I love it when a band does a cover that adds to the original. It isn’t just a repeat in another voice, but a different interpretation of a song.
This is one of those. It’s Baths version of LCD’s “All My Friends”. Unlike the original, this is almost mournful.
For comparison here is the original with LCD’s drums and organ setting a frenetic pace which hurls the listen along.
Yesterday I went with my friend Miho to a new ramen house Ryoji Ramen and Izakaya, and you can see from the comments on Yelp they’re going through some growing pains. The ramen here is different from most of the other ramen houses in town. That is because it is Okinawa Ramen, not Hokkaido ramen. The biggest different I learned was in the noodles. Okinawa ramen uses a thin, white noodle while Hokkaido is a thicker yellow noodle. I am sure there The broth is also labelled as Otoko-Aji or Onna-Aji which my understanding means male or female taste. In reality it is tonkotsu ramen and shio ramen.
Anyway, the ramen itself was lovely, but I have some criticisms. The first is that the egg and the cha-shu were cold. It would have taken all of 20 seconds to warm up the pork on a frying pan. I am not sure about the egg but it should be easy to drop in a pot of water. As a result I had to wait for the soup to warm up the meat before I could eat it.
Also, the soup only has a few toppings. Cha-shu, egg, sprouts, chopped green onions… I want more toppings! I want a flavour medley in my mouth. I want nori, I want wood ears and pickles and I want sesame seeds. I have no idea why no one has sesame seeds but this is really getting me down. Also, one of the ramen on the menu is ramen with garlic oil. I wish they just put the garlic oil on the table and let me add itself. When I was in Japan many of the toppings are there on the table for you to add yourself. Perhaps it is not the Okinawa way.
There was also a lack of appetizers on the lunch menu. There was nothing there that piqued my interest. Given my propensity for enjoying food, it should have been pretty easy to put something on there for me. There was several items on the dinner menu, which they were not serving at the time, which did look like something I would like.
Another complaint I have is the size of the soup. It is small! I was still hungry afterwards. For 13 dollars I want to feel satisfied. There was still a lot of room in that bowl, and it wouldn’t hurt to add more noodles. You cannot even see the noodles in my photo, that’s how small the portion is.
But now the positive. The soup is de-lic-ious! With the tonkotsu, the fat floating in the soup was perfect flavour and the noodles were fantastic – cooked to perfection. The slender noodle help the soup cling to it and they are easier to maneuver onto the spoon. The cha-shu while cold, was very soft and melted in your mouth. Once it warmed up the flavour of it was excellent as well. Miho thought the soup was salty, but I enjoyed it all the same.
The service was good, and the decor was pleasant so all in all it was a nice lunch. It apparently becomes more of a bar in the evenings, but I would recommend you go for the soup.
I haven’t done one of these in awhile, and it might be the sangria writing but I had an amazing afternoon. To start off we went to Frida and Diego at the AGO and then we went for an amazing Mexican dinner at Playa Cabana.
I will get into the food in a bit but first I wanted to recommend the Frida and Diego exhibit at the AGO; it was really amazing. I must admit I am pretty ignorant of Mexican culture. I have been across into Tijuana for an afternoon and lived in Southern California but never really immersed myself in it. What I can relate to was the art, and the passion. Frida’s paintings are small and intimate. They draw you in.
Deeply personal, you can see the pain she has transferred onto the canvas, and the love. You have to remember that Frida was 20 years Diego’s junior. He must have had tremendous charisma since he had many lovers.
His paintings were also extraordinary. There are a series of landscape paintings that is on par with anything by the Group of Seven. Seriously, these things were mind blowing. His murals were also impressive and what he is best known for. There is a slide show projected on a wall, which is worth sitting through. The images are of the murals he did for the Fords.
The show works so well with the two of them together (obviously). I cannot recommend it enough.
After you see the show, head to Playa Cabana at 111 Dupont Street. Now before I get into the details, let me say I am not a connoisseur of Mexican food. I know what I like, and I like this.
