Date: November 28, 2013
Location: 275 Yonge Street, Downtown Toronto (Yonge/Dundas)
Website: http://les3brasseurs.ca/eng/
Cuisine: restaurant/pub
Meal: dinner & drinks
My thoughts:
I came here with coworker DQ to celebrate us both having gotten a permanent position at work - wahoooo :) We came around 4:30pm, and scored a sweet and cozy spot next to the window so that we could watch the pretty lights of Yonge/Dundas Square as well as hustle and bustle of stressed-out Christmas shoppers ;o)
This is an international microbrewery chain headquartered in France, hence why the French and English name in the post's subject line. They carry various beers as well as brew some of their own in-house. Check out these tankers, er, tanks!
We opted for a pitcher of the blond beer, which I personally found tasted weird, but then again, I generally only drink Canadian, so it could be my lack of experience with different beers.
The first page of the menu resembled the front page of a newspaper and was full of interesting facts about beer. I learned a few things that night, such as that beer makes your hair shiny and that it is a source of vitamin B. Who knew? And another reason for me to drink beer? Sure, why not!
For food, we ordered a basket of sweet potato fries - a favourite of both DQ's and mine - for $5.95. These were delicious - thin-cut but breaded and crispy. The dip was a dijon mayonnaise. The serving size was pretty small though.
We also ordered nachos ($11.99) with guac ($2.50 extra). The nachos as a whole were good, but like the fries, were a smaller order than what I'm used to getting at other restaurants. But pretty much every chip was loaded with cheese, which I absolutely love, so I guess that made it worth it. The guac tasted tasted like it was 'diluted' with a lot of sour cream, so it wasn't worth it for the $2.00 extra that we had to pay.
The service was friendly and quick, although our first waitress, who was only around long enough to take our order, seemed a little distracted and disorganized. The place is huuuuge! Make a point to go (that is, if you don't actually need to go) to the washroom, and you will see just how deceivingly massive this place is.
On our way out, we noticed a little but stand asking for customers' input on the restaurant's service. It was primitive in design, but the idea was original. I thought it was a cute touch.
Will I be back? Absolutely!
Date: November 26, 2013
Location: 149 Dundas St W, Toronto (Bay/Dundas)
Website: http://www.kimchikoreahouse.com/
Cuisine: Korean
Meal: lunch
My thoughts:
Late November and early December is an expensive time of the year for me because a lot of my friends' and family' birthdays fall into this span of dates!
Today, I was with SP to celebrate her birthday. Fortunately, she works near me and we chose someplace that was in the area. We arrived at 11:45am to avoid having to wait. We were promptly seated and we quickly ordered.
We were given some pretty standard banchan to start our meal. My favourite was the green leafy vegetable, which is actually a Chinese vegetable, but I don't know the name.
I had the vegetable bibimbap ($8.95), which is a rice dish with a mix of vegetables served in a hot-stone bowl. It also came with a garden salad and a miso soup.
My bibimbap, along with a large bottle of sweet and spicy sauce, arrived at our table in no time. The bibimbap itself was very good, with lots of veggies, but with all the Korean restaurants in the city, it was the sauce that really set this dish apart. It lent the perfect level of heat and sweetness to the dish, and I'm sure it would make pretty much anything taste even better.
I liked this place. Service was polite and not intrusive and the food was great. I'll definitely be back. I have heard good things about the mushroom bibimbap, so I'd like to try that next time. And of course, I'll make sure I get a bottle of that yummy sweet and spicy sauce!
Date: November 24, 2013
Location: 430 Progress Ave, Scarborough (Brimley/Hwy 401)
Website: http://canyoncreekrestaurant.ca/
Cuisine: steakhouse
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
I came here to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends and chose this place because it's close to where she lives. I made reservations for 7pm, but it turned out I didn't need to, as the restaurant was only at about 50% capacity that evening.
As per usual, I'd studied the menu ahead of time. This helps to get me excited for the meal - I mean, of course I'm there for the company and not the food! - and I tend to easily get overwhelmed with all the choices I have come time of ordering.
I had my sights set on the coconut shrimp and the kimchi quesadillas, but gave my friend the honour of ordering that night, since it was her night. It wasn't until everything came that we realized everything she ordered was deep-fried - this was definitely not good for the waistline lol! She decided on the following:
COOL RANCH RIBS ($12.95) - crispy back rib fingers tossed with a dry ranch seasoning and served with a lime garlic buttermilk sauce. The moment this came and I saw the dark tinge to the meat, I thought to myself, 'Uh oh. The meat must be overcooked and tough.' But as I took my first sinful bite into this, boy, I knew right away I was wrong. This was soooo tender and juicy and the batter very crispy, and the whole thing paired perfectly with the creamy sauce that came with it!
