from outside the mainstream experience. Duh, that’s the point of the Anti-Restaurant.

HOW DO I GET IN?
Pay attention.

Email us back with your answers to the questions below. If you are for real, we put you on the potential invitee’s list

When an event is set up, we send out an e-vite, those who RSVP first get in, another small group will get stand-by status. You will be able to RSVP for you +1. If you want to get 15 of friends in, you can’t- they’ll have to go through the process… Just like your doing now…

We will email the chef’s name, the location and menu a week before the event – this is your chance to opt-out – your space goes to a stand-by, you do not choose who takes your place

IMPORTANT! NO-SHOWS will NOT be tolerated. If you can’t make it, contact us in advance so we can give it to a stand-by. Failure to show this sort of basic decency gets you on the blacklist – seriously, no more burgers for you.

Show up. Eat, drink, pay your share, go home and dream about the next one.

Q & A

Name (first and last) & email (again)& best number to reach you to reconfirm the day of the event

What is your occupation?

Where did you hear about us?

What are your 3 favourite restaurants in Toronto?

What would your last meal on earth be?

Anything else you want to tell us about yourself? Common don’t be shy…

If you know anyone who loves food and eating well please refer them to www.charliesburgers.ca

NOTE: Please check your junk mail folder as sometimes our correspondences get filtered out.

CB Team

Charlie’s Burgers

The anti-restaurant.

You may have read about this in the Toronto Star recently…it’s the place that’s ‘not’ a restaurant…but more a covert culinary mission, of sorts.

A mystery dinner.

I was curious, so I went to the website and added my e-mail so that I could fill out their survey.

I hope to be invited to dinner……but of course, if I do get invited, you can’t hear about it.

Frugal Fare #1: CJ Lunch Box

“Frugal Fare” is going to be a new feature on Foodhogger, where we’ll cover the more affordable places to dine for lunch/dinner in Toronto and still get great food & service.

CJ Lunch Box (but everyone refers to it as ”Lunch Box”) is one such place. 

Location:

409 Richmond St., W, Toronto (Spadina/Richmond)

Cost: under $10 (cash only)

There used to be something else in it’s place, but I can’t recall what it was (anyone remember?) and now it’s very clear what’s there. 

 

Lunch Box is a small lunch time spot serving little containers of sushi, deep fried chicken, noodles, edamame and dumplings…for as little as $3 – $5!  What a steal (and tasty too)!  These days business is booming and it’s our first in Foodhogger’s : Frugal Fare.

Salmon sushi with chicken combo $5.97 (with free miso soup)

Veggie Dumplings: $3 – a bit on the greasy side, but it makes a good side or snack.

Although Lunch Box has started increasing their prices (almost everything is one or two dollars more than before), the raised cost hasn’t seemed to deter the crowd.  The line-ups are almost always curled around the counter in the tiny restaurant, where in cafeteria-like fashion you pick your boxes.  

Chicken? $4.

The staff are cheery and highly efficient (one at the cash register, one packing your lunch, one making the sushi, one warming the dumplings; there’s at least 6-7 people behind the counter).  Not to mention that the turn-over is so high, the food’s fresh.  In fact, if you don’t see any more sushi of your desire, they’ll roll it up for you in 2 min!  (Sushi connoisseurs  [of which, I am not one] beware: it’s not gourmet sushi, but it’s great for lunch)

Salmon sushi $4

There are also a handful of tables if you wish to dine there, with a newly added flat-screen TV playing concerts by different artists everyday (last time it was Celine Dion and before that Beyonce) to keep you entertained. 

Also, I hear that with every purchase you get a free miso soup but I will have to confirm this (as I found out only after my purchase, sans soup) and this should be relatively easy considering I’ll most likely be back there next week!

They’re open from 11am to 5pm on weekdays only – so if you wanted some chicken or noodles to take home after work, you’re out of luck.  I think they would do well to stay open for dinner, but then it would have to be called CJ Lunch/Dinner Box…which doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Future Bakery & Cafe

Location:

483 Bloor St. W., Toronto

Cost: $10-15

Speaking of cake…

Future Bakery’s Kahlua Truffle Cake is to die for….or to share with friends.

