Butter Tarts and Jamaican Rum Cake

Date: December 31, 2012

Location: N/A

Website: N/A

Cuisine: N/A

Meal: dessert

My thoughts:

My friend, who is quite an avid baker (and cook), made these to give away for Christmas, and I was lucky enough to receive some. 

I like nuts and raisins in my butter tarts, which were absent in these tarts, but they were still very good. The pastry was flaky, akin to an old-fashioned pie crust and the filling gooey and perfectly sweet.

The rum cake, I was told, took a year to prepare. It is prepared from fruits soaked in rum for a year, which really brings out a much richer and deeper flavour (and colour). The fruits are pureed, and even more rum is added to the batter. All that rum acts as a preservative, and I understand that this cake can keep for quite some time, even at room temperature!

Congee Queen

Date: December 30, 2012
Location: Don Mills/Steeles, Markham
Website: http://www.congeequeen.com/
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my family around 7:30 and had to wait for about 1 hour! The restaurant was at full capacity, but it was sure worth the wait. We shared the following:


FRIED CHILI TURNIP PATTIES ($5.25) - My sister's recommendation, and a very good one indeed. Turnip patties are a traditional Cantonese dish made of ground turnip and have a soft chewy texture. It is very unique (in a good way!) and flavourful. They are also often spicy, as was the case here. If you are not Chinese and are guilty of only ordering fried rice and wontons every time you go to a Chinese restaurant, I'm telling you, you have to try this. It's very good!

CANADIAN SMOKED SALMON FRIED RICE ($11.25) - Continuing from my last point, if you DO decide to order fried rice, order this one! Haha. Very good and different (again, in a good way).

CONPOY CONGEE ($2.50) - Conpoy is dried scallop and congee is basically a savoury rice porridge. The conpoy gives the congee a lot of flavour.

SLICED BEEF CONGEE ($4.75) - If you have never tried congee, this is a good place to start (unless you can't eat beef, that is). I don't know what it is that restaurants do, but the beef in beef congee is always very tender. A great thing to have in the dead of winter to warm up you right up!

FRIED RICE NOODLE WITH SHRIMP AND SCRAMBLED EGG SAUCE ($9.25) - This is one of my sister's favourite noodle dish, so we ordered it. While everything else came within 5 minutes of us ordering, this one took quite some time and as such, we were pretty full and couldn't finish this. We took it home. This dish does not reheat well, as the noodles absorb most of the sauce.

My verdict:
This is an excellent Chinese restaurant with a wide selection of traditional and non-traditional Chinese dishes. I couldn't help but notice that there were also quite a few non-Chinese patrons. My dad made this observation too, and he thinks it is because of the central location (just off the DVP), the offerings, and the fact that the menu is supplemented with lots of pictures. The service was very quick (with the exception of the rice noodle) and all the employees speak fluent English, but most of all, the food was EXCELLENT! We were all thoroughly impressed.

Boston Pizza

Date: December 28, 2012
Location: Warden/Steeles, Markham
Website: http://www.bostonpizza.com
Cuisine: North American
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
My mom was leaving town the next day for a few weeks, so we decided to have a family dinner. We opted to eat out to avoid the hassle of cooking and cleaning. As usual, we ordered a few dishes to share:

I had an 8" TUSCAN PIZZA ($12.25) on a multigrain crust, which came with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, spicy chicken breast, roasted garlic, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. This was sooooo good! I normally prefer thin-crust pizza, but the pizza was perfect as is. The spicy chicken gave this a good kick. I could definitely taste the heat.

My sister had the CHIPOTLE CHICKEN CLUB ($12.25), which had a chargrilled chicken breast, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce and chipotle Caesar sauce on their signature pizza bread. This was pretty good, but I found the pizza bread to be a bit dry.

My other sister had the BAKED CHIPOTLE CHICKEN PENNE ($15.25), which had chipotle seasoning, smoky bacon, alfredo sauce, mushrooms, green onion, tomato, cheddar and mozzarella. This was also not bad, but a bit salty and while it was cheesy, it would have benefitted from more alfredo sauce.

Finally, we had NACHOS ($10.99), which was tortilla chips topped with cheddar and mozzarella, olives, green peppers, tomatoes and jalapeño peppers. Did I like this? This has some basic no-fail ingredients, so of course I did. But I have had bigger and better nachos at other places, like Kelsey's and Moxie's. I like how both of those restaurants have 1) more cheese, and 2) a layer of crispy cheese on the plate - maybe a result of baking at a higher temperature or for a longer period of time.

I can't believe I'd never ordered the pizza before. I was definitely very glad I ordered it. As much as I liked the Tuscan, however, I'll be trying their other flavours next time. Also, this was a good place to have a casual family dinner. It wasn't very busy, so we didn't have to shout over each other to be heard. We all had a good time.

