May 2014

In Downtown

EAT! Vancouver 2014: Food + Cooking Festival

May 31, 2014

EAT! Vancouver is a food and cooking festival held in BC Place on May 30th till June 1st, 2014. Adult admission is $15 and a lot of people wonder if it’s worth it. There are tons of exhibitors around, celebrity chefs and a few seminars to attend. To get the full experience, you should plan a few hours here to make sure you check out the Food Network Celebrity stage and the cheese seminars. Take a look at the schedule online on their website to plan it out.

Here are some old write ups about the past few EAT! Vancouver festivals that I’ve been to:

The Dairy Farmers of Canada host cheese seminars and demonstrations throughout the day. This particular image was for Friday evening, so the times change each day.

The seminars fit about 80 people and are always full by the time it starts. If you have some time to kill, might as well learn a bit and try a bunch of cheeses.

If you don’t have time to do a seminar, you can always stop by their tables of cheese samplers. They have so many cheeses to sample! Blue cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, havarti, etc.

If you are a Food Network fan, you must go to the Celebrity Stage! You might be able to catch Rob Feenie, Chuck Hughes, Lynn Crawford, Vikram Vij and Ned Bell.

On Friday evening, I got a change to see Vikram Vij!

The Bites area is where there are a few restaurants serving up appetizer portions of their signature items. You need to purchase tasting tickets to be able to redeem them for the food.

These restaurants include:

Basil Pasta Bar
Beavertails Pastry
Bella Gelateria
Café Kathmandu
Dunn’s Famous Restaurant
Gramercy Grill
Jamaican Pizza Jerk
Max’s Restaurant – Cuisine of the Philippines
Pacific Bottleworks Company
The Glowbal Collection

I actually find this list a bit small because in past years, they would have a lot more options.

The area was a bit sparse and disappointing. I was waiting to see what options there were before purchasing tasting tickets, but I decided not to.

The booths were similar to past years, you will find some of the bigger booths offering a large amount of samples. Bosa Foods is always my favourite!

You can sample food and buy some products.

They even make lattes for free.

Urban Fare always has a nice display and this year its a bit larger. There are chocolate samples, caviar, and a few other items.

They also have a corner for exotic fruits to purchase. Square watermelon, mangosteen, etc.

Liberte has a large truck and lots of people were lining up since you get a lot of yogurt.

They let you have one opened package and 4 additional ones to take home!

If you want more yogurt, Oikos has a truck as well.

You choose your flavour of yogurt ad granola toppings of your choice.

Lots of samples to be had at the vendors.

Some places even have discounted products, which is great.

Even Starbucks makes an appearance with their Refreshers.

Overall, this year’s EAT! Vancouver experience was alright. If you have been to ones in the past, you really aren’t missing out on much.

Website: http://www.eat-vancouver.com/

In Brunch

The Drake Hotel: Amazing Scones in Toronto

May 31, 2014

I was meeting up with BaguetteGirl and her other half in Toronto and they took me to The Drake Hotel to eat some brunch.

The brunch menu is available on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am till 4pm. Whether you are an early riser or wake up past 12, you will make it on time for brunch.

Coffee ($2.95) is a must in the morning.

Warm Scone Plate ($9.50) has the scones, fresh berries, preserves, and cream. These were some awesome scones! It was crispy on the outside and a bit warm and fluffy on the inside. Probably the best scones I’ve ever had.

Southern Fried Chicken + Waffle ($15.95) has an herb waffle, Niagara cherry jam, crème fraîche and maple syrup. I found the cherry jam to be quit sour so it didn’t compliment the chicken or the waffles. The waffle was soggy but the chicken was really delicious and moist.

Caleb Eggs Benny ($15.95) has house smoked salmon, 2 poached eggs, hollandaise sauce on arugula and a poppy-seed bagel. It is also served with home fries.

Drake Rancheros ($13.95) has 2 poached eggs under the tomato braised beans, arugula and feta. It’s served with crispy tostada, salsa and sour cream.

Overall, it’s a pretty cool place to just hang out for brunch. The hotel has a young vibe and the food is pretty good especially their scones.

We Rate The Drake Hotel:

Address:
1150 Queen St W
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.thedrakehotel.ca/

In Chinese

Lee: Restaurant of Internationally Acclaimed Super-Chef Susur Lee

May 30, 2014

Lee was created by Susur Lee. He has appeared on a few Food Network shows such as – Chopped Canada, Top Chef Canada, Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef America, and Restaurant Makeover to name a few.

