Isshin Ramen

I hadn't seen my bestie Tes and her main man Marky in over a year and, damn it, I missed them. We did what we did best: ramen! Isshin ramen is on many of Toronto's best ramen lists. Hello. AND hello. The ramen quest continues...in Toronto!!! Hey, a ramen quest is a ramen quest!

We went there during prime lunch time, last Saturday, at around 1PM. It was FUUULL. Fortunately for us, the turn over is very high. I loves me a good turnover. That sounds weird, but I'm sticking to it. That's actually what I put on my Tinder account to get all the ladies: 'I likes me a good turnover'. And I get them ALL. I'm totes kidding, unfortunately. Or fortunately?

 

Moving on. The place is cute, with small tables, very close to one another. An open kitchen at the front made for a nice welcome: all those smells and kitchen hustle and bustle. Just what I like! A big painting of a dragon on the long wall completed the décor of the place.

We were there for the ramen, but we wanted a little somethin' somehtin' extra, too! We started with Takoyaki. Or deep fried octopus balls. Hehe, octopus balls. Balls. I shall stop being 12. It was supes hot. The way every hot dish is supposed to be. Not cold, not luke warm, hot. Hot god damn it! Can you tell I have a thing with my dishes' temperature? I dso. I HATE it when the actual plate is cold and I LOATHE it when something that is supposed to be a certain temp, is not that temp. Aaaaaanyway, moving on! Those were little balls of heaven. Heaven in a ball. Mmmm! They were meaty and moist and all that good shtuff (the h ain't a mistake, people).

Pork gyoza. I loves me a good gyoza. Or dumpling if you prefer. They were marvelously crispy and juicy. OK, juicy enough. No one likes a dumpling burn. Dipped in a nice little sauce that screamed umami, they were even bets (better... no I will not stop abbreviating words)!

And now, la pièce de résistance: el ramen! They have a bunch of different types of ramen and they ALL look so awesome! It looked soooo good!!! I had the miso ramen. As soon as it hit the table, I felt my mouth watering. The broth was on the thicker side, which is what I love in my ramen. I had ordered extras like a marinated egg and nori: the nori is, well, nori (always good), and the egg was right on par. I gots to try making my own marinated eggs. Yaassss!!! The noodles were a bit meh. I mean, they were not not good, but I found them way too large and there were too many in my bowl. They serve up different types of noodles (which, by the way, are made specifically for Isshin Ramen by a Japanese noodle manufacturer, and delivered every other day) in different ramen. I just felt like my noodles, since they were larger, were heavier and I got full way quicker than I should've. The meat was supes taste and just fatty enough. I just wish there would've been more of it. I want more of everything, god damn it! Oh, except noodles. Less noodles please.

Service was quick and efficient. You know what I'm gonna say: Asian restos have the quickest and the most efficient service. ALL. The. Damn. Time. They checked up on us and they refilled our water. No fuss no muss.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 8.5

I really enjoyed this ramexperience (change approved!), but there are SO many ramen restos in Toronto!! I think it's safe to say I'll go to another one before I go back to this one.

 

Maha's

My bro Olive lives in the East End in Toronto at Greenwood. I love that hood. All the war time houses, all the bars, the nice little bakeries, and then, there's Maha's.

Maha's is an Egyptian resto that is always busy. ALWAYS. We went on a week day at 8h30am so we got to sit as soon as we got in. Yay! My bro and his wifey swear by it; pretty much any time they can go, they go. With reason. The place itself is very quaint (ya, I can use fancy words), with knick knacks placed here and there. I loved the eye of the pharaoh right when you walk in. Guys, they are WATCHING US. There's about 20 seats in this very cozy and comfy place. It was a tad on the cold side for me, but hey, that's f*ckin' winter for ya!

I started with what I thought was tea with cardamome. Well, it was actually COFFEE with cardamome. Yep, this marked the first time I actually ordered coffee. Ever. Even if it was by mistake. I looked at it, I told my bro 'hey that looks/smells like coffee'. He replied: 'mmmyya, that's cause it IS'. I actually had 4 or 5 sips not disliking it simply because the cardamome was very present and I just love that spice! And then I started kind of feeling sick-ish (and felt like this all day!) because of all that caffeine. Totes my fault. Damn you, coffee! Damn you to hell!!! The first sips were great tho, I must admit.