Sushi One

Date: December 27, 2012
Location: 4924 Yonge St (Yonge/Sheppard), North York
Website: http://www.mysushione.com/
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my former coworkers - AB, AE and MM. They'd been here before and said this is a really good AYCE place. Here is a sampling of what we had:

Kalbi ribs: My friends loved this and ordered about 50 pieces. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Barbaric, right?? Haha

Shrimp tempura: this really, really good. Very crispy.

Vegetarian gyozas: so-so. The stuffing tasted weird.

Green dragon on the left, and don't remember what the others were. The green dragon roll was mine and AB's favourite roll that night.

Avocado cucumber roll (left) and yam tempura roll (right).

Beef teriyaki: very tough. Like leather. Yuk.

More rolls.

Fried banana: sooo good! Most places use unripened banana for frying because they retain their shape better and don't caramelize to a dark brown colour. But this place used ripe banana but managed to make it very presentable. Mmm..

While I had a good time that night, $19.99 + tax and tip is a lot to shell out for a meal. I'd rather go for lunch AYCE and have pretty much the same food for half the price. (Come to think of it, I realized we never ordered sashimi, which is usually what is available in the dinner menu but not in the lunch menu. Oh well.) Actually, if I had a choice, I'd rather not go for AYCE at all. The idea of stuffing your face to feel like you got your money's worth just doesn't appeal to me. Again, oh well! Good times nonetheless.

Viet House

Date: December 26, 2012
Location: 3200 Dufferin St (Dufferin/Lawrence), North York
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
My sisters, dad and I came here after a long day of chaotic Boxing Day shopping. We were tired and in need of fuel. It is our family tradition to go for Vietnamese food after Boxing Day shopping every year. We typically go to this place at Kennedy and Lawrence, but we felt like trying something new this year.

For starters, we had springs rolls (two vegetarian and two meat). I liked the vegetarian one better. I always have for spring rolls.

My middle sister had a pho with rare beef.

My youngest sister had a pho in spicy noodle soup. This soup was really good. Definitely my favourite soup that day.

And my dad and I shared an egg noodle soup with mixed BBQ meat. There was chicken, pork and beef. Everything was really good except the chicken, which was bland.

This place had nice décor  including a standalone fireplace and dense arrangement of Christmas lights against a dark ceiling, which made me feel like I was in a space observatory. There was a bit of a language barrier with the staff. The food was not bad, but I prefer our usual place at Kennedy/Lawrence - they have better food.

~KG Hosts Christmas Eve Dinner~

Date: December 24, 2012
Location: my house!
Website: N/A
Cuisine: international (East meets West)
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I invited my relatives over for dinner on Christmas Eve. My family and myself included, there were 15 people - yes, that's a lot of people to feed!

For starters, I had:
- a cold soba noodle salad with Japanese mayonnaise wasabi, fish roe, crab meat and cucumber strips
- potato mushroom bruschetta --> used this
- Asian-style fruit salad, which is fruit with mayonnaise

For the main, I served:
- roasted turkey --> used this for brining and equal parts thyme, rosemary and sage with a sprinkling of ground black pepper for seasoning

For the sides, I made:
- stir-fried bok choy
- a Chinese-style soy-based veggie platter (store bought)
- stir-fried ramen noodles
- Shepherd's pie --> used this for the meat base and scaled this down by half for the mashed potato topping

This meal turned out to be a hit! Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and for confirmation, my grandma who lives in Asia called me a few days later, telling me how all my aunts and uncles have been raving to her about my dinner. It was a lot of work, but it was all well worth it :)

Sushi Bar

Date: December 22, 2012

Location: 3369 Yonge Street (near Yonge/Lawrence), Toronto

Website: http://www.thesushibar.ca/

Cuisine: Japanese

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

Oh boy, let me start off by saying that I never noticed the eerie greenish cast to my pictures until now. These pictures really do the food no justice!

I met with my good friend AD (or SD as I affectionately call him) at our usual meeting place. And as usual, he ordered two bowls of brown rice with 3 orders each of tuna and salmon sashimi.

I had my favourite thing from here: the EEL AND AVOCADO SUSHI ($5.49) with brown rice (extra $0.50). The brown rice is really a must. Yum yum yum! 

The restaurant also had some new items, including... TAKOYAKIS ($6.99)! Of course, I had to order this. This was not bad, but as I've said about so many places' takoyakis, this was just not as good as Guu's. It was a bit dry and the flour was not 'fluffy' enough. It could have also used more sauce.

I was still hungry after the above two items, so I ordered a AJI WAKAME ($4.95). I've had this before. 

