Good Food Toronto

McDonald's Oreo Cookie N' Cream Pie.

2012-01-12T15:47:00.002-05:00

oreo pie!... The newest set of McDonald's coupons floating around Toronto mailboxes had picture of the new Oreo Cookies N' Cream Pie from McDonald's. Since Jan 3, 2011, these Oreo Pies (2/ $1.39 + tax, or $0.99 each) have been available in McDonald's around the GTA. The pie crust is like the normal apple pie one with chocolate in it and it is filled with some Oreo cream that has melted marshmellow like texture. I actually like this new creation by McDs as the not so sweet crust goes nicely with the sweet gooey cream inside. These have replaced the Mixed Berry pies and will probably be available for a limited time along with the available-all-year-round Apple Pies. They're still selling the Creme Brulee Mcflurry atm too. McDonald's, please make the Peach and Banana Chocolate pies available all year!!! Throw in all day Sausage Egg McMuffins too!

Fickle Viet Chinese Cuisine.

2012-01-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

pho in the downtown core!... Fickle is a Viet/Chinese restaurant downtown Toronto that has been open for about a year. I was quite ecstatic when I heard about a pho place opening up around Yonge and College, where fast food joints are a dime a dozen. If you walk or drive by, their crazy interior lighting/ decor will really draw your attention. The restaurant looks kind of like a club with colour changing walls and ceiling. The entire place slowly changes colours while you are eating, which is kinda trippy (reminded me a bit of the mood lighting they use in planes during a long flight to HK).

When I first tried this restaurant, they definitely had their share of problems, especially slow/ inadequate service (waited 45 mins for food, clearly understaffed, no water refills, missing orders), but I recently went again and things have definitely improved. Fickle has an extensive menu of chinese, viet and asian fusion type items, but I was here strictly to eat some Beef Noodle Soup aka Pho close to where I live. The Pho comes in 2 sizes, Regular ($7.99 + tax/tip) and Large ($8.99 + tax/tip). It is served with slices of lean beef and 2 out of the following items: Brisket, Soft Tendon, Beef Balls, Tripe. There isn't much variety in the pho- especially with the absence of chicken, seafood and curry pho choices! Aside from the inflated prices (the Regular and Large sizes are more like Small and Medium bowls at other places), the Pho is decent and comes with the usual tray of beansprouts/ lime. For $9.99 + tax/tip, you can have the Fickle Special pho, which comes with a mix of all the meats listed above (kinda like #101 at Pho 88). I also tried their viet Spring Rolls, which they call Fickle Spring Rolls ($4.99 + tax/tip). These were good deep fried viet spring rolls that came with 2 rolls cut up.

In terms of pho, there are definitely better places across the city (and cheaper), but the convenient location just north of College TTC station will keep my coming back when I don't want to travel far to get my fix of Pho. They have lots of items I haven't tried and any feedback would be great if you have been to this place. The service at Fickle recently was pretty good and it seems that things are running much smoother than half a year ago. Alcohol is served here, so you can get wasted and jam out to the colour changing walls! haha.

Fickle Viet Chinese Cuisine

507 Yonge St

Toronto, ON

M4Y 1Y3

(647) 351-3529

PC Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle Ice Cream.

2011-12-08T21:47:00.001-05:00

ice cream!... It's holiday time atm, so here's a quick post on a tasty seasonal product. One of my favourite store bought desserts is the "Presidents Choice Candy Cane Chocolate Fudge Crackle" Ice Cream. It's vanilla ice cream with pieces of candy cane and these thin strips of crunchy, crackly chocolate pieces. It's different than mint chocolate chip ice cream as the ice cream itself isn't too minty, just the candy cane pieces. It is delicious! but make sure you don't leave the box out long (+ bring it home quicktimes from the supermarket), because the candy cane pieces kind of melt sometimes and it's just not the same without those hard minty candy cane pieces. Picked it up for $4.99 + tax on sale (regularly ~$7) at the new giant Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens and you can probably grab it from other President's Choice stores like No Frills or Fortinos, but it is only around during the holidays.

Mickey's Pizza.

2011-12-06T18:05:00.001-05:00

amazing pizza!... Last night I trekked out to Mississauga to check out Mickey's Pizza and have been excited to write this post since! The owner, Sandi had invited me to Mickey Pizza's very own "For the Love of Food" event because she had seen on my site that I love food! LOL . This was an opportunity for bloggers, journalists and friends to get together, discuss and eat some awesome pizza. You will want to continue reading this article because of the Killer King Dragon Pizza, which I can honestly say this is the BEST pizza I've had in Toronto, hands down.

Me and Jess (aka jKong!) arrived at Mickey's Pizza last night, and felt right at home as Sandi greeted me with a hug and within a minute of stepping inside the restaurant, Sandi had the two us behind the counter, shaping the dough to prepare a Pizza that we were each going to make (it was mad fun!). I decided to make a Killer King Dragon Pizza, which is their signature Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. I was given a pizza pan about 2-3'' thick with some their freshly made dough in it. The dough here is made fresh everyday and because they don't use preservatives, Sandi explained that it makes the dough a bit harder to work with but tastier after baking). After hollowing out the dough, I stuffed the 8 inch pan (Small size) with a giant handfuls of cheese, followed by a lot of steak (proud to say I grilled the steak on their flat top)- probably like 8-10 oz I'd estimate. Sandi warned that it was only physically possible to fit 4 toppings, because it can't go past the height of the deep dish- and that includes a final layer more giant handfuls of cheese. On top of the steak I stuffed chunks of mango into it, followed by caramelized onions bacon! Squeezed on some tomato sauce and very sweet BBQ sauce to finish it off! (I'm literally drooling as I type this haha). The pizza pan was then thrown into the deep dish oven by none other than Mickey himself (Mickey is not only the namesake of this restaurant but also Sandi's husband).

