De Mello Palheta

As I’m trying to cut down my caffeine intake, I somehow end up checking out more coffee shops.  Sounds counterproductive right?  I used to have a coffee a day out of habit only because I love the taste.  No more daily coffees.  Now I try to limit caffeine intake to the weekends for when we may perhaps pass by a good coffee shop. 

For the hubby’s bday, we both took the day off because we both had days that we needed to use up by the end of the year or they would be gone.  So of course, we went to check out a coffee shop midtown Toronto.  I’ve passed by De Mello Palheta many many times (my favourite skincare line is just a couple of stores down) but never went in, because the front of the store looked too eclectic for me.  I’m so glad that we decided to pop in.  I think in terms of distance from my house, even though this is quite far, this is has become my favorite coffee shop.  I took a sip of the latte I ordered and I had an OMG moment.   I’ve never had that with coffee before.  I don’t’ even know how to describe it.  I just knew I wanted another.  We also ordered a chocolate chip cookie, and a smores bar.  The chocolate chip cookie was ok, kinda chewy.  The smores bar I didn't like too much, the hubby enjoyed it.  I believe they make everything themselves.  We sat in the back of the store, where they have an open-ish kitchen where I saw someone prepping food.

Latte & Cappuccino, Cookie & Smores Bar

They don't just do espresso based drinks here.  They also have a 'coffee bar' where they allow you to choose from different drip options.  I believe they have the pour over, chemex, and siphon options.

A few days later I went to buy some stuff from my favourite skincare line, and I popped back into De Mello Palheta for a flat white.  I was craving one all day.  Took one sip, and had another OMG moment.  There must be something special in their roasts that keeps pulling me back.

De Mello Palheta

2489 Yonge St.,

Toronto, ON

M4P 2H6

Phone:  (647) 748-3633

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7:00am - 8:00pm

             Saturday - Sunday 8:00am - 8:00pm

http://www.hellodemello.net

Tokyo Smoke Found

I love it when I randomly find places and they turn out to be AMAZING.  I came across Tokyo Smoke because the coffee house I wanted to check out in Liberty Village was closed.  Closed in the middle of the day on a Saturday. On Yelp, it said that they’re supposed to be open. I guess they make enough money during the weekdays?  Super glad that this place was closed, otherwise I would have never went to Tokyo Smoke Found.  A very interesting name for a coffee shop.  What’s even more interesting is the café itself.  When we arrived, we noticed how narrow the coffee shop was, and the ‘door’ looked like a garage door.  You can order and drink the coffee outdoors, or you could step indoors and order and drink your coffee indoors too.  Theres one long table indoors with walls full of stuff for you to look and buy.  There’s some kitchsy old stuff like old lunch boxes and thermoses, vapor cigarettes, dress shirts, and coffee making equipment. 

I asked the barista if I could use their washroom, she said they don’t have one.  The coffee shop is in a converted alleyway.  Explains how narrow it is.  Coffee itself, so good.  Strong flavour, but super smooth. I ordered a latte, and the hubby ordered a Vietnamese coffee.  My one minor complaint is that my latte, the bubbles were a bit big, so the foamy part wasn’t so smooth.  The hubby’s Vietnamese coffee was super strong!  I assumed it would be too sweet, because typically Vietnamese coffee has condensed milk in there.  But nope, just super strong and smooth coffee.  Still trying to figure out how it’s Vietnamese.

Vietnamese Coffee & Latte

Favourite coffee place down on the west end of Toronto.

Tokyo Smoke Found

850b Adelaide St. W.,

Toronto, ON

M6J 2S1

Phone:  (647) 348-6596

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 7:30am - 7:30pm

http://www.tokyosmoke.com

Local Public Eatery

When I used to work in Liberty Village, many many years ago, there was nothing there.  No condos, no town homes, few restaurants, and a Metro.  Now it’s totally different neighborhood.  Along with the Metro, there’s furniture stores, a LCBO, gym, coffee shops, and restaurants.  We chose to try Local Public Eatery because of the name.  We assume it would focus and feature on local foods. 

