West Restaurant + Bar (Vancouver)

West Restaurant + Bar on Granville Street serves contemporary Pacific Northwest cuisine, and it is one of seven restaurants in the Toptable Group restaurant group. Helmed by Executive Chef Quang Dang, West came highly recommended by my good friend Mijune of Follow Me Foodie. Even though it was not on my Vancouver restaurant "hit list", I was more than happy to try out West given that Mijune and I have very similar taste in food.

West's sophisticated dining room boasts a temperature-controlled wine wall (on the right), a Werner Forster installation from the ceiling (Forster was a well-known Vancouver architect), etched stone tabletops, and Mario Bellini designed original chairs found at MoMA. There are also two chef's tables for guests who like to see all the action in the kitchen.

Pretty pink cocktails to start. Forgive me but I don't remember what spirit and ingredients were in them. All I remember is that they were very tasty and, contrary to how they may look, not crazy sweet.

Bread course.

Canis Restaurant

It has been a long time since I've been excited about a new restaurant here in the city. Maybe I'm harder to please now that I'm older, but I feel that the Toronto dining scene is pretty stagnant currently when it comes to creativity and offering people new things. As in, do we need another Italian restaurant? Do we really? I'm also tired of seeing gimmicky and/or "instagrammable" foods that do not deliver on taste. Do these "creations" deserve that much attention? And, sorry, I'm just not that into barbecue. Finally, against popular opinion, I want more "fine dining" or "upscale" restaurants, and less "fast casual" restaurants, please! *End rant*

So, let me just put it out there: Canis Restaurant is now one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto. Canis, which opened a month ago on 746 Queen Street West, does upscale, yet approachable, Canadian cuisine. Their menu is intricate, thoughtful and original. Canis is good. Real good. 

The interior of Canis is sleek and modern with a bright open kitchen at the back. The modest dining room features mostly concrete, wood and leather.

To start, my friend opted for beer (below) while I opted for a glass of bubbly (not pictured).

WAG THE WOLF HOPFENWEISSE ($14)

Canis' dinner menu is divided into snacks, starters, mains and desserts. I asked chef Jeff Kang if he could just bring out dishes for us since we do not have any allergies and we eat everything. So, here we go!

BREAD (complimentary)

Sourdough from Clark's Bread served with whipped garlic butter, and fresh ricotta & chimichurri. Mix together the cheese and chimichurri, and you'll literally get the best spread ever. The garlic in the butter was a bit too subtle for my taste (I love my garlic) but the sourdough was excellent.

Feast of St. Lawrence Festival: Dinner Under the Stars

 The inaugural Feast of St. Lawrence (#feaststlawrence) began on Friday, August 12th, with Dinner Under the Stars, an exclusive dinner where one hundred guests gathered on Front Street (between Scott and Church Street) for a special al fresco dinner. Rain was in the forecast so a tent was set up.

Tickets to Dinner Under the Stars was $200 per person. A portion of ticket sales was donated to FoodShare and a charitable tax receipt was issued for a portion of the cost.

Dinner Under the Stars began at 6:30pm with passed hors d'oeuvres, and a wine and beer reception.

Steam Whistle, Norman Hardie 2015 Riesling, Cave Spring Brut 'Dolomite', Tawse 2014 Limestone Ridge Sparkling Riesling

Oyster station from Pearl Diver.

Gyu-Kaku: Japanese BBQ Dining

Gyu-Kaku is a chain of Japanese yakiniku (barbeque) restaurants. Since their first Japan location 20 years ago in 1996, the chain has grown to a staggering 688 locations in 11 countries. There are now over 600 restaurants in Japan, with worldwide locations in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Taipei, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

Gyu-Kaku's Toronto location opened last month on 81 Church Street. It took them 20 years to get here but I guess better late than never! My friend and I went on a busy Friday night, and thank goodness we made reservations because it was an hour-and-a-half wait otherwise.

