The Drake Hotel

A couple of days ago, Sylvia and I wanted to get some breakfast so we decided to go to The Drake Hotel on Queen Street West (close to my fave part of town when I was in high school!). The place itself has limited seats inside (about 20 ish) and a big terasse with about 50 seats. There's no air conditioning inside so sitting outside was our best bet.

At first, we came in and WE had to go see the waitress to get a table when usually, you know, they'd come to see US. I didn't think that was too cool. I am a firm believer that when you enter a restaurant, someone should welcome you and bring you to a table. Not tell you to just take whatever table. On top of it, they didn't even come to the door. Grrrr.

Anyhoot, we sat down and the waitress came to serve us water. She was a tad rude and, well, she didn't laugh at my jokes (I am VERY funny, might I add) so we thought she kinda sucked. At first.

We got the menu but before we ordered food, we ordered some drinks. Refreshing drinks. I had the raspberry lemonade with mint and Sylvia had the mint lemonade. They arrived really quickly and were very, well, refreshing. So good. I wanted to chug it but thought it would be best to keep some for my plate! If you go there, trust me, have a freaking lemonade! They have many on the menu.

And now, ze food! Sylvia had a bagel with lots of smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers. She defines it as 'meh, nothing special'. I had the biggest breakfast on the menu to absorb all the alcohol I had ingested the night before. Therefore, I had the 'Drake breakfast', which was basically 3 eggs, bacon, apple and sage sausage, home fries and marble rye. Overall, I'd have to say that the food itself was quite a disapointment: the potatoes lacked moistness, the eggs were not seasoned at all, the bread, although original, didn't taste much and the sausage was tastier than most things on the plate but a tad dry.OH, and the bacon was too hard. And the bread, while being somewhat special, was lacking in flavor :(

The Drake Breakfast

The service was good, but weird. At first, she seemed mean but then I guess she warmed up to us (who wouldn't!). She was quite efficient and she offered us water every time our glasses were. empty.

And now, the scores!

Food: 5,5 I'm sorry but the best thing we had was the lemonade.

Service: 7 Rough start but got better.

I would NOT go back there for breakfast but as Sylvia tells me, they have good happenings on their patio in the evening time! Maybe I'd go back for that :)

The County General

After getting up super early to be at Ontario Place for Sylvia's bf, Morton's triathlon, we needed something to eat that would hit the spot. On the way home, we passed by The County General and thought that perhaps this could be the spot. 

 

As soon as we got in, we were seated at one of the 5 (or 6) 2 person tables. There are also about 10 seats at the bar and 6 or 7 outside. As luck would have it, they had room for the three of us. Half an hour before we finished our meal, a line started to form. 

It was quite a modern looking restaurant, with chic lines and lots of wood. The music included 90s classics such as Postal Service and Radiohead. Oh, the memories! It was a great ambiance overall with the music and the chatter around us. Not too loud but loud enough.

Bloody ceasar

Mimosa

They have great drinks so I started with a mimosa which was, well, a mimosa. Nothing special, you know, orange juice and bubbly. Seeing as it was freaking 12$, I would have liked something more...exceptional. No? Isn't 12 bucks a bit steep for a mimosa? On our way to this resto, we saw a place that was advertising 4$ mimosas and 4$ bloody ceasars. Pff. Then I had the bloody ceasar and THAT was dsamn good: a very spicy rim with paprika and other spices and the whole thang just had this incredible taste to it. It was spicy but not too spicy and tasted like celery and loveliness (that's right). Needless to say I really liked it.

Let's get down to the food! Sylvia and I ordered the fried chicken (do you not KNOW me?) and Morton ordered the Croque Madame which was HUGE (well, he burned QUITE a lot of calories this morning so he probably could have eaten two!)! Fried chicken is apparently their specialty. They change the menu a lot but that item never changes. They served this in a milk bun which was soft and airy with an avocado chutney spread. I wouldn't call that a chutney; actually you didn't really taste it until you really looked for it. There was also coriander which added to the mix of flavors in a great way and pickled red onion which completed the sandwich. The onion was great but hey, I'm biased because I'm an onion freak. Now, the chicken. YUM-MY! In Sylvia's words, it was much lighter than she had thought and I agree. It was well seasoned and moist. Just the way you like yo chicken! 