Playa is a pretty small restaurant. The location isn’t super and a little surprising to be honest. It feels like it is smack-dab in the middle of a residential area. It has a pleasant rustic feel to it and the staff are genuinely friendly. We were seated on the patio which was covered with tarps and had a dozen or so heaters. That was a little too rustic for my liking, but we were lucky to get in because we didn’t have a reservation.
To start with we ordered the chips and guaca fresca. The guacamole was fresh and served in a volcanic stone bowl, which I was informed was the way it is supposed to be served. The tortilla were crisp and warm. Obviously made fresh they were surprising light. Later they brought us salsa which was a nice addition and two different hot sauces. (Apologies for the photos, they were taken with my phone and the light was low.)
A good start.
We also ordered chorizos conquistadores which is a lovely Spanish sausage with red wine and cerveza. I really like chorizo and this was a engaging way to cook it. Sometimes it can be overwhelming so I normally cook it with something mild like chickpeas to cut the taste. In this case it was served with a sauce that was sort of like a barbecue sauce but without being overly sweet or smokey.
Our third appetizer was the quesadillas fritas, which was nothing like any quesadillas I have ever had. It was stuffed with chicken and deep fried. Served with a dollop of sour cream and green tomato salsa. It was seriously a meal in itself. If you are taking kids, give them this and they will be satisfied.
To wash all this down we had the red wine Sangria which had more juice in it than fruit. I have had sangria before and I have to admit I like it sweeter, but there was lots of it so that was a bonus. Sangria is one of those things, like pizza, where even if it isn’t great it’s still pretty good. For my main dish I ordered fish tacos. I don’t cook enough fish at home so I try to eat it when I am out as much as I can. This was grilled tilapia which is one of my favourite fishes. Tilapia is light and flaky but still meaty. I don’t like fish with bones, or cooked salmon so I usually order a white fish and this is one of the best. Playa did have a battered, fried fish version of the taco, but I felt like the grilled would be a little more authentic and a little healthier.
The fish was very nicely done with a little bit of spice to it. It could use more lime, but then again what can’t? I have read that the lime is needed in Mexican food as a digestive aid and was informed it is also used as a disinfectant. I just like the little bit of tartness it adds to everything.
I would have liked the tacos to be bigger as well. The problem with tacos like this is they are gone in two bites, and they are messy. If someone came up with a larger, cleaner taco I would be very pleased. But who knows, maybe I just don’t know how to properly eat them. By the time I finished all this I was stuffed. The beans and rice were excellent as well. I normally don’t bother with the rice but this was quite delicious.
Toronto is not the sort of town you think of when you think of great Mexian food. Chinese? Yes. Indian? Perhaps. But Mexican?
I have had Mexican food a couple of places in the city and it was never like I remembered from living in Southern California. I’m not slagging the Mexican places we have, but let’s face it Burrito boys is to Mexican food what a california roll is to Japanese cuisine. Playa Cabana was the first time in Toronto I left thinking, “Yes, that was Mexican.”
I love video games, that is no surprise, and one of my favourite video game collections is FIFA by EA Sports. I have editions 2010 to 2013 and have had the same striker, same team, same features throughout all. The new FIFA 2013 is by far the best soccer game out there.
Now I don’t play online. I have in the past just to get the red shoes, but having some 14 year old call me a “noob-faggot” just doesn’t float my boat. So I can’t really comment on that aspect of the game. From what I have seen it looks impressive, but really I like playing solo and having a “career”.
Fifa 2013 picked up on where 2012 fell short. It was the little things. For example, in 2012 I couldn’t see my players value until the end of the season and then it would jump considerably. With 2013 I can see my value change as my performance dictates. It also allows your player/character to be loaned out. Something you couldn’t do in 2012. And your player can stall a trade, or refuse a trade, which makes the career aspect of the game more interesting.
Your player also gets lots of feed back from the coach, from your agent (something new), and from the press. In previous versions only specific leagues had team of the week. Now you can be man of the match, team of the week, player of the month, and player of the year. One thing I would like to see is your player get “interviewed” by the press. It would be fun to have a skilled, but mouthy player, like Maradona.
