Tavazo

Assorted Baklava

It's a store that sells mostly nuts and fruits, but I found their baklava pretty interesting, so I bought a few. The pastry wasn't as good as some of the other places I've tried, but the nuts were really tasty.

Website: https://www.tavazo.com/

Pizza Libretto

Aug 22, 2019 @ 155 University Ave.

Complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic and spicy chili oil

Feature pizza $18

Sausage, peppers, basil and cheese

The pizza crust is so good! 

Gorgonzola Gnocchi $16

Lovely fluffy pillows of gnocchi with a yummy gorgonzola sauce (my favourite way to eat this particular blue cheese). Delish!

Oct 16, 2012 - 221 Ossington Ave.

After salivating over the BlogTo Best Pizza in Toronto list, I couldn't wait to try out Pizza Libretto (which was #1 on the list)

The front door boasts certified authentic Neapolitan pizza

The menu was simple and straight forward, so my friend and I were originally going for an appetizer and pizza to share, but then our friendly server recommended that we get two pizzas and share them instead. 

Rosemary bread with yummy balsamic and olive oil mix

Margherita D.O.P., Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella

Wood Fire ovens add a great crispiness to most pizza crusts. Libretto's pizza crust has a doughy, chewy Naan-like texture which is very yummy. It's a nice change from all the thin-crust or thick greasy crust pizza I've been eating.

I loved the fragrant basil leaves which was also nicely complemented with the gooey mozzarella and super fresh and tangy tomato sauce. Yum! Simple and delicious!

 
House-Made Sausage, Caramelized Onion, Mozzarella, Chili Oil

I really liked this pizza! The sweet caramelized onions contrasted with the chili oil and created this complex and powerful punch of flavour. It wasn't too spicy either - a little hint of heat from the chili oil and it added a nice orange colour to the pizza. The morsels of sausage were delectable - but I have to say my favourite part of the pizza was the perfectly done caramelized onions - Wow!

Overall: Great place! Service was fantastic and super fast (we ordered our pizza and in less time than it takes to go to the washroom, they arrived at our table). The pizzas were authentic, fresh and delicious!

Website: http://pizzerialibretto.com/

Jolibee

It's been a while since the first Jolibee opened in Toronto, yet the lineups are still so long! 

Bucket of Crispy Chicken with gravy, pineapple juice, peach mango pie, Jolly spaghetti and Palabok Fiesta

We grabbed everything unique on their menu to see if we could find out what the obsession was about. 

The chicken was really good, but it was definitely on the expensive side (huge wait and rather pricey per piece of chicken). Flavour wise, I think I prefer Popeye's spicy fried chicken. The spaghetti was a little weird, the tomato sauce was sweet. I liked the palabok fiesta with the shrimp paste and vermicelli noodles. The peach mango pie was okay - it didn't really taste like peach or mango to me. 

Website: http://jollibeecanada.com/

Pablo Cheesetart

Aug 15, 2019

Mango, Sweet Potato, Chestnut cheesetarts

It's so pretty!

Matcha, Cheese and S'mores cheesetarts

I found I liked the stronger flavoured cheesetarts more (matcha and mango). 

Jan 12, 2018 - 114 Dundas St.

Slice of the Pablo Cheese tart

The custard cheese tart was interesting. In my opinion, I found this version of the cheesetart much better than Uncle Tetsu's, but I still prefer New York style cheesecake. 

Website: https://pablocanada.com/

Big Smoke Burger

Aug 15, 2019 - 799 York Mills

 Hogtown: Swiss cheese, mushrooms, bacon, rosemary-garlic mayo, lettuce and tomato
The meat patty was a little crumbly; however, it worked well with the delicious rosemary garlic mayo and soft egg bun.

Beast: smoked cheddar, sauteed mushrooms, bacon and onion ring

The burger was crispy with the bacon already, I'm not sure it needed the extra onion ring - however it was fun. 

April 25, 2015 - Yorkdale Mall

I haven't had a Big Smoke Burger in a while, but I was taking my aunt shopping at Yorkdale and decided to grab one of my favourite burgers with the yummy rosemary garlic mayo. 

Unfortunately, the burger seemed to have shrunk compared to what I remember. 

It was still okay, but a lot smaller.  The onion rings were still as awesome as I remember! 

Tim Hortons Innovation Cafe

I read about the Innovation Cafe, but I didn't expect to see such long lineups for their coffee and food. It also took me a while to find the location since I came from the PATH (it's above the food court).

Hazelnut Donut $1.99

It was a chocolate donut with a thick hazelnut icing and whole hazelnuts. It was good, but I'm not sure I'd pay $2 for it again.

Website: https://locations.timhortons.com/ca/on/toronto/innovation-cafe---130-king-st-west.html

Tabouli

Chicken shawarma

A huge portion of chicken shawarma, I think there was more chicken than the salad and potatoes combined. The chicken was tender, but there wasn't a lot of flavour except from the garlic sauce. 

By The Slice

Panzerotti with three toppings

Zucchini, mushroom and chicken 

I think the panzerotti probably could have used more time in their oven. It was a little bland.

Lasagna

This was messy. It was like they took some lasagna pasta sheets cooked it, threw it into a ton of their tomato sauce with cheese and put it in the oven. It wasn't layered or anything - a huge disappointment. I think it's probably a better idea to stick to pizza here.

Website: http://pizzabytheslice.ca/

Ladan Pastry & Nuts

Assortment of Persian cookies

I really liked the swirly chickpea cookies! The saffron one (yellow) was really nice. We also got some baklava. 

Nino D'Aversa Bakery

Aug 5, 2019 - 7287 Yonge Street Thornhill

Pasta of the day

The tomato sauce was pretty good and we got a lot of parmesan cheese.

Porchetta sandwich with crackling

The porchetta sandwich had a lot of meat, but I felt like it needed sauce or something because it was a tad try.

Amaretti cookies

I really liked the lemon cookie (top left). The cookies were hard outside and soft inside - really yummy!

Cannoli and tiramisu

October 8, 2016 - 230 Wellington St. E Aurora

The search for dessert continues...

Strawberry, pistachio and vanilla macarons

I couldn't believe the size of these macarons! And the prices were really reasonable too! The macarons were okay - not really that fluffy, but I was astonished by how big they were. 

Website: http://ninodaversa.com/

Adonis

I think Baklava has become my new favourite dessert! I keep trying new places.

The filo pastries looked really good at Adonis, so I grabbed some cashew, walnut and almond baklavas, but they were rather bland tasting. I think they were definitely missing some syrup or honey to add some sweetness and maybe a bit more flavour.

Website: https://www.groupeadonis.ca/en

Churrasco Portugril

Quarter Churrasco Chicken with pilaf, roasted vegetables and potatoes

The chicken was well seasoned and pretty tasty. The potatoes were a little on the dry side and I didn't really like the rice pilaf. 

Half Churrasco Chicken with pilaf, roasted vegetables and potatoes

The chicken breast was drier than the chicken leg, I think the dark meat is better than white meat here.

Croquettes

Crispy on the outside and yummy and hot inside.

Website: http://www.portugril.ca/menus/catering-trays/