The pics directly above show the before and afters of the Killer King Dragon pizza that I made. The Killer King Dragon was soooo bombb! It's literally unlike any other pizza in Toronto! It's like a giant pie, with each bite providing lots of gooey tasty mozzarella cheese in addition to the giant mouthfuls of steak. What is super impressive about this pizza is that the dough is crispy and fluffy, making each bite effortless and no chewing necessary (not that chewy Pizza Pizza crap at all!). The sweetness of the mangoes went really good with the steak btw! I highly recommend the Killer King Dragon Pizza that comes in either Small (8") for $8 + toppings ($1.50 each or Large (10") for $15 + toppings ($2 each) or you can choose one of their signature topping combos ($11 + tax Small, $19 + tax Large... any 2 for $16 each!). No slices are served here.

jKong made a thin crust, with tomato sauce (can also choose sweet BBQ sauce), chicken, bacon, caramelized onions, mozzarella cheese, spinach (so tasty!). The coolest part about making the thin crust or regular pizzas is that they use a special "Hickory Barbecue Oven," apparently the only one in Canada. It's cool because the pizza(s) are thrown on and the entire oven rotates as you watch your Pizza cook. This allowed the pizza to come out with a fresh crispy crust and no signs of sogginess anywhere! The thin and regular crust pizzas are excellent in their own right, with the thin crust costing $7 for a Small + $1 toppings and the regular crust costing $7 for a Small + $1 toppings, $10 for a Medium + $1.50 toppings and $13 for a Large + $2 toppings. You can also choose the original dragon (aka regular crust) pizza with unlimited toppings for $15 (small), $20 (medium) and $24 (large).

On one of their signs, they state that their goal is "to make you the best pizza you've ever had in your life. Period." and they are successfully winning the hearts and stomachs of many people all over Toronto. If you don't believe me, go out to Mississauga just to try their deep dish pizza yourself!

The event was really fun and I was able meet lots of friendly people who all share the love of tastttyyyy food! I'd like to thank Sandi and Mickey for hosting this super fun event and even allowing me to make one of their famous pizzas! Everybody had a great time.... a very filling time as well! I also included a picture of myself with Sandi + Mickey below, 2 of the friendliest people I've met. Sandi also writes her own blog, documenting her journey of starting a restaurant from scratch and running Mickey's Pizza. This place also has free delivery ($20 minimum, only after 5 pm), probably just in the Mississauga Area, not sure.

Mickey's Pizza
1900 Lakeshore Road West
Mississauga, ON
L5J 1J7
(905) 822-1411
www.feedyourdragon.com

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine.

2011-11-28T21:05:00.001-05:00

shawarma!... I wrote a post last week about a very disappointing shawarma place, and its good to know you can still grab some tasty middle eastern food without getting blatantly ripped off. After a study session for our PT exams, we headed out to grab a quick bite at a Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine at Dundas and University. Most people have probably seen one one of these Ali Baba's around Toronto as they have a ton of locations around Toronto, so this review is specifically for the one on Dundas near University. I've walked by this place many times in the recent months and it has always seemed packed at lunch, where they have a different special every day of the week. We went on a saturday and grabbed the Friday/Saturday special, which was 2 Shawarma Plate Dinners for $13.99 + tax. We chose 2 Chicken dinner plates (you can get beef instead), and for $7 each, it was a lot of food. The plate was loaded with a yellow buttery rice, pickled turnips and some different salads. They freshly shaved and grilled the chicken for us which was nice to see as some places just give you cold/ old pieces of meat. You can also ask them for a pita on the side, which they toast for you although they didn't seem to give this out unless you actually asked. It wasn't the best shawarma but tasted better than I expected for the price.

This place seems to have 10+ locations around Toronto, so I would expect some differences in food/ service/ deals. For this location specifically, the best deals appear to be on $8.29/ 2 Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches (Mondays) and $8.29/ 2 Beef Shawarma Sandwiches (Wednesdays). The service is what you'd expect at a fast food type place, but this place is a pretty decent spot for a quick bite- expect it to be busy during weekday lunches. It's also open pretty late, not exactly sure but I've seen it open around 2 am before.

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine

197 Dundas St W

Toronto, ON

M5G 1C8

(416) 538-7001

Windfield's Restaurant.

2011-11-26T17:14:00.001-05:00

all day breakfast!... I've passed by Windfield's Restaurant in North York a million times in the past 10 + years and the all day breakfast sign always catches my eye. Windfields is a family restaurant sitting at the South East corner of Leslie and Yorkmills. My friend Everett suggested that we try Windfields for a late breakfast/ lunch, knowing that they serve all day breakfast. We went on a Sunday afternoon (Around 2 pm), and the place seemed half full, with most people finishing up their meals and paying their bills. To satisfy his breakfast cravings, Everett went straight for the All Day Breakfast combo (pictured below) that comes with 3 Eggs any style, choice of bacon/ sausage/ ham, toast and french fries ($8.75 + tax/tip). Not the cheapest, but not bad if your too lazy to cook and are craving breakfast- allday. They have quite an extensive menu including different pastas, seafood, breakfast items and sandwiches among other things.

I ordered the Chicken Pita Hoagie ($10.75 + tax/tip), which was grilled chicken breast on a pita with grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese melted on top. This also came with fries, and actually looked more like a pizza than a sandwich. I found this to be a little bland though- could use some additional seasoning or flavour. I was quite full as this was a pretty large dish loaded with cheese. My friend Chris ordered the Halibut Fish and Chips ($13.95 + tax/tip). This came with 2 large pieces of fish along with fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce. Chris said the fish was pretty good- what he expected, and that the french fries were especially good/crispy.

Overall, Windfields is a good convenient spot where you can get anything from fish and chips to breakfast all day. The food is decent, the dishes are simple but the prices are definitely not cheap (too be expected in the area). They also have a couple morning specials (7 am - 11 am) including an Eggs Benedict for under $10.

Windfield's Restaurant
801 York Mills Road
North York, ON
M3B 1X7
(416) 445-1630 ‎

Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ.