The dishes served here have modern Asian & French influences. I came here to dine with Flo, Fabo, and M. I tried coming here a few years ago, but it wasn’t open on Sundays, so we went elsewhere. This time, I was determined to dine here.

When asking for hot water, it comes in such a cute tea pot with some lemon slices on the side.

Flo wanted a non-alcoholic fruity drink, so she asked the server for a nice suggestion. He basically just surprised here with this beautiful creation.

Singaporean-style Slaw ($20) states that it serves two, but its pretty big. We shared it with a group of 4 and it was no problem. It has green onions, taro root, rice vermicelli, cucumber, carrots, jicama, daikon, tomatoes, sesame seeds, ginger, peanuts, edible flowers, purple, basil, coriander, daikon sprouts, shallots, pickled red onion, with their salted plum dressing and onion oil. It was like a garden! The dish actually looked more impressive when it arrived at the table, but the server helped us mix it, so I missed getting the shot. If you are dining here, this is a must have dish. It’s refreshing and has a ton of flavour.

Top Chef Green Curry Chicken ($28) has crispy multi-grain rice cake, pine nuts, spiced tomato jam, oven dried pineapple, and chili mint. This was the Top Chef Award Winning Dish. The dish was ok, it was definitely creative but it lacked depth in the sauce.

Korean Style Marinated Beef Striploin ($35) has garlic mushrooms, roasted pear, blue cheese & dill sauce, topped with arugula. The beef is 8oz, so it a good size. The striploin was tender and flavourful. It didn’t taste very Korean at all.

Spice Crusted Diver Scallop ($28) has crispy bacon, squash purée, pomelo, and spiced Chinese sweet bean pesto. The scallops were seared perfectly, but we didn’t like the combination of squash and pomelo.

Assam Thai Satay ($25) comes with 2 skewers of chicken, shrimp, and beef. The sauces that comes with it are chili mint, peanut sauce, and spicy mango salsa. It was pricey for those 6 skewers.

Black Pepper Charred Tuna Sashimi & Spicy Tartare ($28) has soya bean, tonnato sauce, and lotus root crisps.

It was a delicious dish! The quality of the tuna can really be tasted. Good mix of ingredients.

Peking & Char Sui Duck ($29) has Beijing duck garnish, steamed pancake, and foie gras pâté. This was one of the last dishes to come and we thought it could have come earlier in the meal. By this point, we were already stuffed.

It is a fun dish to put together as you have everything to make the wraps. Just mix a little bit of everything in the steamed pancake and you are set. It was a nice twist on the original duck wraps. I really loved the fried bean curd because it adds a nice crunch.

Overall, the one dish that blew our minds was the Singaporean-style slaw. Every dish that came out after that wasn’t as exciting. They tasted good, but not as much excitement.

We Rate Lee:

Address:
603 King St W
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.susur.com/lee/

In Brunch

Thyme to Indulge: Not This Time

May 29, 2014

Thyme to Indulge Catering has a little cute restaurant on Main Street. They are closed on Monday and Tuesdays, but they are open the rest of the week from 9am til 4pm serving breakfast and lunch.

They serve brunch on the weekend to showcase fresh local ingredients. I came here since it was voted one of the top brunch places according to a few websites.

It was packed on a Saturday around 11am and there was a 30 minute line up for a table of 3. Since I do love brunch and I am still trying to find the best brunch in town, I convinced me friends to just wait because its supposed to be good.

The interior is cozy. They seated us near the back of the bistro and the space was a bit cramped for the 3 of us sitting at a 2 person sized table. The service started out poorly as we were not give menus, no water, or a friendly welcome. It wasn’t until we approached a server that we finally got menus and water. My friends were pretty pissed off.

Crab Cake Benedict ($14) has two locally farmed poached eggs, two dungeness crab cakes, fresh dill hollandaise sauce with parmesan breakfast potatoes and tomato provencal. They have had rave reviews on this particular item.

CanuckGirl ordered her egg soft poached, but unfortunately, one of the soft poached eggs had bits of shell in it, and the other was more like hard poached. She was not impressed with the eggs at all. She really enjoyed the potatoes.

Pork Belly BLT ($13) has cured and sous-vide pork belly served with lettuce, tomato, sliced avocado, pickled cucumber and bacon aioli on a toasted house made brioche bun served with breakfast potatoes.

The portion of the pork belly was pretty small. compared to the whole size of the bun. The pork belly did taste fantastic, but was pricey for $13. The potatoes that came with this dish was good.

Corned Beef Hash ($13) has house cured beef brisket served with sautéed onions, peppers and kale, breakfast potatoes topped with two locally farmed poached eggs and house made hollandaise.

TaiwaneseGirl ordered her eggs soft poached, but it came back as hard poached eggs, so she got the kitchen to remake it. Sadly, the second time the dish came back, the eggs were super super soft poached that parts of the egg white were not cooked. She decided not to complain because by the time she got the 2nd dish, everyone else was done their meal.

Overall, it wasn’t a good experience. None of us left satisfied. I really wanted to love this place, but the poor service and the quality of the food did not meet our expectations.

We Rate Thyme to Indulge Bistro:

Address:
2858 Main Street
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.thymetoindulgecatering.com/

In Filipino

Kumare: Yummy Filipino Food

May 28, 2014

My go-to Filipino Restaurant is Kumare in Richmond. The prices are fair and the food is really good if you know what to order. I’ve probably been here at least 5 times already and I haven’t been disappointed. Here was my previous visit.

There are lots of people who come here for dinner. Sometimes theres a few large groups inside, so I would suggest having a reservation if you want to avoid waiting in line.

Calamansi Juice was really good and tasted fresh. It even came in a cute mason jar.

Small Garlic Rice ($2) is good for an individual person, the size is one small bowl. If you have a group, it’s best to get the large for $4 to get a better deal.

Beef Mami ($7) was ordered by accident, we wanted the beef congee, but the waitress mistook our order. Since we already waited a long time for our food, we decided to keep it.

It has egg noodles, cabbage, egg, beef, then garnished with green onions and garlic. It was pretty good and the broth reminded me of chicken noodle soup.

Kumare Fish ($10) is a Basa filet topped with garlic sauce. There are a few other sauces you can have on top, but we choose the garlic one. Garlic is so good.

Beef Caldereta ($10) has beef, shank, potatoes, and bell peppers braised in tomato sauce. It was pretty good. The beef was tender and the dish went well with garlic rice.

BBQ Pork ($3.25) has a 10″ BBQ pork skewer, marinated and grilled street style. The char on this is very delicious and will probably be one of the top places for pork skewers. Highly Recommended.

Sizzling Tofu ($12) has tofu, green onions, and bell peppers served on a hot plate. After ordering it a few times at Kumare, we never get tired of this dish. It’s true that it is greasy, but it’s so flavourful! Highly recommended.

Overall the food was good, but this particular visit, the service was very slow. They seemed quite overwhelmed by the packed dining room with only 2 servers.

We Rate Kumare:

Address:
8130 Park Rd
Richmond, BC

Website:
http://www.kumare.ca/

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In British Columbia

Panago: Nacho Pizza

May 27, 2014

Earlier in May, Panago was promoting the Nacho Pizza. This was an interesting pizza they were promoting since a few years ago, they launched the Beef Taco Pizza and it’s still on the menu.

It’s a nice pizza to spice up the Summer. Unfortunately, they seem to have discontinued the pizza and is no longer on their website. I am sure if you really wanted it, you can request it by putting the same ingredients together.

Nacho Pizza (Medium $13) has fresh salsa, ground beef, red onions, jalapeño peppers, tomatoes, black olives, mozzarella, cheddar cheese served with a side of sour cream.

M and I thought this was pretty good. The spiciness of the jalapeño, went well with everything else. It’s like a nacho but without the chips. Panago is always coming up with different pizza themes and should be interesting to see whats next.

Website: http://www.panago.com/

In Late Night

The Narrow Lounge: Hidden Gem on Main Street

May 26, 2014

Where do you want to go for a great time with friends with cheap drinks? Find the Narrow Lounge by looking for the red light and the SUPER SKETCHY entrance. When my coworkers took me here, I thought it was like a place to buy drugs or something.

Once you get through this entrance, you will discover that it’s not a bad place at all. It’s a popular place and word is mostly spread by word of mouth. It’s been around since 2008.