Great little cafe in the Annex, to hang out with the people you love until the wee hours of the morning…or until 2am, when they close

Zucchini Chocolate Orange Cake

I made this cake for a work potluck, recently.  It’s a super easy recipe (considering it was baked at nearly 1am) with an extremely (if I do say so, myself!) yummy result!  

I found this on Allrecipes.com, which seriously makes you wonder:  do people even bother with cookbooks anymore?  What I love about Allrecipes are the ‘reviews/modifications’ by other users…very helpful!

For this recipe, since I LOVE orange chocolate, I decided to go with what one person said on the site about doubling the orange zest (from 1 tbsp to 2) and found it really did up the orange flavour.  I also made some other modifications, which are indicated (in blue) below.

Overall, it’s a fantastic and easy recipe!  The cake turns our very moist and sweet.  It keeps very well too (that is, if there’s any left after it comes out of the oven!)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup milk + 1/4 cup OJ)
• 3 cups grated zucchini (I had 2 cups; you can also wring out some of the excess water)
• 1 tablespoon orange zest (I used 2 tbsps)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I didn’t have walnuts)
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour Bundt pan (I used 2 different sized pans).
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and milk to the butter mixture. Stir in dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Fold in zucchini, orange zest and nuts.
4. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 to 60 minutes (I baked for 50 minutes exactly), or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Allow to cool, then drizzle with glaze.
5. To make the glaze: In a small bowl mix together sugar, orange juice and vanilla. Invert cake onto serving dish, then pour glaze over.

 

Nazareth

Location:

969 Bloor St West, Toronto

Cost: approx $8 per person incl drink, tax & tip!

Although a table of 5 is a tight squeeze in this tiny establishment, the generous portions and tasty home-cooked flavour more than make up for it.

The girls and I decided to dine at Nazareth after hearing much about it (one such recommendation coming from a commentator on this blog – thanks Anna!). We ordered an orange & mango juice, a diet Coke and a Heineken for drinks. To eat, a veggie platter (for the vegetarian) and a chicken and beef platter. I think it must have slipped our minds that it would all arrive on the same platter! Oops…we should have been clearer. We ordered a separate veggie platter.

All of it arrived swiftly – generously portioned and absolutely succulent in flavours. Our request for hot sauce resulted in a little dish of cajun pepper, which we found a bit odd. Still, it was certainly the best Ethiopian I’ve ever had!

It’s clear we were not the only ones who like the place, people were lined up and at the bar, waiting. In fact, when we were done and it was clear we weren’t going to order dessert (vegan blueberry and chocolate cheesecake – without eggs or dairy) because we were so stuffed, we were politely asked if our table could be cleared for the customers waiting.

It was not rude or unkind, but simply like being told to get ready for bed by our Mother. And it’s understandable of course – at these low costs (where else can you get dinner for $8?!), Nazareth has to do what she has to do.

It’s impressively a one-woman show! Kudos to Nazareth for running a wonderful, little gem in the city.

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

True to my word, here’s a RECIPE (from the Toronto Star) for Chocolate Guinness Cake!

I can’t wait to try it!

Sláinte! Have a Safe & Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

-FH

INGREDIENTS

Cake:

1/3 cup Guinness draught stout

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Syrup:

1/4 cup Guinness draught stout

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ganache:

3/4 cup heavy cream

6 oz (170 g) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

For cake, liberally grease and lightly flour 9-inch cake pan. If desired, line bottom with parchment circle, as cake tends to stick.

In small pan, whisk together stout and cocoa powder on medium-low heat until smooth. Cool. Stir in buttermilk.

Sift flour, baking soda, powder and salt into medium bowl.

In large bowl, beat butter until creamy with electric mixer on medium-low speed. Gradually beat in sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one a time, until blended. Beat in vanilla.

