Sunday, January 27, 2013

Royal Teahouse

Royal teahouse is a dimsum restaurant. This is one of our favourite to go to as we have tried many dimsum places in Markham! On a general basis most dimsum places are very similar as the menu's are 90% the same across the board. The way each dish is cooked varies from restaurant to restaurant. The tik kwan yin tea here is great, but most other dimsum places offer the same sort of tea so its always good! The tea is necessary when eating so much deep fried and pan fried items.


We decided to order the pan fried radish dish. and the soup dumplings (shoronpo). The radish cake here is better then most places as its not just soft and mushy but rather a bit crispy and has more flavour then other dimsum places. The soup dumpling was very flavourful but I wish there was a bit more soup in it!


We also got the barbeque pork bun and vegetable bean curd dish. The bean curd is standard and tastes like most other dimsum places same goes with the BBQ pork bun. But still these dishes are good as we always get them!


Tatiana's favourite is the rice noodle with shrimp and vegetable dish. When drenched in the chinese soy sauce this dish is very addicting. The texture and the flavour... so good! We decided to get a new dish on the menu that was a vegetable dumpling. This was a mistake and did not taste good at all. There are many hit or misses at dimsum places and this dish was a miss!


We usually get the deep fried squid tentacles here because this place does it right! Its got a salty flavour but deep fried to perfection! Each tentacle is crispy and easily consumed. Other dimsum places batter the squid making it not good at all, but this place deep fries it without any batter so it just makes it crispy!

I would rate this a 80% as this is one of the few dimsum places that always charge tax. Most Chinese restaurants have a pay cash no tax policy but this one doesn't. Still this place is very good for flavour and we always go back.


Royal Teahouse on Urbanspoon

Beard Papa's Cream Puff


Beard Papa's is a Japanese franchise that has expanded to Canada. These little cream puffs are awesome! We went to the Beard Papa's that opened up in Pacific mall a little while ago. We bought half a dozen puffs with different flavours. The flavours we got were vanilla, green tea, chocolate, and strawberry. The store itself is quite small, and does take a while to get your orders in but it is worth the wait!

 

Each puff is made on the spot (not sure if this was because we went when they just opened) and then each puff was injected with their delicious cream!

 

This little dessert place is a bit pricey as half a dozen came to 12$ or so. But overall this place is still very yummy and hits the spot for those wanting something a little sweet and something soft! The cream isn't as sweat as donut shop cream donuts which in my opinion makes it better!

Try it out!


Beard Papa’s Cream Puff on Urbanspoon

Fred's Not Here

We decided to go to Fred's Not Here for Winterlicious. The set dinner menu was 35$. The four of us all decided that we wanted the Crab and Lobster soup. The soup was like a lobster bisque and was a bit on the salty side but still very flavourful and delicious. The bread on top when soaked with the soup gave it a nice doughy texture with the liquid soup. The soup itself had no chunks but was more like a thick broth. Still very very good!


For the main, two of us had the seafood paella, the other had beef medallion mushroom risotto, and I had the New York strip wood grilled steak with duck frites. Let me tell you that the seafood paella stood out so much more then the other dishes. The steak and beef medallion dishes were sub par compared to the seafood plate.

My steak wasn't the best steak I've had, it did have that woody flavour and was cooked well, but then again, I have had much better steak.


The beef medallion was also similar and it was very average but the risotto was very good. Now lets get to the #1 dish! The seafood 

This seafood paella was awsome! The rice was drenched with flavours from all the seafood and had a tomatoey flavour with that as well. Each dish got half a lobster, a massive scallop, some tiger shrimps, a bit of octopus, squid, and clams/mussels. I was so jealous that I did not get to eat this dish but I did get to eat half of it as Tatiana got too full to eat it anyways! Superb, I would come back for this dish anytime!

By this time we were absolutely full, but now came the desserts. Three of us had the cheesecake, and I had the banana bread pudding. The cheesecake was standard, and therefore good like always. The banana bread pudding was also very good but so much volume for when you are full! I couldn't even finish the dish.



Overall we really enjoyed this restaurant and would probably come back again! The prices are quite pricey so other then winterlicious and summerlicious it maybe a bit too pricey to want to go to. But with the prices available during these set menu times, this is great!

Looks like this place has had some bad reviews, as 71% is quite low, but I would rate this an 82%!
I would recommend trying this place out during the set menu times because price does change how food is judged!


Fred's Not Here on Urbanspoon

Galito's No.1 Flame Grilled Chicken

I had this flame grilled chicken from a South African cuisine earlier this month. We had the food TOGO and was this chicken ever so very delicious!

