Inaho Japanese Restaurant

On the first weekend that I came back from Waterloo, my brother took me out for sushi claiming it was to celebrate my recovery, and that I can finally eat raw fish again! We went to Inaho, a very traditional Japanese restaurant not too far from where we live. 

We ordered one of the sushi and sashimi boats. This costed around $33. Yes, huge difference portion-wise if you compare it to my previous post at Ichiban. 

But aside from the portion, Inaho serves fresh, high-quality fish. The red snapper sashimi (next to the red tuna sashimi) was really good. Semi-transparent meat, unlike the other sushi places serving the white colored red snapper that doesn't really have any taste to it. 

Negi Hamachi roll, which is basically hamachi chopped into really really small pieces mixed with green onions.

I know it doesn't look nicely decorated, but it tasted good. I was surprised that the chef actually chopped the hamachi into really small pieces. You weren't able to taste the "pieces", it was like he grinded the fish. This was listed on their specials menu, it was $7.

Big headed shrimp sashimi.

This tasted like heaven, chubby sweet shrimp meat.

We requested to fry the shrimp head after.

It tasted crunchy like chips. My brother said it wasn't fried that well though.

I really wanted a spicy salmon handroll.

Nothing special, but definitely not worth $5.95. I didn't really like it, it was basically just chunks of salmon with the spicy mayo sauce. When I saw the price of the handroll printed on the bill, in my mind I just kept thinking of Aoyama's $2 handroll. So much more worth it!

Food: Really good

Service: Service is quite slow when it gets busy, since its only the 2 owners that are working. The husband is Japanese (the sushi chef) and the wife is Cantonese doing all the other tasks. Although the service can get slow, the woman is really nice.

Price: Expensive, but reasonably priced based on the fish they serve. (except for my handroll). 

Atmosphere/Decoration: The place is not big or much decorated. You probably wouldn't even notice this restaurant when you pass by it unless someone suggested you to go.

Overall: I would recommend this place, another option other than Aoyama. 

Inaho Japanese Restaurant

155 East Beaver Creek rd.

Spin Dessert Cafe

Finally! After wanting to try this place for more than a year, I went with my friend last night. They have a few locations, but we went to the one at mid-town (yonge and eglinton). It was worth the trip.

They serve breakfast as well, which are the salty crepes. But of course I went for the desserts instead. They made special names for every dish which I thought was creative and cute, even though it's not that big of a deal lol. 

I ordered the "Sugar Sugar" (the not so creative one on the list). But I ordered it because of what it actually was. I personally really like cookie dough and never saw this type of combination before so I thought I'd give it a try. I ordered it on a crepe. While noticing other peoples orders as I waited for my dish, almost every table's order were waffles, then I realized it probably wasn't the best idea to get my dessert on a crepe.

Here it is, cookie dough ice-cream crepe, with cookie dough bits and brownie pieces with melted fudge chocolate sauce on the side. It was a bit too sweet for me. But I suppose that's expected since cookie dough is pretty sweet in general. The crepe was a bit disappointing, it was kind of crispy yet thick. The texture just wasn't too great, Demetre's crepes are better. The type of crepe they serve would go really well with their salty foods though (ie: chicken salad crepe).

My friend ordered "We belong together", which was apple pie ice-cream waffle topped with apple crumble and white chocolate curls with caramel sauce on the side. 

Their waffles, are really good. The batter tasted really good, and the waffle itself was soft and crunchy. Definitely better than Demetre's waffles. After trying it, I regretted getting the crepe. The ice-cream was really good too, it actually had pieces of apple inside the ice-cream. The whole mix just went really well. My friend picked this because she said there's a reason why it's the first one on the list. She definitely wasn't disappointed.

Since I am one greedy pig, I ordered a cake for take-out. One special thing about this place is they serve cakes from the Cheesecake Factory Bakery. Yes, meaning you won't have to drive to Buffalo to get your hands on the Cheesecake Factory's cakes. They also have their own Spin Bakery cakes as well. If you get the cake and ice-cream then its $9 I believe, and $5.95 for just the cake. As a godiva chocolate lover, I ordered the Godiva cheesecake. 

I'm actually surprised they even added the chocolate sauce for a take-out. Although really heavy, it tasted really good. It has a really rich chocolate taste and there are tiny bits of godiva chocolate inside. It's a bit too chocolate-y and you don't really taste much of the cheese. 

Since Valentine's day is approaching, they have special valentine events. On Feb 11. 2012, there will be a live music and door prizes. 

Food: Really good. I would actually prefer coming here instead of Demetre's.

Service: I have to say, I am not happy with their service. They actually didn't provide us service unless we asked them for it. We had to ask them for water and utensils.

Price: Average, prices are similar to Demetre's

Atmosphere/Decoration: The location I went to was a bit small, and we didn't get the nice-est spot. I do like the decoration. It didn't look too romantic, but still had a nice feel to the place, more like a friend hang-out place. One thing for sure is the place isn't as loud as Demetre's.

Overall: I definitely will be coming back. Finally, a yummy dessert place to go to other than Demetre's. The only down side would be they don't have a location closer to my area. For those dessert lovers, I recommend you to come give this place a try other than the usual Demetre's. One tip, remember to go for the waffle instead of the crepe!

Spin Dessert Cafe

2177 Yonge Street, Toronto

海棠靚小炒

If your looking for some good and cheap chinese food, this is the restaurant to go to! 

I came here with my family for dinner and we decided to order their lobster meal, 4 dish meal. ($37, which is a pretty good deal with decent food). I would like to comment that the soup they give you before the meal is really good, has a traditional asian soup feeling to it. They serve it even when you don't order their set dinners.

This is the 薑蔥炒龍蝦. 

Very tastey, has a lot of 鍋氣. I kinda thought this was the best dish of the 4.

Second dish: 京都肉排.

Don't ask me why the color is so light and why it looks like onion porkchops instead, because I was confused too. It didn't taste like the traditional 京都 sauce, but it was decent.

Third dish: crispy chicken.

I actually didn't try this because I'm not a fan of chicken, but based on looks it seemed decent.

Fourth dish: 菜心配三鮮

The 3 mixed seafood was squid, shrimp, and scallop. I thought it was a bit too greasy. And you are right, it doesn't seem like there were much seafood.

On top of that, we ordered their famous steamed egg (招牌蒸水蛋). ($5.79)

I always order this when I come here, a must-try. Sounds like a very simple and easy-to-make dish, but I haven't had a better one anywhere else. The egg is just so smooth and just so tastey, best combination with rice. 

Another thing I like about this place is if you order up to $25, they give you a free dish. Sweet and sour pork. (咕嚕肉)

However, I must admit the quality of this dish fluctuates. Sometimes its not crispy enough or sometimes they portion is too little. But what can I say, it's free! Most of the times it's good though. :)

I came here before for lunch and the food was not good. I came again for afternoon tea because I wanted some fried fish and fruit salad.

Looks kinda typical in the picture, nothing special and nothing horrible. A bit disappointing because I was expecting honey dew in the fruit salad too.

Food: Pretty good. (dinner-wise)

Service: Alright

Price: Cheap

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special, hard to find parking when it gets busy during dinner time.

Overall: Perfect restaurant if you want some good chinese food that has a lot of 鍋氣. It's not one of those elegant chinese cuisines though, so I wouldn't consider it being the best place for a relatives dinner gathering. I would and do come back often, but for dinner only. 

海棠靚小炒 Hai Tang Cafe

38 Buttonfield Road, Unit 9, Markham

Menchie's

Recently everyone has been talking about or going to Menchie's. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a place where you get to customize making your own frozen yogurt with the provided flavors, and adding in toppings. After diy-ing your frozen yogurt, they weigh your cup of yogurt and you pay by weight.
At first, I didn't get the hype since this diy frozen yogurt concept isnt something newly discovered. But after stepping in the store, of all the diy frozen yogurt places, they do have the most variety. A lot more yogurt flavours, a lot more toppings, and sauces too.

I went with my roommates, and of course we all have different taste buds. But as for me....

Let's start with the yogurt flavours. They let you test the yogurt flavour before actually adding it to your cup, I  recommend trying the flavours to prevent disappointment with your mix. I thought coffee and green tea tasted disgusting. Cake batter tasted a bit too sweet for me. I personally like original tart and green apple tart the most, probably because I always preferred yogurt having more of a sour-y taste. Red velvet cake is a really good flavour, I recommend trying that one. You can check their site to see the full list of flavors they have, but keep in mind not every location has all the flavors.

