魚湯店

I always passed by this restaurant, but never really went in as it just didn't seem appealing to me. Until someone told me their fish soup base is really good. Funny thing is, the first time I went I didn't order their soup noodles. However, their lunch special did come with their fish soup. I must say, my friend was not right. Their fish soup base was really good, best i've had. No lies.

I decided to try their lunch specials and ordered the egg and pork neck rice. (豬頸肉煎蛋飯)

Just from this picture, it seems like there weren't many pieces of pork. But there was, just hiding. The pork neck pretty much just tasted like bbq pork, but fatty version.

The other day my friend wanted soup noodles for lunch, so we decided to head over here. This time, I tried their soup noodles. Basically you pick the soup base, type of noodles, and the 2 toppings you want. The bowl itself comes with a few pieces of crab meat, mushrooms, and melon pieces. I ordered fried fish slices and fish paste with udon in fish soup base.

Last time my brother ordered 河粉 (Pho noodles), and it didnt look good at all. I must say, I was a bit disappointed. It tasted very ordinary, nothing special. I could make this myself at home if I somehow had the fish soup base. Yes, that was the only thing that made this dish worth it. You could tell the udon was the crappy ones you buy at the supermarket. 

My friend ordered his with 油麵(oil noodles?) He ordered 3 toppings.

Food: Alright.

Service: Alright.

Price: Alright, you can get a bowl of noodles for $10.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Like any typical restaurant. They do serve hotpot though.

Overall: If you go there, you must try their fish soup base. As for the other ingredients, don't expect too much. Their food I would say is nothing special, except for the fish soup base. You wouldn't have the feeling of wanting to keep eating the noodles, yet you would actually want to finish drinking the soup.

魚湯店

505 Highway 7 East (Commerce Gate)

素聞千里

Since I mentioned about 素聞千里 last time, might as well write a review about it too. Of all the vegetarian restaurants I've been to, I must say I do think this is my favourite one.

I think the most special thing about this vegetarian restaurant is they serve vegetarian sushi, aka fake sushi/sashimi. And it actually tastes really good, they make it so the texture is actually quite similar.

This is one of my favourite dishes that I always order when I go, Valcano Sushi.

They have these chewy pieces on the top, which is supposed to be fake squid. They add the spicy mayo sauce, mocking the spicy salmon sauce idea. Pretty good.

My brother tried their Uni sushi. Even though I'm not a fan of uni and knowing this is only fake uni, I still didn't try. But doesn't it look so real? The texture wasn't as soggy as normal uni though.

Another one of their sushi rolls. The salmon texture is quite similar to real salmon, which I found impressive.

As for lunch specials, just from looking at the portion it's already a lot more than what they give you at 天之雨素食料理, considering the price is similar too. 

This is the porkchop egg rice.

This dish was actually pretty good. They really tried to make it similar to the japanese porkchop egg rice dish. Looks good, tastes good.

If you order the Bento lunches, there's more variety. This is the fake black cod.

The cod tastes really good. It has the crispy yet soft texture. 

I tried their roasted pork (燒肉) before too, but can't find a picture of it in my album. Of course it can't be comparable to real roasted pork, but it still tasted special and different. They actually made it so there is a layer of the 'fat' in between the meat and the skin, but of course in this case you can eat the entire piece without having to pick out the fat since its all fake. XD

Food: Very Good

Service: Alright

Price: A bit above average compared to other vegetarian cuisines, but I think their food is worth the price.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special, but the furniture is still quite new. The restaurant has a lot of Buddha decoration I would say.

Overall: I would definitely recommend this place to those who are looking for a decent vegetarian restaurant. I tend to go there often when my mom is having her vegetarian days, and it's close to where I live.

素聞千里 Joe Yee Vegetarian Cuisine

9688 Leslie Street, Unit 17-18, Richmond Hill

天之雨素食料理

There used to be a shanghai restaurant that sucked at the corner at Commerce Gate. It got replaced by a vegetarian restaurant. As usual, my mom wanted to go give it a try.

I personally think their lunch specials are not worth it. Or maybe it's because I'm not a fan of rice, so I feel like the portion is too small and not enough. Lunch specials were around $10, no drinks included.

fake Eel with rice.

This dish was fail. The piece of fake eel was SO rough and hard to chew. I would have literally needed a knife to cut it into smaller pieces. If anything, anyone would think the texture of fish would be soft and easy to chew, but I suppose I shouldn't have expected that for the fake one.

fake BBQ Pork with rice.