The game play is vastly improved as well, which is impressive because it was already pretty awesome. The little things like the first touch which allows you to control the ball, or the fact you can now receive the ball with your chest makes it feel more realistic. It is more unpredictable too which was an issue before, meaning you can’t just run the same patterns over and over. Your team mates are also more intelligent, timing runs better so obviously someone has worked on the AI of the game. One hiccup I have noticed, on the PS3 anyway, is that two defenders will sometimes pass the ball back and forth ten times or more until I make a run at them.
The load screens have been improved, where as before you could shoot at a goalie while waiting for the game to load, you can now run practice drills which is a nice touch. There are also more achievements, meaning your player improves more and you get more feedback which is also nice.
Your player can now be part of a national team to compete for the world cup. Which was something missing in 2012. In other versions you could play for your team for a trophy but it wasn’t the “World Cup”. I am still in the qualifying rounds at the moment but I suspect it will be awesome.
Plus this is the gayest FIFA EA has ever made!
Mildred Temple Kitchen was an exciting place for me. I am always excited to try a new restaurant; I love food and this one came recommended.
The décor is simple but elegant and light. There is lots of concrete with HUGE windows which let in a large amount of light. It’s open concept, has funky lighting and seemed to be very hip. The interior has a slight retro feel to it, although that might also be the 70′s and 80′s music playing through the speakers.
We went on a Friday evening after work it was to be our starter event before we walked up to a tequila bar. We arrived a little before our reservation, but were shown to our table anyway. The restaurant hadn’t officially opened so we were prepared to be patient. When we were given the choice between sitting inside or on the patio, we chose inside thinking it would be cooler but the air conditioning was broken. We didn’t get told this until after we’d sat and ordered drinks. It was a telling augury to the disappointment that was to be our dinner.
We started by ordering drinks. I went straight for the booze because Mildred’s charges for water.
“But it’s reverse osmosis water!”, I hear you cry. Who fucking cares, it’s water. That should have been another clue as to the type of establishment this was. I tried two different drinks. The first was the sangria. It was really a beautiful drink, with the soft pink colour and sprig of green for contrast. The taste was so-so, but it had a branch of rosemary in it and I love rosemary. It could have stood to be sweeter.
The second drink I tried was the Brazillionaire. A lime and brown sugar muddled with Kraken Rum and Soda. It was sweeter than the sangria, but not nearly as pretty. It was also very boozy, which I suppose I should have expected given the Kraken. I did like the way they had little twists on the normal drinks and it made for some interesting beverages; for example a pumpkin spiced martini or the Caesar with fresh horseradish.
We didn’t order appetizers, since we were going out to another bar after this. I should have ordered more, but given the appetizers were not cheap; $16 for a Caesar salad, $6 for French fries I didn’t want to blow the whole evening’s budget at the first place. I also didn’t order appetizers because the special sounded out of this world and I didn’t want to wait.
The special we were told was an elk steak cooked medium rare with an arugula pesto on a chestnut pilaf with a large scallop, wild mushrooms and truffle chips. It sounded so good that three of the five of us ordered the same thing. Unfortunately, that was not what we got.
What we got had some of the same ingredients… There was a steak and it was medium rare, although it didn’t taste very gamey so I have no idea if it actually was elk. Rather than a pesto there was arugula leaves scattered on top. While there wasn’t a pilaf there was something starchy….I think it was polenta? There was definitely a scallop though and mushrooms although the truffle chips were nowhere to be found.
When we mentioned to our server that what she brought us, was not what was described she was very blasé about it. We pointed out there were no chips, which was one the main reasons I ordered the dish, and that there was no pesto or pilaf. She went away to talk to the chefs about the missing items and returned to tell us the special had changed. If I wasn’t with people from work I would have sent the dish back and walked out. You can’t change someone’s meal without talking to them about it first!
One of our party kindly suggested that perhaps instead of the truffle chips she might want to bring some of the frites instead. The waitress went away and returned with a single glass of fries. Three of us had been cheated on our dinners and she brought one measly serving of fries, unceremoniously dumping it on the table stating, “it’s on me.”
