Restaurant Reviews – Page 19

The Tulip

May 22, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We were down by the Woodbine beach area for Victoria’s Day and decided to hit up some local eats. There was too long of a line for fast things and ended up in a diner called The Tulip. The menu was reasonably priced.

I ordered the 2-piece fish and chips and Nash had the chicken parmesan sandwich. Some random buttered bread was served as we waited for our food. The service was very nice. The food portions were gigantic. However, I found my fish and chips to lack seasoning. There wasn’t really any salt on the fries, so I seasoned it myself at the table. My stomach was also iffy after which was horrible since we were hanging by the beach for the rest of the night.

Pho @ The Guava Hamilton

May 3, 2013May 3, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I spent some time this week in Hamilton visiting grandma. Me and my sister Livia decided to head to find some Pho in the area and found The Guava. Inside it looked like it had been recently renovated.

We shared an order of shrimp summer rolls. Presentation wise they were very beautiful but the giant lettuce was a bit impractical. When you finished the roll you’d be left with a chunk of lettuce.

We both had different vermicelli. I ordered the shredded pork and Livia chose chicken. The portion sizes were generous and the fish sauce was flavourful. The pork itself was flavourful and the vegetables well pickled.

The prices were a bit more expensive than similar restaurants in Toronto, but the quality of the food was great.

Lunch @ Northwood

April 30, 2013May 2, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Yesterday I was at the Exclaim! office helping out and for lunch I was looking for something sandwich-y. I remembered Northwood opened up close-by. I went in and asked if they served food. Although they didn’t have a formal menu yet, they gave some sandwich suggestions.

I had a turkey sandwich with a mini edamame salad. It was only around $5 ish. I enjoyed the light seasoning on the beans. The sandwich had an interesting dijon mustard, cheese and lettuce.

It’s a cafe, so I had to buy some coffee. I had a mocha.

I heard Northwood is also a great night-time hangout with cocktails and draft beer. It’s hard to believe this cozy little new place used to be a dingy Chinese restaurant.

Fried Chicken @ The White Brick Kitchen

April 25, 2013April 25, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

The White Brick Kitchen is nestled in the middle of Koreatown. It’s the perfect place to go to if you’re in the area and looking for something that is not bibimbap or pork bone soup. They serve American comfort food. The menu includes things like burgers, salads, fried chicken, mac n cheese, chilli and more.

On Foursquare their Buttermilk Fried Chicken ($17) was highly recommended so that’s what I went for. For my side I chose the mixed greens in a lemon vinaigrette. It also came with two scallion biscuits which were nice and moist. Nash loves green onions, so he was a huge fan.

The fried chicken, was probably the best fried chicken I have ever had. It was also literally half a chicken, so quite worth the hefty price tag. There was a honey mustard dipping sauce with it but I accidentally thought that was salad dressing. Silly me, but it still worked in the salad. It didn’t matter because the chicken batter was so delicious (and strangely creamy) that it didn’t need any dipping.

Nash ordered the Brisket Burger ($13) with a side of BBQ kettle chips. They reminded me a lot of my home-made potato chips. The brisket burger had some lovely pickles (which they brine in house). The burger itself was very light. Additional toppings were a bit expensive, but I had enough chicken to feed the both of us.

We’ll definitely be back soon for brunch where they have housemade beef bacon and deep fried eggs!

Frankie’s Burgers

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I saw Frankie’s on Restaurant Makeover but I didn’t know it was right at Queen and Ossington (an intersection I frequent). The new signage bravely deems it “World’s Best Burgers” and as a burger lover, I had to try it.

I had the Smokin’ Hot Honey with a side of fries. It had jalapenos, crunchy onions jalapehno havarti, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, and smoke mayo. It was pretty much the meat lovers type of burger. My favourite part of it was probably the sweet BBQ sauce. The fries were homemade with sea salt. The portion sizes were very generous

Nash had the Aristotle burger which was a lot like a Greek salad on a burger. His sweet potato fries came with BBQ sauce.

While the burgers were pretty good I don’t know if I’d consider them the “World’s Best”. They’re not particularly unique or special but they definitely don’t disappoint.

Tacos and Nachos @ La Burrita

April 20, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

La Burrita took over the spot near Christie station that used to house an Ethiopian restaurant. While it is only a block a way from our beloved Tacos El Asador, La Burrita does a more Mexican style of taco. There is even a huger variety of meat fillings you can choose from and at $2.90 the price is low enough to keep coming back to try them all.
I had a Shrimp Taco and a Fish Taco. Both were battered really nicely with avocado and salsa fresca. It was moist and full of flavour that you didn’t need to ask for any additional salsa or hot sauce. Unlike some other places, there wasn’t any offered.

Nash had the Chorizo and Chipotle Pork tacos. Both had rice, cheese, green sauce, sour cream and salsa. The chorizo was better than Al Asador’s because it was really moist.
For some reason we couldn’t resist trying the nachos. They were a lot lighter than the usual nachos, mostly because we didn’t expect to finish them but we did. I enjoyed the freshness of the salsa verde with the fresca.

