Go For Tea

Date: December 8, 2012
Location: 3700 Midland Ave (south of McNicoll Ave), Scarborough
Website: http://www.gofortea.ca/
Cuisine: Taiwanese/Chinese
Meal: snacks/tea

My thoughts:
My family and I came here after dinner, partly because it is on our way home. 

My youngest sister and I shared a BLACK SESAME BLACK TEA BUBBLE TEA ($3.99 for a small) with tapioca ($0.50 extra).

My parents shared an HOT APPLE TEA ($6.99) and my middle sister had a HOT PEACH TEA ($6.99). Both teas were pretty good. Definitely something different, but I like my tapioca :)

And in celebration of my mom's birthday, we surprise ordered a slice of MANGO CHEESECAKE ($5.99). The cake itself was nothing special, but you know as they say, you can't put a price tag on the special memories you create with loved ones. Hahaha...

Momiji Sushi

Date: December 8, 2012
Location: 2111 Sheppard Ave E (east of Hwy 404), Toronto
Website: http://www.momijis.com
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. (Yes, I know what you're thinking. A lot of my friends/family's birthdays are this time of year.) I specifically chose this place because my mom's birthday falls on a Saturday, and the last time I was here on a Saturday, there was live music, which I knew my mom would like.

We made reservations for 6pm, but when we arrived, we were told the live music doesn't start until 8:30pm. We knew we probably weren't going to stay that late for dinner, so that was a bit of a short sight on my part as I should have done my research first. 

Anyway, this is what we had to share:

SASHIMI C PETITE ($15.95): 15 pieces of assorted sashimi. My mom ordered this. Quality was all right.

UNAGI KANI TEMPURA ROLL ($9.95): Deep fried shrimp, BBQ Eel, crab meat and unagi sauce with rice skin paper. This was really good, but the portion sizes were much smaller than I first had this with my sister here just a mere two months ago!

VOLCANO ROLL ($15.95): Special spicy tuna roll, volcano shaped with mixed of spicy tuna, tempura bits & cucumber. The presentation was neat, but the dish itself was... gross. Not even my sashimi-loving mom liked this. We didn't finish this, packed it to go, and not eating it at home, so in the trash it went. Hefty price tag for this quality of food.

GREEN DRAGON ROLL ($8.95): Fried shrimp, crab meat, masago, avocado, cucumber, momiji mayo topped with avocado & momiji sauce. My middle sister ordered this because she doesn't eat sashimi. Typical green dragon roll. Not bad.

SPICY SALMON SUSHI PIZZA ($9.95): Raw salmon & mix of cucumber, crab meat, tempura bit & momiji spicy mayo on a deep fried crispy sushi rice crust. When this arrived, I said that it is missing a black sauce, and our waiter replied that it has never been served with a black sauce. Well, I have the pictures to prove that you do, sir! This was very bland without the black sauce, whatever it was. 

AGE DASH TOFU ($6.95): Deep fried tofu with sweet soy sauce. My dad ordered this. Typical fried tofu, but pretty good.

My biggest disappointment was the salmon sashimi pizza and the very expensive volcano roll. I have noticed that this restaurant is VERY INCONSISTENT. I've been here twice on a Saturday before, and even the salmon pizza was prepared differently. Even the portion sizes and presentation is very different. And to top it all off, the waiter was either lying or he clearly doesn't even know what he's talking about! I had really hyped up this restaurant to my family because I really thought very highly of this place, but after a such a big fail on an important date like my mom's birthday, I'm not sure I'll be back.

Dessert Trends

Date: December 7, 2012
Location: 154 Harbord Street (near Spadina and Bloor), The Annex, Toronto
Website: http://www.desserttrends.ca/
Cuisine: contemporary desserts
Meal: desserts

My thoughts:
My former supervisor at another work place had told me about this place last summer, and ever since, I'd been meaning to come here. What better occasion to come to an upscale tea/dessert/brunch establishment than someone's birthday?

Came with the same party of people as the Hapa Izakaya bunch, KK and JA. JA was full from dinner but knowing that she loves cheesecake, I ordered a slice of the RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE ($8.50) for her. This was so-so. I suppose this isn't their specialty.

KK had a PASSION FRUIT PARFAIT ($8.50), which was da bomb - do people even use that expression anymore? The inside is a passion fruit sorbet encapsulated within a mango chocolate casing. Topped with a mango glaze and a side of blackberry sauce and whipped cream. Yum.