I understand that it is frequently quality over quantity, but for a $32 entrée when it comes to something like potatoes, which are fucking cheap, don’t scrimp.The servings were small and not very filling. If that is the difference in your restaurant surviving or not, then get a new profession. It would have been really easy for the server to have turned the evening around for us. If she had apologized like she meant it, and perhaps brought the table something more than a few sticks of potato it may have ended better.
After our meal was cleared we looked at the dessert menu. Now, I am pretty serious about desserts. I believe you can tell a lot about a restaurant by it’s crème brulée. Temple Kitchen does not have crème brulée, enough said.
I will not be returning to Mildred’s Temple Kitchen. It is not my kind of place. The prices are high, and the servings are small. For the same money I could have had the prix fixe at Jules Bristro, a salad, entrée and dessert, as well as couple of glasses of wine and still had money left over. I have the sneaking suspicion that this restaurant is a place to be seen, not really a place to eat. Near the heart of Liberty village, they have managed yuppie prices for hipster clientèle.
You know what the biggest scam is?
Cell phone screen films. Seriously. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy 4G infuse, which is a very impressive phone. (Just having something with a battery life longer than an hour is impressive after my ageing iPhone.) However, the stupid thing came with a screen protector. I know normally a screen protector would be a good thing right? No one wants a scratched screen and if a thin sheet of plastic is all it takes…
Unfortunately they put a little tab on it.
I blacked the outline with a marker to make it more apparent. So as you use the phone the tab catches on things and eventually the protector starts peeling off. I could have cut it, but I could tell from the plastic it would not cut well and would leave a milky white indentation.
So I bought a case from Incipio and that came with a protector as well. So I thought “cool I will just replace it”. I took off the old one, cleaned the screen to make sure there was nothing on it and attempted to stick the new one on. And then tried again, and again and again. The screen protector was such a match to the screen that half a millimetre out and the thing wouldn’t sit properly. While I struggled with this dust and other shit got underneath so by the time I got it seated properly there was at least a half dozen air bubbles under it. Eventually I was like, fuck it. and bought another screen protector. (now in for $40 of screen protection)
The newest one, from ZAAG required peeling, spritzing with some solution, and then peeling again. Of course this protector is so thin that if you breathe, someone walks by, a butterfly is in the room, it gets fucked as well. So while the best of the three it still looks like shit.
So all in all I have had three protector, all of which looked like shit but I need to protect my $600 dollar investment.
TL;DR
Why the fuck don’t manufacturers put the damn screen protectors on for you when they make the damn phone?
Zuimei and I had lunch with a couple of his friends from Taiwan at a fancy restaurant called Ukai-tei. Our hosts took us for teppanyaki, which for those unfamiliar with the term is the Japanese style of cooking where the chef cooks on a hot grill at your table.
Accompanying the salmon was a small dollop of herbed sour cream, finely diced onions, diced egg yoke and caviar. I have only had caviar a few times but this was by far the best.
The second appetizer was fois gras on bamboo root with a demiglaze. It was an interesting combination of textures. The fois gras had been fried so the edges were browned and crispy-ish while the center was soft. This was juxtaposed to the bamboo, which was much harder and less yielding. It was also milder in flavor taking up the sauce of the demi-glaze for taste.
At this time our chef, Sung Lee, began preparing the live abalone. Now this was the first time I had ever had it and I know that it is expensive, but I don’t think I am a fan. The cooking technique was fascinating however. The chef started by putting the four abalone on the grill and placing shredded asparagus, herbs and lime on top. He then laid four pieces of seaweed on top of the pieces. The seaweed was large enough to completely cover the abalone and then some.
You can see the salt on the grill in the background.
This was then topped with a mound of salt which was in turn soaked with that I believe was water. The whole pile was then covered and left to steam while the chef prepared the sauce. The sauce started with butter and garlic, which then had morel mushrooms added, along with some white wine. This sauce was stirred continuously while some sliced cabbage was steamed along side the abalone.