Fried chicken

Morton had the Croque Madame and for him, the highlight was the pickled tongue. The rest was really good too and filling. Perfect for after a race but maybe a tad too much for a 'normal' person.

Croque Madame

Now, you could choose between fries and salad. Sylvia had the salad and in her words, it was not exciting. The fries were good, although some were not crispy enough and they were tiny. Tiny little fries. Kinda hard to dip them into anything without putting your fingers in there. Meh. Speaking of dipping, the plate came with their homemade smoky ketchup, made with hints of cinnamon and paprika. Delicious.

As for the service, it was OK: we got water 2 seconds after sitting down but it took the waitress more than 10 minutes before getting our order. Also, it feels like it took a while before we got our food, but then again, maybe it's because we were so hungry.

And now, the scores!

Food: Morton gives his tongue :) an 8.5, and for the chicken, it's an average of 7,75

Service:7.5

I would totally go back. They have interesting ideas and I think it's fun that they change the menu!

Lobster Shack

Ourrr, like the pirate would say (on the left)

I loooooves me some food truck action. And this is just what I got @ the event 'Big on Bloor' in T.O. this week! I actually haven't eaten at any food truck in MTL since it started (I know, OH the humanity!) so I was quite excited to see the Lobster Shack!

I was walking down Bloor Street West with my friend A. and I saw this marvellous looking counter thingy (ok, it wasn't really in food truck format...) with a lobster...and I was sold. So the lobster roll or 'guedille' as we call it in french, came with chips (ruffles) and a slice of pickle. The whole thing cost 10$ which I thought was quite a good deal!

First off, the guy told me they put a LOT of lobster in there and he was right! It was overflowin' with the stuff! YUM!!!! OK, SO... it was lobster that tasted like it was mixed with crab... hum. I wanted a lobster roll. The lobster itself was a tad overcooked so it was a bit squishy :( Still good, of course!!! Alright, so the mayo was a bit too present but the taste in general was very good. It tasted like... well... a mix of lobster and crab :) The chips... I didn't touch much because I didn't buy the roll for the chips AND I found 2, yes TWO hairs in there. Beurk. What was really good was the mix of the pickle and a piece of the lobster roll. What a good bite!

The service, if I'd call it that, was great. The guy was happy, friendly and talkative. Nice.

And now, the scores!

Food: Would have said 7,5 but because of the hair, a disapointing 6,5

Service: 8

Very nice to try, don't know if I'd put that much mayo (or hairs) in it next time. 

Banh Mi Boys

I've been meaning to try Banh Mi Boys for a long time and heard so many good things about it! I totally had to take advantage of the fact that I am finally in Toronto!!

The line!

The kitchen

A short bikeride from my friend S's house, the restaurant is located on Queen corner of Spadina. It's a tiny place, with about 14 seats that are obviously full come lunch time, so get ready to take it to go. We ended up eating it in the shade in a ghetto park we used to go to when we were in high school (ah, the memories!). 

They sell tacos and banh mi with lots of nice sides like kimchi fries, tofu fries, jicama papaya salad and sweet potato fries. OH, they also sell duck confit salad! Yum!

Beef cheek banh mi with onion churtney

Anyhoot, we both had the braised beef cheek banh mi. A-MA-ZING! It came with onion chutney and the usual banh mi trimmings such as cucumber, pickled carrot and cilantro. Mmmm, I started eating banh mi recently (I know, I know...) and this is the best one yet. First of all, they toast the bread right when you order it so it's still nice and warm when you get it. Also, the addition of the cilantro is just mmm, a burst of flavor! The beef was very tender and melted in your mouth but lacked maybe a tad in the seasoning department. The onion chutney was very good and added a little sweet side to the sandwich! If, or should I say when I go back, I totally want to order the kimchi fries! YUM!

As for the service (obviously we're talking counter service here), it is very efficient. You get there, you wait in line, when it's your turn to talk to the very happy looking/smiling girl, you tell her what you want. Then, she asks your name and you wait again--we waited about 10 to 15 minutes in the first line and about 10 minutes in the other. Then someone at the counter asks you if you want hot sauce in there and to what degree. You tell them if it's to eat there (fat chance) or to go and BAM, you leave with a beautiful banh mi.