2011-11-23T16:55:00.001-05:00

taiwanese food!... Went to grab lunch yesterday with my brother Kendrew. We were both craving some asian food and I suggested this taiwanese place, "Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ" at Metro Square in Markham. I was originally introduced to this place by my taiwanese friend Peter Cheng (anyone need a real estate agent?!) and I have been grabbing quick lunch and dinner take out meals from here quite often as it's super tasty and pretty cheap. People seem to come here most often for their lunch/dinner boxes/ combos that come with a meat item, 3 sides, rice and soup (All lunch/dinner boxes: $6.25 + tax, $0.50 extra to switch soup for Pop or Bottled Water). You can choose from a large selection of meat items including Deep Fried Pork Chop, BBQ Chicken Leg, Smoked Duck, just to name a few. The most popular item by far is the "Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets" (pictured above) also known as Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken or 鹹酥雞. I see pretty much 99% of the customers order this- it's better than the ones you get at bubbletea places like Go For Tea or Destiny. They give you a pretty large portion and the popcorn chicken is covered with salty, tasty flavour. It's usually hot and crispy when you order it as they have high turnover on this item .

In terms of sides, there are a lot of different choices including different veggies and some smaller portion meat items (these sides put Manchu Wok to shame!)When we went yesterday, Kendrew got the "Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets" combo with Eggplant, Green Beans and some bean curd/tofu thing and the lady working explicitly mentioned that those were the most sold items. The soup was kind of herbal tasting this time, but they serve different soups all the time.

In addition to their lunch, dinner combos, this place sells taiwanese style meats including salt cooked chicken/ duck/ goose,smoked chicken/ duck/ goose and deep fried pork belly among other things. My mom loves buying the Smoked Duck for take out ($20+ tax for a full duck, $10+ tax for half) and they chop it into pieces for you. This place is really busy at lunch time, so don't be surprised if there is a line- theyre fast though! By default, customers are spoken to in Mandarin, sometimes Cantonese, but english works too! lol

Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ
3636 Steeles Ave E
Markham, ON L3R 2Z5
(905) 947-9998

Bannock Grab and Go Cafe.

2011-11-23T11:16:00.001-05:00

lunch!... I was around the Eaton centre for lunch, and really didn't feel like anything from their new Urban Eatery food court, where line ups and crowds are still the norm. I didn't have much time and I had previously read about the newly opened "Bannock" at Queen and Bay (right across from Nathan Phillips Square/ Eaton Centre south entrance). Bannock is part of the Oliver & Bonacini line of restaurants in Toronto, specializing in "Canadian Comfort Food" and offers a dine-in area and a separate Take-Out Cafe (they call it a grab and go counter) + Coffee Shop, perfect for a quick lunch. I tried one of their artisan sandwiches: Smoke Salmon and Egg Salad on a Croissant ($8 taxes included). They took my order and the guy made the sandwich for me fast! under a minute! The sandwich was small, expensive, but all the ingredients including the croissant and salmon were very fresh tasting. They even had some kind of dill flavoured mayo or sauce that made the sandwich flavourful yet light. The Grab and Go counter is open monday to friday (7.30 am- 10 pm), saturday (8 am - 10 pm), and sunday (8 am- 6 pm). In terms of take out, they also offers soups, salads, breakfast wraps, stews and even some dine-in menu items (Bannock Grab and Go Menu -Menu items may vary).

Side Note: I definitely plan to try out their dine-in menu! Just taking a peek at their menu and reading yelp reviews, I noticed they have a Smoked Duck Poutine Pizza! and also Bannocks (some type of traditional scottish/native/Canadian flat bread). Definitely need to try and report back.

Bannock

401 Bay St

Toronto, ON M5H 2Y4

(416) 861-6996

McDonald's Creme Brulee Mcflurry.

2011-11-22T15:18:00.001-05:00

creme brulee mcflurry is back!... I received one of those McDonald's coupon flyers in the mail in awhile back that advertised their Creme Brulee Crunch Mcflurry. These don't seem to be explicitly advertised in store, but some locations do carry them right now for a limited time. I dropped by the McDs at York Mills and Leslie last night (Nov/21/11), and ordered a snack size Creme Brulee Crunch Mcflurry ($1.99 + tax). 8 oz snack size and 12 oz regular size are available as per the usual Mcflurrys. The creme brulee version is loaded with "crunchy, caramelized sugar bits" and mixed in with their usual vanilla ice cream. It's not exactly a creme brulee- but it'll satisfy a quick craving for a cold, crunchy treat at a super low price... 24 hours a day.. only McDonalds! haha

Side Note: McD's has finally joined in on the reloadable gift card craze! Everyday, thousands of people carry around Starbucks Cards, Tim Cards and now Mickey D Cards! The McDonald's Card actually looks really nice with a simple striped design representing their famous hamburgers... sick! it even has sesame seeds on it!

Wrap and Roll- Shady Practices.

2011-11-21T01:00:00.001-05:00

bad food toronto...! I'm dissapointed to have to share this, but sometimes bad business practices need to be exposed. A Downtown Shawarma/ Shisha spot called "Wrap & Roll" is guilty here. I wrote a rant about this place a couple months back in a Red Flag Deals forum. Since then people have shared similar negative opinions, including consistently bad reviews on Yelp, Restaurantica and Google Reviews. My rant as posted on RFD:

I went there on June 10, 2011... and I experienced the exact same thing as original poster, but even worse. He tried charging us $70 for 1 shisha and 2 drinks saying it was a per person charge (there were 4 of us, $70/4= ~$17/ person, wtf this isn't an ayce buffet, its a fast food shwarama place). We argued with him and he kept manually changing the price, down to $50 , $40..tryin to act dumb. This restaurant is blatantly trying to steal from customers. In addition this place is dirrtttty! There were mice running around all over their counter and I even quickly snapped a picture. We told the guy about the mice while we were angrily arguing our ridiculous $70 bill and he just kept acting dumb manually playing with the price of the cash register.The guy also tried to sell us "beer" pretending that it was alcoholic beer (he even manually scratched out the nonalcoholic label)... they don't have a liquor license and are jus trying scam people. I would urge people not to buy any food from this place as the cleanliness of this place is highly in question- we literally just left after seeing the mice run around inside the fridge display as we were grossed out.