I think this was the best dish taste-wise.

fake Peking Duck with rice

This dish was a rip-off. So the so called "peking duck" was basically a fried crunchy piece, there wasn't even any fake duck meat attached to it. So basically if you were to order this dish alone, it would be cried pieces with rice = = what a lunch huh?

Ham and Cheese wrap, an appetizer (around $6?)

This tasted pretty good, but then again it was simple. The best part of course was the "酥皮" (pastry wrap). It was really flaky, and the fake ham actually tasted like ham.

fake beef noodles. (牛肉炒河)

This dish was normal, no comment. Can't really go wrong with noodles. But this dish definitely wasn't worth $12.

Food: Alright.

Service: Alright

Price: a bit above average compared to other vegetarian restaurants.

Atmosphere/Decoration: like any normal restaurant, nothing special.

Overall: I would not go back. If you really do want vegetarian cuisine there are better places, and considering the portions and price is just not worth it. I would rather spend the money eating at 素聞千里.

天之雨素食料理 Senwell Vegetarian Cuisine

505 Highway 7 East, Unit 98-99 (Commerce Gate)

Shisho Tree

It's been a long time since I updated my blog! Went on vacation to Hong Kong, and was just busy when I got back. But no worries, I'm back. I would never give up on blogging about yummy food :)

My best friend was going back to HK for good, and we decided to have our one on one farewell dinner here at Shisho Tree. She told me it was pasta made in japanese style. Sounds interesting huh?

Pastas come with Salad. Very ordinary, nothing special. 

However if you added $4 to your pasta,  you would get soup and a slice of cake too. I believe the cakes are from J-Town supermarket, which are good as well.

I ordered the Okonomiyai Pasta, seemed special so I had to give it a try. ($16)

It really had the okonomiyaki tasted to it. First time having this flavour of pasta, it was really good. I would definitely recommend trying this.

My friend ordered the "Smoked Salmon a la creme Vokda" pasta.

The vodka taste wasn't heavy and could barely taste it.

Food: Pretty Good. 

Service: Good.

Price: If you want to try the special types of pasta, then you should expect the price to be 15+ for a dish. If not, the pastas from the menu start at $9.

Atmosphere/Decoration: The place is kind of hidden, not really a noticeable place. It's quiet, a good place to bring someone if you want to chat. The decoration isn't fancy or anything though.

Overall: The place is really nice and I think the food is quite special, at least first place I know that serves pasta Japanese style. I would like to come back and try their other pasta flavours, and if it wasn't because I ate icecream before going, I would have ordered their set and have a slice of their cake. :P

Shisho Tree, Pasta & Cafe

3160 Steeles Ave E, (Inside J-Town Plaza)

Koganei Japanese Seafood Restaurant

After a long drive all the way to brampton with my bro to drop something off, us 2 hungry pigs went to have sushi again on our way home. Yes, another night of sushi. It's like sushi galore weekend.

Their menu was really nice, lots of appealing pictures making me wanting to try everything. They serve Surf Clam sashimi, even abalone sashimi priced seasonally. But no, we did not try that lol. My bro was paying again and after yesterday's bill, I didn't request on wanting to order anything specific today.

We ordered a sashimi and sushi combo $29.99 claiming to serve 2 people.

I thought it was quite decent considering the variety of different fishes served. The red snapper sashimi was surprisingly pretty good, a lot more texture than the crappy ones at Gal's or other normal sushi restaurants. All the fishes were fresh in general. They served the fatty tuna too! Surprisingly there was no unagi though.

The black cod.

This was really good. The texture was really soft and sweet, the taste was really close to the one I had in Vancouver. As always, the portion was small. This 'delicate' dish was $8 I think?

Stir-fried Clams

I think this is the first time I've seen this dish at a japanese restaurant, kinda surprised my bro decided to order it. But it did taste really good, the sauce was a bit spicy. The clams were big, chubby and fat. Oh and juicy too.

Steamed Egg?

I'm not quite sure the actual name of this dish. But it was basically steamed egg with seafood inside. There was shrimp, veggies, squid, and chicken. It was a bit tasteless and really relied on the seafood to bring in the taste. This was $5.

Food: Pretty good.
Service: Not bad. The place was freezing cold so I asked them if they could turn down the ac a bit. In the end they completely turned it off. Kinda made me feel bad...
Price: It depends what you order. If you went for a la carte then it would end up being pricy. Otherwise, ordering the sashimi/sushi combos is a good deal considering their variety of fishes, and for good quality too.
Atmosphere/Decoration: The location is a bit random since it was the first floor of an office building. But inside does look nice and cozy.
Overall: This place kinda reminds me of Izakaya Tsuki, good quality. I would like to come back to try more of their appetizers.