As for toppings, they have the usual fruits, cereal, cookie dough, nuts, brownies, chocolates, etc. Cheesecake bits were tasty. They have mochi, which tastes like chewy dough (similar to tapioca but not fuzzy), a must try. Another thing I suggest adding to your cup is "popping bubbles". It looks like a fish roe, once you bite it, it bursts and the flavour of the bubble comes out. For example, if it's mango flavoured, once it bursts there's a flow of mango sauce. There's strawberry, lychee, and mango flavour. I think mango tastes the best.

The clear ball thing is the popping bubbles. The yellow-ish cube are the cheesecake bits.

As for sauces, they have the usuals. I thought marshmallow sauce was interesting, but I'm not a fan of marshmallows so I didn't try. (I would think it's definitely lighter than actual marshmallows though lol)

Note: FREE Menchie's this coming Saturday Jan 20, 2012, 11am-3pm at Warden and Hwy7!

Food: Really good
Service: they people that work there are very friendly
Price: They charge you 55 cents per ounce, which I thought was a bit expensive considering Yutopia (a frozen yogurt store at Pacific mall with the same concept) only charged 39 cents per ounce.
Atompshere/Decoration: The place looks quite modern and pulls off a 'clean' feeling. They have a lot of Menchie logo-ed products for sale (t-shirts, sweaters, etc.)
Overall: I've been going to this place pretty frequently, definitely a place worth going. Perfect dessert/snack after a meal, and a healthier choice compared to icecream. I would definitely choose this over marble slab; price-wise and flavor-wise. I've been to 2 locations so far, the Waterloo one is kind of small and considering it's close to campus, a lot of students go at night and hard to get a table - not to mention sometimes they run out of toppings when it gets busy. I have also been to the one at Warden and Hwy7, that place is a lot bigger and has a lot more choices. If it's your first time going and you plan to go back, remember to get a smileage card! After you register an account online, you earn twice as many points each time you go within 10 days, and up to a certain amount of points you get a free Menchie's. I think you get free Menchie's on your birthday visit too.

Menchie's
247 King Street North Unit 3, Waterloo

Hog Tails

Thought I should blog about one of my favourite restaurants in waterloo. That's right, even though I always complain about how bad waterloo food is, this place is one of the few restaurants that are decent. This place has really good BBQ food.

They have daily specials, but I always tend to go for the 2 meat platter. Each order comes with 2 sides and a corn bread. They have a long list to choose from. The portions are huge, I normally only eat half of it and pack the other half home.
The choices of meat include: BBQ chicken, BBQ ribs, brisket, chicken wings, pulled pork. I personally think the bbq chicken is one of the best.

This is the 2 meat platter: BBQ chicken and BBQ ribs ($17)
Sides: Cold saw and Cajun Corn.
The ribs were not fall-off-the-bone ribs, but they do taste good. The cold saw was not great though. The bbq chicken was really good, love the sauce.

This is the 2 meat platter: BBQ chicken and pulled pork. ($17)
Sides: Sweet potato fries and Cajun Corn.

The pulled pork was good, the meat texture was not tough at all. My bbq chicken was a bit too burnt though. I normally don't like sweet potatoes, but I love these sweet potato fries. They are crispy and the seasoning makes it even more delicious. I definitely recommend trying that side dish.

This is the 1 meat platter: half chicken ($15)
Sides: Mixed veggies and Cajun Corn

I kinda thought this half chicken was a bit small. My friend ordered it another time and it had twice as more meat =/. I guess all I can say is I was unlucky and got a small chicken. The veggies are really oily, not really the best choice. But, at least they don't serve you the frozen veggies. The cajun corn is pretty good too, (as you can see since I order it every time) not too spicy and has some tomato bits.

One thing to mention, I came here with my parents before and we ordered the family platter since it seemed like it might be a better deal, and more variety. But I found it a bit disappointing as the portions weren't as big. Even if you go with a group, I would still suggest ordering your own meals separately.

