Sneaky Dee's

After an afternoon of walking along College for the Taste of Italy, we stopped by Sneaky Dee's for their famous Nachos. 
We weren't that hungry after the Taste of Italy, so we decided to split the nachos.  However, we sat and stared at the menu for a while since we were undecided whether to get the veggie nachos with cheese vs. the vegan nachos with guacamole. 
Ultimately, the cheese won over the guacamole and we went with the veggie. 

Veggie nachos with crisp corn tortilla chips, covered with salsa roja, melted cheese, tomatoes, onions, mixed peppers, jalapenos, lettuce and sour cream. $17
The nachos were great! I would totally recommend you try them here. The portions were massive and we could barely finish between the two of us (and we have pretty hearty appetites). The struggle to finish was real and painful.

Overall: Delicious nachos, quick and friendly service and a small patio, but really nice in good weather.

Website: http://sneaky-dees.com/

Taste of Italy

Toronto has a lot of festivals to celebrate all the different ethnic cultures and cuisines. I've been to Taste of Danforth in previous years, but not Taste of Italy.  So this year, we decided to check it out. 

We picked up some Italian specialties like arancini (stuffed fried rice balls), cannoli and gelato

Arancini, cannoli and cream puff

The cannoli and cream puff had light, fluffy and airy cream, but they weren't particularly tasty (or perhaps the flavours weren't strong enough) - instead they were just sweet.  I prefer my cannoli and cream puff to have stronger flavours and more depth. 

Dolce Gelato

Strawberry & pistachio and nutella & pistachio

The gelato was good and a nice cold treat on such a hot day. 

Overall: The festival is much smaller than Taste of Danforth and there wasn't as much to see or do on College.  There were a lot of live music acts which was kinda nice. 

Website: http://www.tasteoflittleitaly.ca/

Nak Won

We were in Markham for my friend's "welcome back to Toronto (for the holidays only) party" and since there was a big group, we got to sit in the private room in the back. 

Pork Bone Soup (gamjatang)

Lots of pork bone, and okay tasting, but nothing exceptional. 

Jajangmyan

Rather bland tasting and on the sweeter side than savoury and not very good.

Overall: Service was really slow and the back room was gross (we saw some creepy crawlies). It definitely wasn't the best welcome back party for my friend - with mediocre food, slow service and gross bugs. There's better Nak Wons in the GTA - this might just be the worst.

Website: http://nakwon.ca/

Nespresso Boutique Bar

I didn't even know that Nespresso opened a cafe in Yorkville until I heard about it at the Toronto Taste event benefiting Second Harvest. 

It's so nice inside! 

I received this coupon from the event. 

 

The dessert menu! Hot chocolate and Latte

Yum! They even put whipped cream on top.  The drinks were really good - not powdery and rich flavour. It's pretty amazing what those Nespresso machines can do.

Flourless chocolate torte with raspberry and Caramel Pecan Flan with French Vanilla Ice Cream
The flan was nice and very nutty, but I think the dark chocolate torte was a much better choice.

Overall: I'm a little biased since I got the desserts and drinks for free, but I think this is a great marketing concept for Nespresso.  Not only does it appeal to the people who love to drink their coffee and specialty drinks in a cafe with desserts and food, but it's an excellent way to promote their products (the Nespresso cups and the Nespresso machines).  The desserts were a little pricey, but the drinks were competitively priced (considering the Yorkville location and higher-end market) vs. a specialty Starbucks drink (which is also next door beside the Rocks in Yorkville).  Very cool!

Website: https://www.nespresso.com/ca/en/pages/nespresso-boutiques

Big Slice

Big Slice is known in the Yonge & Dundas area for having cheap eats and they definitely don't disappoint!

Meatball sandwich and pizza

They serve huge portions of food like the pizza for $3.81 (excluding tax) and it's not bad for a quick meal.

Meatball sandwich $5.75

Lots of sauce and peppers and huge meatballs! I thought this was really tasty, and I was glad I got this over the slightly greasier pizza. 

Overall: The food is simple, cheap, filling and good. It may not be the best pizza in Toronto, but it's pretty good value and that's basically all you could ask for. 

Website: http://thebigslicepizza.com/

Bier Markt @ Shops at Don Mills

May 24, 2015

The Bier Markt at Shops at Don Mills was having a mussels promotion: $11 for 1 lb. of mussels and fries (half price) and other discounted dishes like their pork schnitzel. 

A la Snob with pernod, leeks, tomato concasse, lobster creme

Congo with Thai Red Curry, lemongrass, fresh lime and coconut milk

Provencale with herbs, tomato concasse, shallots, garlic and white wine. 

Wow - after eating this, I totally understand why the Bier Markt at Shops at Don Mills had to do this promotion.  What a disappointment! the mussels were smaller and a lot of the shells in the bowl were empty of mussels. As for the broths: the A la snob was totally bland, we got a hint of the flavours but barely anything substantial because it was really watered down. Then the Provencale didn’t have enough liquid, but based on the experience of the rest - this was probably the better of the three we had. The Congo was another disappointment - the flavours from the broth didn't soak into to the actual mussels. The fries were pretty good at least.

Pork Schnitzel

A little better than the mussels, still a little dry.  We were a little puzzled by the tomato sauce on top. 

Overall: Terrible meal at Bier Markt at Shops at Don Mills. 

April 6, 2012

The Don Mills location is very spacious and it has a hip and happening vibe to it. Every Friday night, a live band plays on a stage near the main bar.

We got the Markt poutine to share with house smoked chicken, Quebec cheese curds, Markt fries and Leffe Brun peppercorn gravy.

We were rather disappointed with this because there wasn't a lot of chicken and it really wasn't worth it for that extra $4. 

Schnitzel - panko crusted veal with grilled asparagus, yukon mash, tomato jam, lemon caper emulsion and veal reduction.

I found the schnitzel too dry even with the tomato jam and veal reduction. The portions were huge - but unless you had a good beer paired with the veal schnitzel it was just too dry. 

Mussels!

My friends all got different types of mussels (which made it fun to try a few of everyone else's meal). The mussels were tiny, but for some, the broth more than made up for the size.

In order of my favourites (between the 3 types): 

1) Congo with red Thai curry, lemon grass, fresh lime and coconut milk - absolutely delish! Some might say that the curry slightly overpowers the mussels, but I think it's a great combination with the spiciness of the curry complementing the mussels - really different and quite good! Why didn't people think of it before? 

2) A la Snob with pernod, tomato concass, leeks and lobster cream. I don't think the mussels worked as well with the creamy broth, but I loved dipping the bread and fries into the sauce.

3) Provencale with herbes de Provence, tomato concass, shallots, garlic and white wine. Simple and classic way of doing mussels. The blend of flavours was great, but I think here's where the small size of the mussels played a part because they just didn't absorb as much of the flavour of the broth. 

Overall: I love Bier Markt and the opening of the new location is definitely bringing something new and different to the Don Mills area. They're beginning to get quite a crowd on Friday nights for food, drinks and music - this could be the new IT place at Shops at Don Mills. If you're here though, I'd definitely recommend the mussels over some of the other items on the menu (and the beer selection is fantastic and the waiters are knowledgable - it's in the name really). also cool that they have Oyster Towers - I might go back to try that!

Website: http://www.thebiermarkt.com/