"Bees, Mead & Cheese" Giveaway - CLOSED

I'm giving away ONE spot to Le Dolci's first ever "Bees, Mead & Cheese" class on Thursday, July 12, from 7 - 9pm, worth $80! Honey, mead & cheese? YES, PLEASE (ahh that was too easy)!

At Le Dolci's "Bees, Mead & Cheese" class, Krystina Romen (@Rosewoodwine) from Rosewood Estate Winery will share her knowledge on honey and mead with everyone. There will be various types of honey products to taste and you will learn about the similarities and differences between each one. Additionally, there will be several types of mead to sample. What about a mead cocktail? Krystina will also be showing us which ingredients are best to make a refreshing and tasty mead cocktail. An informative honey sampling, bee education, followed by an exclusive tasting of mead & cheese pairing. I can't wait :D

Photo Credit: Rosewood Estate Winery

Located in the heart of the Beamsville Bench, Rosewood is Niagara’s first winery and meadery. Producing award winning grape and honey wines, Rosewood is proud to be one of Canada Top 25 Wineries since its inception. With bee hives scattered all over the Niagara Escarpment, Rosewood is a proud honey producer and strives to produce natural wildflower honey from Niagara’s bounty.


HOW TO ENTER

1) You MUST be following me (@foodieyu) and Le Dolci (@LeDolci) on Twitter;

AND

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

I want to win a free Bees, Mead & Cheese class worth $80 from @LeDolci! http://bit.ly/MWZax2 #beesmeadcheese

*Limit one entry per person*

CONTEST DURATION

Contest starts on Wednesday, July 4 and ends on Monday, July 9 at 12PM.

The lucky winner will be chosen randomly from www.random.org and I will announce the winner on Wednesday, July 11.

GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^

Solo Sushi Bekkan

This is a way overdue post. I went to Solo Sushi Bekkan with a good friend of mine, Ed, for his birthday around six months ago and this is the post from that dinner. Forgive me but I basically left this post in "draft mode", untouched, placed on the back burner because well, Solo Sushi Bekkan really fell short, a pure let down to be honest. I just did not have the urge to blog about it! Not like there is an urge now but I thought it was time to get it over with. I was also getting tired of seeing it in my draft folder.


It's a shame. I have heard such great things from a few friends (including Ed) and random people about Solo Sushi Ya, Solo Sushi Bekkan's parent restaurant in Newmarket. To back that up, Solo Sushi Ya received 3.5 stars from Toronto Star back in 2006 (I know it's a bit dated) and pretty decent reviews from Toronto Life in 2007 and 2010. The most recent review was in December 2011 by Joanne Kates from The Globe and Mail titled "Rocky Start, Perfect Finish". Evidently, all the reviews were for Solo Sushi Ya and not Solo Sushi Bekkan so maybe it was silly of me to assume that I will experience the same kind of quality at Solo Sushi Bekkan? 

Solo Sushi Bekkan is very small. Our table was against the window and what you see in the above picture is pretty much the entire restaurant.

The Feasting Room

The Feasting Room (Twitter: @thefeastingroom, Facebook: The Feasting Room) is not a restaurant, but rather a weekly pop-up that occupies The Orbit Room (@OrbitRoomTO) from Thursdays to Monday nights. A six-month project designed to encourage Torontonians to "eat the whole beast", The Feasting Room focuses on a different animal each week by offering a six course blind tasting menu for $65 ($105 with wine pairing). Conscientious and sustainable eating practices is The Feasting Room's core belief and philosophy. 


The Feasting Room is a joint venture between Noah Goldberg (chef / owner who has worked at Lee in Toronto, DB Bistro Moderne in NYC, St. John in UK) and Mathieu Dutan (general manager who has worked at Bistro Bakery Thuet, Gamelle, La Palette and also trained as a sommelier in Paris) and it serves as a test to gauge the city's enthusiasm for nose-to-tail, off cuts and offal cuisine. A test for what, you ask? Well, a test before they actually dive in and invest in a permanent restaurant location! Smart. Very smart.

Dinner on the patio.

The Feasting Room always provides a diagram of the featured animal with the numbered parts corresponding to the course. Why is #5 floating in air?

