Museum Tavern

We were celebrating a good friend's birthday with dinner and tickets to Friday Night Live at the ROM.  So, we chose Museum Tavern because (a) it got good reviews and (b) the proximity to the ROM

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger with fries


House Crafted Game Sausage with elk, boar, lamb and spaetzle
The sausage was good if you like game and a little tougher than your typical sausage.
I wasn't a fan of the spaetzle though.


1/4 lb. Yarmout Lobster Roll
The lobster was sweet and the roll was nicely toasted and buttered. Very meaty, but a little expensive for $24.


Triple chocolate cake
White chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate mousse - yum!


Cinnamon sugar pie
The last time I was here I fell in love with their sugar pie, so I knew I had to get it again if they had it. They had a cinnamon version of the pie, but I found the cinnamon overpowered the pie and the crust was just soggy and gooey.

Overall: There's an interesting variety of pub food at Museum Tavern and generally something for everyone. It can definitely be on the pricier side depending what you're getting and there's some hits and misses. Good vibe though and quick service.

Website: http://www.museumtavern.ca/

V2 Ramen and Izakaya

Beef brisket ramen and cha siu ramen (BBQ pork ramen)

Of the two, I prefer the cha siu ramen, but I thought the broth was really heavy.

Pork Tonkatsu
The pork was crispy, but it was pretty dry and the meat was on the tougher side.

Okonomiyaki
Octopus pancake with mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and bonito flakes on top. I found the pancake a little mushy and soggy, but the flavours were there.

Stuffed tofu
The tofu was done well with a nice soft inside and a crispy skin. The bonito flakes were a little overwhelming though.

Dessert
Cold lychee flavoured jelly with tapioca balls (?)

Overall: V2 Ramen and Izakaya is definitely more of a snack place than a restaurant, but I wasn't impressed with their food. 

Season's Christmas Show

I wasn't sure whether I should put up this post about a Christmas Show, but I really enjoyed my experience here (with interesting seminars and presentations). Therefore, I thought I'd put up a post that deviates from my usual food posts about places I've eaten at. 

My friend had tickets to the Season's Christmas Show (Nov 21 - 23, 2014), so we went to the International Center to check it out. As we were wandering around the hall, we were freely enjoying the samples and promotional sales until we got to the center and saw the Cheese Seminar. Jackpot! Free cheese samplings and an information session on cheese all in one? Sign me up! (Actually it was 'line up 20 minutes before the session starts to get in')

The seminar location led by a representative form teh Dairy Farmers of Canada

Note taking sheet

There are 3 ways to describe cheese: raw, pasterized and thermalized. 

  

Baguette accompaniment to cleanse the palate between cheeses

The cheese list: 

1) Bella Casara Ricotta by Quality Cheese was the winner of the best cheese in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix in 2013. It was the first Ontario cheese to win and it was also the first fresh cheese to the competition. When they served us the sample in the spoon, they paired it with some cabernet franc ice syrup to add some sweetness. The cheese was delicate and balanced: not sweet, sour or bitter and despite looking a little lumpy, it went down pretty smooth.
2) Dofino Creamy Havarti by Arla Food was semi soft, mild and a tiny bit sour - but it wasn't bitter or sweet. I learned that washing the curd releases the whey and softens the acidity.
3) L'Ancetre's light mild cheddar was one of my favourites. It's a certified organic and lactose free cheese using unpasturized/raw milk. It had a rubbery texture from the skim milk and had a lot of flavour for a mild cheddar. I learned that if you use whole milk, the texture of the cheese is not as rubbery and aged cheddar forms a dry crumbly texture.
4) COWS Inc.'s Extra Old Cheddar had big flavour: it even lingered long after I finished the cheese.
5) Empire Cheese's caramelized onion cheddar was made with real sauteed onions in the cheese that made a strong impact on the medium cheddar.
6) Mountain Oak Cheese (which is a farmstead producer) had a cheese called Wild Nettle Gouda which was a hard and firm cheese with bold and strong flavours. Fun cheese fact: ivory coloured cheeses are aged cheeses.
Lots of fun and a great learning experience - I learned much more about cheeses and had enjoyed trying everything.

Also, at 4pm, there was a Purdy's Master Chocolatier teaching us about different chocolates from around the world and demonstrating how to make ice wine truffles. 

Bite Bar

Update: Store has closed.

November 20, 2014

I came back to try the South Indian coffee after another coworker mentioned it. 

South Indian coffee

Blended hazelnut coffee with warm milk and sugar, topped with cocoa. 

