Ciao Roma Pizza

Originally seen from an episode on You Gotta Eat Here, and it has been on my places to visit since.  But because of location, and my lack of free time, the visit has been postponed till recently.  The main reason why I wanted to try Ciao Roma is their pizza purchasing concept.  I don’t think there’s anything like that in the GTA as of yet.  You pay for your pizza by weight.  I think its pretty cool.  You specify how big of a slice you want (from their available pizza options, they cut you your slice weigh it, warm it up for you and then tell you how much you owe them.  You get to have more than one flavour of pizza!  Awesome for greedy food me.

The afternoon we went (for a late afternoon lunch around 2pm), they had a continuous stream of people coming in and either sitting down and eating or grabbing some slices to go.  The slices that we picked up were bacon & potato, tuna artichoke & tomato, rapini & sausage, sausage bacon & mushroom, mixed mushroom & truffle oil, tomato & mozzarella.  All of the combinations are not readily available from your normal neighborhood pizza places, so it’s quite unique in that sense.  The combinations were all delicious.  My favorite was the tomato and mozzarella.  The most surprising flavour combination was the bacon potato.  Every that ordered it loved it.  But it’s the combination of carb on carb that kinda makes me not want to order it again.  If you aren’t worried about your carb consumption, definitely order it.  You will love it.  Another thing that makes Ciao Roma different is the crust.  The crust isn’t like your normal bready crust.  This is more focaccia like.  So its more light and airy. 

Definitely worth a visit if you are anywhere near the area.  I know I will be going again.

Pizzas

Ciao Roma Pizza

28 Roytec Rd. #12a,

Vaughan, ON

L4L 2V5

Phone:  905-264-2121

Hours:  Monday 12pm - 7pm

             Tuesday - Saturday 11am - 8pm

             Sunday 12pm - 7pm

http://www.crpizza.ca

Wisey's Pies

I’m not sure why there’s this sudden interest in Aussie meat pies.  Are they even that big of a thing in Australia?  My cousin who lives in Australia says not really.  When my cousin visited last year, and he saw a sign that said Aussie meat pies, he actually laughed and took a picture of the sign.  Yes these Aussie meat pies have more flavours than your normal frozen meat pies that you pick up from your grocery store, and they taste much better.  But they also cost a lot more. 

We kinda went crazy at Wiseys (they’re technically New Zealand meat pies), we ordered quite a bit of food.  I was surprised at the total in the end.  Drink wise, we ordered a flat white (to go with the theme down under), and an almond coconut non-caffeinated tea.  The coffee came with a chocolate covered short bread cookie that was shaped like a fish, and the tea came with a mini oatmeal raisin cookie.  The fish cookie was delicious, I didn’t get to try the oatmeal raisin since I don’t like raisins, and I can’t eat dried fruit anyways.

Flat White & Almond Coconut Tea

Pie wise, our first pies were a ‘normal’ meat pie, steak and kidney pie, and a vegetable quiche.  The pie crust wasn’t a butter flour ‘tart’ like shell, it was more of a puff pastry shell, which was nice and buttery.  Filling was good, good, flavour, and good amount of filling.  The normal meat pie was minced meat.  The steak and kidney pie had large chunks of steak and kidney.  The vegetable quiche had peppers, broccoli and mushroom.  My biggest complaint was the temperature of the pies.  Prior to ordering, I asked them if the pies were heated before serving since we were eating in.  They said the pies are kept in a ‘heat box’ and that would be hot enough.  Boy, were they WRONG.  I hate room temperature food.  HATE.  The pies were served at room temperature.  No matter how good food is, hot food should not be served at room temperature.

Meat Pie, Steak & Kidney Pie, Vegetable Quiche

I only ate the equivalent of one pie, so I was still a bit peckish.  So I asked the hubby to grab me an Afghan cookie.  He for some reason ended up buying six.  Something got lost in communication there.  And don’t ask me why it’s named what its named.  I tried finding out, the internet didn’t return much.   I did find some recipes, mostly saying that it’s heavy on the butter, there’s corn flakes, nuts and cocoa powder. 

Afghan Cookie

After that, the hubby was still hungry so he went and ordered another pie.  I forget the name of this, maybe it’s a Shepard’s pie?  There was minced meat and mashed potato on top.    Flavours were good, but again, the temperature really annoyed me.  This one was the worst out of them all, the centre was actually cold. 

Shepards Pie?

We ordered a full sized apple pie to take home.  Full size doesn’t mean that big though.  I would say its at most 8”?  Crust again was puff pastry.  The filling tasted good, but the texture I wasn’t a fan of.  I like apple pies to have copious amounts of apple.  This one had apple, but was mostly goopy ‘sauce’.  Think McD’s apple pie filling.  Not very satisfying.  Not sure I would buy it again.

