Dairy Queen - Newmarket

Kincardine is actually rather pretty too! 

 

The town and the marina

Beach in Kincardine (unfortunately the water was rather chilly - we did go swimming for a bit though!)

Deluxe Cheeseburger meal deal with burger and Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Smash Blizzard

I've been wanting to try the $6 meal deal at Dairy Queen for a LONG time! I finally got the chance on our way home from Kincardine & Tobermory. 

After a 2.5 hour car ride, the ice cream was a welcome treat and of course, I had to upsize it to a blizzard with peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter and choco chunks blended with vanilla soft serve. Yum! I was more in this for the blizzard than the burger and it was totally worth it. 

Website: http://www.dairyqueen.com/ca-en/

Fish & Chip Place - Tobermory

 

Singing Sands Beach and the Path to the Grotto

 

Halfway Rock Point and the Grotto

We grabbed lunch at the "home of the Tobermory Fish Taco" restaurant Fish & Chip Place.
Instead of sitting down, we decided to go around the back and do take-out:

 

Fish Taco

The description said "crispy bits served on a soft tortilla with shredded cabbage, tangy white sauce, salsa and garnished with a lime" for $5.95

This was a rather large fish taco...it was more like a wrap, but with tiny pieces of crunchy batter (and a little fish) and some thrown together cabbage and store-bought salsa. Also, there was no heat to the taco - so there really wasn't a point in the lime wedge. What a huge disappointment. 

Website: http://www.thefishandchipplace.com/

Peninsula Supply Ice Cream Parlour - Tobermory

Picturesque Tobermory! 

 
Tobermory's Little Tug Harbour and the beach near Halfway Log Dump
 
On the shores of Georgian Bay

White beach near Halfway Log Dump and Little Cove
Absolutely stunning and only 5 hours from Toronto! :)

Tobermory is busiest from May - October (and all the stores operate based on that schedule too) - so it can get pretty crowded here on the weekend:

The Peninsula Supply Ice Cream Parlour is one of two ice cream places in town.

Their specialty is the Bruce Wheel with your choice of two cookies and a scoop of ice cream in the middle:

Double chocolate cookie and chocolate chip cookie with salted caramel cashew toffee ice cream sandwiched in the middle.
Pretty good - it would have been even more amazing if the cookies were fresh from the oven (but then again the ice cream would melt immediately).  The ice cream was really good! Definitely an interesting flavour and really yummy with just the right level of sweetness from the salted caramel and toffee and it was offset with the salty cashews and less sweetened vanilla ice cream.

Side view
It was a little messy to eat, but really delightful overall! (The chocolate chip cookie was better than the double chocolate).


White chocolate macadamia nut cookie and chocolate chip cookie with ice cream.


Chocolate chip cookie and double chocolate cookie with skor ice cream

Overall: Great place for an ice cream sandwich! Tobermory does become a bit of a tourist trap in the summer, but this would be one place I'd gladly come back to! The ice cream and cookies were great! 

Website: http://www.peninsulasupply.ca/

Paramount Fine Foods @ Yorkville

Paramount recently opened up a location in Yorkville (close to my work!).  I was pretty excited to try it and my coworker recommended I try the Fattoush salad (but I was really craving shawarma), so I decided to get the best of both worlds:

Chicken & Beef Shawarma and Fattoush Salad on the side instead of the usual rice and potatoes

The beef and chicken shawarma were really good! There's a reason why this is one of the most popular Middle Eastern chain restaurants.  I prefer the chicken shawarma over the beef because it was juicier and more tender. I'm also super happy I got the Fattoush salad with romaine lettuce, cucumber, mixed peppers, red radishes, tomato and the crispy fried pita pieces with vinaigrette dressing.  The salad was delicious and super filling - the fried pita pieces made it pretty unique - a nice texture element and the garlic sauce and tahini made everything better. 

Overall: Great meal and good value for money at Paramount! Huge, filling and delicious portions. 

Website: http://www.paramountfinefoods.com/

Cora’s @ York Mills

I'm usually not a brunch person, but a friend was in town from Ottawa and wanted to go to Cora's before heading downtown to catch her Porter flight.

Mango Banana and Strawberry Banana Smoothies
The mango banana smoothie didn't really have a mango taste - it was predominantly banana. The strawberry banana was much better, but it would have been better if it had a stronger fruit flavor.

Burrito Crepe with eggs, black bean, red & green peppers, onions, cheddar cheese and sour cream and salsa on the side and potatoes.


Sunshine Panini-Crepe with eggs, ham, cheddar cheese and hollandaise sauce on top and fruit salad and toast on the side.