A charcoal grill is installed in every table at Gyu-Kaku, and if you're worried about the smoke, don't be. The chain restaurant is known for their smokeless roaster, where with its down draft system, smoke is sucked in to the bottom of the table. The air was never smoky or stuffy when I was there.

Gyu-Kaku (Instagram: @gyukakujbbq, Facebook: Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ) offers a wide range of ready-to-grill beef, poultry, pork, seafood and vegetables. On the menu are also a ready-to-eat appetizers, salads, soups, noodles and rice dishes. 

Although this was my first visit at Gyu-Kaku in Toronto, my first Gyu-Kaku experience was six years ago in Huntington Beach, California. I even dug up the blog post for it!

SAPPORO DRAFT MEGA MUG ($11)

Diwan's Patio at the Aga Khan Museum

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Fumihiko Maki, the Aga Khan Museum at Don Mills is dedicated to the collection, research, preservation and display of works of art, objects and artifacts from various periods and geographic areas of the Muslim world. Opened in September 2014, the Museum's mission is to provide visitors with an understanding of the artistic, intellectual, scientific and religious heritage of communities, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

The McEwan Group, which manages four critically-acclaimed restaurants (North 44, Bymark, ONE, and Fabbrica) and two gourmet grocery stores, oversees the menu at Diwan, the restaurant at Aga Khan Museum (Twitter: @AgaKhanMuseum, Facebook: Aga Khan Museum). At Diwan, chef Mark McEwan offers a wide-ranging menu that showcases his innovative approaches to Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian cuisine. 

Diwan is participating in the upcoming Summerlicious from July 8-24. For those who are interested, feel free to click here for their Summerlicious lunch menu.

I was invited by Aga Khan Museum to dine one the Diwan patio a few weeks ago. Diwan’s patio has the capacity to accommodate 140 people with comfortable lounge seating and a view of the Aga Khan Park. New this summer on the Diwan's fully licensed patio is an added an outdoor grill, and a new summer menu featuring a variety of grilled meats, salads and a number of lighter entrees for summer, focusing on fresh and aromatic foods that explore the tastes of the Middle East.

MALIVOIRE PINOT NOIR 'MOIRA' NIAGARA 2014 ($14)
SAUVIGNON BLANC STONELEIGH MARLBOROUGH 2014 ($13)

MEZES PLATTER $28

Basturma, kalbas, labneh, olives, pickles, hummus, and naan

A generous mezes platter of Middle Eastern and South Asian delights. My favourites here are the hummus, labneh, and basturma (cured beef slices). Naturally, I was very happy to see all that naan on the platter!

Biff's Bistro's Prix Fixe Menu

Back to back Biff's! I know I just wrote about Biff's Bistro (Twitter: @BiffsBistro, Facebook: Biff's Bistro) but I thought it'd be nice to share another one of recent my dining experience there with you guys. Unlike the previous post where I wrote about some of the restaurant's a la carte offerings, this post will only focus on the "Biff's Fixe", or Biff's "3 courses for $37.95" prix fixe menu. 

Looking back on last week's Biff's post, I realized I didn't include any patio photos! Silly me, especially when we are well into patio weather now too. Well, here they are :)

I really like the rustic French charm of the patio. The trees, the details like the mix of textured wicker and leather chairs, the awning, and the patterned table cloths all contribute to the French bistro setting. Super cute!

We didn't end up having dinner on the patio, though, since the reservation was made a couple of weeks beforehand and we weren't sure if it would be warm enough. So, back inside we go...

Complimentary bread

The five of us all decided to go with the Biff's Fixe since it's such a great deal at three courses for $37.95. And to be honest, prix fixes are the best way to go when dining out with a group of friends because it makes splitting the bill so much easier (I'm also the worst at math so this is really important to me).

For Biff's Fixe, diners can choose from four appetizers, five mains and three desserts. Both the appetizer and main includes a vegetarian option. With the five of us, you would think that there would be a variety of dishes ordered that evening, but on the contrary, we all ordered the same appetizer. I guess that's why we are friends :) Mains were a bit better with three different plates, and desserts we picked two out of the three options. The food blogger in me was really hoping that I could try and get a photo of each and every prix fixe dish, but meh, no luck.

