Review: Lunch @ Sansotei Ramen, Toronto

We arrived at around 12:30pm and after a short wait, was seated inside.  We ordered one Tonkotsu Ramen, and one Tonkotsu Black Ramen.  Between the two, I preferred the original one, without the added garlic oil. It's a decent meal, but not one that I would wait more than 10 minutes in line for.  I do wish they gave us more than 2 thin slices of pork belly though.

What we ordered

• 4/5 Great
• Tonkotsu Ramen ($9.6)
• 3/5 Good
• Tonkotsu Black Ramen ($9.85)

Summary

• Bottom Line: decent place for ramen
• Score: 4/5
• Food (i.e., Ramen and broth) is flavourful
• Service is good
• Value is decent (<$10 for a ramen)
• Seating environment is so-so, a bit cramped with hard benches.  Might have to wait for a table.

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Review: Dinner @ The David Duncan House, North York

It was a rainy day when we arrived at the David Duncan House.  Situated at the north west corner of York Mills and Don Mills, the restaurant is on a rather large plot of land, so finding a parking space will not be an issue here.

The restaurant, true to its name, is more like a beautiful large house than a restaurant.  Once you step inside, you are greeted by intricate decor and woodwork.  It's interesting to see that they layout of the restaurant has a lot of "mini half floors".  A few steps here and there.  

We were promptly seated on the ground floor on a large round table.  My sister loves the caesar salad, where it is prepared table side with their house made sauce, so that's what we ordered.  I didn't feel like having steak that day, so opted for the BBQ ribs instead.  My parents ordered the Duncan Cut Prime Rib, which looked (and tasted) a lot better than the ribs.  So next time, order steak at a steakhouse!  

Dessert was tiramisu and baked alaska.  The Baked Alaska,   like the Caesar Salad, was prepared table side.  The portion is meant for two and it's worth ordering. Oh, and the Tiramisu, oh the Tiramisu was heavenly, possibly the best that I've had anywhere - a definite must-try!

What we ordered

• 5/5 Must order
• Caesar Salad
• Tiramisu
• 4/5 Good
• Duncan Cut Prime Rib
• Baked Alaska
• 3/5 Average
• Honey garlic ribs

Summary

• Score: 4/5
• Food: order the caesar salad and the duncan cut prime rib.  Skip the ribs.
• Service: good, but being served in a tux made me feel a bit uncomfortable (I'm a casual kind of gal).
• Seating environment: delightful!  Very elaborately and elegantly decorated.
• Value: a bit on the pricey side, but given that they can only have 1 seating a night, it's not bad.

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Review: Dinner @ Nam Sandwich Shop, Toronto

Tonight we made a reservation for yet another escape game (yaaaay!) in downtown Toronto.  This allows me a chance to also try out some of the restaurants in the Trinity Bellwoods area.

My fellow escape game adventurer suggested Nam Sandwich Shop, so that's where we headed.  The restaurant is to the west of the park, so if I were a dog owner (which I'm not because I have a hard enough time learning how to take care of myself…), I would grab a bun, and head towards the park for a no fuss Asian fusion sub.

The restaurant interior is simple and well designed, with a few tables here and there, but the layout of the restaurant would suggest that they cater more towards take out customers.

After spending a few minutes staring at the menu on the wall, and trying to decide on what we'd like for tonight, we settled on the the coconut meatballs sandwich, lemongrass gilled chicken sandwich, yam fries, and the pork belly bao.  Once we placed the order and paid, we sat in the bench area and waited a few minutes while our baos were being prepared.  

My bao came in a little white box, and although cute, I question the necessity of it since the boa was also wrapped in foil.  It's like wrapping a McChicken, and then putting it in a paper box.  Not very environmentally friendly!

I have to say, my favourite was by far the pork belly bao, which tastes suspiciously like peking duck. I'll need to make a mental note to try their pork belly sandwich next time and compare, but the pork belly was out of this world good!  I'll be sure to drop by Nam next time I'm in the area (maybe another escape game?  heheee).

What was ordered

• 5/5 Excellent
• Pork Belly Bao ($4)
• 4/5 Good
• Lemongrass Grilled Chicken ($6)
• Yam Fries ($5)
• Coconut drink
• 3/5 Average
• Coconut meatballs ($5)

Summary

• The Bottom Line: Get the Pork Belly Bao with the Fresh Coconut drink.
• Score: 4.5/5

Yam Fries 

Pork Belly Bao

Fresh coconut drink

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Review: dinner @ Ho Su Bistro, Toronto

I used to be a huge fan of Hu Su, but lately have been seeing a decline in quality.  My most recent order was the  take out Korean Chicken with Tempura, and the Bulgogi with Tempura.  Both unfortunately were a bit of a disappointment.  I was particularly sad that the tempura chicken was coated with a thick hard crust, and that the bulgogi was dry.

