Pastel Creperies & Dessert House

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.

Song Cook's Authentic Korean Restaurant

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.

Burger Stomper

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.

Szechuan

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!

Samosa King - Embassy Restaurant

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).

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.

Via Cibo

Date: September 29, 2013
Location: 808 York Mills Rd #14 (east of Leslie), midtown Toronto
Website: http://www.viacibo.com/
Cuisine: Italian street food
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my fellow Triple D friends (inside joke) - AB and her husband, and AE - to celebrate AE's birthday.

AE had been raving about this place for awhile and I was very excited to try it out. He said that the owner used to own Subway and another major food chain (he thinks it may be Mucho Burrito), sold them and opened this. This is an "Italian street food" joint, so everything is very reasonably priced and for the most part self-serve. 

With a steely grey walls and red accents, the décor is definitely very modern and inviting. It seemed to be the highlight of my whole experience here, though. The ordering procedure was somewhat confusing and the fact that there isn't a host at the doorway to explain it seems to imply this place is catered to regulars. Anyway, you place your order near the front of the restaurant, are given a number (one number for your entire party if you're coming with others), and as you walk over to the back of the restaurant, the restaurant's computers sync up and you pay for your order at the cash without having to tell tell the cash what you ordered. Neat albeit confusing to one who's never gone through the whole sh'bang.

And then the food. Disaster would be putting it mildly. I had the Calabrese Sausage Piadina ($8.99), which was a flat bread wrap with Italian Sausage, roasted peppers, onions, pomodoro Sauce, provolone and chilli aioli. While the description may sound harmless enough, the offence lay in the fact that there was so much grease in my wrap that within 10 minutes, there was a large pool of it on my plate, in which the half of my wrap was soaking in. It was disgusting! Needless to say, the sight of that alone made me lose my appetite (a hard feat to achieve) and I didn't eat that second half - and I hate wasting food.

My friends didn't seem to have that problem. I didn't try their food, but they seemed to enjoy it. Based on my experience, I'm not willing to try this restaurant again and risk having to waste so much food again.

Pfannkuchen Koln

Date: September 22, 2013
Location: 3345 Yonge St (north of Lawrence), midtown Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/creperiekoln
Cuisine: German creperie
Meal: brunch

My thoughts:
It isn't often that I have a day off. No, it's more like it's once in a blue moon that I get a day off. And I couldn't think of a better way to enjoy it than over brunch.

I met with my friend CM who was moving to her hometown of Vancouver in a few days. I did a lot of research on selecting this place, since she is a former sous-chef, so while she may not be vocal about her thoughts on food, I know that inside, she is.

We arrived at 11am and the restaurant was empty. We were greeted by a lady, whom I recognized from their website as the owner, who was very hospitable and friendly. The decor was quite, what I would call, different and "chic." Everything was black and fuschia.

I ordered a green lychee pomegranate tea ($2), which had a surprisingly strong lychee taste to it and was not sour, as I was expecting it to be. I really enjoyed my drink. CM had a latte, which was rich and frothy - i.e. delicious - but it looks like the chef/barista needs more work on creating the foamy milk heart in the centre. See below:

For crepes, I *started with the Lachs ($11), which consisted of smoked salmon, fresh chives and dill cream cheese, with a side of mixed greens salad. (*It was so good that I later ordered a second crepe.) My crepe was soooo amazing. There was a generous serving of smoked salmon (lots tucked neatly inside the crepe and isn't visible in the photo), and the crepe had the perfect level of sweetness. It also had a great, almost chewy, texture. My own complaint, and really it wasn't that big of a deal, is I would have preferred the crepe to be hot, which it wasn't. It was at room temperature. The salad had a sweet balsamic vinegar sauce, which has been my obsession as of late.

CM had the Wild Beeren ($8), with mixed berries and whipped cream, so it is a sweet crepe. Again, the chefs were very generous with the fillings. I nearly drooled as I watched CM cut into her crepe and big globs of whipped cream oozed out. She let me have a small taste of the crepe, and it was also delicious. The cream was fresh and the berries sweet. Yum. Mee. 

