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

National Cupcake Day for SPCAs & Humane Societies

Animals are precious.

I am a proud owner of a cat. My cat’s name is Mr. Cat and he’s a domestic short hair brown tabby. I adopted Mr. Cat when he was just seven weeks old - I remember he was so tiny he could fit in my coat pocket. It’s crazy to think that Mr. Cat will be 14 years old in two months, which will make him 73 years old in human years. Here’s my latest photo of my big kitty. As you can tell he is a very serious cat, hence the name “Mr. Cat”. This is his “Don’t-mess-with-me-I’m-a-tiger!” look:

To be honest, nobody calls him Mr. Cat unless he is at the vet. “Mr. Cat” is actually my cat’s legal name but we all call him “Fay Jai” in Cantonese at home, which means “Fat Boy” in English. It is a really fitting name because Fay Jai has always been a big cat. Currently, he weighs close to 20 lbs and I assure you that none of it is muscle. When Fay Jai walks his big, floppy belly swings from side to side. It’s adorable to watch. This is Fay Jai doing what he does best: doing nothing and being lazy.

Three years ago, Mr. Cat developed diabetes, a pretty common disease with older house cats. Ever since then Mr. Cat needs two insulin shots a day - once in the morning, once at night - along with a very strict, timed meal plan. There have been countless instances where my family and I had to change our plans to accommodate for Mr. Cat’s meals and medication. It is all worth it though because Mr. Cat is family, and we love him to bits.

As a pet owner, I fully support the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (“Ontario SPCA”) and as a food lover, I’m very excited to tell you all about National Cupcake Day happening on Monday, February 29th. 

If you love animals, you can now show your support for your local SPCA by registering as a Cupcake Day Host and hosting your very own cupcake party on February 29th. Let your family, friends and colleagues know why you are baking and invite them to enjoy a cupcake at school, home or work, in exchange for a donation to your participating SPCA or Humane Society of choice. It’s an easy way to “bake a difference”, and it’s certainly the most delicious way to show your support for the SPCA. 

Could you use a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer? Sign-up and raise $50 online before January 30th and be entered into a draw to win a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. It’s a great incentive to get started early!

For more information on National Cupcake Day, please visit www.nationalcupcakeday.ca/

*This is a sponsored post*

Morals Village Hot Pot Giveaway - CLOSED

To celebrate the newly opened Morals Village Hot Pot ("德莊火鍋") on 436 Dundas St. W. in Chinatown I'm giving away THREE dinners for TWO to Morals Village. Three lucky winners will receive a complimentary dinner for two at the all-you-can-eat restaurant, a value worth approximately $70!*

*Based on weekend dinner at $27.99 pp + soup base + plus applicable taxes.

With over 600+ locations in China, Morals Village Hot Pot (Instagram: @moralsvillagehotpot, Facebook: 德庄火锅 Morals Village Hot Pot) was recently ranked #1 on blogTO's "The Best Hot Pot Restaurant in Toronto" list. Integrating flavours of Szechuan cuisine in a hot pot, guests can chose from 12 different kinds of soup bases and six dipping sauces to start. As for food, 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 (guests can also enjoy AYCE AAA Certified Angus beef for $3 extra). 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 (click here to read my full post on Morals Village Hot Pot in Markham). Enter my contest now and experience this one-of-a-kind hot pot experience for yourself.

HOW TO ENTER

1) You MUST be following me (@foodieyu) on Twitter

AND

2) Tweet the following sentence, exactly as shown, nothing before or after it: 

I want to win a dinner for two at Morals Village Hot Pot from @foodieyu! http://bit.ly/1W1TRPE #fjcmv

1. For your entry to be valid, you need to tweet the above sentence exactly as shown

2. You may tweet once a day for the duration of the contest. Re-tweeting others do NOT count as a valid entry

3. Contest is tracked by the #fjcmv hashtag. If you don't see your tweet in the hashtag stream it means there is no entry from you. Read this to find out the possible reasons why your tweets are not showing up

4. Dinner can be redeemed at either Markham or downtown Toronto location.

5. Dinner cannot be redeemed on special holidays. 

6. Dinner does not include drinks, certified Angus beef upgrade, chef's recommendations menu or special platters.

CONTEST DURATION

Contest starts on Tuesday, January 12 and ends on Tuesday, January 19 at 12PM. 

Three lucky winners will be chosen randomly from www.random.org and I will announce the winner shortly after.

GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^

Morals Village
Locations: 
- 8333 Kennedy Rd. Unit 1073
Markham, ON
905.604.8995
- 436 Dundas St. W., 2nd Floor.
Toronto, ON.
647.352.7588

Hours: Monday - Sunday, 4pm - 12am
Weekdays: Adult $25.99, Children (under 13) $13.95, Senior (over 65) $19.95
Weekends & Holidays: +$2.00
(Drinks, soup bases, Angus beef, chef's recommendation menu and special platters not included)

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. 

