Starbucks Canada Menu options

Jan 20, 2021

As a huge pistachio flavour lover, I was super excited to see that Starbucks was introducing a pistachio latte in Canada (FINALLY! Is the pistachio craze starting in Canada? I'm still upset about the lack of pistachio ice cream options)

Grande Pistachio latte $5.45 (2 shots of pistachio syrup, regular brown sugar topping)

Drink was okay, but it didn't have as strong a pistachio flavour as I would have liked (I guess two pumps of syrup/sugar isn't enough, but I really didn't want a super sweet drink). It actually had a stronger brown sugar and nutty flavour than pistachio flavour, but it did smell like pistachio when you whiffed the drink. 

Overall: Not super impressed, might need to try it again and see. 

Aug 11, 2020 @ 861 York Mills Road

Another week of Starbucks BOGO happy hour!

Star drink and Iced Almond Honey Flat White

Unfortunately, they messed up both my orders - I ordered a Star Drink, but I got a kiwi lemonade version instead of the kiwi starfruit refresher with the coconut beverage and the almond honey flat white was made with blonde coffee instead of their regular coffee. (I complained to Starbucks customer service and they refunded me my money - which was really nice). 

The kiwi starfruit lemonade was sour and sweet - but definitely not what I wanted. 

The almond honey flat white was pretty good even though it was made using the blonde roast (which is lighter and more mellow in flavour), but I think it would have tasted better with a bit of bitterness from the regular roast and it would have paired better with the sweet almond milk. 

Aug 6, 2020 @ 861 York Mills Road

Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade and Iced Guava Passionfruit Drink

Starbucks has BOGO from 2-7pm, so I mobile ordered in advance and went to pick up my drinks. The line up wasn't very long and my drinks were made pretty quickly, so it was an easy 30 second pick up. The iced guava passionfruit drink was really good (and it had the delicious coconut beverage as well) - it is on the sweeter side, but the flavours were great (smooth pineapple and ginger flavour - more pineapple than ginger). 

The peach green tea lemonade was kinda weird in my opinion - the lemonade is on the sour side and the peach green tea was sweeter - but it kind of tasted bitter altogether. I wouldn't get the peach green tea lemonade in the future (and I might just avoid the lemonade). It did get better the longer it sat and the ice melted, but it still wasn't to my taste. 

June 29, 2020 @ 661 University Ave.

Strawberry Coconut drink

I like the coconut beverage and I think this drink was a lot more refreshing with a slightly muted acai berry flavour. The strawberries were frozen solid though. 

June 18, 2020 @ Shops at Don Mills

Starbucks has buy one get one free from 2 - 7pm on all their drinks. With Covid concerns, I thought I'd order ahead through mobile order and arrive just to pick up my drink. Unfortunately, the social distancing and line-up situation was not great. There was a line-up in the store, outside the store and a semi-separate mobile order line-up (which took about 15 minutes); however, once you entered into the store, there were just social distancing circles drawn on the ground for people to wait inside, but no real "line-up" for drinks. My order kind of sat behind the counter for a while, but I had to figure out a way to navigate around the circles and point it out to the busy barista. 

Left to Right: Dragon Drink and Mango Dragon fruit Refresher

The dragon drink was made with a coconut beverage which was quite sweet and kind of muted the stronger flavour of the mango dragon fruit flavour. The drink was still okay though. The mango dragon fruit refresher was sweet and the flavours were much more prominent and sharper in this drink with the berries and mango coming out more. 

April 4, 2018 @ 8 Wellesley Street E

Redeemed my Starbucks stars for a Thai Chicken Wrap with peanut sauce

It looks like half a wrap, but it's actually pretty filling. I would highly recommend that you eat it with the peanut sauce cause it makes it taste better. 

Matcha Blossoming Rose Tea Latte

I'm super happy that Starbucks rolled out the blossoming rose tea latte in Canada first! The blossoming rose tea latte is delicious! I love the rose and hibiscus crystals on top - they're sweet and fragrant without being overpowering. The rose water flavour is evident in the tea too - but it's not too strong. I didn't really love the matcha - so I might try the black tea or rooibos going forward.
Update: my go-to drink now is the rooibos blossoming rose tea latte (bonus: it doesn't have caffeine which makes it a perfect afternoon drink)

May 26, 2017 @ 37 Grosvenor Street

Quiche

I'm glad this was a reward redemption for getting 125 stars at Starbucks because this would not be worth the $6.95 it costs at regular price. It was okay - but you can get entire 9 inch quiche pies at grocery stores or you can make your own quiche (or multiple quiches) for the same amount of money. 

