As you know, I’ve been proudly involved with meeting with other women in the industry! In celebration of International Women’s Day TWIM got a feature in Noisey that I think is worth a read.
Finding a community of supportive women has kept me going and motivated the past 6 months and I get excited every time somebody new comes to an event. The stories of how people arrived at their paths are always so fascinating!
For my birthday we made a reservation to Bent, run by Susur Lee and his sons. This was the second in the line of the Lee family restaurants in Toronto and is known for it’s raw seafood bar.
We started with the Truffled Filet of Beef Carpaccio: garlic potato shoestrings, red onion, Asian pear, braised shiitake mushrooms, Taiwanese vinaigrette. This dish was both beautiful in presentation and marriage of flavour and textures. I loved the addition of pear.
Next came the Vietnamese Seafood Ceviche: shrimp, scallop, octopus, mussels, jalepeno, asian pear, red pepper, celery, potato, vietnamese coriander & lime, chorizo buckwheat rice cake. The spice in it was nice. My favourite part of it was the octopus.
We were totally obsessed with everything about the Carmelized Black Cod: Asparagus (wrapped in bacon), thai ginger squash & carrot puree, lemon chive veloute. The puree was silky and heavenly and the addition of crunchy chickpeas was a nice touch.
We did get one veggie dish to calm ourselves from all that meat. Jerusalem artichockes (which I didn’t know were shaped like mini potatoes) paired beautifully with hazelnuts and goat cheese.
To drink I had the And Also (yes that’s what it is called). It contained Broker’s Gin, Tromba Tequila, Aperol, Lillet Blanc, watermelon juice, cucumber, grapefruit bitters, simple syrup and fresh sours. It paired very nicely with the dishes we ordered.
Nash had the Georgetown Storm containing El Dorado 12 year rum, homemade ginger beer, nutmeg, lime and orange.
Our waiter highly recommended the Wild Banana and Chocolate Chip Cake and we were super glad that we listened to him. It was divine and I loved the vanilla marshmallow that came with it.
Birthday dinner at Bent was totally worth it. It’s a sharing restaurant so it’s recommended that two people have at least 4 dishes. It’s a great place to celebrate or if you’re feeling particularly ballin’.
Nash and I recently visited Kothur Indian Cusine’s Yonge Street location. As we waited for our meal we were treated to complimentary papadum and hot sauces.
I had the Lamb Saag which was boneless lamb cooked with onions, tomatoes and fresh pureed spinach. It was very flavourful and meaty.
Nash had the tangy Chicken Vindaloo.
We ate our food with garlic naan, treating it like a slice of pizza!
I couldn’t resist getting a Mango Lassi to have a break from spices. Our meal at Kothur was flavourful and pleasant! This is a great place to fulfill your Indian food craving.
Recently I had the pleasure of being spoiled at a Kintori Yakitori tasting. The place specializes in chicken skewers (of essentially every part of the chicken). Ramen from it’s downstairs sister Kinton Ramen can also be ordered.
Our meal began with a soothing Chicken Soup. It’s perfect for a cool day and not as salty as regular miso soup.
My first drink was a Cassis Peach Oolong which was a nice palette cleanser between skewers.
The Oshinko Moriawase is an assorted housemade japanese pickles. Each piece had a slightly different taste and salt.
The Negima (chicken thigh & skallion) was tender. I added spicy flakes for flavour.
Zuri (chicken gizzard) was a bit strange and chewy so not for the faint of heart.
Nikumiso Kyabetsu was a cabbage salad with house made chicken miso dip.
The Tebasaki (chicken wing) would be a hit with every fried chicken wing fan.
One of my favourites was the Uzura Kushi Age, panko breaded deep-fried quail eggs.
I never thought Sapporo and lemonade with be super delicious!
Their skewered beef tongue was so good that I wouldn’t even have thought it was tongue if no one told me!
For those afraid of crazy parts the regular chicken meatball (Tsukune) was super satisfying.
Hatsu (chicken heart) was a bit chewy.
Reba (chicken heart) was a flavourful hearty bite.
Who can resist deep fried asparagus wrapped with bacon?
This Negi Shio Gyu was a beef with delicious scallion sauce.
The Dashi Maki was a fluffy omelette.
I was getting super full but this Yaki Onigiri (char-grilled rice ball with plum filling and teriyaki) was an interesting blend of salty and sweet.
Once again we were blessed with the green tea creme brûlée, which I could’ve eaten 10 of!
If you like skewers, Kintori Yakitori is definitely the place for you to try every part of the chicken (and much more). Or if you’re a frequent Kinton Ramen (in Korea Town) visitor, you can order from both menus on both floors.
This meal was complimentary but views are my own.
Near opening week, my friends and I hit up the newly opened Morals Village for All You Can Eat hot pot. The place is small and despite a reservation we still had to wait. I thought it was kind of weird they had a “waiting room” instead of transforming the space to seat more diners. We were a party of 5, but we didn’t feel like waiting for a gigantic table so we settled on a 4-person table that only had one burner for a large pot. While it would’ve been fun to try multiple broths, one pot worked for our group. We had a mushroom broth on one side (one of my friends was vegetarian) and a pork broth on the other.
One thing that drew us here was the sauce bar. There truly was a wide selection of sauces you could mix and match. Also at the sauce bar were unlimited amount of spring rolls and eggs you could crack in the hot pot.