COCONUT SHRIMP ($10.95) - coconut breaded crispy tiger shrimp, served with a horseradish Dijon marmalade. Pretty standard coconut shrimp. Really, I don't think you can mess up this dish, but it is still one of my favourite finger foods. The dip was different in a good way. My only complaint was that there were so few of them shrimp! >:|
GOLDEN CALAMARI ($10.95) - chili buttermilk marinated, crispy fried, served with lemon garlic aïoli. This was a pretty large serving size compared to other places I've had fried calamari. The batter tasted the same as what was used on the ribs, although the colour is different (it must be because the ribs need to be fried longer in order to cook through.) Also pretty standard, although probably oilier than most fried calamari I've had. The dip tasted like it was made of the fattiest sour cream there possibly is out there, so I didn't really care for it.
In sum, I had a good time tonight. The more upscale atmosphere was very appropriate given the occasion. Tonight's food was good enough to warrant another return, and I will definitely be ordering the quesadillas next time!
Date: November 21, 2013
Location: 2152 Danforth Ave, Toronto (just east of Woodbine Subway Stn)
Website: http://www.relishbarandgrill.com/
Cuisine: bar/tapas
Meal: lunch
My thoughts:
I was volunteering in the area today. To be honest, this place didn't seem very inviting from the outside, but it seemed to be the only for place that was open at 11:30 in the morning, so in I went.
A middle-aged man was my server and was very friendly throughout my entire visit, even though I had to take an important call while he was greeting me. I was pressed for time, so I didn't look through the menu too intensively, so I chose a lunch combo, which is 1/2 a sandwich and their daily soup ($9.99). I chose the Grilled Portobello Pressed Sandwich, and it took some time for it to get to my table, but seeing as how it was a weekday in an area that probably doesn't get a whole lot of traffic during the day, I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise.
The soup was a vegetable soup, which was okay but quite salty. The sandwich, though, was something else. It was laden with grilled vegetables and cheese, nestled between two hearty toasted buns. Yum. The patrons in the table next to mine even commented on how good my sandwich looked.
And here's a cross-sectional view of my sandwich so that you can see its 'contents' :P
I managed to be in and out within 25 minutes. I wish I had more time to take in the whole decor and experience. There was a drum set and a mike by the door, and I imagine this place to get quite busy on weekend nights among the locals. I enjoyed my visit, but I'm not I will be back. As mentioned, the service was friendly, but I'm not a huge fan of loud live music in a small place that would hinder my ability to hear others, and the food, although good, was a bit on the pricey side given how casual this place is.
Date: November 16, 2013
Location: 5417 Yonge Street, near Yonge/Finch
Website: http://www.pasteldesserts.com/
Meal: desserts
My thoughts:
My companion for the evening's friend really sold my friend on this place, and he practically insisted that we come here.
The place is a simple and rather plain cafe. It's also very small, with about a 20 person seating capacity, and was about 25% full the night we came, despite it being a Saturday night.
My friend ordered an espresso ($2.45), which he said was very good. I didn't try it - I try to stay away from anything caffeinated past 1pm because I am an early sleeper. Anyway, he said it was good.
We ordered a black sesame crepe ($11.99), which we were told is their best seller. The ice-cream is made in-house and has sprinkles of sesame, peanut, sponge cake and cereal and chocolate drizzled on top, with a huge dollop of whipped cream on the side. Great presentation! The crepe overall was very good, though I generally prefer softer, chewier crepes. The crepe here is on the dry and thin side, so if that's your thing, I recommend you come here.
All in all a nice experience. They had quite an extensive dessert/fine cakes menu, but those are generally an overkill for me. I don't have an enormous sweet tooth, and I prefer simple, familiar things. I would come back if I'm passing by and am hit with a sugar craving.
Date: November 16, 2013
Location: 6-72 Steeles Avenue West (west of Yonge), Thornhill
Website: http://www.songcooks.com/
Cuisine: Korean
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
I'm so glad that my friend suggested this place because I would have never found this place on my own. I don't even think it is possible that I would accidentally stumble upon this place because even 'tucked away' would be an understatement - completely hidden is more like it!
Anyway, as you can probably already tell, I liked this place. The high ceilings, ample lighting, and simple decor made me feel like I was briefly transported to a very culturally traditional area of Korea (I've never been though, so I can't actually attest to that). The service was polite and efficient. The restaurant, which was huge, was at about 75% capacity, yet still quiet. The best was the food was delicious and cheap!
As typical of Korean cuisine, we were served various banchans. The kimchis were not cut up, which to me means they must have been made in-house, and we were given a pair of scissors and a fork to cut it up ourselves. (In the photo below, it's the dish on the right that looks like sweet potatoes. Haha.)
I ordered a combo H6, which came with a half order of Jajang black bean sauce noodle, and a half order of the vegetable and pork pan-fried dumplings, for $9.99. Being very indecisive when given lots of food options, I was grateful for the combos because I was able to try more dishes for just a little more than the price of one regular-sized dish. The noodle was deeee-lish - very chewy and fresh - and the sauce very flavourful but not greasy or too salty. The dumplings were pretty good, but I have always preferred Chinese-style dumplings for their filling, but for what they're worth, these were not bad at all.
