Loui's Kouzina

Date: Monday, June 30, 2014
Location: 9255 Woodbine Ave (at 16th Ave), Markham
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Greek
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I try to take my mom out for dinner about once a month. We usually go for Japanese, but I wanted to my mom to try something different tonight. This place immediately came to mind. We called ahead and made reservations for 6pm, though it wasn't necessary as the restaurant was pretty empty (it did get very busy around 7 though). 

We were given a loaf of complimentary toasted garlic bread, but I didn't eat much of it because it didn't have enough butter. I didn't want to fill up on bread so I didn't bother asking for more butter. Butter's not healthy anyway.

For our mains, I had the moussaka plate with a side of Caesar salad ($13.95). This was my first moussaka experience so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but it certainly was very good. For those unfamiliar with this dish, I see it as a Greek version of a lasagna, but with potatoes instead of pasta noodles and with different vegetables and seasonings. This particular one had onions and eggplant, and the potatoes resembled mashed potatoes but were less granular in texture.

My mom ordered the double lamb shank dinner with a choice of two sides ($18.95). The single shank was $14.95 I believe. My mom loved this. The meat was literally fall-of-the-bone and seasoned well. The veggies were very fresh, and the rice fluffy and infused with flavour.

We ordered a grilled calamari ($9.95) to share, but this didn't come until the tail end of our meal. We still enjoyed it all the same, but it gave us the feeling that the staff needs better organization. Also, presentation wasn't too great. (Both minor issues for us.) Otherwise, the calamari itself was incredibly juicy and very generously seasoned. Definitely one of the best grilled calamaris I've had.

Overall, this was a great dining experience. My mom, who was never really exposed to Greek cuisine, said she prefers this over French and Italian food. Service was attentive and quick. We'll be back.

Millie Creperie

Date: Monday, June 30, 2014
Location: 161 Baldwin Street (near Spadina/Dundas W), Toronto
Website: http://milliecreperie.com/
Cuisine: Japanese desserts
Meal: snack

My thoughts:
It was a typical sweltering summer day, and I needed a way to beat the heat. After work, I trekked over to Kensington Market and was relieved to see that this place was open.

I already knew what I wanted. I'd visited the business's website numerous times and drooled over their pictures. And so without hesitation, I asked for the Japanese special crepe with green tea gelato ($6.95). 

First, here's the deal with Japanese - well, Asian for that matter - desserts. Asians in general tend not to like sweets that are very rich and heavily-laden with sugar, and so their desserts tend to be light, fluffy and lightly sweetened. 

True to their claim on their website, the crepe was indeed very light and not sweet. The crepe was served like a maki, with it rolled up into a cone, and was filled with a heaping scoop of green tea gelato, light foamy whipped cream on the side, fresh strawberries for garnish and a thin black sesame drizzled on top. The presentation definitely earned top marks. 

So how did it actually taste? Quite simply... It was freakin' amazing! Gosh, I can eat this every day for the rest of my life and not be sick of it. It was so good that as I was eating it, I couldn't help but shut my eyes as I relished the feeling of being in food heaven. So good that as passersby stared at my crepe, I wanted to shield it from their view so as to keep this place of a gem a secret. (Yet here I am sharing it with you guys. Because I love you guys<3 Haha)

Seriously, just go.

Grand Electric

Date: Friday, June 27, 2014
Location: 1330 Queen Street West, 
Website: http://www.grandelectricbar.com
Cuisine: Mexican
Meal: drinks/dinner

My thoughts:
I've heard amazing things about this place and I've wanted to come here for god knows how long. Needless to say, I was super excited to finally be coming here.

But unfortunately, this place fell short of my expectations on so many levels. For starters, it is extremely loud. I generally find a lot of places to be loud, but this really took it to a whole new level. Food was all mediocre - with the exception of the fish taco, which was phenomenal (and it was only $3 each!), and the tuna ceviche, which was an assault on my taste buds. Blech is all I can say.

This is what we had:

GUAC AND CHIPS ($9): Not bad, but I've had better. The chips were very crispy but were very salty and tasted like they were fried several times over. Very little guac for the amount of chips and the price.

JESUS JUICE & BOURBONADE ($8 each): I had the former drink and my friend the latter. I think I chose my drink out of curiosity as to what "Jesus juice" would taste like. Apparently, like medicine. The bourbonade was sweeter and not too bad. Both drinks were strong.

TACOS ($3.60 each): We ordered a few tacos to share - two fish, one chicken, one cauliflower and one beef cheek. As I mentioned earlier, fish taco was spectacular. Even my friend, who is a mix of terrified and horrified by seafood, wanted a second one. The cauliflower was gross and in dire need of a sauce. Nothing else really to say abut the beef and chicken.

TUNA CEVICHE ($11): As you can see, portions are small, so I ordered this because I was still hungry. Big mistake. And unfortunately, this was the only thing where they were generous in serving size. The fish tasted very 'fishy' and desperately needed something to offset it. I almost gagged.

Out of everything, we only felt the fish tacos were worth our money. I would come back just for the fish tacos - IF I'm in the area.

Tikka Lahore

Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Location: 1365 Gerrard St E (Gerrard/Greenwood), Leslieville, Toronto

Website: http://lahoretikkahouse.com/

Cuisine: Pakistani/Indian

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

This was a rather spontaneous decision to come here. I was feeling up for some hearty comfort food, and DQ suggested this place.

Upon entering this place, everything from the colours to the finishes to the tent sheltering communal tables made me feel like I'd been transported to another part of the world.

Having grown up on this food, DQ took the liberty to order the palak paneer, goat curry and butter chicken. My main issue with everything was that the food was so disgustingly greasy - to the point that there was a deep pool of grease sitting on top of all the dishes. Ewww. Needless to say, I wasn't a fan of the food. We also had the chaat pri as an appetizer, which was the only decent thing that evening.

The place was very busy, surprisingly, so people must be okay with putting all that nasty grease into their body. But I won't be back.

Dumpling King

Date: June 20, 2014
Location: 15 Northtown Way (near Yonge and Finch), Toronto
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
After a failed attempt to come here (apparently they're closed on Tuesdays), my dad and I were determined to try this place. We arrived 20 minutes prior to closing (I know, I hate to be one of those people, but we vowed to be quick).

We ordered the pork and leak pan-fried dumplings and egg and veggie steamed dumpling. Dumplings were in the range of $7-8 per order. 

While the dumplings weren't bad, given how out of the way this place is for us, difficulty/cost of parking and their relatively early closing time for a Friday night, they don't justify the hassle of another visit.