Yorkville Archives

In Canadian

Sassafraz: Lunch in Yorkville

September 10, 2014

Sassafraz is located right in Yorkville and the serve up French inspired Canadian cuisine. I came here for lunch with Flo when I was visiting Toronto for a few days. We thought it would be a great place to catch up as they have a patio area outside.

As we waited for our order, some bread and butter arrived. We took a few bites of the bread and it was good and simple.

Cucumberland Detox ($8) is a cold-pressed juice with cucumber, apple, kale, spinach, lime, and coconut water. It was good to see a variety of drinks on their menu. For a traveller, it’s always hard to get a good dose of fruits or vegetables.

Nova Scotia Digby scallops ($24) has a sweet soy glaze, citrus roasted cauliflower, forbidden rice, samphire, with a dashi broth. It was quite a small dish for $24. It barely had any rice in it. Also, the scallops looked super seared.

Ontario artisan flank steak salad ($19) is served medium with mixed greens, caramelized onion, pickled honey mushroom, and Dijon vinaigrette. This was a nice healthy lunch and it was good.

Overall, the lunch was quite pricey and the portions are a tad small.

We Rate Sassafraz:

Address:
100 Cumberland St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.sassafraz.ca/

In Cafe

Balzacs Coffee Roasters: Featured on Dragons Den

August 28, 2014

While in Toronto, Balzacs Coffee Roasters caught my eye when walking around Yorkville. They were on Dragons Den looking for funding to expand their shop into 2 Downtown Toronto. They got their deal with Bruce Croxon and Arlene Dickinson.

This location at the Reference Library in Yorkville was one of the two that needed funding to expand.

The coffee shop is European inspired and you have the signature framed posters on the walls and the chairs.

It is connected right beside the library, so you can go borrow some books and then come to Balzacs for coffee.

You can purchase an array of baked goods and get your usual coffee, tea or cold drinks.

Latte was what I ordered. They had some issues frothing the milk, so they couldn’t do much latte art on it, but if you look closely, it could resemble a woman with long hair? Either way, the latte tasted great and had a strong shot of espresso inside.

If you are in the area for good coffee, give Balzacs a try!

We Rate Balzacs Coffee Roasters:

Address:
789 Yonge St
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.balzacs.com/

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 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 American

KFC Select: First in Canada

May 14, 2014

KFC Select is a new concept restaurant to attract younger customers. This location close to Younge and Bloor is the first location to pop up in Canada. They are still sticking with what they do best … making chicken. Except, you won’t find any big buckets of chicken here.

The location opened last December and the exterior is mostly black to give it a modern look.

You can even find images of Colonel Sanders inside.

The interior reminds me of Chipotle. It’s very very similar.

They have 5 main items:

Chicken Burgers
Burritos
Bowls
Salads
Chicken Strips

Then you can choose to make it a combo or add any extra desserts. Interesting desserts – Kream Ball and Strawberry Cheesecake. I would have thought they would have chosen something more healthy.

You order like an assembly line, similarly to Chipotle.

Double Decker ($4.99) has two hand-breaded crispy chicken fillets with their special sauce and pickles between toasted sesame seed bun. Double crunchiness and M did enjoy it. Who can say no to fried chicken? I sure can’t.

Fresh Deluxe ($4.99) has one hand-breaded crispy chicken fillet with cilantro mayo, salsa roja, mild cheddar and crisp lettuce, freshly stacked on a toasted sesame seed bun. It is the same price as the double decker sandwich, but this one just has a single fillet.

To make it a combo, just add $3. You get a drink and a side. The sides you can choose from are:

Waffle Fries
Coleslaw
Side salad

Waffles fries was the side we got and it was pretty darn good. So addictive too. I like it crunchy.

California Chicken Bowl ($5.99) you get grilled chicken over cilantro rice topped with Guacamole, cilantro mayo, sour cream, and pico de gallo.

The bowl was ok, but it just contained so much sauce. It didn’t have a very healthy look to it.

They have a pretty awesome beverage fountain. I haven’t seen this in Vancouver yet, but it’s SO cool.

The pop dispenses through a touch pad. You will find all different Pepsi products like 7 Up, Brisk , Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and Dole.

When you select pepsi, you can have regular, cherry, lime, vanilla, lime or strawberry. M really loved this machine!