After seeing the mice and having this place try to scam me, i've decided to contact the city of toronto - public health food premises ...hopefully can help close this place down. Heres a link for toronto public health if anyone else would like to email/call and complain about this place: http://app.toronto.ca/food2/FDContactUs.jsp

Who do I contact in terms of them not having a liquor license and blatantly trying to sell nonalcoholic beer as alcoholic beer?

I ended up trying to contact the media (CP24, Toronto Star, City News) but did not get any response. Filing a complaint to Toronto Public Health resulted in nothing:

RE: 519 Yonge St

Dear complainant,

Please be advised that your complaint was investigated on June 17/11.At the time of inspection, there was no evidence of rat infestation.The operator was in substantial compliance with O. Reg 562 (Food Premises), as amended.Thanks for contacting Toronto Public Health.

Vashti Rajpatty, BASc, CPHI(C)

Public Health Inspector

Toronto Public Health

Tel 416 392 0936 Fax 416 392 0714

Wrap & Roll continues to stay open with the same shady practices (as per the latest yelp/restaurantica reviews), scamming customers of their money and posing as a health risk to the public and it needs to be exposed. Avoid this place! but go have a visit if you don't believe me (I'd be surprised but happy if things have changed for the better).

Wrap & Roll
519 Yonge St
Toronto, ON
M4Y 1Y3
(416) 929-9727

The Big Xtra is Back!.

2011-11-20T23:25:00.001-05:00

big Xtra is back!... I have not seen the Big Xtra at Mcd's since back when they had the daily deals- big Xtra mondays! I made a trip to the Wal- Mart at Bayview and Highway 7 and on my way out, I dropped by the instore McDonald's with a pleasant suprise. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the big Xtra on the menu. I have missed that 800+ dirty calories of goodness- big Xtra= Xtra tasty! Apparently the big Xtra has returned to all Canadian Wal- Mart McDs (if anyone can confirm this, that'd be awesome), but I've included the address below if anyone wants to be sure of a place to grab a big Xtra (for now a least!). It's $6.99 + tax ($7.90) for the Big Xtra meal that comes with fries and a drink!

If you can't find a McDonalds that has brought back the tasty sandwich, use the following instructions (taken from the Big Xtra Fanpage on facebook):

"Go into McDonalds. Order a quarter pounder, modify it. Ask for no mustard, then ask to add tomato, lettuce (bacon, cheese) and McChicken sauce."

Wal Mart McDonalds
255 Silver Linden Drive
Richmond Hill
ON L4B 4V5

Mini Food Truck Eats Pop Up.

2011-11-19T21:29:00.001-05:00

food trucks!... If you ever watch the show "Eat St." on Food Network, you know how popular food trucks are becoming in North America. The craze hasn't quite hit Toronto yet, but more and more food trucks are starting to show up. On Friday, I was walking on Yonge towards Eaton Centre and just happened to pass by a caged lot full of Food Trucks. I recently went to Boston and had the chance to track down and taste many of their famous Food Trucks (Roxy's grilled cheese ftw!) and this was a nice surprise to see in T.O.. I think the event was called "Mini Food Truck Eats Pop Up" and the trucks were at the corner of Yonge and Gould (where Salad King was before) from 11am-2pm on that day. One of the food truck vendors mentioned that this is a one time event for now and that they are hoping to be invited back to same location. Considering the lot is right beside Ryerson, it could be an awesome permanent fixture for students and shoppers in the area.

There was a lineup of 5 trucks: Toasted Tangerine, Gorilla Cheese, El Gastrónomo Vagabundo, Caplanksy's, and Cupcake Diner. This type of Food Truck event doesn't seem to happen often in Toronto and the novelty of the trucks clearly drew a large crowd with many snapping pictures with their phones. Luckily, I arrived
early as there were deep lineups of 20+ people bundled up for the cold weather by 12 pm. I tried the Toasted Ravioli ($6 taxes included) from "The Toasted Tangerine", pictured above . There were 4 large home made Raviolis stuffed with ricotta cheese, spinach, breaded, deep fried and served with marinara sauce. The raviolis were quite flavourful, crispy on the outside with hot ricotta cheese inside. The general pricing of these food trucks seemed to be around $6-$10 an item, not cheap, but the line ups speak for themselves. Check out the full listing of the food truck menus and prices here.

Side Note lol: One of these Food Truck owners must be making some nice cash as there was an awkwardly parked Porsche Boxster among the food trucks (See in above pic!).

Congee Star.

2011-06-02T11:42:00.000-04:00

chinese food!... I recently finished a placement as a Physiotherapy student at a private physio clinic in North York, where Dennis (the Physiotherapist there) also shared my love for going out to eat (he's even started his own food blog... check it out!). He took me out for dinner at the end of my placement, recommending a close by chinese restaurant called Congee Star, which is located near the science centre. Congee Star is your similar chinese Congee restaurant (see Congee Queen) that serves all kinds of congee (aka chinese rice porridge) and also a large selection of Chinese dishes (ie rice, noodle, meat, etc.). We went with 4 people, including one who did not eat meat, so we tried our best to order a variety of dishes for all of us to enjoy.

The four of us shared a whole bunch of dishes and this being a congee restaurant of course we ordered their House Special Congee (regular size $5.50 + tax/tip), which mainly had different types of seafood in it including salmon, surf clam, squid, etc.. We also ordered a Yin Yang fried rice ($10.50 + tax/tip), which is a shrimp and chicken fried rice, where half of it was covered in cream sauce and the other half covered in tomato sauce (the sauce is poured on so that it looks like a Yin Yang symbol). This was pretty tasty, and I personally like to mix the ketchupy flavoured tomato sauce with the cream sauce. In order to cater for our non meat eating friend Ilinica, we ordered a Baby Bok Choi with garlic ($8.50 + tax/tip), and Stir Fried Vegetables with Seafood ($15.25 + tax/tip). Both of these dishes were a bit oily but decent for these typical congee places. To cater for the rest of our meat loving cravings, we also ordered Black Pepper stir fry Beef Ribs ($9.95 + tax/tip). Black pepper, beef, stirfy...there is no way to go wrong with this dish. lol.