APPETIZER

CHICKEN LIVER PARFAIT

with cornichons

Magic Noodle Downtown

I didn't plan to blog about Magic Noodle. Nothing against the place but I don't write about each and every one of my dining experiences. If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter you'll know; I share photos from more restaurants there than I write about here. There are several reasons why: 

1. I didn't find the food interesting enough to dedicate a blog post on it;

2. I've written about the restaurant before so unless I went back and tried a lot of new dishes, I won't write about it again;

3. The restaurant changed its menu by the time I got around to writing about it;

4. Life got in the way, I got busy, and the restaurant got lost in the my ever-expanding draft folder; or

5. The restaurant belongs to the KINKA FAMILY group of restaurant so I wouldn't feel right writing about it (since I work at KINKA).

So, where does Magic Noodle come in? I would say it's reason #1, at least initially. It's a personal thing but I just don't find a bowl of soup noodles much fun to write about. I might be biased because I'm Chinese, since we all know I can still blog about the flavour of the broth, the texture of the noodles, the different toppings, the restaurant's atmosphere and service, etc, etc. But again, to me, a bowl of noodles is simply a satisfying meal that I can finish in less than 10 minutes. I couldn't care less about the service or the atmosphere either (unless it's really bad). It's the same thing with Vietnamese pho or Korean tofu stew - I enjoy them tremendously but I don't have the desire to blog about them. For me to want to write about those places I would have to find the food or the service to be exceptionally great or exceptionally bad, and sorry to burst your bubble but Magic Noodle belongs to "exceptionally bad" category.

I've been to the noodle house in Richmond Hill before for lunch. I though the food was good, not superb, but good enough that I remember leaving happy and satisfied, which is why I was pretty stoked when I found out Magic Noodle opened a location on Harbord Street. My first thought was "Yay! I no longer have to trek uptown for good Chinese hand-pulled noodles!"

Magic Noodle's menu is separated into cold apps, hot apps, hand-pulled noodles, hand-shaved noodles, stir fried noodles and sauced noodles. We ordered two hot apps to start:

CHIVE POCKETS ($2.99)

Garlic Chives, Scrambled Eggs, Dried Shrimp, Vermicelli

Chive pockets? More like grease pockets. Check out the pool of oil at the bottom. The tip of the chive pocket was actually submerged in it. To make matters worse, when the paper underneath shifted all the oil seeped through the woven basket and spilled onto the table. We tried wiping it with our napkins but we ended up just spreading oil all over. The napkin was also soaked by the end. Yuck.

PORK JIAMO ($2.99)

Pan Fried Bao, Shredded Pork, Magic Hoisin Sauce

Served hot, these pan fried baos were nicely browned and slightly crispy on the outside. I also really liked the finely shredded pork filling with Magic Hoisin sauce. This was the best dish of the night.

There's no question that the chive pockets were oily but at least I didn't feel deceived by them - they were just poorly made. I felt really deceived, however, by the noodles. Below is a screen shot of the "The Magic" from Magic Noodle's website. A very similar photo, shot top-down, was used on their printed menu at the restaurant. Looks incredibly delicious, right? That sunny side up fried egg, those luscious hand-pulled noodles, the bright red chili oil and the handful of fresh cilantro and scallions...who can resist? I honestly chose "The Magic" because of how enticing this photo looked.

Lahore Tikka House

Opened in 1996 with just a few tables and chairs, Lahore Tikka House is a renowned Halal restaurant in Toronto. The iconic eatery in Gerrard India Bazaar offers Pakistani and North Indian food, and serves as a core for the South Asian community in the city. 

I haven't been to Lahore Tikka House (Facebook: Lahore Tikka House) in a really long time, at least not since I started my blog. What I remember about my last visit was that it was during the summer, and I was eating very delicious food with a group of friends. We were seated underneath a pitched tent in a parking lot, eating with plastic utensils and paper plates. I remembered having a lot of fun. Well, the tents and trailers are long gone now, replaced with this large, two-level stucco building. Talk about humble beginnings!