What was ordered

• 3/5 average
• Korean chicken with tempura
• Bulgogi with tempura

Summary

• Bottom Line: cheap food, but varying quality
• Score: 3/5

Korean Chicken with Tempura

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Review: drinks @ Booster Juice, Toronto

Ordered the Ginger Hammer - carrot, apple, and ginger juice.  It was rather good, I'm not really a fan of smoothies,so if given the choice, I would always go for juice.  The price is decent, slightly on the high side, but that's the price you pay for convenience.

What was ordered

• 4/5 good
• Ginger Hammer

Summary

• Bottom Line: good juice for ok value
• Score: 3.5/5
• Address: 2300 Yonge Street (Yonge Eglinton Center), Toronto

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Review: Shopping @ Yorkdale

Source: Wikipedia

Yorkdale is a premium shopping centre in Toronto, the fifth largest shopping complex in Canada.  It has gone through substantial renovations over the past few years, and there are now shops that are higher end (Tiffany, Burberry, Cartier, etc.).

Because it's right by a TTC station though, parking has always been a hassle here so if given the choice, come early on a weekend, or visit after the weekday evening rush.

Summary

• The Bottom Line: busy premium mall, but with good stores (I like Apple, Microsoft, and Zara)
• Score: 4/5

Review: Dinner @ CopaCabana, Toronto

I came to CopaCabana for a friend's bachelorette, and this restaurant sure exceeded my expectations.  I've heard some good things about the restaurant in the past, but has always been discouraged by the price tag.

We came on a Saturday evening, and after a brief 5 minutes walk from the Eglinton TTC station, arrived at the restaurant and was greeted by a cheerful front of house server.  She promptly took me to our reserved table, and there I sat waiting for the other gals to join me, while listening to live jazz musicians (they were quite good!).

CopaCabana is, from what I can gather, primarily based in Toronto, with one location at Niagara.  Their signature "Rodizio style" (all-you-can eat Brazilian steakhouse where servers come to your table with skewers of meat and slice them off to your plate) is delicious. My favourite - grilled pineapples!

At the back of the restaurant is a buffet bar where they serve fresh veggies, salads, and fruits.  I'm generally a meat eater, but I find myself enjoying their perfectly seasoned and grilled veggies as well.

Would I recommend this restaurant?  Definitely!

What I ordered

• Steak - they are all great - recommended
• Grilled pineapples - recommended
• Chicken

Summary

• The Bottom Line: great for special occasions - delicious food and fantastic service.
• Score: 4.5/5
• Address: 150 Eglinton East, Toronto (Yonge & Eglington)

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Review: Dinner @ Union Social Eatery, Toronto

The Union Eatery recently opened up near the Yonge & Sheppard area. I have dined at the location in Mississauga before, so was glad that they expanded to North York.

In my first visit, I ordered the grilled fish burger, which was… not good at all.  Maybe because I was expecting a fried fish fillet, but grilled fish does NOT go well in a burger bun.  I barely touched the dish and even after taking it home, had to throw it out eventually.

For drinks, I ordered Pimms & Ginger.  Pimms is a gin-based liquor made in England (I've never heard of it until now), and actually thought it was pretty good.  It's slightly on the sweet side, and I couldn't really taste the alcohol, it tastes more like a fruit punch actually.

Pretty disappointing meal overall, but it is probably my fault for not paying enough attention to the menu.  It did say "grilled" fish after all, so I will give Union Social Eatery the benefit of the doubt and give it another try if given the chance.

What I ordered:

• Pimms & Ginger
• Grilled fish burger (1)

Summary

• The Bottom Line: fantastic service, but skip the grilled fish burger. Will go back and try something else
• Score: 2.5/5
• Address: 4899 Yonge Street (Yonge & Sheppard), Toronto

Related Posts (by Area):

• Joons (Korean) (9.5/10)
• Han Ba Tang (9/10)
• Liu Yang Steamed Dishes (7.5/10)
• Sik Korea (7.5/10)
• Escape room @ AT Escape: BioLab Extraction (8.5/10)

Pimms & Ginger

Grilled fish burger

Review: Dinner @ Joons Korean Restaurant, Toronto

Joons remains one of my favourite dinner spots in the Yonge & Sheppard area. 

Their signature DakGalBee (chicken with veggies) is absolutely delicious.  Although they call it "table top" cooking, it is actually cooked at a corner of the restaurant and then brought to you in a large pan when it's done.  Each order on the menu is the price for 1 order, and you need a minimum of 2 orders per pan.  What I like to do is add on cheese, noodles, rice cake, and extra veggies.  If you don't mind a touch of spiciness, go for the Joons original sauce.  It is a lot better than the Teriyaki sauce, which I find too sweet.