Antler Kitchen & Bar

Who's got game? Antler's got game. Literally.

I had dinner at Antler Kitchen & Bar with a couple of friends just before the new year. I had a feeling our meal would be good but not this good; I didn't expect it to knock my socks off or anything but it totally did! Antler is now one of my favourite restaurants in the city.

With the aim to showcase local Canadian cuisine, Antler (Twitter: @antlerkitchen, Facebook: Antler) focuses on sourcing regional ingredients, Canadian sourced farmed-raised game and foraged foods. Chef Michael Hunter, formerly of Scarpetta and Reds Wine Tavern, broke away from the corporate kitchen earlier this year and alongside Jody Shapiro, a filmmaker/photographer friend of Hunter's, the duo opened Antler in October. 

My friends and I sat at the chef's rail where the great outdoors, specifically deer skull from the first buck Hunter shot, was right above us. The chef's table at Antler fits three people perfectly; it was a bit of a tight squeeze for the four of us but we managed.

Raised on a horse farm in Caledon, Hunter (@thehunterchef) has been passionate about foraging and hunting wild game ever since he was a little kid. "I’m inspired by the seasons and what I find when foraging and hunting. Food simply tastes better when it is freshly harvested because it’s growing in its natural habitat. I am and always have been a strong, vocal advocate for wild game, conservation and hunting. Animals should be free to roam and free from cramped pens. This means they are healthier for us because wild game is therefore free from growth hormones and unnecessary antibiotics." Hunter describing his style of cooking in an interview with Butter PR.

Chef Hunter caught me taking a picture of him. What does he do? He takes his phone out and starts taking pictures of me taking pictures of him. Ha!

Morals Village Hot Pot ("德莊火鍋") in Markham

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's AYCE 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.

Sweet O'Clock - Taiwanese Dessert Shop in North York

If you love soft and chewy textures like mochi and tapioca and shudder at the thought of sickly sweet chocolate desserts, then Sweet O'Clock in North York may be your key to dessert heaven.

Specializing in Taiwanese desserts, Sweet O'Clock (Instagram: @sweetoclock.tor, Facebook: Sweet O'clock) is all about the shaved ice, milk teas, boba (or tapioca), grass jelly, red bean, and of course, mango - dare I say, every Asian's favourite fruit?! What Sweet O'Clock prides itself on, however, are their “freshly made, cooked and served” taro balls, herbal jelly and tofu pudding.

There is a lot to choose from at Sweet O'Clock, and I really do mean a lot. The dessert shop's menu is separated into the 10 categories: Hand-made Taro Ball, Herbal Jelly, Creama, Cold Desserts, Signature Tea, Special Mix Tea, Fresh Brewed Tea, Pudding, Traditional Tofu Pudding, and Fresh Fruit Slush. Customers can even choose from 19 different toppings as add-ons such as barley, taro, peanuts, and various flavoured jellies, beans and puddings.

TARO BLENDED ICE CREAMA ($5.5)

A real thick and tasty creama with lots of taro flavour. I loved it.

SWEET O'CLOCK SIGNATURE HERBAL JELLY ($6.9)

Herbal Jelly + Herbal Blended Ice + Taro Balls + Sweet Potato  Balls + Boba + Cream 

Seafood Brunch at Pearl Diver

Serving dinner seven days a week, lunch Monday to Friday, and Sunday brunch, Pearl Diver opened quietly this past summer on 100 Adelaide Street East. Although there wasn't too much buzz about the raw bar back then, the restaurant has been making a name for itself lately with its 100 oysters for $100 Thursday nights. Hmmmm I wonder how many oysters I can eat in one sitting? I feel the need to find out now. Right now.

While Pearl Diver (Twitter: @PearlDiverTO, Facebook: Pearl Diver) is a seafood-focused spot, their menu also offers numerous non-seafood items. The kitchen is headed by chefs Tom Malycha and Martin Zechel, who ensured that there's a balance of menu choices that appeal to both seafood lovers and meat lovers, with meat options like dry-aged beef burgers, PEI Rib Eyes, Ontario hanger steaks, and pork side ribs. I think this is fantastic because there were times when after indulging on a bunch of delicious oysters and clams at a seafood restaurant I found myself craving red meat - it's like my carnivorous side decided to suddenly emerge out of its shell right at that moment. It doesn't happen every single time but nevertheless, Pearl Diver gets a thumbs-up from me when it comes to that.

Not many of you may know but Pearl Diver has a sister restaurant in Beijing, China, called C Pearl. The eatery specializes in oysters and has been opened since Fall 2014.

I dropped by Pearl Diver for Sunday brunch and ordered my favourite brunch cocktail right away. This one has a clam garnish. Yum!