Koganei Japanese Seafood Restaurant

3901 Highway 7, Vaughan

Tokyo Sushi House

After seeing a friend post fb pictures of the sushi from this restaurant, I desperately wanted to try. And after nagging my bro for a day, I finally got him to take me there for some delicious sushi.

A really interesting fact: this is the first japanese restaurant that I've been to that didn't serve cooked food. Well there was soup udon or soba, but it would only come with veggies, no meat. The place didn't seem to serve any hot food with meat.

I found this interesting. Spicy Girl Hand Roll.

I wanted to try it but selected other things instead, maybe next time. The best way to try the restaurant is to order a la carte. And like very traditional japanese restaurants, they posted this picture teaching you how to eat sushi properly.

Yes, my bro and I both ate the sushi with our hands. :)

From left to right, the far left is torched tuna sushi. The middle is "Tai" (Red Snapper), but torched as well. And on the far right is Hamachi sushi.

These were all really good. I personally liked the Tai the most. When I first saw it, I totally didn't recognize the fish. The texture of the fish tasted a lot better torched compared to normal raw red snappers.

I ordered a spicy salmon handroll.

This wasn't that great. It's quite different compared to the normal spicy salmon taste. One thing was it wasn't spicy, and it was wrapped with a lot of veggies.

I think the sweet shrimp looks the most attractive rite now.

Both on the left are hotategei sushi. Top left being the full raw scallop sushi, and bottom left chopped scallop pieces mixed with mayo. And stating the obvious, the two other sushis were the sweet shrimp. And of course, the huge headed shrimp one tasted better. Really fresh and tastey.

Tobiko/Masago and Salmon Roe sushi wrapped with Salmon and Quail's egg.

This tasted very different but good, never tried something like this before. I would recommend trying this one. We ordered one, not sure if they come in pairs? We were charged $8 for this dish though. The disappointing thing was, the presentation of the one I saw from my friend's fb pictures looked a lot better than how it does here.

Food: Really good.
Service: Good. One thing I would mention is, they gave us more sushi than what we ordered. We sat at the sushi bar so we placed our orders directly to the sushi chef instead of the waitress. Not sure if he remembered incorrectly, but he made extra sushi that we didnt order which was added to our bill. He was making them already so it would cause an awkward scene to tell him to stop making it because we didn't order it, so we let it go. He also asked if we wanted miso soup. Silly us thought it was for free, but that was also added to our bill as well.
Price: Quite expensive, but then again it depends what and how you order. But then again, their quality is worth their price.
Atmosphere/Decoration: Not much decoration, the place is really small too. I think there were only 4 tables and the sushi bar. A quite not noticable location but surprisingly pretty packed. We waited 20 mins for a seat. Interesting fact was also that everyone seated or coming in were all non-asians.
Overall: I really liked my experience here and would recommend others to come try.

Tokyo Sushi House

33 St Joseph St, Downtown Toronto

富豪名廚

Where should I begin? The story starts from back in first year uni when I always went to a restaurant 真之味. Since my family and I went there often, we got to know the boss, which was the main chef as well. The boss makes the BEST 豬軟骨 I've ever had. Later the restaurant didn't mange to survive and closed down. Wasn't until a few months later my parents and I spotted the boss working at a restaurant in the plaza across from Pacific Mall, on silver blvd. Later on that placed closed down again and he moved to a corner spot at FMP. Later, the place closed down again. Finally, almost half a year later we found him at this restaurant, 富豪名廚 on major mac, so close to home! In conclusion, I seem to always be running around searching for this chef's 豬軟骨!

Everytime I go to this place, I always order that same dish.

豬軟骨飯. Tenderous Rib with rice.

 

This is really good, no lies. The meat is much more tender than the ones at Ajisen ramen. Normally whenever I do order tenderous ribs, I tend to NOT eat the bones even though they are edible. However, I always eat the whole thing here! I prefer rice more than noodles so I order it with rice. The sauce is really declicious and I think goes better with rice so the taste won't be mixed with the soup base. Also because  豬軟骨飯 is part of their lunch special for $6.99 including soup and drink. The 豬軟骨拉麵 (tenderous rib ramen) is a separate order and priced $6.99 with just the meat and noodles. However, my mom and brother both prefer the ramen instead. They claim the ramen tastes a lot better than Ajisen, and the portion is bigger too.

The soup that comes with the meal is good, but nothing special. 

