ascendance's Profile
Kinton Ramen - First Taste
I'm kind of convinced the place in J-Town serves noodles from frozen.
I find Kinton Ramen has great noodles. Whoever upthread said it's too alkaline, I definitely didn't find it so. I could barely taste any alkaline, but then, maybe I'm used to won-ton noodles which have a pretty pronounced alkaline taste.
I think the noodles are the best I've had in Toronto. To be quite honest, I was almost sure it was going to be crap, because the guy behind the counter just dumped them into the basket and left it there for about 2-3 minutes. They didn't do any of the fierce stirring you see in a place like Kintaro in Vancouver. I found them to be very thick - thicker than Kenzo, at any rate, and very nice and chewy.
The cha siu, as someone said upthread, is amazing. They torch it with a blowtorch after stewing, which adds a bit of nice caramelization and smokiness on the surface. I got one giant piece of belly, which was a bit of a surprise, because it wasn't rolled and it was't sliced.
The eggs have a nicely soft yolk, but they didn't have that nice soy coloration on the outside. The white was uniform in color, as far as I could tell.
The soup base was thick, and it didn't have that heavy, salty taste that you get at Kenzo. I think, though, it might be missing something. Maybe chicken bones.
Dinner at Haisai, Singhampton near Collingwood
The OP has only heard of schmaltz in its Yiddish context, I would guess.
Fanny Chadwick's - Brunch is a ripoff
I tried Fanny Chadwick's today, since I was going to see a play at the Tarragon at 12. It was convenient, and I figured it would be great to add another suitable brunch spot to the local lineup.
Boy was I ever disappointed.
Seriously, $12 for 3 pancakes and a 2.5 inch piece of sausage? I don't care if it's house made, it looks like a third of a full sausage, and TINY on the plate. It's particularly insulting when the sausage-on-a-bun for the lunch menu is also $12. I would assume that you would get something similar in size to a Toronto street dog.
You also get served a tiny little pot of maple syrup. I guess I could have asked for more, but brunch service was pretty slow as is.
Are Toronto punters such suckers that they're willing to get gouged like this on a regular basis? Clearly, the answer is yes.
Food Truck Festival - Distillery District - July 2, 2011
As the one person in the group who got a Augie's Gourmet Ice Pop, I wasn't very impressed with the watermelon. The first few licks were excellent, but there was a bit in the middle which had no flavor. It was ok, and hit the spot on a hot day, but nothing I'd go out of my way for.
The Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder
Hahaha. You must have been there at the exact same time I was. I was there too when they sold out the chicken.
I think the margins are better on ribs, so they smoke more of them.
I didn't find the BBQ sauce sweet at all. I found it vinegary. St. Louis style, I guess. It had a lot of heat.
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St. Louis
595 Bay St, Toronto, ON M5G2C2, CA
Japanese box lunches for high park
Ok, I know the best place to get an inexpensive Japanese box lunch in the entire city is Taro's Fish. However, it's exceedingly inconvenient to have to run all way up to Leslie and Sheppard from downtown Toronto, then run back out to High Park for a proper sakura hanami.
Last year, I managed to find some fairly decent sausages and ukrainian snacks (bacon-flavored rye bread sticks) around High Park. This year, I want to do things right, and get a proper Japanese box lunch. Where should I go? Ideally, it should be somewhere between High Park and and where I live (around St. George Station).
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Taro's Fish
800 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, ON M2K, CA
Porchetta + Co
Ate there yesterday for lunch. Had soup (shared) and a platter with rapini and potatoes. The meat was very tender, moist, and flavorful. The crackling was delicious. That being said, when I go back, I'll definitely ask for all belly pork.
The soup was very good, but then I can make very good home made split pea soup. Lots of shredded meat in there.
Seating space is very limited. 4 stools only!
Crown Princess - Gina Mallet was right... everything was doughy
Went there for dim sum with a friend of mine.
We just missed the early bird special, so we ordered from the regular menu.
We got... deep-fried shrimp rolls, har gow, chiu chow dumplings with pork and veg, bbq pork buns x2, shrimp cheong fun, pan-fried pork and veg dumpling, and steamed lotus leaf glutinous rice. Pretty much what I get in a lot of places.
The shrimp rolls were made with mayo and a miscellaneous chunk of fruit inside. There was definitely excessive dough in mine, and one was particularly annoying to eat with a shrimp tail sticking out on each side. My friend liked it, but I didn't.
Shrimp cheong fun and har gow had fresh, pleasant shrimp. However, I found the skin on both to be excessively think. The har gow had the same wrapper as the chiu chow dumpling, which didn't seem quite right to me. The thicker wrapper seemed fine on the chiu chow dumpling, which came across as a tad underseasoned, and filled with a lot of peanut.
The bbq pork buns were good. But lots of places have good bbq pork buns, and some of them for less.
The lotus leaf glutinous rice was made with minced pork and salted egg. I am not a fan of salted egg, and neither was my friend. They came in 3 tiny individually wrapped portions, all of which were excessively mushy. Would have liked a bit more variety in what was inside - some chinese sausage or something, maybe.
The real WTF moment was the pan fried meat and vegetable dumplings. My friend and I ordered them expecting pot stickers. We instead got 3 little green buns, which looked a lot like the bbq pork buns with a tiny dollop of salted egg yolk on top. We were all convinced we were served the wrong order, and I even spoke to a waiter about it, who got a manager. When I picked up a bun, I saw that the bottom was slightly caramelized, which is why I guess they call them pan-fried. Also, the buns were filled with shrimp and vegetable. Now I don't know about you, but I don't consider shrimp a "meat." I should have snapped a picture of the menu so I could have asked someone what it actually said.
Service was mostly attentive. They kept our pot of tea topped up, and changed plates for us regularly. However, they still took forever to bring our bill, and never refilled my friend's water. Still need to work out a few details.
All told, it was pricey. Cost the two of us $52, with tax and tip. We could have eaten at Lai Wah Heen for that amount of money. And to top it off? When they brought us the bill, they told us the card machine was broken, and could we pay with cash, please? That's the kind of detail that it might be polite to mention at the BEGINNING of the meal.
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Lai Wah Heen
108 Chestnut St, Toronto, ON M5G 1R3, CA
Crown Princess
1033 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3A5, CA
Woodlot
Here's the photo album of the meals.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ascendance/DinnerAtWoodlot#
Not pictured: all three tarts, and the sides.
The two starter tarts (wild mushroom and lamb) were somewhat hidden under a lot of greenery, and I didn't think they would make interesting pictures. My opinion may have been biased by hunger, since they were the first two items to arrive.
The dessert tart was tucked into too quickly for me to snap a picture. I expect it was the lure of the home-made roasted marshmallow.
Woodlot
Your memory is spot on, with the exception of the gnocchi. That was in a tomato sauce with Italian sausage. I'll try to post the pictures later this evening.
Looking for Fritos in Toronto
I have a big pot of chili and I want to make Frito pie. However, I can't find Fritos in my local supermarket. Has anyone seen a big bag of original Fritos anywhere? Am I just going to have to suck it up and buy the No Name brand from Loblaws? The color looks wrong.
Japanese curry in Toronto
For a more upscale dining experience, Mikado near Eglington and Laird also makes their own curry from scratch.
searching for a wild boar vendor at the local farmers markets
When I was there on Saturday, the butcher at J-Town was taking orders for wild (well, farm-raised) boar. Might be worth checking out if you are in that area.
TORONTO - WE NEED TURKISH FOOD
The Doner Kebab place at Gerrard and Yonge (yellow sign, on the SE corner) is probably one of the most authentic doners I've had in Toronto. Locals might find it greasy, but the level of grease and the flavor profile is pretty comparable to what I've had on the street in Istanbul. The topping selection is also pretty comparable to what you would find over there, except for the lack of that thick, flavorful spice paste.
Daytrip Report: Niagara-on-the-Lake
As someone who ordered one of those inconsistently cooked venison at DeLuca's, I have to say, they did a really spectacular job after I complained. The second piece of venison that came out was beautifully rare, and pink in the middle.
Overall, my impression of DeLuca's was that the appetizers were really great. The pickerel sashimi boasted a pretty clever deconstruction, with a sauce made from a seaweed puree. The asparagus and poached egg also boasted a perfectly done poached egg.
Best chinese BBQ Pork
Sorry man. Kom Jug Yuen has just become positively ghastly. It's all pre-cut and sitting in sauce under a heat lamp, getting extremely dry. That's just no way to serve char siu. It needs to be chopped up fresh, with plenty of moistness on the inside.
Shark Fin City in Pacific Mall used to be very good. Unfortunately, it's gone downhill over the years.
There's lots of decent, mid-tier char siu. My advice is just to keep trying new places until you find one that fits your particular taste.
Roast beef, yorkshire puddings
Too much fat, or too dry? These are the most common problems with a bad roast.
It's a shame Ed's warehouse no longer is. While it wasn't the best, it was always reliable, especially before a show.
Roast beef, yorkshire puddings
I've had a great meal at House on Parliament, but the crowding issues, and the fact my friends don't live within walking distance, mean I don't go down there anymore. It's a pity, because I know their food is excellent.
Inexpensive IR Grills in Ontario?
Do I have to drive all the way or mail order from a Lowe's to get an affordable IR grill in Ontario? Does Canadian Tire offer anything decent?
Roast beef, yorkshire puddings
Where do people suggest for a nice, traditional British Sunday pub lunch? You know, roast beef, mashed potatoes, yorkshire pudding, peas, and so forth?
Or is this something I am just going to have to make on a Sunday morning?
Report: Mildred's Temple Kitchen
As one of the pork-eaters, I can't help but agree with the above assessment. I thought the pork sous-vide to be underseasoned, and could have seriously benefited from nice, crisp, skin. Some sharp-tasting condiment would have been appreciated.
However, my appetizer, which was a warm mushroom salad, was good. Nice textural contrast between the barley and mushrooms. I didn't worry so much about the mysterious green stuff, but I thought it came together. Could have used some morels, but I guess they're out of season, and that's just my own preference.
GOOD Turkish Delight?
I brought back 3 boxes from my last trip.
Two months later, I feel that was woefully insufficient.
GOOD Turkish Delight?
Well, I'll be... I just found this online...
http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-alias=grocery&field-brandtextbin=Haci%20Bekir
I'll be ordering a few experimental boxes to my cousin's place this summer.
TTC Subway Dash & Dine 2009
Taro's is dashing distance from Bessarion station. It's in the next mall over. It's definitely walkable from Leslie, but a little far.
All of those places are probably more walkable from Bessarion. I know because my doctor's is in the same medical building as Peking Man.
Acme Burger - Bloor/Bathurst
The downside of Ghazale's is the lack of a place to sit and eat. Which, i guess, isn't a problem for DeepGreens since he can dash the food home.
I agree with the initial review. I tried it. They flipped my burger prematurely, nearly tearing off a chunk of it. It came out dry, and slightly burned. The very poor track record Toronto has with burgers continues.
I mean, why is it that I can get a far better burger all over Israel than I ever could in Toronto? It's just sad.
Taro's Fish - new location North York (Sheppard/Leslie)
The great thing about Taro's is the occasional surprises they have there. I was there the other day, and they had fresh uni.
In terms of taste, it was terrible. Bland and flavorless. But you know, I still can't complain, since I paid $2 for each one, and that included cutting and plating. It was quite fun watching them hack them open, and discover that sea urchins are really rather empty spiky bags.
Cha Liu - Do people just not know better?
Hmm, I went back and looked at the Lai Toh Heen menu, and I see that nearly every single plate of dim sum costs $6. I think it was the astoundingly expensive $6.75 shrimp cheong fun at Cha Liu that made me think the menus were equivalent in price, but obviously, they aren't. It's $4.50-$4.75 for a plate of siu mai vs. $6.
Cha Liu - Do people just not know better?
I had a chance to have a quick lunch here the other day after a friend's recommendation, and I have to ask, do people just not know any better?
The place is expensive, the portions are small, and the chef devotes an incredible amount of ingenuity towards cutting corners. Explain to me exactly why am I supposed to come here, instead of paying similar prices for much better food at Lai Toh Heen six blocks away?
I tend to judge a dim sum place on three things - har gow, siu mai, and cheong fun. The har gow was fine. The skin was softer and thicker than I like, and a bit small. The siu mai was small, and shows the ingenuity of the chef at cost cutting - the scallop on top was sliced wafer thin, about half the thickness you'd find at just about any other place. The cheong fun was small, cut thick, and stuffed with tiny scattered cubes of barbecued pork, which wasn't astoundingly fresh. The shrimp cheong fun was an astounding $6.75 on the menu, which is why I went with the pork. Even the XO sauce shows clever cost-cutting, with tiny, fine strands of dried scallop from the tiny, cheap scallops.
