Food – Page 17 – Tiana Feng

Khao San Road

November 7, 2015November 7, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I finally visited Khao San Road with my cousin. The restaurant does not take reservations but we only had to wait around 15 minutes for a table two during dinner service. We ordered two dishes the Kua Gling and Kha Soi.

The Khua Soi, which I ordered with shrimp, was a golden curry with coconut milk and crispy noodles. At Khao San Road, you can choose between a bunch of different spice levels. I did a level 3 out of a possible 11. 3 was already a decent level of spicy but the coconut milk in this dish helped cool down the tongue. The curry was super flavourful and I loved the crunchy noodles.

The Kua Gling was a shredded meat dish and we chose chicken as the protein. We also chose spice level 3 on this dish but it felt a lot spicier than the other one.

To go with my dinner I had some Singha, a Thai beer. I found it relatively light and refreshing between bites of curry.

You might have to wait for a table at Khao San Road, but their flavourful curries are definitely worth it!

Bare Burger

November 2, 2015November 7, 2015Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Every year for Nash’s birthday, we seek out a new delicious burger joint to try. Since we’ve tried so many, I looked to Zomato for suggestions and they sent me two lists. Bareburger was on both lists and it was one we hadn’t heard of yet!

The place specializes in organic, free range meats, though that wasn’t the reason we were there. We just like burgers. I ordered the Southern Caviar burger (pictured above) which had bison, pimento cheese, back bacon, stout onions, horseradish remoulade on a brioche bun. Everything went really well together and their house bacon is so delicious! The meat was juicy and cooked very well.

Nash had the El Matador which had bison, cheese curds, pickled jalapenos, guacomole, green leaf, spicy pico de gallo on a brioche bun. This was super messy but so worth getting hands dirty for. So much gooey goodness going on here.

We also ordered the Macho Fries which were crunchy fries topped with jalapeno, guacomole, pico de gallo, pepperjack cheese and a sauce with a kick. These were so good we finished the entire giant bowl AND our burgers.

To wash things down I sipped a Figs & Bacon. I didn’t know I was supposed to put the bacon in the drink so I just ate it. Hahahahaha it was worth it (because their bacon is delicious).

Nash had The Mexican which was a happy hour drink with tequila and ginger beer.

We were super impressed with the burgers. They were both fantastic combinations of ingredients and didn’t leave us feeling like we were dying. Definitely a highly recommended burger place.

What is Your Least Favourite Halloween Candy?

October 28, 2015Candy, FoodLeave a Comment

Now that Halloween is nearing I thought we’d talk about candy. As a kid (and as an adult), I loved all sorts of chips, candy, chocolates but the one thing I never liked was Tootsie Rolls. I always thought people who gave them out were the worst people. They were probably the people on the block who despised children.

What is your least favourite candy? Why?

Hanmoto

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Hanmoto is a super cozy izakaya just off Dundas West on Lakeview Avenue in Toronto. You could walk past it’s slight red glow if you weren’t specifically looking for it. The place is small and seats about 30. I was lucky enough to walk in and get a table for a friend and I. As I waited for my friend, I sipped a North Town Nashi, a fruity drink with mizo shochu, lemon, asian pear and shingo pear bitters.

This is a sharing restaurant so we ordered a bunch of dishes.

Hot Hot Tofu: Cold silken tofu, chili oil, pickled cucumber, onions, nori. I enjoyed the melt in mouth texture of the tofu very much. They added just the right amount of chili oil and it wasn’t too spicy or salty.

Hamachi Tartare: Sweet chili ponzu, shiso, cilantro, avocado. The yellowtail was very fresh and paired well with the avocado and the texture of the other toppings.

Uni-Bomb: sea urchin roe, chicken skin chips, sushi rice. I rarely ever have sea urchin (because finding it fresh is hard in the city) but I really enjoyed this bomb! The chicken skins were super crispy and looked so enticing that my Jewish friend (who doesn’t eat chicken) took a bite out of one. Oops.

Enoki with Miso Butter arrived on a hot plate looking like a steak. The mushrooms were cooked together as one piece and flaked like meat. You can never go wrong with cooking anything in butter.

My second drink of the night was an Arisaka Sour with green tea, cucumber infused gin, uzu, soda, lime bitter. I was surprised to actually taste the cucumber.

For some reason even though I usually hate okra (when my mom cooks it), I decided to see if I would like it when it was done properly. This was cooked with parmesan and topped with bonito flakes. The flakes kind of felt like eating paper so I wasn’t relaly a fan. I also think I just hate okra in general and can’t get over the slithery texture (to no fault of Hanmoto).

Lastly, we ordered the Salmon Aburi with torched salmon and sushi rice. It resembled a deconstructed version of the blowtorched sushi we loved at JaBistro.

