Peachgirl's food blog

Noodle Star

2013-04-28T23:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've eaten at Noodle Star on 16th Avenue and Woodbine. It used to be one of my go-to favourites for afternoon tea.

Seafood tofu soup

The soup was filled with shrimp, crab meat, tofu chunks and gailan slivers. The texture of the soup is thick and gooey and it's pretty substantial as a starter course.

Fish sauce chicken

The chicken was sweetened with the fish sauce flavour and it was pretty meaty and relatively boneless.

Left: Dried fish with Gailan

Right: Beef brisket and tofu bowl

The gailan was flavoured with a slight fishy taste and tasted pretty good (if you like that flavour).

The beef brisket and tofu bowl was mediocre; the brisket wasn't tender enough and there wasn't enough tofu.

Fukien fried rice

One of my favourite types of fried rice: Fukien fried rice is always served with lots of sauce on top. The sauce was rich with mushrooms, meat and gailan and when you mix the sauce in the rice - it's just so much better than normal fried rice.

Clockwise from top left: Stir fried green beans with pork, pan-fried pork chops with spicy salt and boiled salted duck.

The stir-fried green beans and pan-fried pork chops were okay, but not as good as Maple Yip's.

I liked the boiled salted duck though. It was relatively boneless, tender and delicious. The pink vinegar sauce added a tang to the duck meat.

Pork belly with pickled vegetables

The pork belly was lean and a little tougher than I would have liked and it had a heavy pickled vegetable taste. I still think Maple Yip's is better.

Chicken and mushroom rice

I really liked this rice dish. It was really tasty with all the juices from the chicken and chinese mushrooms soaked and flavoured in the rice underneath. Add soy sauce and it's amazing!

Red bean dessert

A little watery, but it was okay.

Overall: It had a nice family vibe, the service was really efficient and the food was decent and affordable.

Ramen Raijin

2013-04-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

A few of my friends have been going ga-ga for ramen and I've been taken along for the ride...so here I go again:

Raijin's menu

Hanpa Cha-shu $1

Two of my friends ordered Sapporo beer and got little dishes of this cha-shu, but then we decided to order one for the table since it made such an easy to share (and cheap) appetizer. The pulled pork was on the dry side, but it had nice flavour.

Spicy Miso Ramen

The spicy miso ramen had a nice rich and slightly spicy broth - perfect for a cold winter's day.

Black Charcoal Dark Miso Ramen

This ramen is the specialty of Raijin. It has a distinctive black broth which looks a little intimidating at first, but it's actually a really delicious and grainy charcoal broth. It was definitely one of the better and more memorable ramens I've had.

Overall: Raijin's Black Charcoal Dark Miso ramen was really good - it was distinctive and different than any other ramen offered in Toronto and quite tasty.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ramen-Raijin/443570379034696

Yokozuna Japanese Ramen Inc.

2013-04-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

We saw the Ramen restaurant when we passed by Silver Star Boulevard and decided to try it out:

Appetizer Menu

Ramen Menu

Tenderous Rib Soup Ramen
The beef ribs were tender and tasty, but I found that the ingredients didn't really go well together. There's something to be said about the balance of a good ramen and this felt like a haphazard pairing of ingredients including broccoli, corn, very thinly sliced naruto maki and mushrooms in a beef broth.

Sapporo Ramen

The Sapporo started with a garlic butter broth which was very heavy and super rich - it tasted like melted garlic butter in soup and was rather overwhelming. The combination of ingredients was better with this ramen even if the ramen egg was mediocre (see Kinton for a better ramen egg) and the cha-shu was okay.

Kyushu Ramen
The miso based broth was the best of the three (and I finally understand why most ramen places use it instead of playing up different soup bases). The cha-shu was okay, the narutomaki lacked flavour (most likely because they were too thinly sliced), overall it was okay.

Overall: Yokozuna Japanese Ramen experiments with the soup bases and the ingredients, but I wasn't really a fan of the combinations. The ramen was mediocre, but it was cheaper here than in downtown Toronto.

Solo Sushi Bekkan

2013-04-08T18:15:00.000-04:00

A coworker recommded Solo Sushi Bekkan for lunch and so a group of us went to try it out.
It's a relatively tiny restaurant with around 20 seats - so if you don't make a reservation, it's probably best to wait until a little after the lunch rush to grab a table.

The lunch specials are around $10-15 and come with salad and miso soup.

Salad

Fresh ingredients beautifully presented with a nice tangy soy sauce dressing.

Miso soup

Gyoza

The gyoza had paper thin wrappers around a meat and vegetable stuffing and they were lightly pan-fried.

Chicken Teriyaki Bento Box

I kept staring at the bento wondering why it was different than the traditional Japanese bento boxes for lunch and then I realized that they served the salad separately and instead this bento had a side of egg and potato salad. It was okay, a little bland. However, the rest of the bento box with chicken teriyaki, spicy tuna roll and crispy battered tempura had tons of flavour.

Overall: A nice lunch at Solo Sushi Bekkan: the food was decent and the bento was pretty filling.

Website: http://solosushiya.com/solo_sushi_bekkan

Lisbon by Night

2013-03-27T23:30:00.000-04:00

Lisbon by Night has a great All-You-Can-Eat Fish deal for $24.95 (excl. tax and tip)

Fish Soup
A pretty good start to the meal.

Salsa, rice and beans and potatoes

The salsa was refreshing and tasty with tomato, coriander and peppers - it was the perfect complement to some of the fish.

