Allwyn's Bakery

From what I've found online, Allwyn's Bakery has been around for a very long time, and is a staple for anyone that loves Jamaican patties.  When I have cravings for Jamaican patties, if I'm at work, my coworker takes me to this place that's close by her house.  The name escapes me at the moment.  If I'm at home, I used to go to Allan's Pastry Shop inside Peanut Plaza.  But as of the last couple of years, it seems like Allan's started skimp out on the fillings.  Not only is the filling less, but it looks and tastes like there's more filler, cornstarchy gumminess, and minimal meat.  I have to say, their outside is still nice and flakey though, which I love.

Allwyn's Bakery's Jamaican patties are a bit different than Allan's.  The outside is less flakey, and more like a cross between a pie dough and the normal Jamaican patty exterior.  There is a good amount of filling whether it is chicken or beef (we got one of each), and the filling is actual meat, not much in terms of fillers.  You can see the actual meat pieces.

Chicken & Beef Patties

Chicken Patty (inside)

Beef Patty (inside)

I personally prefer the flakier crust, but the fact that Allwyn's has a better filling, I think I would get my patties from Allwyn's now.  Allwyn's also does many other dishes (i.e. Jerk), but I didn't try those, so I can't comment on those dishes.

Allwyn's Bakery
81 Underhill Dr.
Toronto, ON
M3A 1K8

Phone:  (647) 847-4698

Hours:  Monday - Friday 11:00a - 10:00p
             Saturday 11:30a - 10:00p
             Sunday  12:00p - 10:00p

https://www.facebook.com/Allwyns-Bakery-732508286790526/

Tsujiri

Yes, Tsujiri has been open a while now.  But I really didn't want to wait in the super long lines for a some ice-cream.  So I waited this long to go give it a try, thinking that the lines would have died down or dissipated completely.  I was wrong, very wrong.  The lineup was still out the door.  This place must be amazing right?  As I was waiting in line for my ice-cream, I realized why the lineups for this place was so long, the store front is REALLY badly designed.  The store is super narrow, there isn't enough room for seating, lining up to go inside to order, and then waiting around for your order.  After I placed my order for a Shiratama parfait (matcha), I snagged one of their three 2 seater booths.  Once I sat down, I was reminded again how narrow the storefront was.  People that were lining up kept leaning on me or the table..... I was super annoyed.

After several minutes, my order number was finally called.  The parfait was smaller than I expected.  Ice-cream had good strong matcha flavour, but was a bit chalky.  The red bean mash/paste was good, sweet, but good accompanying the strong matcha flavour.  Overall, it was ok, not sure it was worth $9, or the lineup, or having people lean on me while i'm trying to enjoy my dessert.  Maybe if I got takeout, it would have been better?

Shiratama Parfait (Matcha)

Tsujiri
147 Dundas St. W.,
Toronto, ON
M5G 1P5

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 11:30a - 10:30p

Phone:  (647) 351-7899

http://tsujiri-global.com

Funky Munky Cafe

By the name, you would never guess that this is a cafe.  And when you make the trip to visit Funky Munky, don't assume that it's just a normal coffee shop.  It totally isn't.  I made the mistake of telling my husband to put in my order for a latte while I setup my notebook to do some catch up blogging.  The owner of Funky Munky, who was behind the counter, called me over and explained their menu to us.  Funky Munky's drink options are I guess what you can call more Asian based.  They do offer coffee, but they also do bubble teas, and milk teas.  In the end I ordered a tea latte.  Funky Munky has their own special blend of black tea as the base of the tea latte, and then they add frothed milk to give it a latte like feeling.  The tea was really good, fragrant, and strong.  It tastes like a Hong Kong styled milk tea, but lighter because of the frothed milk instead of using normal dense evaporated milk.

Tea Latte

I wish that Funky Munky opened while I was still living in the neighbourhood.  Now it's a bit of a trek to get up there, but I will try.

