restaurants – Page 6

Interesting Burgers at the Yellow Griffin

July 9, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews3 Comments

I learned about the Yellow Griffin from their tempting ads mentioning their huge variety of burgers that they’ve had up occasionally in subway stations for the past couple of years. Last week, I finally decided to visit the joint. It’s a pub style joint, but there’s always a top floor where you can book parties. Their menu has an offering of over 35 styles of burgers which you can get with beef, chicken, lamb, bison, veggie, turkey or even salmon patties.

I ordered the New Mexican with a regular burger patty. On top of it sat guacamole, santa fe salsa, tobasco sauce, diced sweet potatoes, peanut butter, chopped coriander. I thought I’d try something other than the heart-attack inducing burgers I usually order. I chose sweet potato fries as my side.

The patty was pretty huge. The burger had a lot of flavour. The peanut butter blended really well with everything else, which was surprising because I thought it would be really strange. It was also texturely interesting with the sweet potatoes (that were almost like a mash) and the salsa. The fries were crunchy and addictive.

Nash ordered the Hold the Port, which had a giant portebello mushroom and blue cheese. These 2 ingredients both have strong flavour on their own but together they marry so well. I stole a bite and I tasted the mushroom first, but when my tongue finally touched the blue cheese it was awesome. His onion rings were also delicious, kind of wish there were more of them (it didn’t come with that many) that I could steal.

Service there was slightly awkward, but we both enjoyed our food and will definitely be back to try the other burgers!

Novo Horizonte and the X-Everything Burger

Novo Horizonte and the X-Everything Burger

June 23, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

I heard of Novo Horizonte because a friend posted this Spice City link on my wall. As a burger aficionado, I had to try the place Since I was heading to the Drake for a concert it was the perfect pre-concert meal.

Located at 1430 Dundas Street West (at Gladstone), it’s a tiny little place where you’ll see a bunch of Brazilian’s hanging out and drinking. We seemed like such foreigners walking in. At first glance, it simply looks like just a bar. The waitress politely asked us what we would like to drink and we had to specifically ask for the menu.

The menu consisted of only burgers, which were very decently priced. You could get a burger of under $4, if you weren’t picky. Of course we opted for the X-Everything Burger (not the X-Challenge because we still needed to live) and I also ordered this mango orange juice thing. It was a pretty sweet nectar like juice in a mini container I probably could have drank in 2 gulps.

The X-Everything Burger was a glorious combination of things. It consisted of hamburger, chicken, bacon, ham, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, corn and shoestring fries (which were hickory sticks). They all combined together really nicely with some interesting textures.

It was easily devoured and this is what was left of the burger less than 10 minutes later:

We had 2 X-Everything Burgers, the mango orange drink, and a Moosehead beer and our bill only came up to $24. I don’t get it.. that would mean the beer costs close to nothing here! We’ll definitely be back, for drinks and more burgers. Perhaps, we’ll take on the X-Challenge next time.

Fusion Hot Dogs and Manic Coffee

May 19, 2012April 2, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I found Fusia Dog one day when I was wandering downtown. We decided to try it. Located in the Entertainment district, this mini joint puts an asian fusion twist on the hot dog.

I ordered the Fusia Dog which had kimchi, daikon carrot salad and coriander wrapped in a paratha. For a hot dog, it was very light and refreshing. There was a wasabi mayo that had quite the kick. For some reason I thought the hot dogs would be over $10, but it was only $6.95. I finished it in less than 5 minutes.

Nash ordered the Boston Dog. It had more American toppings with baked beans, cheese, crispy bacon and fried onions. I stole a bite and it was delicious and surprisingly not too heavy.

It was another concert night and since we finished our hot dogs way too fast, we decided to hit up another local coffee joint. We ended up at Manic Coffee at College and Bathurst. I ordered a mocha.

It’s amazing, how many coffee joints there are in Toronto that aren’t chains. I think I’m going to make an effort to support more little places. Not only are they cheaper than Starbucks, but can be more delicious too!

Rotis and Gelato Mochaccino

April 18, 2012April 2, 2013Food, Life, Restaurant Reviews3 Comments

As I previously mentioned, I want to eat at least 25 new things this year. I wasn’t sure about how to go about it, but then I realized Toronto is full of culturally unique restaurants that are worth the visit. So instead of opting for burgers and poutine all the time, I will venture into the unknown.

Yesterday, I tried out Bacchus Roti Shop located in the Parkdale area downtown Toronto. A roti is a type of south-asian wrap but it also consumed in areas such as the Southern Caribbean and Guyana. I ordered the jerk chicken roti which also contained spinach and squash. At $12.50, it was deliciously filling with a fiery kick to it. Nash ordered the shrimp roti with spinach and cheese. It had a nice creamy texture to it.

After dinner, we had a ton of time to kill before door times for a concert. Instead of searching for the nearest Second Cup we decided to try one of the local coffee shops. We ended up in The Boreal Gelato Company. I ordered a mochaccino and they made it with a scoop of chocolate gelato! It was had a lovely aroma and chocolate taste. We also got a hazelnut gelato that was to die for. It was like Ferrero Rocher (my favourite chocolate by the way) in ice cream form!

So far my food adventuring has taught me to try new things, because you never know what delicious things you are missing!

Conquered the Bull

March 17, 2012April 2, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Me and the boyfriend decided to celebrate the end of two busy weeks by eating the epic signature No Bull Burger. I had been to No Bull a couple of times in the past few weeks since it was close to my internship. They had some great organic burgers and I was intrigued by the monster of a burger that consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches as buns. I decided against getting one for lunch while I was at work because I would probably not be able to move after. On Friday night, Me and Nash ordered one of these monster things each. In addition to grilled cheese it came with double patties, regular and peameal bacon and fried egg. It was a heart suicide mission and the servers even jokingly asked if we would like him to call the hospital. In addition to the aforementioned, you could add any of their available fresh toppings. On mine I added, lettuce, tomato, carmelized onions and sautéed mushrooms. It became a creation that looked like this:

3/4 of the way in I started to slow down but I pulled through and this was all that was left:

Despite our small frame, both of us managed to finish. I think I he’s the one.