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 Westgiven 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.
I wrote a blog post about Sidecar Bar and Grill in May 2010, about a month after I started this blog. You can check it out here if you want. In a nutshell, it's about my friend Cindy and I trying Sidecar's prix fixe menu for the very first time and me falling in love with their steak frites (FYI till this day Cindy and I still go on a lot of dining escapes together!). Ughhh, looking back at old blog posts always make me cringe - I hate the way I wrote back then. Sometimes, I have an urge to delete certain old posts, but a friend once said I shouldn't because "it shows growth"...yea, seven year's worth! *Sigh*. Reading that post actually made melaugh though because of how I described my cocktail:
"This was so yummy and refreshing. I love fruity drinks!"
Kill me now! Oh, how I've grown. I despise fruity drinks nowadays. The boozier, the better. Actually, this is an excellent example of how a person's taste can change over time, which is why I always encourage people to try foods they previously didn't like because you may end up enjoying it the second time around (especially if years have passed). I used to despise sea urchin but now I can never get enough. Can you imagine? Hating uni? I don't even know myself anymore.
Sorry to veer off topic. Anyway, since that blog post, I've probably been to Sidecar a handful more times over the years. Admittedly, I frequent their second floor cocktail bar - Toronto Temperance Society - way more often. TTS is like my second home; it makes some of the best cocktails in the city and the atmosphere there is second to none. Seeing that I haven't been to Sidecar in a while, I was very intrigued when I heard that a new chef took over downstairs.
Before I start talking about the food, there are two things worth noting: 1) A minor change, but nonetheless important, is the restaurant's slight name change. Back in the day, the restaurant was called "Sidecar Bar & Grill", now it's Sidecar Restaurant(Instagram: @sidecar_restaurant), and 2) Since 2017, the restaurant eliminated tipping completely to become Toronto's first gratuity-free restaurant.
Helming the kitchen at Sidecar now is chef H ("Hyun Jung") Kim (@hhyunjkim). Graduated from George Brown in 2010, Kim started his career at Globe Bistro under chefs Kevin McKenna and Daniel Sanders, followed by a brief stint at C5 with chef Ted Corrado. He then worked at George Restaurant for chef Lorenzo Loseto as chef de partie and eventually moved up the ranks to junior sous chef. After two and a half years at George, he traveled around Europe for six months. When he came back to Toronto, he staged at a couple places and briefly worked at The Chase before heading back to George as sous chef. In December 2016, Kim took over the kitchen at Sidecar, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Move over fruity drinks! Nobody gets between me and my old fashioneds anymore.
OLD FASHIONED ($14)
Bourbon, sugar, bitters
I have a soft spot for restaurants that offer complimentary bread. There's not many of them out there anymore.
Happy Chinese New Year to all my Chinese friends! 2017 is the year of the Rooster, and because I have no idea what that entails, I googled it. I found this nifty graph showing how people born in a year of the Rooster (i.e. 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, and 2029) will do in 2017 when it comes to work, love, wealth and health. Check out how scientific the folks at Chinahighlights.com made it all look:
This shows what's lucky and unlucky for Roosters. Note the cockscomb (obviously) and how Roosters should never, ever, venture east.
I'm not superstitious at all but it's fun to look at horoscopes sometimes, especially during Chinese New Year! But y'all know what's more fun than zodiacs during CNY? Eating the food my Mom makes.
This year, my Mom switched it up a bit. Instead of making multiple dishes, she made poon choi, or 盆菜, which literally means "basin vegetables" in Chinese. Ingredients are cooked separately, layered carefully and topped with an assortment of delicacies. Each person at the table takes food from the "basin", layer by layer, from the top to the bottom. Eating 盆菜, or "big bowl feast", signifies abundance and richness in the coming year.
FYI. According to Wikipedia, poon choi was invented during the late Song Dynasty. When Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled to the area around Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. To serve the Emperor as well as his army, the locals collected all their best food available, cooked it, and because there were not enough serving containers available put the resulting meal in large wooden washbasins.
There are all the ingredients that went into my Mom's poon choi:
⇒ Bottom layer: white radish, carrots, cabbage (白蘿蔔, 紅籮蔔, 長紹菜)
⇒ Top layer: black moss, abalone, soy sauce marinated tiger shrimp, egg tofu and broccoli (發菜, 鲍魚, 豉汁明蝦, 玉子豆腐, 西蘭花)
A short Instagram video of my Mom pouring homemade chicken broth into the pot on the stove. That sizzle thooo (don't mind my Dad talking in the background).
