Gyugyuya

Date: March 31, 2014
Location: 177 Dundas St W, Toronto (near University & Dundas)
Website: http://www.gyugyuya.com/
Cuisine/Specialty: Japanese rice bowls
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
I noticed this place on my way to work recently and was looking forward to trying it. This place specializes in Japanese style rice bowls.

I came here with a coworker, and we each ordered Gyu Cheese Curry ($12.99), which came with an egg over a beef and cheese curry with rice. While the curry was very flavourful, the beef was extremely fatty and the portion was small given the price. My coworker and I both left hungry and disappointed.

Nothing special here. Take your business elsewhere.

Mean Bao

Date: March 26, 2014
Location: 275 Dundas Street W #19, Toronto (inside Village by the Grange west of University)
Website: http://www.meanbaotoronto.com/
Cuisine/Specialty: Chinese-style buns and dim sum
Meal: post-lunch snack

My thoughts:
I had already had lunch and still had a bit of room in my stomach for more, so I headed over to The Grange to pick up a small bite to eat.

I chose Mean Bao because I've been here before and can attest to the quality of their food and I also knew that they would have something bite-sized that would satisfy my hunger.

I decided to try their Tofu Mean Bao with a spicy peanut sauce. I think it came to about $3 and change. It was by far my favourite thing I've had from this place! The contrast between the spicy sauce and the calming effect of the pickled vegetables was intriguing. And of course the fried tofu was delish! And at that price point, you really can't go wrong. Highly recommended.

Toro Sushi

Date: March 14, 2014
Location: 8515 McCowan Rd, Markham
Website: http://www.torosushi.ca
Cuisine: Japanese and Korean
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I took my mom out for dinner on a whim and chose this place based on positive reviews on Yelp. With every bite I took of the food, I began to suspect more and more that the the reviewers were either employees or friends of them. The entire experience was very disappointing, and here's why.

Prior to ordering, my mom noticed oysters on the menu. I flagged a waitress over to inquire if these were raw or cooked oysters. She did not know. I was floored that she lacked very fundamental knowledge of menu items. I mean, it's not like I'm asking about specific ingredients within a roll. Anyway.. 

We ordered a large sake for mom, two Kumamoto oysters, a 16 piece sashimi boat, and a pa jun seafood pancake.

The sake ($9.95), which my mom had ordered hot, came within minutes after placing our order and about 10 minutes before the banchan appetizers arrived. This is not the first time I've encountered such mindlessness. Do they expect people to start drinking the sake on an empty stomach? Or maybe expect people to want to drink it cold? No, wait a minute, if that were the case, people would order it cold in the first place! (Duh!)

The banchan appetizers consisted of potatoes, pickled vegetables and chap chae noodles. The potatoes were pretty good, not stellar, but still quite probably the best thing I had tonight, the vegetables were unremarkable, and the noodles were severely undercooked.

We were also each served a bowl of miso soup and a savoury steamed egg custard. Nothing worth mentioning for the miso soup, and the steamed egg's texture was very smooth. Both were too salty for our liking.

Then came the oysters (which came at $2.99 a pop - pricey, according to my mom, who I consider to be an oyster connoisseur, but wanting to treat my mom, I ordered them anyway.) Oh boy. Where do I begin? First, they did not have any horseradish sauce, and then they didn't give us forks. After asking for forks, we were given regular forks (I suppose they don't have the smaller forks meant for eating raw oysters.) Also, there was only a tiny little pea-sized dot of seafood sauce in the oyster. Talk about not being accommodating. These were ordered for my mom, but if I were eating them, I would've asked for a whole bottle of the seafood sauce in the absence of horseradish sauce, which is actually my sauce of choice. As for the oysters themselves, I didn't have one, but my mom said they didn't taste fresh. Stale raw oysters? Blech!

Next to arrive was my mom's sushi boat ($15.95). Again, nothing remarkable. Like the oysters, the fish was not particularly fresh.

Finally, my pa jun seafood pancake ($13.95) came. I was so excited to try this, but was left feeling empty and disappointed after my first bite. With all that was apparently in it, the pancake had a lot of potential. But alas, the batter needed some/more seasoning and had the texture of rubber. Don't be fooled by the nice presentation!

Adding to the disappointing food and the obvious fact that the waitresses clearly required additional training on their menu items, the service was spotty. Stay away!

The Works

Date: March 7, 2014
Location: 2245 Bloor St W (Bloor/Runnymede), Etobicoke
Website: https://www.worksburger.com/
Cuisine: burger joint
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
My friend HF and I originally had our hearts set on going to Buddha Pie, but after walking for about 20 minutes, we were dismayed to find that it was closed. We arrived at 5:17pm, and according to the sign posted on its front door, its hours of operation are Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm to 9pm. This is the second failed attempt I've made to come here. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Our Plan B was to head back to Bloor Street and my friend suggested The Works. We were promptly seated by a young, friendly host who was able to provide us with a table by the window. 

