Kinton Ramen

Yes I know it's been a long while since I've blogged about food. I went on vacation and been busy with work..but here I am. My friend saw someone post awesome pictures of ramen and suggested to go give it a try. Kinton Ramen is a restaurant opened by Guu that only serves ramen. My friend and I went on a tuesday evening at around 7pm and we had to wait in line for a whole hour. When we got inside and ordered, it still took pretty long for our food to arrive. The random person sitting next to us said they waited 30 minutes for their order to arrive.

We ordered the spicy karaage, which is basically fried chicken.

It was alright, I wouldnt say amazing. If you ask me, I think Cafe Michi makes it best.

My friend ordered the Kinton Pork ramen with pork shoulder. ($12)

Why is it so big you ask? Because my greedy friend added an egg ($1.5), extra pork ($2 I think), and extra noodles too ($2). I thought the soup base was a bit light.

Cheese Ramen with pork shoulder. ($9.50) I have never seen this one on a menu before, but as we all know since I'm a fan of cheese, obviously I ordered this one.

It was really cheesy and really filling. Cheese with noodles is just always so awesome. The texture of the noodles was good too, not too soft yet a bit chewy. I actually liked the soup base more than the one my friend ordered. I added an extra egg too, but i would definitely recommend adding it. It was not fully cooked but the yolk was made perfectly - the melting orange yolk. I don't know if it was just me, but I thought the portion was pretty big. I just felt like there was a lot of noodles and a lot of corn.

Isn't it cute how they give you the bill?

Food: Very good.

Service: Excellent. They are all really nice and friendly. 

Price: For ramen prices, i would say it's expensive.

Atmosphere/Decoration: An authentic japanese ramen place setting. I personally enjoy the crowd loudness.

Overall: The ramen is good and I definitely would come back with my friends; I think it is better than Kenzo. However, I'm not a fan of waiting for a table..especially if the wait exceeds 30 mins. For a moment I was actually wondering if I enjoyed the ramen a lot because I was too hungry and it messed up my taste buds. Japanese ramen is supposed to be a quick eat and go thing, which clearly isn't the case here. Anyhow, maybe I will return when the hype is gone and less of a wait. 

Kinton Ramen

51 Baldwin Street, Toronto

Maxx Seafood & Grill

Very random, my dad suggested on trying this restaurant after hearing the commercial many times. For those of you who don't know, it's a new restaurant that replaced Mirage. Apparently it's a restaurant serving seafood & grill owned by Chinese people. One thing I found funny was when we walked in, the place was packed (on a Saturday night), but surprisingly every table was Asian. I probably only saw 2 tables of non-asians that night. 

The bread sucked.

I went for the baked Thai Aigneau rack of lamb. ($30)

Of all the dishes, I think mine was the best. There were 5 pieces. I liked they spices they marinated the lamb it, went well with the sauce. Apparently it was supposed to have some "panko curry crust"? But I didn't really taste any of it.  Surprisingly they served quite a lot of vegetables, which was good. A bit too greasy though. 

My mom ordered the mushroom chicken penne. ($15)

You can probably tell just by looking at the picture this dish lacks sauce. I thought it was a bit too dry. But I guess in a girl's perspective it's "good" since less saucy = less fat. Portion looks kinda small too eh?

My dad and brother both ordered the filet minon centre cut 8 oz ($25).

Nothing special with the steak. Wasn't bad wasn't awesome.

Food: Alright

Service: Bad. Our waitress rarely came over, we would always have to ask her to come over. She didn't even do the typical waitress manners in starting a conversation with us.

Price: I would say it's a bit pricey considering the meal isnt that great, but average pricing for western restaurants. 

Overall: In my opinion, I don't think the food is worth the price. I do find it a bit odd how the restaurant has quite a variety. They serve pad thai...really? at a seafood and grill restaurant? However, if you were to pay a visit here I would recommend the rack of lamb. My brother didn't like the herbs, but I definitely enjoyed it. I guess it just proves that Chinese people can't cook the same standard of seafood and grill as good as white people. I would definitely choose Moxies over here

Maxx Seafood & Grill

160 York Blvd

黄金閣

For my dad's birthday, my bro and I decided to take him out for some good food since it is his 60th birthday. Technically for Chinese people it's considered a big birthday big step into next stage of life. This restaurant has been open for quite a long time now, but we chose it because they specialize in abalone and shark fin soup.