Hapa Izakaya

Date: December 7, 2012
Location: 602 College Street (west of Bathurst), Toronto
Website: http://hapaizakaya.com/
Cuisine: Japanese izakaya (bar)
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here to celebrate my friend JA's birthday with KK. A year ago, the three of us had celebrated JA's birthday at Guu, which of course, is also an izakaya, so this was an anniversary in more than one regard! 

I was an hour late due to unforeseeable circumstances, and my friends were so kind as to wait for me to order. Once I arrived, we quickly ordered and decided to each order an entrée and to share one appetizer. 

We shared the EBI MAYO ($8.99), which were tempura prawns with spicy mayo sauce. This was pretty good. My favourite dish that evening.

I had the KINOKO ISHI-YAKI ($9.99), which was a rice dish with mixed mushrooms and iwanori (seaweed) served in a hot stone bowl. I like the crispy bottom of rice, but I thought the whole dish was a bit too salty and buttery. My waitress taking our order had said this is one of her favourite dishes there - whatever. She probably throws that line out there randomly with every table because this wasn't that good! Overall, I thought this wasn't bad, but my friends didn't like this because they don't like shiitake mushroom.

My friends each had the YAKI UDON ($9.49), one requested spicy and the other did not. The people sitting next to us had udon in soup, but this was not on the menu. My friends said they would have much preferred udon in soup. I, on the other hand, was quite a fan of their meal. The noodles were very chewy, and the dish was flavourful but not too salty.

Overall, my friends really didn't like the experience and food. The birthday girl, JA, said while she was waiting for KK and I, she was asked to move three times. Little things like that really ruffle her feathers. I admit it's a bit of a nuisance, but if you're just sitting around waiting for people, I wouldn't have minded. Both girls said they're never coming back. 

I thought the food was all right, but it definitely is no Guu. I also thought it was weird how they would have waitresses of various backgrounds (one was even white, I think) trying to pronounce Japanese words as if it is their native tongue, when it is clearly is not. That is lame.

Magoo's Gourmet Hamburgers

Date: December 5, 2012
Location: 4242 Dundas St W (east of Royal York), Etobicoke
Website: http://www.magoosburgers.com, 
Unofficial website for pricing: http://www.phenu.com/MagoosGourmetHamburgers
Cuisine: fast food/hamburgers
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
My friend HF, who I also work with, and I decided to meet up outside of work so that we can chat without looking like we were slacking. I suggested this place because it is close to our work and I'd heard really good things about this place.

We met up around 10:30am and discovered that this place doesn't open til 11am, so we wandered around the Bruno's Supermarket in the same plaza. At 11am, we headed over.

I had their CHILLI SOUP ($3.95) because I was pretty cold from waiting outside. The chilli was cheesy (good) but very greasy and cold (bad, obviously). As you can see in the pic, not even the cheese is melted. It definitely didn't serve its intended purpose of warming me up. It would have been nice if there was a bit of heat to it, too.

HF had their MAGOOGOO BURGER ($4.25), which is essentially their 4 oz. classic burger. I didn't try this, but HF said this was pretty good.

Maple Yip Seafood Restaurant

Date: December 1, 2012
Location: 4227 Sheppard Avenue East (at Midland Ave), Toronto
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
We came here to celebrate my dad's birthday. My dad claimed he'd been wanting to try this place for a long time but it has always been packed. We arrived around 6pm that night, but it wasn't that "packed."

We had the Thousand Island Shrimp.

Fuzz Box

Date: November 28, 2012
Location: 1246 Danforth Avenue (just a few steps east of Greenwood Subway Stn), Toronto
Website: http://thefuzzbox.ca
Cuisine: Nova Scotian donairs
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my former coworkers, AB and AE. The fourth member of our self-dubbed 'social club,' MM, had bailed last minute. AB had recently moved to the area and "highly recommended" this place, and so we went!

I had the DONAIR PIZZA (9" for $10.49), with seasoned beef, tomatoes, sweet red onion topped with mozzarella, smothered in donair sauce. The donair sauce is really something special. Its base is condensed milk, which I know sounds bizarre on a pizza, but oh-my-frickin'-god. It is sooooooooooo good!!! There is really nothing quite like this. You must try this at least once in your lifetime. This was very filling. I could only finish 3/4s of this. Oh, and did I say this is really good?

