Biscotteria Forno Cultura

Cookies at Union Station

Assortment of Italian cookies $14.88

The cookies were okay, but they all had this dense crunchy texture that I didn't really like. I thought if the cookies were bigger that they would have a soft texture inside and some did, but most were on the hard/crumbly side. The flavours of the cookies were okay. A rather expensive batch of cookies though since they're sold by weight.

Homemade Ramen

 

Hand pulled ramen with beef brisket in soup

The beef brisket was really flavourful. The cold radishes were a nice touch.

Wide flat noodle version

Unfortunately, the wide flat noodles aren't as great at absorbing the flavour of the beef brisket noodle soup. Either way, they're fun to eat!

Website: https://www.homemade-ramen.com/

Frankie Tomato

Frankie Tomato is a Markham institution that has been around for years serving All You Can Eat Italian Buffet. 

Round 1: Lasagna, Penne, roast beef, gnocchi, macaroni and meats

Round 2: Meatballs, roasted veggies, beef, more lasagna, penne primavera and potatoes

Round 3: Mussels, Caesar Salad and calamari

Round 4: Strawberry and mango ice cream and tiramisu

I totally overate; the dangers of buffet. The food was pretty good (which explains the long line up to get into the seating area) and the buffet cost about $30 (including tax).

Website: https://www.frankietomatto.com/

Avenue Open Kitchen

Friday Mac & Cheese Special

A huge portion of mac & cheese for their daily special. It was made with a few different cheeses and they didn't skimp out on the cheese. The salad was nice to balance out the heaviness of the mac & cheese.

Website: https://aveopenkitchen.ca/

Danish Pastry House

The Danish Pastry House opened a location at Union Station

Spandaur $2.50 

Really good raspberry jam danish with light and super flaky pastry.

Hindbaer Snittee $2.75 

The raspberry cookie was delicious and sweet with a nice firm texture but crumbly too.

hoj snegl (mini snail pastry) $3.25 

The pastry had a nice cinnamon and chocolate flavour, but the custard made it a little too heavy. 

Website: http://www.danishpastryhouse.ca/

The Halal Guys

Mar 20, 2019

Small chicken platter

Small mixed platter

I didn't get any hot sauce this time so I wouldn't be guzzling water. Both meats were better this time - not as dry.

May 12, 2017

I was so excited when I saw the sign at Yonge and Wellesley advertising that the Halal Guys were opening up a storefront in Toronto! I loved them in New York City for their cheap and filling shawarma platters. 

I waited until the lines died down a bit before going. They've really changed it to an assembly line. They've come so far from their New York City street corner!

Small Platter $9.99

The platter was beef and chicken shawarma - it was okay, but not as amazing or as good value-for-money as I remember it from NYC. The white sauce was a little runny and the hot sauce was super spicy. The beef was a little dry, but the chicken was good.

Website: https://thehalalguys.com

Boba Boy

Taro Milk Tea $5.50

It was powdery taro milk tea and super sweet despite my ordering the milk tea unsweetened. 

Website: http://www.bobaboy.ca/

Presse Cafe

Mar 12, 2019

Smoked Salmon and capers

I liked the smoked salmon wrap much better than the chicken avocado wrap. I would definitely get this one over the chicken (but again, I wouldn't pay the full regular price for it).

March 4, 2019

I received some promotional coupons from Presse Cafe a while ago and one of the coupons was a $3 wrap. 

Chicken avocado wrap

It seems like a good deal considering the wraps are usually much more expensive, but after trying it, I wouldn't pay more than $5 for the wrap. It's okay, but it's kind of small for a lunch portion (I think it's more like a snack portion).

Website: http://pressecafe.com/fr/

Tika Tea House

Mar 12, 2019

Snow Pear Green Tea

I think I prefer the tiramisu over this green tea.

Feb 28, 2019

Tiramisu milk tea (regular size) $3.99 

The drink is made with New Zealand milk powder (I had no idea this was a thing). It actually made the drink really creamy and delicious and it was quite sweet even with 25% sweetness. The drink tasted more like chocolate than tiramisu (or like the chocolate powder on tiramisu). 

Kobi Korean BBQ

I've wanted to try chicken and cheese for a long time now and I finally got the numbers to share a large plate of chicken and cheese!

Chicken, rice cakes, squid and cheese

Unfortunately, we didn't have any Korean friends to help us figure out how to actually eat this - so we tried to rely on the waiters. They tried to explain it to us a few times, but we really couldn't understand why you would wait for the cheese to melt and then dip it. Shouldn't you be mixing it all together so it all tastes delicious? We were rather impatient to get to our chicken and cheese experience, so we eventually moved all the cheese into the main center dish. (I think the waiters got frustrated with us at that point haha) It was still good!

Acorn jelly! I haven't seen this as a side dish before (it's cold and I'm not really a fan)

Steamed egg and noodles

Website: http://www.kobikoreanbbq.com/

Tropicana Caribbean Cuisine & Pizza

When you're hungry, it really seems like your stomach is bottomless. Even after grabbing take-out Indian buffet, we thought we might need more food.

Chicken roti

The roti was kind of thick (which made it seem heavier than usual after eating Indian food). The boneless chicken curry was okay. 

Website: https://www.tropicanacaribbeancuisine.ca/

Bombay Grill

We came a little too late for the lunch buffet, but the waiters offered to let us take some of the remaining buffet items as take-out plates.

Butter chicken, samosa, goat curry, tandoori chicken, chana dal and rice

The butter chicken was pretty good and there was still quite a variety of dishes leftover, so we got to try a little bit of everything. Luckily the food wasn't too spicy or too dry even at the tail end of lunch.

Website: https://www.thebombaygrill.ca/

Osmow's

Mixed Shawarma platter with fries and fattoush salad

Mixed shawarma on fries

Huge portions with lots of white sauce and a bit of hot sauce. It was really good and I liked that you had the option to customize it beyond just the traditional pita or rice. I love sauce, so this was the perfect amount for me. 

Website: https://mrosmow.com/menu-npg/#main_dishes

Como En Casa

Tacos

Enchiladas $15.82

Pretty good enchiladas, but a tad on the expensive side for lunch.

Family Shawarma & Falafel

2 Shawarma special for $7.95

Beef and Chicken shawarmas

There was a bit of a lineup, but it moved rather fast since they figured out a system. The shawarma were pretty good and they were so cheap! I'll definitely be back for this price!

Sharetea @ Yonge & Wellesley

Update: This location has closed. 

Mar 1, 2019

Taro Pearl Milk tea with 0% sugar (hot)

It was a smooth milk tea, but the tapioca were kinda mushy. I think I'm going to write off this Sharetea.

March 15, 2018

I thought I'd give the Okinawa pearls milk tea a try again (maybe it's gotten better?)

Regular with less ice $5.70

It had like 80% flavour; it's interesting that it would do that considering I asked for less ice (so I thought it'd be more concentrated with flavour?).

June 22, 2016

I was a little disappointed last time I was at Sharetea, but I figured I'd give it another shot and get my usual Taro bubble tea here. 

Taro milk tea
It was okay. I asked for less sugar and less ice, but for some reason, asking for that made my drink a little flavour-less. It was diluted and the tapioca was a little gummy.  I'm not sure I'm a fan of this location or Sharetea after this.

October 26, 2015

Ever since I had the Hokkaido milk tea at Green Grotto, I've been obsessed with the drink. 

It's just so creamy and rich and flavourful. So I was pretty excited when I saw it on the menu at Share Tea. 

The tea was good, but not as good as the Green Grotto's.

Website: http://www.shareteatoronto.com/