Lion City Restaurant

Date: March 29, 2013

Location: 1177 Central Parkway W, Mississauga
Website: http://www.lioncityrestaurant.ca/

Cuisine: Singaporean, Indonesian and Malaysian

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

My family and I were going on a day trip to Hamilton, and my dad suggested this restaurant because a) it was on route to our destination, b) he was curious to try their Indonesian offerings since that is his roots, and c) it was actually open on Good Friday.

This was what we ordered:

Satay skewers ($7.50) - pork, beef or chicken skewers served with peanut sauce. These were alright. My favourite was the beef, as I found it a bit fatty and therefore juicy.

Gado Gado ($7.00) - Indonesian salad with prawn crackers, vegetables & peanut sauce. This is an Indonesian staple, so of course my dad had to order it. It is a pretty basic dish: an assortment of steamed vegetables, Asian-style fried prawn crackers and peanut sauce. This was okay - pretty standard.

Deep fried tofu ($4.50) - This came with a peanut sauce, which was the saving grace for this dish, because the tofu itself wasn't very good (i.e. crispy).

Goat rendang with biryani ($8.50) - This was goat biryani, which came as a surprise to us, as this item was called "briani" on the menu and also because this is southeast Asian cuisine. Anyway, while I love biryani, this was nothing special. There was nothing about it that made it southeast Asian in any way.

Chendol ($4.50) - jelly in sweet coconut milk drink. This was too sweet for my liking and expensive for the lack of jelly it had.

I feel obliged to remark that the owners, who also served us, were very nice. They came by to chat with us a few times. That, however, doesn't warrant a good review. I found the menu unorganized and the food unimpressive. I won't be back.

Sansotei Ramen

Date: March 28, 2013

Location: 179 Dunas St, Downtown Toronto
Website: http://www.sansotei.com/

Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
If you read my older posts, you probably know I have had ramen before. But I was never a huge fan, and I certainly would have never go out of my way for it. I was convinced though that I just hadn't had good ramen yet and this place proved me right.

I came here with coworker DQ. We were in a pinch for time, so we made the wise choice to come at 11:30am to beat the lunch rush (they open at 11am and when we left at 12:15pm, there was a line-up).

I had the tonkotsu ramen ($9.25), which had pork belly, black fungus, egg and green onion with original noodle. (For noodles, you have a choice of original, thin or thick.) I knew after my first delicious mouthful that I was going to be a changed woman (at least as far as ramen is concerned). The noodles were fresh and chewy, but the real winner was the soup. It was very flavourful, rich and creamy, which in my books is a winning combination. My only gripe is that although the serving bowl is huge, there wasn't much noodle, and I left hungry. Next time (yes, there will be a next time), I will make sure to get extra noodle for $1 more.

My coworker had the miso ramen ($9.50), with pork belly, corn, bean sprout, egg and green onion. I didn't try it but he told me he thought it was really good. This was his first ramen experience and he said he would be back. (That is, until he found out their soup is pork-based. He doesn't eat pork.)

So all-in-all, this was a very enjoyable experience. I'm glad to have found a solid and quick place in my work's vicinity. I'll be back soon.

Khao San Road

Date: March 25, 2013

Location: 326 Adelaide St W (east of Spadina), Downtown Toronto

Website: http://khaosanroad.ca/

Cuisine: Thai

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
After two unsuccessful attempts to come here (i.e. to actually dine here), I finally made it! I came here with fellow (closet) foodie aka coworker aka DQ for an early dinner. Initially, we were going to just head over to a work convention after work, and he was close to bailing in favour of studying, but after I suggested coming here, he quickly changed his mind - if that says anything.

Anyway, enough non-food chit-chat. This is a food blog, after all.

This being my first time here, and having heard wonderful things about everything here, I allowed my companion to take the reins in deciding what to order. Worried that I might be disappointed with his order, he decided to play it safe and ordered his usual Khao Soi with Chicken ($13) - egg noodles in a coconut milk enriched curry, garnished with crispy noodles, green onion, coriander and lime.

When our order came, which was a mere couple of minutes after we'd ordered, I was doubtful that we'd ordered enough. I'd been anticipating this meal for ages and I came hungry and prepared to eat!

But by the end of it, we were full. The egg noodles were fried - I know, unhealthy, but oh-so-good. Who knew that deep-frying egg noodles would produce such a light and crispy texture? Also, the creamy coconut sauce was so rich and extremely flavourful that I drank the whole thing like soup. (Yes, seriously.) Needless to say, I ate like a barbarian and made a complete mess of myself. Even my coworker said he was surprised I was such a messy eater. I replied that I only am when I am this hungry and the food is this good.

Despite our better judgement, we each decided to get a dessert. Khao San only has one dessert, Sa Koo Ma Prao ($4), making it easy for us to decide. This is a small personal-sized cup of small tapioca pearls in a sweet coconut milk, flavoured with pandan and strips of tender young coconut. While I liked this and the fact that there was fresh coconut in this (nice twist), this was nothing new. My mom made this all the time when I was a kid. But my coworker really liked this.

By the end of all of this, both my companion and I were so stuffed that we felt like boycotting the convention in lieu of a nap. I also felt like I was pregnant with that extra weight on my ventral side (never having been pregnant, that's what I imagine being pregnant feels like anyway.) Worry not, though. We carried ourselves, with the extra 5 pounds that I'm sure we each had packed on from dinner, to the convention.

Just one final note. Our waiter was incredibly attentive (without being overly so) and consistently refilled our waters within a minute, tops. He was also friendly and smiley - which I think is worth mentioning as, sadly, not all people in the service industry are.

Great meal! Will be back to try other things!