KevH's Profile
Chinese foodcourt stalls (authentic cantonese)
It really depends on your taste, I find most stalls on the salty side.
Ace Canton Kitchen in Chartwell is fairly popular. They also have a location outside of the Costco on Woodbine (by the sushi and burger joint across Costco) and FMP, though I have heard they are run by different owners. The Chartwell places are all pretty much the same imo, and the 2nd stall by Dragon bakery is actually run by the cook who used to work at the Ace in Chartwell.
Otherwise, you can also try the location at Silver Star Boulevard, but I would definitely order in advance for pickup, it takes forever if you don't.
Very Strange Experience at Yours Truly...And We Didn't Even Get to Dinner
This is kind of an interesting restaurant.
The wait staff was quite attentive with our table of 5 even though we did not order any booze on a Sunday night, but it was obvious that she was either new or is just helping out here and there.
I was kind of puzzled with the food we were served. I guess I just didn't really get it and neither did my stomach (and 3 of the other guests that went with me).
I guess my expectation was too high... and I just didn't really like the food (personal preference).
I guess I am just too old for that place, coming from a 30 y.o.
Supposedly best Shanghainese food in Toronto - Forgettable!!!!!
Ah-La has always been packed, but my family and myself felt that their quality was much better before their move from Yonge and Steeles up north to Markham.
Perhaps the volume of customers has gone up and they have to turn-over their tables much much faster than before. In a business perspective, I guess that makes sense.
What's the best French restaurant or bistro in midtown right now?
If you go to Pastis, do not order the foie gras duo or the escargot ravioli for apps or the prime rib main for two. The dishes were not good. (Foie gras was greasy, duck was dry, ravioli was tasteless, prime rib quality was not very good)
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
We had a very late dinner at Blacktree on Saturday night.
The foie was amazing, and the rest of the food was great!
Looks like that 1 hour drive (one way) is totally worth it to pay a visit.
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Blacktree
3029 New St, Burlington, ON L7N, CA
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
We were at Restaurant Le Saint-Amour in Quebec City, which is suppose to be famous for foie gras, and it wasn't up to it's hype.
We've tried both North44 and Bymark, and both McEwan restaurants failed to impress.
For the long weekend, we are trying Blacktree, fingers crossed!
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Bymark
66 Wellington St. W, Toronto, ON M5K 1J3, CA
Blacktree
3029 New St, Burlington, ON L7N, CA
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Well, we visited Pastis tonight for dinner. In summary, it was quite underwhelming.
The restaurant got very busy (and noisy) towards 8:00 pm.
We ordered:
Duo of Foie Gras and duck confit
Ravioli with snail
Prime rib for two
Dessert sampler and strawberry with custard and shortcake crumbs.
The foie gras is quite greasy, as is the ravioli. The foie gras is cooked well, has a bit of crunchy texture, seasoning is good, but it just doesn't seem to taste like others we have had. The duck confit was dry, as if it was either overcooked, or left over slices.
The ravioli is served on what looks like a bed of olive oil with spices. The ravioli doesn't have much taste or flavour to it and the pasta itself is quite hard.
The prime rib (for two) was served with spinach (which is quite bitter) and frites (which is quite good). The meat quality is so-so.
The desserts are quite nice, and their cappuccino is VERY strong.
We did not order any alcohol, the bill came to about $140 for two without tips.
It seems like everyone in the restaurant enjoyed their food very much, perhaps we ordered the wrong food in their menu...
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Pastis
1158 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4W2L9, CA
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Thank you all. A lot of good suggestions.
I ended up treading down to Pastis to take a look at the menu. Based on the crowd there on a Thursday evening and previous recommendation from family friend, I made a reservation there. Will definitely report back after the meal. (We have been spoilt by the quality in NY and Vegas, so we hope to find something more local.)
Looks like we will have quite a few places to try in the coming weeks!
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Thank you all. I'm still undecided at the moment, but now I have a good list of resto to check out in the near future!
Cheers!
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Thank you all. Any recent experiences?
I was reading through the older reivews and Trevor Kitchen was not recommended?