But I wasn't ready for dessert yet. I still wanted another savoury crepe, and so I ordered the Pilz ($9), which consisted of mushroom, chicken breast, garlic, crème fraiche. This also came with a side of salad. While the presentation was comparatively plain, the taste did not disappoint. The garlic was partially raw, and before you wrinkle your nose and say, "Ewwwww," let me tell you: I think this really made this dish. The flavour of the garlic was quite strong, but in an aromatic, good way.

The portions are generous, which the photos don't really illustrate. And don't let my ordering two crepes fool you. The crepes are seriously filling. At the office, I'm notorious for being a small girl with a big appetite and my boss has literally called me a 'pig' in jest before.

Oh, and the restaurant/cafe filled up within 30 minutes after we arrived, and when we left at around 12:30pm, a small line had formed at the entrance. So a word of advice, arrive early!

So all-in-all, I absolutely loved this place. I will definitely be spreading the word on the place and will be back soon - if not to have another crepe, then to ask how to pronounce the name of the business!

Dumpling King

Date: September 20, 2013
Location: 3290 Midland Ave #2 (just north of Finch), Scarborough
Website: http://www.dumplingking.ca/
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
My coworker and I were commuting home together today and we happened to come to the topic of dumplings, which we are both big fans of. She said she loves this place and that it is better than Chinese Dumpling House (at nearby Midland and Finch) but slightly more expensive. After she got off at her stop, our conversation left me with dumplings on my mind, and curious that there was a place in existence that someone dared claim to be better than my beloved CDH.

And so I called up my dad and invited him to join me to see just how this place fared against CDH. We ordered the cabbage and pork dumplings (12 for $5.79), which were very good and a steal. I do, however, based on the filling, prefer CDH's vegetarian dumplings over this. I generally don't like meat in my dumplings/samosas/spring rolls/etc., but my dad chose this one.

We also ordered the braised beef noodle soup ($6.99). The flavour took a bit of getting used to. At first taste, I thought it had a pungent smell, but I quickly got used to it. I enjoyed the noodles itself, which tasted very fresh and were chewy in texture.

Altogether, the bill came to less than $20. Despite the dingy decor, you really get a lot of bang for your buck here! I'll be back to try more of their dumplings, in particular their vegetarian and bok choy dumplings, so that I can see how they compare with CDH's.

Ema-tei

Date: September 20, 2013
Location: 30 St Patrick St (near University and Queen), downtown Toronto
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
I had such high expectations for this place after reading a number of reviews on the authenticity of this place's decor and food. 

As far as the latter goes, yes, I can vouch that its decor is indeed very traditionally Japanese and all the staff there appear to be Japanese (with the heavy accents and difficulty communicating to boot). 

Now onto the food. Things were generally 1/4-1/3 times more than what you would pay at most sushi joints. The most expensive was the unagi don (eel over rice at $25!) When I saw the prices, this only inflated my belief that the food was going to be extra-ordinary. Sadly, it was not. 

I had the udon noodle in soup with tempura bits ($7.95?), a kalbi skewer ($2.95), and a grilled eggplant ($6.95). The udon was not bad. The broth was very light and the noodles thick and chewy - if you've read any of my previous blogs, you'll know that 'chewiness' is my most important criterion in assessing noodles. I was unimpressed by the kalbi. It was small, thin in terms of thickness, and tough. The eggplant was more of the same 'nothing spectacular.' All in all, nothing was worth the price I paid for.

 

My friend DQ had the chicken katsu, which I believe was $9.95 or $10.95. He was it was okay, but that he wouldn't come back. He has the chicken katsu at half the price at The Grange on a daily basis and he said they taste identical.

The verdict? Let's just say that next time, I'm taking my hard-earned money elsewhere.

Jack Astor's

Date: September 16, 2013
Location: 10 Dundas St E (at Yonge St), downtown Toronto
Website: http://www.jackastors.com/
Cuisine: North American
Meal: dinner and drinks

My thoughts:
I came here for dinner with my good friend CM who was moving to her hometown of Vancouver. She wanted to come here because there aren't any Jack Astor's in her city. We arrived at around 4:30 and already the place was abuzz with a mixed crowd of tourists, students and business folks - which is a good sign!

For drinks, I had a red sangria ($12), which was delicious, and my friend had a beer. 