Maybe I should try something else the next time I come. My brother said he went once ordering their fish stone pot? It was good and the sauce was tastey. Only bad thing was there were fish bones. (He assumed there wouldn't be any.)

Food: Good.
Service: Good.
Price: The pricing is average, but I think they should lower the prices a bit considering their location isn't that great.

Atmosphere/Decoration: The place is really small, probably not even 10 tables?

Overall: I highly recommend trying their 豬軟骨! Trust, I haven't had better anywhere else.

富豪名廚

1380 Major Mackenzie Dr E (at the corner beside SNAP Fitness)

麗莎餐廳

Of all the chinese restaurants (茶餐廳) I've been to, I think this is the best one I've had so far. Their food is decent quality at cheap prices. I haven't yet tried something there that I didn't like.

豬排湯麵. Porkchop noodles.

My mom always likes ordering this, but I do agree their porkchops are really good. I think its the way they marinate it. The meat is not tough at all either.

葡國雞飯 Portuguese chicken rice.

My all time favourite. As of all the places I've been, I have never tasted a better portugese chicken rice than here. I love the sauce, rich and creamy. Highly recommend this dish.

豉椒排骨 Stir-fried Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce

This is good too, but the last time I had it the ribs were a bit chewy and tough. I really get the home-y feeling whenever I have this dish there.

Their chef's specials for lunch range from $4.99 to $5.99 with soup, main dish, and a drink. The breakfast meals are even cheaper. Most of their breakfast meals come with an egg sandwich. Their egg sandwich is one of the best I've had too. The texture of the egg is moist and smooth, and thick too. I recommend that as well.

Food: Very good.
Service: Good.
Price: Cheap.

Atmosphere/Decoration: like any typical chinese restaurant.
Overall: I really like this place and I go there often. Their food is good with big portions too, at least I can never finish my dish.

麗莎餐廳

360 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill (beside Yoga Tree)

O.M.G. Restaurant & Lounge

After studying at the library, my friend brought me to try this restaurant. Catchy name eh?

Although this restaurant is a chinese owner, they seemed to be going for the traditional western restaurants style. They served vinegar with their bread.

  

I ordered the New Zealand Rack of lamb. ($23 I beleive, standard pricing)

It was really good. I'm surprised they served supreme king mushrooms, that's a bit rare. I really liked the sauce, tasty.

My friend ordered the steak.

It was a bit burnt, but the meat was really tender, not tough at all.

Food: Pretty Good
Service: Alright.
Price: a bit expensive. Their set meals were $26 (with soup, main, drink).

Atmosphere/Decoration: The place is quite small. I would say the setting looks more like a lounge than a place to dine.
Overall: I really think their name is quite creative. The location is a bit hard to find though, probably wouldnt be a restaurant you would normally drive by and see. I would like to return to try their other dishes but their meals are quite expensive. I saw a sign saying they have lunches for $6.99. I suppose I'll return a visit trying their lunch menu.

O.M.G. Restaurant & Lounge

4033 Gordon Baker Rd, Scarborough

Novotel TRIO Restaurant

As always, I went to summerlicious with a few good friends. It was a bit last minute so I didn't plan for going to the top restaurants. I came across this restaurant, the atmosphere seemed decent and so was the food. Dinner was only $25, so decided to give it a try. This was also the first year TRIO has joined summerlicious.

For my appetizer, I ordered the Heriloom Tomato Gazpacho.

I've actually never had this before. Didn't know it was a soup, and didn't expect it to be cold either. It tasted a bit too sour, but it was alright. Kinda felt like drinking tomato paste though.

They had 'goat cheese & nut ball" which I found as an interesting appetizer. If I wasn't allergic to nuts, I would have gave it a try.

For the main, I ordered the Grilled Sirloin Steak.

I ordered for medium rare, but my steak ended up being a bit more cooked than medium. However, I must say the meat was still really tender. The dish came with cajun hash and fava beans. I don't like beans so didn't bother trying it, but the cajun hash was really good.

I took a snapshot of my friend's Pan Seared Seasame Crusted Salmon.

It actually tasted pretty good, at least one of the better fishes I've tasted at western restaurants. The sauce kinda tasted like modified terriyaki sauce.

As for dessert, all four of us ordered the Chocoholic.

This dish was a lava cake served with chocolate icecream. I'm personally not a fan of chocolate icecream so I asked to change my icecream to vanilla instead of chocolate. (Trust me, vanilla icecream goes a lot better with chocolate lava cakes.) The dessert was decent, I've had better though. I thought the cake wasn't warm enough.