Patis was recommended to me previously, but they have no presence online, only a few things here and there about it.
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Trevor Kitchen
38 Wellington St E, Toronto, ON M5E1C7, CA
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Thanks! If anyone has other suggestions as well, please post!
ISO: Good Resto with pan-seared foie gras within GTA
Hello all,
Wondering if any chowhounders can provide me with some recommendation within the GTA where they offer pan-seared foie gras in their regular menu or tasting menu.
I went through the board and it appears Blacktree in Burlington and Quatrefoil in Dundas are highly recommended, but it is too far for a weekday for us after work.
I went through George and Lucien's menu and it doesn't appear to have it. Black Hoofs is close for the day and certainly not the atomsphere I am looknig for.
Senses we will be there soon so I don't want to visit again so soon.
Is Brassaii any good?
Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!
Cheers.
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George
111 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON M5C 1S2, CA
Lucien
36 Wellington St E, Toronto, ON M5E1C7, CA
Brassaii
461 King St. W, Toronto, ON M5V 1K7, CA
Senses
328 Wellington Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 3T4, CA
Blacktree
3029 New St, Burlington, ON L7N, CA
The Black Hoof
928 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6J, CA
Chinese Egg Puffs
You can get them at Market Village or the upper level of Pacific Mall. There are a few vendors there (in Pacific) that has the egg puffs for sale, though I find them to be too sweet compare to the ones I had in Hong Kong
Man-only BYOB birthday bash - Blacktree, Rundles or Treadwell?!
I have tried Treadwell last year during the labour day weekend, and Rundle the year before on the Civic Holiday weekend.
Treadwell's "tasting menu" (with photos taken with a blackberry, excuse the poor quality, and photos not posted in order)
Pan-seared Foie Gras with brioche
Tomotos w/ garlic croutons and Monforte Toscano cheese
White fish with scalloped potato, heirloom carrots, spinach and smoked bacon cream
Various Mushroom, potato gnocchi with butter froth
Lavender and honey glazed duck breast with turnip, potato and pickled cherries
Whole Peach cobbler with lavender ice cream
The food was well prepared, but for myself and my girlfriend, we find Rundle's atomsphere and food prepared more to our taste. Treadwell's "farm to table" philosophy shows in the freshness of their food, although the foie gras could be prepared better or the quality could be better (it didn't have the melt in your mouth texture)
Memory is sketchy for the food we had in Rundle, but I remember we both agree it was quite good.
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Treadwell
61 Lakeport Road, St. Catharines, ON L2N 4P6, CA
Richtree- What the !@#$%^&*
When the new Marche re-opened in Brookfield Place, we actually find the prices there cheaper than Richtree York Mills, and the food at Marche is slightly better. The only good thing about Richtree YM is to have a quick bite if you live in the area, and pizza is usually decent. Richtree YM used to have decent crepe, but now it has gone downhill, way down... and service, just forget it.
if you have to make a trip there that takes more then 15 minutes, don't go there...
PS You get water from the "fountain"
Niagara/Niagara on the Lake Dinners and Breakfasts?
Treadwell is defintiely a good place to go if you have not been there.
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Treadwell
61 Lakeport Road, St. Catharines, ON L2N 4P6, CA
Do people seriously like Mandarin?
Even though the food at Madarin should all taste the same from location to location, we always find the Yonge and Eglinton location better than others. (Since the entire family moved further north, we have found Dragon Pearl as a closer alternative)
Like everyone said, it is a good place for a large group/family gathering, it's mainly for selection and quantity over quality.
There are some food at Madarin, imo, that is decent. Torpedo shrimp, spring roll, chicken wings, are fairly decent if I want "Canadian Chinese food". (I have had worse)
Mother's Day Brunch at Lai Wah Heen
Tried it one mother's day a few years back. They hosted it in the banquet hall in the hotel. Lots of traffic and lots of lineup for the sharkfin and abalone. Overall was ok last time.
It's $72/person, plus tax and 16% tips this year.
Going back this year and we shall see how it goes...just hope people are more orderly here than the buffet I recently went in HK when I was there.
Whats good around Langstaff and Hwy 400?
