Ta Ke Sushi

We visited Ta Ke Sushi a few weeks ago and decided that it's the best sushi restaurant that we've had so far. I had first learned about it from reading a review on it from another food blog and was determined to take Ann there.

The restaurant is located near Union Station at 22 Front St. West. 

The atmosphere of the restaurant is great for dates and casual meet up with friends and colleagues. I really like the way they decorated the interior. The bamboo shoots, the lighting, and origami samurai helmets on the walls. 

Yes, origami samurai helmets.

 

Lots of them. And on every wall.

And they also decorate every table with origami cranes, nice candles and neatly arranged napkins.

Right after we sat down at our table, the waitress came by with hot cloths for us to wipe our hands. Fancy smancy.

This is their menu:

  

Drinks menu:

 

We ordered a plate of Regular Sushi (has an assortment of sushi and rolls for us to try out) and miso soup.  

 

There were a bunch or peculiar sushi that we never had before, like (I think) octopus, mackeral and others.

The quality of each rolls and sushi were amazing, but the tastiest one that Ann and I thought was salmon.

The wasabi was amazing as well. Ann thinks it's the real stuff in comparison to what they have at other sushi restaurants that we've been to, since it gave us both the "shoot up the nose" sensation. It was the first time for Ann to experience it. 

The miso soup was great, it had these chopped up enoki mushrooms, tofu and green onions. I never had miso soup with enoki mushrooms but it's a nice addition. Possibly the best miso soup I've had. It wasn't too salty unlike some other restaurants in Toronto.

We also ordered a plate of spicy salmon rolls. The quality and taste was amazing. You can never go wrong in ordering spicy salmon rolls anywhere but Ann and I agreed that this is by far our favorite Spicy Salmon roll yet.

We washed down our food with a large Hakutsuru (hot sake). I've always wanted to try these when I see them in movies or Japanese dramas so when I saw this on the menu, I just had to order it. It was enough for the both of us since Ann and I aren't big drinkers.

For dessert, we ordered Green Tea Brulee. It's kinda like green tea ice cream/pudding with caramel crust on the top (which I didn't eat because it's too sweet).

Overall, Ann and I had a really good time at Ta Ke Sushi and it wasn't just because of the hot sake. It definitely met our expectations and more. The food, atmosphere, service... just about everything you look for in a restaurant was great. The only thing that I would caution readers is that it's a little pricey as our dinner for 2 was a bit over $70, but it's definitely worth the experience!

Mount Everest - Taste of Himalayas

If you're ever looking for a cheap Indian buffet lunch Mt. Everest is the place to be, but if you're also looking for a questionably expensive Indian dinner restaurant, this would also be the perfect place to drop by. This is just my opinion though, since Johnny disagrees with me and thinks the dinner menu prices are average (in comparison to other Indian restaurants). 

The reason I think it may be questionably expensive is because of the location of the restaurant, near Bloor and Spadina, which is filled with reasonably decent priced restaurants, a far cry from the $40 you'd most likely spend on dinner here. (But perhaps I'm just being a cheap student?) 

With that said, Mt. Everest has very good food, especially for a $9.99 buffet lunch on a weekend.

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This is a terrible picture of the interior, but it's good enough to check out the waiters who are clad in white dress shirts and black dress pants. It's a very smart looking uniform which matches their very excellent service. They smile instead of frowning, always makes sure your glasses are filled, and answer questions odd questions like, "Are those monks or regular people humming?" 

The buffet does not have a very wide selection, just the regulars (more below), but I'm not complaining.

Butter Chicken, zucchini dish, goat curry, and Tandoori Chicken.

Aloo Mutter, mixed vegetable pokora/Indian fries, Chana Masala, and Peas Pulav.

Vegetable Jalfrajee.

Salad and Fruits.

Naan bread. They bring the naan bread to your table rather than having it at the buffet so it's always hot.

Kulfi (pistachio) ice cream:

This is a traditional Indian ice cream, and Johnny's untrained tongue said it tasted like gulab jamun. It's different from the ice cream we're used to, since it's hard like ice at first but melts and is creamy in your mouth. 

This is not part of the buffet but off of the menu.

Gulab Jamun:

Very sweet, syrup soaked balls that goes well with spiced foods. We mixed it with the rice pudding, which is good because the Gulab Jamun heats up the cold rice pudding (Kheer). Plus it's not as sweet when eaten like this. 

