toronto – Page 24 – Tiana Feng

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.

I Haven’t Been To The Science Centre in 10 Years

March 29, 2013March 29, 2013Entertainment, Technology, Video GamesLeave a Comment

Yesterday Nash, my cousin William and I went to the Ontario Science Centre to check out the Game On 2.0 video game exhibition. The exhibit, located on the level 6 of the Science Centre featured vintage game art, pinball machines and of course playable games.

One of my favourites was Space War. The premise of the game was there were two space ships controlled by two players. I really liked the sounds and the shiny lights that the ships used as bullets. The three of us also spent a great deal of time playing Gauntlet (which I forgot to photograph), a hilarious 1985 hack and slash where we could play as a warrior, wizard, valkyrie or elf. The most entertaining part of the game was the game voice that announced things such as “Your wizard is about to die” or “Don’t Shoot the Food”. All the games in the exhibit were free to play so we continued the game until we got stuck in a maze.

Tron had the coolest music, but we had no idea how to play the game. Most of our lives were lost in less than five seconds. Thank god we weren’t wasting quarters!

I forgot that in Donkey Kong if you fall down the holes, you die.

They had this Virtusphere thing that sadly wasn’t opened to public yet. We talked to the staff and they said it was a virtual gaming simulation that was to open in April. The sphere was to simulate walking in a game.
Here are some other games and things we saw in the exhibit:

Egg Head Pinball Machine

Donkey Kong Concept Art

Pong!

Virtual Fighter

Centipede

Handheld Tron

NBA Jam. Will creamed me and Nash

A Slow Year- The Explanation

A Slow Year- The Box

A Slow Year. A game where you watch landscapes. Seriously.

After we were all gamed out we ventured through the rest of the Science Centre in no particular order. Here are some photos:

Evolution of Rocks

I’m driving a Space thing

All the needles point north

The Impossible Ladder

This room makes me look taller than Nash

Some hot, some cold

The Rainforest

I thought this would electrocute me

William has 45L of water in him

We’re all in our 20s and probably a bit too old to be there, but we still had a ton of fun walking around.

Ryoji Ramen and Izakaya

March 25, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews3 Comments

Last week, I had a craving for ramen so I turned to my trusty Yelp app and searched for places close to where we were. It led me to Ryoji Ramen and Izakaya.

Located in Little Italy/Portugal, the place is relatively new. The decorations were modern, warm and colourful. When we went in, we were greeted by the people in the kitchen but not to the crazy extent as other izakayas in the city.

The menu consisted of mostly tapas and ramen. Of course we came for the ramen and we both were craving the Tonkotsu ramen. They asked us if we wanted it soft, regular or hard and we had no idea what that meant until later.

The ramen broth was probably one of my favourites in the city. However, I found for $12 the bowl itself was lacking in something. It was just two pieces of pork belly and ramen with a bit of mushroom and scallions. There wasn’t even like an egg or those swirly fish ball thing in the bowl like the ones you get at Kenzo Ramen for a fraction of the price.

Ethiopian Food and Coffee @ Pero Restaurant and Lounge

February 23, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

For my 25th birthday me and a few friends celebrated by venturing into some Ethiopian dining. I had walked passed Pero hundreds of times but had yet to venture in. They had pretty rave reviews on Blogto and Yelp, so it was worth a venture in.

A few of us shared the signature Pero Platter which had lamb, chicken in red sauce, three vegetarian dishes and a green salad in the middle. In Ethiopian culture food is not eaten with forks and knives. Instead, Injera a spongey type of flat bread is used to pick up food. It was really interesting because it soaked up the aromatic sauces of all the food. Everything was pretty delicious. The Timitimo Tsebhi, a yellow lentil stew thing had a nice creamy texture, the chickpeas were eaten up right away and the chicken and lamb were delectable. Plus, who wouldn’t like a plate or utensil that could be eaten?

The other thing I tried was the Special Kitfo which was a minced beef with a spice called mimita. Mimita is a blend of bird’s eye red pepper, cardamom seeds, cloves and salt. They had a little thing of it at the side that we could spice to our own liking. The dish itself was already a tiny bit spicy and very flavorful.