We decided to share two apps. We had the Jack's golden calamari ($10.94), which came with a yummy roasted garlic lemon aioli and cocktail sauce. It was served hot and batter was very crispy, but I thought it was overcooked. That, combined with the fact that the calamari pieces were rather small, made it a little bit tougher than I liked.

We also shared Jack's Macho Nachos ($14.44), with a side of beef chili and guacamole (which were an extra $2.59 each). The portion size is huuuge and fully loaded with cheese, tomatoes, peppers, onions and jalapeños. I could have done without the beef chili, but definitely try their guac. You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck with this one and it's a good plate for sharing!

Service was amazing. My friend had told our waitress that she was moving to Vancouver and our waitress wrote "Good luck" on my friend's receipt. How sweet!

Just a word of caution. If you have a fear of heights, as my friend does, take the elevator or avoid this location altogether. This place is on the top floor (fourth or fifth, I don't remember) of the building. Since I don't have that problem, I'll be back! :)

Montana's Cookhouse

Date: September 14, 2013
Location: 2910 Steeles Ave E (east of Don Mills Rd), Thornhill
Website: http://www.montanas.ca
Cuisine: barbecue/steakhouse
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with a date and it was an overall pleasant evening. All night, only about 20% of the restaurant was full, so it was pretty quiet, especially given the fact that it was a Saturday night. We opted to sit in the bar area, where it was more casual.

We shared an order of sweet potato fries ($5.99), which were very crispy and had a nice spicy kick to them. We also had an order of 2 garlic shrimp skewers ($4.99), which were very tasty but the shrimp were small.

Pretty standard fare but in all fairness, that is due in part to our choices in what we ordered. 

Service was quick and friendly. Decent selection of beers on tap. Nice (livelier) alternative to a humdrum coffee date.

Mykonos Grill

Date: September 12, 2013
Location: 881 Yonge St (south of Rosedale Subway Stn, downtown)
Website: http://www.mykonosgrill.ca/
Cuisine: Greek
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
My work was throwing a goodbye luncheon for my boss, who was leaving our team. We decided on Mykonos as a team, and it happens to be owned by one of my coworker's son, so we got free delivery.

I had the hummus dip ($7). The hummus was definitely the best I've ever had. When I ordered it, I had intended on bringing it home, but once I had a taste, I couldn't stop. It was amaaaazing! It had a very strong garlic flavour (which I loved), and was smooth and creamy. My only complaint was that it was very oily. There was actually a thick layer of oil on top, but I convinced myself that the oil used in Greek cuisine is olive oil and so it is healthy.

I also had a chicken pita wrap ($9), which was so-so. One look at the sea of Chicken Caesar Wraps and Chicken Greek Wraps, which were only $2 more than mine but about 4 times larger, made me wish I'd ordered that instead. Taste-wise, the contents of my wrap weren't bad. But the pita was too thick. Also, my coworkers said their wrap was really good, and if it tastes anything like it looks, I believe it.

My wrap also came with a mixed greens salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing. The salad was very simple and fresh, and the dressing sweet, just how I like it.

I'll definitely be back for more hummus and to try the Caesar and Greek wraps! I also promise to snap some pics next time!

Sushi Bar

Date: September 8, 2013
Location: 3369 Yonge St (
Website: http://www.thesushibar.ca/
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
So obviously I have been here on a number of occasions, and for good reason: this place serves the best eel sushi in town! 

Anyway, so I met with my usual companion to this place, my dear friend AD, and I had my usual avocado and eel sushi with brown rice - 2 actually. (I didn't bother taking a picture since I have already done so for most if not all of my previous visits here.)

I was feeling particularly hungry today and decided to try their salmon sushi pizza ($9.95). I've wanted to try it ever since I saw it on the menu years ago, but was never hungry enough to have both the eel sushi and this. 

When it arrived at our table, the array of bright colours haphazardly arranged on the disc-shaped crust of pan-fried(?) rice piqued my interest even more. Here, take a look:

And then I took a bite.

While the toppings were hearty and delicious, the rice "crust" was a major letdown. Not only was it not crispy as sushi pizza crusts should be, it was mushy. I convinced myself that I should be glad because it was probably not deep-fried and as such I saved myself a load of calories at the small expense of a less enjoyable sushi crust. 