It’s a dark lounge indoors and it fills up quite quickly on Fridays after work. Since we were sitting in offices indoors all day, we needed a glimpse of the sun, so we opted to sit outside on the patio.

The patio has so much characteristic. It opened up in early May and it’s here to stay for the Summer.

There’s not too many seats, but it’s good if you come early to snag a table for your buddies. Plus, you get a cool view of these tiki masks.

Sol ($3) seriously what a good deal. It was the special of the day. I’m impressed by the price of their beer menu too, most beers are under $7. If you really want to drink and not break your wallet, come here!

Fish Tacos (2 for $5) has tequila and lime marinated tilapia, cabbage, tomato, cilantro, and a creamy chipotle lime sauce on small corn tortillas. My coworker thought these were amazing and could have ordered a bunch more of these.

Mac and Cheese with pulled pork was what Mags ordered. It was a decent mac and cheese. You can add different types of protein on top, but it can become pricey. Not the best mac and cheese, but you can see for yourself.

Nachos ($14) had layers of cheese, jalapeño, olives, tomatoes, and salsa and sour cream on the side. Good size for nachos and fed 4 people perfectly. It was a bit burnt but it was still so good.

Overall, we all had a great time! Drinks on the patio and some finger food was perfect for after work. The service can be a bit slow on the patio since the servers aren’t always outside, but it’s not too bad.

We Rate Narrow Lounge:

Address:
1898 Main St Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.narrowlounge.com/

In Chinese

Western Lake: King Crab + Duck Dinner for 10

May 25, 2014

Last month, it was a crazy time for Chinese Restaurants in Vancouver with the arrival of the Alaskan King Crab. It was a short season, so if you missed it, you will either have to pay a lot of wait till next year.

They had 3 set menus that you can choose from. The prices during the time that we went were quite fair and you get a lot of food. If you want to opt out of the menu and do à la carte, you can as well and build your own menu. Perhaps the crab and few extra dishes on the side. It will be considerably cheaper. Good for smaller groups of people.

The set meal options are below, it’s good for large groups.

For the 8 of us, we went with the King Crab and Beijing Duck Dinner for 10 people. It can feed more than 10, 12 is a good number too.

It includes:

Crispy Duck Skin with Crepes
Duck meat with lettuce wraps
king crab legs steamed with garlic
Shredded duck meat soup with dried scallops
King Crab body in supreme soy sauce bedded with rice dough
Diced beef tenderloin with deep-fried milk puffs
Dried fish maw and shredded ham with greens
sautéed and deep-fried sole fillets
Egg whites fried rice with dried scallops or baked rice with seafood
Tossed noodle in crab sauce
Baked tapioca pudding

For $398, it was not bad.

The crab we chose was pretty big. It’s always fun to get someone to pose with the crab before dinner. My grandpa did the honour of doing that since he’s never had Alaskan King Crab before.

When you arrive at the table, there are complimentary peanuts and pickled vegetables ready for you to munch on.

Crispy Duck Skin with Crepes was the first dish to arrive. The duck skin is crispy and lays above some fried shrimp chips.

You get the duck with the crepes, and a few vegetables and sauce to put together.

Once you have what you want to have in your wrap, you snack it on top of each other, roll it up and start eating. It was really good!

Duck meat with lettuce wraps was the next dish to arrive. They don’t waste any of the duck. Most of the duck meat goes into this dish.

You scoop the filling into the lettuce wrap and eat away.

I roll it up like a spring roll to keep any of the filling from spilling out. I love the crunch of the fresh lettuce and the savoury duck.

Fish Maw soup arrived at the table and they divide up the portions among the table.

I love this type of soup, but some people may not like it after finding out fish maw is the air bladder of a fish that controls its buoyancy. Don’t be afraid, it actually tastes like nothing but has a consistency of jelly.

King crab legs steamed with garlic was the dish we were all waiting for. Deliciously drenched with all the garlic. So good!

King Crab body in supreme soy sauce bedded with rice dough came after the steamed legs.

Diced beef tenderloin with deep-fried milk puffs was surprisingly delicious! The beef was very flavourful and the milk puffs were creamy and delicious.

Dried fish maw and shredded ham with bok choy.

Sautéed and deep-fried sole fillets with broccoli. The sautéed sole fillets tasted good with the broccoli, but the deep-fried cole wasn’t that good.