There were a few people waiting for a seat ahead of us.  The restaurant itself was packed.  What I didn’t expect was this to be a bar essentially, and for a bar to be so full so early on a weekend, it was around 12ish on a Saturday, food must be great right?  This meal however started out not so great though.  There was no one to seat us, or to even ask for our name and the number of people in our party.  I’m pretty sure we had to wait like 10 minutes for the hostess to finally come by, but it felt like forever.  We got a seat soon after, at the bar.  When they asked what we wanted to drink and we said water, we got a look that was like, why are you sitting at the bar?  While I was deciding what to order, I scanned the room to see what other people were eating, mostly burgers.  I wasn’t feeling like a burger, so ended up ordering a west coast chopped salad with chicken while the hubby ordered a burger.  My salad arrived and I wondered, wheres the rest of it?  The portion was pretty small.  The description said that there’s supposed to be beets, I couldn’t find any, and was about to ask our server when I finally found ONE tiny cube of a beet.  At least the greens were fresh.

West Coast Salad

The hubby’s burger was much better.  Quite juicy.  The downside of juicy means soggy bun.  They make their own burger buns it seemed, but the bun was too light to hold up to the juices and the toppings.  It was a mess to eat.  I have friends that prefer this super soft burger bun, but I hate it.

Burger

Take a pass on Local Public Eatery, unless you’re there to drink.  They do have a huge selection of beers and daily drink specials that they list on their train station flip board.  The board itself is pretty cool.

Local Public Eatery

171 East Liberty St., Unit 100

Toronto, ON

M6K 3P6

Phone:  (416) 901-8351

Hours:  Monday - Wednesday 11:00am - 1:00am

             Thursday - Friday 11:00am - 2:00am

             Saturday 10:00am - 2:00am

             Sunday 10:00am - 1:00am

http://locallibertyvillage.com

Cha Me Cha

November, time for the annual Valentines day babies dinner.  I have 3 close friends plus my husband who are Valentines day babies.  If you don’t get what I mean, take Valentines day, fast forward 9 months.  Now you get it?  So each year, I take my friends and hubby out for a dinner.  This year, one of my friends wasn’t able to come because he was stuck in Ottawa for exams.  Our usual dinners end up being at a Hong Kong style café because it’s cheap, and they like that kind of food, ie sizzling steaks, instant noodles etc.  This year I suggested a Taiwanese shaved ice place, that also serves meals, partly because I wanted to check this place out.  So off to Cha Me Cha we went.

Before 8pm, Cha Me Cha offers combos for $10 which includes a main dish and a drink.  Drink options include ginger milk tea(hot), golden kumquat tea (hot), bergamot pomelo tea (hot), raspberry green tea (cold), green plum green tea (cold), and apple green tea (cold).  I was hoping that part of the combo would include popcorn chicken, but it didn’t.  Our table ordered the fried chicken cutlet with noodle in soup, one sausage & minced pork with rice and one with noodle in soup, and curry chicken with noodle in soup. Whether you order noodles in soup or rice, your dish will come with a soy sauce hard boiled egg and a piece of bok choy.  My fried chicken cutlet in noodle in soup was very good.  Chicken cutlet was essentially a giant version of popcorn chicken.  The broth for the soup was pretty bland, the noodle I can’t pin point what it is, but very similar to ‘yet ca mein’.

Fried Chicken Cutlet in Noodle in Soup

The curry chicken was just ok according to my friend.  He thought that it would be boneless chicken, but the chicken had bone, so that was a reason why he didn’t like it as much either. 

Curry Chicken with Noodle in Soup

If you order minced pork and sausage, don’t order it with noodles in soup.  Your minced pork will get lost in the broth.  My friend who ordered it on rice was able to enjoy it much more.  She said she would definitely order it again.

Mince Pork and Sausage in Noodle in Soup

Minced Pork and Sausage on Rice

We had to order dessert, partly because it’s a birthday celebration, partly because I wanted to try shaved ice here.  So many options to choose from, it took us quite a while to decide on one, we finally decided on the brown sugar shaved ice.  When it finally arrived, I was really glad we only ordered one.  It was massive!!!!  I’ve never had shaved ice before, so I was expecting brown sugar flavoured ice, similar to a snow cone, where when it melts it tastes like the flavour that you chose and water.  But this was a totally different experience.  When it melted in my mouth, it was a creamy brown sugar.  So good!  I definitely need to come back and try some other shaved ices.

Brown Sugar Shaved Ice

Cha Me Cha

8333 Kennedy Rd.,  Unit 1078

Markham, ON

L3R 4P8

Phone:  (905) 470-8836

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 12:00pm - 12:00am

http://www.chamecha.com