With mixer on medium-low, add third of flour mixture until moistened. Beat in half of stout mixture until blended. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture until moistened. Beat in remaining stout mixture until blended. Beat in remaining flour mixture until moistened. Scrape bowl. Beat just to blend.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated 350F oven about 30 minutes, until cake starts to pull away from sides of pan and tester comes out clean.

Set wire rack over sheet of waxed paper. Cool pan on rack 10 minutes. Slide blunt knife around edge of pan. Invert to release cake onto rack. Cool.

For syrup, whisk ingredients in small pan over low heat until smooth and warm, at least 5 minutes.

If you used parchment, peel it off cake. Use fork or toothpick to poke holes in bottom of cake. Pour three-quarters of syrup over cake, spread with bottom of spoon and let it seep in, at least 5 minutes.

Invert cake onto serving platter. Poke holes in top. Spoon remaining syrup over top and let it seep in for 5 minutes. Reserve syrup pan.

For ganache, pour cream into syrup pan. Bring to simmer on medium heat. Remove from burner. Stir in chocolate until smooth and creamy. Cool briefly, until thickened but still pourable.

Pour ganache gradually onto centre of cake, smoothing with offset spatula until it runs down sides. (You will have some left over.) Cool cake until ganache sets.

Place pan with remaining ganache on low heat. Stir until pourable. Drizzle zigzag or whirly lines across top using whisk or fork. Or pour ganache into zip-lock bag, snip off one corner and squeeze lines or design onto cake. Refrigerate to set before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

It’s a green, fresh, organic recession!

We’ve all heard the words GREEN, FRESH, ORGANIC and RECESSION used countless times in the last few months….I’ve just decided to put them all together in one sentence to get it out of the way.

With our economy having taken such a downturn as we’ve now come to accept, I would like to do some things differently around here.

As it is, I have a backlog of about 50 entries on restaurants that I’m still working on, but I will also be posting more RECIPES (I think home-cooking has an abundance of benefits vs. eating out) and plan on starting a ‘plant-your-own’ series where I will attempt to grow gardens of herbs/fruits/vegetables.  I think this is something we’ve all already maybe thought about doing or perhaps already started doing!  In any event, this is something I would like to take on and I invite you to hop on the recession bandwagon with me!

~FH

Penelope

Location:

225 King St. W. Toronto

Cost: approx $50 for two

http://www.peneloperestaurant.com/home.html 

I love Greek Food.  Sure, it’s just meat and potatoes…but that is precisely why I love it. There is something very comforting about Greek food.  How can it go wrong?

At Penelope, it doesn’t.

Around the King Street area, dinner options grow sparse the more times you dine out and very quickly the “Il Fornellos” and the “Urbans” of the downtown core give way to our very instinctual and basic needs.  Such as meat and potatoes.  Such was the case when we remembered Penelope, the only full-out Greek restaurant in the heart of the city.  Much like Penelope herself, we exercised patience and loyalty and reserved our hunger pangs (whilst making our way down King street past all the upscale dining venues with their Winterlicious sandwich boards) for the simplest dinner of them all: the chicken souvlaki dinner. 

Once there, we were allowed to be picky selective and were seated at a corner round table (even though there were just the two of us).

Our server and the manager (it seemed) were on hand to take our order and offer us drink choices.  The manager recommended the Greek beer, Keo, which we thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend it (I’m more of a Guinness person myself, but Keo was very refreshing.)

And we already know that there would be one chicken souvlaki dinner (with a side of pita bread…just ’cause) and then to mix things up, an item from their dinner specials that day:  swordfish. 

Both mains arrived at our table incredibly quickly.  My (usual) request for chilli flakes and/or hot sauce (which sually ends up being Tabasco, which I don’t really consider hot sauce) was greeted with hearty props from our server who has been working there for 7 years. 

As expected, the chicken, rice and potatoes were glorious.  The side of veggies bordered on frozen-then-over-cooked-and-greasy and I’d have preferred a side of Greek salad (this reminded me of the time The Healthy Greek didn’t have Greek salad !)