So the All-You-Can-Eat Fish buffet starts with the waiters serving you one of each type of fish first.They serve about 9-10 varieties of fish with the fish changing up daily.
The All-You-Can-Eat part of this experience happens after you're done trying one of each fish because then you can reorder more of your favourite kinds of fish.

1. Sea Bream
The grilled sea bream was really delicious; the meat was sweet with a nice flaky texture. There were some tiny bones which made it a little difficult. It was definitely a fish I would order again.

2. King fish <eat with salsa>
The king fish was a thick cut fish steak. The flesh was firm, meaty and didn't really have a distinctive flavour.

3. Marithes

These were deep fried fish that were fully edible (you eat the fish with the head and crispy bones).
I was a little queasy about eating the heads of the fishes (just imagining eating their eyeballs and brains at the same time was kind of gross). It was an interesting experience.

4. Salmon
Something I would expect with a fish buffet. The grilled salmon was simple and delicious. It was quite a large portion too! (Great value for money considering most restaurants charge $20 just for the salmon).

5. Calamari

The calamari was fresh and simply marinated. It had a gummy texture and was pretty sweet.

6. Turbot <eat with salsa>

The turbot had really delicate flesh and it was cooked almost to a mushy texture. I wasn't really a fan of this one, but it was different from the rest.

7. Porgy fish <eat with salsa>
Relatively mild flavoured fish. It wasn't particularly memorable.

8. Stingray
I was thinking of the Ocean's deadliest animals as I was eating this. The meat was pretty tough and it was nicely breaded and deep fried.

9. Shrimp

The shrimp were pretty big and cooked in a yummy garlic butter sauce. I would definitely get seconds of this dish.

10. Sardine
It had a strong fishy flavour and was probably one of my least favourite fishes of the night.

After all the fish rounds (and seconds of the shrimp), we got dessert:

Grilled pineapple

Delicious caramelized grilled pineapple! Yummy!

Overall: Great all-you-can-eat fish experience at Lisbon by Night. Good value, quick service and there's live music entertainment on the weekends.

Website: http://www.lisbonbynightrestaurant.com/

Dlish Cupcakes

2013-03-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

March 6, 2013

The cupcake phenomena started in New York and it's building momentum in Canada.

Dlish recently opened up a location in Yorkville (making it more easily accessible by subway!)

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut cake with light almond frosting and toasted coconut drizzled with belgian chocolate
The cupcake was nice: not too sweet or too weighed down with icing like Prairie Girl and the flavours were spot on.

March 27, 2013

Strawberry

Fresh strawberry cake with pure strawberry frosting

I really liked this cupcake - the strawberry icing was perfect without being overly sweet with the strawberries. The cake was great! I liked that they baked in strawberry slices to add texture and flavour.

Clockwise from top left: Pistachio cupcake (x2), Mint Chocolate cupcake and Chocolate marshmallow

I liked the mint chocolate with dark chocolate cake and mint chocolate frosting. It was pretty tasty.

The chocolate marshmallow with dark chocolate cake filled with marshmallow creme topped with chocolate ganache looked really decadent and had a marshmallow inside which was pretty neat.

I was really excited about the pistachio (I'm obsessed with pistachio desserts)

Moist pistachio cake with honey-vanilla frosting topped with toasted pistachio slivers.

It followed the standard Dlish cupcake style of being not too sweet. I thought it was nice that they paired a sweeter and creamy vanilla frosting with the chunkier and crumbly pistachio cake.

Overall: The cupcakes at Dlish are not very sweet and they have great balance as well as a variety of flavours.

Website: http://www.dlishcupcakes.com/

Hopgood's Foodliner

2013-03-24T23:00:00.000-04:00

Roncesvalles (otherwise known as "The Roncy") has been known as a predominantly Polish area on the west end of Toronto. However, in recent years, it's been steadily gaining a reputation as a foodie haven with a whole bunch of restaurants opening up in the area.
Hopgood's Foodliner was number 3 on Joanne Kate's Top 100 of 2012 and I couldn't wait to try their East Coast comfort food:

The server was super knowledgable about the food and the specials. So much so, that we ordered 3 of the specials to start:

Chicharrón

It was a huge piece of crispy and flavoured pork rind. I really liked the playful presentation of it; it made it easier for everyone got to snap off a piece of the crackling to try.

Crown bacon

Crown bacon is pieces of thinly sliced meat from the head of the pig. It looked a little like pancetta but it wasn't cured and it was a rather fatty cut of pork. It was really good and eating it with the garnishes made for a nice combination of textures and flavours.

Tuna Special

The tuna special came with crackers, seared tuna, egg yolk, shallots, capers and crème fraîche. It looked pretty simple, but when you combine all the ingredients together - there was just something about it that worked really well. Really delish!

Crispy Squid
An Asian inspired squid dish with sweet and sour sauce, zucchini and potato balls, a hint of jalapeños and toasted sesame seeds on top. There was definitely a spicy kick to this dish that I didn't expect when I saw "Crispy Squid" on the menu.

Halifax Donairs

Our server gave us a little history of Donairs in Halifax: when the Lebanese settlers first established themselves in Canada, they didn't have access to tahini like they did in the Middle East. Therefore, they had to improvise and the Halifax Lebanese created their own version of the white sauce popular on donairs. I've liked donairs (also known as doner kebabs) ever since I've had it in Berlin. This version was really delicious with tomatoes, beef, pork and a nice light white sauce. Chef Hopgood's donairs are probably the best I've had in Toronto - definitely a must try here.