Funky Munky Cafe
9275 Markham Rd. Unit #7,
Markham, ON
L6E 1A1

Phone:  (905) 201-0FMC

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 1000a - 1000p
             Friday - Saturday 1000a - 1200a
             Sunday 1200p - 1000p

http://funkymunky.ca

Sakawa Coffee

The name of this place is a bit misleading, well at least I thought so.  Because theres the name "Coffee", I originally assumed that it was just a cafe (that serves coffees and cakes).  They do serve coffee and cakes, but they also do meals, including traditional Japanese breakfasts, lunches and dinner.  We popped in for dinner.

When we arrived, the restaurant was empty except for one table (the place is pretty small, as with most places downtown).  As soon as we got in the door, we were greeted by an older Japanese man, very friendly, and told us to sit down, while he brought us the menus.  One was laminated (their regular dishes I assume), another was on a regular piece of paper, their specials, and their drink menu.  The hubby ordered off of their special menu, the curry tsukemen.  And I ordered off their regular menu.  I wish I remembered to take a picture of the menu, because now I can't remember then name of the dish I ordered!  All I remember is that its the last dish on their regular menu.

The curry sauce for the tsukemen was very good and flavourful.  And the noodles, were different than the ramen noodles that I was used to eating.  These looked flat, almost like a linguine.  The chasiu was a bit dry, but once it was warmed with the curry, it got better.  And the best part, there were veggies in the dish!  Again, never seen choy sum in Japanese dishes, but I love my veggies, so I won't complain.

Curry Tsukemen

My dish, reminded me of Fukien style fried rice, without the fried rice part.  There was shrimp, chicken, ham, chasiu, onions, eggplant, peppers and choy sum in sauce of some sort served over plain Japanese rice.  Wasn't what I was expecting, but was quite good.

Last Dish on Regular Menu

Overall, I liked this place quite a bit.  For the price that you pay and the food that you get, I think it's worth checking out for sure.  And by the time we left, the restaurant was full.

Sakawa Coffee
867 Danforth Ave.,
Toronto, ON
M4J 1L8

Phone: (647) 347-4932

Hours:  Monday CLOSED
             Tuesday - Sunday 900a-400p, 500p-900p

Stack Restaurant

It's pretty hard to find some good BBQ in Toronto or anywhere in the GTA in my opinion.  I have yet to try out the new joints that opened up though.  So maybe those new places will hopeful.  But because they're a bit farther downtown, it will definitely take some time before I will be able to check them out.  One night while browsing through Yelp, I noticed Stack Restaurant's BBQ Platter.  It looked awesome!  So I scheduled something with a few of my friends to go and check it out.  I reminded them that they need to make sure their stomachs were empty since the platter in the picture looked pretty big.

We arrived, the restaurant was pretty empty.  I have to mention that it was a weeknight though.  What I noticed even more was the lack of BBQ smells.  Who knows, maybe they have a great ventilation system unlike Korean BBQ places.  So we ordered the platter and the food arrived shortly.  There was a good amount of food that arrived.  Whats included:  baby back ribs, quarter chicken, pulled pork, brisket, smoked meat, fries, mac & cheese, beans, slaw and buns.  This platter feeds 3-5 people, and we had 4 people.  I wish I could say the food was so good, because everything looked good, but it wasn't.  Nothing here was particularly memorable.  What I do remember is the chicken being super dry (so dry to the point that my friend really didn't want to finish it, but because he didn't want to waste food, he ate it while drinking A LOT of water), the brisket having no smoke flavour, smoked meat being super salty, and mac & cheese being cold.  And for a platter that is supposed to serve 3-5 people, why are there only 2 buns?  Pretty disappointing.