The abalone was then uncovered, each one removed from the shell and cleaned. The livers were separated and abalone crosshatched with a knife. The entire plate was put together with the abalone sitting nicely on a small bed of cabbage and then coated with the mushroom sauce. While the flavor was excellent I found the texture of the abalone to be strange and somewhat reminiscent of Chinese desserts. Perhaps that is why they prize it so.
The last dish the chef prepared was the steak. I have never seen a piece of meat so marbled with fat. I swear that cow must have been obese. Chef Lee started by putting some oil on the grill and adding thinly sliced garlic. These slices he separated until each one was frying on it’s own and not sticking to any of the others. He kept the garlic moving so as to not allow the pieces to caramelize. This resulted in these garlic chips, which were set-aside until later.
The beef was presented in two squares about 5 by 5 by .5 inches. First fresh oil was put down and once hot the meat was placed with a sizzle. It did not require much time to cook and you could see from the side how it was going. The chef chatted with us about his career while this was going on. How he is actually Korean, but studied in Australia, France and England before coming to Japan. When he flipped the meat he used the metal scraper tools, reminiscent of putty spatulas for fixing drywall to pull the meet and prevent it from curling. This ensured the meat remained almost perfectly square.
The steak was then cut into cubes and placed on the plates. Along with the steak were freshly ground wasabi, fresh cracked pepper, tiny-diced onions, special soya sauce and a fresh green salad.
To be fair to the chef I already ate a piece before I took the picture. I couldn’t wait!
The wasabi, we were told, only grows a few centimeters a year and only in the freshest water. As a result it was very expensive. We were asked to first try the steak by itself before flavoring it with the other items and to tell the truth it didn’t really need all the other stuff, it was excellent on it’s own. I was however very fond of the wasabi. It has the distinct flavor of wasabi but didn’t have that sinus blasting pungency; instead it was mild…heat if that is what you could call it.
The meal was finished off with some lovely soup. I guess it was a miso but not like any I’d ever had before. It was dark, with the dark “witch’s hair” type seaweed in it which made it more…nuttier that most miso. This was accompanied by some pickled daikon radish and fried rice. The rice was very interesting.
Chef Lee started with minced garlic in oil, which he roasted on the grill. Once brown he placed the rice on and began using his spatulas to mix it. The catch hover is to ensure all the rice gets roasted on the grill without breaking the grains. I’m quite sure it is harder than it looks. He then dashed some soya sauce on the grill away from the rice and waited for the water to evaporate. Once that was done be moved the rice over and remixed everything on that. The end result was nutty, garlicky fried rice that wasn’t oily, salty or thick.
Once the meal was finished we retired to another room for dessert. Hand made chocolate ice cream with a scoop of fresh vanilla ice cream topped with crunch little chocolate things. A dessert cart was then brought over and I contained myself to just a square…and a cookie…and some tiny chocolates.
All in all a very memorable meal.
It has been a year since I wrote the blog post on my top 5 restaurants in Toronto and my, how things have changed. With Zuimei away in Japan I tend to eat at restaurants a little closer to home. This has happily exposed me to some new and excellent places to eat which, most importantly, provided good value for the money. I would like to share them with you.
Debu’s Nouvelle Indian Cuisine – this is the new kid on my list. I have only eaten there once but “WOW”. I live near the little India on Gerrard so I have eaten my share of Indian food. What was so impressive about this place, and why it made my new top 5 list was the experience was complete. I had great company, great service and great food. Here is the review I wrote on Yelp:
Debu must mean “divine” in Indian or something because the dinner I just had was amazing! I live near little India and so I’m used to naan, pakoras, dahl but not like this.
The spices were perfect, complex and layered with such skill we had to literally count the chews to make sure we didn’t gulp it all down.
We had pakoras, vegetable platter (not sure what else to call it), mango lassi, dahl, chicken (done three different ways), papadum all beautifully presented with exquisite service.
The menu changes all the time and there is a new menu coming out next week. I can’t wait!
High praise indeed, but I think it can live up to it. It’s not the cheapest place to eat ($60/person) but so, so worth it.