The swordfish was surprising good and a huge portion, at that!  This time, the Greek salad was in attendance and I couldn’t complain. 

There were some serious left overs for taking home and an overall feeling of wholesomeness that only Greek food can provide.

It’s nice to know that in a city full of restaurants with big attitudes, big plates and tiny, tottering portions, there are restorative places like Penelope.  It’s true then, for Penelope and for us, patience certainly was a virtue. 

 

 

Le Sélect Bistro

Location:

432 Wellington Street West, Toronto

Cost: Approx $130 for 2

Every once in a while, you come across a really outstanding dining experience. One where there is not a single thing out of place or out of line.

Le Sélect is that happy place.

Within minutes of me running in to check if they had any room for dinner (I know they like to take reservations for lunch and dinner and it looked like the place was already packed with the Friday dinner crowd) and getting the A-Okay, to parking the car, we were being seated in a cosy corner by the window (and the heater).

Our server, Aleah, was attentive, not in the least bit snooty, and catered to our menu-questions with honest insight. None of the “I absolutely love everything on the menu”… she actually didn’t care for some of the items, which was refreshing. Kudos to her.

We started with the antipasto (grilled eggplant, mushroom salad, artichoke, guacamole, and fingerling salad, $11.95) which was so flavourful I wanted to lick the plate!

Then we ordered the seared fillet of Pickerel with a red wine sauce lardons and chanterelles ($28.95) paired with a glass of Rhone wine ($12.25) (they have a gigantic wine list)

And the striped bass fillet “a la plancha”, olives, tomatoes, chickpeas and artichokes ($26.95) paired with a glass of Chateau Pesquie ($10.75).

Both of our mains were absolutely delicious. The bass was slightly more flavourful than the pickerel because of the olives and chickpeas, but both dishes were yummy.

For dessert we got the mousse au chocolat ($8.95), made with French dark chocolate

And because we really just wanted a taste of the lychee sorbet, we got a little helping of it on the side ($6.00).

Both were divine….the lychee sorbet is made fresh and I thought it would look really nice in martini glass, like the lychee martini.

I suspect Le Sélect Bistro is more french bistro than a bistro in France, and ’cause I’ve never been to France, I like it. I also suspect I’m not the only one.

Ravi Soups

Location:

322 Adelaide St W, Toronto

Cost: $10.99 (used to be $9.99) for combo (soup & half wrap)

Soups shouldn’t cost more than a few bucks, right?  Wrong where Ravi soups is concerned!  But, consider it the HIGH end of soups where your soup eats like a meal…isn’t that what Campbell’s Chunky soup advertisers want you to believe?

At Ravi Soups your soup contains ingredients fancier than basic peas, noodles and chicken broth….instead, you will find wild rice, curried lentils, thai basil and lemongrass. 

It’s ironic that we should have ended up at RaviSoups the day after my Mildred’s Temple Kitchen mishap, ’cause as it turns out Ravi Kanagarajah is the former Mildred Pierce soup guru!  However, here there is none of the snootiness that MTK expansive temple was festooned with.

There is a bit of a line-up but it moves quickly as the ’to-go’ soups are packaged into brown paper bags and delivered to the eagerly awaiting. 

Back at work, our soups and wraps are still piping hot and ready to be devoured.

My porcini mushroom and wild rice bisque (the only non-dairy soup on the menu) was a bit greasy looking with all the truffle oil, but looks are certainly deceiving ’cause it was deeeeeliiiiiicious! 

Very hearty with all the chunks of porcini mushrooms; overall a really nice flavour.  A little hard to digest for some me, they say porcini mushrooms can have that affect on people.

My “roasted free-range chicken with roasted yams, baby spinach, caramalized onions, tomato chutney and chipotle mayo” wrap was divine!  The combo was certainly a lot of food; I saved half my wrap for later. 

The Chicken hot pot soup – a winner according to my friend who had it.

