Date: February 8, 2014
Location: 7850 Woodbine Avenue, 2nd floor (Woodbine & Hwy 407)
Website: http://www.oratapaslounge.com/
Cuisine: tapas/fusion
Meal: dinner
My thoughts:
My aunt hosted a party here for my cousin (first cousin) as it was her 100th day birthday.
She rented the entire dining area as she had invited a lot of people, which was nice, because it really added to the cozy and intimate atmosphere. The dining area is pretty inconspicuous and is located on the far side of a darts lounge. With its dim lighting and soft candles, it really is more of a classy lounge.
Anyway, onto the food. For the first hour or so was the reception. There were apps at the bar that were self-served and included an array of things, including beef carpaccio, salmon sashimi-topped deep-fried wonton wrappers, grilled squid and corn salad/salsa and chicken wings. The wings weren't anything special, but I loved everything else. I could really taste the quality of the ingredients and there were some interesting combination of flavours.
Dinner started at around 7:30pm. Guests were asked to choose between a leek and potato soup or a garden salad for starters. I chose the salad, which was very fresh, but it was very uninteresting. Asides from the glazed vinaigrette, and what totalled to be one whole grape tomato (but really served as garnish IMO), it lacked any toppings.
My mom had the soup, which I didn't try, so I can't speak to how it tasted.
For the main, everyone was given a choice of either a lamb rack, steak or salmon. I chose the lamb and it was soooo juicy and tender.
My dad ordered the steak, which I had a taste of. We both agreed the lamb was more flavourful and more tender.
I had a great time tonight. Service was attentive and quick, and food was dee-lish. I'll have to be back on a regular night to try other things and to get a more objective review.
Date: February 7, 2014
Location: 328 Spadina Ave (just north of Dundas), downtown Toronto
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner (part IV)
My thoughts:
I hate it when restaurants don't have a website! I mean, we are currently in the 21st century.
Anyway, despite the absence of a website (and originality in their choice of name apparently), it really makes up for it in their food. I mean, this is absolutely my favourite dumpling restaurant in Toronto (and being Chinese, I have been to many over the years).
We ordered a dozen pan-fried dumplings ($6.99) in 3 different flavours: mushroom and spinach, shrimp and vegetables, and pork and chives. For the filling, I didn't really care for the first one, but the other two were very good. What really sets these dumplings apart is an ultra thin layer of crunchy dough that connects all the dumplings. See the photo below, as it will probably do a better job of explaining what these dumplings are like.
The combination of the crunchy 'crust' and the juicy filling is unbelievably amazing. So amazing that you need to get your butt there stat to find out what I'm talking about. Trust me, you won't regret it.
Date: February 7, 2014
Location: 79 Huron St (Spadina and Dundas), downtown Toronto
Website: http://www.yummyyummydumplings.com/
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner (part III)
My thoughts:
So this was stop #3 of tonight's foodie adventure. This place is a hole in the wall mom-and-pop shop, so don't be expecting a nice ambiance here. But what it lacks in decor, it makes up for in their prices and food.
Since we were planning on going to another dumpling place (one whose pan-fried dumplings we love) next, we decided on steamed pork & cabbage dumplings ($5.25), which came with a dozen dumplings.
Being seated next to the kitchen, we could see that everything was made to order. Our order arrived very quickly and we dug right in. While the dumplings were tasty, I found the filling to be a bit too salty and the dough to be a tad too thick.
I would still come more so because you can't beat that price than the food being tasty. I'd like to try their pan-fried dumplings next time.
Date: February 7, 2014
Location: 179 Dundas St W, Toronto
Website: http://www.sansotei.com/
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: dinner (part II)
My thoughts:
Came here with my dad add part 2 of my foodie adventure. We arrived at around 5pm and it was surprisingly quite busy.
I've been here a number of times and have learned that their tonkotsu ramen is by far my favourite, so that was what we ordered. We shared this.
Just to incorporate a little bit of variety, I chose the tonkatsu black ($9.85), which is ramen with pork belly, black fungus, egg, green onion and garlic oil. The only difference from the regular tonkatsu is the addition of garlic oil.. and 10 cents to the price. (I find it mildly amusing that they would charge 10 cents for an extra spoonful or two of oil, but okay. The pricing is at the restaurant's discretion.) Anyway, we also got extra noodles for $1.00.
My dad was surprised at how much he enjoyed this, so much so that of all the restaurants we went to tonight, he ranked this as his favourite. That surprised me even more, because this means it beat out his all-time favourite cuisine, Chinese - up until today, he has pretty much only liked Chinese food - so that's really saying something.
Anyway, the ramen was really good. Just as good as I remembered it to be. Now for the soup: which is better - tonkatsu or tonkatsu black? The garlic oil wasn't dramatically different, so I will be getting the regular tonkatsu to save myself on the extra calories. Portion size was good given that we were going to make a few stops tonight.
Just try this place out if you haven't already! Just don't go at peak meal hours.
Date: February 7, 2014
Location: 122 Elizabeth St (near Bay and Dundas), downtown Toronto
Website: http://japango.net/
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: dinner (part I)
My thoughts:
I got this to go while waiting for my dad to meet me at Sansotei. While I was waiting, I chatted with arguably the friendliest and most polite waitress I've ever encountered.
I picked their signature Japango roll, which at $13, cost a pretty penny, but I'd heard rave reviews about it and wanted to try it. I don't remember what was in it, but needless to say, a lot of things, as you can see from the photo below.
My order was ready in about 10 minutes, and just as the waitress was packing up my order, I asked her if I could first snap a quick photo. I told her I had a blog and she took great interest in it, even asking me for the URL, and mentioned that she really takes pride in working there because she also likes taking photos of food and the chefs there put a lot of attention into the presentation of all the dishes. I could certainly see that.
While I was very impressed with the waitress's customer service, how did the food (at least the roll) taste? So-so, I'm sad to say. Maybe it was the raw scallop, which although seared, made the roll overly slimy for my liking. (I am for the most part unadventurous when it comes to consuming foods that are raw.) A sauce was drizzled over top, but clearly it did not do enough to give the roll flavour, as I found the roll bland. I do have to give them points for not skimping on quality (including the freshness) and quantity. I saved most of it for my mom, who really enjoyed it - although I suspect it may have had to do with the fact that she knew the price of the roll (i.e. it was psychological).
Will I be back? Maybe, but I definitely won't be ordering this roll again. Not for that kind of money.