Amuse: Rabbit liver parfait

Actinolite

I don't know about you, but doesn't the word "Actinolite" sound like a chemical element from the periodic table? I think so :D But no, in all seriousness Actinolite (@actinolitefood) is the name of a new restaurant located on Ossington just south of Dupont. Digging deeper, Actinolite is actually the name of co-owner Justin Cournoyer's hometown (hmmm I can't imagine my home town "Mississauga" being a restaurant name...it doesn't even sound half as cool as "Actinolite")

Husband and wife duo Justin Cournoyer (a cook for over 15 years and has worked at Susur for four) and Claudia Bianchi (a culinary TV producer for Food Network Canada and food stylist) opened Actinolite at the end of March, and boy they must be doing something right because Actinolite has already become a much-loved neighbourhood spot, gaining high praises all around. I went with several friends around two months ago for dinner and the meal has made quite an impression on me. Every course was rock solid and executed beautifully. In my opinion,  Actinolite's food is top-notch and the spot really deserves a lot more attention and buzz because it completely won me over.

Actinolite's space is modern, inviting, with a hint of country/small-town feel. It is stylish yet warm. I like it a lot.

An original survey map of Actinolite, a small town on the Skootamatta River in Eastern Ontario, in the Municipality of Tweed, in Hastings County, on Highway 37 just south of Highway 7 and north of Tweed. LOL see? I totally did my research.

Actinolite's menu is divided into first course, second course and sides. 

Lobster Love Contest - CLOSED

Thanks to S/T Food Events, I am giving away a PAIR of tickets (a total value of $78) to the Lobster Love event (Twitter: @LobsterLoveTO, Facebook: Lobster Love) taking place at the Evergreen Brickworks on Thursday, July 19, 2012, 6pm until Midnight!

For one night only, S/T Food Events will offer some of the freshest and most succulent East Coast lobsters you've ever tasted!!! 

 Each dinner (worth $39) includes a 1.5lb fresh Atlantic Lobster. You can have your lobster one of three ways at Lobster Love:

BOILED

For the purist, tender, sweet and ready-to-eat. Just pull the succulent meat from its shell, dip it in a bath of your favourite sauce or butter.

OR

LOBSTER ROLL

A delectable mouthwatering lobster roll made with the meat of a 1.5 lb beauty.

OR

LOBSTER THERMIDOR

No traditionalist can resist the smooth velvety texture, intoxicating aroma and rich, creamy taste of a Lobster Thermidor.

All entrees come with local, organically-grown potatoes and corn on the cob. A great selection of Ontario wines and beers will also be available at the cash bar.

The Winner of West50 Pourhouse's 10-Course Tasting is...

@kingofthenerds

Congratulations Norm! =D Chef Brendan Prong (@chef_prong) of West50 Pourhouse & Grille (@West50Pourhouse) will be in contact with you soon via Twitter with details on how to redeem you dinner. Congrats again and I hope you will enjoy your tasting at West50 Pourhouse!

I also want to say a big THANKS to the 77 contestants who participated in the giveaway! 

Here's a snapshot of the Excel spreadsheet where I tracked the #10courseatWEST50 stream from day one of the contest. The tracking was done using chronological order, as in, #1 was the first person who entered right the contest. To enter, the person has to tweet "I want to win a 10-COURSE TASTING MENU FOR TWO at @West50Pourhouse! http://bit.ly/KgMOBh #10courseatWEST50". Once the contest was over and everybody's entries were accounted for in my spreadsheet, I went to check if they actually followed me on Twitter (I also sent the below list of contestants to chef Brendan Prong at West50 Pourhouse to look over).

After weeding out the people that did not follow West50 Pourhouse, Chef Brendan Prong and I on Twitter, I was left with 62 contestants. I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner for me from 1 to 101.

Omakase at Noka

Opened around a month and a half ago, Noka (Twitter: @nokatoronto, Facebook: Noka Japanese cuisine & sushi bar) is yet another Japanese restaurant in the Annex. *NODS* yes, you read right, another one! I'm now really curious as to how many Japanese restaurants are on Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst...anyone know? Maybe if I'm really bored one day I'll go count. Anyone care to join me? LOL!


