Etsu

For my friend's birthday, she wanted sushi and suggested we eat at Etsu.

Chirashi Bowl
Really colourful and lots of fresh fish in the gigantic bowl. There was a lot of variety in textures and flavours from chewy surf clams to slippery octopus and thick slicks of tuna.

Meanwhile, I decided to get the Dinner Bento box which includes salad and miso soup:

Salmon Teriyaki, butterfish, salmon & tuna sashimi, tempura and crispy fried rice balls (?)
Pretty good! Originally when I chose the salmon it was because I didn't feel like eating a heavy meal with chicken or beef. However, I forgot that there was sashimi on the side - so there was a lot of fish. Luckily it was all really good, I liked the sashimi and I thought the selection was pretty good. 
Definitely a lot of food though - a huge dinner portion. 

Overall: Great Japanese food at Etsu, the service was really good even though we sat outside and there were a lot of big tables inside. Enjoyable and yummy!

Website: http://etsutoronto.com/

P'Karos

My friend and I were looking for a place to grab burgers and we originally thought Capitano Burgers & Gelato was still open, but it's been changed to P'Karos which serves burgers and Venezuelan food!

Cachitos: ham filled croissants 

This was so cool! There was a lot of ham inside the cachitos. 

I thought it was a nice savoury snack and they even reheated it for me so that I could eat it warm! 

Very cool! 

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/