Jules Bistro Cafe is next on the list, which was one of Karem’s recommendations. Jules is now my go-to restaurant for when I want a little treat. It is a French restaurant without the French restaurant prices. Located near the corner of Queen and Spadina it is well situated for lunch or dinner.
I have a favorite dish, which luckily is part of the Prix Fixe, which is a reasonable $24.95. It is the “Sauté de Poulet”. A chicken breast in a mushroom cream sauce. A pretty simple dish, but it is so good it is all I can do to not lick my plate. It’s made with a lovely bechamel and is seasoned so delightfully that you will be using the slender crisp fries to mop up every last drop.
I have also had the croque monsieur which is excellent, but I have seen someone else get one that should have been cooked longer so ask for it well-done. The salads are nice, I like the salad chevre because of the goat cheese on the piece of toasted baguette and the light dressing. Over dressed salads are gross.
And I can’t forget the crème brûlée! I believe you can judge the quality of a restaurant by their crème brûlée and this one is very good. Crispy top which means it is flamed just before they serve it and despite being essentially fat and sugar is not too heavy.
The wine list is reasonable; good selection and well priced. All in all a nice place which is why Jules has become my place for a special treat and with the prix fixe and a glass of wine coming in at around $40 it is well worth it.
Green Eggplant was a life saver while my kitchen was getting reno’d (which reminds me I need to finish posting about that!) Skip their website, it is awful; just go eat there. (I linked to Yelp instead.) The portions are HUGE! which was handy because I was able to take the left overs home for a snack. Some dished are so large they could really be dinner for two.
Why this restaurant is on my list is the value and the bread basket. You get more than you pay for which is always a win in my book. The bread basket though is what makes this good but restaurant a great restaurant. It is a basket of three different types of bread and buns which is served with a tray of hummus, eggplant spread and babaghanoush. Who knew eggplant was so delicious?
Service is reasonable but the place can get crazy in the summer around supper time so make a reservation if you can’t wait for a seat. The prices are very reasonable and you can eat there plus beverage for $30 and be absolutely stuffed. The menu is varied so there should be something for everyone.
Guu Izakaya bar is a chain (with 5 locations in Vancouver and one in Toronto) and while I was disappointed that this wasn’t a totally unique experience, that I certainly couldn’t fault them for having earned success. The first thing you will notice about Guu is the line up. I went with some friends for dinner on a Tuesday and we needed to wait for an hour and a half to get seated. ON A TUESDAY!
Cindy insisted that it was worth the wait and she was right. The second thing you will notice about the restaurant is the noise. When you walk into the restaurant all the staff (and some of the patrons) will yell “Irashaishimas!” which is “welcome” in Japanese over the loud chatter and laughter that fills the air. The restaurant consists of some small tables for two on a raised platform, seats at a counter (common to Japanese bars) and 4 long wooden communal tables. It is actually a shrewed idea because when you see some delicacy being delivered to the folks seated next to you, you can’t help but order one too!
The dishes are small “tapas” like plates which are intended to be shared. Guu is not the sort of place you go for a quiet night out or a romantic dinner, it is a loud, raucous place to drink and laugh and forget about work.
We had the fried brie which, while not really “Japanese” was so amazing that we almost ordered it twice; but with so many things to try we moved on. The chicken karage was delicious and very much a staple of Japanese cuisine.
Tako yaki is not easy to find in Toronto, and one of my all time favorite Japanese foods. It’s a piece of octopus in a dough ball that is cooked then covered with mayonnaise, bento flakes and some brown sauce (also pictured)
The carpaccio was also a stand out dish of the evening, and had us competing over who got the last slice. I forget how many dishes we ordered but it was over a dozen for three of us and a couple of pitchers of beer. All in all the tab was around $80/person but we whooped it up pretty good and everyone had a warm glow by the time we left.
Rounding out my list this year is a restaurant I don’t go to often enough, but only because I don’t have a car.
Szechuan Legend is located at Midland and Finch, and it is about as close to authentic as you can get outside of Szechuan province in China. Apparently they do Dim Sum but who cares, go for the hot stuff.