It was so good that I had to go to the restaurant to try it out again to confirm that it was indeed great.



Galito's Flame Grilled Chicken is a South African cuisine with peri peri sauce for the chicken. Many colleagues of mine have mentioned that this is very similar to Nando's but the chicken at Galito's is better then Nando's! This place seems like a Portuguese restaurant that started in South Africa.

Let's start off with their famous chicken. The chicken is flame grilled so it has that charcoal flavour and also has a pretty good seasoning by itself. Even without the peri peri sauce, the chicken itself was very delicious. The peri peri sauce is spicey, tangy, and has an awesome flavour! I would buy the peri peri sauce by itself and make my own chicken to use for the peri peri sauce! I loved it.

The side of peri peri rice that came with it was standard, I would much rather have greek rice, the fries were also very standard and nothing to brag about. However the main being the chicken trumped all other dishes by far.

This restaurant is like a fast food joint, where you order at the counter and get your food at your table. We had 5 people with us, and decided to get the family meal for 5~6 people. The price came to around 62$ which came with 16 pieces of chicken, and 3 sides (rice, and double fries for us). For 12$ a person this was a great deal.

I think if you go there yourself, it does get quite pricey but with big numbers the food gets very cheap!

I would rate this place an 85%, as the food was great, the price was cheap and was pretty fast on the service. I would definitely come back again!

Galito's on Urbanspoon

Monday, January 7, 2013

Sushi One

I have been to about 5~6 Japanese restaurants in Mississauga and this is by far my absolute favourite.

Lets start with the cons, the tea on a general basis is pretty much like hot water, and the miso soup is occasionally watery, but mostly good.

Now lets get to the reasons why I love this place!

This is a family run small japanese restaurant that can seat around around 40 people max. The owners are very kind and the service is great. The lunch is very affordable but boy is the quantity great. Every time I go I always get full especially because of the korean appetizers you get.

You get 6 small dishes, bean sprouts, cabbage in a sweet mayo sauce, kimchi, sweet red beans, cooked fish paste, and seaweed.

All of the lunch specials are around 8~12$ and come with miso soup. My favourite is #44, which is the most expensive lunch item on the menu at 13.50$. The reason why its a little more pricier is because you get 6 additionally sashimi pieces for 2$. The standard lunches come with 3 sashimi pieces so getting 9 is quite the bump!


Lets get down to the quality, I find the quality here always fresh and the colour of the red tuna is fantastic. They serve big chunks of sashimi, and the teriyaki that comes with it is pretty good as well!
The tempura that is served with the other lunches is extremely crispy and good, sometimes too crispy that it leaves the Captain Crunch scratches on the top of your mouth.

I really enjoy the beef teriyaki but the chicken and salmon are very comparable too. Another reason why I truly love this place is that their korean dishes are good too! The bibimbop and soon tofu are fantastic. The soon tofu soup has a very deep flavour and full of seafood, the perfect dish for winter.


 The bibimbop is standard with the content but the kocijan sauce is misoey, sweet, and spicey. This doesn't taste like regular kocijan but man is it good!

(Update) I got the mackerel recently and have decided to post it! It was very good!


Overall I rate this place a 90% for food quality, kindness, and service.
Yes there are hit and misses of dishes but overwhelmingly it is really good!
I would like to link the website but they do not have one! so you'll have to go yourself.

Support this restaurant!!


 Sushi One on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Bombay Bhel

Back when we used to live in Mississauga by Square One there were two indian restaurants that we would go to. One is called Taste of India (which was technically in brampton) and the other was Bombay Bhel. Taste of India has an all you can eat price for 12.50$ which I will eventually talk about in another blog once I get pictures!

We always come back to Bombay Bhel because it was the first Indian restaurant that we went to in Mississauga and it was a hit! The restaurant was full of indian people which you know makes it good! If you go to an ethnic restaurant where there are only white people, its probably not that good of food (aka Mandarin). Each curry dish at this place comes with either rice or naan. Each dish averages from 10~15$ and let me tell you the naan that comes with this is probably one of the best that I have had. The naan is huge and is about 30cm x 15cm, the naan is also very fluffy and soft. If you upgrade to the garlic butter naan you are in for a treat!

Tatiana says that this is her absolute favourite butter chicken. I believe she says that because it is catered towards white people. The butter chicken is very buttery, very creamy, and the chicken pieces are huge! I do agree that it is very good! The palek paneer (spinach cheese curry) is also one of my favourites. For a vegetarian meal, this is one heavy duty meal. I am not surprised by people gaining weight by eating this curry. The lamb vindaloo has a little spice, tomatoey, and the lamb is very good. So far I have not had a bad dish at this place and will always go back!