They had quite a few set meals, we went for the dinner for 4 combo which comes with shark fin soup and 3 dishes. The dinner combo was $108, which I thought was a pretty decent price.

Shark Fin Soup.

If you think of it, it's pretty worth it. The way they serve it clearly shows you the full portion of shark fin.

I thought the way of display was cute too since each person gets a small pot and you wait for the soup to boil. The shark fin was kinda tasteless though, relied a lot on the soup to bring some taste. But then again, shark fin is supposed to be tasteless.

Fried scallops with mixed mushrooms.

This dish was delicious and the sauce was just tastey. The scallops were big and had a small coating which was really crispy, and for some reason it kind of reminded me the taste of fish skin. Surprisingly I would say this was my favorite dish of the night. There were actually 9 big pieces of scallop inside. As for the mushrooms, they actually served a mixture of I believe 4 different types of mushrooms.
Here's a close-up for the scallop. Big eh?

Veggies.

Nothing special about this dish I suppose.

My mom doesn't each beef so we swapped one of the dishes to noodles instead. Why noodles? Because it is a chinese traditional to eat noodles when it's someone's birthday. The noodles represent the birthday person's life to be long lasting, just like the noodle. 

Funny story about the noodle. They first served us with this. When we ordered we asked for crab meat noodles. There was no way we were expecting this, soup noodles. 

We asked them to change it and they served us this. 

Please tell me if you can spot any pieces of crab meat lol because if you ask me, when I had my bowl of noodles I didnt taste any.

In addition to our set dinner, we added an order of abalone for $10 per person.

The picture probably makes it look big but to be exact, the abalone was basically the size of your spoon (the round part). It came with the chicken feet and piece of veggie. Pretty good deal for $10 I would say.

Here's the dessert. The red bean soup was really sweet, same with the coconut jello. The almond cookie tasted good though, crunchy. You could tell they were freshly made the day of and not cookies saved overnight.

Food: Good.

Service: Alright, there was one old lady (probably manager) which wasn't too nice. 

Price: A bit above average. I think the price is fair though (in reference to the shark fin and abalone) It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nothing special about decoration. Surprisingly the restaurant was pretty busy at night, it was actually full house.

Overall: This place specializes in eating abalone and shark fin, so I would suggest trying those if you come for dinner. As for their other dishes, nothing special. Other restaurants probably would have more of a 'wok' taste to it. I've been here for dim sum too and it's pretty good. This place is a good choice for dim sum or eating the chinese speciality foods. As for the normal dishes, I would suggest going to other chinese restaurants. Other places probably make it better at a cheaper price.

黄金閣

270 West Beaver Creek Rd, Richmond Hill

Don Don Izakaya

Recently there seems to be a hype for this place. I personally think this place is a bit over-rated, it's more of a Guu replica (as my bro calls it). My brother took me there for lunch on a weekday, his friend was one of the managers. The place is owned by 5 owners, a mix of Japanese and Mandarin people.

Starters, miso soup and salad.

Their salad was not great. Normal salad dressing, not home-made dressing or anything special which most Japanese restaurants usually do have. I didn't like how there was a lot of water at the bottom when I reached near the end of my salad. Clearly they should have made sure the lettuce wasn't soaked before serving it and adding dressing on top. Or should I be glad they washed the lettuce?

My bro's friend suggested us trying this: Don Don Special Black Corquette.

Basically it's creamy potato mix in a piece of bread crumb dipped in octopus ink sauce (which is why it is a black). I must say it's not quite appealing. I really liked it though, but I think $7 for this dish is still a bit expensive. I actually think this is the best dish I had for this meal.

Shrimp sashimi. ($10.50)

It was alright, I've had better.