BBQ Platter

Stack Restaurant
3625 Yonge St.,
Toronto, ON
M4N 2L5

Phone:  (647) 346-1416

Hours:  Monday - Friday 11:30a - 10:00p
             Saturday 11:30a - 11:00p
             Sunday 11:30a - 9:00p

http://www.stackrestaurant.ca

Fully Loaded TO

I went to this food truck festival with a truck that I was targeting to try.  All the other trucks at the festival was pretty generic, burgers, fries, ice cream.  Fully Loaded T.O was different, and I wanted to try.  Unfortunately for me, so did lots of other people.  By the time I got there, the line up was pretty much the longest for any of the trucks, and they were already sold out of the chicken and waffles option.  What I should mention is Fully Loaded T.O is a truck that does stuffed chicken wings.  No other truck does currently, as far as I know.  We ordered Poppin' Jalapeños and Mac on That.  The Poppin' Jalapeños were wings that were stuffed with a jalapeño cheese filling and then drizzled with ranch dressing.  Mac on That were wings that was stuffed with macaroni and cheese tossed with garlic parmesan sauce and toasted bread crumbs. Orders were served with a side of regular standard french fries.  The wings were cooked through (very important, as I tend to get raw chicken a lot of the times), and outside was crispy.  The jalapeño stuffed wings didn't have that much cheese stuffing in it.  The macaroni and cheese one had more substantial stuffing.  I was under the impression that the wings would be boneless to maximize the amount of stuffing that could be put into the wings, but the way that Fully Loaded T.O does it is, that they keep the bones in tact, and then stuff some filling just under the skin of the wings.

Poppin' Jalapeno

Mac on That

Poppin' Jalapeno Insides

Mac on That Insides

Interesting and different idea for the food truck scene.  Taste was great too.  But now that i've tasted it once, I think thats enough.  Pricing was a bit high for me.  My brain isn't working right now, but it was between $10-$15 for 5 pieces (drumettes and the middle of the wing are considered 2 pieces).

Fully Loaded T.O
http://www.fullyloadedto.com

Market 707: NomNomNom, Gushi, Petit Nuage

The idea of Market 707 is pretty cool.  Its like a normal small restaurant crossed with a food truck, resulting in food being served out of a shipping container.  I would assume since it's a place with actual running water and fixed gas/electricity, food prep and storage wise would be safer than a food truck as well.  The only downside is that you end up eating the food at a picnic table with busy road traffic running down Bathurst St.

NomNomNom
Known for their poutine and crepes.  I wasn't feeling for crepes that day, so was looking at their poutines.  They have lots of options on their menu, but because of the purist that I am, I ordered the plain or regular poutine.  Portion was quite big!  The fries, cut in house, and fried fresh, topped with real squeaky cheese curds and gravy that wasn't overly salty.  Love their poutine.  Probably one of my faves in the city now.

Poutine

http://nnncrepes.com

Gushi
This is a place I knew the hubby would be interested in checking out.  One of their best sellers is the chicken kaarage.  We got a large order of Original Gushi Chicken on Rice.  We probably shouldn't have ordered the large, but the hubby always has an issue with thinking we can eat more than our stomachs can handle.  So in the end, he stuffed his stomach.  I loved how the rice was a purple rice rather than a white rice.  Just something different, and I think purple rice is supposed to be healthier right?  The kaarage was good, a piece or two was a little fatty for me, but the hubby didn't notice, i'm probably just pickier about food having hunks of fat on it.  I have to say that there quite a few pieces of kaarage in the order.  Worth the price paid for sure.

Original Gushi Chicken on Rice

https://www.facebook.com/gushitoronto

Petit Nuage
Last but not least, saved some room for dessert.  I got 2 macarons, and a cream puff.  To be honest, I don't remember which macarons I bought, and I don't remember if they were good or not.  But, I LOVED the cream puff.  I've never had a cream puff like this before.  The outside, pastry, was like the normal pastry crossed with the top of a pineapple bun.  Amazing!  The inside cream filling was a matcha filling, that filled the pastry to the brim!

Daily Selection

Matcha Cream Puff

http://www.petitnuage.ca

Market 707
707 Dundas St. W.,
Toronto, ON
M5T 2W6

Hours:  Spring & Summer (April to September) Tuesday - Saturday 11:30a - 7:00p*
             Fall (October to December) Tuesday - Saurday 11:30a - 5:00p*
             Winter (January - March) Hours vary depending on the vendor
* Hours of individual vendors may vary

Alchemy Coffee

I have been complaining about the lack of independent coffee shops in the York Region in almost forever.  I always think to myself that if I won the lottery, I would love to open small coffee shop/cafe just to pass time.  So when I heard about Alchemy Coffee, I was super excited to give it a try.  Just nice to have a choice/option of not having to go to Starbucks or Timmys.