We also ordered specialty drinks called "Halo Halo" ($3.75 + tax/tip). These were quite large filled with different fruits (mostly canned fruits and some cut up bananas), grassy jelly, red bean, and coconut milk. If you like dessert, these drinks both sufficiently sweet and generously sized. At the end of the meal the waitress even came by to offer us a complimentary chinese dessert (a large bowl of chinese Taro Sago Coconut milk dessert soup to share). Make sure you ask for the free dessert if you go!

Overall, the food at Congee Star is quite tasty and affordable, but also a bit oily. The portions are pretty good as we packed up some of the leftovers to go. It was also pretty busy on the Thursday night that we went, and it's a decent option for affordable chinese food in this area of North York.

Congee Star
900 Don Mills Road, Unit 12
North York, Ontario
416-385-8822

The Drinks Show 2011.

2011-06-01T16:21:00.003-04:00

booze!... I've been invited to check out The Drinks Show this year, which is an alcoholic beverage event where guests can try out lots of different types of mixed cocktails and alcoholic drinks (admission fee + drink prices below). It's being held on June 3 and 4th at 99 Sudbury, a venue that has 2 bars and an outdoor patio too. The party is supposed to be a club-like atmosphere with djs, will also offer contests (there is even a pole dance contest!) and even food sampling to go along with all the drinking. If you like to drink or party, this might be worth checking out. With all this alcohol, obviously a 19+ event as well. lol
Tickets are $23 ($25.99 after tax) and drinks come in sample size ($2) or full size ($7)... use promo code: "SOCIAL" for $5 off online tickets

I will report back after I attend this event! ... if i'm able to type after all the drinking lol

The Drinks Show
June 3rd and 4th (6 pm-1 am)
99 Sudbury Street
Toronto, Ontario
http://www.drinksshow.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/thedrinksshow

McDonald's Salads: Review + 50% off coupon.

2011-05-27T13:05:00.003-04:00

mcd's!... good old McDonald's is holding another promotion, this time for their entree salads. Click on the picture above, print off the coupon above (expires June 13, 2001) and grab one of their entree salads for 50% off (comes out to about $3.50 after taxes, regular price is about $6.79 + tax each). You can print as many off as you want. They are running this promo for almost a month so its a great chance to grab a quick "healthy" meal (use less dressing for extra healthiness haha). When getting the salads make sure they give you all the extras that are supposed to come with each salad (ie dressing, extra packets of stuff) because they mess this up all the time or give you the wrong dressing for the salad you choose.

How do these salads taste/look?
Don't worry, I'm a big fan of Mickey D's, so once I heard the promo I went ahead and tried all 4 types of their salads yesterday. All of the salad are quite small, I wouldn't call them entree size, but they are a good deal for $3.50 (regular price not worth it) considering each salad comes with a respectable sized piece of chicken (either crispy or grilled chicken). Here's a quick review of each one...

1. Southwest Salad (Top Left)
The southwest salad is quite tasty as it is kinda like a mexican salad, with mixed greens, red onions and I also got quite bit of beans in mine as well. They also give you a pack of nacho chips mix in along with the shredded nacho cheese and spicy southwest dressing (the typical minimally spicy chipotle flavour sauce available at most fast food places). + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!
2. Spicy Thai Salad (Top Right)
The spicy thai is McD's asian style salad as they use wonton style chips and an asian sesame dressing. When mixed together it tastes kinda sweet (not spicy at all). They also include the usual mixed greens along with some red peppers and carrots from what I remember. Not bad, especially if you like sweeter, honey garlic type asian flavours. + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken!

3. Mighty Caeser Salad (Bottom Left)
WTF McDonald's, there is nothing mighty about this salad at all. It is your typical ceaser salad that comes with caeser dressing and a pack of croutons. Nothing wrong with this salad, just that it's not mighty at all. It also comes with some small bacon pieces (not the bacon bits from street meat), cheese and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken. However, this salad is the most unoriginal and least satisfying of the 4. "WEAKSAUCE!" ..no pun intended lol
4. Tuscan Salad (Bottom Right)
The tuscan salad is in my opinion the best tasting salad that McD's has to offer. I was quite impressed by the salad that came with mixed greens, grape tomatoes and cheese. They also give you a pack of dried cranberries (aka craisins!) and pine nuts. All of this mixed together with the Yogurt creamy garlic dressing is bommmmb! + your choice of crispy or grilled chicken

McDonald's has done quite well with this salad promotion, so go get them before the coupon expires on June 13, cause regular price at $6.79 + tax is not worth getting ever for a fast food salad. In addition, until first week of September 2011, Mcdonald's also has $1 any size soft drinks (XL largest) and $1 any size Iced Coffees (L largest,flavours: regular, caramel, vanilla-best one!). The iced coffees are good for this price (don't waste your money at timmy's or starbucks if you just wanna get an iced coffee).
BONUS: how to eat a FAST FOOD SALAD the proper way!

The Burger's Priest.

2011-05-13T17:27:00.000-04:00

burgers!... I recently tried a burger place that has the tastiest burger that I have tried in Toronto. My friend Peter raved about this burger for weeks before convincing me to go and try it for myself. We made the drive down to the Queen East where Burger Priest is located and there was already a lineup of about 4-5 people on a Wednesday at 11:35 (5 mins after they open!).

Aside from the fresh beef they use daily for their patties, what makes the burger really tasty is what they call "The Option." The Option is a deep fried portabello mushroom that is stuffed with cheese. I tried their signature burger: "The Priest" ($9.99 + tax) which is a cheese burger with all the regular toppings + this giant deep fried cheese stuff portabello mushroom. Every single bite is delicious and the cheese just melts out of the deep fried mushroom. It's quite expensive at 10 bucks just for a burger, but if you're gonna come here and get a burger, you gotta get "The Priest." They also sell the Option by itself for $7.99 + tax. They are also cash only and closed on Sundays.

The Burger's Priest
1636 Queen Street East
Toronto M4L 1G3
647-346-0617

Saigon Star.