Overall: Fantastic food with a great menu of classic dishes and adventurous options (smoked sweetbreads anyones?) and great service. In the words of one of my favourite TV shows: "You've gotta eat here!"

Website: http://hopgoodsfoodliner.com/

Ursa

2013-03-22T23:30:00.000-04:00

I've heard great things about Ursa and couldn't wait to try it out. So after months of planning (and multiple attempts at scheduling), I finally made the trip there.

I was excited to see Elk Tartare on the menu since I've never had elk before and I really wanted to try it.

Raw - Kona Kampachi, Hazelnut, Apple, Daikon and Burdock
The kampachi was buttery, melt on your mouth deliciousness! Complementing the raw kampachi with the textures and tastes of the daikon, apple and hazelnut was brilliant.

Elk Tartare - Charqui, Bitter Orange, Sumac, Pine Bark, Elk Velvet
I had pretty high hopes for this and I was not disappointed. It was amazing! I loved the combination of the elk tartare on the crispy thin crackers and fresh greens.

Georgian Bay Whitefish with toasted barley, kohlrabi, whey, pickled turnip and cedar
I thought the presentation of the dish was adorable with the turnip tower. The meat of the whitefish was nice, sweet and perfectly cooked.

Duck with smoked oat polenta, collard greens, pearl onion, coffeeberry and sea buckthorn

The meat was perfectly cooked to highlight the duck's gamey taste. It was done really well.

Bolitto Misto with wild boar, rabbit, hen, berkshire pork, root vegetables, lentils, quince, kale gremolata

My first thoughts when I was presented the dish was "omg I signed up for an ugly meatloaf" until the waiter told us how we were supposed to eat it: you're supposed to mix it all together and eat it as a stew-like dish.
I loved it! I found it playful with an added element of do-it-yourself fun and after mixing it, I savoured my first bite because it was SO DARN DELICIOUS! It was perfect - the crispy kale, tender mix of meats, sauce. It was like the dish couldn't go wrong.

Overall: I loved Ursa! The food was fantastic (everything we ordered was great) and the service was attentive. It can get a little crowded in the tiny restaurant, but it's well worth the reservation.

Website: http://ursa-restaurant.com/

Guu Izakaya

2013-03-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

The Guu Izakaya location on Church Street was the first Toronto branch of the popular Guu Izakaya franchise in Vancouver. I've heard that this branch was "better" than Sakabar on Bloor and I was excited to see if this was true or not.

I walked in expecting to be served the same izakaya menu as the one online. Instead, Guu Izakaya had a separate lunch menu. The lunch menu was set up to be individual plates/meals rather than the sharing menu popular at Izakayas. In a way, it does make sense: Izakayas serve Japanese bar food (and alcoholic drinks) at night and they'd have to cater to a different clientele at lunch.

Menus

The meals were served on individual trays like a bento box:

Toriten

Chicken Tempura with Tar-tare sauce and tempura sauce on the side

The tar-tare sauce was different: made with a pink mayonnaise (possibly coloured by beets) and chunks of chopped boiled egg in it. It didn't have the same salty and tangy taste I was expecting with tartar sauce.

The battered chicken was fried to a nice crispy texture. I liked some of the sides including the miso soup with potatoes and carrots, the fried tofu behind the miso soup was also really good and the salad with soy sauce dressing was nice.

Hirekatsu

Panko breaded pork tenderloin with sweet miso sesame sauce

I liked the way the miso sesame sauce complemented the mini crispy fried pork cutlets.

Overall: The service was okay and we had a decent lunch at Guu Izakaya. I still want to come back for the real Izakaya menu at dinner.

Website: http://guu-izakaya.com/toronto/

The Growing Season Juice Collective - Thunder bay

2013-03-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

I feel like Algoma Street South in Thunder Bay (between Bay St.and John St.) has this hip, local and green vibe to it. There's all these cool murals and interesting restaurants like The Growing Season Juice Collective, Sweet Pea Home Catering and Restaurant and Bean Fiend.

One of the coolest stools I've seen. It's real wood (and a rather wobbly chair).

Big Life plate

We ordered this as a shared appetizer, but we weren't quite expecting this much food.

There was the roasted garlic hummus with lentil sprouts, corn chips, pineapples, dry cured meat, marinated olives, strips of dill gouda cheese (probably from Thunder Oaks), bread, celery and carrots.

The garlic and lentil sprout hummus was really good! It was even delicious when spread with combination of the gouda and cured meat on the bread. Yum!

Living Salad

Fresh greens, in-house sprouted lentils, roasted tofu, avocado & pumpkin seeds & homemade sesame ginger dressing with local bread

Harvest Salad

Fresh greens, in-house sprouted lentils, honey lemon drizzle, pear, chicken, feta cheese, homemade pesto & dried cranberries and served with local bread

The pesto sauce and the sprouted lentils added a nice earthy flavour to the salad and with the sharp feta cheese, sweet dried cranberries and crisp pear, it was so delicious! I could see myself eating this salad once a week and feeling great!

Vegan gluten free brownie

I've never really had vegan gluten free brownies before...and this was interesting. I liked the icing, but the brownie tasted different - there was chocolate in it...but it was different.

Overall: Amazing Salads! The food was really good, fresh and filling.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Growing-Season-Juice-Collective/181974322088

Giorg Ristaurant - Thunder Bay

2013-03-20T21:30:00.000-04:00

Many people recommended that we try Giorg Ristorante, so we finally made it there for dinner. The location is a little hidden: the restaurant says 114 Syndicate Ave. N, but the GPS kept getting confused around Miles St. and Syndicate North. It also doesn't help that Giorg's is completely overshadowed by the new Thunder Bay Consolidated Courthouse (we couldn't see past the construction).

