Category

The Annex

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In the Annex of Toronto, I saw Insomnia Cafe and it seemed like a super cool place to have food. It’s quite popular for brunch, but I didn’t have time to have brunch here, so I opted for dinner.

CanuckGirl, BaguetteGirl and I headed over for dinner.

There is a good amount of seating and some lounge seating in the back of the restaurant.

The front of the restaurant looks great and is most beautiful during the summer as they open the doors and windows.

Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus ($10) is garnished with asiago cheese and a honey pear vinaigrette and tomatoes. It tasted good, but not justified for $10! I would not order this again. Very disappointed.

Avocado Grilled Chicken ($10) has melted brie and red onions on top of the bread. You also get a side of fries and salad. CanuckGirl enjoyed it!

8oz. Black Angus Beef Burger ($9) has lettuce, red onion, tomato and garlic aioli. You can also add additional ingredients on top too. BaguetteGirl added mozzarella and sauteed onions on top. It also comes with the fries and salad.

Quesadilla ($9) contains house made refried beans, avocado spread and monterey jack cheese. You also get some mayo and sour cream to dip the quesadillas into. Just like the other dishes, you get the fries and salad too. I thought it was ok, but wasn’t anything amazing.

Overall, Insomnia Cafe was ok for sandwiches, but their dinner and appetizer menu is a bit overpriced for what you get. It’s a good place for drinks and late night chillaxing.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Filling sandwiches, but taste alright
  • Mediocre service
  • Nice relaxing decor
  • Good for drinking
  • Lots of drink specials

We Rate Insomnia Cafe

Address:
563 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.insomniacafe.com/

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Menchies Frozen Yogurt is another Froyo store on Bloor Street. There are 3 different froyo stores within a block or so away from each other…. but I ended up going to all 3 for some reason. It was close to BaguetteGirl’s place and we always felt like eating froyo.

It’s also a chain store and they recently opened one in Vancouver too. I was actually excited to go to this location since I haven’t been to the one in Vancouver yet.

The interior is very open and has a few seats and lots of space to walk around to create your froyo. The instructions are very basic – mix, weigh, and pay.

Everything basically has their mascots face on it, even their lamps.

Apple Tart froyo and original tart froyo with fruit toppings ($0.55 per oz). I enjoyed it!

More froyo.

I love their cute mascot! It makes eating froyo very enjoyable at Menchies because of the cute characters and bold colors.

Overall, they do have a large list of flavours and similar concept to the other froyo places on the block. Their consistency between each flavour is slightly different, so that could be improved. Nonetheless, it’s still a healthy dessert option! No matter which froyo place you go to on Bloor St. … it’s all about the same.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Similar prices to the other froyo places on the same street
  • Fun and unique spoons
  • Can try all the flavours before deciding which to get
  • Friendly helpful staff

We Rate Menchies Frozen Yogurt:

Address:
511 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.menchies.com/

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Yogurty’s Froyo is another self-serve yogurt shop on Bloor Street in the Annex. There are tons of yogurt shops near by, such as YoYo’s Yogurt Cafe and Menchies within a few blocks of each other. I thought it was strange, but all of them were packed at night.

FaceMan, Batman, BaguetteGirl, CanuckGirl and I came here after dinner to finish off the day.

There are lots of space inside, but it’s super busy at 11pm.

Since it is self-serve, you just pay for the weight of what you put in your cup. The cup is only one size, but it’s a big cup.

Yogurty’s has about 16 flavours! It’s quite a large selection! You can taste test all the flavours before choosing what you want.

After you fill up the cup, you can add candy toppings or fresh fruit.

Wafer and Peanut Butter swirl Froyo ($0.55 per oz.) I added some brownies, cheesecake bits and cookie dough on top. Yummy.

There’s a good amount of fresh fruit to add on top too!

