Sneaky Dee's

After an afternoon of walking along College for the Taste of Italy, we stopped by Sneaky Dee's for their famous Nachos. 
We weren't that hungry after the Taste of Italy, so we decided to split the nachos.  However, we sat and stared at the menu for a while since we were undecided whether to get the veggie nachos with cheese vs. the vegan nachos with guacamole. 
Ultimately, the cheese won over the guacamole and we went with the veggie. 

Veggie nachos with crisp corn tortilla chips, covered with salsa roja, melted cheese, tomatoes, onions, mixed peppers, jalapenos, lettuce and sour cream. $17
The nachos were great! I would totally recommend you try them here. The portions were massive and we could barely finish between the two of us (and we have pretty hearty appetites). The struggle to finish was real and painful.

Overall: Delicious nachos, quick and friendly service and a small patio, but really nice in good weather.

Website: http://sneaky-dees.com/

Taste of Italy

Toronto has a lot of festivals to celebrate all the different ethnic cultures and cuisines. I've been to Taste of Danforth in previous years, but not Taste of Italy.  So this year, we decided to check it out. 

We picked up some Italian specialties like arancini (stuffed fried rice balls), cannoli and gelato

Arancini, cannoli and cream puff

The cannoli and cream puff had light, fluffy and airy cream, but they weren't particularly tasty (or perhaps the flavours weren't strong enough) - instead they were just sweet.  I prefer my cannoli and cream puff to have stronger flavours and more depth. 

Dolce Gelato

Strawberry & pistachio and nutella & pistachio

The gelato was good and a nice cold treat on such a hot day. 

Overall: The festival is much smaller than Taste of Danforth and there wasn't as much to see or do on College.  There were a lot of live music acts which was kinda nice. 

Website: http://www.tasteoflittleitaly.ca/

Nak Won

We were in Markham for my friend's "welcome back to Toronto (for the holidays only) party" and since there was a big group, we got to sit in the private room in the back. 

Pork Bone Soup (gamjatang)

Lots of pork bone, and okay tasting, but nothing exceptional. 

Jajangmyan

Rather bland tasting and on the sweeter side than savoury and not very good.

Overall: Service was really slow and the back room was gross (we saw some creepy crawlies). It definitely wasn't the best welcome back party for my friend - with mediocre food, slow service and gross bugs. There's better Nak Wons in the GTA - this might just be the worst.

Website: http://nakwon.ca/

Nespresso Boutique Bar

I didn't even know that Nespresso opened a cafe in Yorkville until I heard about it at the Toronto Taste event benefiting Second Harvest. 

It's so nice inside! 

I received this coupon from the event. 

 

The dessert menu! Hot chocolate and Latte

Yum! They even put whipped cream on top.  The drinks were really good - not powdery and rich flavour. It's pretty amazing what those Nespresso machines can do.

Flourless chocolate torte with raspberry and Caramel Pecan Flan with French Vanilla Ice Cream
The flan was nice and very nutty, but I think the dark chocolate torte was a much better choice.

Overall: I'm a little biased since I got the desserts and drinks for free, but I think this is a great marketing concept for Nespresso.  Not only does it appeal to the people who love to drink their coffee and specialty drinks in a cafe with desserts and food, but it's an excellent way to promote their products (the Nespresso cups and the Nespresso machines).  The desserts were a little pricey, but the drinks were competitively priced (considering the Yorkville location and higher-end market) vs. a specialty Starbucks drink (which is also next door beside the Rocks in Yorkville).  Very cool!

Website: https://www.nespresso.com/ca/en/pages/nespresso-boutiques

Big Slice

Big Slice is known in the Yonge & Dundas area for having cheap eats and they definitely don't disappoint!

Meatball sandwich and pizza

They serve huge portions of food like the pizza for $3.81 (excluding tax) and it's not bad for a quick meal.

Meatball sandwich $5.75

Lots of sauce and peppers and huge meatballs! I thought this was really tasty, and I was glad I got this over the slightly greasier pizza. 

Overall: The food is simple, cheap, filling and good. It may not be the best pizza in Toronto, but it's pretty good value and that's basically all you could ask for. 

Website: http://thebigslicepizza.com/