When we arrived at Alchemy Coffee, it was pretty full in there.  The tables were all taken, and people were sitting at the counter seating overlooking the parking lot.  All of the people sitting down were eating breakfast/brunch consisting of eggs, bread and french fries alongside a cup of coffee.   Good thing I was just looking for a cup of joe to go.  Trying to get a table to sit, wouldn't happen anytime soon.  So I ordered my usual latte, and the hubby I think got a flat white or a macchiato.  I can't remember, and apparently I only took a picture of my drink.  We ordered and had to wait a LONG time for our drinks.  I don't know if it was because they were still new at doing what they do, but for coffee, I think it was way too long.  I got my latte first, and then still had to wait to get the hubby's drink.  I took a sip, and my latte was at best room temp.  I didn't want to make a stink, so I just sucked it up and didn't say anything.  A few minutes later, hubby got his drink, steaming hot.  After getting in the car, I told my hubby that my latte wasn't as hot as 'normal'.  My hubby noticed that the barista made my latte with 'leftover' steamed milk.  I'm sure it wasn't leftover like sitting on the counter for hours, but it was made for someone else's drink and I got the remnants.  The hubby's drink took longer and was hotter because it was freshly steamed.  Aside from the leftover milk incident, I didn't find their latte better than others.  Hubby didn't like his drink so much.  I asked him if he wanted to go back and give them a second chance (i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they worked out their kinks), and he said no, that he would rather go to Starbucks instead.  And this is coming from the guy that usually has no opinion, and most things taste "ok".

Latte

Alchemy Coffee
4361 Highway 7E, Unit 1
Markham, ON
L3R 1M1

Phone:  (905) 604-6622

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 7:30a - 6:00p
             Saturday - Sunday 8:00am - 6:00p

http://alchemycoffee.ca

Burlington: Son of A Peach Pizzeria, Tamp Coffee Co.

Afternoon trip to Burlington, for no reason other than just to eat.  I have never been to Burlington before, and wasn’t sure about what there was to see either.  All I know is that it’s near the Lake.  We left the house later than I was hoping, and traffic took longer than I thought.  Why is the traffic going there so bad?  Traffic was clogged up around the Ford plant area all the way past the mall!  But there wasn’t an accident or anything.  I asked my coworkers about that the next day and they said that’s normal.  Anyways, the two places my coworkers recommended for me to check out were Son of a Peach Pizzeria and Tamp Coffee Co.  We ended up arriving for a super late lunch, which turned out to be good timing, since my coworker said Son of a Peach is usually packed during lunch and dinner.

Son of a Peach Pizzeria

Son of a Peach Pizzeria, the name (without pizzeria) wouldn’t make you think of a pizza place would it?  They do their pizzas in a giant pizza oven that you can see from their dining space.  Great visually, and probably great in the winter too, but in the summer, made the dining area a bit hot.  They also offer things like burgers and wings on their menu.  I ordered the tomato & mozzarella pizza, and the hubby got the burger.  The burger came first and it looked great.  The burger patty was made in house using locally raised top sirloin and brisket blend (which gives it the fatty juiciness), topped with house candied maple bacon.  The bun I thought was a bit too soft for all the meaty goodness, was a house made sourdough brioche bun.  I think in general brioche buns are too soft for burgers.  I loved the salt & vinegar taro chips that were served on the side.  The hubby found them too vinegary for him. 

Burger

The pizza, was a good size, had minimal toppings on it since I ordered tomato & mozzarella.  The crust was good, thin, and had a good amount of chew and char.  I loved the amount of fresh basil sprinkled on top.  I just wish that they used fresh mozzarella instead of their house-smoked mozzarella.  That’s just a personal preference though.

