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Thanks for all the suggestions!
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Do they exist? Can I buy them in Toronto? Might as well have people hunt for things that are worth eating.
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Nota Bene for sure. If some version of the Yucatan hot and sour soup is on the menu, definitely go for that.
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Just gas when we were there.
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Went on Friday night at about 8:00 PM. Had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. The place is clean, if a little generic looking. The service was good - efficient, courteous. They changed grills about halfway through. They also refilled our sides and took away all empty plates to keep our table fairly uncluttered.
We started with the beef and vegetable fried dumplings, 6 each. These were competent but not remarkable. We then ordered three meats to barbecue - marinated beef, lamb, and duck. All were good quality, with the marinade for the beef and lamb being particularly nice. The sides were the same as mentioned below. The kimchee had a particularly nice zing to it.
Overall pretty good, but pricier than other spots downtown. Our bill came $90 for three including tip and taxes (we drank no alcohol).
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I am a long time Swatow veteran, having gone there a few times a year for nearly 20 years as best as I can remember. I view it as Chinese greasy spoon and thus only hold out limited expectations for it. That said, I really enjoy a selection of dishes there. As others have mentioned, shrimp dumpling noodle soup is always enjoyable and I also like a number of "off the wall" dishes.
I definitely don't think it is in the class of some of the finer Chinese restaurants in Markham, nor is it even as good as much of the stuff at Chinese Traditional Buns and Mother's Dumplings. But I still like a selection of dishes there much as I still like the fries at McDonald's.
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We went to the North York location of Kenzo over a year ago and thought it was only so-so.
Just tried the Dundas location yesterday and also found it so-so. I ordered the shoyu ramen since I wanted to really taste the quality of the broth. The noodles were pretty good, with a nice resilient texture. But the broth was nothing special, although certainly not horrible. So I'd eat there again for a cheap lunch when I'm in the area, but I wouldn't travel a distance to eat there.
I've had the ramen at Konichiwa and Tokyo Grill. I find the former also so-so and not as good as Kenzo. I actually quite like the ramen at Tokyo Grill, although I see others here aren't as impressed. It remains my favourite that I've had in the GTA.
As mentioned above, we don't yet have ramen as good as in Japan (I ate 3 weeks worth on a trip there) but given places like Kintaro in Vancouver, there's no reason we can't wish for more.
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Haven't been to either Segovia or Casa Barcelona in over a year, but have had the paella at both places multiple times. Both were consistently good, so I hope they are still reasonable bets.
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Köszönöm szépen for the quick replies!
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I'm planning on getting back into cooking Hungarian dishes, which I haven't done for ages. Where (downtown if possible) can I find Hungarian ingredients, particularly good quality Hungarian paprika and fresh parsley root? The long gone Elizabeth Delicatessen on Bloor used to be my go-to place but now I don't know where to look.
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We've been twice over this past year. We really liked it. The chicken soup is marvellous, particularly with the dried goji berries. My wife swears by the pasta with rabbit soffrito. The charcuterie plate was an altar to pork fat. The suckling pig and boudin noir tart is too rich to have if you've had the charcuterie plate already.
The price is pretty decent - certainly expensive, but plenty less than places like Canoe.
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We just ate at this location of Lalibela today for lunch. The injera was pretty good - a mixture of teff, barley, and sunflower (likely by the same supplier as several other restaurants on the Danforth). We ordered the "spicy" version of the veggie platter and agree that it was pretty tame. The lentils were all nicely flavoured, particularly the spicier red one. The kale/collards was finely chopped and quite buttery. The cabbage was also nice. We also ordered the doro wat (chicken and boiled egg), which was also nicely flavoured although a tad salty.
Overall as good as Wazema, our current favourite out of the Danforth bunch. We need to back to try the fish and some of the other dishes that rarely crop up at other Toronto Ethiopian places.
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The noodle soups are great, particularly: shrimp dumpling, four balls, beef stew.
Just about any of the fried noodle dishes are also good: Swatow special noodle, SIngapore, beef and black bean.
Shrimp with scrambled egg on rice.
Shrimp and eggplant as mentioned above.
Clams and black bean sauce (cornstarchy, but still yummy).
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The mole was very flavourful but the chicken itself was way overcooked last time we were there. The pozole was quite good. The tacos and various other tortilla-based dishes were also good. The cactus salad isn't worth the money. And yes, the wait was very long.
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Thanks for the warnings. Thanks also for the link to the previous thread. I did do a search first and for some reason missed that thread. I think I'll eat some food before we go.
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We're going to Highway 61 tonight because my dad wants to go. Any recommendations? Warnings? We do love BBQ and have enjoyed it in many southern states, so we want to know what to expect.
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Vanessa Le Page (The Cake Lady) can make just about any shape or form. She made a fabulous grand piano for our wedding. For other events we've had a psychedelic Volkswagon beetle, a lamb, and Half Dome (the mountain in Yosemite). Most importantly, her cakes are delicious. The chocolate version is moist, not too sweet, and very chocolate-y. This is her website: http://www.thecakelady.ca/
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I also really enjoyed the porcini risotto at Coppi several times. But then, I do like salt!
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The biggest letdowns we experience with pho are broths that lack flavour or are too salty. And we also hate overcooked noodles. With that in mind:
Used to love Golden Turtle on Ossington but haven't been in years so it is certainly possible they have gone downhill.
We live near Gerrard and Broadview so we frequent Mimi's and really like the flavour of the broths and the variety of the different noodle soups. The seafood one with glass noodles is particularly nice - not too salty, seafood lightly cooked. The spicy Hue style one is very tangy and the curry ones are rich but good.
Hanoi 3 Seasons on Gerrard doesn't focus on pho, but the few they have again have nicely flavoured broths. We recently tried Xe Lua and it was also good, again with nice broths.
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With only two short trips to Italy, I'm not sure I am in the best position to judge authenticity. I do like Terroni, particularly the antipasto of oyster mushrooms and parmesan over arugula and the pizzas. I also really like Noce, though it has been a while since I last went. Via Allegro is a total hoot, but there's a kind of show-offy style to the cooking that doesn't fit with what I saw in Italy.
Coppi is another I'd add to the list. The risottos are wonderful, particularly the one with porcini. And the whole fish baked in salt is fabulous.
Still haven't tried Mistura yet.
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Sorry, this isn't quite a summary of the thread, but run down on the restaurants we have tried in TO.
My wife and I have enjoyed Ethiopian food for many years. Last year we spent a month in Ethiopia and when we came back, we found that our tastes in Ethiopian food had shifted. Things that we didn't notice before (like the exact texture and taste of the injera) suddenly mattered a lot. We really miss the 100% teff injera. We avoided any raw meat there for obvious reasons and thus we still don't tend to order those dishes here.
So here are some thoughts, with the above biases in mind:
Queen of Sheba - used to be our favourite. Still very tasty stews and nice variety of both meat and veggie. But the injera is made from barley and rice and now is not to our liking - kinda chewy and glutinous.
Lalibela - the injera is OK and the stews were less flavourful that Sheba. Vegetable variety is good, but mainly a la carte rather than in the combo plate.
Ethiopian House - the meats could be more tender (although in Ethiopia, everything is chewy so perhaps this is more the way they like it). Less vegetable variety.
Addis Ababa - the injera was good. According to the waiter, they are planning to put 100% teff injera on the menu at a higher price. The stews themselves were good, although the meat was oversalted. The quantities were a bit miserly.
Rendez-vous - injera was so-so (teff and barley) and the stews (particularly the meats) were too salty. The vegetables were at room temperature (which can be authentic) but aren't as yummy this way.
Wazema - very good injera, with a reasonable teff quotient. All the stews were flavourful and the vegetables were nicely done. A friend from Ethiopia felt this one was his favourite also. The only downside is that there is somewhat less variety than some.
Ibex - injera only so-so. Veggies were generally good but again a bit lukewarm. Didn't go back so haven't tried the meats.
Haven't tried Dukem, Africa House, or Nazareth yet, so no opinions there.
So in summary, our favourite so far is Wazema. If Sheba can do better injera, they would be our second favourite.
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