Each bite of the poon choi was such a treat - I wouldn't change a thing. The poon choi fed the five of us no problem..there was so much food in there! Before I go, I want to mention the most precious ingredient in the poon choi, which was the abalone. My mom bought this "Gold Price" boiled canned abalone from the supermarket. With just two abalones inside, this can was close to $70. The mollusks were tender with a bit of chewiness to them, and due to the salt water they lived in, the meat tasted a bit salty.
Like always, my Mom totally spoiled us :) Thanks, Mom!
Brought to us by the same team as Lamesa, Lasa by Lamesa(Instagram: @lasabylamesa) is a quick-service Filipino eatery on St. Clair West at Wychwood Avenue. Unlike Lamesa, which is known for its modern and creative take on Filipino food, owner Les Sabilano and executive chef Daniel Cancino focuses on traditional Filipino fare at Lasa.
Even though Lasa is a fast-casual spot, rest assured that they still make everything fresh to order. The 3-month-old eatery has no servers so both ordering and picking up food happens at this counter. Choose from water, pop or juice to accompany your meal (Lasa is not licensed).
Previously occupied by Kaibigan, a grocery store ran by Sabilano's parents, Lasa has been completely transformed. The 24-seat space is casual, yet quaint and welcoming. I specifically like the wicker lamps and the cute accent pieces on the wall.
Notice the different pops of colours and the custom wood work on the door. The room has a chill tropical feel to it, which is really inviting on a cold winter's night.
Sorry for being MIA for the last little while. I was in Tokyo for two weeks and then needed a week after coming home to recover from jet lag and to get back into the groove of things. Anyway, I've returned and I hope you guys missed me! :) I will be sharing some of my Japan travels on the blog soon too, but before that, I want to write about my experience at 98 Aroma(Instagram: @98aroma, Facebook: 98 Aroma), a Northern Chinese restaurant I visited for dinner a couple days before my Japan trip.
The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was its interior. Traditional decor executed with a modern touch, 98 Aroma differentiates themselves instantly from all the other Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. Without even having to taste the food, you know they are striving for something different. In photos, the blue mood lighting may seem a bit much but in real life they work well. It's too bad the exterior of 98 Aroma doesn't match its upscale interior - it needs a lot more work, in my opinion (sorry I forgot to take photos of the outside).
I really like the look of these booths.
98 Aroma brings forth refined Northern Chinese food. Its menu consists of some popular Northern Chinese dim sum, such as scallion pancakes, dumplings, and pan fried steamed buns, as well as many traditional dishes that most of us may not be familiar with or have heard of before.
SUMMER BREEZE ($9.99)
I normally don't care for salads but 98 Aroma's signature salad served with carrots, lettuce, cabbage and topped with fried shredded taro was a winner. Mix all the components together with their sweet vinaigrette and you'll find yourself loving every bite. Or, at least, I did.
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.
Serving Asian fusion share plates, the newly opened Té on the Ossington strip combines traditional Asian ingredients and flavours - specifically those from Korea and Taiwan - into popular North American comfort foods. The result is a very whimsical and innovative tapas-style menu.
Té (Instagram: @te_toronto, Facebook: Té) is open for dinner, late night and weekend brunch. Served on Saturday and Sundays from 11am - 3pm, Té's brunch focuses on classic breakfast/brunch favourites with an Asian twist; think Kimchi and Pork Belly Eggs Benedict, Dark-Spiced Taiwanese Fried Chicken & Egg Waffle, and Bulgogi Burger.
The restaurant is divided into three sections: a round banquette up front, several tables towards the back, and a long bar that separates the two. I admire the decor because I love the use of retro colours and hip style, but at times it could feel a bit too polished and bare. My friend and I picked the coziest spot at Té for dinner, which was the cushioned banquette by the window. Check out this cool light fixture above us.
From the Spanish word for tea, Té offers cocktails that are tea-inspired.
“You don’t need to use your line of credit to eat french!” - Chef Jean Regis Raynaud, Le Baratin
True, that is if you're eating at Le Baratin! Opened nearly two months ago, Le Baratin - which stands for "Smooth Talker" in French - is a small French bistro on Dundas West. Helming the kitchen is classically trained French chef, Jean Regis Raynaud, formerly of Le Paradis. After 18 years of cooking in France, UK, and St. Martin, Jean Regis finally realized his dream of running his own restaurant, where he is able to share his "food philosophy, L’art de Vivre- the art of life, a touch of France here in Toronto”, Jean Regis explained.
Quite often, when people hear the words "French food" or "French restaurant", they immediately think of white tablecloths, pretentious service, lavish menus, and $$$$. So, I'm thrilled to tell you that Le Baratin (Twitter: @LeBaratinYYZ, Facebook: Le Baratin) is anything but those things. The atmosphere at the small bistro is casual and relaxed, and the service is prompt and friendly. Le Baratin is a cozy French bistro, and it's somewhere I see myself going back again and again.