Tomato & Mozzarella Pizza

Son of A Peach Pizzeria

2049 Pine St., Unit 62-63

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (905) 632-4040

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:30a - 9:00p

             Friday - Saturday 11:30a - 10:00p

             Sunday 11:30a - 8:00p

http://www.heypeachy.com

Tamp Coffee Co.

Tamp Coffee Co., located literally 2 stores down from Son of a Peach, small coffee shop.  Felt a little intimidating in there, their counters and stuff were so high, for a short person like me, it just felt a bit awkward.  Ordered a latte and a macchiato.  My latte was good and smooth.  Originally I thought the coffee was too weak, but after a few sips, it was great, left my mouth with a pleasant coffee aftertaste as well.  The hubby’s macchiato was too strong for me, even though he said he found it a bit weak.

Latte & Macchiato

 

Tamp Coffee Co.

2049 Pine St. Unit 65

Burlington, ON

L7R 1E9

Phone:  (416) 917-5745

Hours:  Monday - Friday 7:00a - 7:00p

             Saturday 7:30a - 7:00p

             Sunday 8:00a - 5:00p

http://tampcoffee.com

Bake Code

An Asian bakery with a twist.  I know they’ve been open a while, but I never found a big enough reason to drop by.  Parking near Yonge St. isn’t easy when you want free.  Finally after dinner along Yonge St. one night, we stopped by Bake Code.  It was busy in there, and the shelves were pretty empty.  But I was here only for one thing, a croissant that has this liquidy yolky inside.  I think I saw the croissant I came here to buy, but before I touched anything, I wanted to ask someone that worked there to confirm.  So I asked the girl at the cash.  I said “Excuse me”, and responded “Just wait!”.  Wow……treating a customer like that.  She wasn’t even really doing anything.  Not a good start.  In the end I just took a guess and bought the croissant hoping that it was what I came here for. 

The croissant was quite dry, and the liquidy interior wasn’t as liquidy/lava like as in those deep fried sesame balls from dimsum.  The croissant part wasn’t very buttery like what I would be looking for in a crossant.  It was more bready than I would would like.  And the price, I don’t remember what it was, but it was quite high for a croissant.  With crappy staff attitude, medicore product, and high prices, not sure I will be coming back.

Egg Yolk Croissant

Bake Code

4910 Yonge St. Unit B1,

Toronto, ON,

M2N 5N5

Phone:  (647) 346-3888

Hours:  Monday - Friday 8:00a - 12:00a

             Saturday - Sunday 10:00a - 12:00a

http://bakecode.com

Nana

I'm finding it more and more difficult to find time to write posts.  Which explains why I'm so far behind.  I've even tried to tell myself that I just need to do one post a night after dinner to get caught up.  I could do the easy way out, like I've seen on many other blog posts and essentially do a "I was here" post, but I just can't bring myself to doing that.  Whats the point of posting if I'm not actually putting any sort of opinion or thought into it right?

This post for Nana I felt like I needed to post sooner rather than later because I was super annoyed at their rules/service.  Nana is the sister restaurant of Khao San Road.  On the bottom of their menu, it says that if you have any food allergies to let your server know.  So when I was telling my waiter what I wanted to eat that night, I politely requested that my dish not include bean sprouts.  He said that cannot be done, and for me to choose something else.  So then I asked, if it cannot be omitted, can they just make sure that it's throughly cooked.  He again said no, the chef does not change their dishes so that I need to order something else.  So whats the point in me telling you I cannot eat something when you are not willing to do anything about it?  In the end, I had to change my order to something else (there weren't many options to choose from since the menu was quite small).  I hate being told what I can or cannot eat, especially if I'm paying!  I ended up ordering the pad see ew with pork, and the hubby ordered the mi ga ti with pork.  What annoyed me even more was that as I was waiting for my meal to arrive, I saw other people's khao soi, and pad thai (the dishes I wanted to eat originally), coming out of the kitchen, with just a raw handful of raw bean sprouts sitting on top of the dish.  How  hard is it to just not add that handful of raw bean sprouts to the dish before handing it off to the waiter?!  Yes I know it would change the texture of the dish because I would be missing that fresh crunch.  But if i'm asking for it to omit it, I am expecting that fresh crunch to not be there.  I felt like steam was coming out of my ears.....