November 17, 2016 

I love my sweets and I adore Nanaimo Bars! (I'm so glad it's a Canadian dessert, but I'm sad that I can't always find them in the bakeries I go to). I was pretty excited when I saw that they were being offered at Starbucks - so I had to get one.

It was pretty good. The custard flavoured butter icing was decent and the chocolate layer on top was good. The crumb based layer was great too. The only downside was the pricing on this - for such a small square - I can't believe they charged me around $3. 

March 17, 2016 @ 37 Grosvenor Street

My Starbucks rewards were adding up faster with my Gold Status.  I earned enough points to get another freebie and my coworker recommended that I try the Zesty Chicken and Black Bean Salad. 

I still can't believe this retails for about $10 (with tax)

My tossed salad

I loved the zesty marinara dressing and the quinoa. Quinoa is delicious and it's a filling grain. The chicken was a little harder to pick out from this salad (but I found out that all the tiny chicken pieces fell to the bottom of the salad when I was tossing it).  The salad is on the tinier side (the bigger box is deceiving), but it can fill you up for a while and it's probably the best freebie you can get at Starbucks!

February 18, 2016

When I was purchasing this, a few things crossed my mind: 

1) They're not so good at the savoury items...maybe their pastries will be better

2) What's the biggest pastry I can get so I can fill up faster? 

3) Why is there so much sugar on this? (is this Diabetes waiting to happen?)

Morning Bun

It's basically a bun with lots of sugar and cinnamon - the Starbucks version of a cinnamon bun  without the icing and without those doughy layers or a honey bun with cinnamon added in (since it was kinda fried). Super sweet - as I expected I guess. 

Breakfast sandwich with double smoked bacon, cheddar and egg
I like the croissant bun, but again - a lot more bread than actual bacon, cheddar and egg.  The proportions are all wrong.  I had the ham, egg and Swiss cheese breakfast sandwich on another day and I liked that one a lot better.

August 7, 2015 @ 47 Charles Street W

Starbucks has been offering food for a while now, but I just haven't really gotten around to trying it even though I've reached Gold Star status for a while now. 

I decided to use my next freebie to check out the BBQ Brisket Sandwich:

Unfortunately, the sandwich turned out a little sad...there was some beef brisket, but it was more bread than anything else.  I would definitely not pay $7 for this. 

Website: www.starbucks.ca

First Markham Place Food Court

Nov 19, 2020

Leaf de Tea

Taro Bubble Tea $3

The taro milk tea didn't have a lot of flavour (from the taro or even the tea) and the tapioca was really squishy. I wouldn't get this drink here again. 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Tuk Tuk $8.50

This had the same base as Thai curry coconut noodle soup, but there was straw mushrooms and chicken in the dish.

Fukien Chow Mein $7.99

They looked like Shanghai noodles, but the sauce was spicy and had a strong shrimp paste flavour - very interesting noodles - definitely something different for me, but I didn't quite like them. 

Nov 11, 2020

Fruitti Mix

Taro bubble tea (less sweet)

 Unfortunately, it was not a great day for cheap taro bubble tea (the owner was super busy) - it was super powdery with lots of ice today and really sweet. Not exactly what I wanted - but it was super cheap.

Malay Thai Famous Cuisine

Curry Laksa

It's been a while since I've eaten Malaysian food here, so I got a classic Malaysian dish: curry laksa. It was flavourful with distinct laksa seasoning, but it was really spicy - we forgot to ask them to dial down the spiciness. It was a good mix of noodles and soup (even if the soup was too spicy to drink) and it came with tofu pockets and meat (but no seafood)

October 28, 2020

Tianjin Fine Food

 
Meat Bao with onion $6 and Xiaolongbao $8 (and inside the meat bao)

We found the xiaolongbao skin was a little too thick for our liking and the filling had savoury meat and ginger, but we prefer the xiaolongbao at Shengjian King. The meat bao with onion was okay and there was a good portion of meat inside. 

HoHo Korean Food

Chicken Katsu $11.99

HoHo always serves up huge katsus and it comes with two portion, one on top of the other, and three side dishes of fried mandu, chapchae, kimchi and purple rice. The chicken katsu is pretty crispy (turns out it was crispier than Katsuya Markham when we tried them side by side) and it took much less time to prepare and pick up. The mandu and chapchae are also really good here and the purple rice definitely helps fill you up (in case you're a big eater and can handle all this food). Personally, I can never finish a portion of their katsu by myself here. The only thing I'm not really a fan of is their katsu sauce. 

Mei Nung Noodle House (in FMP plaza)

Beef Noodle Soup $12.40

We saw a lot of reviews about how good the beef noodle soup here, so we tried it out. The broth had a nice strong beef flavour, but I found the noodles and beef were only okay (maybe it's the takeout version?). I'm not sure it's worth the hype here since I feel like I've had better elsewhere.

