Restaurant Reviews – Page 15

Fried Shrimp and Friendship @ Farmer’s Daughter

June 14, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Farmer’s Daughter near Junction may be one of my favourite new eats. The seafood restaurant is the “daughter” of Farmhouse Tavern which is located right across the street. I haven’t actually been to the tavern yet, but I’m sure that will change soon! The daughter restaurant is still fairly new and open only for brunch and dinner on certain days.

The slogan “Fried shrimp and friendship” is plastered on their signage outside and on a neon sign inside. Obviously, we had to try the fried shrimp ($9). I totally felt where their slogan came from. The shrimp was so good I wanted to hog them to myself, but I love Nash enough that I would share. You would only share these shrimp with a good friend.

The Heart N Soul ($12) was a beautiful beef tartare with salsa verde served on a beef bone with goat cheese, an egg and more.

The Octopus ($20) had a squid ink vinaigrette, sunchokes, a creamy sauce and more. There was a lovely crunch paired with tender octopus. I loved that the ink wasn’t just for aesthetic but a part of the complex flavours.

I had an (alcoholic) drink but I forgot what it was. It was a rather tasty cocktail that I believe was apple tinged.

Since dinner was amazing, we couldn’t resist finding out what the $6 desserts where. There were two that night and we ordered BOTH because YOLO. Anyways, the first was an icecream sandwich made out of ginger cookies and chocolate mousse icecream.

The second was a homemade lemon rhubarb twinkie with homemade marshmallow. Let’s just say we were very glad to have ordered both desserts.

We hope Farmer’s Daughter changes their menu up once in a while (there menu was relatively small) but I can’t wait to come back for brunch and see what else they have to offer.

Rose City Kitchen

June 1, 2014June 1, 2014Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Easy lunch breaks and pre-concert hunger brought me into Queen West’s Rose City Kitchen a couple of times. The snack bar serves fresh sandwiches served in a half-cut pita bread. It is recommended that you get more than one each time if you are hungry, or at least one of the available sides. Sandwiches are only $5 each, so ordering multiple won’t hurt the wallet too much. Pictured above is the Greek sandwich with chicken. The ingredients include tzatziki, cucumber, red onions, tomatoes, lettuce, oregano, garlic oil and haloumi cheese. It was very flavourful and I loved the haloumi. Everything tastes very fresh as it’s all made to order. Be prepared to wait at least 10 minutes for food though, so it doesn’t work well if you are looking for something super quick.

Sorry for the ugly photo, but this was the Egyptian I ordered one day for lunch take out. In it was eggplant, red onions, chickpeas, dates, cabbage, lemon juice and garlic oil. Of the two sandwiches I’ve tried so far, I enjoyed the flavour combination of this the most.

Just because sandwiches are the main focus, doesn’t mean their sides weren’t worth trying. These home fries were crispy and generously seasoned. It is guaranteed that if you eat one, you will be addicted!

Brunch @ Hello Darling

May 23, 2014May 23, 2014Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

As I previously mentioned, Nash moved to an area where there are a gazillion options for places only open during brunch. Recently, we visited Hello Darling, located near Lansdowne & Wallace. Inside it is cute and bright and I don’t feel like I need to dress up to go eat brunch.

I ordered the Shakshuka ($12), which are baked eggs in a red pepper stew. It was served with a feta salad and these addictive hash browns. They totally forgot to bring me the bread, so I was confused at first, but the shakshuka was very flavourful on it’s own and I totally ate it all, even when I ran out of bread.

Nash ordered the Huevos Rancheros ($12) which were fried eggs on corn tortilla served with refried beans, avocado, pico de gaillo, sweet potato and pickled vegetables. All those things on a plate made it so colourful.

To drink I had a mocha that was a lovely rich chocolate.

I hear the menu changes daily here so we will be back for seconds for sure.

Wallace & Co

May 13, 2014Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We’ve been exploring the area a bit East of the Junction food-wise and we found a lovely little diner called Wallace & Co. It reminded me a lot of those places you’d see on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, a show I miss dearly because I no longer have the food network.

I love how comfy and informal it was. I ordered the Dirty Burger (pictured at top of post). The burger had cheddar, house bacon, fried onion, coleslaw, BBQ aioli, and yellow mustard. It was called the Dirty Burger for a reason because all those sauces together warranted many napkins. It was totally worth getting dirty though.

Nash had this beef sandwich thing that he also thoroughly enjoyed.

If we weren’t in a coma afterward, we probably would have ordered one of their delicious sounding milkshakes. I did however order this fizzy pink lemonade which hit the spot since it’s been warm out.

As of right now this place only opens Wednesday-Friday for dinner but it’s nice to have such a casual restaurant nearby!

Waffles @ Starving Artist

May 1, 2014May 15, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

We had waffles for dinner one night at Starving Artist’s Wallace/Emerson location. Since it was around 5, anything with hollandaise sauce was no longer available. I ordered the waffles with cheesy eggs, greens and potato salad. I upgraded to waffle bacon, which was essentially more waffles with bacon baked in between. The waffles were light and fluffy and I enjoyed the potato salad and cheesy eggs. It was like breakfast for dinner. The lettuce had a balsamic dressing I think, but I couldn’t really taste it.

Nash had the Western Omelet Waffle Sandwich.

To drink I had the mocha, which reminded me of Pacman for some reason.

We enjoyed our waffles but I hope to provide an update when we try their poached egg dishes soon!

Habits Gastropub

April 25, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

A random stroll down College Street for something delicious led us to Habits Gastropub. We didn’t have a reservation but we were lucky it wasn’t busy when we walked in. The tables filled up quickly afterward and there was a little bit of a wait for our food and bills. There was basically one guy running most of the tables and also acting as bartender and we thought he looked quite overworked. Despite this, he was very friendly.