Food: Pretty good
Service: Good
Price: Their daily specials are quite a deal (burgers, etc.) But I like to stick with the meat platters since I know it's good. If you choose the meat platters then you are expecting your meal to be a bit less than $20 after tax considering you didn't order a drink.
Atmosphere/Decoration: A small place, not really good for large groups. Each time I go, the place is busy. Yes, even on weekdays. So either go early or go late, or be ready to wait for a table.
Overall: If you ever randomly head down to waterloo, make a stop at this restaurant. Worth a try compared to the other crappy restaurants in waterloo. If you like BBQ food, you will love this place. Careful for itis after your meal though. :P

Hog Tails
645 Laurelwood Drive, Waterloo

Ichiban Fish House

Before exam period, my friend took me to a sushi place. I'm sure everyone's heard of "Ichiban" since there are a lot of them around, but we went to the one in Richmond Hill. Even though there are many franchises, I've actually never been to one. This time was my first visit.

There were a lot of choices on the menu, and pictures of their combos and boats. 

We decided to go for one of the sushi and sashimi boats, it was definitely enough to fill 2 tummys.

Surprisingly, this boat was only $33. I thought it was a good deal, considering they did give quite a good variety and the fish was fresh. For that price, I wasn't expecting scallop sashimi (under that shell in the centre).

On the side we ordered spicy salmon handroll, as I always like to try.

However, this was disappointing and overpriced. It was basically a piece of salmon sashimi wrapped in their not-so-spicy mayo sauce. Definitely not worth $4.95! Aoyama sushi's handrolls are only $2 and yet so much better.

Food: Good.

Service: Alright, to my surprise the owner and the people working there were Chinese.

Price: Decent, fair price for the fish they serve.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Typical japanese restaurant, place is quite small and not good for big groups. It actually get quite busy during dinner time, we had to wait for a bit for a table.

Overall: Not a bad choice for a decent casual sushi dinner. I think their sushi/sashimi boats are a pretty good deal with good portions. I never tried their cooked food though.

Ichiban Fish House

9425 Leslie Street, Richmond Hill (In the chinese plaza)

Taipei Station

Happy 2012! During the christmas holidays I had my knee ACL repair surgery, and since then I've been spending my whole holidays sitting around at home. Meaning, I never got a chance to eat out. Sigh, I know it sounds disappointing, but no special holiday dinners to blog about. 

A few weeks ago I went to try Taipei Station for an afternoon snack. I did realize it's a bubble tea place and they probably would mark up the prices because they expect people to sit for a very long time, but to my surprise, everything on the menu was pretty expensive. Most importantly, not worth the price.

They have lunch specials with better prices, prices that I would consider decent. But that only applies for weekdays, and I went on a weekend. You'd be surprised at the differences in prices if you don't get their lunch or afternoon-tea deals.

I ordered this, 魯肉飯 

Can you believe it? This is what they served me. The meat could be finished in a few bites, and not to mention that there were a lot of fat chunks mixed with the meat as well. Considering the fact that I don't like eating too much rice, this was a horrible dish for me. It was basically telling me to just eat the big chunk of rice, for $8.00

My mom ordered the toast: 奶酥厚多土

Doesn't look familiar eh? That's the first thing that came in mind for me too, it looked more like peanut butter. Not to mention the taste was kind of weird, didn't taste the milky condensed taste at all. I don't remember the price of this but it was definitely over $5. 

My brother ordered the taiwanese fried chicken: 鹽酥雞排

I suppose this looked the most "normal". Didn't taste very traditional, but tasted alright. It was a bit too salty though. This dish was $8 as well, I would rather pay $8 for this instead of my chunk of rice.

Food: Horrible

Service: Alright

Price: Expensive and not worth it. Food-wise, I don't recall seeing anything on the menu less than $5. If I remember correctly, their drinks were $4+.

Atmosphere/Decoration: I must say the decoration is really nice, has a bit of romantic feel to it. But the food just spoils all.

Overall: If I were to order a snack and a bubble tea drink, the bill for one person probably would be $15+. Yet to consider how the food tasted bad as well. Completely not worth a trip. I never had a chance to try their drinks, (except the tea that they served) but I suppose they should be decent. If you were to give this place a try, go for the drinks. If you want food, I would suggest you to eat somewhere else and don't waste your money.

Taipei Station

11 Fairburn Dr, Unit 14-15 (behind First Markham Place)