2010-05-18T18:02:00.013-04:00

beer crab... My friend Florence recently got into a design school in San Francisco called FIDM (congrats!), so of course we had to go out and celebrate with some good food. She decided on going to a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Star, mainly to get the Beer Crab dish that they serve. I had never tried this beer crab previously and was looking forward to a trying a crab cooked inside a broth/ soup made of beer. There were 4 of us (my friends Jess and Dave also), and we ordered about 3 dishes to share.

We ordered a Beer Crab Hot Pot dish ($39.95 + tax/tip for large), which was the definite highlight of the meal. It was literally a giant crab cooked in a large pot with a soup made with beer. The soup itself tasted awesome with lots of crab flavour mixed with a slight taste of beer. There was plenty of flavour in the soup, which was also loaded with vermicelli (which soaked up all the flavour too). Florence taught us how to eat this dish and here's the instructions:

Split the Crab up and using the tools they give you (ie. crab cracker..lol.i dunno if that's what it's called), take out as much meat as you can.
Pour out bowls of the soup (including everything in it, vermicelli, veggies, etc.)
Place lots of crab meat pieces (from step 1) into each individual bowl and enjoy!

This type of dish is perfect when it is colder outside, as the meal is really hearty and even with the beer in it, it make's you feel nice and warm inside after you eat it.haha. In addition to the beer crab we also wanted some variety and ordered a Vegetable Hot Pot ($9.50 + tax/tip), Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50 + tax/tip) and french bread ($1.50/each + tax/tip) to go with the curry. The vegetable hot pot was a pretty big portion of mixed vegetables (including broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, bok choi, etc) and vermicelli cooked with lots of flavour, tasted kind of like some satay type sauce. The dish was a little oily, but very good anyways. The beef brisket was also really good and it came in a pretty big portion. They warm the french bread up before they serve it so it is nice, soft and goes awesome with the curry. Unfortunately we were all pretty full from the beer crab, haha, so we didn't eat too much of the curry.

Since we came here to get beer crab, we also had to get some beer to drink along with the meal. We had to stick with Viet beer at a Viet restaurant, so we ordered 4 Tiger beers ($4.50/each + tax/tip). Florence also ordered a Vietnamese Ice Coffee ($3.50 + tax/tip). Saigon Star is located in Richmond Hill in a plaza on Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie (there is also a HSBC in the plaza and it's across the street just West of Commerce Gate). The unique beer crab dish is definitely worth checking out.

Saigon Star Restaurant
113-330 Highway 7 East
Richmond Hill, ON
905-731-7221

Harvey's 2 Original Burgers for $5.

2010-05-18T08:24:00.003-04:00

burgers... Harvey's is currently holding a deal for their Original Burgers. Until May, 30 2010, you can grab 2 Original Burgers for $5 + tax (no coupon needed). I found this deal on RFD and apparently many locations are not advertising this, but if you ask them most places should honour this deal. I haven't been to Harvey's in awhile, but this is a pretty good deal considering how much bigger and better Harvey's burgers are compared to McDonald's (and you can load on the toppings!). Also: Harvey's free original burger day hasn't been advertised yet, but it should be coming soon (last year it was on May 24).

Golden Thai.

2010-05-17T17:13:00.006-04:00

thai... For the past 5 weeks, I've been doing a placement for Physiotherapy at St. Mike's Hospital and in the last week, Jaimie, the Physiotherapist I'm working under, generously treated me and some students to lunch! We decided to check out a place called Golden Thai on Church street, which is conveniently located walking distance from St. Mike's Hospital (and Eaton Centre). It is a pretty busy place for lunch. The inside looks pretty nice with traditional looking decorations throughout the restaurant. The seating arrangement is quite spacious and the atmosphere seems more relaxed compared to other busy lunch places around the area.

Upon being seated, we received lunch menus, which is what we all ordered from. There was a list of about 10 items (ranging from $7.95 + tax/tip- $9.95 + tax/tip) including things like Pad Thai, Salmon Curry, Pattaya Chicken/Shrimp/Beef. There were also Combo Options where you get to choose different items to go along with fried rice, noodles (yes, both noodles and rice!) and a salad (1 item- $5.95+ tax tip, 1 item + Vegetable Spring Roll- $6.95 + tax/tip, 2 items + Vegetable Spring Roll- $7.95 + tax/tip, 3 items + vegetable spring roll-$9.95 + tax/tip). There was a list of items you could choose from which included: Ginger Chicken, Lime Leaf Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork, Butterfly Shrimp, Spicy Calamari, Grilled Eggplant, Peanut Tofu.

I ordered the Pad Thai Plate ($7.95 + tax/tip, pictured top right), which came with shrimp, chicken, pad thai noodle, some veggies and a vegetable spring roll + a spicy/sweet dipping sauce. It also came with typical crushed peanuts that come with Pad Thai. I found that the Pad Thai noodles were a little too dry and was lacking some flavour, as I ended up dumping all the spring roll dipping sauce into the noodles. The portion was not too big either. There were about 2-3 pieces of shrimp wrapped around a deep fried dough, making it crispy as you bit into the shrimp.

Everybody else ordered the Combo Option (mentioned above) with 2 Items + fried, noodles fried rice, some veggies and a Vegetable Spring Roll ($7.95 + tax/tip, pictured middle left and bottom). The first impression of these combos were that the portions were huge. They piled on plenty of everything. Everyone different things including ginger beef, eggplants, peanut tofu, etc (as mentioned above). Most people at our table who ordered these combos had some trouble finishing it all or ended up only eating some!

Golden Thai is a decent place to have a nice quick lunch if you are in the downtown area as it is walking distance from Eaton Centre. The food isn't the greatest for a Thai place, but the prices are quite cheap as all the lunch menu items are below $10 (before tax/tip) and the place itself is nice and spacious (good place to go with a larger group of people and make reservations).

Parking: park on the street (on Richmond), it is downtown though, so don't expect free parking around here

Golden Thai
105 Church Street
Toronto, Ontario
416-868-6668

Bangkok Garden.