Baked rice with seafood is another amazing dish made of the king crab parts. There are still bits of meat baked in the crab head shell. It is topped off with the delicious Portuguese sauce.

Alternatively, you can order the egg whites fried rice with dried scallops.

Tossed noodle in crab sauce is yummy. It has the sauce from the crab dishes and is very flavourful.

Baked tapioca pudding is the last item to arrive and it’s definitely a treat.

They help you scoop a piece into the bowls for you and it’s really good.

Overall, the meal was great and one of the better places in town for Alaskan King Crab.

We Rate Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant:

Address:
4989 Victoria Dr
Vancouver, BC

In Brunch

Lola’s Kitchen: Brunch in Toronto

May 24, 2014

I came to Lola’s Kitchen about two years ago during my last visit to Toronto. I remember it being good and super busy during the weekends. Fabo, M and I came here on the Easter Long Weekend and they were closed on the Friday and Monday. But, it was good they were open on the Saturday and Sunday. I needed a brunch-fix.

Blackberry-Cherry Ginger Lime Soda (Small $3) they suggested we can top it off with some soda to make it a large. We didn’t mind and she highly recommended it.

Cranberry- Raspberry Limeade (Small $3) I did the same for this drink too. It didn’t dilute any of the drinks at all.

It was good and there are a few other daily juices on their special menu. The other one was orange juice.

Eggs Benny ($13) includes english muffin, grilled peameal bacon, two poached organic eggs, house made hollandaise and your choice of salad, frites or Lola’s home fries. Fabo chose the frites. She enjoyed this dish but she did enjoy the Mushroom benny more than the regular benny.

Brunch Burger ($16) has Ontario all beef burger, grilled peameal bacon, caramelized onions, Lola’s cheese blend, sweet pickles, housemade ketchup, garlic aioli, challah bun and a sunny organic egg with your choice of salad, frites or Lola’s home fries. M chose the homefries.

The burger looked so much better than the one I had last time. M really enjoyed the burger.

When you put the top of the bun on top, it looks huge! The patty is monstrous and all the extra meat was delicious.

Brunch Bowl ($13.50) is gluten-free. It has Lola’s home fries, baby spinach, caramelized onions, mushrooms, chorizo sausage, cheese curds and two organic eggs any style. I got my egg sunny side up.

It was good. A good size for brunch and I was very happy with it.

Overall, the brunch was pretty good and always get sunny side up eggs because the gooey yolk is so good! The downside of going to Lola’s is that the wait for your meal can be quite long. We waited for a long time before getting our food.
We Rate Lola’s Kitchen:

Address:
634 Church Street,
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.lolaskitchen.ca/

In Cafe

Aroma Espresso Bar: Coffee Time

May 23, 2014

M, Fabo and I were taking a very long stroll to the movie theatres near Eglinton. It took us a while to figure out its a long walk from Bloor and Younge. We took a break half way and went to Aroma Espresso Bar to have a drink.

We have seen several Aroma Espresso Bars around town. Aroma Espresso Bar actually first opened in Jerusalem in 1994, but it wasn’t until 2007 when the first Canadian store opened in Toronto in the Annex area.

It was a Sunday afternoon and this place was busy. They serve coffee, sandwiches, pastries, salads, and even breakfast.

Brewed coffee ($1.70) is made with their own house-blend of beans. It comes with a piece of milk chocolate.

Cappuccino ($3.95) is made with a short shot of espresso, blended with steamed milk, and topped with froth. It also comes with a piece of chocolate.

Mango Smoothie ($4.85) is apparently made with 100% real fruit. M thought it was ok, pretty average. But it was nice that it came with a piece of chocolate too.

Overall, it a nice place to stop by for a drink. We saw some people study and some other people catching up over drinks.

We Rate Aroma Espresso Bar:

Address:
1407 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.aroma.ca/

In Downtown

Mosaic: New Summer Menu

May 22, 2014

Mosaic Bar & Grille is located in the Hyatt Vancouver on Burrard and Georgia Street. They specialize in locally sourced produce, sustainable seafood and choice ingredients with careful and creative preparation.

As Summer is coming near, Mosaic has launched their new Summer Menu. Chef Heinrich and Chef Jo worked hard to put the menu together to showcase unique dishes with fresh in-season ingredients.

