Sabatino's Ristorante

Another Groupon purchase: Dinner for 4 for $110 including 4 appetizers, 4 entrees and 4 desserts

Gamberi con aglio e vino bianco (shrimp in garlic and wine sauce) and Mussels marinara (mussels steamed in tomato and white wine broth)

Large portions for appetizers and really tasty! The garlic and wine sauce was really lovely and the chunks of tomato in the marinara added a lovely freshness. 

Top: Eggplant parmigiana (breaded eggplant topped with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce)

Bottom: Capesante e gamberi all'agro (scallops and shrimp with diced tomato in lemon and white wine)

More huge portions of appetizers ☺. The eggplant parmigiana was great! Soft and cheesy with lots of tomato sauce and three large slices of eggplant too. The scallops and shrimp were good, but I preferred the shrimps in garlic sauce. 

Grilled veal chop

Wow - that was a bigger portion than I expected. It was well-seasoned and a perfect medium rare. 

Zuppa di pesce (mixed seafood in a tomato and white wine broth)

There was calamari, mussels, shrimps and other seafood items in the zuppa, but I just didn't get the tomato and white wine broth flavour in the taste of the seafood. 

Chicken parmigina (breaded chicken with mozzarella cheese melted on top in tomato sauce)

This dish was plated rather simplistically. Compared to the other portions, this seemed quite small in comparison. It was still good, but I wished there was pasta or something to accompany it. 

Grilled Sirloin Steak

Raspberry cheesecake

The cheesecake wasn't too heavy or dense and had the right amount of sweetness from the raspberry. It was really lovely. 

New York Cheesecake

It was classic and good, but I would have preferred the raspberry. 

Chocolate and raspberry tartufo

I liked that there wasn't a lot of chocolate powder on the outside and there was a lot of the raspberry sorbet inside which complemented the smooth chocolate ice cream. 

Tiramisu

I thought they gave us another cheesecake until our waitress said that it was the tiramisu. When I looked closer, I saw all the components: ladyfinger crust, mascarpone cheese and soaked ladyfinger in cocoa liqueur inside the cake. Very nice, but not as good as Paese's. 

Overall: Great meal and amazing value at Sabatino's Ristorante with the Groupon! The portions were all big and flavourful and we liked everything we ordered. 

Website: http://www.sabatinosristorante.com/main.asp?View=Home

Ladan Pastry & Bakery

Ever since I've been fully introduced to little Persia in Toronto and Persian food, I've been eyeing their cookies and looking for an opportunity to understand them so I can finally try them. So I was really excited when I saw this article in the Toronto Star about Persian cookies. 

Persian cookies

The swirly ones are Beheshti - the yellow ones are saffron pistachio and the white is vanilla. It's a soft cookie that crumbles pretty quickly but leaves a lingering taste in your mouth. The other cookies had jam in the middle and the solid block one was a chickpea cookie. 

Overall: I got the impression that Persian cookies are delicate and crumbly and not very sweet. They have interesting flavour combinations too.  

Terroni Adelaide

Restaurants are starting to get really busy with the Holiday season approaching, so I made reservations at Terroni Adelaide almost 3 weeks in advance for a reunion get-together. 

 

We started with a pizza to share

Peppino with tomato, garlic, grilled eggplant, zucchini, red peppers and parmigiano

I liked the thin crust pizza with fresh tomato sauce. A nice way to start the meal (but I'm not sure I'd order this as a main course). 

Tris di Carne

AAA Beef tenderloin wrapped in prosciutto, lamb chop and housemade spicy sausage and asparagus, potatos and grilled peppers

Very good! The meat portions were a little tiny (I guess portion control? lol), but the lamb was cooked perfectly, the beef was tender and the sausage was tasty. 

The grilled veggies were good too. 

Bucatini Amatriciana 

Pasta with tomato sauce, onion, smoked guanciale and pecorino

This bucatini dish was on the salty side with the cured guanciale (pork cheek) and pecorino. The pasta was fresh and delicious though

Pappardelle alla Iosa

Long sheets to pasta with spicy sausage, mushrooms, peas and parmigiano

The pappardelle was really good, but unfortunately, it turned out to be another salty pasta dish. 

Overall: Great ambiance and quick service, but very crowded (there wasn't a lot of space between tables). The pastas we ordered were all quite salty, but the tris di carne was good (but on the expensive side). 