So while I was a bit disappointed with the takoyakis today, I still enjoyed the whole dining experience. First, I had great company, and second, I had my favourite sushi roll. You really can taste the quality in the food here. And as I said in a previous post, Guu really has set the bar high for many things and I won't give up my search for good takoyakis. The service is also top-notch. The waitress is naturally really friendly, but because she recognizes my friend and I, she is exceptionally nice to us.

Pizza Pizza

Date: December 21, 2012
Location: 3359 Bloor St W (Islington/Bloor), Etobicoke
Website: http://www.pizzapizza.ca/
Cuisine: Italian
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I was at my friends' apartment hanging out before we were going to all head out to a party. Also my friends had just bought a new 55" LCD TV and new fireplace that they were going to use as a TV stand that they wanted to show me.

While we were hanging out, one of my friends suggested we order in from Pizza Pizza. Up til that point, I didn't really like their pizza, but I was hungry and knew it was the closest pizza place to where they lived, so I thought why not and let them call all the shots as far as topping goes.

This is what was put on it: STEAK STRIPS, BBQ SAUCE, BACON, ROASTED RED PEPPERS and MOZZARELLA. 

This pizza turned out to be delish! I liked this as much as I do Pizzaiolo - and if you've read any of my numerous posts on that place, you'll know just how much I adore them. I have to say, Pizzaiolo's title for my favourite pizza chain is at stake!

Menchies

Date: December 21, 2012

Location: 3828 Highway 7 (Warden/Highway 7), Markham

Website: https://www.facebook.com/menchiesmarkham

Cuisine: um.. international??

Meal: snacks

My thoughts:

I'd heard from my sister that Menchies was swirling some seasonal Christmas flavours, so of course I had to come and check them out!

I tried all of the seasonal flavours but truth be told, I wasn't all that impressed. The 'best' seasonal flavour would probably be candy cane, but overly sweet mint (without that tingly minty feeling like you get from mint gum) just doesn't jive well with me, so I had these instead (clockwise from right): the CHERRY TART, CARAMEL and ORCHARD PEACH SORBET.

Yang's Izakaya & Japanese Cuisine

Date: December 21, 2012

Location: 8432 Leslie Street, Unit 110

Website: https://www.facebook.com/YangsIzakayaJapaneseCuisine

Unofficial specials menu: http://yangs.uberflip.com/i/85972

Cuisine: Japanese

Meal: lunch

 

My thoughts:

I had heard of this restaurant a while ago, and had been looking forward to finding how out if it measures up to Guu, especially because it is so much closer to me than Guu. So when my sister mentioned she'd bought a voucher off on one of those deal sites and invited us all out to lunch, I jumped at the opportunity.

Glancing over the menu did make me reminiscent of Guu. (On the topic of the menu, it was filled with random anime cartoon panels, which I found both amusing and odd - more so odd.) Anyway, Yang's carries your typical sushi fare as well as izakaya items, including my favourite okonomiyakis and takoyakis.

We didn't order either of those things, though. Here is what we had:

EEL PANCAKE ($12) - pancake topped with eel and bonito flakes. This was the first thing that came, and I was immediately disappointed by how thing the pan cake was for that price point. I held high expectations for the quality as I took my first bite, and... it really was nothing more than just a plain old pancake with some eel. Definitely not worth that price!

 

OYSTER MOTOYAKI ($8.50) - cream-baked whole oyster. I was excited to try this because the one I'd had at Guu was to-die-for. But this fell short of my expectations. It was very plain and it tasted like a whole lotta mayonnaise on an oyster, and then baked.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN ($13) - teriyaki chicken with a side of rice (not shown). My sister ordered this and she really liked it. I thought this was nothing special.

RAMEN ($9.50) - ramen in soup. I like the ramen at Nine Up Sushi better. It was cheaper, too.

GYOZA ($5.80) - pan-fried ginger-marinated pork. Ew, these were gross. The filling tasted weird and didn't resemble meat at all.

SASHIMI 5 KIND ($19) - assorted sashimi platter. I only had the salmon, which was good.

SMOKED GUY-TAN ($8) - hay-smoked ox tongue. Salty and dry, but better than most of the other things we ordered that day.

 

All in all, this was a huge disappointment. The prices were outrageously expensive for the portion sizes and quality of the food. Even if I were given a voucher, I wouldn't come back. This is definitely is no Guu.

India's Delight

Date: December 19, 2012 
Location: 680 Denison Road (Denison and Esna Park), Markham
Website: http://www.indiastaste.ca/
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
My friend DV and I had been meaning to go for Indian food for quite some time now and our schedules finally matched up this month.

My friend asked our waitress for a dish of CHAAT PAPDI. He'd been here before with a friend of his who had asked for this, and he really like this. The colourful presentation almost made me not want to ruin the design but I dived right in. This was mild in flavour but delicious. It was a rice chip dish with three sauces: a mint sauce, a sweet tamarind chutney and some yogurt dressing. Just ask for it - there is no extra charge for it!