The date scramble. Yes. AND yes. That scramble was buttery goodness. The dates were oozing taste (ya, it's a thing) and the whole dish was just packed with flavour. I said 'wow' at least 5 times. If not more. The herbs in there made it that much better. There was a little salad that was very fresh and went very well with it. In all seriousness, one of the best scrambled eggs I've had. Ever. Yes, there are a lot of firsts here. It was served with charred balady bread which was just heavenly: so soft and buttery and fresh. Mmmmm. Whenever I eat a dish in a restaurant that includes a bread-y thang, I tell myself I won't eat the whole thing (you know, dem carbs. There's a reason I gave my toaster away) but in this case I couldn't NOT.

My bro had the Cairo Classic. Holy sh*t. Goodness on a motha f*ckin plate, I tells you. Let's falafel first. Hello. Best damn falafel I've had in ma life. Not dry at all, like a lot of falafel out there (you, know, OUT there!) and packed with flavor. The eggs were cooked to damn perfection and don't even get me started on those fava beans! Mmmmmm! Not overly cooked and still a tad crunchy! I am a beans-at-breakfast fan and this was right up my alley. That creamy feta fit oh so well in there and tasted, wait for it, perfect! It had just the right level of saltiness. Mmmm, that bread dipped in everything with an egg on top was just so lovely and just the most perfect bite! I think we can say that the key word here is 'PERFECT'.

Service was on par the whole time we were there. A nice and warm welcome and a great big smile. Always important! Staff was very smily and very friendly. Seems like a nice environment to work in! Imma gonna send em my cv. For, you know, a part time when-in-Toronto job! Oh, and we had a pitcher of water on the table with a bunch of fresh mint in there! Supa fresh!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 9

Hopefully, I'll be going back soon! I need to try everything on the menu! Oh, and, note to self, do NOT order the coffee!

Barque Smokehouse

Sylvia and I had been walking for a while and therefore starving. We were on Roncesvalles ave (try to say that 5 times in a row) right beside High Park in Toronto and we found this little gem of a place. 

This restaurant is not too big, not too small, with around 40 seats. It has a nice feel to it, with picnic tables, a bar and some higher tables. Lots of wood in this place which makes it quite homey.

Popcorn!

On top of it, as soon as you sit down, you can eat! Eat what you ask? Well, the big arse bowl (more of a bucket) of paprika and cinnamon sprinkled popcorn. SO GOOD. I don't even care if someone else had their hands in there, it's too good! And, well, the bucket is full so I'm thinking no one has :p

Heaven in the form of a drink

We started by ordering drinks. Duh. Had the Barque Caesar and do I ever NOT regret getting it. One of the best drinks I've ever had. Seriously. And as most of you know, I've had quite my share of drinks, hehehe! On top of tasting great, it had this lovely pickled asparagus in there which added just a touch of brininess with a salty and spicy side to it. The star, OH, the star was of course the candied bacon rim. Holy bejesus. It was HEAVEN-IN-MY-MOUTH. I'm not even kidding. It was passed caramelization, it was freaking candied. Think how much bacon is oh-so-good and then multiply that by 100.

Burger

Brisket

As for food, I had the smoked Barque burger and Sylvia had the Barque brisket. Sylvia said this about her meal: 'it's the best thing in the world'. The bread was moist, light and fluffy, the horseradish and the mayo were great and the whole thing was just oh-so-good. The slaw was sweet enough and the fried onions were there to balance out the whole thing. And then, she tasted mine and she said holy shiz, I didn't think it could get better than my brisket. Oh but it did. Did I mention that I had candied smoked bacon in my hamburger as well? Oh yes I did! Plus aged cheddar, caramelized onions and bbq sauce. So, basically, heavenly. Obviously, the bacon made it great. The cheese was just salty enough to balance the sweet side of the bacon, the bun was airy and fluffy and the meat was perfectly cooked. The mayo was spicy and the pickle added a fresh touch to it all.The fries were homemade, crispy and well seasoned with a hint of paprika and cinnamon=so good!

As for the service, it was wonderful: the waitress even attempted to fix our slightly wobbly table. She had a smile on her face from start to finish.

And now, the scores!
Food: 8,5 (a 10 for the drink!)
Service: 8,5

So basically, the key word here is HEAVENLY. Go there and please PLEASE order the Caesar and the burger! You will not regret it, I assure you!

Nadège

After walking through Sylvia's favorite park, Trinity Bellwoods Park, we stopped by a lovely pâtisserie on Queen Street West. It looked very white: white walls, white counters. But then you looked at their produce and a BANG of colour! Sandwiches, macaroons; everything was so colourful!

Macaroons, macaroons, macaroons!

Nadège is a French pastry chef (actually, pretty much her whole family is into pastry) who opened her first bakery in Toronto in 2009. She then got rave reviews and just opened her second pâtisserie in Rosedale I believe. It's more of a fancy place then a 'let's go get a small croissant for breakfast' place. Their sandwiches range from 7 to 9$, so it's not that cheap but they do have great ingredients. Their macaroons are 2,20$ each. I find it kind of steep (ok, I never really buy macaroons) but damn worth it because they were amazing (bought the cherry chocolate one and the mojito one...both great).

Yummy sandwiches

Anyhoot, I had the fig and goat cheese croissant. It was very nice, the croissant, very soft and buttery. The cheese was lovely and there was just enough of it. The figs, on the other hand, meh. I LOVE figs and since my Sciences des aliments class, I have a real fondness for them and how and when they are ready. Those figs were not ready. They were almost tasteless and a bit on the hard side. Darn it.
Oh but I had a pomegranate and elderberry drink from bottle green which turned out to be the highlight of my meal. It was cold (YES!) and refreshing and just sweet enough.

Sylvia had the smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich which was apparently amazing. The cheese was whipped into a frenzy and therefore really soft and unctious. She also had homemade juice. It was really tasty but there was too much foam (like 1/4 of the glass).

The service was really great. Always with a smile, always efficient. They were all nice and considerate. We sat down outside and 4 minutes later, we had our meal. She even came by to check if everything was fine. Y'all know how much I appreciate that!

And now, the scores!

Service: a big 9,5
Food: Sylvia gives it a 9 and I give it a 6. Sorry, figs!

A great place to enjoy fresh produce and soft croissants. Go. Enjoy. Don't take the fig sandwich if they are not ripe :p

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!

The Grenadier Restaurant

I decided to go see ze wife in Toronto over the weekend. Therefore this will be eating out in Toronto part deux! Ze wife went for a walk in High Park earlier this week and saw that there was a little restaurant hidden in there, so when I got there, she told me we were going to go eat breakfast there on saturday morning. We got there at around 12:30 that 'morning' and went into this eighty's ish restaurant that looked really old school but not in a good way. There are two sections in there: one where you go up to the counter and pick whatever you wanna eat and then sit down and then there is the sit-down, you-get-a-waitress part of the restaurant. We chose the second one. We passed by this tiny table with only bottles of ketchup on it on our way to our table. May I also mention the abundance of plastic plants, some even creeping onto our table, in this restaurant. Ah, the charm of it! And the OLD carpets... bah.

You see when you enter this restaurant, you realise it's run by all these little elves, no, students... that are barely 16 (some looked 13 or 14). Therefore, the service was bound to be so-so. The waitress came to our table with the really-too-old-menus-that-u-can-barely-read-anything on. They had a nice selection of breakfasty stuff like omelets and pancakes and what have you. I chose my 'usual', the biggest breakfast there is on the menu: sausage, bacon, ham, eggs, bread potatoes. It was not the best breakfast, by far. First, three eggs= too much. Why not two? I think two should be the magic number here. But no, every breakfast contained three eggs (MY breakfast, all the omelets,...). The maple syrup that came with the pancake was obviously not real maple syrup but I guess that was to be expected. Ze wife ate the pancake and said it was really dry. My potatoes were so-so and there were not nearly enough on my plate. I don't know, I get THREE eggs, can't I get TWO and more potatoes please? The ham was a bit dry too. All in all, not exceptional.

We all had desert after, I don't know why... we were already full :/ I had a cheesecake and it was nice but not as nice as many I've tasted before and the wife had the banana choco cake (which I found a tad too dry and too banana-y) and it was the same for her. (Rockaberry ROCKS!)

As for the service, we had many people coming to our table and at some point, we were confused; who is serving us again? We didn't get regular refills of water, and at some point, it seemed like all the servers were sitting in a corner, eating. It took us a while to find our server and ask her for the bill, took a while to GET the bill and then another while for her to show up so that we can tell we'd be paying interac. Not too satisfied of the service but again, these people were all learning. (you should have seen the busboy--who could not have been more then 13, trying to see how he could pick up about 12 glasses, 5 plates and cutlery without making more then 1 trip. hehehe. funny shtuff. He actually managed it in the end!)

So, for the scores:
Food: 5.7 (don't ask)
Service: 6

It was fun to go and the prices were good, but I won't go back.