I must warn you though: beware when you eat the sandwich because mine ended up leaking hot sauce onto my pants and then it was sticky and, well, uncomfortable and narsty. Also, be ready to pay a bit more then you do at other places (mine cost 5,99$). It's totally worth it and I think the fact that they serve original banh mi (five spice pork belly, duck confit, kalbi beef, etc) makes up for it.

And now, the scores!

Food: an average of 8,25
Service: well, I'd say a 9 but let's face it, it's very limited service!

Go there. That's all I have to say. They have original banh mi and I'll just keep going back until I've had all of them. And I live in MTL so that's saying a LOT!

Sushiman

I was a tad disapointed when my dad suggested we eat in PVM today. I would have rather been able to write a review on a real restaurant. Anyway, I told him I felt like eating sushi. Before he responded, I said 'but not Sushi Shop'. Having worked there for 2 years really turned me off sushi for a long time and REALLY turned me off Sushi Shop... I will NEVER go back there!

Anyhoot, I said ok to Sushiman. I shouldn't have. OK, I didn't bother taking pictures because, well, I didn't think I was going to write about Sushiman. But I just gotta. Don't worry, this'll be short and sweet.

SO, first off, the rolls were not well rolled. Shiz fell from everywhere and it was just unpleasant to try and eat them. Then, the tempura was weird, like too hard. That's never pleasant. Also, the rice was hard, as if they'd been made the day before (and btw, there's no date on the sticker which means, yes, they probably WERE made the day before). And to top it off, there was an overabundance of peppers. First off, I'm not a big fan of sushi with red peppers in it. But I'm certainly not a fan of sushi with a shit load of peppers.

Food: a generous 5

Don't go there... you'll be disapointed. Actually, pff, what the hell, go to Sushi Shop instead :p

Byblos

I had a brunch date with a friend I hadn't seen in years (she lived in Colombia) and her man and as soon as I mentioned Byblos, one of the few Persian restaurants in town, they were in. I was way in too: I had been there maybe 5 or 6 years ago and had loved it. Just the neighbourhood, so nice and vibrant, is totally inviting! I love it!

Books!

Anyhoot, so we met at the restaurant at around 11:30--a very busy brunch hour in the Plateau. And it was...very...VERY busy. It is a nice resto, around 70 to 80 seats ish, with big windows. Lots of light coming in (lovin it!). Oh but it could have used a bit more A/C (with that damn heat!!!). What's cute though is that there's a little kids' corner with toys and there are books you can read during your meal :)

Menu

 We sat down and got our menus.  25 (yes, 25) minutes later, the waitress, who seemed to be the [impolite] owner, came by, finally, to take our order. Seriously, you own a restaurant, you obviously want people to come back, no? Well then, don't be rude! It also took about 20 minutes after we ordered to get food. Actually, I got MY food but my fellow eaters had to wait an extra 10 minutes for their plates. When I asked the waitress, she said that this happened because both dishes were coming from different areas of the kitchen. I get it, just hold off on serving my food until theirs is ready, no? YES!

Feta, nuts, mix of herbs (dill, coriander, parsley, mint, etc)

 Anyhoot, I had the feta, halva, pain sucré, olives, herbs and nuts plate. It was really delicious. Nothing bad to say about this at all. The feta was fresh and the herbs as well. The halva added a nice little sweet note to it all (halva: the primary ingredients are butter and sugar and it also has pistachios in there).  I made myself a nice little sandwich with the pita bread and all the ingredients on my plate including the halva and it was a little sweet thing made out of heaven. Heaven I tell you! And heaven for cheap---it cost me 12,50$ with taxes and tip!

Perfect sandwich: pita, basil, walnut, halva and feta

Oh and you had a choice of tea, coffee or hot chocolate, which was nice... you never have the hot choco in there! Much appreciated by someone like me who hates coffee :) Oh and it had cardamome in it which is always nice and tasty!

Cardamome infused hot chocolate

They brought us a basket with three kinds of bread: pita, poppyseed (still nice and warm!)and another one with sesame seeds. It kind of sucked that the waitress didn't seem to want to explain to us what these unknown breads were (and asking was just impossible: she was there aaaaaaand oops, she was already gone).

bread!