HF and I decided to share a burger and an app so that we could each try more things. This is what we got:

Tower-O-Rings ($10) - Crispy breaded onions rings served with 2 dipsticks (aka dipping sauces). There were literally 10 onion rings, which if you think about it has is crazy markup. That's not even a whole onion, for crying out loud! The batter was good though, just expensive.

Grills Gone Wild (about $12) - Grilled eggplant, avocado, salsa loco & feta cheese. Comes with a side, which we paid $1.50 to upgrade to sweet potato fries. The toppings complemented one another well and the burger itself was very good. The sweet potato fries were not bad, but were nothing memorable. The dipping sauce though, was a really disappointment. It was very spicy but didn't really offer much in terms of flavour. I'd rank the fries as one of the worst ones I've had recently.

All in all, this is a nice place to hit up if you're in the mood for burgers as there are lots of options and there is surely something to suit every taste. But if you're also in the mood for some good sides, you won't find them here. Very limited apps (there were maybe 5 or so when I went).

Ora Tapas & Lounge

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.

Dumpling House Restaurant

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.

Yummy Yummy Dumplings

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.

Sansotei Ramen

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.

Japango

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.

Mykonos Grill

Date: December 12, 2013
Location: business located at 881 Yonge St (Yonge/Rosedale), but my work had it catered to our building
Website: http://www.mykonosgrill.ca/
Cuisine: Greek
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
This was the second time my work was having food catered from this place, but unlike the first time, I had my camera handy to snap food pics. Also, last time, I had the hummus and the gyros wrap. It seemed like nearly everyone else ordered a Chicken Caesar or Chicken Greek wrap, both of which were a couple of bucks more but about triple the size of my puny Gyros Wrap! 

I vowed that if my work ever ordered from here again, I would order Chicken Wrap, and I'm so glad the opportunity came up. I chose the Chicken Greek Wrap ($12), which consisted of grilled chicken breast with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, sweet peppers, feta cheese and tzatziki.

While the size of the wrap was pretty impressive (see pic below), the taste did not impress me. It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't anything out of this world. This was partly my fault because I was anticipating the opportunity to try this wrap for so long, and I think I inadvertently set higher expectations for it.

My wrap came with a side of fries or garden salad, and I chose the latter. The salad was fresh but plain (there were no toppings whatsoever), and the vinaigrette was a bit too sour for my liking this time. The last time we ordered from here, it was sweeter, so minus a point for inconsistency.

The hummus, which I had last time, here is heavenly, although very oily, pricey ($8) and the quantity very small. 

All in all, this place is nothing to write home about.

As an aside, one of my coworkers made 'party favours' for the team and circulated them during the lunch. Cute, huh?

Song Cook's Korean Restaurant

Date: December 8, 2013
Location: 72 Steeles Ave W #6, Thornhill
Website: http://www.songcooks.com/
Cuisine: Korean
Meal: dinner

My thoughts:
I came here with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday, and knowing my mom weighs a restaurant's ambiance (more specifically the noise level) with the food pretty equally, I suggested this place. I was here a few weeks ago with MT, and liked it enough to come back.

Tonight, however, was a different experience. It started off with the seating. We were a party of five, and although about a third of the restaurant was vacant, we had to wait about 20 minutes and we had reservations. 

We were eventually seated off to the side in an area separate from the main room, and we should have known that that was a bad idea. We were pretty much left unattended for most of the evening. Anytime we needed something, we had to get out of our seat and flag a waiter in the main dining area over to our table.

Another reason why my experience today was not as enjoyable as last time was the food wasn't as good. Because there were more of us today, we were able to order more, and outside of what I had ordered last time, most of the things were not very good quality. Take, for example, the kalbi ribs, which is a specialty in Korean cuisine. The ones here though, both the BBQ and the braised ones, were by far the toughest and least flavourful kalbi ribs I have ever had. Up until today, I'd never tasted kalbi ribs that were not good - and I've had quite a lot of kalbi ribs over the years. This led me to believe that they simply did not exist! Song Cook proved me wrong.

We had a small order of the Kalbi Jim ($12.99), which according to the menu is "delicately marinated fall-off-the-bone steamed beef ribs with carrots and radish." Carrots and radish were there, but delicately marinated and fall-off-the-bone? Don't think so.

We also had LA kalbi ($11.99), which the menu described as "laterally cut short ribs marinated in sweet garlic sauce and grilled to perfection." This was better than the steamed kalbi, but I cannot vouch for what the menu claims to be "grilled to perfection." The meat was cut very thin and dry.

We ordered Combo H6 ($15), which included a half order of Ja Jang Myun and a half order of Khan Poung Gi. Ja Jang Myun is a chewy noodle dish with a thick black bean sauce. If you've never tried it, go. Now. Try it. Khan Poung Gi is sweet and spicy chicken, which like last time, was tasty.

We also ordered a whole order of the Ja Jang Myun ($7.50). This was a good size for the price, and everyone enjoyed it. This was the highlight of today's meal.

My family was not impressed with this place, and I was annoyed because we were here to celebrate a special occasion. I won't be back.