If you don't mind the drive over to Langstaff and Dufferin, Sofra Grill is pretty good for kebobs. Price is very good for the portion.
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Sofra Grill
8707 Dufferin St, Vaughan, ON L4J 0A6, CA
Help! Repatriated Torontonian baffled by the Chinese food!
I know most poster here won't recommend this, but if you are looking for Chinese-Canadian food, have you tried any of the chinese buffet restaurants? Their menu is more western-ized and definitely have the food you are looking for, but whether they are well-prepared/fresh, it will be dependent on the time and day of the week you visit the place.
I would recommend Mandarin @ Yonge and Eglinton, that is the only Madarin that I find have decent food.
If you were back about 2 years ago, I would recommend Pink Pearl on Avenue, unfortunuately, the owners has retired.
TOCA by tom brodie
Believe it or not, the deep fried avocado is actually pretty good. Very creamy and firm. Texture is interesting.
It is a pretty nice place to have dinner, although for us, it wasn't something that would really wow us and we must return again. (of course your experience may vary)
TOCA by tom brodie
They also have a "raw bar" downstairs also called Toca, perhaps that's why they had to use his name on the menu.
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Toca
181 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5J 2H5, CA
TOCA by tom brodie
Ritz Carlton opened and open-table already has TOCA by tom brodie in their list, so we made a reservation for a group of 4 there for dinner today. The only thing I could gather here is that the chef is from Canoe... we are not really the type who follows the chefs, although we do like to try different restaurants.
Since there is ZERO review, here is one I have typed up. Please keep in mind I am not a food expert, so I am just putting it out there based on our own taste buds.
The hotel is brand new, and the staff is quite friendly, although I did not like the fact that they don't have self-parking (parking itself is $16.95, paid at the reception), but since we were with friends, I'd rather leave my car with them instead of having guests walk along with us (the RBC car park is right next door).
TOCA by tom brodie is on the upper floor in their main hall. We were greeted by the receptionists who took our coats, and we were seated near the top of the stairs, behind their table of wines, in front of the "cheese cave". The restaurant is not busy, so traffic is not that much and it is pretty quiet.
The cheese cave itself is an interesting concept, and we did see how they prepare their cheese plates and dining guests visiting the cave, along with Tom Brodie himself inside the "cave" Some of the cheese looks delicious, too bad we were too full to order.
The menu is quite short, one page, with 3 columns inside a folder type menu cover, with a note pad for the cheese of the day.
We ordered:
Apps: (Prices varies from IIRC, $14 to $25+)
Pan-seared Foie gras
smoke salmon
duck with onion soup
crab marrow (crab meat cooked in bone marrow)
Main: (prices varies from $34 to $68, for a 24oz bone-in bison rib eye)
Pan-seared venison
glazed cod
pork stew
(the cod and stew apparently are their popular dish)
Side: (Prices in menu for various dish are all $9)
cremed spinish
avacado frites
Dessert: (Don't remember the prices)
Double chocolate souffle
bread and butter pudding
chocolate lava cake
Apps:
The pan-seared foie gras is not spectacular, but it was interesting as it came with homemade cotton candy. The duck and onion soup is served at the table, where the server would pour the soup into your bowl. The crab and marrow is likely the highlight for our friend, as he is quite happen with this dish. My smoke salmon looked like a salmon pizza when it arrived. It was topped with some salad, a creme sauce on top of a piece of deep-fried dough. It kind of looks like a foccia, but it actually looks more like a "cow tong pastry", the sweet and savoury pastry that serves with congee in Chinese restaurants. The portion is huge (I suspect they served me the large portion, as there were two prices next to the dish).
Main:
The venison unfortunately, I was told, not too venison like. It's more like beef than venison. The cod itself is fresh, but the flavour is too strong and too sweet. Texture is quite good however. My pork stew I though is quite nice, although our friend who tried it thought it tasted like the vietnamese beef brisket stew. The seasoning is good and the pork texture is not dry, it's just right.
