I’m busy with CMW this week but if you’re out tonight come say hi at Longboat Hall
Tag: toronto
Edoko
A quest for something to eat last weekend in Ottawa, landed us in Edoko Japanese Steakhouse. They have Teppanyaki and a regular menu. We opted for the regular menu because we weren’t sure if we had a lot of time to spend there.
I had the Terriyaki Steak cooked medium rare served with noodles, hibachi shrimp and vegetales. The steak was so tender and flavourful. There was also a lot of it.
It also came with a Chicken Soup and classic green salad.
I also had a glass of plum wine.
The restaurant was very hospitable and the owner came to greet us and make sure everything was to our liking. We had a very nice evening at Edoko!
Brunch @ Laylow
A few weekends ago, we ended up at Laylow, kind of by accident. We were trying to get into somewhere else that ended up packed, so we strolled a few doors down to the former location of Me & Mine.
I had the Porchetta Eggs Benedict which was herb-roasted pulled porchetta on potato latkes, with two poached eggs, topped with gremolata and hollandaise. Served with salad. I liked the crunchy latkes as a replacement for toast.
Nash had the Breakfast Poutine: House-cured bacon, hand cut fries, two poached eggs, house-made marinated cheese curds, topped with gravy & hollandaise. The gravy had a strange acidity to it, but otherwise the rest of the dish was cooked perfectly.
Laylow is also a mini brewery that also serves other cool brews! Blanche de Chambly Witbier and Black River Orange Juice.
I welcome all the craft breweries and I hope to be back to try some of their own brews and dinner foods.
Little Pig Hot Pot
My friends and I made the trip uptown to Little Pig Hot Pot. Hot Pot if you’ve never done it outside of your house before comes with a price tag. There’s a per person charge (around $25) as well as additional charges per soup. For our party of four people we had one bowl with two broths: pork and mushroom. They had a lot of spicy soups but we kept it safe.
The cool thing about this place is you can order with an iPad, just like at AYCE Sushi. That way, every time you want more of something, you don’t have to feel guilty flagging the waiter down each time. It was super easy with the click of a button.
The sauces were also part of the iPad ordering system, so we got a little carried away (pictured). There was a huge selection of meats, noodles, vegetables, seafood and also some fried things (not for hot potting). Everything was good quality and came in relatively small portions so we couldn’t order too much by accident the first round.
There were really big chopsticks for cooking the food in. I guess so there was less chance of burning yourself.
I quenched my thirst with some delicious Winter Melon iced tea.
Dessert was a sweet jelly thing that cleansed the palate.
They also had these hilarious fun props you could use to take photos for Instagram. Genius idea!
And of course some pig themed things.
We enjoyed our meal here and this encouraged us to make more trips uptown to have authentic hot pot.
Miss Fresh Recipe 3: Ash Reshteh
Today for lunch, I made a super simple recipe for Ash Reshteh, a Persian noodle soup.
Mine looked different from the photo because the delivery used Chinese egg noodles and the photo looks like vermicelli. Otherwise, it was a tasty, easy healthy lunch.
Miss Fresh Recipes Subscription: Tarragon Citrus Crusted Salmon
I’ve always wanted to try a Recipe Delivery service. There are so many in Toronto. I picked Miss Fresh because there was a relatively affordable Groupon Deal for 4 meals for 2 people. The slightly awkward thing is you have to order a week (or more depending on when you’re placing it) in advance. Orders made before Monday will be delivered the next week on Tuesday. If you miss that timeframe you won’t get it until the week after.
I usually can’t plan that far ahead because of the nature of the industry I work/live in. Also because I’m not home everyday these 4 meals will probably need to stretch a bit longer than a week.
It all arrived at my doorstep in one box, with individually labelled bags per recipe. There are even bottles of portioned out sauces! All the ingredients looked super fresh.
I had instructed the delivery person to leave them in front of my apartment door. Everything remained cold in their custom box with a reusable ice pack.
For my first meal, I made a Tarragon Citrus Crusted Salmon. The recipe had fennel 2 ways: as a salad and baked.
The meat and the ingredients came in separate little baggies.