Luckily for us, the restaurant was running a 4 course meal promotion for $39 per person

Giorg Caesar Insalata
Some people believe that the original Caesar salad was made with anchovies, so I was excited to try this version at Giorg's with anchovies. I liked the slightly tangy and salty dressing on the salad.

Fettuccine alla Giorg

It was a bowl of fettuccine, leek, chicken, pancetta, green onions all swimming in a rich cream sauce. It was really nice and quite filling all by itself with all the chicken and the heavy sauce.

Tilapia

The fish was rather delicate and nicely flavoured with a pesto sauce on top. There were also garlic mash potatoes and medley of vegetables with grilled zucchini, mushroom and carrots. The vegetable medley was really good.

Pollo Limone

Lemon chicken was also the special of the day and the waiter described the chicken so well that I knew I wanted the chicken which was marinated in lemon and lime juices. It had a great acidic lemon flavour and was tender and tasty. It also came with the garlic mash and vegetables.

"Infamous" Giorg Nutball

It was a scoop of vanilla ice cream crusted in crushed walnuts and drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce. All served in a nice martini glass. What a great way to end off the meal.

Overall: Service was amazing; our waiter was very knowledgeable and his descriptions of the food made my mouth water. The food was fantastic and everything was quite reasonably priced despite the place being more fine dining.

Website: http://www.giorgristorante.com/

madeFRESH - Thunder Bay

2013-03-20T18:30:00.000-04:00

March 19, 2013

I love the colours and the logo of madeFRESH: it's so vibrant! It makes me think of summer with healthy, low calorie and good for you options like salads, sandwiches and soups...which is what they serve (for the most part)

I thought this was cute...fork, knife and spoon!

I still wanted to order what seemed like the highest calorie meal: the Breakfast Poutine; however, it is only available Wednesday to Sundays, so I made a note to come back here tomorrow. In the meantime...

Grilled cheese and Pulled Prime Rib Sandwich

and side salad of madeFRESH spectacular green salad with tossed baby greens, crispy apples, dried cranberries, honey goat cheese, sweet onion, fresh tomato and red peppers with orange cider vinaigrette

The Grilled cheese and pulled prime rib sandwich was AMAZING. The cheese was sharp, really oozy and delicious and when it was paired with the tender, melt-in-your-mouth, slow cooked prime rib and pressed with a panini maker - it really was a perfect combination. I thought it couldn't get any better, but the side salad was spectacular (like its name) - I never realized how good dried cranberries, goat cheese and mixed greens worked together. The dressing was strong and tangy and everything was really fresh. I was totally impressed.

Peanut butter square with multi coloured marshmellows

I saw these in the display and couldn't resist. The peanut butter square was light and not as dense, heavy or rich as I might have expected from a peanut butter square. The marshmallows made it airy. It was really yummy.

March 20, 2013

We were secretly anticipating this moment since lunch the previous day:

I like that they locally source a lot of their ingredients: it' really helps keep the businesses going in Thunder Bay.

Breakfast poutine

SOOO GOOD! I haven't had a skillet in a while, but this was fantastic! The hollandaise sauce was delicious and spread pretty liberally over top the scrambled eggs, potatoes (sadly not fries), onion, bacon, tomatoes and Thunder Oak cheese curds. It was so indulgent and satisfying...

I couldn't resist grabbing a chocolate brownie to go after lunch

Everything they've made that I've tried has been delicious and I wasn't disappointed with the brownie. It was rich and deliciously chocolatey. YUM!

Overall: madeFRESH is one of my "you've got to eat here in Thunder Bay" places. The food is delicious and fresh - I liked everything I tried.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/madeFRESHThunderBay

Applebee's - Thunder Bay

2013-03-19T23:51:00.000-04:00

As the largest casual dining chain restaurants in the world, it's a little surprising to me that there's no Applebee's in Toronto (the closest one is in Brampton).

Chain restaurants survive and thrive because they understand their customers, know what they want and they regularly meet consumer expectations. They offer food that's fast, consistent, usually of decent quality and quantity and most importantly - at reasonable (or cheap) prices (to blow away the competition).

It was little wonder then that the Applebee's in Thunder Bay was practically packed on a Tuesday night.

The location is pretty central at the corner of Balmoral and Harbour Expressway (and between Port Arthur and Fort William)

Sizzling Skillet Fajitas with grilled chicken

It was served on a huge plate: the white cheddar cheese, pico de gallo and sour cream were on top of the lettuce and there were 4 tortillas on top of the rice (I got white rice instead of the spicy Mexi-rice). The skillet had sautéed onions, red peppers, green peppers and chicken and was slightly spicy by itself. The skillet was okay, but the tortillas were not very good: they stuck together and were pretty flimsy which ruined the fajitas. It was a lot of food for $15.

Apple Chimicheesecake with apple and cheesecake wrapped in a tortilla and deep fried

It sounded pretty awesome: deep fried cheesecake...turns out the tortilla was more a part of it than I thought. It was dusted with cinnamon and sugar, but the combination of the tortilla, apples and cheesecake pieces wasn't very appetizing. The ice cream and caramel sauce were really good.

Overall: It was an okay meal. It was pretty cheap in comparison to a lot of the other places and with hefty portions.

Website: http://www.applebeescanada.com/

Chantecler

2013-03-17T22:00:00.000-04:00

My coworker raved about the lettuce wraps at Chantecler and I couldn't resist making the trek out to Parkdale to try it.