Since we had all eaten with our hands, we were given warm water with lotus flowers to wash them in when we were finished with our meal.

I had heard about the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony before and I thought since we were at a restaurant it would only be appropriate. The ceremony took couple of stages. First the beans were roasted and the host teased us (and the entire restaurant) with the fumes. While we waited for the beans to be crushed and turned into coffee, we had popcorn. I asked the host if he knew the origin of why Ethiopian’s use popcorn and he did not know. However he explained that when it is someone’s birthday they often put a type of bread on it. So, I pointed out that we were celebrating my birthday….

… and he lit the bar on fire and gave us free lemoncello shots, which was probably more awesome than bread on popcorn.

Then the coffee came and was served in little tiny cups. I drank it black and it wasn’t as bitter and strong as I expected it to be. Apparently it had quite a bit of caffeine because I drank two little cups and now I’m still up at 1:33am writing this post (after some alcohol and a long ride home). Anyways, for the price, the amazing service and exciting but tasty food, I am totally coming back.

Valentine’s Day at The Stockyards

February 21, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Since we are still underemployed, we decided to have a low-key Valentine’s Day. We put aside fancy dinners to something that was both affordable and delicious. So I decided to search “pulled pork” in yelp and discovered The Stockyards: Smokehouse and Larder. We’re totally suckers for comfort food and when we sat down in front of this sign, we knew we were in the right place.

Their menu had burgers, fried chicken, and of course the slow-cooked ribs and pulled pork.

I ordered the Cider Braised Pork Sandwich ($11). The pork was braised in cider and served with sauteed kale, caramelized onion, apple, fried sage. There was a garlic mayo sauce as well as some cider juices. I added some shoestring fries.

The sandwich was delicious and a lot more filling than the portion size makes it look. It was chocked full of meat after all. There was a nice acidity from the cider and very different from the usual BBQ sauce soaked type of pulled pork sandwiches.

Nash ordered The Green Chili Pimento Cheese Burger $9 with fries. The burger had lettuce, cheddar, mayo, pimento and jalapeno. It was very juicy and had a nice kick to it.

Who says you need to drop $200 on Valentine’s Day on food that you might not entirely understand? All I need are things that are delicious.

Burgers and Tacos @ Tallboys

January 25, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Before yesterday’s installment of The Big Smoke Music Festival, we grabbed food inside the venue, Tallboys Craft Beer House.

I ordered the Pan Seared Fish Tacos ($12). The fish sat in a soft corn tortilla with guacamole salsa fresca, lettuce and sour cream. They were served with fries. They’re very similar in style to the fish tacos at Tacos El Asador with just the right amount of coriander. The fries made it a decent amount of food, and I swear they had a little bit of sour cream in them because of their interesting taste.

Nash had the Tallboys Signature Bacon Chili Burger ($13). The chili was mixed in with melted cheese and onions resulting in awesomness between two buns. They also have a burger with kimchi in it which we will definitely come back to try.

Since we were at Tallboys, it was only appropriate that we did get some tallboys. I had the Nickel Brook Green Apple Pilsner. It was a good amount of sweetness in a beer. Nash had some kind of cider, I forgot.

We’ll definitely come back again since the food is decently priced. Also, we learnt that the menu is half price on Sundays with a drink!

Sandwiches at Sky Blue Sky

January 23, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I first heard of Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company at last year’s All Caps Island Music Festival. They were catering the event and I ordered the Casino Queen Sandwich.
The sandwich had avocado, bacon, turkey and onions. They were running out of bread at the festival so it was served on a bagel. It was a delicious sandwich so I sought out their actual location at Bloor West.

I’ve been there multiple times already. One of the things I ordered was a sandwich called I’m the Man Who Loves You. All the sandwiches are $4.99 (or cheaper). This one had tons of slices of smoked chicken, lettuce, tomato, red pepper sauce of some sort and ricotta cheese. I loved that little bit of a kick. Appropriately named since it was a pretty sexy sandwich.

Another sandwich I have tried is the Dreamer In My Dreams ($4.99). Slices of roast beef were accompanied by onions cooked in red wine vinegar, tomato, banana peppers and cheddar cheese. The bread it was served on was interesting and somewhat spicy.