And now, the service. The service was really not up to par. I was seriously disapointed. I KNOW this place gets busy but hey, hire more people. That's it that's all!!! The wait before giving our orders and before getting our plates was way too long, the waitress did not seem very enthused to be there and was quite rude, the owner didn't seem to really care that we were there, and the water did not run freely as it should. I should ALWAYS have at least half a glass of water! Especially in this heat. The waitress was nice though when we asked (again) for our beverages: she got them to our table right away. To top it off, we wait and wait for the bill and then we ask someone who tells us we have to pay at the counter. Maybe she could have told us before? We can't guess it and it's not the norm so please tell us so we don't lose our time waiting around. Needless to say I did not leave 15% tip. I was quite angry at some point. I'm a very nice person... but when I get in these situations, my face gets a bit red and I start swearing... :p

Cute little view from our table

 And now, the scores!

Food: Really good! I give it an 8

Service: Meh. I give it a 5. And that's generous...

All in all, it IS a good place to try. Service needs to get better though. Food is really good so I would hate not to go back only because the service sucked!

Kashin Sushi

Ah, Kashin. After working for Sushi Shop for almost two years and not being able to eat sushi... I started there and it did me good :) This place is located right at the angle of Côte-des-Neiges and Queen Mary. It's a tiny place, obviosuly meant for take-out.

I always order in advance and then go get my food but this time (they have quite an extensive menu of sashimi, nigiri, hosomaki, futomaki, etc), I decided to just go and buy a combo + an avocado roll. Lord knows I loves me some avocado rolls! 

 I got the Combo G: 18 pieces for about 14$ . Plus, of course, avocado rolls. The cucumber roll was nice and fresh but it wasn't that great of a roll. But anyone who's rolled sushi before knows that the cucumber roll is one of the hardest to roll. The nigiris were very fresh as well. You can tell there's a high turnover, if only by the freshness of the fish! Man, those things melted in your mouth! The California roll was good, but hey it was a cali roll... not my fave because it's too simple but whatever! They also sell a wonderful tuna futomaki with mint in it. So refreshing! The avocado rolls were perfect, with ripe avocados, just the way they should be! The red mullet (hehe...mullet) was amazing but again, not tight enough.

And now, the scores:

Food:7.5

Service: 8 Only because 1 lady out of 3 is always so bitchy. Not directly so but her face just dsont look nice :p

I definitely recommend this place for sushi lovers and also,it's really affordable!

Pizza Navona

One of my friends' bf just opened up a pizzeria on Sherbrooke and whaaaaat... it's RIGHT in front of the Mcgill Roddick gates (in my time, we used to call them the erotic gates...ah, good times!)! Nice! It's a tiny place with about 10 seats right now and a counter with some yummy looking pizza displayed. It's very cool how the whole place is opened up to the street, you can't miss it! It was so sunny inside! Very nice :)The only thing that you must keep in mind is the fact that this place is ultra new. Therefore, you'll find a tv in the corner but instead of mounted on the wall, it's sitting on a table. Also, the two tables at the back make up their office for now with papers and a computer. The owner assured me this would be gone very soon.

'Les folies sont les seules choses que l'on regrette jamais'

They also have salads and paninis which actually look quite good. But I was there for the pizza! And pizza I had! I had me a piece of vegetarian pizza and a piece of garlic and spinach pizza.

Pesto oil, spicy oil, veggie pizza and cheese, garlic and spinach pizza!!

First off, I have to say that the crust is perfect. Perfect. The two owners worked on this crust for a while to get it to that perfectness, and I give 'em props! Semolina and sesame seeds were very present AND much welcomed! OH and there are 2 oils you can put on your pizza: pesto oil and chili oil. Just adds a good oumph!

Alright...so for the cheesy spinach and garlic pizza: very nice and tasty crust. I tasted some lemon in there but apparently there wasn't any! Garlic was goodness in my mouth (ps: I am a BIG garlic fan) and there was a great crunch to it! I could have done with more spinach though!!!