I ordered the Mac & Cheese ($15 pictured above) which had mushrooms, bacon, black-truffle, asiago & parmesan cheese. It was very flavourful and comforting, but totally more of an Alfredo, which I guess is adult Mac & Cheese.

Nash had the Fish Soup, the soup of the day, to start. It was a lovely blend of fish, scallops, mussels in a tomato broth.

He also had the Fried Chicken ($14) which was panko crusted and served with a delicious potato salad and jalepeno-cheddar biscuit. The chicken was to die for!

Another thing about Habits it has an extensive drink menu and tons of wine options. I ordered the Habits Mojito. I’m usually very picky with mojitos because I usually think they have too much salt, but this one was perfect. It also had enough alcohol to create a buzz.

I wish we had enough stomach left to try dessert but we’ll definitely be back for those soon.

Jelly Modern Doughnuts

April 24, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews, Snacks1 Comment

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you totally need a doughnut to feel better? I had one of those so our journey took us to Jelly Modern Doughnuts near College and Spadina.
The interior was white and pink and there was a variety of different doughnuts to choose from. They also come in small and bigger sizes.

Obviously we went for the bigger sizes. Nash had the Peanut Butter Cup and I had the Maple Bacon. I couldn’t resist bacon on a donut. I love it, it was a perfect combination of flavours. The bacon brought out the maple glaze wonderfully. It was light and fluffy. I’m not a fan of doughnuts with cream in the middle so I was relieved that this was simple and tasty. Also, the person working the front was very nice and will totally photobomb you if he sees you taking a photo!

My sister also popped in with her boyfriend while we were in the store. She also ordered the maple bacon (we are sisters afterall) and her boyfriend had the coconut. They were delighted with their orders and there was no crumbs left in sight.

Before I left, I bought a large doughnut for a friend we were going to visit. They wrapped it up in an adorable container! Thank you Jelly Modern for a fantastic doughnut experience.

The New Come And Get It

April 17, 2014April 17, 2014Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Pop-up restaurant Come and Get It now has a permanent home on Queen West, a few blocks away from its previous Spadina location. I believe the menu is still very similar at lunch but things get switched up to a tapas style during dinner time. It still follows a similar menu of choosing a flavour and format. The menu has icons of little people, but I’m not sure what they mean because I went with my friend Melody and according to the chart, we ate 8 little people’s worth of food. We went for one of each item, except the poutine.

To start we had the Bag O’Bites ($3), which were plantain chips served with a side of spicy mayo. I have never had fresh plantain chips and quite enjoyed this. We also used this as utensils to scoop up stuff we dropped from the flat bread.

The Snack (3.85) was a one bite ceviche served on a crispy chip, which reminds me a little of Asian shrimp chips, only thinner.

For our Flatbread ($9.75) we chose Hawaiian Pork Belly as the topping. Seriously we don’t know what the icon of four people would mean on the menu. Four people would fight over this flatbread as we gobbled it up quite quickly. I loved the tenderness and flavour of the pork and sauce. It also had the crispy chip thing of the ceviche.

Lastly, we had the Chipotle Short Rib Sliders ($5.75) because we saw other people have them and they looked adorable. LOOK AT IT. Oh, and it was also delicious.

I’ve been obsessed with like “alcholic lemonade”-like drinks at restaurants lately. The closest thing to that here was the Chill Girlfriend $14 which had gin, St. Germain, basil, prosecco, cucumber and lime. It was very cool and refreshing and very alcoholic.

Anyways, I quite enjoyed the food at Come and Get It. But note that if you go, prepare to eat more than the menu suggests. Oh, I forgot we also saw Sandy Cohen (the dad from the OC) eating there, which was kind of awesome and random.

Boo Radley’s

April 13, 2014April 14, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Nash moved a couple blocks West of where he was so now we have a whole new area of food to explore. Our first stop was this very homey place called Boo Radley’s, named after the mysterious character from To Kill a Mocking Bird. The menu has a lot of familiar comfort foods such as the Pulled Pork Sandwich I ordered (pictured above). I also had a side of Cream of Asparagus Soup.

Nash’s pick the special of the day: a jerk tilapia with blueberry salsa was the best thing ever. It’s interesting that they have familiar things on the menu but offered such an interesting special that night! The fish was tender, moist and delicious and I loved the seasoning. Even the salsa was very good.

We couldn’t resist the dessert of the day, a French toast bread pudding with ice cream. We shared one but we sort of wish we got two because we licked the bowl clean!

This place will definitely be our new regular hangout!

Truffle Mac & Cheese @ The Crest

April 3, 2014April 3, 2014Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Before going to The Crest, I accidentally Googled the menu for the Crest Gastropub in Columbus Ohio and did not notice until we actually got to restaurant. Luckily, the Crest on St. Clair West was a pleasant surprise and one of my new favourite discoveries. The 6-cheese Truffle Mac ($8) heavenly. It was so simple, yet complex and I would return for this item alone. It’s definitely the best Mac & Cheese I’ve ever tasted (and I’ve had some with bacon).

I also had an order of Sweet Potato Chips ($6) that was served with Maple Aioli. They were thin and lovely. Definitely better than chips with normal potatoes.

To sip on, I had the Crest Lemonade ($9) which consisted of vodka, cucumber, basil and lemonade. It was very refreshing and I liked the addition of basil.

Nash ordered one of the day’s special, a Steak Sandwich with a side of fries. It was very flavourful and the portion was generous.

I’m definitely glad we went here, even if it was sort of by accident! This menu turned out to be way better than the accidental restaurant we looked up. Don’t be intimidated by the fancy sign outside. It’s definitely worth walking in.