Santouka Ramen

Finally caught up, the last one and I've tried them all.

Of all the ramen places, Santouka seems to have more options and choices.
I chose Tokusen Toroniku Ramen with Shio soup base. ($13)

I think of all the ramen places I like the taste of this soup base the most. It was really rich, milky and creamy, which fits my taste buds. The only downside I would say is I felt like it was really oily. The pork cheek meat was really really good. The texture was really soft and tender, which really made thick twice how fatty it probably is. As for the texture of the ramen itself, it was good. However I would prefer Sansotei's noodles, tastes more unique. After eating this set of ramen, my stomach was full for more than half the day. I think their soup was too heavy and oily, I kept feeling very thirsty after my meal too.

My brother ordered the set with both ramen and rice. He ordered Shoyu Ramen. ($15)

The soup base of his ramen was good, tasted less fatty and heavy than mine. The grilled salmon rice bowl didn't pull off a traditional Japanese dish feel, and looked like canned salmon to me. Nothing great and I don't recommend trying it, not worth it.

Food: Very good.
Service: Good.
Price: Expensive
Atmosphere: The place is quite small, not a lot of tables, just like the other ramen places. You probably would expect a line up if you come during peak hours.
Overall: I really did like their ramen, but I did find it a bit too fatty. However, I do recommend this ramen place. One thing I did find a bit ridiculous was you needed to add $2 for an egg. Yes, normally ramens come with an egg already. Of all the ramen places I've been till now, (Hopefully they won't randomly open another one.) in my opinion, this would be the order of the best/my favourites: Santouka > Sansotei > Raijen Ramen > Momofuku > Kinton
If only there was a ramen place that had a mixture of Santouka's soup base with Sansotei's noodles.

Burger Priest

I always heard so many good comments about Burger Priest yet I never got the chance to try. But finally, my friend was craving for it and took me with him. The best burger I've ever had.
Before I came I went online to look up their secret menu. But I personally didn't see anything too interesting. Since it was my first visit, I wanted to try out the basics.

The Priest. ($9.99)

A combination of their cheeseburger and the "option". Aside from the amazing patty, they are famous for their "option", which is two roasted portabello mushrooms sandwiching cheese breaded and deep fried. If you love mushrooms, you will love this.
You have the choice of choosing your own toppings. I normally like to have my burgers with some sort of sauce since I feel like it lacks a bit of taste. But this is the first burger that tasted amazing without requiring any sauce. The texture of the beef is really good, although it isn't the thick type of patties, the beef tasted very solid. The cheeseburger and "option" combined was a perfect match. In one bite, flavour explosion of breaded crisps, mushroom with melting cheese in between, along with the juicy beef patty - Heaven.

Food: Amazing, fattilicious. (If that even is a word.)
Service: It is a fast food environment, not really served.
Price: Expensive for a burger, but definitely worth it. If you only order a cheeseburger ($6), just the option ($8), the priest ($10).
Atmosphere: It is really small and you might not have a place to sit.
Overall: The best burger I've ever had, no lie. I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks so, the hype is true. I highly recommend coming here if you love burgers and I would suggest trying the Priest if it's your first time. Another comment is they are able to maintain the same quality of every single burger, you wont be disappointed. Definitely a must-try.

Burger Priest
3397 Yonge Street, (Yonge & Eglinton)

Raijin Ramen

Another new ramen place, Raijin Ramen. I guess eating ramen is really the 'trend' now. Knowing me, of course I paid a visit here for some taste testing.

As usual, we ordered the fried chicken to try. ($4)

Looks pretty huge eh? It is pretty good - crispy but I thought it was a bit too salty.

I requested to order the gyoza since it looked pretty good. ($2.50)

No disappointment, tasted pretty good. Fried nicely - crispy but not burnt.

I ordered the Noutkou Tonkotsu Shoyu Ramen ($9.50)

First thing that came in mind when I saw this bowl of ramen was "Wow, a lot of green onions" lol. Nothing special with the texture of the noodles. I personally didn't really like the pork shoulder, the meat was a bit tough. The soup base was good, rich and milky.

My brother ordered the Noukou Tonkotsu Shio Ramen. ($9.50)

The only difference was there was black oil added to the soup.

I think they changed their menu and added a few things.
I saw this Poutine du Japon, so I thought I'd give it a try. ($4.5)

Looks nice, but I'm afraid I would have to say nothing special. It's basically fries with mayo and terriyaki sauce with bits of cheese and seaweed. I thought it was a bit funny how there were 3 random thin slices of green and red peppers. I didn't like how the cheese wasn't really melted. The fries were crispy and good. But it just didn't give me the "ooo so tastey" feel; I guess I expected it to be something more different.