I was invited by Chef Heinrich to try the menu and I couldn’t help but drag Mandu along with me as she does love trying out new and fascinating dishes.

As usual, the meal starts off with complimentary biscuits that arrive as you wait for your meal. It’s fluffy and comes with butter.

Pemberton Beef Tartar ($16) has pickled fire roasted spring onion, water cress and a sesame tuile surrounding the soft sous vide egg yolk and beef tartar.

I found the mustard to really overpower the tender beef. I could only taste the intense mustard as it was hitting me in the face.

Avocado Terrine ($12) has watermelon radish, fava beans, fiddlehead ferns, and a lemon vinegar oil. It was great to see all the lovely vibrant colours from the fresh vegetables. Beautiful salad, but I felt the avocado terrine was lacking. It needed something salty and acidic to go with the bland taste of the terrine.

BC Gooseneck Barnacles ($14) comes with sherry, cream, green garlic, ramps and served with grilled crostini.

I have never had a gooseneck barnacle, but I am sure I did try this dish. It tasted really good with the broth. If you like seafood, you’ll like this dish.

Papayas ($16) has the white spot shrimp, cucumber, papaya puree, and cilantro lime fluid gel. This dish was beautiful and delicious. The shrimp was pretty darn delicious!

BC Ling Cod ($18) has artichoke confit, stinging nettles, and a lobster sauce. The ling cod was tender and had a nice crispy crust on the outside. The artichoke complimented nicely with the dish.

Squid Ink Casarecce ($20) has manilla clams, two river smoked chorizo, and english peas. Don’t be afraid of the black pasta, it tastes just like regular pasta. The sauce was delicious and so were all the clams.

Peace Country Lamb ($26) has buckwheat groats, fava beans, with a coffee jus. The lamb was medium rare and super tender! You know this is a good slab of lamb.

Baja Ocean Wise Scallops ($22) has grilled foraged ramps, sweet runner corona beans, and a fennel puree.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Pavlova is a meringue based dessert and it was very crispy and hard. I’ve never had pavlova before, but if I had to compare it to something it would be like a hard styrofoam.

Mosaic Chocolate Cake is always a must! The slice is huge and tastes really good.

Overall, some of the dishes are either a hit or a miss. What I liked about the menu is there are some pretty cool items you wouldn’t find easily on other menus around town like gooseneck barnacles.

We Rate Mosaic:

Address:
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://vancouver.hyatt.com/

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In Bubble Tea

Blossom Teas: Hidden in North Burnaby

May 21, 2014

There’s a new cafe in town! North Burnaby finally has another cafe that offers bubble tea and desserts. It’s right beside Mountain Shadow Pub. Years ago, this used to be a parking lots, but they have since built town homes and retail spaces.

Blossom Teas opened last year and they serve up Chinese style desserts. It’s quite unexpected here, but it’s a nice surprise because you would never expect this place to be here.

The interior is a bit small, so there really isn’t a lot of space for large groups. I did notice a lot of people were doing take out.

This is the drink menu and they have hot drinks, cold drinks, coffee, tea, etc.

Here are a few more dessert items. There’s a lot more, but I didn’t take photos of.

A cool feature is the darts area! Imagine sipping on bubble tea and watching your friend duke it out at darts.

New York style Cheesecake with a berry compote ($4.99) has the graham cracker crust with the cheesecake filling. Delicious and smooth.

Egg Pudding ($1.90) comes in a small container, but it was just the right amount.

Matcha Shake with mochi ($5.50) was quite large! The mochi on top was very soft. Pretty good matcha shake.

Large Super Mango Shaved Ice ($7.85) tasted pretty average. The mango chunks were room temperature, so it really clashed with the temperature of this dish since the shaved ice and ice cream were really cold.

Condensed Milk Toast ($5) was dripping with condensed milk and also came with more condensed milk on the side. It tasted ok.

Overall, pretty good desserts, bubble tea and snacks. My family just shared all of this. It’s always better to share to try a bit of everything.

We Rate Blossom Teas:

Address:
23-7198 Barnet Road
Burnaby BC

Website:
http://www.blossomteas.com/

In Downtown/Ryerson University

Scaddabush: Italian Kitchen and Bar in Toronto

May 20, 2014

An Easter Long Weekend in Toronto means a lot of people leave town, but M and I came to visit some friends, but realized a lot of restaurants were closed or fully booked with reservations. Looking at Open Table to see what was available, we got curious about Scaddabush on Younge Street. They also have a another location in Mississauga.

