Platform Espresso Bar

As I've mentioned before, York region is in desperate need of a good coffee shop.  So imagine my surprise when I saw Platform Espresso Bar while driving along Highway 7.  Since that day, I have been meaning to stop by.  So last night, after doing some research on where to meet our friends for breakfast, I was pleasantly surprised that they not only serve coffee, but they also serve brunch!  So our meet up location was determined.

They open at 900a, and we were the first ones to arrive.  And good thing at that, while there is seating, it is quite minimal.  There are 4 small booths that seats 2 comfortably (4 adults would be very squished), and a larger booth that would seat 6 adults comfortably.  On the coffee front, there is quite a bit of selection.  For espresso based drinks, you get a choice of two beans.  If you want a pour over, there's a selection of 4 to 5 different kind of beans.  If you just want a regular coffee, look elsewhere, there isn't that option.  I ordered a latte made with an Ethiopian bean, the hubby ordered a pour over (which they suggest you drink black), also with an Ethiopian bean.  Coffees were good, but as much as I love drinking coffee, I'm not good with distinguishing the flavours in coffee, so I didn't detect the hints of fruitiness in my latte.  Overall I thought my latte could have been a bit stronger.  Latte art was cute, something that is rare up in Markham.  The pour over I initially though was weak, but a few seconds later, the flavour was quite nice.

Pour Over & Latte

Foodwise, we ordered the Sunrise waffle sandwich, one with scrambled eggs instead of sunny side up, a Platform waffle sandwich, and a brioche.  The Sunrise waffle sandwich has eggs, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, and cheese on top of a savoury waffle with choice of crispy potato curls or salad.  The Platform waffle sandwich has chicken, tomato, lettuce, and guacamole also on top of a savoury waffle.  The waffle was pretty good, not really sure what herbs were in it, but I did see herbs.  Crispy potato curls were crispy, but almost couldn't really tell that they were potatoes.  They almost seemed like they were crispy thin onion rings.  I, myself ordered the brioche (forgot to take a picture), because I saw on another blog that it was essentially a mini loaf of bread that came with butter and jam.  I guess I didn't read the description properly, because I got a savoury dinner roll topped with sesame seeds and rosemary.  I was quite disappointed.

Sunrise Waffle Sandwich

 

Sunrise Waffle Sandwich (Scrambled Eggs)

Platform Waffle Sandwich

With the lack of coffee options up here, I would definitely come back for more.  Service was also great here.  Barista was very friendly and very helpful in explaining anything that we were not sure of.  And prior to us ordering, she let us know that recently there has been a warning about potential issues with romaine lettuce, not yet a recall, but to be on the safe side, they were replacing all romaine with iceberg lettuce.

Platform Espresso Bar

4450 Highway 7 E
Markham, ON 

L3R 1M2

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 900a -600p

Phone: (905) 604-9110 

https://www.facebook.com/platform.espresso.bar/

Moji Japanese Eatery

Popped into Moji for a super late lunch on a Sunday.  We were getting kind of sick of normal Chinese food for a quick bite.  I can't remember how we ended up in this area because I HATE this plaza.  Hate the drivers and hate the parking here, especially the strip of parking that faces Kennedy Road because there's never any spots!

Because we arrived so late, they had their happy hour pricing available between 230p - 500p.  For $5.99, you get to choose an appetizer, main, and drink.  With my bad memory, I wish I took a picture of that menu.  In any case, based on my pictures, I ordered chilled tofu, gyu rice, and a strawberry green tea.  The hubby wanted ramen, so he ordered the toroniku ramen off the regular menu. 

When our food items arrived, we thought the portions were a bit small.  I don't know if my portions were small due to my food being for its happy hour pricing.  The tofu was good, smooth, with some soy sauce, and nori on top.  The gyu rice, I felt that there wasn't enough beef for the amount of rice given.  Flavours were ok.  Strawberry green tea was weak, not much green tea flavour at all.

Gyu Rice, Tofu & Strawberry Green Tea

The toroniku ramen came in a very small bowl.  The broth was ok, but it didn't have that rich pork taste to it.  Noodles were cooked al dente which was good.  Topping were presented on the side on a separate dish.  There were slices of pork, very thinly sliced, with some wood ear, and bamboo.  The egg, again in it's own separate dish.  For the price, $12.50, I was expecting there to be more.

