Yakitori Bar

Date: October 31, 2013

Location: 1 Baldwin St (just north of Dundas), Downtown Toronto

Website: http://yakitoribar.ca/

Cuisine: Korean

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

I originally had plans to go to Chinatown for some good ol' Chinese comfort food (yup, I'm talking $5.99 black bean beef on rice combos!), but because it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella, I ended up coming here. 

I arrived before noon, and the restaurant was empty. I ordered the kalbi bibimbap for $9.95. I was surprised at how steep the prices were. After all, this restaurant, being in the vicinity of three major schools, is in the heart of a student area. Here's a look at their lunch menu:

Anyway, the food was certainly delicious. The meat was pretty standard kalbi - i.e. very tender (albeit a bit fatty) and well-marinated. It even came with a brown rice option at no extra cost (bonus!). I made the unfortunate mistake of overlooking this spicy sauce that was served in a separate bowl, and ate half of my dish without it. It made a huge difference in the flavour, so make sure you don't make the same mistake I did. For your reference, it is the little black bowl partially hidden by the main bowl. 

This is what my meal looked like, followed by a close-up just in case the first one didn't get you salivating, heh heh.

All in all, I had a good experience. The food was good, prices a bit steep, service was okay (I dealt with two waitresses, one of which was very helpful and friendly and the other was the polar opposite - it's a good thing for the restaurant that foodies focus more on food than service). I will be back for sure.

Duke of Kent

Date: October 25, 2013
Location: 2315 Yonge St (north of Eglinton), Toronto 
Website: http://kent.thedukepubs.ca/index-home.php
Cuisine: North American
Meal: snacks and drinks

My thoughts:
I came here for Halloween celebrations with coworker DQ. It was a packed that night, with just a small handful of people donning a costume.

We decided  to share a sweet potato fries ($5.99). When it came, we were surprised to see how small of a small portion it was in none other than a plain metal bowl, which immediately reminded me of something I've seen some people use to hold vomit. Gross, I know. I hate that that thought crossed my mind when I was about to eat something I love so much!

Anyway, that thought turned out to not ruin the fries too much because it was cold and bland. The only saving grace was the sauce that came with it. The sauce bore striking similarity to plum sauce, which probably sounds as odd to you as it did to me when I first saw it. To be honest, though, the pairing wasn't terrible and actually semi-made up for the lacklustre flavour of the fries.

We also ordered nacho cheese sticks ($6), which scored higher on the flavour scale, but I found it a tad salty. This was my first time having cheese sticks, and I found the non-stringy texture of the cheese to be unnatural. The cheese was orange in colour, so it appeared to be cheddar cheese but it didn't have that sharp distinct flavour of cheddar cheese, which knocked off another point.

All in all, the food was disappointing. Most people seemed to be there for drinks anyway and the few people who were eating seemed to be doing so just for the sake of munching on something. No one was actually having a meal there. The crowd was good - very busy and lively. But will I be back? Considering how saturated the restaurant business is in Toronto, and particularly in the Yonge and Eglinton area, there are tons of other places places that have a good crowd and offer good food, so no I won't be back.