The panini crepe was okay, but I found it a little bland in flavour compared to the burrito crepe.  We preferred the burrito crepe with its stronger flavours (and delicious mix of peppers, onions, cheese and beans). Although, it would have been nice if there was some more depth of flavour like a hint of heat or something with the burrito.

Overall: I had no idea it was so popular on the weekends here.  The food was okay (I'm not a big fan of brunch and although there were tons of options - I didn't see anything that stood out to me).  The service was a little slow - which probably accounts for the long line-ups.

Website: http://www.chezcora.com/en

Utsav

I've been here a few times with my team at work and I thought they served pretty good Indian food. So when my friend came back from Dublin for summer vacation and wanted Indian food, I suggested we go to Utsav in Yorkville. 

Despite the Yorkville location, the lunch specials were pretty reasonable and came with salad and naan:

Simple salad with fresh ingredients

Naan

Chicken Masala and Butter Chicken with rice
Both sauces were really flavourful and rich with the masala sauce spicier than the butter chicken. The beef and chicken also really absorbed the sauces and flavours well and paired perfectly with the rice and naan. Delicious!

Overall: Great place for delicious and reasonably priced Indian food near Yorkville.  The restaurant is a little small with a few tables, but the service was great and we were served our food quickly.

Website: http://www.utsav.ca/

Mr. Greek Express - Aurora

As we were driving home from the cottage, we stopped by in Aurora to grab some food at Mr. Greek Express near the Highway. 

Chicken Souvlaki Wrap

Probably the most pitiful chicken souvlaki wrap I've ever seen or eaten. 

I mean, it had a lot of tzatziki sauce, but there was barely any tomatoes, onions and a sad small chicken skewer. 

Overall: What a huge disappointment - they skimped out on portions, fillings and although it was only $5.25 for the wrap, it wasn't good value for this small amount of food. 

Website: http://mrgreek.com/aurora/menus

Capers - Campbellford (ON)

We learned our lesson after our cottage trip last year in Campbellford (where we over-packed the food).  This year, we decided to go out and eat in town:

Mahi Mahi Sliders with Mango Salsa and Capers' House Salad and fries

The mahi mahi sliders were pretty tasty with the sweet mango salsa. The salad was really good too - but maybe a bit better without the dressing.

Creamy mac and cheese and Capers' house salad
I loved that they baked the mac and cheese so that there was a nice crust of cheese on top and it really was super cheesy.  The ultimate comfort food on a rainy day.  The Capers' house salad was made with seasonal greens, mandarins, sunflower seeds, craisins, cucumbers and tomatoes and was actually really fresh and delicious.

Overall: Good dining in Campbellford! The food was delicious and the food was served in a reasonable amount of time considering how big our group was.

Website: http://www.capersrestaurant.ca/#home/home_layout_2.html

Congee Delight

After a full day hiking in Hamilton (and some great pictures to show for it!), I was starving. 

Waterfalls!

We went to Congee Delight to celebrate a birthday (even though I was a little woozy from sun stroke and dehydration). 

Luckily, Chinese restaurants are really good about refilling your water glass or tea and they usually serve a soup:

Starter soup (with orange peel)

Mushrooms with Bok Choy and Fried Crispy Chicken

Typical vegetarian dish and meat dish - the chicken skin was really crispy, but I probably could have done without the shrimp chips.  

Braised Grouper Tail and Tofu

Apparently this is a good deal for $17 since grouper tail is usually a lot more. However, there was barely any meat on the grouper tail and it was more tofu and grouper skin than anything else. 

Chinese donut (youtiao) with fish cake inside

A specialty here - and really quite good! 

Red bean and tapioca dessert

Overall: Good service (they did an excellent job of constantly refilling my water glass since I kept guzzling water due to my slight dehydration) and the food was pretty good. 

John’s Chinese BBQ

We heard the BBQ pork (char siu) is really good here and we've been looking for a good Cantonese roasted meat restaurant for a while. 

Typical for most Chinese restaurants, we got a starter soup. 

Then they delivered their most popular dish right away:

BBQ pork with rice

The char siu was really tender and sweet - I thought they used a little too much honey with their soy sauce making it a tad too sweet. However, I could see why people came back here even though it is on the expensive side. 

Stir Fried Noodles with Pork

It looked really good and it was okay for the most part - nothing exceptional. 

Shanghai Fried Noodles

I found this a little on the bland side after the stir fried noodles and char siu.  It just lacked a strong flavour (usually I like my Shanghai noodles with more of a meat flavour or soy sauce flavour, but I think all the vegetables kind of diluted those flavours). 

Overall: A decent experience - the service was quick and the food was okay. However, the restaurant didn't really stand out to me.