A must order dish is the sliced beef appetizer. I could not find a photo of it online but look around the room, someone will be having it. The beef is slow braised and then cooled. Once it is cold it is thinly sliced and server with a mix of chili peppers, green onions, peanuts and sesame oil. Fantastic! but not for the faint of heart. In fact, if you don’t like spicy food then stay away from this place.
Another “must have” dish is the spicy poached fish, which luckily Tong J. on Yelp did have a picture of. This dish is intimidating, delightful and coy all at the same time. When you first see the spices floating on top you might think there is no way you can eat it, but the poached fish hiding under the chilies and oil is divine. Ask for an extra plate or bowl and scoop out the chillies if you’re too intimidated.
The “cool off” dish we usually get is mung bean noodles with cucumber and sesame sauce. It is the perfect Yin to the spicy Yang of everything else. Be sure to order the “Gong Bao ji Ding” (spicy chicken with peanuts and chillies) and lots of “pijo” (beer). You will definitely want the beer.
One word of warning however is the staff is Chinese, in a Chinese restaurant, filled with Chinese, in a Chinese part of town. Don’t be too upset if you need to repeat yourself several times to get your order understood. I usually go with native Mandarin speakers so it’s no problem but I have seen others struggle.
So there you have it. My top 5 restaurants in Toronto for 2010. Not necessarily the fanciest or ones with the biggest hype but the restaurants I enjoyed and wanted to share.
Bon Appetit!
Often I look at the restaurants in my neighbourhood and think “How the hell can you survive?” With the Bistro Camino I think “Why the hell are you here?”
The area is low income, sort of down and out with subsidized housing around it. More the sort of neighbourhood that would support a sports bar than fine dining. But there you have the Camino Bistro sitting like a diamond in the rough.
The dinner sets are wonderful and great value with 4 appetizers, a main, and dessert for $25-28 dollars.
I went last night and had beef carpaccio, mozzarella tempura, smoked salmon, duck confit soup, duck spring roll, chicken cordon bleu, creme brulee and a glass of wine for $40 including tip. My descriptions do not do them justice but it was all amazing! The service was excellent too!
Really if this restaurant was on King street or in Yorkville you would be paying over $100 each. So ignore the gritty neighbourhood and enjoy an evening of great food.
Before I start with my list I need to caveat that by “in Toronto” I mean GTA, so that includes Scarborough, Markham etc… It is not a list of the fanciest restaurants, or the ones with the most accolades, just the ones I think are best.
This is a quintessential Greek restaurant in the heart of Greek town, steps away from the Chester TTC station. The patio is awesome in the summer if you can get a table. I recommend you start with the spanikotiropita as an appetizer. The philo pastry is light and crunchy, the pastry oozes cheese and the portion comes in two so it is easy to share. Also recommended is the grilled calamari. You will be tempted to take the fried squid but resist, the grilled is the better one. With a light coating of olive oil and lemon it is mouth watering in it’s simplicity.
For dinner I would recommend the lamb souvlaki. It comes with the usual side – rice, potatoes and Greek salad. But the Ontario lamb is positively wonderful. The tziki is also super garlicy and creamy, although I wish the portion was a little larger so I could put it on everything. When ordering the lamb try to order it medium or medium-well otherwise it might start getting tough.
Rol San is cheap eats. The decor leaves a little to be desired with the plastic table cloths and cheesy posters on the wall, the truth is you don’t come here for the atmosphere. It’s cheap, it’s good and if you don’t get there early on a Sunday morning you will wait for an hour. While you can order regular Chinese fare here, I wouldn’t bother. Where they really shine at is “Dim Sum” or “Yum Cha”. Dim Sum is like Chinese Tapas.
The nice thing about dim sum at Rol San is you order it, it comes; unlike traditional dim sum where the staff wheel around cart and you pick things off. The dishes are small but plentiful and with the large menu there is something for everyone. The secret to Dim Sum is to go with as large of a group as you can, the more people the cheap it gets and the more dishes you can try.