As you can see, we devoured the galum jamun.

I have a soft spot for a restaurant decor. They had a lot of postcards right by the front door from the Nepal himalayas since, aside from having Indian cuisine, have a bit of Nepali dishes as well. The music they were playing, which caused a great debate at my table, were of Nepali monks humming. This is a picture of the fake flowers on the table, which is always a cute touch.

Overall, I really enjoyed the food, especially the usuals like the butter chicken and tandoori chicken. There is nothing to complain about this lunch buffet, especially for the cheap price. However, since there wasn't anything extraordinarily outstanding about the food, I wouldn't go out of my way to come back for dinner and pay more for it. 

Congee Time

In Toronto, you're bound to come across a variety of 'congee' type restaurants. There's Congee Wong, Congee Queen, and Congee Time (that I know of). They're all franchises that have more than one location, but there's only one Congee Time location in Toronto. They pretty much have the same premise, serving congee with family style Chinese dishes that are meant to be shared for cheap, affordable prices that would make both your wallet and stomach happy. 

Basically, congee is just a type of rice porridge that can be hyped up anyway you want. Add beef, fish, soy sauce, pork, chicken, duck - basically anything - that would make you happy. I suppose it's because  of the many different variations you can have from congee that there's so many different congee type restaurants, but maybe all these different congee franchises are owned by the same person who likes to compete with himself. Who knows. 

My family has personally celebrated one too many birthdays at Congee Time. It's a very fast paced atmosphere since all the waiters are in a hurry to clear tables, bring you your dishes, seat customers, and deal with takeout: all of which they all do with very hurried steps and mannerisms and, not to mention, loud noises. So, if you just want bad but fast service and to be left alone to chat with your family, Congee Time is the place to be. 

They have a very extensive menu, ranging from Super Bowl Congees to just normal bowl congees to fried rice to noodle soup to super noodle soups to bbq platters to side orders and more noodles. The art of ordering from these types of menu's is to order one dish from every category, that way you'll have a bit of everything. 

Typical Chinese restaurant plate settings. I have a particular fondness for the fat teapots which are often abused and neglected. Poor things. 

These are fish sauce, soy sauce, salt, and hot pepper paste type sauce. The hot pepper paste sauce is not as spicy as it looks, but you have to make sure to drain the oil and just get the pepper flakes. Also, ever wonder why they have salt in Chinese restaurants? Everything is already laden with msg that the salt is really useless. Maybe it's just for show. 

Fried Bean Curd.

This can come in as spicy if you specifically says so. 

Supreme Super Bowl Congee.

Rice Noodle with Beef and Vegetables Chow Mein. 

Since this is stir fried, the noodles are very greasy. You have to mix the dish to get the right texture. 

Lemon Chicken.

This was a disappointment. The chicken was overly fried. The Lemon Chicken at Congee Wong is a lot better. 

Double Boiled Chicken and BBQ Pork on Rice.

Cold Rice Jello with Coconut Milk. 

This can come in hot as well. It's a little bit sweet and is soupy but very good. 

Milo with Tapioca. 

I've yet to see milo served anywhere else, especially as cold and with tapioca. This was good without being overly sweet. 

Ovaltine.

There's a certain hit and miss factor to Congee Time. Some days the food will taste better than other days, such as their congee, just like how some days you'll have better service than other days. But I always enjoy the food here when I visit, especially because the menu is extensive and there's always something different to try.

The Ballroom - Bowl, Bar Grill

Its been a while since we've posted something, and the reason being has been that both Johnny and I were on a pescatarian diet and were deprived of meat, which made blogging about meat painful and torturous. Now that we're back to our meat eating ways, we're free to express our love for meat again on this blog! Hurray!

We continue Johnny's Chinatown adventures in The Ballroom - Bowl, Bar Grill. Thankfully, the website has a different tag line: Sports & Bowl & Rock N' Roll, because Bowl, Bar Grill makes no sense to me. Is the bar grilling or are we talking about a physical bar on the grill? 

So The Ballroom is the only bowling alley in downtown Toronto, a fact that they've taken full advantage of and charges a ridiculous amount per lane ($17.50 per half hour!). On top of the bowling alley is a mini 'bar grill' my friends and I waited at since there was a 45 minute wait for our lane.