Oh, who am I kidding? I am a foodie at heart, and I like me some good, unhealthy food from time to time, and I have to face facts, this was not up to the level of standard that I had come to expect of the great Sushi Bar! There was also not enough sauce for all the rice that there was. Well, at least now I know. This won't be something I order again here.

Just to put it out there - this place has shortened hours of operations on Sundays. They're only open from 5pm to 8pm.

Remy's

Date: August 31, 2013

Location: 115 Yorkville Ave (east of Avenue Rd), Toronto
Website: http://www.remys.ca/

Cuisine: bar

Meal: dinner and drinks

My thoughts:
My friend LL was leaving town, and she picked this place for a final catch-up session before going. The restaurant was about half full, surprising for a Saturday night, but I guess most people are away for the long weekend.

For drinks, I had the Walking Dead ($8), Malibu Black Rum, pineapple juice and grenadine. It was amazing! If you are anything like me and love pineapple and/or its juice, then you'll love their cocktails menu. About a third of their drinks have pineapple juice in it.

LL had some sort of rum cocktail. The name escapes my mind. It was black in colour but sweet in taste.

I ordered the Chicken Quesadillas ($13), which was aesthetically-pleasing, with its perfect grid-like grill marks. Unfortunately, taste-wise, it was lacking. There wasn't much chicken and the little chicken that was there was chopped so fine, it was hardly distinguishable from the cheese. There was also no cilantro, parsley or any type of fresh herb, which would have given it a nice contrast.

LL ordered the Crab Cake Salad ($14). The crab cakes were delish - with a nice crunchy exterior and a moist, intact interior. The salad was very plain, though, was terribly meagre, tossed in just a little bit of salad dressing topped with a sad very few dried cranberries. My friend asked our waitress, who was a real sweetheart, for some nuts, cheese and extra dressing, which she provided at no extra cost. With the extras, LL said the salad was much better.

Our waitress - whose name is Jessica, I think - was great. Attentive, but not overly so, friendly, and efficient. The patio was really very spacious, and I hear it is one of the largest in TO; this is certainly a great spot to hit up on a summer night. This particular night, however, was a bit on the chilly side, so we didn't stay for very long. All in all, we had a good time. Great electronic music, if that is your thing, played at just the right volume level. I'd come back for patio drinks, but not the food. A lot of floor space, which I would imagine converts into a dance floor on busier nights.

La Casita Chinese Eatery

Date: August 30, 2013

Location: 405 Dundas St W (east of Spadina), Chinatown, Toronto
Website: http://www.lacasitachineseeatery.ca/

Cuisine: Chinese

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
Came here on my lunch break, so I was pressed for time. Food came in under 10 minutes, so that was a plus.

I had one of their lunch specials, beef with black bean sauce on rice with a spring roll and cream of corn soup for $5.99.

The food was very good. The spring roll had a vegetable mix (which I like, as I am not a fan of meat fillings) but tasted like it was refried or the oil in which it was fried was not very fresh. Still passable, though. The soup - nothing really worth mentioning. The beef was delicious, although standard. The rice was dry, but there was enough black bean sauce to mask that fact.

My issue was the service. I understand that customer service is not typically a dim sum restaurant's forte, but I felt like the several of the waitresses were not very willing to serve me.

With all the competition there is in Chinatown, I'm sure that I can find other places with $5.99 lunch specials. I just hope that the service will be better. Not returning here.

Wrap and Grab

Date: August 22, 2013

Location: 171 Dundas St W (west of Bay), Downtown Toronto
Website: http://www.phenu.com/wrapandgrab

Cuisine: Lebanese/Middle Eastern

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
After entering Garden Restaurant and realizing that my party and I wouldn't be seated any time soon, we came here upon the suggestion of one of my co-workers.

I had the chicken shawarma plate - which is what I always get at shawarma restaurants. The total came to $9.60 tax included. Pretty standard for a shawarma plate.