Besides sandwiches they also have some hearty salads.
This one is the Casino Queen Salad. It is like the salad version of the sandwich containing lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, onions and of course bacon.

I also tried the lighter Mandarin Orange Walnut Salad. It was a refreshing salad with lettuce, avocado, walnuts and mandarin oranges.

Besides the sandwiches being delicious the people who work there are pretty awesome, so do yourself a favour and pay them a visit!

Two Bite Saloon

January 14, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Last month, before the holiday me and Nash ventured into the newly opened Two Bite Saloon at Bloor and Shaw. We popped in right at opening hour at 5pm and the whole dinner we were the only people eating besides a few sketchy looking people having drinks at the bar. This was a bit strange considering it was just right before the holidays and Blogto and TheStar had written about the place the month prior.

As an appetizer, I had the Kale Salad ($5). I had previously not tried kale (I thought it was just a hype vegetable), but I enjoyed the “salad” which was very rich in flavours because of some smoke-ham and Parmesan cheese. I actually loved the addition of smokeyness to what people have been calling the new hype healthy veggie.

For my main dish I had the Ribs ($17). The ribs were smoked and drenched with a very tasty barbecue sauce. It was served with lightly seasoned fries and a buttermilk slaw. I didn’t care much for the slaw as I found it too creamy, but I happily ate the fries.

One was eaten before I could take a picture!

Nash had five of the sliders ($14 I think). He had two pulled pork, two pemeal bacon and I forgot what the last was. They were a bit bigger than the food truck sliders we had tried previously and 5 was pretty filling.

It was a bit pricey but we enjoyed our meal. We’ll probably return one day to splurge on some of their interesting cocktails!

Tacos at La Tortilleria

January 10, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

When you walk in La Tortilleria at Bloor and Dufferin, it looks like a mini Mexican supermarket. People who just happen to wander by the market might even miss the fact they serve food in a little corner. We were on an adventure to try a new taco place and found this place on Yelp by searching “tacos”. In terms of atmosphere, it couldn’t get more Mexican. We were surrounded by a market of authentic Mexican treats, food and spices. There were only 3 small tables for people to eat in. Mexican music played in the background.
I ordered 3 tacos for $6.99. One beef, one pulled pork and one chicken. They each had a black bean sauce at the bottom. I totally forgot to put salsa on mine so it was a tiny bit dry, but still flavourful and delicious. Plus at $6.99 I was sufficiently full after eating them.
Nash ordered two “big quesadillas” for $8. They were like a cheese-steak sandwich in a pita. It was packed full of meat and creamy mozzarella and honestly one of the best quesadillas I have ever tasted.

To wash things down, we both bought some Jarrito, a Mexican soda made with natural granulated sugar. I had lime and Nash had orange. They were sweet but not too much.

For what we paid for, the food was a lot better than we thought and we will definitely be back.

Brunch @ Hogtown Vegan

January 2, 2013March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews4 Comments

If you are a regular reader of this blog, than you know that I am a huge meat eater, and don’t plan on giving it up anytime soon. However I’m always up to trying new things. We passed by Hogtown Vegan a bunch of times and in my research I learnt that they did southern comfort food vegan style so we decided to hit it up for New Years brunch. Normally, brunch is only served Saturdays and Sundays but I guess they wanted to serve those hung over from the night before.
I ordered the Unchicken and Waffles ($13) with a side of Chefs Salad. The “chicken” was nicely fried and actually tasted like chicken fingers! Also the waffle was so fluffy and delicious that I didn’t realize vegan waffles can’t have eggs and milk until my friend Karol asked me about them. Hey, if I can make waffles without eggs and milk I’d love the recipe!

I washed my food down with a refreshing homemade iced tea ($3).

My friend Karol ordered the Tortilla Salad ($10), which was gluten and nut free. Romaine lettuce was topped with tortilla chips, beans, salsa, guacomole, scallions and sour cream made from sunflower!

She also had a vegan ceasar, which I assume doesn’t have any clams.

Nash ordered the Tofu Rancheros($12) which was kind of like a non-salad version of Karol’s dish with an added “egg”. The tofu egg looked like an omelette, but didn’t really taste like egg. It was delicious regardless of the fact, and well seasoned.