Kori Sushi

Kori Sushi is tucked away in a plaza on Bayview Avenue.

BBQ Eel roll 

The rolls are pretty reasonably priced and the BBQ eel roll was okay. 

Korean side dishes including fried mandu (dumplings), kimchi, bean sprouts and turnips. 

I'm not sure if the Korean side dishes came with our Korean orders or if they usually serve this with everything. 

Ddukbegi Bulgogi (Rice cakes and marinated beef in soup)

The soup was boiling hot, so we had to let it settle for a bit before we could eat. It was good - there were glass noodles, enoki mushrooms, marinated beef, onions, green onions and carrots. It was a good combination and the soup really got all the flavours. 

Gamjatang (pork bone soup)

I'm not a fan of the pork bone soups with lots of peppercorns on top - I don't like the texture and taste of the peppercorns in soups. The gamjatang relied too heavily on the peppercorns to make it spicy and it was also not particularly flavourful. There was a lot of pork bone meat which was nice and some cabbage. 

Website: https://korisushi.com

Asian Legend @ Don Mills and Eglinton

May 27, 2017

Pan fried dumplings, Pan fried pork buns, Xiaolongbao (soup filled dumplings)

I thought the pan fried dumplings had a pretty interesting presentation. They were served with all the crispy sauce/oil from the pan and they all had that nice crispy bottom on the skin. 

Onion pancake with beef

Still yummy as usual. 

Braised Beef Noodle Soup and Zhajiangmian

The braised beef noodle soup was pretty good! It was a little spicy, but it gave it a good kick. It was also a really hearty and filling bowl since it was quite big. 

August 15, 2015

I've known about the new Asian Legend here for a while, but I haven't really had the chance to check it out.  When my brother told me that he went and that the food was pretty good, I decided I wanted to try it too. 

Pork Potstickers (Wor Tip or Jiaozi)

The potstickers had that just fried crispy outer skin and the inside was packed with lots of meat.  Yummy! I like a little bit more balance in general with my potstickers (less meat and a bit more dough), but these were really good. 

Xiaolongbao

Steamed soup dumplings - these just barely scraped by the "stem" test. They didn't break when you lifted it by the stem proving that the skin was sturdy enough to hold the soup and the ground pork dumpling. These were pretty good too! 

Rolled Onion Pancake with Sliced Beef

This is one of my favourite Chinese snacks! There's savoury sliced beef, delicious unleavened pancake with green onion baked in and sauce! It just works so well together and this Asian Legend's version was really good! Maybe not the best I've had, but definitely second to none. 

Pan Fried Pork Buns

I usually get the potstickers or the xiaolongbao over these because I don't like too much dough with my dumplings - but these were like little buns instead with a lot more dough and less soup inside.  I liked the crispy bottom and the fact that some of the meat soaked into the bun inside. 

Zhajiangmian

A Taiwanese version rather than a Northern Chinese version. It was a lot of sauce, which is perfect! However, I still felt like something was lacking a bit from it - I think I would have like a bit more of a kick to it or some kind of stronger flavour. 

Sesame Biscuit Stuffed with Sliced Beef

We ordered this just to try it out - but we probably should have skipped it. 

Overall: Great meal at Asian Legend @ Don Mills and Eglinton - I definitely prefer this location over the Finch and Leslie location and the Sheppard and Brimley location.  The food is still a little pricier, but the quality and service are better here. 

Website: https://www.asianlegend.ca/

Subway

I received some Subway coupons in the mail and went with a coworker to try it out. 

I really wanted cream of broccoli soup; but after trying 2 Subway franchises on Bay Street and not finding the soup, I had to settle for minestrone. 

Steak Panini and Minestrone soup

The soup was okay - nothing special. The panini was a bit of a disappointment since I couldn't choose my toppings in the steak panini. They had predetermined ingredients and there was a LOT of bread in comparison to what was in the sandwich. I wouldn't get this again. 

Website: http://www.subway.com/en-ca

Nadège

May 19, 2017

My friend asked for macarons for someone as a thank-you gift and when I looked it up, I realized that there's now a location at Richmond Adelaide Centre, 120 Adelaide St W. 

Pistachio and Pistachio raspberry macarons

These were my macarons! The pistachio was pretty good - I like that there were chunks of pistachio in the feet of the macaron. The pistachio buttercream was really nice too. The pistachio strawberry was okay. 

October 23, 2016

 

Nadege opened a store at Yorkville recently and all their products looked amazing! I couldn't resist picking up some treats to try at home. 

Pistachio chocolate, pistachio strawberry and lemon lime macaron

So yummy!

Mushroom and cheese bun

I couldn't help being thrown back to those cheap Chinese bun shops that sell something similar to this (but for a fraction of the cost). Definitely got a little ripped off with this. 

Raspberry and pistachio pastry

It's pistachio and raspberry - my two favourite combinations! However, it wasn't whole pastry wasn't that great. The individual elements were nice - but it just didn't work together. 

December 21, 2012

Clockwise on Top Plate: Cherry Chocolate, Cassis, Blackberry Chocolate, Salted Caramel and Pistachio

Clockwise on bottom plate: Candy cane, pistachio, green tea, champagne and chocolate

I was intrigued by the variety of macarons and they all tasted exactly like what they were supposed to be.