Anyway, back to present time. It was a Saturday night around 7pm when we arrived at Lahore Tikka House and sure enough, the restaurant was completely full. Although it seemed quite busy the wait wasn't too bad; the eight of us were seated upstairs after about a half-hour. I didn't have a chance to check out the the first floor but the second floor is brightly decorated with a very ethnic touch.

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Once we were seated we were given a paper menu, and a small white board and marker to write our orders on.

Piano Piano

Splendido, my favourite fine-dining restaurant in Toronto, had its last service on New Year's Eve last year. Almost five months have passed and I can't say I'm over the loss; after all, the acclaimed restaurant proudly holds the title of "The Most Blogged About Restaurant" here on Food Junkie Chronicles. Ahhhhh, damn it. I miss Splendido. I miss their tasting menus dearly *sigh*. I guess the saying is true, "All good things must come to an end". But must it? Must it, really?

In March, chef and owner Victor Barry re-opened 88 Harbord as Piano Piano the Restaurant (Instagram: @pianopianotherestaurant, Facebook: PIANO PIANO the Restaurant). Talk about a quick transformation. To start, the Italian trattoria is now pink and sports a bright and colourful mural. You can't miss it!

In order to achieve a work/life balance, chef Barry's Piano Piano serves simple and delicious Italian food rather than the elaborate, fussy tasting menus that Splendido was famous for. Barry's goal is to have a casual restaurant where he doesn't have to be on the line every single day. He wants a place where he can bring his two young daughters, ages one and two, and welcome other families to dine.

The newly renovated space is decorated with vases of fresh flowers, floral designs, brass fixtures, cushioned banquettes, as well as original artwork from Barry’s eldest daughter, Charlotte.

 I fully expected the white tablecloths to be gone, naturally, as well as the plush, leatherback chairs, but the most dramatic change would have to be the open kitchen (note the large wood fired pizza oven in the back corner, which I was told was made with an insane amount of of bricks, steel and cement)! I wish Splendido had these front row seats! OMG, I must move onnn...

Bar Begonia

Bar Begonia is so good, guys. I had dinner there two weeks ago and I still can't think of one bad thing to say about the place. From ambiance, service, drinks to food, Anthony Rose's sixth spot gets nothing but praises from moi. Bar Begonia is killin' it.

Just down the street from Big Crow and up the street from Fat Pasha (both Rose's), my friends and I arrived at the newly opened Bar Begonia at 6:30pm sharp on Friday night. We managed to snag the last four-top. Boy, did I feel extremely lucky at that point, especially when there wasn't one empty seat left in there. To celebrate we immediately ordered a bunch of cocktails to start. Not having to wait for a table on a Friday night is a damn good enough reason to get our dranks on (note that Bar Begonia remained packed for the next three hours we were there).

Before I get to the booze and the food here's a bit about Bar Begonia. Open from 11am to 2am, 7 days a week, Bar Begonia (Twitter: @barbegonia, Facebook: Bar Begonia) is a 40-seat Parisian-style cocktail bar serving craft cocktails and snacks with a French flair. The kitchen is helmed by chef Trista Sheen, formerly of the now shuttered Crush Wine Bar. Although Bar Begonia doesn't take reservations (it does but only for parties of 8 or more) I was thrilled to hear that they'll have a patio set up by this summer.

"Draw me like one of your French girls".

Behind the bar is general manager Oliver Stern and bar manager Veronica Saye. I've been a big fan of Oliver's cocktails ever since my Toronto Temperance Society days. I say it that way because I used to go to "TTS" a lot, some of my favourite cocktails from the speakeasy were their Earl Grey Sour, Whisky Sour, Petey's Muddle, Old Fashioned and La Hoja. So, when I found out Oliver was the GM at Bar Begonia I had no doubt in my mind that their cocktails would be excellent.