The goods: The portion size and the food, or more specifically, the garlic butter. It gave the dry chicken the juices that it was missing. In fact, it made everything taste a whole lot better! Let me clarify that the food itself really wasn't too shabby. Everything was very flavourful, but was either too salty (turnip, rice), sour (turnip, salad), or oily (salad). If butter wasn't so unhealthy, I would've asked for an extra slab of it.

Now the bads: The dingy decor, cramped space, poor air circulation.. and the worst offence of all.. an eyelash in my salad. Before you point out the possibility that it could belong to me, I was wearing mascara today and the eyelash that sat on a piece of lettuce in my salad was bare. I was nearly finished my meal at that point, so I decided to turn a blind eye. I'd enjoyed my meal enough anyway.

So there definitely are some major 'bads' to this restaurant, but it was still good enough for me to make a second visit the following week.

Cafe en Passant

Date: July 30, 2013

Location: 10133 Yonge St (north of Major MacKenzie), Richmond Hill
Website: http://www.cafeenpassant.ca/

Cuisine: French

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

With a Team Buy voucher in hand, my sister and I came here for dinner on a random Tuesday night. You may have read from my previous posts that I've been to this restaurant a number of times now, and it is a place that I highly anticipate visiting.

So while this isn't a new restaurant for me, I thought I'd at least order items on the menu that I'd never tried before. 

We decided to share:

Crisp Calamari ($11.95) - marinated calamari rings mildly spiced and flash-fried to a golden brown. We were dissatisfied with this mostly because the batter wasn't really crispy. The culprit wasn't that the dish had been sitting for a while, as it was actually served hot. The problem is the batter. Tweaking of the batter recipe is definitely suggested. And perhaps a different seafood distributor - the calamari had a rubbery texture. Blech.

Cajun Seafood ($22.95) - trio of fresh mussels, scallops and jumbo shrimp blended with cajun on tomato rice. This was what I ordered and it made me reminiscent of the Spanish paella that I love so dearly from here.. but a whole lot spicier and with lots of mussels and no chicken. Next time I'm craving rice here, I'm definitely going for the paella, which is more flavourful minus the spice cover-up.

Crêpe saumon fumé ($19.95) - smoked salmon & green asparagus in a rosé wine sauce. This was pretty good but my sister and I unanimously agreed that the Crêpe St. Jacques is a whole lot better.

So it seems like tonight was filled with letdowns. We do, however, hold high expectations for this place. We are not regulars as it is out of our way, but we have been here enough times. I do still recommend this restaurant, though, just not the particular dishes we had this evening.

Iqbal Kebob

Date: July 11, 2013

Location: 2 Thorncliffe Park Dr (across from Fairview Mall), Toronto
Website: http://www.iqbalkebab.com

Cuisine: Pakistani and Indian

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I used a $10 voucher from Groupon. Not knowing that it is for a fixed menu, I was a little disappointed because I had my heart set on trying their biryani, paneer and butter chicken - maybe not all in one shot!

My voucher entitled me to 3 different styles of chicken kebobs, with a side of flavoured rice and a salad. It also came with a choice of a beef or vegetable samosa (I chose the latter), a naan and a mango lassi.

Let me start with the kebobs. They were dry and I wasn't very fond of the seasonings, which is ironic since it is in the name of the restaurant! I preferred the rice and salad, although neither of which were very notable in any way. The samosa was overly spicy and the naan dry and thick. I think the best part of my meal was the mango lassi. I have a preference for drinks that are mild in taste and almost border on bland. This fit that bill and was very refreshing.

The service was unbelievably slow. Quick side story: I was waiting at the cash for about 5 minutes to place my order. I was starving. I was growing impatient. I caught sight of some take-out menus with their phone number listed and a portable phone both located next to the cash, I thought about calling the restaurant to get someone to come out to pick up the phone and hanging up just before they pick up - I know it's lame of me, lol. But I didn't have my phone on me. With my rumbling stomach urging me on, I tiptoed past the cash area and into the kitchen and shouted out (in as polite a way as possible) that there were waiting customers. A server by the name of Aleem came out and was surprisingly nice about the whole thing. I was afraid that he would give me attitude for doing that, but I got nothing of the sort.

In short, if I am ever in the area, there is a tiny chance that I will go back to try their biryani, but I definitely would not go out of my way to do so.