Le Baratin serves classic French fare, with some modern elements incorporated by chef Jean Regis. It is opened for lunch/brunch, seven days a week from 9AM - 5PM, and dinner five a days a week from Tuesday to Saturday, 5PM - 10PM. During the Day, Le Baratin serves dishes such as the Farcou (French spinach pancake), the Croque Monsieur, and the Tartifete (baked gratin with potatoes). The lunch menu offers a selection of salads, omelettes, and original sandwiches such as the Boeuf Bourguignon on a bun.
I visited Le Baratin for dinner last week, and let me tell you right off the bat that it exceeded my expectations. So much so that I've already recommended a handful of my friends to Le Baratin already.
ELDERFLOWER GIMLET (left)
SIDECAR (right)
Armagnac, Cointreau, lemon
All their cocktails are priced at $10. Cheers to that!
TORTE PROVENCALE ($9)
Baked tomato torte with goat cheese & "herbes de Provence" served w/ mixed green salad
This baked tomato tart is the perfect summertime fare, especially when paired with the light green salad. Unlike some other tarts with custard or cream, this torte really showcased the seasonal tomatoes. The crust is nice and flaky, and the goat cheese is superb; I enjoyed the crusty-brown parts on top and the warm and creamy soft inside.
The modern and casual sandwich shop is conveniently situated across the street from University of Toronto, making it an ideal spot for students, whether it be quick grab-and-go lunches or sit-down meals in between classes.
Which is your favourite ramune flavour? Mine are "Original" and "Melon" :)
At Teara Lab(Twitter: @TearaLab, Facebook: Teara Lab), diners have the option of getting a sandwich or a sandwich combo, which comes with seasoned fries and a drink. Teara Lab's drinks selection is pretty impressive so don't go for just soda. Customers can choose from a variety of fruit teas (passion fruit green tea, mango green tea, fresh watermelon juice), slush (mango or match red bean), milk teas and creamas.
My friend and I ordered a Hokkaido Milk Tea ($5) and a LemonDada ($5). Both were fantastic! I would actually consider just dropping by the sandwich shop for a drink if I'm ever in the area.
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? 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.
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.
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:
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.
What's better than having hot pot at home with friends and family on a cold winter's night? Not much. I can picture it now. My dining table - overflowing with plates of thinly sliced marbled beef, plump shrimp, fish balls, dumplings, cubes of soft and fried tofu, spinach and noodles - all fighting for space amongst strainers, chopsticks, dipping sauces, jugs of prune juice and soya milk. And of course the star of the show - the generous pot of bubbling broth in the middle of the table - cooking all night long. Ah, yes. Alright, maybe there is one thing better than having hot pot at home with friends and family on a cold winter's night, and that's having hot pot with friends and family on a cold winter's night at Morals Village Hot Pot (Instagram: @moralsvillagehotpot, Facebook: Morals Village Hot Pot). Morals Village, with close to 600 locations in China, is an all-you-can-eat ("AYCE") hot pot restaurant with a lot to offer. Guests can chose from 12 different kinds of soup bases and six dipping sauces to get started. As for food? Oh man, so many options. Meat lovers can choose from slices of rib eye beef, beef tongue, hand-rolled pork, pork kidney, New Zealand lamb shoulder, marinated beef / pork, and 10 varieties of meat balls (you can also pay $3 extra for AYCE certified Angus beef). For everything else there's tasty stuff like fresh cuttlefish, shrimps and mussels, 20+ different kinds of vegetables, 7 tofu options, various innards, noodles...and more.
If all that doesn't impress you maybe Morals Village's space will. Unlike a lot of the dingy hot pot places in the suburbs Morals Village's interior is modern, spacious, and clean. Check out these comfy booths which are great for small groups.
So in a nutshell, you can enjoy Morals Village'sAYCE menu thoroughly without ever getting bored, but if you're feeling particularly fancy you can also order from their Chef's Recommendation menu. Paying a little extra gets you premium cuts like Wagyu short rib slices and Kagoshima pork slices, seafood offerings like tiger shrimps, Alaskan snow crab legs, fresh oyster, Japanese scallops and abalone.
In terms of drinks, aside from cold soy milk, pop, and the usual sour prune drink (a staple beverage for hot pot) Morals Village also serves freshly squeezed kiwi juice, pear juice, wintermelon tea, lemon juice and watermelon juice. I immediately opted for the juices; I've hated that prune juice ever since I was a kid >< The juices were delicious and very refreshing, perfect for hot pot.