Who leaves without trying the Miso icecream? I haven’t eaten much savoury ice cream but this one was super refreshing and topped with nori powder and toasted rice balls. Picture miso soup except frozen and in block form. The miso soup of the future.

A visit to Hanmoto is definitely a must! But good luck getting a seat if you are more than two people.

Cracked Apple Cider With Spiced Rum

October 26, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

Continuing my quest to try all the ciders I could find, I stumbled on Cracked Apple Cider with Spiced Rum. I found it resembled more of a mixed rum drink than cider, any hint of apple was overshadowed by rum and spices. It’s not really sour, spicy or sweet. Not sure if I would get this one again.

New Cutting Board

October 25, 2015Food, ShoppingLeave a Comment

I never thought about getting a new cutting board until I saw this adorable one at Kitchen Stuff Plus.

The board comes with four mats that can be used on top to keep the board itself clean and avoid cross-contamination. This one has a board for vegetables, poultry, fish and other meats.

I love the simple colourful design.

Valdez

October 23, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

To celebrate my sister’s graduation we recently went to Valdez, a Latino street food restaurant we discovered from the Toronto episode of Day of Gluttony.

The inside of the restaurant was very modern and fit with the landscape of it’s King Street West location.

Since we were celebrating something, cocktails were totally mandatory! We happened to make happy hour so I ordered a Colombian Sour which had Aguardiente, blood orange, lemon, sugar, egg white and bitters. Nash had the Tormenta Oscura with Kraken, lime and Thomas Lavers ginger beer. We also ordered a litre of Mo-Tio: Bacardi 8, raspberries, mint, ginger syrup, soda. Their cocktails alone warrant returning.

To start things off we ordered a set of ceviche tasters. We had two sets for the table of four because a set is good enough for two people. There were 5 ceviches made from albacore tuna, scallop, ahi tuna, mahi mahi and confit tuna. My favourite was the scallop which had a sweet taste. They were all super fresh and we drank the juice (which we learned we were supposed to do from watching too much TV).

The Pastels were a crunchy wonton with cream cheese and guava inside. It was delicious.

Maduro was a delicious dish of baked ripe plantain, muzzarela, honey butter. We weren’t sure what it was at first. I thought it was eggplant so I ate the plantain skin which seemed to be edible but I’m not quite sure if we were supposed to eat it. Hahahaha, well, I’m still alive.

Their tostadas had smoked chicken, guacamole, cilantro on a corn tortilla.

Chuzos a la Plancha was 2 beef skewers paired with a delicious chimichurri and arepita (a kind of fried bread).

One of our more adventurous choices was a Fried Branzino served with greens in a lemon chia dressing, pepitas (a nut) and rice.The fish was one of our favourite parts of the dinner. It was pleasantly salty and crunchy, fried to a point where most of the bones were edible.

How could we go to a Latin restaurant without eating some chorizo? so we had a chorizo sausage with potato salad and a chimichurri!

The food was so good we couldn’t resist getting a bunch of desserts too!

The first was a crepe stuffed with fried banana with cream.

The second was a ginger cookie ice cream sandwich.

Then there was a beautiful rice pudding with brûlée plantains.

Lastly was a cool play on peaches and cream with warm ice cream.

We enjoyed all the food we had at Valdez! It is definitely recommended you go with a bunch of people so you can try everything (as with all tapas).

Black Creek Pumpkin Ale

October 22, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

Fall is a popular time for pumpkin ale so I’ve been trying what I can found. Recently I tried Black Creek Brewery’s pumpkin ale. I found it very malty and the taste of pumpkin and spices were pretty faint. It definitely smelled stronger than it tasted.

County Cider

October 19, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

This County Cider is sold in what looks like a pop bottle. It’s a dry cider, a lot like the pear one that I tried a few posts back. It’s crisp but not as apple-tasting as I would have expected. At 6.5% though, I think I will continue drinking it until Stephen Harper is not Prime Minister anymore.

Wenona Craft Beer Lodge

October 18, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We wanted to watch that epic Game 5 at Tallboys but it was unfortunately packed by the time I got out of work. I decided to head over to their other restaurant Wenona a few blocks west. It has the same great craft beer, but a different type of menu. I ordered the sliders and choose to mix up pulled pork and brisket. There was also the option vegetarian but I don’t need that! The sliders were served on a steamed bao instead of a regular bun which was a nice twist. I chose to eat mine with crunchy fries.

I also had an order of plantain chips which were like bruschetta on fried plantains instead of bread.

Nash had Catch of the Day, fish and chips battered with Trailhead beer.

My drink of the night was Brickworks 501 semi-sweet cider.

I couldn’t resist getting their smores for dessert! It’s warm baked marshmallows and chocolate served with some graham crackers of course.

This place is still relatively new but it has a lovely homey vibe and is definitely a great place to watch the game that not many people around the block know about yet!