Spicy Popcorn Chicken with popcorn and morita pepper
Considering my inability to eat spicy food, I found this popcorn chicken wasn't spicy at all contrary to its name. It was okay, I found that there was mostly skin and fat rather than actual chicken underneath those popcorn covered balls.

Calamari in caramelized peanut and tamarind sauce

I thought this was nice: it was lightly fried and it had a sweet and interesting take on traditionally grilled or crispy fried calamari. You can definitely see the Asian influences in the cooking here.

Beef Tartare with peanut, wasabi, fish sauce and nori
I found that there was way too much wasabi in the beef tartare mix - it was so strong that it cleared my sinuses. I liked the touch the egg added because it made the mix a little creamier, but overall I wasn't a fan.

The nori (seaweed) part of the beef tartare

Pork Special Wrap with dried oyster, roast seaweed and puffed wild rice
The wrap was really nice! You could really taste the dried oyster and it added a nice fragrant taste to the pork and lettuce wrap.

Fish wrap with wild Pacific cod and Japanese tartar sauce
I think the Japanese tartar sauce was a mayonnaise and I found it a pretty refreshing, light and summery wrap with the fish and thinly sliced radishes

Duck Neck Special

It had a strong tea leaf flavour.

Lettuce meal with braised beef and slow cooked pork shoulder with lettuce, steam rice, house pickles and sauces (Portion of 2 shown above)
The meat was seasoned well and pretty tasty by itself. The meal came with unlimited lettuce and chips and of this lettuce mix there was romaine, cabbage leaves and iceberg lettuce. Quite an interesting variety...it was a change up from the traditional iceberg lettuce leaves that Asian restaurants typically use for lettuce wraps.

Sriracha sauce and mayonnaise, korean bean paste sauce and cauliflower, pickled carrots, jalapenos and house-made kimchi
I wasn't really a fan of the sauces and pickles on the side. I'm used to eating oyster sauce or hoisin sauce and I found I couldn't really appreciate the sauce selection here.

Overall: The service was attentive - they had an open kitchen concept and it was a pretty small area of the restaurant, so I totally understood that food might take a little longer to come out. The wraps are pretty interesting, but I kept comparing the wraps to the lettuce wraps that come with Peking Duck and I think I like those more than these ones (and they're less pricey). I'm not sure if the lettuce wraps were put on the menu to compete with Grand Electric's tacos, but in my opinion, I think the tacos would win that battle.

Website: http://restaurantchantecler.ca/

Campagnolo

2013-03-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

Campagnolo was named one of the best new restaurants in Canada in 2011 and it's been receiving accolades ever since.

Fresh Burrata Cheese with Roasted Grapes and Toasted Bread

The cheese was really good and it was nicely complemented by the warm roasted grapes and the crispy garlic toast.

Smoked ocean trout rilletes with fennel and dill crostini
I loved the presentation of the rillete in the mason jar. The smoked ocean trout spread was tasty and delicious and it paired perfectly with the crispy fried crostini.

Berkshire pork chop with crispy gnocchi, braised kale, smoked gorgonzola butter and late harvest apple vinegar

The pork chop was a little tougher than I expected. The portion was pretty substantial too. I really liked the fried gnocchi especially in the gorgonzola butter - it was heavenly. I only wish they put more gorgonzola butter all over the gnocchi and made it into a sauce. I felt like most of the sauce in the dish was au jus. The crisp granny smith apples added a nice flavour and texture to the dish.

Salted Caramel Budino $2
Delish! The pudding was rich, smooth and velvety and it had a little crunch on top. The salted caramel was perfect. Yum!

Pear baked Cake
Poached pear was nice, but I found the cake was pretty heavy and a little bland compared to the pear inside.

Deconstructed Tiramisu
I love tiramisu and couldn't resist ordering this dessert. I liked the cookie base, but I found the flavour of the mascarpone cheese a little odd. I wasn't really a fan of the blocks all around the plate and I didn't think it worked well together.

Overall: I liked the ambiance and the design of the restaurant. The service was nice and friendly and I had a good meal at Campagnolo.

Website: http://campagnolotoronto.com/

Hot House Cafe (Wednesday night buffet)

2013-03-13T22:30:00.000-04:00

I've been to the Hot House Cafe before during a Summerlicious/Winterlicious promotion period. They had a great deal: $25 for appetizer, surf and turf and dessert. It was great value for money and delicious.

So when I heard about the Wednesday night buffet, I decided to try it out.

There were two tables of salad options, three tables of entree options (including a pizza and roast beef station), a pasta station in the corner and 9-10 La Rocca and Baker Street Cakes to choose from (along with two fruit trays and other desserts like apple crumble).

Round 1:

Clockwise from the Bottom: Salmon, potato salad, crab salad, quinoa salad, bocconcini cheese and olives, Greek pasta salad, steamed vegetables (in this case cauliflower and yellow zucchini), cheese cappelletti and meat lasagna
I cleared my plate - everything was pretty good. I love cheese cappelletti and it's not a popular item on most Italian restaurant menus, so I made sure to savour the cappelletti here. Other stand out items: potato salad was good (not as amazing as Schnitzel Queen, but still pretty good) and the lasagna was tasty.

The pasta station offered 3 different types of pasta: penne, gnocchi and fettuccine and 4 different sauces: pesto, alfredo, gorgonzola and marinara. Then you get to pick your toppings which ranged from sundried tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, chicken, bacon and more.
Round 2:

Pesto penne with bacon, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, mushrooms and parmesan cheese
My dish was too salty with the pesto sauce, cheese, bacon and extra salt (I really should have known better than to add extra salt). The pesto was nice though.