The are an Italian restaurant serving up meatballs, pasta, fresh mozzarella, and pizza.

The interior looked pretty cool. It’s also great for large groups because we saw a huge group come here for a birthday party. Maybe about 25 people.

They make all their Mozzarella in-house from 5pm – 11pm. They even tell you exactly who made it. It’s a nice personal touch. There is also a window where you can watch them make it.

Buratta ($11.98) is infused with honey and truffle cream, comes with focaccia crostini.

Straight Up Meatball comes shareable on focaccia crostini, cheese sauce, garlic chips, and fresh basil.It is about half a pound.

You have two choices to choose from:

Straight-Up Meatball (Classic) $12.28
Straight-Up Meatball (Stuffed) $12.68

Straight-Up Stuffed Meatball ($12.68) it is stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella. Theres a good amount of pepperoni inside.

Italian Burger ($14.92) has certified Angus Beef, bruschetta, baby arugula, fried fresh mozzarella, balsamic reduction, pesto aïoli, and served on artisanal bread. You get your choice of side and Fabo chose fries.

Bolognese (Small: $11.97) has fresh fettuccine, classic Northern Italian meat sauce, and lemon herbed ricotta. There are two more additional sizes – Large ($14.97) and Social ($26.20).

The bolognese was ok, a decent amount of meat, but it’s not overflowing with sauce. The server warned me about this dish because a few people have complained saying there wasn’t enough sauce. I found there was a perfect amount of sauce.

Veal Parmesan ($18.92) is panko breadcrumb crusted, melted fresh mozzarella, special spices, served with spaghetti with tomato basil sauce. You can also get chicken parmesan for $18.24.

This dish was quite expensive for what you get and the quality was ok.

Pesto Pollo (Small – $13.97) has fresh fettuccine, sautéed chicken, baby spinach, semi sun-dried tomatoes, and basil pesto cream sauce. There are also two sizes available too – Large ($17.77) and Social ($31.10).

Overall, fun atmosphere with friends, but food and service was average.

We Rate Scaddabush:

Address:
382 Yonge St Unit #7
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.scaddabush.com/

In Downtown/University of Toronto

Sansotei: Japanese Ramen in Toronto

May 19, 2014

The Globe and Mail rated Sansotei Ramen one of the top 5 spots for ramen in Toronto. As a Vancouverite, we have some top notch ramen places and it’s pretty hard to beat. Of the top 5 list, I skipped Hokkaido Ramen Santouka as we have it in Vancouver too.

Sansotei has their second location open on Younge Street and we don’t have Sansotei in Vancouver, so I really wanted to see how it faired amongst the other ones in Canada. Plus, a delicious bowl of noodles for a cold Toronto evening is much needed.

The interior walls were pretty cool with the textures. The restaurant was pretty small and can get quite busy during peak hours. Since it is still new, the word hasn’t spread too far yet.

Everything is under $10 and there are 6 different types of ramen to choose from:

Tonkotsu
Tonkotsu Black
Miso
Shio
Shoyu
Spicy TanTan

Cold Barley Tea ($2) was what M ordered. Fabo and I chose regular water. The cold tea was refreshing, but it was a bit pricey. It was a nice change from Green Tea.

Gyoza ($4.50) comes with 5 pieces and ponzu sauce. Slightly crisp on the outside and a yummy savoury filling.

Zangi ($4.50) is deep fried chicken. It was very good!

Tonkotsu Black ($9.85) has pork belly, black fungus, egg, green onion, and garlic oil. M and Fabo thought the broth was very rich. The egg was perfect and runny.

Spicy TanTan ($9.60) has limited quantities each day. It has pork belly, ground beef, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, green onion, and egg. It was good, but was lacking something. The pork belly was delicious and tender. The egg was oh so good too.

Overall, the ramen was good but Santouka is still better.

We Rate Sansotei Ramen:

Address:
650 Yonge St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.sansotei.com/

In Brunch

Roundel Cafe: Egg Benny Brunch

May 18, 2014

Roundel Cafe is located on Hastings in the East Village. The interior reminds me of a diner but with a splash of hipster. My friends and I came here for brunch as we heard they serve eggs benny.