New Savoury Menu at Sweet O'Clock

On January 22 the Taiwanese dessert shop Sweet O'Clock (Instagram: @sweetoclock.tor, Facebook; Sweet O'clock) expanded their menu to include savoury appetizers, snacks, rice dishes and noodle dishes. To celebrate the launch, from January 22 to February 10 Sweet O'Clock will be giving diners who have liked their Facebook page or followed them on Instagram a 15% off discount on their bill (desserts excluded) when they check in at the location.

(Photo credit: @sweetoclock.tor)

I was invited to the North York eatery a couple of days before the official launch date for a sneak peek tasting. I wrote about Sweet O'Clock last month and commented on what I personally liked and didn't like from their dessert menu (click here for my blog post) so I'll be doing pretty much the same thing this time for their savoury menu :)

My friend and I started off with wintermelon teas. We both loved our drinks. My friend orders wintermelon every time he sees it on a menu because not a lot of places offer wintermelon. Sweet O'Clock's Signature Tea Selections come in regular size ($4.2) and large size ($4.7).

HERBAL JELLY WINTERMELON TEA ($4.2)

QQ WINTERMELON TEA ($4.2)

There are 25 appetizers, 10 rice dishes, and 6 noodle soups on Sweet O'Clock's new food menu. Here is what we tried:

OXTAIL NOODLE SOUP ($12.99)

JELLYFISH SALAD ($8.99)

Back at The Spoke Club

Dinner at The Spoke Club is always a treat, especially when you have Executive Chef Rob Klunder (Instagram: @rkbones) cook for you. I was all set for another visit since the last time I was at the members-only restaurant was more than six months ago (truth be told, I heard through the grapevine that chef Rob had a new menu out so the eager beaver in me wanted to check that out ASAP).

Seeing that my brain is usually fried by the end of the work day I knew doing a tasting would be my best bet because at times, deciding on what to order can be a very strenuous process for me. I'm sure questions like "What should I order?", "Should I have this, that, or both?", "Can't I just order everything?", or "Is this too much food?" have killed plenty of brain cells. Considering that I'm not getting any younger and keeping my brain in top shape is priority, I usually get around this by asking the chef whether he/she can prepare a tasting for me; a smaller, tasting portion of selected dishes from the menu (sometimes the chef may bring out several off-menu dishes too). Some chefs do this, some chefs don't. Either way, if you're ever interested in doing a tasting you can always ask when you're making a reservation. Anyway, having chef Rob tell me "I'll keep on bringing food out until you tell me to stop" was literally music to my ears. Just make all the decisions for me, please and thank you, chef! I'm not sure about you but I always trust that the chef knows best. After all, it's their food and they're in charge of the kitchen. They are in their element so they must know what's good.

So that's essentially what happened at The Spoke Club (Twitter: @TheSpokeClub, Facebook: The Spoke Club). Chef Rob fed me until I couldn't handle another morsel of food. Here's what I had:

TARO CHIPS

Artichoke Dip

CAST IRON BAKED BRIOCHE

Cafe Paris, Parmesan Snow, Shaved Black Truffle

VEGETABLE POT STICKERS

Marinated Tofu & Vegetables, Lime Soya Dipping Sauce, XO Sauce

CRISPY TYPHOON CHICKEN

Tender Chicken, Spicy Soya Ginger Glaze, Ripe Mango, Chilies, Scallions

Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill [VIDEO]

Genghis Khan Mongolian Grill is an all-you-can-eat restaurant located at 900 Don Mills Road just north of Eglinton in North York.

The buffet-style restaurant, now in its 10th year, is sectioned into two parts: the Buffet and the Mongolian Grill. 

The Buffet consists of a variety of soups, seafood, meat and vegetable dishes, fried foods and desserts.

The Mongolian Grill is where you build your own bowl by picking your own raw meats, vegetables and seasonings. You then hand your bowl over to one of the cooks and they'll stir-fry your food on a large flat grill.