The candy cane and champagne flavours were nice and festive.

However, I was really disappointed with the execution of the macarons: 

As you can see from the cassis (blackcurrant), the macaron feet were so hard that they crumbled when you pushed your finger on the top.

The only moist and decent ones we had were the blackberry chocolate, cherry chocolate and champagne.

The most disappointing macaron was the pistachio - it's such a classic flavour and so traditional and when we bit into it we both knew that we overspent our money (and that we probably wouldn't be back here for macarons again).

Overall: Nadege has a nice variety of macarons, but in terms of execution - they were nowhere near Parisian Macarons, or even some of the other macaron places I tried in Toronto such as Patachou or Butter Avenue.

March 15, 2012

Ever since Nadège opened in 2009, I have heard stories about their macarons and french pastries. Some people even ventured to say that they had some of the best macarons here outside of Paris (pretty high praise), so I decided to stop by and see if it was true:

 

Macarons are on the far left, cakes in the middle and pastries are on the right

Pain de chocolate amande and pain au chocolat (on top of a turnover)

The pastries were flaky and buttery (and a little pricey) 

Website: http://www.nadege-patisserie.com/

Toronto Ribfest @ Yonge & Dundas Square

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Toronto started doing a Ribfest downtown at Yonge and Dundas Square! The huge confusing signs felt familiar (they all say they're #1 at something). 

We picked up ribs at Oak & Barrel and went down to the Eaton Centre food court to eat since all the picnic tables were taken up at Yonge & Dundas square. 

Full rack of ribs!

Full and meaty with a nice tasty sauce. They didn't have too much of the smoky flavour, but enough for it to add a different element to the taste. 

Website: https://www.insidetoronto.com/events/7271817--ribfest-at-yonge-dundas-square/

Bangkok Garden

May 17, 2017

Bangkok Garden is a really popular place for large parties because it has so much space to accommodate groups. 

Pad Thai, Pad Siew, Green curries, vegetables, noodle soup

It's pretty consistent with all the other times I've been here. 

Mango salad, pineapple, cantaloupe, fried banana, rambutan

It's interesting because I never noticed the rambutans sign until now. I always thought they were lychees - they're actually similar in taste, but lychees are sweeter. 

May 30, 2016

Bangkok Garden is a popular lunch spot around the Eaton Centre area and one of the reasons is because they offer a $15.95 Lunch Buffet of Thai food. 

There's quite a few varieties including a few curry options (Green curry, red curry, vegetable curry, etc.), pad thai, spring rolls, stir-fry vegetables and jasmine rice. 

The food is decent and it can be good value for money if you eat a lot - there's options for everyone. 

Noodle soup bar

The lunch buffet also includes a noodle soup bar where you can choose your toppings like fish cakes, beef balls, pork balls, corriander, green onions, dried shrimp and more. 

July 6, 2012

According to their website, Bangkok Garden was one of the first Thai restaurants in Toronto. 

The inside of the restaurant is decorated really nicely.

When we went to Bangkok Garden, we had the option of Summerlicious or the Lunch Buffet for $15. 

We chose the lunch buffet.

Choice of meats - beef balls, fish balls, shrimp balls, fish cake and chicken

Also, they offer a selection of toppings - I got green onions and peanuts, but there were more options like chilli sauce, ground garlic and hot peppers to name a few.

The rice noodle soup was okay. They make it look simple to make: add soup, noodles, meats and toppings and voila!

Full plate! Part 1 (clockwise):

Vegetarian pad thai, mango salad, spring roll, vegetable stirfry, basil eggplant and beef, mango beef, glass noodles

Things I liked: Pad Thai, spring roll, Vegetable Stir Fry, Basil Eggplant and Beef, Mango Beef 

The rest wasn't that great.

Part 2 (clockwise): 

Bangkok fried noodles, mango beef, emerald green curry, pagoda chicken curry, vegetarian pad thai and spring roll

The Bangkok fried noodles was like Chow Mein (but renamed to sound more Thai). I wasn't too sure which curry would be spicy - so I grabbed a little of each with rice. The emerald green curry was a little spicy to me, but the pagoda chicken curry was good!

Dessert time!

Watermelon, pineapple, deep fried sweet potato and deep fried banana, cantaloupe and lychees

I really like deep fried bananas especially with ice cream (which they didn't have here). The deep fried sweet potato didn't taste as good as the banana. 

Overall: It's probably a little pricey for a buffet, but considering the downtown location (lunches downtown can cost up to $15 anyways), it's actually a decent price for a filling meal. 

Website: http://bangkokgarden.ca/

Hung Long Restaurant

Rare Beef, Tripe, Tendon and beef ball noodle soup

The broth was really flavourful and the ingredients were good. I was pretty happy with this bowl of pho.

Grilled Chicken Nướng

The chicken was grilled perfectly and the meat was tender and juicy. The spring roll (one of my favourite parts of Vietnam cuisine) was really crispy on the outside and tasty inside. The fish sauce was really good as well and tied the whole dish including the noodles together. In my opinion, I think Hung Long does one of the best nướngs in Toronto. 

Overall: Good and quick service (the food came out pretty fast) and the food is yummy!