The water came in a mason jar. Water is more fun to drink from a mason jar. It’s the trendy thing to do.

Classic Ham Benny comes with salad and roasted potatoes on the side. The poached eggs were hard and it ruined the experience because its all about the soft poached eggs and how they ooze. But, sadly, none of that here. Everything else on the plate was ok.

Avocado, Tomato and cream cheese benny had the same issues with the hard poached egg.

At the end of the meal, it was a nice surprise that we get fortune cookies.

Overall, my friends did not like their experience here. We put in our order with the server and it took about 35 minutes to get our eggs benny. Also, the server was a bit rude. I didn’t really notice, but the friends that came with me did not like their attitude. They couldn’t explain clearly what was hot sauce and what was ketchup. The look the same as they are homemade.

Food and service is pretty mediocre when we dined here, and our fortune may have been accurate – “Minimize expectations to avoid being disappointed”.

We Rate Roundel Cafe:

Address:
2465 E Hastings St
Vancouver, BC

In British Columbia

Tim Horton’s 50th: Birthday Cake Donut

May 17, 2014

On May 17, 2014, it is Tim Horton’s 50th birthday and they are celebrating by giving away a Birthday Cake Donut at all their locations. If you still haven’t gotten on yet, you still have a few hours to go!

This particular Birthday Cake donut has not been available in Canada as a regular donut, but has just been released in the states in timbit form. The birthday cake donut resembles an old fashion. It has the glaze around it and also rainbow sprinkles inside. It is exactly like confetti cake. Perhaps it will make an appearance on the Canadian menu after this?

You can see the sprinkles more clearly when you begin biting in to the donut. I thought the donut was overly sweet and hard to finish. It would have been easier if I had some coffee to balance out the sweetness.

It was a nice treat to get when visiting Tim Hortons today. Even thought the donut didn’t live up to my weird imaginations, it was great that it was free. The staff at the Metropolis location were super cheerful and had crazy hats on to celebrate the 50th year of Tim Hortons.

Website: http://www.timhortons.com/

In Brunch

Hemingway’s Restaurant and Bar: Brunch in a Bar

May 17, 2014

Finding good brunch places on the Friday on the long weekend was tough. The places we wanted to go to were closed, so we had to wander near Yorkville for some food. It was really tough, so we settled for Hemingway’s Restaurant and Bar.

Hemingway’s has been around for over 30 years with a New Zealand inspired menu. Their 3rd floor patio is huge. Much better than sitting on the first or 2nd floor where it is much more dark .

Eggs Benedict ($9.99) has two soft poached eggs served on a toasted English muffin, layered with grilled peameal bacon
and topped with hollandaise sauce.

The egg was soft and yummy. The english muffins were quite thin and it worked well with the eggs benny since you can really taste the egg and bacon.

The only downside of this dish were the potatoes. Tasteless and bland.

The Down Under Burger ($13.99) has ground beef patty, fried egg, crispy bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato, relish and a slice of beetroot. Garnished with a slice of tomato, onion, pickle and lettuce, served on a lightly toasted Kaiser bun. We wanted to add a slice of pineapple for $0.50, but they didn’t have any available.

M substituted with yam fries and man, those are some awesome yam fries.

Classic Cumberland Burger ($9.99) has ground beef and garnished with a slice of tomato, onion, pickle and lettuce, served on a lightly toasted egg bun. Fabo also substituted her fries for yam fries.

The food was decent, but what was the best were those yam fries for some reason. It was crispy on the outside and so smooth on the inside.

We Rate Hemingway’s Restaurant and Bar:

Address:
142 Cumberland St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.hemingways.to/

In Cafe

Dark Horse Espresso Bar: Coffee in Toronto

May 16, 2014

When exploring Toronto, always ask the locals where to go. Dark Horse Espresso Bar popped up in that list and we were on our way! We like a good cup of coffee and Starbucks or Tim Hortons wasn’t going to cut it.

There are 4 locations of Dark House all around Downtown Toronto. We went to the location on Queen West. A lot of people have said this is the best coffee in Toronto. Huffington Post says its a great place to do some work. Also on BlogTO, best cafe on the West Side.

The interior was narrow and had seats along the wall and a bit more in the back.

They have a good variety of coffee. Even French Presses and Pour Overs if you have time to stick around. I find that it’s a nice place to hangout with friends.