I personally thought this was a scam. It was one of the group orders having your fish torched. They only let you pick one fish, meaning 8 pieces of only salmon. 

I know the style of this type of sushi is supposed to be rectangular, but does the piece of fish actually have to be that thin?? That's a huge amount of rice there.

They had a sashimi combo, which we ordered.

Sashimi is fresh. The shrimp sashimi was different from the one we ordered separately. Weird to say but this one tasted better, even though the other shrimp was bigger in size.

Fried chicken. It is what it appears to be.

Nothing special, I think Cafe de Nichi makes it better. My brother said last time he went for a late lunch it was worse, the chicken was overcooked.

From what I remember, when I went the menu was only a white sheet of paper with only text and no pictures. But judging from the online menu, the food looks so appealing. Seems like there are a few things I would want to go back and try. The "Atlantic salmon egg salad" and "tokyo style hotdog" looks delicious. But then again, pictures can always be misleading.

Food: Alright

Service: Very friendly.

Price: Expensive

Atmosphere/Decoration: Really nice. The environment is really similar to Guu, but the place is more spacious. 

Overall: I thought my experience was disappointing, I was expecting something better.  But then again, we tried more of the raw fish selection. I suppose their hot food is a lot better but if you ask me, I would still prefer Guu over this place. Even though they have more sushi/sashimi selection, I would suggest trying their cooked food instead. They do seem to have quite a few creative dishes. One thing I know for sure is they serve more variety during dinner time, so if you were to pay a visit here, go for dinner.

Don Don Izakaya

130 Dundas Street West

Mikado Japanese Restaurant

My lovely bro took me for some amazing sushi experience on the weekend. I have to say the location was kind of sketchy and not obvious at all. But surprisingly, the environment inside was really cozy and a very traditional japanese setting.

This is their fish menu. 

And yes, it doesn't list out the price of the fishes. But you should probably expect on average $5-6 for an order (with 2 pieces).

For starters they gave up this salad. 

The left is a really traditional type of Japanese veggie, it's one of my favorite (quite expensive too). I still remember i brought some back from Japan. The right is just slices of octopus. 

jumbo shrimp sashimi. 

Sweet and chewy texture, yums!

And now comes the amazing sushi. From top left to right: First one was sea eel (taste more sea fishy than normal bbq eels). next is the fluke, there is a piece of leaf under the fish which brings a minty kind of taste. I personally didn't really like it that much though, probably cuz i'm not a mint fan. The last one is Yellow tail. 

From bottom left to right: The first first is red snapper. Can you believe it? Have you seen a red snapper looking like that? I must say it's the best red snapper i've had so far. Next is giant clam. Chewy yet crunchy?, loved the taste. Next is the scallop, tasted really smooth and fresh. Lastly, is my favorite from the whole entire night! Fatty tuna. This is the fattiest tuna I've ever had, but i must say the fattiness is what made it so amazing. I definitely recommend trying this. I wanted another piece but my brother said it's like $15 for an order (2 pieces). Really expensive.

I wanted spicy salmon handroll.

It didn't taste that great, well nothing special I suppose since it wasn't even spicy. My brother said I was stupid cuz its not something u order at a traditional japanese restaurant since they dont specialize in it.

One last order, my brother wanted the red snapper again (left). On the right is mackerel, tasted pretty good.

As usual, my mom doesn't eat raw fish so we ordered a udon for her. Chicken udon I believe. ($13.75)

If you ask me, its nothing special since you can probably make the same thing at home if you have the good packs of japanese udon and soup base.

Food: Amazing

Service: The servers were really friendly

Price: Expensive

Atmosphere/Decoration: A really cute setting. It looks small when you first walk in, but they have more seating at the back. When I went I requested to sit in the tatami rooms.

Overall: If you want to try some traditional and amazing sushi, I definitely recommend trying this place. Although their prices are really expensive, the fish they serve is just so fresh and well prepared. They do serve set meals but if you are willing to make a trip here, might as well just go all out, order a-la-carte and try a variety of their fish. Most importantly, don't go for the cooked food. I personally think it's not quite worth it. Remember to make reservations before you go!