Overall, Yogurty’s does have a lot of flavours and good consistency between their yogurt. They also have lots of toppings to choose from too.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Try out a majority of the flavours before filling up your cup
  • Go place to chill and hangout
  • Wifi

We Rate Yogurty’s:

Address:
527 Bloor St. West
Toronto, ON
Website:
http://www.yogurtys.com/

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Guu SakaBar is another restaurant part of the Guu restaurants. They sell Japanese Izakaya items like tapas dishes. Guu currently has 6 restaurants in Vancouver and 2 in Toronto. Since I have already been to all the ones in Vancouver, it just seemed right to visit the other two in Toronto.

CanuckGirl and I headed down to this location during our first day in Toronto. We went at about 7pm and there was already a line up outside. Fortunately, we were able to get a table in about 10 minutes.

Guu SakaBar can easily be missed if you don’t pay attention since the sign is not very large.

The interior is huge! They have 2 rooms and can fit a lot of customers. That’s probably why people say this location is easier to get a seat. The other area has the bar and more tables.

Whats great about Guu is that it has a lively atmosphere and good food. Compared to the Vancouver locations, this Guu is much larger and has better interior decor.

Pot of Tea ($4) was expensive! In the Guu’s in Vancouver, you never have to pay for tea!

Maguro Tataki ($6.80) has seared BC tuna sashimi with ponzu sauce and garlic chips. It was delicious, but I still felt that Guu in Vancouver has better sashimi.

BBQ Pork ($6) has pork belly with a honey soy sauce. It was not too fatty at all and had a delicious taste.

Kabocha Korokke ($4.80) has deep-fried kabocha pumpkin croquette with a boiled egg inside. It is coverd with a spicy mayo sauce. It was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Karaage ($6.80) has deep-fried soy sauce marinated chicken with a side of mayo. The chicken pieces were quite large and very moist.

Yaki Udon ( $7.80) has pan-fried udon noodles with beef, mushrooms and scallions. There was a good amount of beef! It was savory and most delicious.

Overall, we did enjoy the dining experience at Guu SakaBar. The wait wasn’t too long for a table of 2 and the food came out at a good pace. The servers were nice and could speak english quite well.

Words of Wisdom:

  • No Reservations
  • Go early or dine later since it gets super busy
  • Tea is super expensive, so perhaps ask for water.. or hot water

We Rate Guu SakaBar:

Address:
559 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON
Website:
http://www.guu-izakaya.com/
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Yoyo’s Yogurt Cafe is located on Bloor Street in the Annex. They currently have 5 locations in Ontario. During the day, CanuckGirl and I passed by and this place was packed! A majority of the seats were occupied, even the patio. Seeing that frozen yogurt is a better alternative than ice cream, we decided to see how this place compared to the ones in Vancouver.

The interior has a lot of space to walk around. You can sample the flavours before choosing what you want.

They have 8 different flavours to choose from and they do vary every week. There are 4 steps to make the yogurt processing easier.

  1. Choose your flavour
  2. Add the yogurt into the cup
  3. Add toppings to it
  4. Weight it and pay

They have a decent amount of toppings to put on.

I just wished there were more varieties of fruit to add on top.

You then can pay at the till. You can ask for a cup of water if you need it.

Frozen Yogurt ($0.55 per ounce). CanuckGirl and I got very different looking frozen yogurts. Unlike Pinkberry, you pay by weight and not per cup. Can you guess which bowl is mine?

I wish I was the one that ordered the full cup, but the way I can tell if I like a frozen yogurt place is trying their original flavour. Original works great with all the fresh fruit, but I wish it was a bit more tart. Mine came out to be about $5 and CanucksGirls HUGE cup was about $11.

Overall, it’s still a great place to chill with friends and eat dessert. Lots of seats to sit down. The staff were very nice and love to joke around with their customers.

Words of Wisdom:

  • Pay by weight
  • Self-Serve
  • Vegan/Gluten Free options
  • Open late
We Rate YoYo’s Yogurt Cafe:

Address:
417 Bloor St W
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.yoyosyogurtcafe.com/

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