Food wise, my pad see ew, was ok.  Its essentially tastes like a Thai version of the Chinese fried rice noodle with beef dish.  The noodle itself is slightly different.  Looks like a pappardelle, but tastes like a chewier rice noodle (hor fun).  The sauce, is soy sauce and oyster sauce based and cooked with chicken, egg and gai lan.  I have to admit there was some good 'wok hay'.  Hubby's mi ga ti with pork started off with a good tasting red curry base with the addition of ground pork and tofu.  Reminded me of ma po tofu, but in a soupy curry sauce.  The noodles were the thin rice noodles, and super overcooked.  Overcooked to the point where if you tried to pick up the noodles with your fork the noodles would break.  You essentially needed to eat this dish with a spoon.  The dish also came out at borderline room temperature, too cold for my liking.  My dish came out piping hot, so not sure if my hubby's dish was cooked first and left sitting until my dish was done to bring both out at the same time.   Hubby's dish included bean sprouts, and again it was just an addition of raw bean sprouts to the top of his dish, like a garnish......

Pad See Ew

Mi Ga Ti with Pork

Due to the inflexibility of the kitchen, I would not come back.  Not to mention, Pai, my favourite Thai restaurant is in a more accessible area for me for when my Thai cravings come back.  Also, unless you are of a group of 4, you will have to share tables with others.  I think all their tables are for 4, with one table for 2.

Nana
785 Queen St. West,
Toronto, ON
M6J 1G1

Phone:  (647) 352-5773

Hours:  Monday - Tuesday CLOSED
             Wednesday - Thursday 5:00p - 10:00p
             Friday - Sun 5:00p - Late

http://www.stnnana.com/main

Day Trip to St Jacobs/Kitchener/Waterloo

It's nearing the end of summer, and I've been trying to fill up my weekends with as much summer fun as I can.  So we decided to do a day trip to visit the St. Jacobs Farmers Market, and then check out some German food in the Kitchener Waterloo area.

St. Jacobs Farmers Market
During the summer, the market is both outside and inside.  Outside, theres fresh fruits and vegetables, some random clothing, and knick knacks.  We picked up some potatoes, blueberries, beets, and a fresh loaf of olive bread.  Inside the main building there's meats, breads, cooked foods.  One of the must try places, and the place that I think had the longest lineup is for the apple fritters at The Fritter Co.  I've mentioned them before, my parents had brought some back for me years back.  This time I got to try them fresh.  I love how they use whole slices of apples in their fritter instead of the standard apple donut fritter which uses tiny pieces of apple.  We bought a half dozen, but when we opened the box there were 8 fritters in there.  Made me kind of confused, but I didn't complain, more for me to eat!

Apple Fritters - The Fritter Co.

https://fritterco.ca

While waiting in the long line for fritters, I made the hubby go and buy some freshly made chips to snack on.  Ray Woodey's Craft Chippery is located right across the Fritter Co.  We bought a small bag ($3), which is a bit pricier than a normal bag of chips from the supermarket, but I guess you pay the price for freshly made.  We got the salt and pepper flavour.  Yup, tasted like salt and pepper.  The chips were crispy (kind of like Lays), but not greasy at all.

Salt & Pepper Chips - The Chippery

http://www.craftchippery.com

The building across from the main market had more random food, like a Chinese fast food place, a greek place, and a garlic spread place, but nothing of interest to us.  Also in that building was older random items, think flea market like.  So we didn't end up buying anything from there.