We came in the afternoon and this was their lunch menu. It's pretty small and they have standard bar type food. The prices are on the expensive side, considering the fact that the only thing that makes this place special is its location on top of a bowling alley. 

As we are all true Canadian's, we ordered two heart stopping, heart attack inducing, deep fried poutines.

First up, the Mushroom Poutine: with 'wild mushrooms' (looks pretty unwild to me) and a lot of cheddar curds. This poutine was alright, nothing to be wow-ed over by, but it was not disastrous either. 

Popcorn Chicken Poutine: deep fried chicken bits, cheddar curds, fries - all topped off with oozing gravy. What isn't heart clogging about this?

Johnny, the chicken connoisseur, said that it lacked a certain omph, that little spice to hit the home run.

Although we only sampled their poutine, I'm guessing this place is more for its atmosphere than their food.

The decor does set the mood for the need to bowl and break some pins so they'll have more broken pins to turn into chandeliers though.

As we were bowling, there were multiple glitches with our lane so they gave us at least 2 hours overtime. If anything, at least they were generous.

Midi Bistro

We visited Midi Bistro for the first time this past Saturday, and I must say that I was left with quite the impression. Here's why.

Midi Bistro is a small establishment located on McCaul and Elm St. Its exterior doesn't look like much, as I've walked by the restaurant hundreds of times over the past 6 years that I've lived around the area and had only dared to venture in for the first time this past weekend.

A few things to know about the bistro: they serve French cuisine, they specialize in mussels, and they have a pretty solid wine selection. (I am not exactly a wine connoisseur, but the way that the waitress who introduced it had me convinced!). And as a side note, Midi Bistro participates in Winterlicious/Summerlicious events in Toronto every year.

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Their interior is pretty cozy with some nice and simple decor. It's just like what the reviews online had entailed regarding their atmosphere and ambiance. I'd say that the restaurant is a pretty good for romantic get-togethers and casual socializing.

We got here around 6:30 PM and had apparently beat the "rush hour" since they got pretty busy at 7 and 8 PM. I'd recommend coming here at 6 PM or do brunch or it'll get really noisy and busy in the restaurant.

Ann likes their star-light decor by the window. It adds a nice touch to the ambiance. 

This is their menu.

And their drinks menu.

They provided complimentary bread and butter, we wished it was toasted though!

Since Ann and I are still on a pescatarian diet, we stuck to their seafood options. We ordered:

Appetizer: One pound of "pistou"-flavored steamed mussels with fries.

According to their menu, pistou seasoning is made from white wine, pesto and parsley.

Drink 1: Glass of white wine - 2010 Pinot Griglo La Delizia "Delle Venezie" Friulvini (Italy)

Drink 2: Glass of red wine - 2008 Minervois Domaine Pujol Izard (Languedoc - Fr.)

Main: Plat du jour (Chef's Daily Special) - which was Pan Seared Steelhead Trout some sort of sauce and steamed veggies. I forgot what the waitress said.

Main 2: Saumon a La Cannelle - Pan Seared Cinnamon Crust Salmon Fillet, Light Saffron Sauce

Bon Appetit!

Here's what I thought of the food:

The mussels were alright. They were a little smaller than usual, but the taste was subtle and made for a good appetizer. I had really wanted to try what the waitress said was the chef's favorite, which was mussels with the Catalane seasoning. It consisted of chorizo (sausage), shallots, paprika, and cream. Sounded delicious!

We ordered the wine because I heard that French cuisine goes well with wine. As we were amateurs to wine, we ordered one white and one red. The waitress said that the white wine we got was a bit dry, which I wasn't sure what she meant by, but she also said it was a bit sweet (that sold me for sure).

As for the fish, I can't really comment since I am not a big fan of seafood. All I know is that it was cooked well with subtle flavors. Though, without their sauce/veggie sides, the trout and the salmon kinda tasted the same. Might be because they were both pan seared.

Overall, we had a pretty good experience at Midi Bistro. The waitress was always around just when we needed her and she was more than helpful with recommendations and suggestions. Granted that their menu is a bit expensive but they do offer a pri-fixe brunch on weekends for $15. I haven't tried that yet myself, but I'd highly recommend it. When you're there, do give their mussels a try, since it is their specialty afterall!