Fettuccine alfredo with fresh tomatoes, chicken, bacon and mushrooms

The fettuccine alfredo turned out better: the sauce was creamy and rich and the ingredients and noodles worked well together.

There were some interesting dishes including salmon penne (with olives), Thai noodles, pizza and quite a few pasta choices. However, I couldn't resist going back for more cheese cappelletti cause it was so good.
Round 3:

Roast beef (very rare and bloody), cheese cappelletti, steak and mushroom pie, steamed cauliflower and mussels.
We saw people with plates of mussels and we couldn't really figure it out until we tried them for ourselves. The mussels were really good! The mussels were sweet and tasty with the sauce.
The steak and mushroom pie was delicious as well - the steak was tender and juicy and the mushroom sauce perfectly balanced it out. The pie crust was a little flimsy and soggy, but it was still great.
The only thing I wasn't super impressed with was the roast beef which was supposed to be a medium rare cut but turned out very rare and bloody.

Dessert Round
Round 4:

Clockwise from top left: Bailey's cheesecake, chocolate banana cake, white chocolate raspberry cake, hazelnut cake, brownie and red velvet cake
We were very ambitious...I have a huge sweet tooth and I really wanted to try all the cakes they had, so we ordered a tiny slice of 5 cakes (even though there were 9 - we knew we couldn't handle that many).
My favourite was probably the Bailey's cheesecake. The rest alternated between being too sweet (white chocolate raspberry), a little flavourless (red velvet - maybe because I had the white chocolate before eating it) and boring (hazelnut).

Final Round 5

Fresh fruit...not much else to say

Overall: It's been a while since I've had a full buffet dinner and after this experience, I remembered why I don't do buffets: quantity vs. quality. In the case of Hot House Cafe, they served some really good food; it was just overwhelming for me. I loved the options and everything tasted really good - A good deal for $18.95 (excluding tax and tip)

Website: http://www.hothousecafe.com/

Full House Chinese Cuisine

2013-03-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

In the 1980-1990s, a lot of immigrants from Hong Kong came and settled into the Agincourt area of Scarborough. It quickly developed into a Chinatown with a lot of Chinese restaurants and stores. During the real estate boom, the Chinese population started spreading out with a lot of the population moving up to Markham and a larger majority moving back to Hong Kong. Even still, there's still a few Chinese restaurants in the area.

Drunken Half Chicken
The chicken was lean and nicely flavoured with wine.The presentation was a little odd in the bamboo container - I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Bamboo clam (Atlantic Jacknife clam) with black bean sauce and peppers

The black bean sauce was light and tasted sweeter with the red and green peppers. I liked the bamboo clams: they were meaty and sweet.

Crab Steamed Rice
We ordered the rice in advance so that it would be served at the same time as the dishes. However, the crab wasn't fresh and it didn't have claws! The rice was fragrant and mixed with fish roe and egg whites, but it was still disappointing.

Sautéed snow pea shoots

It had a nice light sauce and was pretty tasty.

Dessert of almond cookies in the middle and steamed white sugar sponge cake

I wasn't a big fan of the white sugar sponge cake, but the almond cookies were good.

Overall: The service was mediocre and the food was okay. I've had better at Maple Yip or even Honest Kitchen.

Bamiyan Kabob

2013-03-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

I've heard lots of good things about this place including how it's the best Afghani food in the City and I've been meaning to go and try it out for the last 4 months. I finally got my chance, but it was so crowded in the restaurant that we decided to grab the food to go.

The Naan is pretty interesting. The portion is quite large and it's baked in an oven and sprinkled with black nigella seeds.

Top: Barg Kabob Dinner
Bottom: Half Chicken Kabob Dinner
All kabob dinners come with basmati rice, salad and naan.
I'm used to eating jasmine rice and trying basmati rice was an interesting experience. It's a lot longer and not as puffy as jasmine and the basmati has a hint of a scent or flavour to it. The salads were nice: one was made of lettuce and a light mayonnaise sauce and the other was a tomato, onion and coriander salad.
The Barg was chunks of filet mignon rubbed in spices on top of a bed of long grained rice. It was really tender and very tasty.
The half chicken was dry rubbed on the outside and tender and succulent underneath the skin. It was an interesting contrast and the spice mix was lightly spicy.

Overall: I liked it! The meals were reasonably priced, tasty and filling.

Website: http://www.bamiyankabob.com/

Mr. Pide

2013-03-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Pide is a Turkish Pizza served with a variety of ingredients on top. Two of the most popular ingredients are spiced ground beef and lamb.

#18 Karisik
It's a combination pide of all the best sellers: spinach and cheese, pepperoni, ground beef with spices, chicken strips and lamb.
It was really good and quite filling: soft doughy crust surrounded the ingredients and there was the perfect balance of cheese inside. I really liked the ground beef with spices and lamb pieces of the pide. It was original and delicious. The garlic dipping sauce was really good too.

Complimentary Turkish tea
It was a nice non-alcoholic aperitif of black tea with sugar.

Overall: The portion sizes were pretty big and tasty.It was definitely enough food for two people and it was so cheap too (under $15 including taxes & tips).