PD CAESAR ($14)

Dulse rimmed glass, fresh Horseradish & Quahaug clam

Lunch at Little Fin

I made my way to the financial district a couple of weeks ago for lunch at Little Fin (Twitter: @Little_Fin, Facebook: Little Fin) located at the Dineen building. First thing I noticed was suits everywhereee! Did you know I used to be one of them? Well, not literally in a suit but I was in finance ever since I graduated from uni until two years ago. I remember the rat race from Union Station every morning, and getting lost in The Path, and climbing that never-ending corporate ladder like it was yesterday.

Ah, memories. Anyway, back to Little Fin! This small seafood shop from The Chase Hospitality Group (the same people behind The Chase, The Chase Fish & Oyster, Colette and Kasa Moto) focuses on gourmet salads, fish sandwiches, and lobster offerings such as lobster poutine, lobster grilled cheese and lobster rolls. Little Fin is very small but there's still seating available...not many but it's there (more seating in the summer with the patio). It gets really crowded during lunch so a lot of people also do take-out there.

If you're in a hurry you can always grab one of these salads and eat at your desk ;) That day Little Fin had a cumin, carrot and chickpea salad for $3.50, and a radicchio and panzanella salad for $4.

Little Fin is also partnered with UberEATS, the newest door to door delivery service launched three days ago in Toronto. 

'SHIPWRECKED' SALAD ($12)

Poached shrimp & creamy avocado dressing

I really liked this salad. The crisp greens were well-dressed with a light and creamy avocado dressing. There was also a hard-boiled egg...plenty of shrimps too!

New Winter Cocktails at The Keg Steakhouse + Bar

Contrary to what some of you may think I actually really like The Keg. I go there whenever I feel like having a tasty piece of steak. I go with friends and family for casual dinners and for special occasions. The thing I like the most about the steakhouse is that it is very consistent - it doesn't matter which location I go to I know I'll be served their warm house-made sourdough to start, that their French onion soup will be just as cheesy as the bowl I had last time, and that their twice-baked potato will always be my favourite side. I also know that with my steak I would be sipping on a decently-priced glass of wine in a nice, comfortable dining room, and I would leave content and full all without putting a big dent in my wallet. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting independent restaurants but truth be told, there's nothing that can replace The Keg in my mind.

Anyway, you know how I mentioned I like having wine with my steak? Like most people? ;) Yea, although I love cocktails I always stick to wines at The Keg, this is because I've tried a few of their cocktails on several different occasions and they were all less than stellar. They were either too sweet, not boozy enough, or both. So, when The Keg invited me to their new King West location (Twitter: @TheKeg, Facebook: The Keg Steakhouse + Bar) for a cocktail tasting I was game. I was really curious to see whether their cocktails have improved 'cause in my opinion, there was really nowhere to go but up.

In celebration of the new season, The Keg has introduced 10 brand new cocktails and martinis. Between my friend and I, we tried five cocktails and one martini:

BOURBON MAPLE MARTINI (2oz, $11) - Woodford Reserve bourbon, maple syrup, fresh lemon and cranberry juice.

GINGER DARK AND STORMY (2oz, $11.5) - Gosling’s Black Seal rum, ginger syrup and fresh lime juice, simple syrup and a splash of ginger ale.

CRANBERRY MOJITO (2oz, $11.5) - Havana Club 3 Year Old rum, fresh lemon and lime juice, soda and muddled mint, cranberries and sugar.

CRANBERRY SMASH (1oz, $7.5) - Woodford Reserve bourbon, Chambord, Jägermeister, cranberry juice and simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and muddled cranberries.

KEG NEGRONI (3oz, $12) - Hendrick's gin, Aperol and sweet vermouth.

HONEY VANILLA MANHATTAN (3oz, $12) - Jack Daniel’s whisky, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey liqueur, red and white vermouth, Galliano and house-made drunken Bing cherries.

There's no question that The Keg has stepped up their cocktail game. You can now find pretty trendy cocktails and martinis there. One of my favourites was their spicy twist on the Dark and Stormy (made with fresh ginger) and albeit a bit sweet, I also enjoyed their Bourbon Maple Martini and their Cranberry Smash (I'm a bourbon girl). Both the classic Negroni and Honey Vanilla Manhattan seemed a lot boozier than I remembered ... which is, of course, a very good thing.

So. Much. Booze. NEED. FOOD!

Although I frequent The Keg I've never written about them. To be honest, I don't find writing about steaks particularly interesting which is why I've never blogged about The Keg, Ruth's Chris, Jacob's & Co., or Harbour Sixty. But I guess this is the perfect opportunity to do so! Because aside from the cocktails we also tried a new appetizer and a new cut of steak...

TUNA TARTARE ($15)

Sesame-soy seasoned Ahi served on fresh avocado

This was my first time having the tuna tartare at The Keg. Introduced in November 2014, the starter consists of well-seasoned ahi tuna cubes on a bed of smooth and creamy avocado served with crispy wonton chips.