Asuka Fusion Sushi Restaurant

Date: November 21, 2012
Location: 142 Main Street Unionville (north of Highway 7)
Website: http://www.asukasushi.ca
Cuisine: Japanese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

I came here with my mom, and this restaurant didn't have a website at the time, so I took pictures of the menu. (They have a website up now, but still no menu.) So as you can see, they don't have a lot of offerings, but what they do, they do well! Here, take a look!

My mom and I shared:

Vegetable Udon ($9.95): Very chewy noodles, as opposed to limp. If you grew up on noodles, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The soup was flavourful but not salty. 

Unagi Roll ($7.95): BBQ eel, cucumber and avocado. Soooooo good. I loved the eel and everything was very fresh. The roll was packed quite firm, which was good. Nice presentation. Also, as my mom pointed out, the rice was very "sticky," which is regarded as a good thing in our culture.

Jumbo Dynamite Roll ($9.95): Shrimp tempura, crab meat, fish egg, cucumber and avocado. Also "soooooo good!" Same comments as for the Unagi Roll.

In hindsight, it's a good thing the establishment didn't post the menu online because their small selection would have likely discouraged my mom and I from going. We went in with major doubts upon looking at the menu and prices and left pleased and highly satisfied.

On a final note, check out their website for a 10% coupon off dine-in or take-out! I discovered this after we went, unfortunately, but I'm sure I will be back. Hopefully the promotion will still be around.

Chinese Dumpling House

Date: November 11, 2012
Location: 3290 Midland Ave #2 (at Finch), Scarborough
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Northern Chinese
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
My family has been to this establishment on numerous occasions. In fact, it is quite possibly one of my dad's favourite restaurants. I came here with my parents, and we had the usual:

Sweet and sour fish with pine nuts ($6.99): My dad's favourite dish. 

Chive and egg dumplings (15 for $5.99): A lot of delicious food for a great price. 

Bitter melon and beef stir-fry ($4.99): We had meant to order another beef dish, but our waiter messed up our order. This was actually really good, if you can stomach the taste of bitter melon, that is - we all grew up on this food, so we can.

Chinese vegetables with garlic ($8.99): Comparatively speaking, this dish was very expensive, considering the quantity and how much less work is required. Still good, though.

La Cocino de Dona Luz

Date: November 10, 2012

Location: 807 St Clair Ave W (east of Oakwood Ave), midtown Toronto

Website: N/A (not in service)
Cuisine: Peruvian

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I had purchased a voucher from one of those flash-buy sites for this restaurant. I decided to take my parents here since none of us had ever tried Peruvian food. I called ahead to make sure this would be okay, which we were told it was, so long as the third person orders. 

I paid $34 for the voucher, which entitles the holder to a 3-course meal for two worth $72. For your reference, this is what was stated in the voucher:

One appetizer (up to a $20.95 value)

Two entrées (up to a $22.95 value each)

One dessert (a $6 value)

When we arrived, we were given a 'special' menu for voucher holders. Actually, it was a limited menu compared to their regular menu, which we were not very happy about. Most of the appetizers were under $12, so I don't understand how they came up with the numbers stated in the voucher. 

Anyway, for starters, we got the Guacamole ($11) - which was nothing special - and the Seafood soup ($14) - which was my favourite that night. I was really impressed. It was creamy and the perfect consistency.

For our mains, we had the Red Tilapia ($22) and the Lamb Shoulder ($18). The tilapia was fried, and my dad loves fish and almost anything fried, so naturally, he loved that. He thought it was very soft and flaky, and while I do agree, I thought it was in dire need of some seasoning. The lamb shoulder was also bland. The best part about both entrées was the side of white beans, which actually tasted like it came straight from a can. Does that give you any idea of what this restaurant was like?? Here's a picture of the lamb, but I unfortunately forgot to snap a pic of the fish!

For the finale, there was only one option: a Custard ($6). I've never been a big fan of flans, and especially not this one, because as you can see from the pic, it wasn't very smooth and creamy as flans are supposed to be. My dad seemed to think it was all right.

All in all, while I loved the soup and the white bean side in the entrées was  not bad, we weren't very happy with the service. Not only was a 20% gratuity automatically added to our bill without us being informed (luckily, my dad had to ask our waiter something else and he so happened to ask that question), but as I had mentioned, we were given a limited menu just because we had a voucher and the numbers don't quite add up to the claimed voucher value. The purpose of offering those vouchers is to let customers sample your offerings. If you try to rip them off or to pull a fast one over them, they will know and won't be happy, nor will they return. Our waiter, a middle-aged man, was also quite stand-offish. An elderly man who I assume was his father, was really nice and friendly, although he didn't seem to speak a word of English. So will I be back? No, but I definitely want to try more Peruvian dishes at other restaurants.