Apple Pie

Wisey's Pies

874 Eglinton Ave. East,

Toronto, ON

M4G 2L1

Phone: 416-423-9473

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7am - 6pm

             Saturday 7am - 5pm

             Sunday 8am - 4pm

http://wiseyspies.com

Mama Bear Taiwanese Cuisine - CLOSED

It was a cold night, very cold night.  We needed some hot comfort food.  And hot comfort food we found.  Just be prepared to NOT find any available parking.  I drove around the parking lot THREE times and then finally found a spot!  Inside Mama Bear, it was completely full.  Good thing the hubby got there and grabbed us the last table (we went separately because of separate afternoon errands).  Everyone else that walked after me had to wait for a table.   

We ordered pan fried buns, duck soup, deep fried intestines, beef noodle and popcorn chicken meal.  The pan fried buns were similar to pan fried pot stickers but just with a thicker dumpling wrapper.  Filling was pork.  I think I prefer normal pot stickers more because of the thinner skin. 

Pan Fried Buns

The Mama Bear duck soup is only offered in the winter.  From what arrived at our table, I think there’s half a duck that has been chopped up, and boiled with lots of goji berries, ginger and some chinese medicinal herbs.  Tasted very good. 

Duck Soup

The deep fried intestines, bleh……I tried one…..because I used to like them as a kid.  Once I learned what it was, I stopped eating them.  And I never ate them again till now.  And I can confirm that I will never try them again.  My friend and the hubby devoured the entire plate.

Deep Fried Intestines

What best describes Taiwanese food?  Beef noodle soup and popcorn chicken.  I think I forgot to find the picture of beef noodle soup.  The beef was very good, tender, but not quite falling apart.  The broth is slightly different than other places, there was a bit of a Chinese herbal smell and taste.  After a few bites, you get used to the herbalness, and enjoy it either more.  The popcorn chicken was so good.  The chunks were nice and big, with a slight coating on the outside.  Because it was a meal, it came with a few veggie sides, soy sauce boiled egg, bowl of rice, bowl of veggie soup and some orange slices for dessert.  Definitely order it again next time we go.

Popcorn Chicken Meal

Mama Bear Taiwanese Cuisine

324 Hwy 7 E, #7

Richmond Hill, ON

L4B 1A6

Phone:  905-597-7770

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 11:30am - 10:00pm, except Wednesday CLOSED

https://www.facebook.com/mamabearrichmondhill

Duo Patisserie

French pastries in Richmond Hill?!?!?  Something that I never would have thought would actually happen.  Super duper excited, but I was still on my Elimination Diet, so I had to wait.  I waited until I was in the food introduction phase.  Croissants and coffee here I come!

My first visit was a late afternoon on Sunday.  There wasn't ANYTHING left, except for macarons.  No croissants, no cakes.  So I ordered a coffee and then my jaw dropped open.  They have the Modbar.....so pretty....so ridiculous expensive for an expresso machine.  My flat white was pretty smooth, but the hubby's cappuccino was a bit sour at the end.  Not sure if it was the bean it self...or just a pull that wasn't done that well.

Modbar

We returned so we could try the pastries.  The mont blanc, everyone raves a bout.  I loved it because I like chestnut.  The base is a butter tart, with a sponge/pound cake 'insert'.  Guess to prevent a soggy tart shell?  Whipped cream piled up inside, with pureed chestnut piping on the outside.  We also picked up a lemon tart.  Same base, but lemon custard filling.  Just the right amount of lemon and tartness.  The last was a sort of chocolate mousse on a crispy wafer kind of base.  The flavour of it was very similar to the Ferrero Rocher chocolate, with the addition of toasted black and white sesame seeds.  Overall pretty good pastries, good flavours and not overly sweet.

Pastries

For the bakery items, my food boyfriend was kind enough to pick up some croissants for us to try.  I have to say, look wise, they are beautiful, exactly what I envision for a croissant.  Taste and texture wise, it was a bit of a miss for me.  Now, this is all personal preference.  I found there to be less butter taste than croissants I have tried elsewhere.  And texture wise, I found it to be a little bready.  With that being said, both my food boyfriend and the hubby prefer this croissant over other bakeries.  Note, I didn't get to try the other 2 flavours, this was a picture that was sent to me by a friend, since we dug in to the croissant before I remembered to take a picture.

Croissants

A few weeks later, I did try a citrus round croissant type thing, it wasn't called a croissant though.  I wish I remember the name.  But this had amazing butter flavour, and was flakey enough for my liking.

Duo Patisserie
4, 230 Commerce Valley Dr E.,
Markham, ON
L3T 7Y3

Phone:  905-763-2232

http://www.duo-patisserie.com