Dinner at MT's

Date: December 3, 2013
Location: downtown

Right after the discovery of my new favourite SPF place that is Imperial Pub, I met with my old friend MT. He cooked me dinner, which consisted of pork chops with an apple cinnamon puree sauce, rice and a salad - with some red wine. Everything was delish. Most importantly, it was very thoughtful!

Imperial Pub

Date: December 3, 2013
Location: 54 Dundas St E, Downtown Toronto (just east of Yonge)
Website: http://imperialpub.com/
Cuisine: dive bar/pub
Meal: snack

My thoughts:
I forgot to mention on my Les 3 Brasseurs / The 3 Brewers post on November 28 that as I was paying for my bill, I told our waitress that I really enjoyed the sweet potato fries. She responded, without even lowering her voice, "If you liked our fries, then you'll really like Imperial Pub's." I was surprised but happy that she divulged this information to me, especially when she works for what can be called a competitor. 

From that day, I decided I just had to come here. I am a devoted sweet potato fries (aka SPF) lover, and I am determined to find the spiciest and crunchiest ones out there!

I was so determined that I came here on a whim by myself. I was meeting my friend MT for dinner at 6:30pm and had some time to kill, but I really didn't want to do unnecessary and additional damage to my wallet and ending up with a bunch of things I already have 10 of by 'window shopping' at the Eaton Centre. (For me, 'window shopping' always becomes actual shopping.)

The moment I stepped foot in the restaurant, I was overcome with self-doubt. It was dimly lit, kind of stingy-looking, and I don't think I saw 100% of the customers were male. I gulped, and bravely trotted on in, trying to keep in mind that I was doing this in the name of good food. In fact, I was on a mission.

Long story short, I totally do not regret coming here! After I got settled down at the bar, I started doing a crossword puzzle and no one bothered me. And the fries.. wow, they were so good! They were definitely better than Les 3 Brasseurs and were certainly giving Burger Stomper a run for their money! The fries were thick-cut, breaded and crispy. It came with a standard chipotle mayo dip. It was $5.95.

It kind of ruined my appetite for dinner with MT, but I'd choose this for dinner any day! Next time, I'd like to bring company with me though!

KG Cooks a Birthday Dinner!

Date: December 1, 2013
Location: Home!
Cuisine: Um, I'd say international
Meal: Dinner

My thoughts:
Okay, maybe 'my thoughts' is not the best title for this section, seeing as how I made everything. But I will attempt to be as objective as possible.

As I said in my last post, it was my dad's birthday, and my dad wanted to eat-in and have steak, so that was exactly what he got!

I made a mushroom risotto, a creamy alfredo pasta, steak, twice baked sweet potatoes (courtesy of the Food Network), and my dad's favourite 7-layer Mexican nacho dip, which was one of the cheapest things to make that night and what my dad ate most tonight! (I should've bought less a steak or two. Just kidding!) In hindsight, it's a good thing I had today off to prepare the food. 

Here's the dinner table:

And my plate full of food:

And my dad's birthday cake, which was made of durian.

I think my dad had a good birthday, which I'm very happy about. Just wanted to make a shout out to my dad, "Happy birthday dad!"

Big Head Prawn Vietnamese Restaurant

Date: December 1, 2013
Location: 4450 Highway 7 E, Markham (just west of Main St Unionville)
Website: N/A
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Meal: lunch

My thoughts:
For once, I didn't have to work on a Sunday, which is a rarity for me. I'm known in my circle of friends to be a workaholic and work 7 days a week. I've 'cut back' on my schedule a bit in recent years and don't work on holidays anymore.

Anyway, it was my dad's birthday today so I did kind of deliberately take the day off. We came here as a family after my parents and I did a bit of shopping, which worked up a bit of an appetite in all of us! We ordered the following:

Spring rolls ($5.50) - as you can see, not much there for the presentation but the spring rolls themselves were pretty good. 

House special pho ($7.95 for a large) - the colour of the soup was intriguing and full of seafood, but this was not my favourite of today.

Curry beef brisket ($6.50 for a small) - this was hand's down my favourite thing we ordered today, but it was very oily. I am not normally a fan of pho, but I thought that the thicker sauce of the curry better coated each mouthful of noodles, which gave it flavour. 

Beef satay pho ($6.50 for a small) - I didn't really like this. The meat and tendons were tough, and the soup was salty and oily. 

Hai nam chicken rice ($7.50) - a coconut and ginger-infused rice with chicken. Both the chicken and the rice were very oily and neither had much flavour. Fail.

The restaurant was very quiet when we arrived til around 1:30pm, at which point it got busy all of a sudden. It was obviously this is a mom-and-pop shop. The service was mediocre and the place not very clean. Probably the only thing possibly worth coming back for was the curry pho. But given the fierce competition of restaurants in the GTA, I won't be back.

The 3 Brewers / Les 3 Brasseurs

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!

Kimchi Korea House

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!

Canyon Creek Chophouse

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!

Relish Bar & Grill

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.

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.