Goat Coffee Co.

Such a strange name.  I would have never linked the two together.  But never judge a book by it's cover right?  Same goes for a restaurant/cafe name.  I found Goat Coffee on BlogTO's Best New Cafes in Toronto, 2014.  I have to be honest, but I had wanted to check out another cafe on that list instead.  But what drew me to Goat Coffee was that they offer food, real food, with their coffees.  Finally a place with food!   Most cafes serve pastries, cakes, and cookies.  Sometimes you want to have a meal, with a good coffee.  Food wise, Goat Coffee offers many egg sandwiches for breakfast, similar to HK Cafe style, but with fancier toppings.  They use free range eggs!!!!  *HAPPY DANCING* On their menu there's also salads and braised meats and such for lunch, depends on the daily special..  They also offer milk alternatives such as soy or almond milk for all of you lactose intolerant people out there.

The cafe itself was large enough to keep the tables full on a Saturday morning, without having people lining up waiting for a table.  You walk up to the counter, order, pay and then they bring your order to you.  This particular weekend was re-introducing caffeine (for the second time around to confirm my initial reaction to caffeine).  Drink wise, we ordered a large drip coffee, and an almond milk latte.  The drip coffee was very good.  I think I actually preferred it over my almond milk latte.

Drip Coffee & Almond Milk Latte

 For food, I ordered the Egg White Super Spinach minus the butter on the toast and subbed the cheese with avocado.  I was shocked they let me sub the cheese for avocado.  But the guy there was super nice about it.  The hubby ordered the Smokey Bacon & Egg'er.  There was so much cheese in his sandwich that it that I would call it a grilled cheese too.  Food got delivered to our table shortly and I dove in.  Light and fluffy egg whites.  I wish I knew how to cook my eggs like that.  The guy that I placed my order with came by at least twice asking me if everything was ok.  I've never had that at a cafe before.

Egg Sandwiches

As I'm writing this blog, part of me wants to delete everything that I have just written so I can keep this place my little secret.  But the purpose of my blog is to share with you these little gems I have found.  Goat Coffee Co. is definitely a gem!

Goat Coffee Co.
893 Pape Ave.,
Toronto, ON
M4K 3V6

Phone:  416-551-7737

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7am - 7pm
             Saturday Sunday 8am - 6pm

http://www.goatcoffeeco.com

Izakaya Tsuki

Another restaurant I visited during my diet's food introduction phase.  The night started out with me at a bar.  My friends who I haven't seen in 10 years wanted to meet at a bar.  I couldn't eat anything there or drink anything there.  So I only stayed for a short while, and searched for a place that would have some food for me to eat.  By that time, it was too late for me to buy groceries and then go home and cook.  I thought of Japanese food, since there's some sashimi.  Yes I realize sashimi is fish.  But because of my food limitations, thats what I had to resort to.  Izakaya Tsuki was nearby and they use brown rice instead of white rice!  Means I can have maki as well! While we were waiting, I called up another friend that lives nearby to join us, since I haven't seen him in a couple of months.  More people means we can order a larger variety of food.

Izakya Tsuki has quite large menu with large variety of raw and cooked items ranging from sushi and sashimi to ramen to takoyaki balls. For the three of us, I think we ordered a lot of food.  But that's also because my friend can eat quite a bit. :)  We ordered sashimi salad, takoyaki, ramen, tuna tataki, grilled squid, grill beef tongue, gindara, sushi+sashimi plate

The sashimi salad was pretty much the same fish as the sashimi and sushi plate.  I still haven't acquired the love for salmon yet.  So I pretty much ate tuna, and some other fish that I don't know the name of.  Was, just ok I think.  Wasn't mushy and overly fishy smelling and tasting.  So a pass for me.  I also can't compare to other sushi joints in Toronto.  When you compare with places like Japan and Vancouver, you just can't.....

Sashimi Salad

Sushi+Sashimi Platter

Tuna tataki is usually my go to dish.  For some reason I find that with the slight sear on the fish, it gives the fish a better texture than fully cooked or fully raw.  So I ate quite a bit of this one.

Tuna Tataki

The best dish of the night (of what I did eat) was the gindara.  I think it's better than Guu's!  The fish was not fishy at all.  Cooked perfect which a slight crust, while being moist on the inside.  I think I ate most of this dish too.

Gindara

The squid was just so-so.  Not the best that I've had, and not the worst.  I would say order something else instead.  I didn't try the beef tongue or the ramen.  The boys liked the beef tongue.  The ramen was meh.  They have their favourites downtown.  They also liked the takoyaki balls.  But when looking at it, it looked firmer than what I remember from Kyoto.  But then again most Japanese restaurants here in Toronto make them firm.

Beef Tongue & Squid

Ramen

Takoyaki

I think if I were to return, it would be for the gindara.  So many other restaurants along Yonge St. for me to try.  It is super convenient for people who take the TTC since it's on the subway line.  And I just noticed they also have a location in Markham.

Izakya Tsuki
5182 Yonge St.
North York, ON
M2N 5P6

Phone:  416-229-6719

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 5pm-2am

http://www.tsuki.ca

Bread-Stuff Bakery - CLOSED

The North York area (north part)  is in a dire need of a good bakery.  Most 'bakeries' in the area purchase baked goods from other bakeries and re-sell them.  Or theres Chinese bakeries that sell mostly buns and egg tarts.  Now that I've moved out of North York, Bread-Stuff Bakery opens.  I found this place by looking up places that use organic flour (while I was still on my elimination diet).  I have been back several times since to try their breads, and croissants.  Everything was very good.  No complaints at all.  The croissant was flakey buttery.  Their breads are of the artisan style, light and fluffy on the inside with a nice crust on the outside.  The first loaf of bread I bought was a olive ciabatta.  I pretty much ate half the loaf sitting there waiting for the the hubby to finish his lunch, which was something that was similar to a spanakopita, beef filled.  The second time we went I ordered a brie sandwich which came in a baguette, with sun dried tomato,  spinach and olive tapenade.  My only complaint is that I thought they would heat up the sandwich, but they didn't.  So I asked them to and they gladly did it for me.  But I just wish I didn't have to ask.  The hubby liked those beef spanakopitas so much he ate TWO!  I have yet to try their muffins and danishes which look delicious too.  They have a good variety of options of everything.

Not a very large space, just 3 small bistro tables with 2 chairs each, and a standing counter by the window.  But it's never been too busy for me to eat a quick lunch.

Muffins, Danishes, Croissants

Beef Spanakopita

Olive Ciabatta

Croissant - reheated at home

Bread-Stuff Bakery
2885 Bayview Ave.,  Retail Unit #2
North York, ON
M2K 0A3

Phone:  416-733-2885

Hours: Monday - Friday 7a - 7p
            Saturday 8a - 5p
            Sunday 10a - 4p

http://bread-stuff.ca