October 1, 2020

Fruitti Mix

Taro Bubble Tea $2.99 with lychee jelly

Of the bubble tea places in FMP, this is probably the best fruity mix milk tea place (and it has the best taro bubble tea). It's not as powdery as the other places and it has a better mix and taro flavour compared to the others. The lychee jelly was pretty yummy too. 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Bangkok Chicken rice

It was kind of similar to Hainan Chicken rice with boneless chicken and a spicy sauce on the side. It was okay overall, but probably not something I would get again (I'd rather get the Hainan Chicken rice or just nasi lemak instead)

Sept 26, 2020

Yanagi Sushi

Chicken Katsu dinner

The chicken katsu was okay with a slightly sweet sauce and the salad was pretty good.

5 pieces assorted sushi

For a little extra money, we got five pieces of sushi - 3 salmon, one butterfish and one shrimp which was okay.

July 17, 2020

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Thai Curry Coconut Noodle Soup $8.50

The noodle soup is so good with the curry coconut flavour and lots of pork and veggies! The coconut milk flavour was pretty strong (which is great for coconut lovers) 

Red Curry and Green Curry $10.60 each

The red curry was really good! It had a strong savoury and spicy flavour and I liked that it had carrots, peppers and broccoli (like a North American spin on the curry). The green curry, while good - wasn't as great and sweet as Pai's. The chicken was pretty good and it had a lot of bamboo shoots which was good. 

Markham Bakery and Cafe

Lychee Mille Crepe Cake $5

They had some really good crepe cake flavours (blueberry, lychee and taro), I got the lychee since I was also getting taro bubble tea. 

The crepe cake was okay, but it didn't really have a lot of lychee flavour except for one layer of thick lychee jelly in the middle. It had a bit of a sour taste to it from the cream in between the layers, and the crepes were rather distinct layers in the cake - which made it not as soft and easy to eat as some other crepe cake places. 

Tasty House

Taro Bubble Tea with tapioca $2.99 without tax

There are a lot of bubble tea options at First Markham Place all in the food court (A long time ago, I tried all of them but I always forget which one is the best - I usually go to Tan Good Yan since it was the cheapest, their taro bubble tea doesn't taste like all powder and I like their tea, but they have since closed.)

The taro bubble tea was pretty powdery here, but it was mixed well so it wasn't too grainy. The tapioca were super chewy, hard and slightly frozen. I got the drink less sweet, but it was still pretty sweet - maybe next time I should get the unsweetened version. Regardless, I was still pretty happy with my drink for $3.15 with tax.

July 5, 2020

Shengjian King

The xiaolongbao were so good, we came back again. 

Xian jian bao (fried steamed buns) $5.99

 Fried steamed buns were okay, the dough was a lot thicker and the buns were pretty big. The filling was the same as the xiaolongbao (and I prefer the thin skin of the xiaolongbao more). 

 Xiaolongbao $7.99

Excellent with perfectly thin skin and tasty meat and soup inside.

Happy Fine Food

I've been watching way too many Chinese historical dramas and I've been really tempted to eat their desserts (flower cakes and cookies), so when I passed by Happy Fine Food, I couldn't help picking up their almond cookies since they look exactly like the ones I've seen in my dramas!

Almond cookies and Kai Chai Paeng (little chicken cookies)

The almond cookies were super crumbly on the outside, but hard in the middle. They reminded me of super crumbly Persian chickpea cookies, but they had a good nutty almond flavour.

Kai chai paeng are cookies with fermented bean curd (so beware if you don't like the taste). It has a pretty strong flavour that tastes kind of fishy to me. This cookie was pretty hard, sticky and chewy, I wasn't really a fan, but my grandman loves kai chai paeng cookies (so we bought a box for her). 

June 27, 2020

There are so many options in First Markham Place's food court! We picked up a few items for dinner - there's definitely an advantage for food courts during the COVID pandemic since they are rather contactless places to eat (or grab your food and eat at home). 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

 

Coconut Noodle Soup with pork

Really good curry flavour with good soup and noodles

Pad Thai (medium spicy)

It had good pad thai flavour, but the spiciness overpowered it

Yanagi Sushi 

Chicken Katsu $7.50 

Nice thin katsu with a good crispy outer layer. The katsu sauce was savoury and sweet, but I prefer the katsu sauce from Yummy BBQ or HoHo. The soy sauce rice and salad was nice - I feel like I haven't had salad for a while, so it was quite refreshing.