Side:
The cremed spinach apparently is very good. It is very fine, almost like a spinach dip according to my gf. It is very rich. The avocado frites is more like avocado wedges, deep fried in a batter similar to ones for the Japanese fried (fake) scallop. Texture is very creamy and works well with the homemade mayo that came with the side.
Dessert:
The double chocolate souffle is served with a side of chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. I was told it was way too sweet, and it was disppointing that one of the souffle ordered is actually caved-in. The lava cake is pretty generic, although the white coffee ice-cream is apparently good. My bread and butter pudding is quite sweet, but the flavour is very good, and the english cream kind of made it less sweet. What is weird however is that we got soup spoons for our desserts, making it hard for the desserts that came with smaller containers.
Staffs were quite attentive and polite, so no complain there. Total for the food for our group of 4, with 5 apps, 3 mains and 4 desserts came out to about $320, including taxes, without tips. One glass of ice wine, and just tap water for everyone.
Some photos of my dish and my gf's dish:
Apps:
http://img823.imageshack.us/i/img0049sl.jpg/
http://img233.imageshack.us/i/img0052ei.jpg/
Mains:
http://img12.imageshack.us/i/img0055hr.jpg/
http://img88.imageshack.us/i/img0058pb.jpg/
Avocado frites:
http://img821.imageshack.us/i/img0056de.jpg/
Dessert
http://img130.imageshack.us/i/img0059sp.jpg/
http://img233.imageshack.us/i/img0060lt.jpg/
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Toca
181 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5J 2H5, CA
Winterlicious Report: Toula
Went to Toula last year and was completely un-impressed. Service was so so and the food was completely blend. Friend of ours had dessert there and it was frozen and not defrosted.
All I have heard so far is that it has a good view, but the food not so much. CN Tower does a better job IMO.
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Toula
1 Harbour Square, Toronto, ON M5J 1A6, CA
O'Mei's live Alaskian King Crab 4 ways w/ pics
Their mango mochi is awesome, I can just eat that for dinner alone.
Winterlicious 2011 menus are out
Senses is consistently good during licious times...at least based on my experience. Been going there every year for 'licious.
We went on a Wednesday evening once during non licious time and the ingredents were not exactly fresh and we waited almost an hour before we were served apps. I guess the turn over is so much quicker that the food is pretty decent and interesting.
Auberge is also pretty good, and Corner House is quite nice for dinner, although they will rush you. Wildfire is a very good deal during this time, since their portion is still the same; if you order the lamb, the app and dessert is basically included free, vs you ordering it in normal dinners in previous years (I just noticed they don't offer lamb anymore this year)
Toula has a good view, and really, that's all it offers. Food is not very good and very generic.
Anyone tried Ame for licious or regular dinner?
I know a lot of you guys don't enjoy licious time, I personally prefer it over other times, since most people that dine at these places are dressed more casual; although some places rush you to finish (unless you order a lot of wine, which we don't do), otherwise, it's a pretty good time to sample some of the more interesting restaurants.
One thing I do every year is look through their offering, and regular menu, if the price is basically the same during 'licious and regular dinners, you can pretty much skip those places.
My Quebec City Trip - Thanks Chowhounders! (Plus reviews)
First off, I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent reviews and recommendations in the Quebec board. Although I would've loved to have visited and planned all the meals at places Chowhounds recommended, we ended up having 2 "proper" lunches and 3 "proper" dinners. Please bear with me as I am a newbie in describing the food, and I suppose taste is somewhat subjective, so others may disagree with my assessment.
Treading up from Toronto, the 8 hours drive totally seems to worth it. We stayed out of Old Town, at Chateau Bonne Entente, beautiful place (had the Urbania room), which has a complementary breakfast and "cocktail" hour. (More about that below)
We arrived around 7:00 pm and did not feel like heading out, so we had our first dinner at their "MC Lounge". (Note: If you plan to visit in winter, it seems like most good restaurants recommended here are closed Monday night). We originally wanted to try the Monte Cristo restaurant, but was out of luck as it was closed on Monday (day we arrived).
Day 1 Dinner MC Lounge:
We arrived shortly after settling into our hotel room, and was directed to a table quickly. Staffs were friendly and very efficient. After a bit of time figuring what to order, we ended up ordering the "garlic snail", french onion soup, miso marinated salmon steak and roasted halibut. We were a bit adventurious and curios about the blue cheese macaroni, so we also ordered this side.
