Sunday Brunch at Città

Hear me out. Sunday brunch is not my forte, it's just not in my "dining-out" vocabulary. Actually, I'm the last person you should ever ask about brunch, where to go, the best spot for pancakes, etc. My answer to you would be "Sorry, I have no idea. You should ask so-and-so". I could name you a few places if you insisted but it'll be followed by the "I've never been to them myself but I've heard good things" disclaimer. What can I say? I'm just a dinnah kinda gal! So does this make this post irrelevant? No, because although I hardly go for brunch it doesn't mean I can't tell you the reason(s) why I like those blueberry pancakes. The downside is I probably can't tell you where to get even better blueberry pancakes. So, the question is, how did I find myself at Città on a Sunday? It was a blogger brunch event hosted by Città and as a food blogger, I gotta show my face. Meh, who am I kidding? It's free brunch!

Città (Twitter: @CittaToronto, Facebook: Citta Toronto) is a new Italian restaurant located at CityPlace, the condos on Spadina across from the Rogers Centre. The rustic urban Italian eatery is the newest restaurant venture by Hanif Harij, the successful restaurateur behind Patria, Weslodge, Byblos and NAO Steakhouse. Harij has brought on board executive chef Ben Heaton of The Grove and David Mattachiono of Terroni to helm the kitchen at Città.

The Città space is basically an L-shape with a dining area on each side. As you can see from the above photo, the restaurant is encased in floor-to-ceiling windows that let in a lot of sunlight. When you walk in, you'll notice the dining room on your right has a bold and majestic decor with black and gold chandeliers, gold-trimmed mirrors, tiled floors and large royal green leather banquettes.

The dining room on your left has a more laid-back, less shimmery rustic decor.

A closer look at the bar.

Carrot Pineapple Muffin with Truvia® Baking Blend

Happy New Year, guys! I hope only the best for all you lovely people in 2015. Whether it be your personal life or your career, make it count this year because we're not getting any younger. This is the year you make it big! No risk, no gain, folks! I'm starting to think this is a motivation speech for myself...

So, how was your holiday? Mine was pure relaxation. I bummed around and did nothing. Well, not really nothing I mean I sat around, ate stuff and watched Netflix. Even though I had time to blog I just felt extremely lazy and chose to vegetate on my sofa instead (bad Stella!) but on Sunday, the day before normalcy began again, I decided to ease back into reality by baking some Carrot Pineapple Muffins.

I'm a big fan of these muffins. My Mom used to make them all the time and I've made them myself in the past too. They may not look like much since they don't have those big poofy muffin tops but I assure you, taste-wise they are absolutely fantastic. My family aren't generally into muffins but we make an exception for these because the crushed pineapple and shredded carrot keep the muffins real moist. These muffins are also very soft, light, and fluffy inside.

I know we are supposed to watch our weight after Christmas but I thought it would be the perfect time to try the new Stevia-based Truvia® Baking Blend sent to me from the kind people at Truvia (Twitter: @truvia, Facebook: Truvia). Right away, bonus points on the packaging. That close-able pour spout is pretty sexy.

 Designed for at-home baking, the new Truvia® Baking Blend is a blend of Truvia® calorie-free sweetener and sugar. The Baking Blend looks virtually identical to table sugar but contains 75% fewer calories per serving. Converting existing recipes is simple when substituting for sugar, just use half as much Truvia® Baking Blend. A 1⁄2 cup of Truvia® Baking Blend has 190 calories and provides the same sweetness as 1 cup of sugar that has approximately 760 calories.

Truvia® claims that its Truvia® Baking Blend has a "sugar-like texture and moistness and will bake and brown like recipes that are made with sugar". So, I put it to the test! I used my trusted Carrot Pineapple Muffins recipe substituting 2 cups of table sugar with 1 cup of Truvia® Baking Blend. 

 CARROT PINEAPPLE MUFFINS with TRUVIA BAKING BLEND

Makes approximately 24 muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 7 oz Cake flour
• 7 oz Bread flour
• 1 cup Truvia Baking Blend
• 2 tsp Baking soda
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Salt
• 4 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 + 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
• 2 cups Grated carrots
• 1 cup Crushed pineapple, drained

The Saint Tavern / Amsterdam Brewery Brewmaster's Dinner

On Thursday, February 20th, The Saint Tavern (@thesainttavern) hosted their inaugural Brewmaster's Dinner. The restaurant teamed up with Amsterdam Brewery (@amsterdambeer) to kick start the exciting dinner series.

The four-course dinner consisted of select beer and collaborative food pairings by The Saint Tavern's Chef, Jesse Vallins and Amsterdam Brewery's Brewmaster, Iain McOustra. 

Here's a recap of the evening:

TO START
PARKER HOUSE ROLLS, CONFIT POTATOES, HOUSE FRUIT KETCHUP
Cooked sous vide in butter and herbs, the potatoes were then breaded with potato starch and dried potato flakes before deep frying.

FIRST COURSE

IRISH ORGANIC SALMON TARTARE

Everything bagel, cream cheese, pickled beet puree, shaved onion, dill pesto

Pairing: Order and Choas - Chardonnay Barrel aged Wit. Aged with Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus for one year

SECOND COURSE

HEIRLOOM CARROT AND IPA SOUP

Carrot bacon compote, shaved carrot salad, birch syrup

Pairing: Boneshaker - Classic American style IPA

Sunday Lunch at Chantecler

By the lack of brunch posts on my blog it should be obvious that I'm not a brunch girl. 

