Review: Dinner @ Cafe Green Tea, Markham

Cafe Green Tea is located within the J-Town supermarket.  They offer delicious curry and noodle dishes.  I ordered the Curry with Breaded Pork and I did enjoy it.  You place the order at the counter, and when it is ready, they will bring it to you.  So it's kinda halfway between a restaurant and a fast food place I suppose.  It's not a bad place for a quick bite for solo eaters.

What was ordered

• 4/5 Great Eats
• Curry with Breaded Pork ($10.80)

Summary

• Bottom Line: good for solo eaters offering good curry and comfortable casual seating environment.
• Score: 4.5/5
• Food was pretty delicious.
• Price is slightly high for a semi-fast food place
• Service is good, happy employees
• Seating ambience is average

Related Posts

• GTA Restaurant Rankings
• Hub Sushi, Thornhill
• Genji Sushi, North York
• Kingyo Izakaya, Toronto
• Joons, North York

Review: Dessert @ Woofles & Cream, Markham

Much like Uncle Tetsu, there has been a lot of hype surrounding Woofles & Cream.  We decided to give this a try one evening after dinner.

We arrived at around 8:30pm on a Saturday night, and after placing our order, was told that there is about a 25 mins wait.  From the reviews that we had read, I was half expecting it, so we paid our $8 and wandered around the mall for a bit.  We gave them our cell #, so when the order was ready we got a call and rather excitedly, received our woofles.

Not that I don't like it - the Lap Cheong Seaweed "Woofle" was salty and delicious, and the soft serve vanilla ice cream was smooth, but I just don't see what the hype is.  Was it good?  Yes definitely.  Would I come back?  Yes, but not if it means more than a 10 mins wait.  Still, it's a neat idea to have salty favoured egg waffles, and I think the store deserves some credit for being innovative and doing something that they clearly love.

What was ordered

• 4/5 Good
• Lap Cheong Seaweed Woofle with Vanilla Ice Cream ($8 incl tax)

Summary

• Score: 4/5
• Food: Lap Cheong Seaweed Woofle was crunchy and well seasoned, ice cream was smooth and creamy.
• Value: decent at $8, but could probably be cheaper since you're at a food court.
• Seating Environment: food court seating, clean but simple.  As a food court should be...
• Customer Service: Great!  But it was still a 25 mins wait from when we placed the order. Ideal if they could lower the wait time down to 10 mins.

Related Posts

• Guide to GTA
• Joons, North York
• Fruit Jungle, Scarborough
• One2Snacks, Scarborough
• Phoenix, Thornhill

Review: Dinner @ Fire Fly 螢火蟲, Markham

There are no shortages of restaurants at First Markham Place, from Korean to Chinese to Japanese cuisine, you can have your pick.

Tonight we settled on Fire Fly, a Hong Kong style restaurant serving Western food, HK styled.

We ordered the 8 oz Sizzling Angus AAA Steak (鐵板牛排)  and the Baked Pork Chop Rice on Tomato Sauce with Cheese (焗豬扒飯). 

The meal came with soup, dinner roll, a drink, and dessert.  It certainly was a pretty good value.  The Borscht soup came soon after we placed the order.  It tasted pretty good, except I find it weird that there were chunks of lemon with the peel and the end pit still attached.

Next came the drink, I ordered a "Ying Yeung" - mixture of tea & coffee, but it tasted like water.  The steak that followed was also a disappointment.  It looked pretty good on the plate, but the taste wasn't there, and the cut wasn't good, chewy and stringy.  I couldn't even finish the 8oz.

Based on the quality of food, I don't think I'll be returning.