Here is some of what I had. Everything was pretty good, with the exception of the goat curry. I don't mind goat, but the meat was pretty bland.

This place was pretty packed when I arrived at noon. At $11.99 for all-you-can-eat for decent Indian food, I guess that should come as no surprise. I'd suggest arriving no later than noon if coming here for lunch.

Nine Up Sushi

Date: December 17, 2012

Location: 3278 Midland Ave #D118 (Midland/Finch), Scarborough

Website: N/A

Cuisine: Japanese

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

My mom, sister and I were on our way home from a colour selection appointment I'd had for a condo I'd purchased. It was around noon so we decided to make a stop for lunch somewhere. 

This place was on our way home and I really enjoyed the whole experience. While I enjoy a good deal as much as the next person, I was very skeptical when I saw the prices, which were literally dirt cheap. However, my first bite into the sushi dismissed my suspicions.

We each ordered from the Lunch Specials. I had the MAKI COMBO B ($9.95), which consisted of a Green Dragon Roll, a Spicy Salmon Roll, and a California Roll. If you do the math, each roll was about $3. Ridiculous, right?? All rolls were all very good.

My sister had the PORK CUTLET RAMEN ($6.99). I have never been a huge fan of pork cutlet because I find them dry, which was the case here. But the ramen was really good - if you guessed I was going to say "chewy noodles," you guessed right!

My mom had the CHICKEN TERIYAKI BENTO BOX ($7.95). Everything here met my expectations. Pretty good.

We were given complimentary MANGO YOGURT desserts in shooter glasses, which were delicious. I'm pretty sure there was gelatin in the yogurt, which made the 'yogurt' seem more like a pudding. No complaints from me; merely an observation.

All things considered, I think you get the most bang for your buck with the sushi combos. I'll definitely return for those! Also, they offer all-you-can-eat and conveyor belt sushi, which is sushi served on a conveyor belt. I had this once downtown; there is no difference in taste in the sushi of course, but it's a neat experience.

Spigolo Ristorante

Date: December 14, 2012
Location: 200 Marycroft Ave. Unit 5 (near Weston and Hwy 7), Woodbridge
Website: http://www.spigoloristorante.ca/
Cuisine: Italian
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
My aunt gave my mom and I a voucher for this restaurant. She paid $29 for a 3-course meal for two that includes one appetizer, two entrees and two desserts. 

Let me tell you it was a good thing the restaurant owner decided to feature his business on one of those deal sites because we would have otherwise never have stumbled upon this place. It is hidden at the back of a small, inconspicuous strip plaza.

Anyway, onto the meal! We were given a plate of PITA BREAD with olive oil and garlic seasoning. This was so good that I unwittingly had three of the four slices. It eventually dawned on me that I might ruin my appetite for the actual meal, but I couldn't stop myself!

For our appetizer, we had the RADICHIO AND FUNGHI ($12), which was a dish of sautéed Italian chicory leaves and mushrooms served on toasted bread and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. We really enjoyed this but the veggies were a bit greasy.

For my main, I had the RISOTTO DEL PESCATORE ($22), which was Arborio rice with shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels and clams in a white wine tomato broth. I really like this. This reminded me of the paella I'd had a few times at Cafe en Passant. I liked this one better because the rice grains were whole and there was more seafood. 

My mom opted for the BISTECCA ALLA GRIGLIA ($24), a 12 oz grilled rib-eye steak. This was soooo gooooood. The beef was very fatty, I have to say, but incredibly tender. It just melted in my mouth. My only gripe was that it was a bit too charred.

For the finale, I had CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM ($6). There was a vanilla ice cream centre, which still had a lingering taste of alcohol. I don't normally like ice cream, but I wanted to sample both of the desserts that were available.

My mom had the TIRAMISU ($7). This was divine. After sampling both desserts, I regretted having ordered the ice cream. Oh well.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable experience. I think the fact that the restaurant is so hidden is a big reason why the restaurant was so quiet on a Friday evening - which was good. The only thing was the place smelled like cigarette smoking the moment we walked in, which was a huge turn off. But the food was impeccably done. We will return and hopefully we won't encounter the smoke problem again!

Congee Delight

Date: December 10, 2012
Location: 3555 Don Mills Road (at Finch), Toronto
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
I came here with my mom, cousin CL, and aunt. My aunt had been here before and chose this place. We shared the following:

MINCED BEEF CONGEE: I prefer sliced beef congee, but my cousin wanted this. Not bad.

FRIED SQUID TENTACLES: This was really good. Served piping hot. The batter was thick and crispy.

STIR-FRIED VERMICELLI: I've had better stir-fried vermicelli. I think there were too many pickled radishes in there, which threw off the flavour.

STEAMED BOK CHOY: This was okay. I mean, it was steamed veggies, haha.