The Corn Chowder, garnished with crab, crispy shallots and thai basil:

I have not heard a single negative thing about RaviSoups!  If you want soup, this is where to get it – it’s really worth the $10-13 for lunch.  If that’s a bit steep for you, I hear everything (incl. the combos) are half price on Fridays between 5 and 6pm.

Hey, Soup’s on!

Flickr

It has come to my attention that my Flickr pics are not showing up.  Grr.

My apologies.  There are obviously some broken photo links which I must go back and fix at some point.

I am aware of it now, thanks for letting me know!

Happy Valentimes: Butler’s Pantry

Location:

591 Markham St. Mirvish Village, Toronto, ON

Cost: $28 incl tip

www.butlerspantry.ca

How fitting a name for a place that serves everything that could possibly exist in a Pantry!  (On a side note: A butler’s pantry was commonly used for the storing, cleaning and counting of silver by the butler…).

Whatever the name, this cosy nook in the Annex  serves brunch until 4pm.

And forget the Butler, who’s the chef?  His pantry must be huge!  There’s such diversity to the 2 page menu, that we’re too confused to know what to order.  There are a lot of indian inspired dishes which made us question who the chef was.  Apparently the owner is from Bangladesh and married to an Egyptian lady and they hired a chef who was working in a palace in Egypt!  He must have been well versed in international foods ’cause although the brunch side of the menu is simple…Eggs Bene, French Toast, Omlettes, Scrambled Eggs, Scones….it’s the other side that amazes us: Bul go gi, Tandoori penne, Biryani, Seafood Quiche, Jambalaya, Khowsway (a Burmese dish) , Shepherd’s Pie, Veggie curry pie, Moroccan Veg Tajine!  And the list goes on…with loooooads of vegetarian options included!  It’s incredible…we wanted to order it all! 

We especially wanted to try the Zuchini pancake but learned they were out of it but our server also confided that she enjoys it paired with a beer as a greasy pub meal since it’s very similar to potato pancakes (latkes).   Worked out well then ’cause I don’t like latkes.

We finally decide on the chicken bastilla pie and the french toast.

Another thing to note is that the main dishes (except for a select few) are served with a fresh garden salad and Butler’s famous dressing (pictured below).

Also, and as you know by now, a must for me is an Earl Grey tea, which arrives in a lovely ceramic teapot.  The loose-leaf bagged ORGANA tea is divine…almost candy-like in its sweetness.

It doesn’t take long at all for our food to arrive! 

The Butler’s French Toast at $7.25 (side of bacon – $1.25) is a steal!  Such a humongous portion ; it’s ideal for sharing.  It comes with two thick slices of bread, a generous helping of fresh fruit and dallops of whipped cream.  The toast is not at all soggy even though the maple syrup has already been drizzled on top.  It’s just the perfect consistancy.  A must for anyone who, like me, loves french toast. 

The Chicken Bastilla Pie is a popular order and we wanted to try their version of the famous Moroccan dish – which is pastry stuffed with chicken, omlette, cinnamon & almonds.  For $10.25, it’s a hearty meal for one; which we split into two.  It was very tasty, albeit on the salty side.  Traditionally the cinnamon appears on the top of the pie along with powdered sugar…but in this case it was incorporated into the filling, which was nice but altogether a bit too “cinnamony”. 

The salad it came with really balanced out the saltiness of the pie and the “Butler’s Famous Dressing” was fantastic!

 

Looking more like a gravy than a dressing, it had a nice sharp taste to it and paired really nicely with the onions in the salad. 

The next time you’re strolling around the Annex, keep the Butler’s Pantry in mind.   

Winterlicious 2009

The 7th annual Winterlicious has been extended for two more weeks!

February 16 – 28, 2009

Have you already been? Are you going to go?

Marcel’s

Location:

315 King St West,  Toronto
Cost: Winterlicious $15 lunch ($69 for 4)

www.marcels.com

Winterlicious has been extended until Feb 28th, and Marcel’s lunch menu was quite tasty for anyone who’s still keen on getting on the “Licioustrain”.

Here is their lunch menu:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soupe du jour
Fresh daily soup
or
Salade maison, vinaigrette balsamique
Mesclun greens with balsamic dressing
or
Terrine de campagne maison
House pâté with crostini

~~~~~~~~~~~

Filet de sole, sauce Champagne servie avec du riz basmati et légumes de saison
Filet of sole in a Champagne sauce served with basmati rice & seasonal vegetables
or
Filet de porc, sauce moutarde avec pommes purées et légumes de saison
Pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce, mashed potatoes & seasonal vegetables
or
Penne au saumon fumé, sauce rosée
Penne with smoked salmon in a tomato cream sauce

~~~~~~~~~~~

Crème caramel
A bistro classic
or
Sorbets au choix
Daily choice of fresh sherbet
or
Glace vanille, sauce au chocolat
Vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The soup of the day was Beets and Carrot soup.  I love beets so I had to try it.  When our server brought our dishes to the table, he quite rudely requested us to move our plates to the side.  We were slightly taken aback, but soon forgot about it as we indulged into our appetizers.

The soup was thick and creamy, posing a potential problem for my lactose-intolerancy, but nevertheless, tasty.  It had a real “beet-i-ness” to it!  

My friend ordered the House pâté with crostini which she claimed was very good and not as fatty as can be.

For her main, she opted for the pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce, with mashed potatoes and veggies.

The rest of us went for the penne with smoked salmon in a tomato cream sauce.  I was assured that there was only a “little bit of cream” in it….

Didn’t look that way to me.  Aside from eating around the cream sauce,  I found the tomatoey chunks of salmon to be very flavourful and  overall the dish was fantastic.  To be honest, I had to refrain from slurping up the remaining sauce.

For dessert, we all went for the Crème caramel:

I probably should have gone with the sherbet since by this time I was all creamed-out, but it was so cold outside that the idea of crème caramel appealed to me; for some reason I thought it would be warm (?).  Also, it’s probably listed as a “bistro classic” because it can be made in abundance and kept aside for when it’s needed (ie. for a Winterlicious crowd). It was good, but I don’t think I am a fan of crème caramel [*shrug*].

All in all, a nice experience at Marcel’s…and the rest of our service was totally fine.

Plaza Flamingo

Location:

423 College Street, Toronto

Cost: $7.95 for the lunch buffet

www.plazaflamingo.com

Plaza Flamingo is one of those places you fall upon one day, having been there years before but have no recollection of the food. Ages ago, (at least 8 years) I remember dining with the whole family and watching a flamenco performance at Plaza Flamingo. It was highly entertaining as far as I can recall. The food, however, I could not bring back to mind.

So when we were searching for a place to dine for lunch on a bitterly cold day, not only did the “lunch buffet” clapboard stand out to us, but feelings of familiarity began to stir within me. Somehow Plaza Flamingo had seemed a lot further West when I was younger; not smack in the middle of busy College street near Bathurst.

It was an easy decision once we’d seen the buffet and knew that it was all for only $7.95. Perfect.

Chicken. Rice. Pasta. Beans. Salad.

What more could one ask for, for lunch?

These fried sweet plantains were especially tasty.

I enjoyed them so much, I had them with the dessert, as well!

While the fare isn’t spectacular by any means, it certainly isn’t bad. And it hit the spot that day. I wouldn’t run back to PF everyday for lunch, but if I was back in the area and needed a nice place to sit down and not be disturbed by what can sometimes be annoying wait-staff, this is the place!

And although it certainly wasn’t packed for lunch that day, it’s fairly obvious that there are a few devoted patrons who have probably been frequenting Plaza Flamingo for many years.

Those who, unlike me, have not forgotten about it.

Happy ‘09!

Better late than never, and considering we’re still in January, my wishes are still appropriate.

Last year was an incredibly busy one for me, which is good in many ways so I’m hoping that this year will continue on that  front but also present many opportunities for some r&r.

There are also some big changes coming for Foodhogger which will become known in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!

xo,

FH