As for the veggie pizza, I believe SERIOUSLY that it's one of the best veggie pizza I've ever tasted. People will say I'm biased and to that I say pffff! Just go and try it! It's so fluffy and has a great texture. Also, I don't know if it is but it tastes like the veggies were roasted before going on the pizza and into the oven. It just adds that 'je ne sais quoi'. There's also loads of cheese on there which makes it all the more yummy.

Service was excellent: the owner asked every customer which oil they wanted on their pizza and was very attentive to their needs.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8,5
Service: 9,5

I will definitely go back to try more of those tasty pizzas. Perhaps even tomorrow....mmmmyes!

Café Pamplemousse

This place is located right beside one of my friends' apartment (corner of Ontario and Beaudry) so I finally decided to go get something to eat there today. I would say it's mostly a breakfast type of place with many breakfasty items on the menu and a few salads and sandwiches. They also have the plat du jour for lunch.

It's actually not that small (it looks really small from the outside) with around 50 seats in the house.

I wanted something not too heavy and not too expensive so I went for the ham sandwich. I was instructed by the waitress that there were big pieces of ham in there which made me happy! I like big slabs of meat in my sandwiches :) So I had the sandwich, not in a tortilla, because they were out of those but in bread. 

It turned out to be an ok sandwich for an ok price. It cost me, with taxes, a bit over 7 bucks. Meh. Basically, it was ham with tomatoes and lettuce. Lots of mayo and lots of mustard. A bit TOO much. The too much kind that when you bite into it, it runs all over your face too much. And it was seriously lacking salt. Why oh why are people afraid of salt? I mean, taste it, and then add salt if needed, no?

And now, the scores:

Food: 6

Service: I'll give her a generous 8,5. I mean, she just said hi and took my order but she was very nice

I would expect the breakfasts to be better so go there early and have one of those :)

Marché Hung Phat

Last year, I was in Corsica for three months to do my internship. You know what I craved the most while I was there? Going to Hung Phat and buying that lovely mix of beef, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, vermicelli, mint and peanuts. Bun Thit Nuong its called and damn is it ever good!

This vietnamese place is more of a restaurant with a tiny grocery section than the opposite. And there are about 8 seats. But people know about this place. OH they KNOW!!!

I used to work at the Sushi Shop in the Marché Jean Talon and so pretty much any chance I got, I was there. Mmmmm... just the smell of it! The beef is marinated in this heavenly sauce and it just melts in your mouth (I swear!) So what you do is you put the whole thing in a huge bowl. Then, you sprinkle the peanuts like so and rip up the mint leaves. Then, of course the sauce. Reminiscent of a spring roll sauce, it's just a tad sweeter. Mmmmm!!!! The whole thing is just great. It's a good thing I don't live near there because I'd always be buying (AND eating!) it!

As for the score, I give it a 10. I have to! 

If you haven't been there, go! Yes, you can get banh mi and the girls are really quick but go for the bun thit nuong and you will NOT be disappointed!

Notre Dame des Quilles

I'd been meaning to go to this place for a while and was really excited when I made plans to go with one of my friends tonight. Yay! Finally!

Actually, it ended up being more like boo. That's right, I said it! Anyhoot, we met up and walked to NDDQ on Beaubien. Got in, and said hello to the bartender (he didn't even nod) and went to sit in the adjoining room by the window.

We started talking about the fact that it looked like a cool place with all the miss matched stuff and, of course, the two bowling alleys (pretty cool!). 10 minutes later, we realised that even with only one customer (who was done her meal), we still hadn't seen the waiter. I started getting mad of course, cause that's what I do (I get a bit hulk-ish like). And 10 minutes later, I was fuming, so we left.

On top of it, by the time we left, there were a couple more patrons in the place; no service for them either! But they looked like regulars so maybe they're used to it. We walked out and no one tried to stop us, which was another annoying factor.

Oh, and the table was sticky. True story.

And now, the scores :/

Food: Well, apart from the store-bought chips the girl beside our table kindly passed on to us, we didn't EAT ANYTHING. So, a big fat 0

Service: I'd say with all the rudeness, -2 (that's right, I'm so mad, I'm going into minuses!)

I have to say that I WILL go back. Why? Because it's just so cool that they have bowling going on in there. I loves me some good bowling! But before I do, oh I'll let them know about my unsatisfaction!!!