2010-04-29T22:06:00.012-04:00

thai... last weekend was my friend Pris' birthday and she invited a bunch of people out and we all went to a Thai restaurant downtown called Bangkok Garden. From outside, it looks pretty small, but once you walk into the dining area its very spacious and nicely decorated with lots of wood everywhere (really cool lights that look like wooden birdcages too!). Looking through the menu there were lots of different dishes including curries, noodles and grilled items as well (there were dips with many of their items as well, lol). We decided to order a bunch of appetizers to share first including a Satay ($7.95 + tax/tip), which were assorted thin marinated pieces of meat (pork, chicken and beef) on a stick with a vinegary type of dip and a peanut dipping sauce on the side. The satay was alright and I definitely prefer the dipping sauce. For appetizers, we also got the Thai Calamari ($7.95 + tax/tip) and Steamed Mussels ($7.95 + tax/tip). The calamari was pretty simple, as they were literally just normal deep fried calamari rings with some chili dip on the side (normal calamari rings taste awesome though!). The steamed mussels didn't really stand out to me, although it came with 10 of them and some spicy sauce on the side. For $7.95, it's an ok deal as you can compare it to mussels at Richtree where it costs $6.89 + tax/tip for 1/2 a pound (about 10-12 mussels).

I decided to be safe and go for a curry (which I knew would like for sure), I got the Emerald Curry of Chicken (green curry with chicken, $19.95 + tax/tip). A bunch of us also got the Tamarind Beef Curry (a tangier curry with beef and potatoes, $19.95 + tax/tip) and Vegetable Curry (vegetables and tofu in red curry, $16.95 + tax/tip). They also brought our whole table two huge bowls of rice to share and there were unlimited refills for the rice. The curries were all pretty normal, nothing special about them, especially for the nearly $20 price tag. My green curry chicken was rated at 4/5 peppers on the menu, although it was only moderately spicy, so if you like real spicy make sure you ask them to make your curry extra spicy. Pris had previously been here and suggested the Grilled Cornish Hen and Lemon Grass ($19.95 + tax/tip), which my friend Chris got. This dish was sick, it was a deboned and marinated cornish hen grilled really nicely. They were perfectly grilled and very tender pieces of the cornish hen. It also came with an orange dipping sauce, but the cornish hen itself was good enough. Also ordered were the Pattaya Grill (grilled marinated chicken breast with chili sauce on the side, $18.95) and the Ginger Duck (stir fried pieces of duck with ginger, garlic, onion, peppers, $21.95). The ginger duck came with a surprisingly generous amount of duck and went really well with rice as well.

Bangkok Garden is a decent Thai restaurant located downtown at Elm and Yonge. The food is alright and the place itself is very nice inside. It is a good place to go if you are looking to go out for to a nice Thai restaurant with a nice setting downtown. The place seemed pretty busy on a saturday night, so making a reservation wouldn't be a bad idea. Bangkok Garden is easily accessible from the Dundas TTC subway station. Although, I would suggest trying out Xaphire on Eglinton, which is pretty much half the price and equally as good or better food (check out the Xaphire Review).

Bangkok Garden
18 Elm Street, Toronto
M5G 1G7
416-977-6748

Baskin-Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night.

2010-04-27T19:50:00.002-04:00

free ice cream!... Tomorrow night (Wednesday April 28 2010), Baskin-Robbins is holding their annual 31 cent scoop night across Canada. It's going to be a nice sunny day tomorrow, so be sure to head over to a Baskin-Robbins after work or school (the deal runs from 5pm- 10 pm) and get some 31 cent scoops of ice cream (if you get a waffle cone, it's like $1 extra, but worthhh it!!!).

Last year, I went (2009 31 Cent Scoop Night Review) and depending on the location, you might run into a lineup. From my experience though, they are pretty good with trying to make sure everyone gets their 31 cent scoops.

Not sure what flavours to get?! I suggest: Jamoca Almond Fudge (lots of chocolate and nuts) or Raspberry Cheese Louise (chunks of actual cheesecake in icecream!).

For locations across Canada check out the Facebook Event for 31 Cent Scoop Night.

Greek Crostini Recipe.

2010-04-26T19:20:00.009-04:00

WRITTEN and EATEN by Felicia Mcclinton

If You Don’t Make these Healthy Mediterranean Recipes Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

Ingredients

1000 grams of bread
200 grams of Greek Kalamata Olives
100 grams of Greek Feta Cheese
8 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic
Salt and Pepper

This recipe is perfect for 8 persons and you can prepare it in 35 minutes. It is a very flavorful and sumptuous dish inspired by the Greek feta croutons and black olives. This is also one of the easiest recipes to prepare.

Preparation

Make 1.5-inch thick slices of bread. Place the sliced bread in the oven or toaster. Rub garlic on each slice of bread after toasting.Meanwhile, cut the feta cheese into small cubes. Cut the olives into quarters or halves. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the cubed feta cheese and olives and season with olive oil. Make sure the toasted breads are still hot before sprinkling the cheese and olive mixture. Serve and Enjoy.

Nutritional Value:

Food	Gr	Kcal	Fat	Carb	Pro	Fib	Water
White bread 00	1000	2900	0	680	80	30	290
Black olives	200	470	33	18.4	23.6	0	116.4
Greek cheese, feta	100	264	21.28	4.09	14.21	0	55.22
Olive oil	20	176.8	20	0	0	0	0
Garlic	2	2.98	0.01	0.66	0.13	0.04	1.17
Salt	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pepper	2	5.1	0.07	1.3	0.22	0.53	0.21
Total	1326	3818.88	74.36	704.45	118.16	30.57	463
A head (8)	165.75	477.36	9.3	88.06	14.77	3.82	57.88
Per 100 grams	100	288	5.61	53.13	8.91	2.31	34.92

Felicia Mcclinton is a Guest Star/ Guest Writer for Good Food Toronto. She writes for mediterraneanrecipes.org. Her personal hobby blog focuses on cooking tips to eat like a real Mediterranean and eat healthy to prevent diseases.

Ritz Caribbean Food.