The instructions were super simple. The only time it was slightly confusing was when it called for lemon & orange zest. It didn’t really say how much zest to use so I used the whole fruit.
The result was perfect. I loved the smell of the tarragon and fennel in the oven. Everything took under 30 minutes.
Can’t wait to try the next recipe tomorrow.
You can find the recipe here if you want to try it yourself.
The Skyline Restaurant
It was Valentine’s Day weekend and my friends and I made the mistake of trying to go out to eat and drink without previously making a reservation. We walked along Queen for a little bit and ended up in Skyline.
I think it re-opened in the classic spot last year or so by Maggie Ruhl (Dakota Tavern, The Ace) and Jud Ruhl (Wallflower, Three Speed). It’s a place that doesn’t look as trendy as the crazy places near it (Parts & Labour, Shameful Tiki), but I found the menu (which changes often) and cocktail selection impressive.
I had one of the specials of the night which was duck breast, rapini, squash and sausage. The vegetables melted in my mouth and the duck was cooked to perfection.
I also had my share of delicious cocktails from their take on an Old Fashion to an Apple Bl’awesome. I can’t remember them off the top of my head because I was a bit tipsy to take notes. The are definitely worth the cost in alcohol!
Seriously though, Skyline might be one of my favourite new discoveries that we went in by chance!
Brunch @ Takht-e Tavoos
I recently went for a Persian brunch at Tavoos, owned by the same people as The Pomegranate. Persian Chai was served to us in a beautiful pot.
To start, we had Zeitoon Parvardeh: green olives marinated in a sauce of walnuts, pomegranate molasses, garlic and mint. This was served with a light Persian flat bread. This is a must for olive fans and was super addictive.
My friend Karol had the Serious Lunch (pictured). It was a Dizi Sangi: a stew with lamb shank, lamb rib, chickpeas, white beans, potato, onion and tomato cooked for four hours. The soup part is served separately and there is a stick to pound the meat and beans into a purée.
For some reason, I forgot to take a picture of my food but I had the weekend special called Bandari which was spicy halal sausages sautéed in a tomato garlic purée, mixed with potatoes. Atop sat two sunnyside up eggs with creamy feta cheese and marinated olives on the side. It was definitely classic brunch with a twist!
We loved every part of our meal as it was flavourful and the portions were generous. I think Persian food is becoming some of my favourite cuisines!
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka (Toronto)
Ramen is such a comforting winter dish, and with so many places in Toronto, I’m eager to find the best broth. I think my favourite so far is Hakkaido Ramen Santouka.
I went there for the first time yesterday because the line always looked too long, but we were lucky to be seated within five minutes. The line is mostly caused by the fact the restaurant is pretty small. It’s easier to go as two people (or less).
They specialize in Tonkotsu (pork) broths that are handmade in house. I had the Spicy Miso ramen which had chilli oil added to the broth for a spicy kick. I also added a perfectly soft boiled egg and a side of Tokusen Toroniku, their signature pork cheek that was super delicate and melted in my mouth.
Nash ordered the more traditional Shio Ramen, which was like a warm hug you could drink. I don’t think there was a drop left when he was done with it. He also had a side of gyozas which were nicely panfried.
To drink, I tried Ikezo’s sparkling yuzu sake drink with jelly in it. I was a tiny bit skeptical of shaking it (in fear of an explosion), but it was fine. The drink is almost like a dessert.
I love pork broths and Santouka really reminded me what an awesome one is like, when I don’t have my parents to make me soups anymore!
Calii Love
Today before class I stopped by Calii Love, a poké restaurant and café on King West.
Everything had cute adjective names. I ordered the Humble Bowl which had a generous amount of tuna, seaweed, onion, rice, sauce. I added nori, wasabi peas and this herb that they said helped with digestion.
The fish was super fresh, which is he most important part of a pokébowl. There was lots of it, more than you would if you tried to order tuna sashimi at a sushi restaurant.
I found the raw onion a tiny bit overwhelming so I picked out most of those. Without them, all the other ingredients absorbed the wasabi aoli and shoyu on top beautifully.
Tiana Feng 