There’s a 3 hour limit for AYCE and we used most of it up. We spent a lot of time waiting for orders of items that never came and eating beef that we totally didn’t order (we noticed after the 5th time someone brought us a plate exclaiming “beef”). I brought up to the waiter that we suspected that our orders were going to this other table because we’d see things they didn’t want being sent back to the kitchen. There were definitely service issues that needed to be figured out.
There was a wide selection of things to eat and things that I haven’t seen on hot-pot menus before like cheese filled meatballs (yum!). We were happy with the things we did receive but I felt bad for my vegetarian friend who never received the broccoli we tried to order 3 times. There were plenty of vegetarian options on the menu but they never quite made it to the table. The rest of us filled up on a lot of beef.
Dessert was complimentary soft-serve ice cream! It was a lovely palette cleanser.
Our experience with Morals was very mixed and if it wants to survive needs to tighten up its service.
Before a concert at The Phoenix, my friends and I hit up Kanpai snack bar. The menu is full of music and pop culture puns. For example these deliciously crunchy chicken skins were named Player Hater.
Deep Fried Goldmember was calamari with a sweet house sauce.
To drink I had an Ooh Long Island Iced Tea containing a well-balanced mixture of absolut vodka, havana anejo blanco rum, tromba blanco tequila, beefeater, house-steeped oolong tea, fresh lemon juice, basil syrup.
I also had the Silky Johnson which was a peach-filled concoction of wyborowa wodka, muddled fruit, peche de vin, peach jelly sake, lemon juice, honey.
We came mostly for desserts and ordered all of them.
The Round the Way Girl was a delicious molten cake with a nori seaweed dust that provided an interesting saltiness.
The Wao Bao was a deep fried donut thing served with spicy nutella and a pop-rock sauce.
These Ping Pong Beignets were made of sweet potato and sprinkled with sesame seed.
The Let Your Backbone Slide were sesame mochi with fruit compote and peanuts. It was delicious.
If you want a place to have snacks before a concert this is the perfect place to go, but I recommend scheduling it in advance as the food takes a bit of time if the restaurant is full.
Recently we had a surprise birthday party for my friend at WVRST, the sausage hall.
Reservations are recommended for big parties as seating is at shared tables. You also have to go up and order your food and drinks. You aren’t really served per table.
I had the pheasant sausage. The meat was blended with sun dried tomato and apple. On top I added sweet onion and sauerkraut. I found the sausage super light and flavourful.
I chose duck fat fries as my side with a chili tomato jam as the dipping sauce.
Nash had the Bratwvrst and sweet peppers which he really enjoyed.
WVRST is also known for their wide selection of alcoholic beverages. Our first drink was a sweet West Avenue cider.
Then we opted to be a bit more adventurous and try Troy Wild Apple cider from Sanoma County California. It looked like a mini bottle of wine. It was super tart but you could definitely taste the real apples that were used in the making. The bottom also contained pulp which added an interesting texture (and colour) to our drinks.
Wvrst is more than just a sausage place. It’s a cool place to hang out and have a drink with friends!
Weekends call for brunch! We recently visited Barque Smokehouse (mother of Butcher’s Bar) for a smokey brunch. We arrived around noon and were seated at the bar. The place is super popular but I didn’t find that there was too bad of a line for a Saturday. I ordered the Barque Benedict, a poached egg on corn bread with BBQ hollandaise a hash and kale salad. The hollandaise was creamy and had a lovely buttery sweetness. I wanted to lick the plate.
Nash had the Scrambled Eggs which came with smoked short ribs, mushroom jus and a kale salad. I looked over and it was gone within seconds so I assume it was delicious too!
Brunch cocktails are a thing right? Well, I decided to make it a thing so I ordered a Bourbon Smoked Sour, which is like a smokey lemonade for adults.
Nash had the Barque Bloody Caesar which was decorated around the rim with candied bacon.
If you’re looking for a BBQ-filled way to start your weekend, head over to Barque for a delicious brunch!
I attended another Kinka Izakaya tasting, but this time at their North York location. Located at Yonge and Shepherd, it is tucked away behind a tall fancy condo. We were a bit confused and walked around the entire condo before we found it. It’s slightly smaller than the Bathurst location but expands to a patio when there is warmer weather. We started our night with some drinks. I had a Cherry Blossom consisting of red wine, cassis liqueur and sprite. My friend had a virgin ramune mojito.
The night’s menu had a few repeats of the previous location’s dishes, but they did spice it up for those who attended both. Our first dish was Takowasabi, marinated octopus with wasabi stem eaten with seaweed. The taste of this came as a surprise as you are hit with wasabi right away! At the same time, we couldn’t stop eating it but prepare for a bit of a mouth burn.
Next I was reunited again with the Kaisu and Tofu Salad.
The Gyu Carpaccio was one of my favourites of the night and beautifully presented. It was a seared beef sashimi with ponzu, wasabi mayo and garlic chips. It was so delicate, fresh and flavourful.
Karaage is always welcome and my friend who didn’t come with me last time highly enjoyed it.
I had no problem eating the Gindara again. It’s melt in your mouth texture is to die for.
The night continued with Kakimayo baked oyster.
Tontoro grilled pork cheek filled our stomach. It had a side of yuzu pepper that could be used a dipping.
Our last savory dish was another favourite, the Salmon Ozisushi, a blowtorched sushi. This was a bit different than JaBistro’s version as it had plenty of ginger for flavour.
Dessert was a green tea creme brûlée very similar to the one at Yakitori Kintori (a sister restaurant).
We left the tasting with full and happy stomachs. Best of luck to all Kinka Izakaya locations!
This meal was complimentary, but views are my own.
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!
Tiana Feng 