I mean brunch food is good and all but it's not that good so I'm just not that into it. I know for a fact that I'm the minority here because everybody in this city goes berserk over brunch. I admit that having to wake up early Sunday morning doesn't help the cause but then knowing that I may have to line up half an hour for food is a major turn-off. Thanks, but no thanks. I choose my comfy and cozy bed.

I think the main reason why brunch is not appealing to me is because being Chinese I'm used to family-style dining. Perfect example would be dim sum! So many options and the opportunity to try so many things. Even dinner - whether it be my Mom cooking at home or eating out at a Chinese restaurant - we would always order multiple dishes for the table. Nobody is ever stuck eating the same plate of food the entire time. And when I'm not having Chinese food I'm all about tasting menus; multi-course meals are right up my alley. So unless I'm going to a brunch buffet a typical brunch is incredibly monotonous to me. I've always wondered: Why can't brunch be family-style? And if so, why isn't anybody doing it?

Well, in comes Chantecler.

Chantecler's Sunday lunch, happening every Sunday from 11:30am to 3:30pm, breaks away from the norm. Consistent with their communal-style dinners, chef and co-owner Jonathan Poon serves lunch - not "brunch" - with a menu consisting of shareable small plates. Go with a few friends and go nuts ordering for the table. I bet you haven't done that before for Sunday brunch lunch!

Anyway, some of Chantecler's dishes here are unlike anything I've seen before, or probably will ever see, in Toronto. Let's just say you won't find eggs benny, French toast or pancakes here....even their Caesar is different than anybody else's:

SNOWCRAB CAESAR ($13)

Szechuan Pepper, Clamato, Cucumber & Coriander

Remember what I said about going nuts ordering? My friends and I did just that when we had Chantecler's entire Sunday lunch menu last week. "Go big or go home", right? Feast your eyes, friends!

HASH BROWN ($3.5)

Heinz Ketchup 

Why? How about why not? Everybody loves hash browns! Fried to a nice golden brown served with a packet of Heinz ketchup, this is just plain fun.

FRIED STEAMED BUN ($4)

Condensed Milk

Exceptionally soft with a slightly crisp coating, these fried steamed buns are served with a generous amount of thick, sweet condensed milk for dipping. No twist. Pure traditional Chinese plate here.

School Dinner x 3

My last four times at School were all for dinner: one occasion being Cheese School, and the other three times were dinners with my friends - all within maybe, 3 months time? Pretty crazy, right? Well I love the food at School so what can I say? Anyway, to make it easier for myself, I combined the three dinners into this one mega dinner post. And in case you haven't seen my School brunch post, you must check that out too.


Oh and funny news guys! In a few months time, I will be moving office; out of the financial district (bye bye PATH) and into a building at Liberty Village that's literally a 2-minute walk from School!  IT MUST BE FATE! Instead of staying in the boring financial district, which I fully anticipated was going to happen, my bosses chose Liberty Village~ Hurray! 


K, back to dinner talk :)


I usually go for dinner right after work so I'm always the first one at School.

For all three dinners I sat at the same table, not on purpose, it just happened like that - it's the table by the window and directly below all the "3:30 clocks".

Donut Muffins

The word "donut" added to "muffin" automatically categorizes these muffins as "unhealthy", and you do know that most of the time, "unhealthy" foods are more delicious than "healthy" ones right (well to me anyway).


These donut muffins are coated with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and I was surprised at how much these muffins resemble the taste of donuts even though they are not fried.


Unfortunately, I overmixed these donut muffins so they  turned out a bit chewy (putting them in the good ol' microwave for a few seconds fixes that), but I imagine if the timing was corrected they would've been perfect. 


BEWARE, there is a LOT of sugar involved here, so make these only if you are:


1. Sick of your healthy diet and need a break from it;
2. Looking for a sugar rush; or
3. You're tired of making typical muffins.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

I made muffins again last weekend. It's not like I particularly love muffins or something; I'd rather switch it up once in awhile and make cookies, scones, cakes, or whatever it may be. It's just that without an electric mixer, there is really not much choice in terms of what to bake. One is very limited when you need to pass up on any recipe that indicates "beat eggs until light and fluffy" or "beat egg whites until peaks are high" because you simply can't achieve that with just using a whisk.


Good news though! My mom bought a newer, more powerful Kitchen Aid stand mixer last week, and she will be giving me her old one!

My Mom's new 475 Watt
stand mixer

She needed a new one because her old Kitchen Aid mixer can no longer keep up with her bread making needs - it did not have the capacity nor power to make two loaves of bread at the same time.  However, her old one (which is 250 Watts) is more than sufficient for my baking needs! SO EXCITED! I'm imagining all the things I can make with it already =)  It will be kept at my boyfriend's place hehe.

Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins

My foodie friend, Cindy, forwarded me this Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins recipe from eat me, delicious about a month ago. She told me they were great and has already made them a few times. Convinced, I decided to try making these muffins as well, although I have to admit, I was weary about mixing chocolate and tea leaves together. What an awkward combo, right? Especially its chocolate chunks, not even chocolate chips. In hindsight, I think this worry of mine led to the downfall of my muffins.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground Earl Grey tea (or more if you dare)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chunks