Mikado Japanese Restaurant

114 Laird Dr, Toronto

Rosewater

I know this review probably is a bit overdue, but I thought I would still mention my experience at Rosewater. My last visit here was for Winterlicious lunch. Surprisingly, their food was pretty good. I came here for Winterlicious dinner in 2011 and the food wasn't too great. Either they improved, or a different selection of the food just did the magic.

For appetizer I chose the Truffled Cream of Cauliflower.

I thought the taste was a bit too light, kind of tasteless I would say?

For the main I ordered the Parsley Crusted Salmon Filet.

Normally I find most western restaurants lacking skill in making their fish dishes good, but surprisingly this dish was really good. The salmon was cooked just right, not overly done. However, I did think the claims had a strong sea water taste to it, was really salty.

I forgot to take a picture, but some of my friends ordered the strip loin burger. It looked thick and juicy, and from my friends' comment it tasted good as well. However, if you ask me I think it seemed kind of a waste to order a burger in such a restaurant for winterlicious.

I think the dessert was the best dish of the night. Here is the Red Wine Poached Apple and Berry Cobbler.

If you ask me, I kinda didn't really favor the apple and berry part, but the crust was just amazing. The sides were crispy and it just had the perfect texture. It was also served it with vanilla creme anglaise on the side which was just the perfect match for the crust. 

Food: Good

Service: Good

Price: $20 winterlicious lunch menu is cheap I would say.

Atmosphere/Decoration: I thought the environment was really nice. I remember when I came in 2011 we had a bigger group so we got our own special VIP room upstairs. This time we sat downstairs, but still the setting was really nice. However, it did get a bit noisy during lunch time.

Overall: My most recent experience definitely added points to this restaurant compared to the first time I came here. I can still remember their trio sorbet did not taste good at all, the flavours were just odd. I only came here for winterlicious so I can't comment much on their main menu, but I would say this is not a bad choice if you were to come here for winterlicious/summerlicious. The food and the environment are both good.

Rosewater

19 Toronto Street, Downtown

Garlic Onion

After taking passport pictures at Costco, we had to wait 30 minutes so we decided to go to the plaza across the street and try Garlic Onion. If we were to think again, I think we would have preferred just staying and eating at Costco instead. lol

We ordered their lunch special. Their lunch specials come with a glass of Soya milk and 2 spring rolls. (my mom ate one before I took this picture.)

My mom and I shared a 焗豬排飯 (baked porkchop rice).

I did not like this. They only gave one piece of porkchop. Other chinese restaurants usually give at least 2, one piece is just too small. Just from observing the sauce you probably can tell it's not the typical chinese ketchup porkchop rice. This sauce pretty much just tasted like tomato paste. I believe this was $7.99 if i remember correctly.

My brother ordered 咖喱牛腩湯河 (Curry beef brisket rice noodle soup). 

It was bad. The beef brisket was really chewy and rough. Also, just from looking at the noodle, normally it shouldn't be that thick. Should be thin. I might be bias since I personally don't like curry, but I swear this bowl looks like a curry flood. My brother probably only ate a quarter of the noodles and left a lot of the beef. Can't believe this dish was $8.99! My brother said he could have had 4 hotdogs at Costco, and probably would have tasted better too.

Food: Bad.

Service: Good

Price: Expensive and not worth it.

Atmosphere/Decoration: Nice, furniture is quite new. They had portraits of nice cars hanging on every wall.

Overall: I only tried their lunch special and I don't think think I would ever come back. I would say their food is the type of chinese food specifically made to serve western people, definitely does not fit my taste bud. I'm actually surprised they can still last, and there were quite a few people when I went (at 2:30pm? Such an odd hour since it's technically already past lunch time). I kinda felt bad that we all didnt finish our dishes, especially when the service was really good and nice. But the food just really wasn't that great. Interesting how when I looked up this place and saw some reviews online, 75% liked this place. I suppose either I just ordered the wrong thing or I just don't like western style chinese food in general.

Garlic Onion

10755 Leslie Street #203