Metro Restaurant
With the lack of tempting lunch options at the St Jacobs Market, we decided to drive to Kitchener to grab some schnitzel for lunch.  With all the Octoberfest activities that happen in the Kitchener Waterloo area in October, I just assumed that the area must house quite a few good German/Austrian restaurants.  But after doing some Yelping, the reviews weren't that great.  I essentially narrowed it down to two options, and we went with Metro Restaurant.  I have to say that I don't know much about German food.  I just know that it involves ham hocks, potatoes, sausages and schnitzel.  The only time I've had German food, was when I was in Hamburg last year.  All the food there was great!  And I've been hoping to satisfy the craving again.  After walking in through the door of Metro Restaurant, I expected to get a table pretty quick, because the restaurant seemed pretty empty, it being 1:30pm, after normal lunch hours in my opinion.  But we stood there for what seemed like eternity before the lone waiter walked by.  In the eternity that we spent waiting, I took a look at their menu (the takeout version).  After we were finally seated, I looked at the dining room menu, and noticed the prices were quite a bit higher than what I saw on their takeout menu.  A difference of approximately $7 per plate. Turns out the takeout menu I was looking at was pricing for lunch.  And lunch is only offered Monday to Friday.  So, people don't eat lunch on weekends?  We were forced to pay for dinner prices while we were actually eating lunch on a weekend.  We ordered the Metro Platter For Two.  This came with two soups (that day was cream of mushroom) or Caesar salads with garlic bread, two choices of potatoes (home fries, french fries or mashed), two choices of vegetables (red cabbage, coleslaw, sauerkraut, carrots or applesauce), two Vienna schnitzels, four perogies, and two cabbage rolls. Sounds like a lot of food right?  It was.  The hubby and I only ate half and brought the other half home.  The cream of mushroom soup at least didn't taste like it came from a can.  The garlic bread did not look homemade.  With all the food being deep fried, nothing seemed greasy, which is good.  I found the food was ok, nothing really that special or great that stood out.  I would come back here if I was ever in the area and had a massive craving for schnitzel, but I doubt that would happen very often.

Cream of Mushroom & Garlic Bread

Caesar Salad & Garlic Bread

Vienna Schnitzel, Home Fries, French Fries, Perogies, Cabbage Rolls

http://kmetro.ca

Settlement Co.
Every food day must include a stop at a coffee shop, and no i'm not talking about Tim Hortons or Starbucks.  Waterloo must have tons of places that offer caffeinated drinks with all the students around.  Settlement Co. is located in the heart of downtown Waterloo, perfect since I wanted to check out Waterloo's Buskerfest.  I was expecting the same grandeur and atmosphere of Toronto's Buskerfest.  Boy was I disappointed, there were 2 buskers in a parking lot, with some midway rides for kids and a few food trucks.  I walked through there in less than 5 mins.  At least there's coffee right?  Settlement Co. offers your typical caffeinated drinks, along with teas, and alcohol.  So whatever you're feeling like, there's something for you to drink!  The hubby ordered the flight board (espresso, macchiato, and pour over), and I ordered a latte.  I think this is the first place where I've ordered a single latte, and I didn't get the lecture of how it won't taste as good, or we don't do it like that because a standard latte is a double.  The barista was super nice about it, and even mentioned, that she would never judge how someone else wants their coffee.  She didn't make me feel like crap for deviating from the norm.  The hubby found his espresso a bit sour.  He enjoyed the macchiato much more, even though i'm assuming it's the same espresso bean.  The pour over he found a bit weak for his liking.  I took a sip and I liked it, smooth, but light.  I probably liked it because I don't drink strong coffee anymore.  My single latte was great.  Yes it is weaker than most would probably like, but what made it delicious was the milk.  The milk had a rich creamy taste, like the organic milk that I drink at home.  Yes, the bean makes the latte, but so does the milk.

Flight Board & Single Latte

https://settlementco.ca

Shanghai Dimsum

Shanghai Dimsum, is kind of a misleading name.  I actually came across them when I was looking on Yelp for a location for Sunday brunch/dimsum.  And when I looked at the pictures on Yelp, this looked like any regular Shanghainese food.  So I skipped over it for that particular brunch meal.