The restaurant does get busy, so try to come a little earlier.  Also, your clothes (and hair) is guaranteed to smell like Korean BBQ afterwards so keep those delicate silk dresses at home and go with casual wear.

Summary

• The bottom line: delicious DakGalBee.  Really, no need to order anything else.
• Score: 5/5
• Address: 4852 Yonge Street (Yonge & Sheppard), Toronto.

Related Posts

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• Escape Room @ AT Escape: Library Lockup (7/10)

DakGalBee - recommended

Review: Dinner @ Liu Yang Steamed Dishes (浏阳蒸菜), Toronto

#300 steamed fish head with chili peppers - recommended

Updated 2nd visit

My second visit to Liu Yang is much improved.  First, I was able to get a "real" non-chipped tea cup, and I have noticed the addition of pictures depicting the rural China area.

We ordered pretty much the same dishes, with the additional of the 501-Kung Pao Chicken, which is a really quite delicious dish and has plenty of "wok hay" (stir fried in a wok over high heat).

Original visit

Liu Yang Steamed Dishes is yet another new restaurant that has recently sprung up near Yonge & Sheppard.  Liu Yang and Sik Korea opened around the same time, on the same street, but offers different types of cuisine. You can read about my review on Sik Korea here.

Liu Yang took over what used to be Pho Spring Garden. They have actually kept all the furniture and decor, and if you look closely sometimes you can even find remnants of Pho Spring Garden (e.g., the windows still has Pho Spring Garden name stuck on it). I think that it is a bit sloppy.  It's ok if you decide to keep the existing furniture, but at least remove the old restaurant's name.

At first glance, the menu offers reasonable pricing.  Dishes are typically around $7-$9.  However, once we placed the initial order, we quickly realized that they are tapa sized.  I'm not a big eater by any means, but even for me, I would need at least 2 dishes to fill me up.

Another thing that annoyed me was that they didn't have enough cutlery and dishes in stock.  One of our teacups were chipped in 5 different places, and when we asked for a new one the server apologized and told us that they didn't have enough.  Waaah?  Not enough teacups for a Chinese diner? 

The food itself is pretty solid - we ordered a number of different dishes to try.  Liu Yang is part of Hunan in China, and the region's food is known for its hot spicy flavour and deep colour.  There is a heavy use of chili peppers, garlic and oil, which I find delicious.  My husband would disagree, he thought that everything was too oily, so at the end of the day I suppose it comes down to personal taste!

Dishes

• 5/5 Delicious
• #91 Hunan-Style chicken with chili sauce
• #300 Hunan-Style steamed fish head with red peppers
• #501 Kung Pao Chicken
• 4/5 Good
• #415 Steamed minced pork balls 
• #803 Black rice congee
• 3/5 Average
• #108 Marinated Cold Chicken Feet
• #708 Green Beans with Minced Meat

Summary

• The bottom line: decent Hunan cuisine for a family dinner.
• Score: 4/5
• Address: 25 Spring Garden (Yonge & Sheppard)

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Shredded chicken - recommended

Green beans with minced pork

minced pork balls -recommended

Kung Pao Chicken

Review: Escape Room @ AT Escape: Library Lockup

If you have been following my blog, you would have probably noticed a sudden influx of posts related to escape rooms.  That's because I'm somewhat addicted to them.  They are incredibly entertaining and fun to do, especially with friends.

Library Lockup @ AT Escape is my 4th escape adventure in the past few weeks.  We were at AT Escape a week ago when we tried out "BioLab Extraction", which was pretty fun and of which I would recommend.  You can read my review of BioLab Extraction here.

Maybe because my expectations were high, once we enter into Library Room, I was a little disappointed.  This is a 1 room escape with very limited decor.  By limited I meant that other than a desk, a few bookshelves, and a few other items there really isn't much else. I wish they could have thrown in an armchair or something to make it a bit more pleasant.  The room is also a bit smaller than I anticipated, being a 8 person max game.  As we are a group of 3 it was not an issue.  Still, I would not recommend more than 6.  Ideal size would probably be 4.

After getting over the initial disappointment, we delved straight to the puzzles.  There are more puzzles to solve compared to BioLab, and while they are no as "techy" and "cool", the puzzles were logical and enjoyable, and that was really the redeeming quality of the game.  The puzzles were fairly well thought out, and did go well with a library theme.  We did use the one free clue at 30mins into the game.  Did we escape in the end?  Yes we did!  With 5 mins to spare too.  Good job team!

Summary

• The Bottom Line: I still prefer BioLab Extraction but the Library Lockup room is none-the-less a fun and an enjoyable experience.
• Score: 4/5

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