Toroniku Ramen

Cute restaurant.  If it wasn't for the location, I think I would come back when I want something other than Hong Kong style cafe.

Moji Japanese Eatery
A6-8362 Kennedy Road

Markham, ON 

L3R 9W5

Phone:  (905) 479-6654

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 1130a - 900p

             Friday 1130a - 1000p

             Saturday - Sunday 1100a - 1000p

http://www.mojijapanese.com

Kinton Ramen Hwy 7

Kinton Ramen has opened a location in Markham along Highway 7.   Ramen close to home?  Yes please!  Opening during the perfect time of the year too.  There's nothing better than to slurp a hot bowl of soup noodles during the cold winter to warm your body up.  Out of all the ramen restaurants that have opened uptown and downtown, Kinton remains my favorite.  What makes Kinton my favourite?  The broth.  Their broth is always silky smooth and full of flavour.

My husband found out from a friend on Facebook that Kinton is doing their soft launch right now and was begging to go for dinner.  Official opening is Saturday January 28.  This morning I saw on their Facebook page that they're opening for lunch, so we popped in for a bite.  This Kinton is the most spacious i've been to (I have only been to their Baldwin and North York location).  And I guess because it's during the soft opening phase, it was busy all the tables were taken, but not overly busy.  I'm thinking that after the grand opening, it will get busier.  

Menu wise, it's pretty much the same as all the other locations with ramen being their focus.  We ordered their original ramen with pork with thin noodle (which is the equivalent of what other ramen shops call shio ramen), original ramen with pork with extra thick noodle, and original karaage.  The broth was as good as I remember, thick and velvety, i'm salivating as i'm thinking of it.  The broth is thick enough so it thinly coats your tongue.  No chunks of unappealing fat floating around which is a thumbs up from me.  Both the thin and thick noodle was cooked to a perfect al dente.  Egg was good but I think a slight tad overcooked.  There was the beginning formation of the powdery yolk on the outer edge.  Pork wise, I'm not sure if this is the way the pork is served with ramen at the other locations, but instead of getting a choice of pork shoulder or pork belly, you get one slice of each.  Taste of the pork shoulder was same as the other locations, but thinner.  The pork belly was what was different for me.  The slice of pork belly was smaller, and thinner than the Baldwin location, and the charring of the pork belly was minimal, so there was less of the smokey flavour.  Overall, still better than other ramen shops.

Kinton Hwy 7 Menu

Original Ramen with Extra Thick Noodle

Egg

The karaage was good, 5 pieces of deep fried thigh meat served piping hot.  So hot that I burned the roof of my mouth, I couldn't help it, I was too excited!  My husband thought that the batter/coating could be a bit thicker to make it crunchier, which I agree.  But it was still crispy enough.

Original Karaage

So super happy a good ramen place is now open in the Markham!  One small gripe is that service is a bit slow, it took longer than normal to get our ramen, but i'm assuming that it's because their still working out their kinks during this soft opening phase.  I'm thinking that it's going to get super busy in the future, even with the pain in the butt parking.....

Kinton Ramen Hwy 7
505 Highway 7 East, Unit 54-58
Markham, ON
L3T 7T1

Phone: (905) 597-8775

Hours: Hours currently are soft opening, not sure if it will be different after their grand opening.  Check their Facebook page for updates.  https://www.facebook.com/kintonramen/?fref=ts

http://www.kintonramen.com

Sam's Congee Delight

Sam's Congee Delight located in Market Village has been around for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, while my mom did her grocery shopping at the Chinese supermarket next door, I loved watching the cooks roll rice noodles.  There's not that many Chinese restaurants that survive that long.  Most places close within a few years, change names, and re-open again.  The reason my friends and I decided to check out Sam's Congee Delight was because our favourite congee restaurant, My Kitchen, closed.  I have lost my source for fragrant plain congee without anything mixed in.  I know you can order plain congee at any restaurant that serves congee, but they either mix in msg, dried scallops, or they blend their congee to make it thicker (speed up the cooking process).  It's just not the homestyle cooked plain congee that I love.

Sam's Congee was packed as usual.  And unless you have enough people for a full table, you will be asked to share your table with others.  We were 4+baby, and we had to share a round table with a single diner.  I prefer not to share tables usually, it's just kind of awkward especially since i'm eating with friends to catch up with them.  But it seems you pretty much don't have a choice at Sam's.