Website: http://www.mrpide.ca/

Lindt Outlet Boutiques

2013-03-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

I learned quite a bit in my Europe travels: I tried chocolate in Belgium and Swizterland, but I loved Swiss chocolate the best with their rich, smooth and creamy milk chocolate.
It also helps that one of my favourite chocolate brands is Lindt Chocolate (a popular Swiss brand that's found everywhere in Canada - although I was a fan before it even got big here).
There's two Lindt Outlet boutiques in Toronto.
1) Scarborough - 2250 Markham Road
2) Eaton Center - Sears on the first level

Normally, I love to buy the Lindor Chocolate balls and I buy quite a few of the red milk chocolate and the brown hazelnut chocolate ones.
However, I noticed that there was a new brand available at the Lindt stores recently:

Caffarel is an Italian Brand based in Turin that was bought out by Lindt and has now become a subsidiary of the Swiss Chocolate brand. Caffarel's claim to fame is that they invented gianduja which is a chocolate made with hazelnut paste.

Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Gianduja with hazelnut - Nocciolotto, mini croccante gentile, crunchy hazelnut chocolate and the original Gianduja
The chocolate gianduja in the red wrapper had a whole roasted hazelnut inside the chocolate.
I liked the mini croccante gentile chocolate with a smooth outer shell and crunchy caramel and hazelnut chocolate inside. The crunchy hazelnut chocolate was nice too.
However, the main event was definitely the original gianduja 1865: smooth, creamy & rich, melt-in-your-mouth hazelnut flavoured chocolate that tasted like the popular Ferrero Rocher (without the nuts and creamier.)

Sorrento Nuts, Langhe Hazelnuts, Sicily Pistachio and Bari Almonds
The chocolates pictured above all had layers similar to the pistachio pictured below:

The pistachio was really yummy with two layers of the rich chocolate ganache.
The hazelnut was super smooth, rich and nutty with a wild aromatic nut taste.
The Bari almonds were full bodied and quite good too.

Pink: creamy and smooth almond taste

Orange: chunks of hazelnut in the creamy chocolate

Blue: hazelnut layer in the chocolate.

Overall: I really love the gianduja! It's really good and I'd recommend it to any hazelnut milk chocolate lovers. It can get a little pricey buying the Caffarel brand since it's sold by weight. The good news is that the Lindt Outlet Boutiques are holding a sale right now! So be sure to try it out.

Website: http://www.caffarel.it/en/

Metro @ College Park

2013-02-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

January 13, 2012

So my coworker and I were stuck trying to figure out a healthy lunch one day and after wandering all around College Park (we checked out Sobey's and the new Loblaws at the Maple Leaf Garden), we figured we try Metro and if we couldn't find anything we wanted to eat - we'd just eat at the College Park Food Court.

Luckily (or unluckily for our "healthy lunch"), we saw the weekday specials at Metro and decided to check out the Panzerotti station. It turned out there was a huge line-up for Panzerottis and after eating there on Thursday, it really is no wonder. This was a GREAT Deal! A Panzerotti with your choice of 3 toppings made fresh for you and a drink for $5.65 (incl. tax)? It doesn't get any better than that!

This is HALF of the Panzerotti of Doom:

They have some decent toppings including cubed chicken, roasted red peppers, onions, olives, pepperoni, ham, bacon, cheese, green peppers, mushrooms and a whole bunch more.

The tomato sauce was quite good and the cheese melted evenly throughout my panzerotti.

It was so filling that I couldn't move for like 10 minutes after finishing the half because I was so stuffed I was afraid I would have to slowly waddle back to work (and humiliate myself in the process).

Unfortunately, it got worse later when I had the most severe case of itis after eating ONLY half of this panzerotti. So my conclusion is: you can definitely get a LOT of Value for Money here, but try to bring a friend and split the lunch? I don't think normal people are meant to be able to eat so much in one sitting.

February 28, 2013

Metro stopped their weekly lunch promotion, but they have some other deals going on:

3 topping Panzerotti with pop for $5.49

We stumbled on this one by chance at another Metro: the promotion was advertised to run until Feb 14th, but for some reason the system still showed the panzerotti deal for $5.49.

It's a great deal! The panzerotti is huge and the crust is pretty good.

They also have mid-week dinner specials

$7.99 for a 16 inch X-Large Pepperoni and Cheese

They make the pizzas right to order and it's a lot of food: try to make sure you invite company over to share or else you'll be eating pizza all week.

Website: http://www.metro.ca/en/on/home.html

The Sovereign Room - Thunder Bay

2013-02-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

January 24, 2013

Another coworker dining recommendation was The Sovereign Room in the Port Arthur area of Thunder Bay:

They're only open for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays and they post their lunch specials on Facebook.

House Porketta Sandwich with Arugula, Lemon, Tomato Aioli $12

I also got a cup of the daily soup of roasted tomato, basil and cream.
The soup was a thick tomato soup heavily flavoured with basil - it was a very strong soup.

I thought the porketta sandwich might be similar to a porchetta sandwich with chunks of pork flavoured with rosemary and spices. Instead, it was thinly sliced roasted pork - which was still really good - topped with arugula and some amazing aioli sauce. The bun was also toasted and buttered with a deliciously crispy outside.

Overall: Delicious food! It has a nice pub feel to it and I can picture it turning into a popular local hang-out at night since it's so close to Lakehead's campus. I have been pretty impressed by Thunder Bay restaurants (even if some of them are on the pricey side) - the downside is probably the slow service though.

February 22, 2013

The Sovereign Room was super packed at lunch time on Friday. It also probably didn't help that they only had 2 servers and a bartender. It took forever to get our meal:

Poutine with Thunder Oak Cheese Curds, Tomato and Basil Gravy.
I didn't really taste the tomato or basil part of the gravy - but it was pretty thick and hearty. I really liked the Thunder Oak Cheese Curds - way to keep it local!
The fries were pretty good - crispy and delicious with the cheese and gravy.