Come and Get Poutine

April 9, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Come and Get It is a pop-up restaurant located in a little space on Spadina (close to Queen) where Ackee Tree used to be. The restaurant is very temporary because soon it will disappear to condo developments. This could be a few months or years, so who knows.

The place itself has a very 90s-punk atmosphere with graffiti style bathroom stores. They also love vintage 90s stuff like lunch boxes, N64 and New Kids on the Block.

The menu has four options that can be prepared as either a sandwich, salad or poutine. Besides the herbed-crusted green beans, it was really hard to choose.
I opted for the Hawaiian Pork Belly poutine. I really liked the BBQ sauce and the pork belly. There was even crispy pork crackling that reminded me of the skin on Chinese roast pig, the ones you see hanging in the windows in China Town. That was one of my favourite things growing up as a child.

Nash really wanted the jerk chicken, but they ran out so he tried the Chipotle Short Rib as a poutine. There were crispy onions on top. The meat was melt in your mouth, but I didn’t really find it spicey which I would imply in something labeled Chipotle.

The serving size was very large (maybe twice the size of Poutini’s regular), and quite worth what you paid for. I hope this place remains at the spot for a little while. It is great pre-concert food and I would love to try all the options!

Tickling Our Tastebuds at Banjara

April 3, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Indian cuisine is probably my favourite, but I rarely have people that are adventurous enough to eat it with me. I’ve walked past Banjara‘s Bloor West location regularly and the aromas are always so enticing so finally I stopped by with my friend Karol for lunch.
We really wanted to try as much as we could so we had three main dishes. The waiter was very helpful in recommending new things to try so that we wouldn’t just order Tandoori or butter chicken. His personal favourite was the Shahi Shrimp ($13.99). The shrimp was cooked in coconut milk, cream and green spices. It reminded me of Thai green curry, except with more complicated flavour notes.

I chose the Goat Rogan Josh ($11.95), mostly because of the weird sounding name and the mention of Kashmiri-style curry which I have never tried. Kashmiri style usually contains combine paprika, fennel, ginger, salt, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. It was very fragrant and the goat was tender.

Lastly, Karol wanted to try a paneer so we got the Paneer Makhani ($9.99) which is a sort of cottage cheese cooked in tomato sauce with herbs.

Accompanying all the curry we had saffron rice which was cooked just perfect (not too hard).

Oh, and you can’t forget the Naan, so we got garlic naan that tasted like fancy garlic bread.

To drink I had a Mango Lassi, a kind of mango shake made out of yogurt. It was great for cleansing the palette and cutting the heat in between the different dishes.
We couldn’t leave without also trying dessert so we shared an order of Rasmalai, described as curdled Milk balls cooked in sweet milk with saffron and pistachio flavor. Curdled milk might sound gross, but it was very light and a sweet way to end a meal. Plus, I am alive so curdled milk did not kill me.

If you’re ever looking to try out Indian cuisine for the first time, I highly recommend going to Banjara first. They have a great selection and you definitely won’t be disappointed! Don’t go to a buffet because often the spice level may not be to your tastes. When you order at Banjara, you can choose those levels. Go tickle your tastebuds now!

Our Quest to The Burgernator

April 1, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Nested in the boutiques of Kensington Market is recently owned burgery The Burgernator. The eatery had black walls that were decorated with a Terminator / RPG quest theme.

The washroom played along with a sign that says “Duty Calls” and a Burger Manifesto took up one wall.

The menu was also inscribed on the wall with action packed burger names.

I ordered the Atomic Burger which had a deep fried herb crusted cheese, tomato, lettuce and sun dried tomato aiole on top of a patty of freshly ground beef. This was the first time I had a burger with a slice of fried cheese and the herbs added to the batter was definitely a lovely touch. The sun dried tomato aiole balanced the heaviness with something light. There was a bit of greasiness created by the fried cheese so this burger can get quite messy.

Nash had the Asta La Vista, Birdie which had guacamole, jalapenos and jack cheese on a chicken breast. The peppers gave it a nice kick.

We’ll definitely destroy one of the other burgers when we find ourselves in the area again.

Hey Meatball

March 28, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Located across from the Mod Club, Hey Meatball is known for their meatball dishes of all kinds. Guy Fieri even visited the joint recently.Most of their dishes are around $12 and vary from sandwiches, pasta to polenta.

We started things off with some homemade soda. I originally ordered lime and Nash had orange. We ended up switching because we preferred each others’. You could tell by the pulp in the drinks that they were made fresh.

I tried the meatball, rib and sausage polenta, which was pretty much exactly as described. I loved the sausage and there was a good portion of it hidden beneath the potato mash!

Nash had the Rodfather sandwich which had three pork and beef balls with a veal bolognese sauce. There was a salad on the side. While delicious, it was a bit expensive for the portion size.