The prices are low here, but that's because the dishes are small as well.  So be ready to order lots of dishes.  Our first round we ordered a beef and persevered egg congee, beef and fish congee, chow mien, beef and enoki rice roll, dough fritter and beef brisket on plain rice noodle (not in picture).  The food definitely arrives fast.  I guess it's not difficult to bring out the congee when they have a giant vat of congee cooking and they just ladle in whatever ingredients you want into a bowl and pour some boiling hot congee into that bowl.  We were quite hungry from waiting for the table, so we dug in before I remembered to take a picture.  Congee topping wise, there was a good amount of beef and preserved egg.  But the congee itself, just didn't hit the spot for me.  There were extra 'flavours' added in.  I was looking forward to rice noodle.  They make those in house.  Again, quite a bit of filling, but the rice noodle was too soft.  It couldn't hold up against the filling.  Same thing occurred with the brisket rice noodle.  It was super hard to pick up with chopsticks.  It was almost like mush.  At this point, I was losing hope.  So I didn't have much in terms of expectations for the chow mien or the dough fritter.  The dough fritter I don't know for sure if they make it in house, but for some reason I'm thinking they do.  It was so disappointing.  It should be crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside.  It was soft inside and out.  At least it was warm?  The chow mien, nothing to write about, its just soy sauce noodles.  We did place another order for rice noodles (because we were still hungry), but same as the first round, soft and mushy.

Sam's Congee Delight

The combination of less than satisfying congee, and the fact that they make you share tables, I think I need to keep looking for a congee restaurant.

Sam's Congee Delight
4390 Steeles Ave. E.,
Markham, ON
L3R 9V7

Phone:  (905) 479-1074

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 10a - 8p

Its A Bao Time

Looks like this is a restaurant that wants to compete with Banh Mi Boys.  Which could be a good thing because I wrote off Banh Mi Boys after I got food poisoning from them.  No matter how good a restaurant is, if I get food poisoning from them, I’ll never go back.  So since I can’t have Banh Mi Boys, It’s A Bao Time seemed like a good alternative. 

So wrong, so very wrong.  This visit started off on the wrong foot and continued to go downhill.  We walked into an empty restaurant on a Friday afternoon around 1:30p – 2:00p.  Yes it’s a late lunch so I didn’t expect a lot of people to be sitting and eating.  Food is to be ordered and picked up cafeteria style like any other fast food place, except we couldn’t order.  There was no one at the cash, no one in the kitchen.  No bell to ring for service either.  Was this place even open?  After waiting for several minutes, a girl walked by the back of the kitchen, saw us, and then got the cashier to come to take our order.  We ordered a grilled chicken bao, Korean beef bulgogi banh mi, and taro fries.  And immediately, 3 other girls appeared in the kitchen and started prepping our order.  Food was done in a few minutes.

The grilled chicken bao, is piri piri chicken (2 small pieces, imagine 2 slices of chicken breast) topped with pickled daikon and carrots, fresh cilantro and cucumber stuffed in a steamed bun.  There was some sort of spicy sauce, probably a siracha mayo.  Portion was extremely small.  The steam bun was a bit smaller than my palm.  I don’t have big hands.  My biggest problem with my order was that the chicken was room temperature, and the bao was COLD.  They couldn’t have warmed it up?

The hubby’s Korean beef bulgogi banh mi was equally disappointing.  There was barely any beef bulgogi in the sandwich.  The picture is super misleading, there was a lot of filler in the bun, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber etc.  The bulgogi sauce was also too salty.  The bun itself was also cold, and didn’t have that outer crust crunch.  Day old bread?  What makes a good banh mi is the crispy outer crust of the bun.  They could have at least attempted to hide the fact they were using day old bread by warming it up or toasting it.  The worst dish was the taro fries.  Not only were these fries covered in too much five spice powder (to the point where I was using the cardboard box edge to scrape off the excess powder), the fries were DRY.  Crunchy outside, hollow inside.  Imagine eating a cross between hickory sticks and those veggie straws.

Taro Fries, Banh Mi, Bao

If you feel like eating bao, go for dim sum instead.  If you feel like eating banh mi, go to Nguyen Hong.  Don’t waste your money here.

Its A Bao Time

230 Commerce Valley Dr. E., Unit 2a

Markham, ON

L3T 7Y3

Phone:  (905) 771-8866

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 12:00p - 8:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:00a - 8:00p

             Sunday 12:00p - 8:00p

http://www.itsabaotime.ca/