Food: Alright
Service: Our waitress was friendly, but she was pretty clumsy...I still remember how she dropped lettuce on the table as she was taking away my dish...
Price: I'm not sure about the normal menu prices, but I would say $25 for 3-course set dinner with decent quality was a good deal.
Atmosphere/Decoration: The atmosphere was nice, but the restaurant was quite small. I didn't like how their entrance was so wide open. From where I was sitting, I was actually facing the entrance and through the open door I could see the hotel's front desk with visitors lining up to checking in; not really the best view.

Overall: The food was a good experience. However, I don' see myself coming back. I suppose because there are better options to choose from for a place with a more romantic atmosphere, better service, and better food.

Novotel TRIO Restaurant

3 Park Home Avenue, North York

www.triorestaurant.ca

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

I can't remember when's the last time I went to Kenzo. Probably a good year or two? And after so long, my friend suggested going and so we paid a stop for dinner. Just like before, I've never been disappointed eating at this restaurant.
One thing i'd like to comment is, this place has no air conditioning. Probably not a good idea to go there in the summer on a really hot day, considering you're gonna be eating hot noodles too.

Of all the places I've had takoyaki. I must say this place makes the best ones I've had so far, a must try.

The size of each takoyaki is quite big too. The stuffing is pretty filling, theres squid and cheese.

I ordered the basic ramen and gyoza set. ($10.95) Just ordering the basic ramen itself would be $7.95. There are many other ramen selections as well. Their spicy noodles are very spicy, you would probably be dripping sweat as you eat if you go on a hot summer day.

The noodles were freshly prepared and most importantly the soup base is good, very flavourful.  I personally really like their gyoza's as well.

Food: Very good.
Service: Not good. We waited 30 minutes for a table. For some reason, the server had to wipe the table 3 times. The turnover rate is just really slow because the waitresses/waiters take quite a while to clean the tables. Just to add, they don't sound too friendly either.
Price: Average.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special. The place is quite small, not a lot of seating.

Overall: I do recommend this place, I would prefer having ramen here instead of Ajisen. Their noodles are a lot more traditional than Ajisen with better quality, and also serving more ingredients. 

Kenzo Japanese Noodle House

6180 Yonge St, North York

Wildfire Steakhouse & Wine Bar

Summerlicious time! Knowing my love for food, how could I ever let summerlicious pass by without attending :P

I've always heard good reviews at Wildfire but never been there myself, so decided to give it a try for summerlicious considering their summerlicious menu had quite a variety. I went with my family for lunch, my treat. :)

Appetizers

This was the grilled calamari.

It was soft and not chewy at all. My mom didn't really like it, but I did.

I ordered the escargots.

I thought it was a bit too oily & buttery, but then again that's kinda expected.

Shrimp Martini.

Basically shrimp coctail. Those shrimps were pretty huge, tiger shrimps I believe.

Main Course

My dad ordered the New York Striploin.

I thought the steak was good. I really liked the sauce, tasted a bit sweet and different.

My brother ordered the Baby Back Ribs.

The ribs were not bad, defintely tasted better than the ribs at rib fest. The meat was tender and actually did kind of fall off the bone. I thought they were a bit burnt though.

My mom ordered the 1/2 Nova Scotia lobster.

I must say, the lobster was pretty small. It was actually a bit overcooked too, the meat was a bit chewy.

I ordered the Lobster Fettucine Pasta.

Of all dishes, I actually liked mine the most. There were actually quite a few pieces of lobster. The sauce was really rich and tastey, but really filling. I actually couldn't finish my portion.

Dessert

I must say, their desserts sucked. Presentable, but taste-wise, not good at all.

New York Cheesecake.

You could rarely taste any cheese.

Chocolate Mousse.

I'm normally not a fan of chocolate mousse, but in general, it just didnt taste too great.

Tartufo.

Icecream with caramel inside covered in chocolate. This was the best choice of dessert, but nothing special.

Food: Pretty good.
Service: Not that great.
Price: Summerlicious lunch $25, dinner $45
Atmopshere/Decoration: Really nice, the place pulls off a lounge feeling. I originally thought the place was more casual, something like Fred's Not Here.

Overall: Their food is decent, I wouldn't say amazing though. Then again, I can't really judge because I only tried their Summerlicious menu. I suppose their main menu selections would be much more higher quality. The appetizers weren't anything special, and I definitely wouldn't recommend trying their desserts if you were to go on a normal day. I would go back to this restaurant only for the main courses.

Wildfire Steakhouse & Wine Bar

3438 Yonge St., Toronto