I did not try the snail, but was told it tasted just like the ones out of the can, so it was not something very interesting, although the presentation is quite good. The Onion soup is one of the better ones I've had in recent years. Cheese is plentiful, the bread they used for the soup is a walnut bread, which gives it a bit of a nutty flavour, the soup itself not very salty and is very aromatic. The onion is very soft and I love the texture. I thoroughly enjoyed my soup.
The side arrived after our appitzers arrived; the cheese is very strong, and the texture is, in our opinion, perfect. We enjoyed it very much but it was very filling.
The main courses we ordered are both fish (salmon and halibut). The halibut is cooked very well, but the salmon seems to be a bit overcooked (it isn't completely pink and flaky, it just seems more cooked than we thought they would do). Both fish are fairly moist, although the miso mariate seems a bit weak, as we could not taste the miso.
Dessert was a chocolate trio, brownie, macarone, chocolate mousse and chocolate. Very smooth and tasty. Portion is quite generous.
We retired for the night after the dinner, and woke up just to try the complimentary breakfast that is included. Unfortunately, the time it opens is limited to 7:00 am to 9:00 am, a bit too early if we were to sleep in, so we made an effort to wake up for it.
Day 2 Complimentary Breakfast:- at hotel
The breakfast is served between 7 and 9, which is a "buffet" type deal, with K-cup coffee, tea, and a good variety of self-serve drinks, milk. Food provided are continental breakfast type food - boiled eggs, pastries, fruits, cold ham, cheese, cereals...etc. It is nothing special, although the partries were pretty decent, which ran out way before the end time of 9:00 am.
Day 2 Lunch: - Le Billig
Knowing my gf loves crepes (I have to admit, I do as well), I picked Le Billig after reading various reviews. We arrived at 12, and we are glad we did. Shortly after we were seated, they had to turn people away as the entire place is seated (quite small). We ordered, based on the server's recommendation, the potato/bacon crepe (savory), and the apple caramel crepe (sweet). I added duck confit to the potato crepe as well. It took awhile for them to arrive, since there is only one staff plus the chef. We were both very hungry as the aroma fills the entire restaurant. When they arrived, we were glad we came here. The crepes were FANTASTIC. The duck is a bit salty, but overall, the combination of the potato, bacon and the duck tastes great, and the apples were cooked well and the crepe itself is heavenly. Crispy around the edges and soft all around. Not soggy at all and the thickness is perfect. The side salad for the savoury crepe is also excellent, very fresh, and perfectly dressed.
Price is also excellent compare to what is available in Toronto (Richtree and Marche, as well as another crepe place in Toronto)
Day 2 Complementary Cocktail: at hotel
The hotel also offers a complementary cocktail time between 5 to 7 pm. Although we have dinner at 6:00 pm, we still couldn't resist trying this at least once. We arrived at the separate lounge and find that it is also a buffet style snack bar which offered: baked chips with guacamole, shrimp cocktail, olives, fruits, wraps, smoked salmon. The only thing that I thought was good is the home-baked chips with the guacamole. Shrimp cocktail is a bit small, and seems thawed; they just don't have the "crunch". Wrap was dry, and the chicken is also dry. Too bad we can't take much alcohol, as they do have a bartender serving cocktails for the duration of the cocktail time.
Day 2 Dinner: - Restaurant Panache
It was a very tough desicion to pick Panache as there were I believe two other restaurants that receives very postive reviews often in this board. I checked and browsed all the available menus from the restaurants recommended here in CH. Finally decided on Panache as it was easy for me to make reservation through OpenTable.
Due to the frequent one-way streets and a confused GPS, we were actually late for our dinner at 6:00 pm. Fortunately, the hotel it is attached to does offer valet parking, and we were still one of the first guests inside their restaurant. We were seated by the front windows overlooking the harbour in the upper level. Decoration is a mix of old style and contemporary decor. It is very interesting, and quite comfortable. We had ordered the tasting menu here, and in my opinion, great value. Service is quite good, and the servers did take their time to explain each dish in english to us, since our French is, let's say, very poor.
First dish was a foie gras terraine with brioche. Very generous portion, very tasty.
Second dish was a butter poached lobster claw with butternut squash ravioli. Lobster is perfectly cooked, and the ravioli is very tasty.
Third dish is venison two-ways: grilled and braised. We find the braised venison a bit dry, and way too sweet; although the grilled venison is cooked to perfection. A bit chewy, but still quite good.
Fourth dish is a apple+celery topped pastry served with a cheese mousse. The cheese mousse is very strong, very flavourful. It goes very well with the cripsy apple, celery and the very well baked pastry.
Fifth dish is sort of a cleansing dish: chopped strawberry in riesling with shaved ice. Very refreshing, the taste is fantastic.
Last dish is the dessert, also a chocolate brownie. Very well executed, very chocolaty. It is much better then the one we had at MC Lounge.
Day 3 Dinner:- Restaurant Le Saint Amour
This is one restaurant that I was unsure about as the review is VERY mixed in the CH board. The main reason why I picked this over the others is because their advertisement in the Quebec tourism booklet claims they "specializes in foie gras" - another of my gf's favourite.
We arrived on time, but it seems that they were not ready for any guests, as we were waiting for someone for their valet service. I actually had to walk in and ask if they do offer a valet service, which I thought is somewhat strange. Again, since we are early, we are the first guests seated. The decoration for the restaurant is quite interesting to us; I remember someone mentioned their room is dated and quite tacky, and I somewhat agree; although, in my opinion, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. The soaring ceiling is quite impressive in my opinion.
It did take us a bit of time to study the menu and order our food. The server is a bit indifferent as he was also serving a group of 3 who had already had quite a bit to drink prior to us ordering our food.
Appetizers:
"Fantasy" - which consisted of foie gras prepared 7 ways (it was really 4 ways, as 3 were, I believe almost like terrine, there were a creme brulee, macarone, a foie gras "ball" and other variety of terrine looking type foie gras served in various shapes. Presentation is excellent, and looks great. Taste wise, my gf loved it, as she also likes foie gras very much.
Pan-seared foie gras - it was a bit disappointed for me, since it was not "melt in my mouth", and supposedly a bit overcooked to my liking; although the sauce that accompanies the foie gras is very good, as it does help soften the "richness" of the dish.
Main:
Squab - quite good, prepared well. The wild boar bacon flavours the squab quite well.
Hawaiian Tuna wrapped with eggplant, seared - suprisingly, the tuna does not really have any flavour to it, and wrapping it with eggplant doesn't really do much to the dish either. The sauce did help to give the tuna more flavour, and the black lentils are very good. I enjoyed the lentils very much.
Dessert:
Blueberry creme brulee - it was way too sweet to our taste; although the flambe marshmallow is a very nice touch.
All in all, it is not spectacular, but the food is prepared well; The bill for our meal here actually was more than our previous night.
Day 4 Lunch:- Le Billig
Yes, we actually went back for more! I originally planned to drive back to Toronto after breakfast, but the lunch at Le Billig got both of us smittened and yearning to go back. So we delayed our departure and returned for lunch! This time, we ordered the Egg Benedictine, their signature duck crepe and a chocolate banana crepe.
The Egg benedict is cooked very well, the hollandaise sauce is tasty; although I find the ham (or was it a pemeal bacon? I already forgot, but I was a bit disappointed at the "meat".
Their signature duck crepe is excellent, the caramelized onion and cheese compliments the dish very very well. It is very enjoyable.
The dessert - dark chocolate banana crepe is excellent, not very sweet, and of course, we enjoyed the sweet crepe very very much.
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All in all, we enjoyed our "food tour" very much (I think it was, more than a city tour), as we have hard some great food in Quebec City, and would love to return again for more crepe, and fine dining at other restaurants.
Hope this isn't too long to read.
Cheers.