They have 2 special ramens. I tried one of them, called "charcoal" or something? I don't remember the name ($11)

First time I've seen a ramen soup this black, lol. If you ask me how it tasted..I thought it tasted kinda strange.  It has a different taste to it that I don't really know how to describe. But after a few spoons it feels kinda plain and nothing special. It was supposed to have come chili pepper spice added, but I couldn't even taste it; Wasn't spicy at all.

Food: Pretty good
Service: Good. Not sure if its because I kept taking pictures, but the waitress kept walking over asking how their food is.
Price: Average
Atmosphere: I felt like there was a strong kitchen air smell. After leaving the restaurant I was a bit disgusted since I smelled like a walking ramen.
Overall: In my opinion, their ramen is nothing special. Not that it's not good, but it taste-wise it is equivalent to Momofuku (I would prefer coming here instead of Momofuku though, cheaper choice too.) When you first walk into the restaurant they have a sign in Japanese meaning "best ramen in Japan" (something along the lines). Maybe after seeing that sign I had high expectations but after my meal, I really felt their slogan was exaggerated. After my second visit and trying the updated menu, I recommend just sticking to the basics.

Raijin Ramen
3 Gerrard Street E, Toronto

Sansotei

Funny how there's so many ramen places opening now. But of all that I've been, I would say Sansotei tastes the best.

Tonkotsu Ramen. ($10) 

I really liked the soup base, flavourful. it came with 2 pieces of their pork belly, fungus, and the egg nicely sliced with the liquidy orange yolk. It looks a lot less fancy than the one at Momofuku. I would comment that the pork belly was a bit too fatty, more fat than meat on the slices. The noodles tasted a bit different than other ramen restaurants, it was not the typical chewy style but more of an authentic ramen kind. Normally when I have ramen i cant finish the whole bowl. I don't know if i just really enjoyed it or the portion wasnt that big, but I finished all the noodles...but I'm pretty sure guys wouldn't be full from just one bowl.

Zangi, the deep fried chicken. ($4.5)

This was really good. Quite a few pieces and nicely fried. I recommend ordering this. Not bad for 5 bucks.

Food:  Excellent.
Service: Good
Price: Average
Atmosphere: There aren't a lot of tables and there's usually a line up. I went around 415 pm, so we didn't have to wait in line. But when we left at 5 it started getting busy, more people came. Yes, it starts getting busy before 6. If you want to come either be prepared to wait in line or just go at odd hours.
Overall: I heard the owners of this place actually went to school studying ramen. That probably explains the result of tasty noodles. Tonkotsu ramen is the best one of the list, I recommend trying it. If you are going to head downtown for noodles, I would say Sansotei tops Momofuku and Kinton for sure. Better ramen for a cheaper price. Only downside is, be prepared for a line up.

Sansotei

179 Dundas Street W, Downtown Toronto

Fav Cafe

I first came here when it was grand opening. It was lunch time and as I went through the menu I find some of their dishes pretty interesting. They had a wide variety of culture foods, like Russian dishes, Hk dishes, etc.

My bro ordered beef stroganoff pasta.

When the plate arrived I was kinda surprised to, the portion is a bit small for it's price. Tasted good. My bro didn't like it though cause the sauce was a bit sweet.

I tried this 豬頸肉荷葉炒飯. (Pork neck fried rice baked in a leaf)

It sounded interesting so I gave it a try. Quite a lot of pieces of pork. One thing was it didn't really seem like fried rice, since it wasn't really yellow-y and there were so little bits of egg but the rice did have some 'leaf' taste. It tasted good, but i feel like it needed more sauce.

First time seeing this! Never knew Canada Dry came in bottles too

I came back again for breakfast with my mom. There wasn't that much of a variety of choices, at least nothing looked appealing at that moment.
My mom ordered the ham and mushroom omelette.

At first i thought it seemed nothing special, and the ingredients weren't even cooked with the egg, it seemed more like the egg was just wrapping fried ingredients. But the egg didn't taste oily at all. It was actually pretty good. As sides they served beans and a baked tomato? They sprinkled some kind of crunchy bits on top when they baked it, pretty tastey.

I ordered the Egg sandwich with luncheon meat. It came with that baked tomato and beans as well.

Surprisingly the egg was really good, nice and fat. The luncheon meat isn't the thin cheap ones some restaurants give you. This one was thick and real luncheon meat. Not gonna lie but their breakfast was better than I expected.

*Note: They are closed Tuesdays.

Food: Pretty good
Service: Good
Price: Fair, their dishes range $8-16.
Atmosphere: This place is really small. Either call beforehand to check if there's tables or else you might have to wait. Of the 2 times I came I had to wait a bit. It surprises me a bit how this place is pretty busy.
Overall: This restaurant's food surprises me each time i come. I have a good feel to it for some reason. I want to go back for lunch or dinner and try more of their dishes. One thing i don't like about this place is there's a lot less choices. For example there's only around 5 options for breakfast and afternoon tea.