Shengjian King

A new place selling dumplings and bao

Xiaolongbao $7.90

These xiaolongbao were really good! They were freshly made and had perfectly thin skin. It was also surprising since they managed to hold a lot of delicious meat and soup inside each little morsel. I would highly recommend the xiaolongbao here!

 Magic Fusion

Original eggettes $3.70

The eggettes were really crispy and dry, without much flavour. It was also a little weird that they sparkled? They smelled really good, but were super dry and the batter wasn't very good. I would give this a miss (I couldn't even finish this batch)

Jatujak

 October 17, 2020

Jatujak has 10% off pick up and some pretty decent lunch specials under $10

Basil Chicken $9.95, Tom Yum Soup $9.95 and Green Curry with Rice $9.95

The basil chicken was super spicy this time around, it usually isn't that spicy but this dish got spicier as we kept eating. The tom yum soup was very tomato heavy and had a bit of sourness (which was tangy) and it was another dish that got spicier the more you ate - the chicken and noodles were pretty good though. The green curry was delicious with great green curry flavour and lots of chicken and peppers. It did seem like the portions got smaller compared to last time though.

Aug 11, 2020

We were exploring Skip the Dishes options around our neighbourhood, when we came across Jatujak with pretty good reviews and some lunch specials for $9.95 (along with free delivery over $30). So we gave it a shot and ordered through Skip which had a $10 promotion code. 

Lunch special Pad Thai (chicken and tofu) and Basil Chicken $9.95 each

The pad thai was sweet and savoury and it kind of reminded me of the pad thai at Thai Express (which is a successful Thai food chain in Canada) and it was a large portion (so great value for money). The basil chicken was also really good - the sauce was really tasty and the chicken and vegetable stir fry was done well. A savoury and yummy lunch dish with white rice. 

Lunch special pad siew and curry chicken (green curry) $9.95 each

The pad siew tasted like spicy chow fun (Cantonese style flat wide noodles) and it was really spicy. The green curry was really good with a great balance between sweet and spicy and it had soothing delicious coconut milk (to make it less spicy). It was a pretty big portion in the container and it came with a side small bowl of rice. 

Overall: Great Thai food at Jatujak! I'd definitely order from here again at lunch. 

Website: https://www.jatujak.ca/

Patchmon's Thai Desserts

In my continuing quest to find flowery cakes and pandan desserts in Toronto, I came across Patchmon's as I was researching. During the COVID pandemic, they're only open on Saturdays with the menu going live on Wednesdays. I pre-ordered my items through the online form and got confirmation the next day that they would make my order for pickup on Saturday. The store is really tiny and only accommodates one person at a time, so there was a tiny lineup when I got there. 

Clockwise from top left: Toddy palm cake, sweet tapioca with coconut cream, cassava cake, thai moon cake with taro, coconut jelly, coconut layered cake and the middle is the steamed pandanus cake (which got slightly destroyed when I was transporting it).

Steamed pandanus cake (5 pieces in 1 order for $6) and Coconut layered cake $6

The steamed pandanus cake was interesting, the bottom green part was sweet from the subtle pandan flavour, but I found that the salty coconut cream made it taste quite salty (and I wasn't expecting the coconut cream to be salty - that was a bit of a shock). 

I really liked the coconut layer cake. It was a really good gelatin dessert with pandan and tapioca flavour in the middle - one of my favourites of the desserts I got. 

 

Curry Puffs with potato $4.50 for 2

The Thai curry had good flavour and the pastry was really good: super flaky and crispy

Steamed tapioca with coconut cream $4 for 2 

The coconut cream by itself is salty! However when it was paired with the sweet tapioca, it wasn't as obvious. It actually tasted really good all together since the salty coconut cream is balanced out by the sweeter tapioca and pandan flavours. I also loved the combination of textures from the gelatinous tapioca balls and grainy corn with the smooth coconut.  Everything about this dessert is really good: taste, texture and flavour are all amazing.

Cassava cake

I haven't tried cassava before, but I liked that this dessert was very light and subtle with a good coconut flavour and it wasn't too sweet. The texture was also jelly-like.

Thai Moon Cake with Taro $6

Soft flaky pastry on the outside with a sweet taro center and a salty smoky aftertaste. The smoky flavour also lingers for a long time on your tongue - I wasn't really a fan of it. 

Toddy Palm Cake $6

Another first trying toddy palm fruit. It has a strong sweet distinct flavour that lingers and the palm cake was kind of egg-y with lots of shredded coconut on top. 

Coconut jelly $6

The desserts were really pretty and there was quite a selection to choose from. I picked the colourful ones. The jelly was coconut cream in a super firm jelly state (the different colours didn't have different flavours). 

Website: https://www.thaidesserts.ca/