Overall, KFC Select is great because they know they need to evolve to suit their consumers tastes. Unfortunately, there were so many ways of making their food healthier, but I just didn’t see it. It seemed like a weird mishmash of KFC and Chipotle. I would have loved to see some grilled chicken in their burgers rather than the crispy fried ones.

We Rate KFC Select:

Address:
730 Yonge St
Toronto ON

Website:
http://www.kfcselect.ca/

In Korean

Miss Korea: Eat and Drink like a Korean

May 5, 2014

Miss Korea is a Korean bar/restaurant that sells lunch, dinner, and drinks. It is located near Yonge x Bloor Streets in Toronto, which is not too far from the 2 universities (U of T and Ryerson). The interior has a hybrid look of old and modern feel. It’s clean and good for a small group of friends to hang out (you can also host a bigger party upstairs). I’ve noticed university students and young professionals frequent this place often.

After window shopping and walking around the Yorkville area on a nice Sunday evening, Bunny-Bunny and I (Fabo) went to Miss Korea to grab a bite and a couple of drinks.

When we were there, it was only about 6-7pm so the place was quite empty. At one point we were the only customers there, which I liked. Miss Korea is usually more crowded around 9pm and onwards as it’s a good place to drink beer/soju/rice wine and eat snacks with your friends.

After looking through their menu, we decided to get something from their combo menu plus a main to satisfy our Korean food cravings. We ordered 4 bottles of beer and oden soup from their combo menu. Oden soup was tasty, but perhaps because of MSG. We depleted the soup before eating all the fish cakes.

Don’t have a picture, but we got 2 bottles of Coors Light and 2 bottles of Keith. There also were imported beers on the menu, but those weren’t part of the combo menu (I wanted Sapporo, but oh wells).

We also ordered bulgogi dolsot to share. It comes with a separate spicy sauce (gochoojang) to mix with.

It was my first time visiting Miss Korea during dinner time as I usually went for drinks. Going there during dinner time was actually not bad because you can enjoy a quiet conversation with your friends. If you are too lazy to travel all the way to Christie or North York for a Korean food, and if you want a casual place to meet up with friends, I would recommend you to give this place a try.

We Rate Miss Korea:

Address:
687 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON

Website:
www.misskorea.ca

In Brunch

Lola’s Kitchen: Delectable Brunch in Toronto, ON

May 30, 2012

Lola’s Kitchen is located in Yorkville in Toronto. They serve up some delicious brunch and is an excellent place to dine on the weekend. They have lots of seats inside and outside.

BaguetteGirl and FaceMan took CanuckGirl and I here for some yummy brunch.

The restaurant is in a house, but does have several floors and is cozy.

Green Tea uses the usual Tetley tea bags and there wasn’t anything special about it. The cup was quite small too and they couldn’t give us a pot of hot water to fill up ourselves.

Orange Juice

Pomegranate-green tea iced tea

Eggs Rancheros ($12) has chipotle spiced organic black beans scrambled with eggs or organic tofu in a crisp whole wheat tortilla bowl topped with cheddar cheese, guacamole, tomatillo pico de gallo & lime yogurt. You can choose between salad, fries or potatoes.

Warm Chick Pea Wrap (#12) has grilled organic tofu, warm citrus & herb marinated chick pea mash, Lola’s tomatoes, baby spinach & organic sprouts in a grilled whole wheat tortilla. You can choose between salad, fries or potatoes.

‘Shroom Benny ($11) has toasted organic whole wheat biscuits topped with caramelized onions, baby spinach, roasted mushrooms, poached eggs & our hollandaise sauce. You can choose between salad, fries or potatoes. CanuckGirl really enjoyed the benny and the potatoes.

Brunch Burger ($15) has an all beef burger with grilled peameal bacon, caramelized onions, Lola’s cheese blend, sweet pickles, sunny egg, house made ketchup aioli on a multigrain bun. I chose to have the salad to balance out the fatness of the burger.

It was a pretty meaty burger, but the sunny side egg made it a bit difficult to eat with hands. I resorted to the knife and fork technique. The flavours were good, but I think my beef patty was a bit scorched, so it had a smokey/burnt taste to it.

Lola’s Stuffed French Toast ($12) has a lemon vanilla cheesecake sandwiched in Challah French toast with seasonal fruit compote. It was so delicious! It even made some other people come up to our table to see it. It wasn’t too sweet either! It’s a must order!

Overall, pretty good brunch options here.

Words of Wisdom: