TorontoTastress's Profile
Potage ... in France and Taiwan
I tasted 'rou geng tang' in Taiwan almost 20 years ago and immediately fell in love with this yummy comfort soup (the pork versioN)!! I've never known where to find it in Toronto though but I went to Taiwanfest at Harbourfront last month and tasted a pretty decent version. In my euphoria, I forgot to take down the name of the company who made it. I looked up Wei's Taiwanese Foods, as I know they were at Taiwanfest, but saw no rou geng on their website.
Can anyone tell me where I can get some good rou geng tang in Toronto? It would be much appreciated!!
LCBO New Releases
I had the St. Hallett Semillion-Sauv Blanc at Cowbell. The server recommended it to go along with their beef pot pie. I was skeptical at first...as someone still rather new to intentional food and wine pairings, I didn't think white wine would go with beef. I'm so glad I decided to trust him because it was seriously the most gorgeous food-wine pairing I've ever had. Every combined mouthful was so delcious...I can't fully remember the exact flavours now, but it was a revelation! Now I know what a good match can do...:)
best brunch places in Toronto?
Hi JK -- actually it's you I have to thank for pointing out my newbie mistake. Thanks. I might just start another post...
I might give DT Bistro another chance to redeem itself on a slower night, since a co-worker had raved about their lunch. Let me know what you think if you try it.
(BTW, I've enjoyed a number of fine dishes and discovered some stellar wine from your namesake's wine bar!)
best brunch places in Toronto?
Hi PP -- ah, I guess I've outted myself as a novice quite promptly! Thanks for the tip.
Yes, I did happen to try the coffee...I'm not a big coffee connosieur, but I find it strong and rich enough for my tastes. I like places that add a dash of cinnamon to their coffee though (e.g., Insomnia, By the Way Cafe), but perhaps that wouldn't satisfy coffee purists. I should also mention that I like vanilla lattes, though the coffee was much stronger than that. Interesting cutlery at C5 too!
Where are your tried and true brunch places?
best brunch places in Toronto?
It's pricier than your average brunch place, but for what you get, C5 (the restaurant in the ROM) has provided many a relabily well-executed, delicious brunch for me. They used to have this amazing breakfast burger with aged gruyere and a fried egg. (Recenlty I tried their corned beef sandwich which was well done, but too sour for my tastes.) The pastry basket is pretty good and absolutely huge (you get 6 full sized pastries in it!). And they recently changed their menu so that the desserts are amazing...the chocolate/nutella brownie is rich and fantastic!! Appetizers cost around $10-14, mains are around $20 and desserts are about $10, but you can get a 3-course prix fixe for $36. It's a great deal for what it is. And the service has always been very good. Admittedly, it's a bit noisy (cafeteria-like) in there and the views over the future garden are not particularly stunning (it would be more interesting to look out over Bloor St.), but the quality of food and service has made it a splurge-worthy brunch place.
Update on Dessert Trends Bistro
I was very pleased to see that Dessert Trends Bistro is offering a $25 prix fixe dinner for the month of March. Since I'd never tried their savoury food, I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed.
I ordered the warm pepper salad, the burger with sweet potato fries and a chocolate cupcake dessert. The roasted peppers in the salad were good, but the arugula leaves were drenched in olive oil...high quality olive oil, but too much all the same. The burger was nicely seasoned, but was difficult to eat as it came on two half-pieces of sliced bread instead of a bun. The sweet potato fries were most disappointing though...soggy and very oily, I could've made them better at home. We went to the display case to pick our desserts and I spotted a yummy looking chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing. We went back to our seats and our plated desserts arrived about 10 minutes later...I think because they were in a cold display case, they thought it best to warm up (nuke?) the desserts. Unfortunately, this means that my cupcake became soft and tipped over so that there was more semi-melted icing on the plate than on my cupcake. And it was paired with some mango and passionfruit (coulis) which really didn't go.
I really wanted to like my meal there, but each course was just disappointing. I also noticed that we didn't get any bread like the other tables did. I wonder if our server started giving us the cold shoulder after ordering because we didn't call for wine. At first, our server was very friendly, making recommendations about the menu and specials. As the night got busier however, service got less and less attentive. I understand that it may have been busy, but it was hard to even make eye contact to get a set of cutlery. By the end of the night, I think our server may have been too run off their feet to make an effort with us (though he was attentive to the group of older, wine-drinking perhaps more affluent table next to us).
I may be imagining the part about the service and I'm willing to give benefit of the doubt that our server was just too busy. But even if the food started with fresh ingredients, the execution left a whole lot to be desired. It's too bad because it had so much potential to become my new neighbourhood favourite...
