Tasty Gurus: January 2010

Friday, January 29, 2010

Chung King Garden

Location: Market village plaza (Kennedy and Steeles)

Items ordered:

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cuisine: Fine Philippine Cuisine

Location: http://casamanila.ca/

Items ordered:

Pancit Malabon (Palabok)
-thick rice noodles cooked in a flavorful seafood sauce, topped with shrimp, pork, fried pork skin and lemon

Comments:
-Oddly enough, despite the dish description I did not taste that much flavor from the noodles

Binagoongang Kanin (picture below, dish on the left)
-rice cooked in authentic shrimp paste

Comments:
-First time I had purplish/red rice and definitely not the last time!

Sisig (picture above, dish on the right)
-pig nose and ears, chopped finely, seasoned with onions and red hot chili and fried to perfection

Comments:
-Although the ingredients may not sound appetizing but I assure you that this dish was nothing short of fantastic!
-Wide assortment of flavors/spices/textures
-My favorite dish of the night!

Paella a la Valenciana
-traditional Spanish mixture of seafood, chicken, chorizo, saffron rice, vegetables and olive oil

Comments:
-This was an ok dish, resembles the typical paella, but I prefer the ones in Spain

Bicol Express
-tropical veggies and shrimp cooked in coconut sauce with shrimp paste

Comments:
-Veges were very tender and soaked in the flavors of the coconut milk and the shrimp paste, definitely a change from the typical salads = P

Kare Kare
-stew of tender beef and vegetables in peanut sauce

Comments:
-Subtle peanut flavor in the sauce mixed with coconut milk I assume
-Tender veges and meat....not sure what else to say, pretty good, apparently this is one of the most common dish within Philippine cuisine analogous to the fried rice of Chinese food perhaps?

Crispy Pata
-deep fried pork knuckle served with special sauce

Comments:
-This was similar to the roasted pork that's available at local Asian BBQ shops but with a twist
-The skin was nice and crunchy (definitely a 'make or break' factor) and the meat was moist and tender which was key to why I loved this dish!

Laing
-taro leaves simmered in a savory coconut sauce mixed with minced pork and smoked fish

Comments:
-My first thought was, this looks like Palak paneer (Indian dish of spinach with cheese)
-This was my first time eating taro leaves and I must admit, it tastes like spinach!
-The savory taste/texture from the smoked fish and pork definitely enhanced the dish as a whole

Halo-halo
-mixed sweet beans and fruits, leche flan and ice cream on shaved ice drizzled with condensed milk

Comments:
-Ice cream, fruits, condensed milk......what's there not to like? Just expect to eat it quickly or else the shaved ice will melt and it won't look pretty.

Sapin-sapin
-native tri-colored sticky coconut rice dessert

Comments:
-This dessert is definitely filling, unfortunately the flavor was too subtle for my liking

School Bakery & Cafe

Location:
70 Fraser Avenue
Liberty Village, Toronto
416 588 0005

http://www.sbcto.com/

Items ordered:

Super cheesy french toast ($13)
-thick cut challah and maple syrup
-with smoked bacon and greens

Comments:
-thick cut challah (a breaded bread which is usually eatten during Sabbath and holiday's) was freshly baked providing a fragrant aroma as well as a thick chewy texture that worked great with the bacon/cheese
-the maple syrup tasted a bit off from the conventional syrups purchased from the super market, perhaps they had their own modified syrup? Either way it was good!

Gooey four cheese omelet souffle ($11)
-with pepper biscuit, home-fries and greens

Comments:
-This was the first time I had a omelet souffle and I have to admit that I LOVED it~!
-Light in texture and providing an exotic flavor which I could not figure out~! arrghhh
-The pepper biscuit was ok, not as fluffy and fresh as I would have liked
-Home fries were like anywhere else, nothing special

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Barootes

Location:
http://www.barootes.com/

Grilled Australian Kangaroo Loin
-Balsamic Glaze,Sweet Potato Cakes and Vegetable

Comments:
-

Pistachio Crusted Fresh Organic Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Aioli
-On a Bed of Chilled Organic Greens with new Potatoes

Comments:
-The salmon was nice and moist, the pistachio crusting provided great texture (although there wasn't much of a pistachio flavor)

Miso Glazed Alaskan Black Cod
-Served with Chilled Organic Greens and House Rice

Comments:
-

Ba Shu Ren Jia

Dec 31, 2009

Location:
Ba Shu Ren Jia
4771 Steeles Ave. E. (at Kennedy)
416-335-0788

Items ordered:

Rice Noodles with sour and hot sauce

Comments:
-Very 'smooth' noodles like you've never had before!
-A perfect sauce combining spice and sweet/sour/sesame flavors
-I would recommend that people give this a try

Sliced pork with hot and garlic sauce

Comments:
-This dish has same sauce base (as the noodles above) dwelling on the bottom of the bowl
-On the meat there's a sweet/garlic sauce that is grainy in texture which works well with counter acting the spice
-The thin slices of pork have a good blend of meat/fat ratio providing great texture while chewing

Lamb in pot

Comments:
-Humm.....I was actually disappointed with this dish, there was nothing special about it
-Slices of lean lamb meat ended up being tough, I'll stop here.

Fish with sweet and sour sauce

Comments:
-This dish was not bad, you can smell/taste the sweet & sour flavor quite well
-There was a right amount of batter covering the fish so that it wasn't too "doughy"
-One thing that we noticed was that this dish was a tad bit too oily

Soup filled steamed buns

Comments:
-Who doesn't love these! All I can say is that this is on par with all the other Asian restaurants, not bad but nothing special

Konichiwa

Dec 28, 2009

Location:
http://www.gokonnichiwa.com/

Items ordered:

Pork ramen noodles with shoyu broth
-Noodles resembled more of the instant noodle style as oppose to the yellowish type noodles

Comments:
-The broth was a mild shoyu flavor, not as rich in flavor as I'd have liked
-Pork wise it was rather tender, acceptable
-I miss the perfectly made egg in Japan that has the yolk semi cooked =(
Overall I still can't find any ramen in Toronto that compares to Japan, sigh!

Beef curry rice

Comments:
-One thing I loved was that the carrot was tender and VERY sweet, as if it was soaked in sugar water
-The curry was rich in flavor and was blended with sweetness and a mild spice, just the way I like it, this would be one of the better places that I've tried for curry rice.