Website: http://adelaide.terroni.com/

Museum Tavern

We were celebrating a good friend's birthday with dinner and tickets to Friday Night Live at the ROM.  So, we chose Museum Tavern because (a) it got good reviews and (b) the proximity to the ROM

Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger with fries


House Crafted Game Sausage with elk, boar, lamb and spaetzle
The sausage was good if you like game and a little tougher than your typical sausage.
I wasn't a fan of the spaetzle though.


1/4 lb. Yarmout Lobster Roll
The lobster was sweet and the roll was nicely toasted and buttered. Very meaty, but a little expensive for $24.


Triple chocolate cake
White chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate mousse - yum!


Cinnamon sugar pie
The last time I was here I fell in love with their sugar pie, so I knew I had to get it again if they had it. They had a cinnamon version of the pie, but I found the cinnamon overpowered the pie and the crust was just soggy and gooey.

Overall: There's an interesting variety of pub food at Museum Tavern and generally something for everyone. It can definitely be on the pricier side depending what you're getting and there's some hits and misses. Good vibe though and quick service.

Website: http://www.museumtavern.ca/

V2 Ramen and Izakaya

Beef brisket ramen and cha siu ramen (BBQ pork ramen)

Of the two, I prefer the cha siu ramen, but I thought the broth was really heavy.

Pork Tonkatsu
The pork was crispy, but it was pretty dry and the meat was on the tougher side.

Okonomiyaki
Octopus pancake with mayo, okonomiyaki sauce and bonito flakes on top. I found the pancake a little mushy and soggy, but the flavours were there.

Stuffed tofu
The tofu was done well with a nice soft inside and a crispy skin. The bonito flakes were a little overwhelming though.

Dessert
Cold lychee flavoured jelly with tapioca balls (?)

Overall: V2 Ramen and Izakaya is definitely more of a snack place than a restaurant, but I wasn't impressed with their food. 

Season's Christmas Show

I wasn't sure whether I should put up this post about a Christmas Show, but I really enjoyed my experience here (with interesting seminars and presentations). Therefore, I thought I'd put up a post that deviates from my usual food posts about places I've eaten at. 

My friend had tickets to the Season's Christmas Show (Nov 21 - 23, 2014), so we went to the International Center to check it out. As we were wandering around the hall, we were freely enjoying the samples and promotional sales until we got to the center and saw the Cheese Seminar. Jackpot! Free cheese samplings and an information session on cheese all in one? Sign me up! (Actually it was 'line up 20 minutes before the session starts to get in')

The seminar location led by a representative form teh Dairy Farmers of Canada

Note taking sheet

There are 3 ways to describe cheese: raw, pasterized and thermalized. 

  

Baguette accompaniment to cleanse the palate between cheeses

The cheese list: 

1) Bella Casara Ricotta by Quality Cheese was the winner of the best cheese in the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix in 2013. It was the first Ontario cheese to win and it was also the first fresh cheese to the competition. When they served us the sample in the spoon, they paired it with some cabernet franc ice syrup to add some sweetness. The cheese was delicate and balanced: not sweet, sour or bitter and despite looking a little lumpy, it went down pretty smooth.
2) Dofino Creamy Havarti by Arla Food was semi soft, mild and a tiny bit sour - but it wasn't bitter or sweet. I learned that washing the curd releases the whey and softens the acidity.
3) L'Ancetre's light mild cheddar was one of my favourites. It's a certified organic and lactose free cheese using unpasturized/raw milk. It had a rubbery texture from the skim milk and had a lot of flavour for a mild cheddar. I learned that if you use whole milk, the texture of the cheese is not as rubbery and aged cheddar forms a dry crumbly texture.
4) COWS Inc.'s Extra Old Cheddar had big flavour: it even lingered long after I finished the cheese.
5) Empire Cheese's caramelized onion cheddar was made with real sauteed onions in the cheese that made a strong impact on the medium cheddar.
6) Mountain Oak Cheese (which is a farmstead producer) had a cheese called Wild Nettle Gouda which was a hard and firm cheese with bold and strong flavours. Fun cheese fact: ivory coloured cheeses are aged cheeses.
Lots of fun and a great learning experience - I learned much more about cheeses and had enjoyed trying everything.

Also, at 4pm, there was a Purdy's Master Chocolatier teaching us about different chocolates from around the world and demonstrating how to make ice wine truffles.