Downtown/Ryerson University Archives

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Toronto

August 25, 2014

No matter where I go in the world, there’s always time to stop at a Chipotle for a quick meal. There are currently only 4 locations in Toronto and the one I went to was just right near Eaton’s Centre. I’ve had Chipotle’s in New York, Seattle and in Vancouver…. and now Toronto.

They serve up Mexican fast food and you can find things like tacos, burritos, salad or a burrito bowl. All their ingredients are local and organic, so it is not 100% the same as the other Chipotle locations around the world.

You start by ordering from one end to the other creating your meal. The staff are always nice and friendly. They will try to go out of your way to make sure you have a great meal.

We ordered a variety of Soft Tacos and the Bowl. My favourite meats are the Barbacoa and the carnitas. I always ask half 2 kinds of meat instead of one. Then I add everything on top. Yummy!

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, definitely get the bowl as you can fit more ingredients inside.

We Rate Chipotle:

Address:
323 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.chipotle.com/

In Chinese

Banh Mi Boys: Asian Fusion Sandwiches in Toronto

August 21, 2014

Banh Mi Boys is located on Younge Street close to Ryerson University and a few blocks away from Eaton Centre. They also have another location on Queen Street West. As this was right across from my hotel, I had to come to one of Toronto’s most talked about restaurants.

It’s been on my list forever and I finally made it here! They serve up Vietnamese subs – Banh Mi and a few other fusion items like tacos and steamed baos.

We came here during dinner time and this place was packed! There were barely any seats left and tons of people were taking their food to-go.

Their menu items are quite cheap and perfect for students on a budget. Plus, the food is good.

Once you put in your order, you wait on the side for you order to be called. When they call your name, they also ask you if you want any spice on your items. To be on the safe side, I chose everything I ordered not to be very spicy.

Five Spice Pork Belly Steamed Bao ($3.49) looked amazing and I couldn’t resist anything that has pork belly in it. The steamed bao also has cucumber, pickled carrots, picked radish, and cilantro.

I really liked the pork belly, but then again, who doesn’t?

Braised Beef Steamed Bao ($3.49) is what my aunt ordered. She thought this was ok, but it seemed strange to her as she’s never tried anything like this in Asia.

Kalbi Beef Taco ($3.99) has purple cabbage slaw, kimchi, pickled carrots, cilantro and the kalbi beef on top of the taco.

Kimchi Fries ($5.99) has pulled pork, mayo, kimchi, and green onion on top of the fries. My Korean relatives thought this dish was disgusting and weird. It was hard for them to grasp the concept that kimchi and fries go together. I thought this was a delicious dish! The hot and sour taste from the kimchi blend beautifully with the pulled pork.

Overall, Banh Mi Boys is a fun place for fusion food if you taste buds are up to the challenge.

We Rate Banh Mi Boys:

Address:
392 Queen St. W.
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.banhmiboys.com/

In Brunch

Cora: Early Morning Breakfast in Toronto

August 20, 2014

When travelling, sometimes its hard to get your daily fill of veggies or fruit because all the places I want to go have lots of meat and carbs. We were heading off to a Niagara Falls tour and we needed a restaurant that was open early in the morning and that served good breakfast.

Cora was 2 blocks away from our hotel, so I decided to take my relatives here. I thought it would be a good place to go since we could get lots and lots of fruit. Cora first opened in Montreal, but has since expanded across Canada with over 130 locations.

Coffee is what we got to go with our meal. Since it was 6am, it was definitely needed.

Buckwheat Blessing has 3 sausages and cheese wrapped in buckwheat crepes with a large amount of fruit. I thought the sausages wrapped in the crepes were really good! Yummm meat! There was plenty of fruit! It’s a good touch that they have a few unique fruits like star fruit and gooseberries.

This is probably my favourite item to order as it has the savoury crepes with the sweet fruit.

1990′s Harvest with scrambled egg has a large cinnamon-raisin brioche dipped in french toast batter with an egg and bacon strips on one side and a mountain of fresh fruit on the other. The brioche seemed a bit burnt, but it was still enjoyable.

Samara Wake Up is a plate of freshly cut fruit. There was pineapples, strawberries, grapes, kiwis, green apple, red apple, orange, cantaloupe, star fruit, banana, grapefruit, honey dew, watermelon, and mango.

This dish was a hit! We actually came back here twice just to have this dish. It’s a great place to take tourists! For my relatives, where they come from, fruit isn’t cheap and you would never see this abundance in a meal. They were very impressed by the amount of fruit.

Sunshine Panini comes with a side of fruit, but it’s not as large as the other dishes. Inside the panini is cheese, ham and egg.

You can also tell these fruits are not as fresh as the other plates too.

There’s also toast too. You barely touched the toast since our dishes were so big.

A good morning breakfast! If you love fruit, definitely take a visit to Cora’s.

We Rate Cora:

Address:
27 Carlton Street
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.chezcora.com/home

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 Dessert

Wanda’s Belgian Waffles: Dessert on Younge Street

May 15, 2014

Who likes waffles? I like waffles. When I was in Toronto for vacation, I was looking for some dessert after dinner. Something kinda walkable from Eaton’s Centre. There were lots of options but a lot of them closed early. Wanda’s Belgian Waffles popped up on my Urbanspoon app, as well as the Yelp app. Reviews were decent and how can you go wrong with waffles?

The pictures looked decent and we thought it would be a nice place to hang out.

When we arrived, we ordered from the window. The man was a bit rude and pushy when it came down to ordering. It wasn’t a very good first impression. We watched the man grab a ball of dough and stick it onto the waffle iron. It was pretty sad to watch the grumpy man make our waffles.

When we got our order, we didn’t know there was another counter inside to order. We would rather order from the inner counter rather from the window as we were dining in.

Ice cream special ($4.79) has the liege waffle topped with ice cream, caramel drizzle and powdered sugar. The liege waffle was very doughy and you could tell there was a lot of sugar in it. I kept biting small sugar crystals.

Strawberry Special ($7.49) has the liege waffle with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. This one was the better one out of the two waffles we got. Lot of strawberries and whipped cream covering the liege waffle. The liege waffle was also quite doughy and dense.

This place was ok, but nothing impressive here. After trying Nero Belgian Waffle Bar in Vancouver, nothing else can compare. Sometimes I hate being a tourist because I can never make good food decisions in a city I am not familiar with.

We Rate Wanda’s Belgian Waffles: