Charles Yu's Profile
Tom Brodi leaving TOCA at the Ritz
Great news!! Now, I hope management can hire a really great chef and re-vamp TOCA into a restaurant with food quality that commensurate with the 'Ritz Carlton' standard. Like the San Fran, Chicago, or the Hong Kong ones!!
Must eats. Toronto in four days.
I would throw in a meal at Sushi Kaji as well, which IMO is the best Japanese restaurant east of the Rockies ( NYC restaurants excluded )!
Best Pasta Dish of 2012
I would love to do a side-by-side taste test of this with the 'Lincoln's' version!!
Scarpetta (Thompson Hotel) - Voted BEST OVERALL Restaurant for 2012
Only memory about this place was its funky blue decor and its over-salty pasta ( Agnolotti with short ribs and bone marrow??!! )
High end dinner for executives
So many fellow chowhounders recommending Colborne Lane!!!!! Has anyone been RECENTLY to confirm current 'food status??
Reason I asked is that I heard from a number of non-chowhound foodie friends the food has really gone down hill!! Even Toronto Life has lowered its rating to only 1.5 stars!! ( my last meal there last year, the rating was still 3.0 or 3.5 stars!! )
Best Pasta Dish of 2012
Here are a few delicious ones I had within the past month:
Goose liver Ravioli, Balsamic Vinegar, Brown Butter - BABBO
Spaghetti with crab meat, Santa Barbara Sea Urchins, Basil - MAREA
Fusili with Red wine braised Octopus, Bone Marrow - MAREA
Linguine alle Vongole ( Clams, Pancetta, Shishito Peppers, Bread Crumbs ) - LINCOLN
Ravioli di Miale Cacio e Pepe ( Milk fed Pork Shoulder, Percorina Romano, Black Pepper, Milk Sauce ) - LINCOLN
Reginette Verdi al Ragu Bolognese ( Veal, Pork, Beef, Parmegiano Reggiano ) - LINCOLN
[ Some of the aforementioned dishes were split up into appetizer portions ].
Causeway Bay gems?
In a culinary destination like Hong Kong, very often, the best tasting food can be found in genuine 'hole-in-the-wall' places with newspaper table cloth, gutter near by and all the nasty stuff!
During my last trip, one of my foodie cousin took me to a Chiu Chow place ( Sun Jung Kee - Chinese name in lower right hand corner of photo ) in Hung Hum. Man!! Was the food gooooood! The 'wok-hay' and taste of the stirred fry ' Chinese Pickled Mustard Green and Goose Intestine with Fermented Black Beans " alone was out of this world and its taste still lingers on in my memory after all this time!! No joke!!
In addition, we had all the usual goodies like Herbed Soy ( Lo Shui ) marinated goose, mixed meats and innards, oyster pancake, clay pot rice with preserved sausages...etc. All memorable and CHEAP!!!
BC Spotted Prawns - A quick update
Mushy texture is one of the best indicator for cooked 'unfresh seafood'. I too learned an expensive lesson by buying 'recently deceased' Alaskan King Crab' from T&T.. Not just mushy but big void between shrunken flesh and shell as well!
Bloor Street Diner - Voted BEST FRENCH BISTRO for 2012
If Bloor Street Diner is voted BEST for 2012, I would like to know how the following list of good bistros fare? - Biff, Ici Bistro, La Palette, Mogette, Pastis Express, Simple Bistro, Table 17, Tati Bistro, Harbord Room , Weezie's....etc.
Best Thing I Ever Ate (Well some of them)
I re-tried that dish at Daniel when it was at the Cafe Boulud address. Understandably, the sauce has gone done hill!!
Best Thing I Ever Ate (Well some of them)
Best 'single' dish I have eaten in New York is still the Daniel Boulud's ' Black sea bass in a crispy potato shell, served on a bed of leeks in a red wine sauce' That was years ago when Boulud was still using whole bottles of Barolo for the wine reduction! Sooooo good!!
Comments Welcome on My Hong Kong Restaurant Selections
Where are you staying??! Is your hotel close to one of the THW's location?
Dim Sum take-out from THW might not be a good idea since apart from the B-B-Q pork buns, other items will deteriorate in quality and texture from condensation inside the containers. IMO, a sacrilegious treatment of Michelin caliber food! Besides, where are you planning to eat your take-outs?
If you are going to Happy Valley for the horse race, I would suggest taking the taxi to 'Tasty' in Happy Valley. You can have your choice of noodles, congees, dim-sums and other tapas size wok-hay dishes. Taxi from Tasty to the race course is less than 5 minutes!
If you really wanted to savor good Michelin calibre Dim Sum, why don't you move Tso Choi Koon to Day 2 Dinner and then have a great sit down dim sum lunch at the 2* Ming Court on Day 4?!
How's this for an interesting ' Food and Wine Pairing '??!!
The following food and wine pairing was presented by Andre Mack - award winning former head sommelier of the Michelin 3* Per Se in the March Bloomberg Businessweek food section.
The wine - 2007 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Riesling, Nahe
The food - Deliciouly light flavour of sweet potato commingles with molasses in a melt-in-your-mouth guiltless treat
Oh!! By the way, the food is ' Human Grade' DOG FOOD from Nature's Variety SweetSpot!!! Ha!!!! :D
Best Thing I Ever Ate (Well some of them)
Razor Clams a la plancha - Casa Mono
Cacciucco ( Italian seafood stew ) - Lincoln
Linguine with Crabmeat, Sea urchins and Basil - Marea
Chinese Hot Pot in Hong Kong
This might help you?!!
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr1.htm?dishes_id=1001
You sure you want to eat Hot Pot in the middle of July?!
Duke of Kent review - Authentic British Pub at Yonge & Eglinton!
Any Scotch egg on the menu?
BC Spotted Prawns - A quick update
Wow!! $17.99 per pound at this early stage!! Pretty good deal!
Yes, the prawns we had this evening were HUGE!! Loved the head!!
BC Spotted Prawns - A quick update
For those of you foodies who like to savor this delicacy. Just a short note to inform you that they are now available at 'The Emperor' for $28 a pound. Best way to prepare is to either wok-fried with Maggi sauce (see photo) or top soy.
O'Mei also offers this but at $36 per pound!!
T&T have live ones for $19.88 per pound
Trip Report: HK, Beijing, Shanghai
Glad you have a wonderful time! Now, reading your post makes me homesick and HUNGRY!!!
Per Se and Momofuku Ko on Consecutive Nights?
Agree with Cheeryvisage. Should be OK with that. After all, the meals with be stretched out and dishes are small portions.
Two weeks ago, in two days, I ate at Casa Mono, Marea, EMP, Babbo and Lincoln. My blood pressure is still normal!! :D
Crawfish Boil in Toronto
The live Louisiana crawfish are all sold out now!! It was a steal at $4.99 per pound! Live spotted prawns are $19.99 per pound!!!
Hot Pot ...Take Out
They are available in almost all Chinese supermarket now like T&T
La Societe review - Lovely upscale French Bistro/Brasserie
This is one establishment that I still haven't been. However, seeing they, a French Brasserie, serving 'Scotch Barley Soup' really makes me think twice or thrice about making a trip all the way down!!
Frozen Dim Sum
Ref: Shanghainese place. Its the strip plaza anchored by a Chinese restaurant, NOT the one inside the indoor mall with a medical office!
80th birthday celebration at Chinese restaurant in Toronto
Looked familiar!! I think I had that banquet menu at a wedding?! However, my version was a whole suckling piglet. Believe its $1200 per table?!
Never expect the day I will recommend Dim Sum at, 'of all places' - Chili Secrets!!
Chili Secrets on Leslie just north of Hwy #7 ( Richmond Hill ) is known for serving the cheapest Dim Sum in the area. As such, I have always been skeptical about their quality and hesitant in giving it a try!
Today, due to some unforeseen reason, I had a quick Dim Sum lunch at this place and was pleasantly surprised! ( more like stunned )!!
The Har Gow I ordered had one of the best seasoned and most delicious prawn fillings anywhere in the GTA! Fresh, juicy and crunchy; whole, rather than diced shrimps were used. The intact wrapper, though not the thinnest is more than acceptable. It actually tasted better than Dragon Dynasty's version!
The braised beef tendons was a revelation and one of the tastiest rendition I had. The sauce was simply amazing!
Steamed chicken with Chinese mushrooms over rice in a porcelain pot was great value for the money. Especially when 'free-range' chicken was used!!
The Beef wrap comprising of spiced beef, veggie, Hoisin sauce wrapped inside a Chinese crepe was so good, my son ordered another one to go!
For sure, I will return and try out more of their offerings. ( hoping my experience today is not an aberration!! )