What was ordered

• 4/5 Good
• Borsch Soup
• 3/5 Average
• Baked Pork Chop Rice on Tomato Sauce with Cheese (焗豬扒飯)
• 2/5 Ugh I've had better...
• Lobster Soup
• Sizzling Angus AAA Steak (鐵板牛排)

Summary

• The Bottom Line: Service and price is decent, but it does not make up for the unimpressive food.
• Score: 2.5/5

Related Posts

• Guide to GTA
• Phoenix Restaurant (金鳳), Thornhill
• Richlane Chinese Cuisine (百福名廚), Richmond Hill
• Liu Yang Steamed Dishes (浏阳蒸菜), North York
• Skyview Fusion Cuisine (乙龍天), Markham

Review: Escape Room @ Omescape: Mysterious Study

Mysterious Study is my 9th escape room, and boy, was this ever the BEST!

We were a group of 6, with 4 experienced and 2 new players.  At this point I'm no longer a rookie with escape rooms, so knew (kinda...) what to expect.

As always, we were blindfolded and ushered into the room. This is a multi-room escape.  Our game master gave us the usual background.

Back to the game.  After my big fail at the Penitentiary, I find the puzzles at Mysterious Study to be much easier to solve, and I just love how the theme is tied so well together. 

Did we manage to escape?  YES WE DID.  WIth ONE minute to spare.  AND we got on the wall of fame because we did not ask for any clues.  I did not think I could do it with no hints.  But we did!  So now there is a happy photo of us on the wall of fame.  Look for it next time you're at Omescape!

If you're looking for recommendations for rooms at Omescape, I would say start with Mysterious Study or Kingdom of Cats, and save Joker's Asylum and Penitentiary for last, when your group has gained enough experience to be able to quickly identify the puzzles and how to solve it.

Summary

• Bottom Line: Best escape room game yet.
• Score: 5/5

Related Posts

• Escape Games Reviews
• Omescape: The Penetentiary
• Omescape: Kingdom of Cats
• Omescape: Joker's Asylum
• AT Escape: BioLab Extraction

Review: Dim Sum @ Spring Villa, Markham

I have always wanted to try Spring Villa for dim sum, but they are always so busy, with lines out the door and spilling into the parking lot.  They do take reservations but not for their morning special, which is order before 10:45am, and out the door by 11:45am.

We made a reservation for noon (regular price, no discount).  When we arrived I was surprised to see that there is still a long lineup out the door.  The line seems to never diminish, with constant streams of people coming in. 

Anyways we managed to squeeze the 13 of us in a 8 person table (apparently the fact that we made a reservation makes no difference as we saw a group of 7 sitting in a 12 person table.  Maybe they are frequent clients and get VIP treatment?). 

We ordered a total of 44 dishes, which is more than our usual 3 dishes per person guideline.  The food took a bit longer than average to arrive, which is understandable, considering the place is packed. 

The food itself was actually pretty good.  They are above average by my dim sum standards, and I particularly enjoyed the turnip cake (which is steamed in a cup and not pan fried!).  

The seating environment is also pleasant, though a bit cramped.  Service is a bit lacking ... but that is also in line with what to expect in a Chinese restaurant.  What did annoy me was that the server put a dish directly on top of my teacup when our lazy Susan turntable was full.  Huh?  So we ran out of space so you start stacking dishes on top of people's teacups?  Wasn't sure to laugh or be annoyed. 

Our bill came out to about $22 pp. 

Would I recommend? Ultimately I do enjoy the food and the seating atmosphere.  The price is somewhat reasonable, but given that there are other dim sum options nearby and the bad service that we received, it is not good enough for me to have to wait in line for a table.

What we ordered

• Steamed Octopus with Curry Sauce - recommended
• Steamed Turnip Cake - recommended
• Steamed Sweet Layer Sponge Cake - recommended
• Spring Villa Shrimp Dumplings
• Steamed Shrimp & Pork Siu Mai
• Braised Beef Brisket with Turnip
• Crispy Pumpkin - bad

Summary

• The Bottom Line: not sure I understand why they are so popular.  They are good, but I wouldn't eat here if it means having to wait in line.
• Score: 4/5
• Address: 7301 Woodbine Ave (Woodbine & Denison), Markham

bad service - server stacking dishes on top of teacups...