The Works Gourmet Burger Bistro

Date: November 9, 2012

Location: 92 King Street South, Waterloo

Website: http://www.worksburger.com/

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

I was in Waterloo to visit my good friend LL and she suggested this place. She'd never been but had said that she'd heard it was a popular place in town. We got there around 6. It was already quite busy, but we were promptly seated. We sat in one corner of the restaurant, where it was a bit too dark, and our waitress was more than accommodating, but we were just too hungry to care.

We decided to share the Poutini Martini ($8.61) my friend knew full well that I had been craving a poutine for god knows how long! I personally found this to be the highlight of the meal. The best part was the battered onion rings; it was an interesting addition (in a good way). There was also a good amount of cheese curds and gravy, and a heck of a lot of fries! This was big (and pricey) enough to be a meal on its own, but I would recommend trying this at least once, or at least the onion rings as an appetizer.

The burgers are create your own. You choose your own patty, bun toppings, bun, add-ons and side. The prices are based on what bun toppings you choose. Certain things come at an extra cost, such as the elk patty. 

I had a ground beef patty with the Uptown toppings ($12.96) on a whole wheat bun and sweet potato fries.

My friend had a ground beef patty with the Smokey Mountain toppings ($12.93) on a white bun and sweet potato fries.

I later found out that there are a few locations in Toronto, which I'm really glad about, because Waterloo is more than a bit out of my way! I stumbled upon one in Etobicoke a few weeks ago at Windemere and Bloor, and I hear there is another one on the east end on the Danforth. Yippee!

Okonomi House

Date: November 8, 2012

Location: 23 Charles Street West (near Bay and Bloor), Toronto

Website: N/A

Cuisine: Japanese

Meal: lunch

My thoughts:

We finally made it here! And by 'finally' I am referring to the fact that all my previous attempts failed because the restaurant was either renovating or not open for whatever reason. In fact, on our way here, I said to my sister, "Wouldn't it be funny if this place is closed again today? On second thought, maybe that wouldn't be so funny." When we arrived at the plaza, there was major construction taking place in the parking lot, and we were afraid our okonomiyaki craving would have to be put off yet again. But a quick peek at the store front and our suspicions were dismissed. The place itself is quite small, but perhaps not that small compared to most restaurants in the area and considering the fact that is a family-owned establishment.

I suppose we had missed the lunch rush since we arrived around 1:30pm and the restaurant was empty except for one other table. We decided on the scallop okonomiyaki ($6.35) with bonito flakes and seaweed powder, which were an extra $0.50 each. I know, pretty ridiculous that they charge extra for something as standard as bonito flakes and seaweed, right? But I knew this going in, so this was no surprise. The okonomiyaki was not bad, but not nearly as good as Guu's. (I know I frequently reference Guu. It really has become the gold standard for many things, and for that reason, it has been a huge eye-opener in many regards.)

We also had the Suno Mono Salad ($3.45), which was a clear noodle topped with crab stick, seaweed, vegetable and sesame seeds in a rice vinegar "soup." We were unimpressed by the tiny portion size and the simplicity to the "dish" - it was extremely plain. We also ordered this not knowing this was cold.

I, for one, came here starving and ready to devour an entire animal. My sister was pretty hungry as well. The two things we shared didn't quite fill us up, but for the price point, this wasn't bad. I will come back if I'm ever in the area and want something quick, but this won't be something I'll go out of my way for.

I took some pictures of the menu for you all since I knew this place doesn't have a menu.

Moxie's Grill and Bar

Date: October 25, 2012

Location: 4950 Yonge Street (north of Sheppard), Toronto

Website: http://www.moxies.ca/

Cuisine: Canadian

Meal: dinner

My thoughts:

I came here with my former coworkers - AE, MM and AB - because it was a central location for all of us.

AE and MM each had a Classic Beef Burger, with different sides. I didn't try these but I was told everything was really good.

AB had the crab cakes. Again, did not try but heard they were very good.

 

I had the Spinach Salad with Champagne Strawberries ($12.95). This was okayyy, albeit expensive for what it's worth. The name definitely is deceivingly fancier than the dish itself. The "champagne strawberries" tasted like regular strawberries to me, or maybe my taste buds aren't very refined (I doubt it). In fact, I don't even recall there being any strawberries, and I have a picture to prove it! Take a look below; the picture says it all!