Fav Cafe
280 West Beaver Creek Road (inside Jubilee Centre)

Inatei Japanese Cuisine

I was meeting up with a high school friend, we planned to go to Fav Cafe but for some reason it was closed so we came here instead. This restaurant was opened a long time ago. I came here once during grand opening and thought the food was alright. I cant believe after so long, I come back and the prices have madly increased. Clearly there was no turning back, but in my mind I just kept thinking I hope they improved the quality of their fish too.

My friend and I shared a Sushi dinner. I swear their menu is so confusing. They have "sushi dinner" listed in their menu 3 times with 3 different prices without stating what the difference is. We assumed the higher the price means the more variety of fish? My friend and I just gave up and just picked one. (16.99)

8 sushi and 6 maki. I appreciated how none of the sushi were duplicated. The fish was fresh, pretty good. The maki they served, 3 were spicy salmon and the other 3 were spicy tuna.

Spider Roll. ($8)

It was nicely placed. 5 pieces. The typical spider roll, tasted good.

On top we both ordered a Crab Chawamushi. ($4) Funny how this appetizer came last though...

Basically steamed egg with ginger bits, mushroom, and crab meat. It was alright. Nothing special in my opinion.

They gave us dessert. I suppose it was free? Lychee pudding I believe it was.

In my opinion it tasted kinda funny for some reason...A bit soury? For some reason I felt like there was Soho in it or something LOL but my friend said I was crazy. But yes, there is no alcohol in this dessert.

Food: Good.
Service: Good.
Price: Too expensive - Good is good but the price doesn't make it worth it. My friend told me they kept increasing the price every few months, which is when she stopped coming.
Atmosphere:
Overall: If I wanted sushi I wouldn't come here. I'm not sure if I'm just being picky, but I dont think this meal was worth it. The quality of the fish was good, but still not worth the price. I rather spend the same amount at Shinobu - the fish is more fresh. Or at least it just felt better. I just wasnt fascinated by my meal and considering we didnt order much, it was just expensive. I saw some things on the menu that I would have wanted to try but the price just wasnt promising.

Inatei Japanese Cuisine
9021 Leslie Street, Richmond Hill

Momofuku

My bro and i headed downtown wanting to go for Sansotei ramen. After we parked, we got to the door and it said "closed sundays". What a bummer, so we went to momofuku instead.

We walked in and it was around 1130? Not busy yet, there were still empty tables. But the hostess decides to seat us at the 2 leftover seats next to a huge group of asian family. I would understand sharing tables when the place is busy, but why would they sit us next to a family like that. I saw some others didnt need to share tables. That instance already ruined a bit of my mood and perception of the place.

We tried the pork buns. If you ask me this seems more like a fusion dish, not really a japanese traditional thing.

Oh, one funny thing. When we sat down a waitress came over and told us they are featuring a special Hong Kong style ramen. Couldn't exactly hear what the ingredients were but i still found that a bit strange. Just gave me a feeling the place wasn't that Japanese authentic. Anyhow, it tasted good. The sauce under the cucumber was the sauce you add when you have peking duck lol.

Me and my bro both ordered the momofuku ramen. He's been there before and said theres nothing special with the other ramens. It was around $13 for a bowl of ramen.....

I suppose they did give a good variety and portion of sides. Came with pork belly & shoulder, fish cake, egg. Maybe because it's ran by korean so they decided to add kimchi in it? I found that kinda odd.The egg was really good. I love ramen eggs when the orange yolk is liquidy. 

On the side my bro wanted to try their spicy chicken wings. ($12)

I guess he thought the wings would be a small dish? But turned out there were so many. It was pretty good though, marinated and cooked well.

Food: Pretty Good.
Service: For some reason I just didnt have a good feel for the service. The hostess was not friendly taking us to our table, or when she took our order. Another male waiter was just stupid. We ordered 2 of the same ramen, and sharing the bun and wings. As he was giving us our food he asks to take away our plates and gaves us spare bowls instead. I dont get it. Did he think we were going to share the ramen instead of the bun and wings? I was surprised none of the waiters/waitresses were japanese or asian.

Price: Expensive - a bit overpriced imo
Atmosphere: I think the design of their place is really nice. Apparently each level serves different types of food. The ground floor is the ramen.
Overall: Maybe it was just me, but i didn't enjoy my visit here. I mean the food was tasty but a bit overpriced. I would prefer going to Sansotei - the ramen is better and less expensive. I'm not gonna lie the service did piss me off a bit, especially the hostess.

Momofuku

190 University Avenue, (downtown Toronto)