2010-04-25T16:06:00.005-04:00

jerk chicken... A great place to go for a cheap and quick lunch is Ritz Caribbean Food. They serve a variety of jamaican food including rotis, jerk chicken and patties. I walk by this place pretty often immediately noticed the sign advertising their $3.99 Jerk Chicken special (everyday 11am-3pm). This is for a small Jerk Chicken dinner, which includes a couple pieces of jerk chicken served on top of rice and coleslaw on the side. They also pour some kind of gravy on top, which goes great with the rice. The chicken itself is moderately spicy and you can taste all the different spices used to cook it. For those who can't handle spicy foods, for this deal, you can also get BBQ chicken instead of the Jerk chicken. This is a great deal for a quick takeout lunch when I'm downtown, but if I'm around North York, I still prefer the jerk chicken from Allwyn's Bakery (esp. the jerk sandwich!). The location I go to is at Yonge and College, although they have a few other locations in downtown toronto (listed below).

the $3.99 small jerk chicken deal is served in a square styrofoam box, but if you buy a small jerk chicken at regular price, they give you more in a larger rectangular styrofoam box (still a good deal though!)

Ritz Caribbean Food
Locations:
450 Yonge St.
45 Overlea Blvd.
211 Yonge St
606 Yonge St
77 Lower Jarvis St

Better and Better Bakery Cafe.

2010-03-30T16:44:00.009-04:00

bakery/cafe... If you like to chill or study at places like starbucks or tim hortons and think its too expensive, you should definitely check out Better and Better Bakery Cafe in Korea Town. This family run bakery/cafe is always quiet, with plenty of tables and seats. They serve freshly baked goods including muffins, bagels, pastries and fresh home made soups. The best thing about this place is that there is Free Wifi, which makes it great for those who like to study at coffee shops.

I always get bagels there, which are freshly baked. They are super soft and chewy! With cream cheese, the bagels are $1.85 and for an extra $0.50 they will even add vegetables (which usually cost $0.50 each at Tim Horton's. My friend Florence always gets coffee ($1.85 for a large mug) and according to her, the hazelnut flavoured coffee is the best with their homemade chocolate chip cookies ($0.55/cookie). These cookies were soft, chewy, had plenty of chocolate chips in it and you could taste a bit of salt added which made the cookie sweeter as a hole (although they are pretty average for size). Better and Better Bakery Cafe also has a daily homemade soup and daily specials for breakfast and lunch (ex. $5, taxes included for a sandwich and coffee, between 11am- 3pm everyday).

Better and Better Bakery Cafe is a great quiet place to study or chill at in Korea Town (just west of Bathurst, on the north side of Bloor, across from Honest Ed's). All of their baked goods including bagels and pastries are freshly baked and affordable. Every time I've been there, there have always been plenty of seats and I never get hassled for staying too long (ex. >2 hrs). In addition to this, the Free Wifi makes this place much better than typical coffee shops like Starbucks and Tim Horton's. They are open until 10 pm everyday.

Better and Better Bakery Cafe
586 Bloor St. W.
416-530-4666

Mela Cafe.

2010-03-20T14:32:00.004-04:00

WRITTEN and EATEN by Hu-Yan Leung & Marron Law

Italian… Mela is an Italian, vegetarian/vegan restaurant located on 7 Yorkville Road, a 5 minute walk from the Bloor-Yonge station. The eatery is literally in a garage and the garage door is often left open. Little round stone tables fill the small dining area. Mela serves some delicious dishes, not the stereotypical vegetarian stuff. They place the food on display, freshly pre-made and then heat it up to serve. Everything is topped off with their famous tomato sauce, which is so good, they sell it for $7.99/litre. Made with organic and fresh ingredients, their menu changes seasonally, but has some staple items such as fair-trade organic coffee and some desserts. Often times you see the chef returning with some fresh groceries when you’re sitting there enjoying your meal. The owner and chef here is the former chef of the Four Seasons and Il Fornello, and the food here at Mela reflects his impressive résumé.

Previously, we’ve ordered the spaghetti frittata (spaghetti pie), potato & mushroom pie (bottom right) and butternut squash pasta (bottom left). All of these dishes were very authentic, perfectly flavoured and tasted great. Filled with lots of veggies and herbs, eating here made us feel very healthy.

However, out of all the dishes, our favourite was the potato & mushroom pie. The earthiness of the mushrooms complimented the starchy flavour of the potatoes amazingly. As we dug deeper into the pie, we discovered bits of cheddar cheese which added just enough saltiness. For a cheese lover, the cheese may not have seemed enough, but it was actually the perfect amount. It was such a change from the overwhelming oiliness of Italian-American restaurants. This time, we ordered the potato & mushroom pie again along with lasagna with spinach and ricotta (bottom right). The lasagna was not your traditional heavy, cheesy and meaty lasagna. It was light, healthy and made me feel good about eating it. As mentioned above, they top everything off with their famous tomato sauce. This tomato is sweet and sour, with chunks of tomato found throughout the sauce. Although they put it in everything, it is not overwhelming as it is so light. You could seriously drink it like a soup! Mela also has some amazing desserts. Previously, we’ve ordered the cannelloni (cylindrical shell filled with cream and dried fruits) and their famous butter tart. The butter tart was seriously the best I’ve ever had. It was the perfect amount of sweet and sticky all in a buttery and flaky tart shell. As tempting as it was to order it again this time, we decided to order the pumpkin pie (bottom left) since it is a seasonal item. The pie was definitely not your traditional pumpkin pie. As usual, it was very light. It tasted of a blend of spices such as nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and was the texture of a cheesecake combined with a mousse. Like the butter tart, the pie crust was perfect.

The price for each dish is around $6-$8 and the desserts range from $3-$5. The prices may seem expensive for the portion size, but it is definitely worth it for the quality and taste of the food. Next time, we will definitely be trying their famous panini.

Mela Cafe
7 Yorkville Avenue
Toronto, ON
M4W 1L1
(416) 916-0619‎

Hu-Yan Leung and Marron Law are both Guest Stars/ Guest Writers for Good Food Toronto. They are both students who live and enjoy all types of food in Toronto. Marron is a student at York Mills CI, while Hu-Yan (who is my bro) goes to York University and shares my love for deals (especially free ones!).