My friend had the combo H6, which came with a half order of Jajang black bean sauce noodle, and a half order of the spicy chicken, for $13.99. The spicy chicken given was a good sized portion, and the chicken was flavourful with just the right amount of heat.
There was a complimentary light dessert, which was what I believed were deep-fried caramelized corn kernels. They were not very good. I realize these were complimentary, but the batter was dense and not very crispy - and there was a lot of it. These were also overly sweet. We left still wanting some good dessert to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Despite the flop of a dessert, I'll definitely be back. I'd like to try their bibimbap next time.
Date: November 8, 2013
Location: 364 Danforth Ave. (just west of Chester Subway Station), Greektown, Toronto
Website: http://www.burgerstomperbar.com/
Cuisine: North American
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
I came here with my former co-workers for our monthly Triple-D jaunt (inside joke). One co-worker, who doesn't live far from here, suggested this place. I'll admit that I do not care much for burgers and almost wanted to take the liberty to suggest a last-minute change to Greek food (we were, after all, in the heart of Greektown).
I'm really glad I didn't. Because that night, I discovered just what might be the absolute best sweet potato fries that my taste buds have ever tasted. Yes. If you have read my previous posts, you will know that I am a sweet potato fan devotee. It is often the topic of conversation between my fellow sweet potato fan-loving friends and I. In fact, last week, my friend and I coined the term SPF (the acronym for its eponymous name) to facilitate our discussions on this matter.
Anyway, let me start off by saying what I ordered. I had two specialty sliders for $5.99. You can choose from Swiss mushroom melt, sweet onion D, Greek burger, better-than-the-other-guy and blue cheeseburger. I had the Swiss mushroom and Greek burger. The burgers were nothing extraordinary. I was surprised to find that I liked the Swiss mushroom a lot more than the Greek burger because Greek food is one of my favourites. What did it was the bbq sauce. I really recommend it. I paid an extra $3.99 to make it a combo, which includes a side and a drink, and an additional $1.00 to upgrade my side to SPF. (Altogether, I paid $10.99 + tax and tip for my meal.)
Finally, returning to the SPF - what made it so special was that they were thick cut, very crispy and stayed that way when it was cold, and not greasy, giving it a healthy-tasting feel! Strange, right? I didn't think that would ever live to the day to experience fries that were healthy. Okay, healthy they may not be, but they sure could have fooled me!
This may be a burger joint, and by all accounts, their burgers ain't shabby, but you gotta come here for their SPF! All the staff, especially this young, "edgy"-looking girl, were very friendly and just plain awesome.
Date: November 3, 2013
Location: Steeles Ave E (west of Midland Ave), Scarborough
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese (Szechuan)
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
My parents had tried this restaurant at their Mississauga location and wanted to take the kids to try it at a more accessible location in Scarborough.
I unfortunately don't have the name of the restaurant nor any of the dishes, but the food overall was very good. The portions were very reasonable (with the exception of the noodle dish, see pic #2) and the food was infused with authentic Szechuan-style seasoning.
If you can handle some heat, I would recommend you try an authentic Szechuan-style restaurant, perhaps this one, as it is very good. Szechuan dishes at your local food court doesn't do this cuisine any justice, nor is it an accurate depiction of this cuisine's offerings. (I suppose you can extend this to all foods in general.) Give Szechuan food a try!
Date: November 2
Location: 5220 Finch Ave E (east of Middlefield), Scarborough
Website: http://www.embassyrestaurant.ca/
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: snack
My thoughts:
A few years ago, someone got me a delicious piping hot and crispy samosa, and from my recollection, they got it from the Finch and Middlefield area. After doing some research online, I discovered this restaurant, which I automatically assumed from all the rave reviews that it was the same place that that individual had gotten the samosas from.
The place was a bit difficult to find. It is tucked inside a strip plaza, hidden from view from passing cars. When I entered the restaurant, I was blown away by how busy it was. It is a takeout-style restaurant, and there must have been over 50 people in line. Luckily, the line moved quickly. When it was my turn, I ordered 5 samosas for $1 (yes, you read that correctly!) and a roti for $0.40. The samosas were ginormous. Here, take a look!
And here is a photo I took in the car. They smelled so good I almost couldn't wait to get home to take a proper picture before sneaking a bite of one! They were packed in a paper bag, which is why it might look like I was taking a photo down a paper bag tunnel.
Anyway, needless to say, the prices are dirt cheap. But how did the food fare? The samosa wrapping was dense and floury (think the texture of chickpeas), and the filling was spicy. It wasn't anything like the samosas I'd had a few years ago; the wrapper I had was thin and crispy, like a wonton wrapper. The roti was also dense.
So while the food was cheap, I'm not sure I would come back if I'm craving samosas again, even given its convenient location for me. The service was friendly and efficient, though, managing to keep a line of 50+ customers pretty controlled and avoiding any shouting matches between what could be irate customers (which there were none).