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Le Saint Amour
48 Rue Ste-Ursule, Quebec, QC G1R, CA
Le Billig
526 Rue Saint-Jean, Quebec, QC G1R1P6, CA
Restaurant Panache
10, rue Saint-Antoine, Quebec, QC G1K 4C9, CA
MC Lounge
3400 Chemin Sainte Foy, QC G1X 1S6, CA
Best Sushi in Richmond hill / Thornhill? (close to dufferin/hwy 7)
Hmmm, I guess I am lucky then, since I have not had good experiences with Inatei. (Obviously, they are not compariable to Zen, but, for me, it seems to be edible for me.)
I would expand, but I am not sure if I am following the etiquettes of Chowhound.
Best Sushi in Richmond hill / Thornhill? (close to dufferin/hwy 7)
Did anyone tried the new place at the Tim Horton/Ten Ren strip mall? The thai restaurant is now a Japanese/Korean place called Sushi Tei, which opened from Mississauga. I thought it is quite good, but Mi-Ne is still in my book the best in the area.
I was a fan of Inatei when I first found it, but the last time, their fish did not seem to be very fresh and we never went back since.
Emperor Fine Chinese Cuisine (My review)
Hi all,
As a newbie, my review may not be as worthy as others. Following my first thread looking for a (new) good chinese restaurant (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/639844) for a small get-together banquet (it was a birthday), I ended up heading to Emperor for their banquet menu dinner. Total came to about $600, include tax and gratuties.
I originally planned to try Yangs, but my girlfriend's mother and her friends tried it and they were not impressed. So I figure I'll give Emperor a go.
I booked the meal over the phone and asked them if there were any major wedding or banquet there, they told me no, and when I went and put a deposit down, I can clearly see their appointment book has a wedding banquet the day of my dinner. I was promised since I booked a room, it won't be noisy. (It was noisy when the wedding were making speeches and such)
Anyway, put the deposit down, and the day of the dinner, everything went pretty good, (it was slighly noisy when the wedding banquet outside was having some "fun".) The room is good sized and we are pretty comfortable (except one of my guests were complaining it was stuffy, so the staff cranked up the AC).
Dinner consists of:
suckling pig platter
scallop and shrimp dish
conpey (瑤柱) with mushroom, sea moss (發菜) and young sprouts? (豆苗)
sharkfin with fish maw (花膠) and chicken
soupy veggie dish (all mushrooms)
"white cut" chicken
steamed garlic lobster (2x)
sole with lillie petals
fried rice
noodle (e-Fu)
dessert (red bean soup and puff pastries)
The restaurant was kind enough to include bday buns for the dinner free of charge (as this was a birthday dinner).
The good:
- The veggie dishes were all done very well, although the soupy veggie dish is too sweet.
- The lobster was sweet and fresh.
- Conpey was done very well.
- Dessert was very well done
- Room was comfortable and large for a party of 9.
- Service was excellent from the server who looked after us
- The restrautant staff was very friendly, and volunteered to serve the bday buns with a candle, sang and such (though I'd rather not have that).
The not so good:
- The suckling pig platter did not have enough for each person (we had 9 people, the dinner is suppose to be for 10)
- the veggie in the conpoy dish is not fresh enough
- the sharkfin was terrible. Granted this is not suppose to be the "fancy" sharkfin, but the sea maw was very strange, texture and look is nothing like what I normally have had in the past
- chicken was overcooked and not much flavour
- in general, all the meat dishes were small, the veggie dishes were huge
- lobsters were too small
- fried rice is a little too bland
- the food delivery pace was too fast (we haven't even finish one dish and the next one already came), however, after we complained, they slowed down, so that was a plus.
Overall, I thought this was fairly overpriced for what it is. Some of the dishes were good (ie lobster, fish and the seafood dish, but for the price, I know I can do way better. (Unless inflation for these type of food is so much that the price doubled over the past year)
We went through their banquet dinner menu that's $1300 and we came to the conclusion that there are other restaurants that would offer similar food at a much lower price, that is similar level as Emperor.
My father's birthday will be coming up, hopefully, we will be able to try out another place and see if we can fine a new one that everyone will be happy with, or we may end up heading to Omei for lobster.
Thanks for reading!
Cheers.