The picture I added was TOGO as I have noticed that the TOGO containers are actually bigger then the ones they serve when you sit down and eat! I would always recommend eating to go if you want more food!

I would rate this place an 82% as the food is delicious but the price even though each dish is only 10~15$ I consider this expensive for indian. I will always go back to this place!

 Bombay Bhel on Urbanspoon

New Years Eve at Trattoria Leonardo

On New Years Eve my friend had reserved us some seats at Trattoria Leonardo. I have never heard of this place and it was located at Islington and Dundas in Etobicoke.

The parking of this place was small, can only fit maybe 10 cars at most in this small plaza. When we walked into the restaurant we noticed this place probably seated for only 20 people at most. It looked like all tables were reserved.

There were no menu items for today, but a set menu. The set menu was 40$ and had the options can be observed in the picture.

We started off with the appetizers and I ordered the smoked salmon and Tatiana ordered the calamari. The smoked salmon was fantastic, I love my smoked salmon with capers and onions! The smoked salmon was drizzled in olive oil and the lemon made it zesty. The calamari was also pretty good! I really enjoyed the seafood sauce that came with it. Highly recommend both.


The bocchini salad was good. The bocchini itself was not salty so adding the olives saltiness compromised the bland flavour of the cheese and tomato together. Overall not bad, but I have had better bocchini salads in my day!


For the main course I ordered the mushroom chicken stuffed with spinach and Tatiana ordered the lobster linguini. My chicken was soft and the sauce was buttery and creamy and the potatoes seemed like they were cooked in a tomato sauce. There was only one complaint to my main dish and it was the fact that there sooooooo many carrots. I ate a handful and it looked like I didn't even touch my carrots.
The lobster linguini was pretty standard in my opinion but the fact that there was a lobster tail in there, love it... :)


Overall this small italian restaurant was very good. The most disappointing part of this was that the dessert was not part of the set menu. What kind of restaurant creates a set menu then charges for dessert??? This one... pfff. I would like to try this place out during regular times to see what the regular menu looks like!

I would rate this a 70% as the price was moderate the food was good and there was no dessert but the food made you very full! If only there was dessert I would rate this an 80%.


Trattoria Leonardo on Urbanspoon

The Grill Restaurant and Bar


Right before new years we decided to go for a late lunch as we woke up a little later during the holidays. I have previously been to The Grill Restaurant and Bar before and told Tatiana that we should try this place out. The last time I went it was at 4a.m. in the morning after some drinking and games. We couldn't find any 24/7 restaurants (including fast food) in the area so we finally stumbled upon this place! For 4 in the morning this place was pretty good and I wanted to try this place out during regular hours.

With the 24/7 breakfast menu and the wide variety of menu items this place caters towards all people. Even at 2 in the afternoon this place was pretty packed.

I previously ordered the chicken souvlaki and my friends ordered the burgers with poutine, the chicken souvlaki was pretty good especially at 4 a.m. I could not trust my early morning judgement so I decided to try this place again! I would recommend the chicken souvlaki for any drunken self.

During the day I ordered chicken cheese steak, and Tatiana ordered pancakes.


After we ordered, the food came within 10 minutes! Blazing fast for how many people were in the restaurant.

The pancakes were extremely large and there were 3 of them! The bacon and pouched egg that came were pretty standard. The hash browns were a little burnt on the bottom which made it crispy and good while the rest of the potato was soft. The french fries that came with the sandwich was also pretty standard but the sandwich was massive. I usually have a huge appetite but I could not finish off my whole meal. I had to pack up the fries as the sandwich was too much! The sandwich was an open faced sandwich with two garlic breads as the base and tons of chicken, cheese, and onions baked all together. The sandwich wasn't the greatest sandwich but the quantity was delightful! Overall it was a little overcooked which made the bread really crunchy to eat. Kind of like when you ask for toasted sandwiches at Subway, how the bread at the ends rip up your mouth because of how hard it is. :P
The reason I enjoy this place so much is because of the price!! This place is cheap, fast, and decent food. I would rate this place a 70% if it wasn't for the price I would give it a 60%!
I would go back to eat there again!

...

[March 23, 2013]
I went back again!

This time I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and a side of gravy. The burger was great! I made it like a beef dip by adding a side of gravy and dipping each bite!


Tatiana got the breakfast item which included eggs, a fruit salad, hash browns and some bacon. I ate the bacon right away so when we took the photo there wasn't any left!
 

Both the burger and breakfast item were very good especially for the price! I think we were able to pay 25$ for both items! Great value. Good enough food!

The Grille Restaurant & Bar on Urbanspoon