Checking out Shanghai Dimsum came when my friend from Germany came back for a visit.  She says there isn't much good Asian food in Europe.  While I have not tried any Asian food in Europe, I do know that it's super expensive.  I was in Amsterdam earlier this year, and walked by their small Chinatown because I wanted to check out the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple.  I love Buddhist temples, I find the smell of incense so calming.  Anyways, in Amsterdam, a bowl of wonton noodles was 7 euros, and a bowl of pho was 9 euros.  So ridiculous.  So off we went to Shanghai Dimsum.  What we ordered was highly dictated by what my friend wanted to eat and what good deals the restaurant had. We ordered a savoury sticky rice roll, stir fried sticky rice cakes, beef brisket noodle in soup, pan fried XLB (only $3.99 for first order), pan fried dumplings, steamed soup filled dumplings, and steamed silk skinned XLB (crab & pork only $3.99 for first order).

The savoury sticky rice roll, stir fried sticky rice cakes, beef brisket noodle in soup, and pan fried dumplings were pretty standard.  They tasted like how they would taste at any other Shanghainese restaurant.  I have to say that the stir fried sticky rice cakes had good 'wok hay' though.

Savoury Sticky Rice Roll

Stir Fried Sticky Rice Cakes

Beef Brisket in Noodle Soup

Pan Fried Dumplings

What stood out to me here were the XLB (xiao long bao, or steamed soup dumplings).  The skin of the steamed dumplings were the thinnest from any Shanghainese restaurant in the GTA.  Mind you, I haven't been to all of the Shanghainese restaurants in the GTA either.  So some of you may say, that there's thinner skinned dumplings out there.  I wasn't able to really tell the difference in the filling from the normal pork one with the crab and pork.  So next time I go, I would just get the normal pork ones (they were the ones with the thinnest skin anyways).  The pan fried XLB was interesting, I've never had those before.  They were like a cross between the pan fried dumpling and the steamed soup dumpling.  The filling wasn't as juicy/soupy as the normal steamed soup dumplings.

Pan Fried XLB

Steamed Soup Dumplings (Pork)

Steamed Silk Skinned XLB (Crab & Pork)

While looking on their website, which is rare I find for Asian restaurants to have websites, they have two locations, one in Richmond Hill and one in Scarborough.  Just wanted to note that the one I went to was the Richmond Hill location.

Shanghai Dimsum

330 York Regional Road 7,

Richmond Hill,

L4B 3P8

Phone: (905) 597-5866

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 9:00a - 10:00p

 http://www.shanghaidimsum.ca

PC Butter Chicken Crackers

I just wanted to do a quick post on these crackers that I found (on sale for $2) at Loblaws.  The texture of the cracker is similar to a Ritz cracker, but thinner.  But what I loved was the flavouring.  It definitely is packed spices.  I ate them with some Laughing Cow cheese, and because of the creaminess, it actually made it taste like tomatoey creamy butter chicken.  Give these crackers a try!  I'm assuming since it's a PC brand, you can also find them at No Frills.

PC Butter Chicken Crackers

MeVaMe Express

I had an appointment to go to, and I was hungry, and MeVaMe Express was close by.  I think it was partly to satisfy the disappointing shawarma from Osmow's Grill.  This location of MeVaMe used to be pretty old and run down looking.  But to my surprise when I walked near the door, I saw they did some renovations, and was looking pretty good now.  Also to my surprise, they now have laffas!  I love laffas.  If you don't know what they are, the way that I would describe it would be that it's a cross between a pita and a roti.  I ordered a falafel laffa and the hubby ordered a chicken shawarma laffa.  I've had laffas before, but I forgot how big they actually are..... I was only able to eat half!  The laffa bread itself was delicious, freshly made.  The falafel, I actually prefer the ones from Sababa down the street more.  The falafel at MeVaMe was a bit too wet for my liking.  It wasn't wet as in soggy, because the outside was nice and crispy, but the inside was mushy like.  The chicken shawarma was delicious, the meat had the crispy bits from rotating on the grill.  I wish I had taken better pictures of the insides.....

Size of Laffa.  Plate is Regular Dinner Plate Size

Chicken Shawarma Laffa

Falafel Laffa

MeVaMe Express
330 Steeles Ave. W.,
Thornhill, ON
L4J 6W9

Phone:  (905) 771-7377

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 11:00a - 11:00p

http://www.mevamekitchenexpress.ca