I could definitely taste the hazelnut coffee, and I thought it was really nicely done with warm milk and spices. A great drink for a really chilly day!

June 28, 2013

There was quite a bit of publicity early this year on Bay Street about Bite Bar. They also had a Buytopia promotion where you could pay $15 for $30 worth of food. My coworker and I decided to give it a shot.

Cute menu: 

I started off easy with 3 bites:

In order from right to left:

1) Mint: The mint icing was thick and heavy. It was a little overwhelming for a bite and would have been nicer with a lighter fluffier chocolate cake. 

1) Cookies and cream: light icing and sprinkled cookie crumbs on top. I thought this one was okay.

3) Lemon: the icing tasted a bit like dish soap and it was too thick and heavy for the cake. However, I found the lemon cake was really lovely and light.
4) Cookies and cream marshmallow bar was really sweet with all that white chocolate and rice krispies.


Row 1: Cookies and Cream, Strawberry Lemonade, Just Bite It and PB&J
Row 2: Banana Splitz, Red Velvet, C Cup, Mocha Chocolate
Row 3: Mint Chocolate, Strawberry, Lemon and Red Velvet
5) Strawberry lemonade: This bite was really delicious! The sweetness of the strawberry icing really brought out the tangy delicate lemon cake and it was the perfect complement. My favourite bite of the day.

6) Just Bite It: The signature bite with thick raspberry icing and light vanilla cake. I didn't really taste the vodka in the icing, but I thought it was a nice summery dessert.
7) PB&J: A peanut butter and jam cupcake. I only got a little bit of jam because the peanut butter taste stood out, but I really liked the vanilla cinnamon cake underneath it all.

8) Banana Splitz: banana cake with chocolate icing. Maybe I just missed it, but I didn't taste the strawberry puree or caramel icing.
9) Red Velvet: It was a nice take on a simple and classic flavour. The cake was moist and good, but the cream cheese icing was a little too subtle.

10) C cup: Double Chocolate threat with the chocolate icing and chocolate cake (no sprinkles in sight here). Very rich and decadent for chocolate lovers.

11) Mocha chocolate: Ooh caffeine...straight from the coffee bean on top. A hint of caramel from the icing, but the cake was mostly lost on me from the aromatic coffee bean.
12) Strawberry: A nice light flavour of strawberry in the cake with a heavy vanilla butter cream (slightly overpowering) and I found the pink sugar crystals made it a lot sweeter.

Overall: Cute concept and cute store. It's only $1 for a mini indulgence every once in a while.

Website: http://www.bitebar.ca/

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup & Bibimbap

I've been craving Ginseng Chicken soup for the last few weeks. It was probably because (1) I've been watching way too many Korean Dramas and (2) thinking back on my recent trip to South Korea and the amazing Ginseng Chicken soup I had in Seoul).
After asking around, we found Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup and Bibimbap on Leslie Street.

 


Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup & Bibambap Menu
I was a little surprised that not everyone in the restaurant was ordering the Ginseng Chicken soup that they're named for.

Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup (samgyetang)
The soup came out bubbling hot with a bowl of noodles on the side.
The bowl was huge! I definitely didn't expect that, but it was also a little deceiving too since the chicken looked really tiny in comparison to the bowl.
The chicken was a little bland in flavour and there wasn't a lot of ginseng stuffed into the chicken, but it was present. Compared to the one I had in Seoul, it needed more chicken essence, spice and vegetables to make it taste better. However, it did deliver the simple and traditional samgyetang soup that I wanted and it satisfied my craving.
The side dishes were really good! Especially the tofu and chapchae - we ordered a lot more servings of those.

Hot Stone Bibambap
Very pretty! It was good and the hot stone was actually hot enough to make the rice stick to the sides of the bowl so that some of the rice had a bit of a crust to it.

Overall: The Ginseng Chicken Soup was pretty good - it's not as great as the one I had in Seoul, but it'll do. On the other hand, the side dishes I had here were much better than most of the side dishes I had in South Korea.

Iruka Sushi

Soup with noodles
Something different from the traditional miso soup

Salad

Sashimi Dinner with rice $16.95
The salmon and butterfish were buttery and delicious, but some of the other fish felt a little dried out and not as fresh.

Spicy Roll Set: 6 Spicy California Roll, 6 Spicy Salmon Roll & 6 Spicy Tuna Roll $17.95
I did enjoy the rolls more than the sashimi. The spicy salmon and tuna were good and they had some crunch to them with the tempura flakes. The only spicy part of the California roll was the sauce on top - which was okay.

Overall: The sushi rolls were okay, but I wasn't a big fan of the sashimi.