Located beside Menchie's Yogurt, Noka serves not only lunch and dinner but also happy hour everyday (see Noka's hours here).  From 3pm to 5pm, and 10pm to close (12am or 2am depending on day), Noka's happy hour menu includes a variety of appetizers, tempura, rolls and sake bombs(!). I think it is a pretty smart move on Noka's part to open late because the Annex is always bustling even at 2am in the morning! Noka also gets another thumbs up from me in terms creating pre-opening buzz; they started tweeting weeks before their opening night. Even now, Noka is doing a fairly decent job in tweeting regularly and engaging with other tweeters.


I went to Noka last week with a friend of mine to celebrate my birthday :)

Chef Cheng Lin behind the sushi bar.

Nigori Sake. 

The Apron Strings Contest

As roles in the family are changing, fathers are seen in the kitchen more and more. According to Stats Can, in 1986, 40% of men aged 25-54 were involved in household work like meal prep / cooking, post-meal clean-up and laundry. By 2005, that number jumped to 59%. In the 70s, 1 in every 100 stay-at-home parents was a father. Today, that figure is 1 in 8.

For this Father's Day, Fiesta Farms (@fiestafarms) is encouraging everybody to submit their favourite memory, story and / or recipe about their father or grandfather in the kitchen and is looking for submissions about the worst / best meal / dish they've ever made.

The contest runs until the end of June and the top 3 stories will win a Fiesta Farms gift certificate. All entries will also be featured on the Fiesta site during the month of June!

*~Submit your recipe or story HERE~*

Also, make sure you check out Fiesta Farms' "Apron Strings" Project, an online portal featuring videos, stories and recipes. It is currently featuring five videos of fathers and grandfathers from different cultural backgrounds. Very cute and interesting :)

West50 Pourhouse's 10-Course Tasting Menu Giveaway - CLOSED

I'm giving away a 10-COURSE TASTING MENU WITH BEER PAIRINGS FOR TWO prepared by Chef Brendan Prong (@chef_prong) at West50 Pourhouse & Grille (@West50Pourhouse).

Read about my dinner at West50 Pourhouse last week!


 HOW TO ENTER


1) You MUST be following me (@foodieyu), Chef Brendan Prong (@chef_prong) and West50 Pourhouse (@West50Pourhouse) on Twitter;


AND


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


I want to win a 10-COURSE TASTING MENU FOR TWO at @West50Pourhouse! http://bit.ly/KgMOBh #10courseatWEST50


Please note the following:
*Limit one entry per person*
*I'll be keeping track of the #10courseatWest50 hashtag throughout the contest so don't worry =)*
*Prize is valid until June 15, 2013*
*Cannot be used on Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, or New Year's Eve* 
*Must make reservation ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE*


CONTEST DURATION


Contest starts on Monday, June 11 and ends on Friday, June 15 at 12PM.


The lucky winner will be chosen randomly from www.random.org and I will announce the winner on Monday, June 18.


GOOD LUCK!!! ^_^

Lettuce Sundays at Chantecler

Big fan of Chantecler right here :) I practically ordered their whole menu when I went for dinner  a couple of months ago. Ever since then I've been recommending Chantecler (@ChanteclerTO) to all my friends (you can read about my dinner here). 

With regular service from Wednesday to Saturdays (at least for the summer), every Sunday from now on at Chantecler will be all about LETTUCE WRAPS! My friend and I went to Chantecler's first ever #lettucesunday last Sunday. 

Served communally on a first-come, first-served basis, Chantecler will be offering lettuce wraps with big helpings of meats, assorted pickles & condiments at $19 pp until 1am every Sunday (or until they run out of food). You can also order extras on the side (they will be rotating the sides depending on what's available at the time and what's fun). 

 That night's drinks special: Soju Mojito w/ Yuzu & Shiso Leaf  ($10)

Below are two orders of lettuce wraps:

Assorted Lettuce & Rice Cracker (replaced steamed rice that evening)

Slow Smoked Pork Shoulder w/ Brown Sugar and Soy

Braised Beef Rib w/ Fermented Bean Paste