For the hard-core there are items like chicken’s feet and ox tail but the tamer there is shrimp dumplings and xaio-mai. I recommend the squid tentacles, lotus leaf rice and mango pudding (my 3 musts for any Dim Sum visit). The squid should be golden and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The lotus leaf has rice, meat and a quails egg inside and should be steaming and fragrant. The mango pudding has chunks of real mango and evaporated milk on top. You should order it last though otherwise it sits there as dessert until you finish the rest.
This was once my favorite restaurant in Toronto. There are several locations now, one in Korea town on Bloor between Ossington and Bathurst; and the other is on Yonge Street North of Sheppard. There was a time when Zuimei and I ate at Joons twice a week!
The Kam Ja Tang, pork bone soup is a must, especially on the cold winter nights here in Toronto. It is spicy, flavorful and has potatoes. Who doesn’t love potatoes? Normally we would order it as an appetizer. The main dish I recommend is Dak Gal Bi. It is chicken, sweet potatoes, cabbage, green onion, spicy sauce and rice cakes. The rice cakes are usually extra so make sure you order them. The Dak Gal Bi will be cooked at your table on a little gas powered stove. You will need to stir it occasionally, otherwise the rice cakes stick.
What makes this dish so wonderful is that you eat the until there is just sauce and smaller pieces of meat and vegetables, then you put rice, sesame oil, and nori in and fry up the rice. This is the gooey, savory goodness that makes this dish so awesome. Dak Gal bi is my favorite Korean dish and afterwards I am always stuffed and happy.
This restaurant is a relatively new find for Zuimei and I. There are several locations but I like the one in Old Chinatown (Broadview and Gerrard), which has some neat guys serving. (I am pretty sure they are on my team so…) They have a variety of the standard Vietnamese dishes. Coffee with condensed milk over ice for the warm days, Pho Tai (noodle soup with thinly sliced raw beef) for the cold ones.
What makes this little Northern Vietnamese restaurant’s so special is the signature dish, grouper vermicelli. I am not a big fish eater, typically I prefer to order meat dishes, but this fish is magical. The grouper is lightly dusted with flour, dill and curry (I think) and then fried so the edges are crispy. This is served on a bed of vermicelli noodles, shredded lettuce, cilantro and peanuts. You can add sauce or just eat it the way it is. I <3 this fish! I have also tried the grouper as a soup and it is equally good. Other standout dishes for me are the beef sate with basil and mint and calamari patties.
Like all good lists I have saved the best for last. I eat a lot of Chinese food. I mean a lot. I have eaten it all across Canada; eaten it all across China, and if there is one place I can guarantee a good Chinese dinner this is it. There are so many good things about this restaurant it is hard to know where to start. The day before you are going to eat there I would recommend you call ahead and order the winter melon. I believe last time it cost around $40 for a medium/large melon. This melon is steamed and inside is a soup with seafood and vegetables. The best part if you can eat the bowl afterwards! It is the perfect starter for any meal, but you have to order it the day before because it is so hard to make. If you have company or are entertaining they are guaranteed to be blown away. I had a birthday party for Zuimei here and ordered some of these winter melons and our friends still talk about them almost a year later!
The service at Maple Yip is great. In fact your longest wait is waiting to get a table! In typical Chinese fashion all the dishes hit the table within moments of each other. My personal favorites are the mixed seafood in a taro bird’s nest, deep fried pork chops, stir-fried vegetables and Garlic, salt and pepper squid and the best mei-cai kou rou in the city. The name translates terribly to preserved vegetables with pork belly. But think bacon, cut thick & slowly braised in soy sauce, served on a bed of cabbage that soaks up the juices and fat. All I can say is “Hell Ya!”
So there you have it. My list of my favorite restaurants in Toronto. They are just a start, since I haven’t eaten at every restaurant in the city, but they are a good start. I find in a city like Toronto which has so many ethnicities and so many cultures it is a crime to not try every cuisine you can. From Ethiopian to Russian, Chinese to French this city has a huge variety that is hard to find anywhere else in the world so get out and enjoy it!
Bon Appetit!
