Are you a fan of Oreos and Cheesecake? Well you’d enjoy these easy to make Oreo cheesecake balls!
These are the only two ingredients you need. You can dip the balls in chocolate or candy but not mandatory.
First you take an entire box of oreos.
And grind it all up.
Then you put in an entire block of cream cheese and mix it.
Until it’s a consistent paste. Then you just form them into balls.
And stick them in the freezer to set. They make a rich, delicious snack!
Today we hit up relatively new cafe + venue in our hood D-Beastro for brunch. They serve up vegan eats so what you’re about to see is 100% meat free. Yes, you’re still on the right blog. Nash and I don’t mind vegan food when it is done well.
I ordered one of the daily specials, a Mac and Cheese. Considering there wasn’t actual cheese (from a cow), it was thick and gooey as a regular mac and cheese would be. There was also an interesting pepper spice to it.
It was served with a small side salad that was liberally seasoned with a light vinaigrette.
Nash ordered the Breakfast Burrito with fries (which he supremed). Inside the burrito was a scrambled egg type thing made out of tofu and beans. The “bread” was nice and crunchy. His fries had corn, beans and sour cream. The potato themselves had a spice that reminded me of BBQ chips.
We also had some freshly squeeze juice!
D-Beatstro is a cool venue in the area and I hope to experience some shows and events soon along with more food!
After a franchise contract ended, all Guu Izakayas were renamed Kinka Izakaya, explained the owner after we sampled a delicious meal on Monday. A bunch of bloggers were invited to a tasting with a guest and I was lucky enough to be one of them!
We started our meal with drinks. I had the Cassis Peach Oolong: cassis liquer, peach liquer, oolong tea.
Nash had the Sake Highball: sake, whisky, cointeau, soda and orange.
Our first dish was the Gomaae: blanched spinach with sesame sauce. It was seasoned generously.
Maguro Tataki: seared BC tuna sashimi with ponzu and garlic chips. This was super fresh and one of my favourite dishes as the sides were perfectly seared to leave a soft pink middle.
The Seaweed & Tofu salad was a refreshing palate cleansing part of the meal.
Their Karaage was nicely fried, moist in the centre and served with a garlic mayo. I liked it more without the mayo personally as the batter had a soy sauce touch.
Kaki Mayo: Baked BC oyster with spinach & garlic mayo topped with cheese.
Karubi: grilled miso marinated short ribs.
Gindara: grilled miso marinated black cod with yuzu miso sauce. This was my favourite dish. The fish was melt in your mouth and the skin was to die for!
Lastly (before dessert), in case I wasn’t already full (which I was) there was a Kinoko Bibimbap with rice, mushrooms, cheese and seaweed sauce.
Dessert was a piece of Sake Tirimisu. The alcohol was subtle but would sneak up on me! It worked will in a tirimisu.
Our delicious meal concluded with a gift bag, and they lived up to their logo of “serving people happiness”. Our night was full of fresh, delightful food and superior service.
This meal was complimentary but views are my own.
Today I brought two pieces of leftover pizza to work for lunch. I reheated and stupidly pressed 2 minutes for some reason. When the microwave beeped, I came back to two pieces of charcoal. What a sad Monday. Lesson learned: don’t reheat pizza for too long. Thank god I did not set the building on fire!
Anyways to counteract my sad pizza day here is me surrounded by a lot of pizza:
I went to Butcher Bar (by the same people who own Barque) for a friend’s birthday. We did the family style prix fixe menu of 6 courses. While I waited for everyone to arrive I sipped on the Chupacubra: tromba blanco, 1/2 oz campari, lime and grapefruit. I could definitely feel the alcohol but it was fruity and easy to flip.
Our first course was an arugula and tomato salad with feta. The vinaigrette was nice and light but paired very well.
This was followed by some smoked chicken wings that were super delicious. There was an element to the dry rub that reminded me of chocolate but I’m not sure if that’s what it was. They also came with a ketchup and mustard based dipping sauces, but I liked my wings without it.
Other sides included green beans
and crunchy potato wedges.
More meat came in the form of a platter with ribs, brisket and fried chicken wings. It was messy, but worth getting my fingers dirty.
My second drink of the night was a Sake Sour: sake, dillon’s gin, grapefruit, egg white and nutmeg. This one was less fruity than the first and was almost like drinking a latte.
We finished the night with a lovely caramel cheese cake.
Happy birthday Jess!
People like to ask me what my favourite food is and weirdly I think the answer isn’t pizza or burgers… it’s RIBS. I can never resist a nice juicy rack of ribs, whether they are homemade or from a restaurant!
What’s your favourite food?
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.
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.
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!
With Toronto’s flux of tapa restaurants, it’s always much more fun to go with a bunch of people so you can order a bunch of things. My friends and I recently hit up Patois, where Caribbean meets Asian food. For example, what you see above is a Jerk Chicken Chow Mein, a twist on a Chinese classic which definitely had a spicy kick.
This grilled corn with cilantro & lime was gobbled up fast. It was a bit pricey considering it only had one cob.
We had some vegetarians at our table so the Crunchy Chinese salad with napa cabbage, romaine, wonton crisps, spicy plum dressing provided some freshness in their stomachs.
These Kimchi Potstickers “Pierogi” Style Pot Stickers were stuffed with kimchi, bacon, sour cream and scallions.
I ordered my own little scallop and shrimp ball thing which was much like the traditional one with different breading and a tangy sauce of C-Plus and vinegar!
One of our favourites was definitely the O.G. Fried Chicken & Watermelon Pickle served with a sweet Sriracha sauce and ginger.
Jerk PorkBelly with Chicharron came with traditional Asian BBQ sauce.
Our vegetarian friends had their own “fried chicken” sort of with O.G. Fried Cauliflower & Watermelon Pickle.
Called the 4/20 Broccoli Buds these had roasted, hemp oil, hemp hearts, edamame hummus, Pecorino, savoury crumbles. I love roasted broccoli in anything.
To drink, I had a couple of peach-infused cocktails (that I totally forgot the name of). Whatever it was was good enough to have multiple and maybe that’s why I forgot what it was.
The plus of having multiple people is.. you can order ALL the desserts! The first was this cheesecake infused french toast. Yes, you heard that right my friend.
The second was this seemingly innocent ice cream that had a hint of jalepeno. It was definitely not for the faint of heart and we had mixed feelings throughout.
Lastly was this brownie ice cream sandwich which was rich and just want one would want in a dessert.
Our experience at Patois was definitely a delicious adventure, but I do highly recommend bringing friends to make the journey worth it.
Tiana Feng 