Sheppard's pie with potato, turnip and lamb
It was really pretty with all the whipped potatoes on top and it was fun digging underneath for the turnips and minced lamb. It was tasty and hot (clearly fresh from the oven). Yum!

Neebing Steakhouse - Thunder Bay

2013-02-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

The Neebing is about a 10-15 minute drive from the airport and it's split up into two parts: there's the rowdy side called the Roadhouse and the fine dining side called the Steakhouse.

Shots of the Menu:

Basket of Bread with some multi-grain bread and croissants:

The Croissant was buttery and fluffy and it got even better with garlic butter.

Neebing's mixed greens

Cherry tomatoes, cranberries, cucumbers, feta cheese, balsamic dressing on mixed greens
It was a nice and refreshing salad with fresh ingredients and a tasty balsamic dressing.

Prime Rib Special $19.95 on Thursdays
Really great value! I couldn't believe that this was 8oz. - it looked to be at least 10 oz. and for $20? What a deal.
It was huge - thick cut and massive on the plate and the meat was prepared exactly as I ordered it. The Yorkshire pudding on top was tasty with all the gravy and the other sides of garlic mashed potatoes and buttered carrots, broccoli and cauliflower were good as well.

Bailey's Cheesecake

I couldn't resist getting the Bailey's Cheesecake (my sweet tooth talking). It was clearly home-made (as much as I like the La Rocha Version, I think it says more about the restaurant if they make their desserts in house). The cheesecake was full of the Irish cream flavour of Bailey's with dense and heavy cheesecake. I also liked the spiced graham cracker crumb bottom which was a nice thick layer and spiced.

Overall: You get great value for your meal at Neebing Steakhouse (or Roadhouse). The portions are huge, prices are reasonable (definitely come for the special on Thursdays) and the food is good. The service was pretty decent as well on the Steakhouse side, but it was a lot more populated on the Roadhouse side.

Italian Cultural Centre - Thunder Bay

2013-02-21T18:30:00.000-05:00

The Italian Cultural Centre had a huge sign on Algoma Street advertising the lunch and dinner buffets.

We were interested in the lunch buffet on Thursdays and Fridays. $12.50 for Lunch (incl. taxes)

First Round:

Cream of broccoli soup and a plate with penne in pomodoro sauce, meatballs, fried chicken and pork tenderloin

The Cream of Broccoli soup was definitely homemade and had lots of spices, but it would have been nicer if it was less salty.

The chicken was lightly breaded and fried and it wasn't too dried out.

The tomato sauce had a ton of spices which added a lot of flavour to the pasta and the meatballs. There was also a lot of sauce (enough to almost make them swim in sauce). Both the pasta and meatballs were decent. I liked that each table had it's own shaker of parmesan cheese - Yum!

The pork was okay if a little dry by itself, but it was even better with the tomato sauce.

Second Round:

Salad with dressing, steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes, meatballs and pasta

The salad was nice with fresh iceberg lettuce and a good dressing.

The steamed mixed vegetables were lightly buttered and pretty tasty too, while the mashed potatoes were buttery and soft with some leftover red potato skin.

Overall: Decent meal at the Italian Cultural Centre. The choices were relatively simple: pasta, meatballs, pork, chicken, salad, vegetables and soup.

Website: http://www.italiancc.com/

Tony & Adam's - Thunder Bay

2013-02-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

January 29, 2013

Tony & Adam's is open for dinner Monday to Saturday from 4pm onwards which is great when you're grabbing a late dinner in Thunder Bay.

It's a big nondescript building on the outside with a few signs saying "Tony & Adam's" and the inside has a pub/family restaurant feel.

Fried Bocconcini with baby mozzarella, breaded and fried and served with a spiced tomato chutney $10

The bocconcini was yummy - it was a nice morsel of mild, semi-soft, slightly melty near the breaded outside, crispy on the outside mozzarella. It paired well with the sweet tomato chutney with a little hint of heat at the end.

Tony and Adam's had a Tuesday promotion: $9 pizzas!

Smoked Chicken and Pesto

This was REALLY good - the pizza crusts were "made with 100% Brule Creek Farms unbleached flour" which is "locally grown and locally ground" - it was a very thin crust baked in a stone hearth and really tasty. The ingredients were fresh: from the authentic pesto sauce to the huge chunks of tomato and melted mozzarella cheese. I also really liked the pepperoni which was thick and not completely baked through (so it had a the perfect nice meaty taste without being crispy).

Overall: Nice! Great value for dinner too - reasonable prices and large portions.

February 20, 2013

Thursday's promotion is half price wine bottles and 3 for 2 appetizers after 9pm.

Caesar salad

Real bacon bits, parmesan cheese, fresh romaine lettuce and croutons - Yum!

Pan fried Pickerel with garlic mash potatoes

The pickerel is a delicate fish and it's usually a little bland by itself. The spices were okay, but it was the tartar sauce that made it amazing! The tartar sauce was really yummy (with the fish and by itself). I even put it on my vegetables and mashed potatoes...it was so good.

The garlic mashed potatoes were good too, although I wasn't a fan of all that red potato skin. The veggies were good and nicely seasoned.

Red velvet cake $6.50

It was a smaller portion size (which I was okay with considering I had salad and a large portion of fish). The cake was a little hard and not as moist as I would have liked, but the cream cheese icing was good.

Website: http://www.tonyandadams.com/