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

Osmows Grill (Richmond Hill)

If you're ever in Mississauga, you will probably see an advertisement on the buses for an Osmow's Grill being # 1 in terms of the Mediterranean food.  Pretty bold statement if you ask me.  So when i'm at work, I have thought about trying them out multiple times.  But because Streetsville isn't that close to my office, I never went.  So I was pretty excited that Osmow's was opening in Richmond Hill.  Just as a note, Osmow's is franchised.  

So one late afternoon, the hubby and I went to the Osmow's location in Richmond Hill to give it a try.  I was actually craving Greek food that day, but they were closed, so we decided to check out Osmow's.  It was pretty quiet when we arrived, but thats most likely because it was after the normal lunch hour.  We ordered one of their infamous chicken on the rocks, and a chicken shawarma sandwich (regular sized).  As we were waiting for our food, I noticed that they were not cutting the chicken off of the spit, but they were reheating chicken from one of those metal rectangular containers on their flat top.  I shrugged it off, thinking that it was because they wanted to make sure that the meat was hot for us.  We got our food shortly after, and I dug into my shawarma.  I noticed that the chicken did not have those crispy bits that usually you get from roasting on the spit.  I then took a look and noticed that the meat was this greyish colour.  All dark meat or just sitting meat?  Meat was also gristly.  I had to pick out pieces of fat and such.  To make it worse, as I was eating, I found a tomato stem in my sandwich.  No attention to prepping the food?  Also, as I was eating, I kept seeing the staff there shave meat off the spit to collect in those metal containers.  I thought maybe they had an order to fill?  Nope.  I don't get why they would take meat off the spit earlier than need be.

I tried their infamous chicken on the rocks.  I assumed it would be similar to New York's Chicken on Rice from the Halal Guys.  Boy was I wrong.  Again, topped with the same gristly chicken that I got in my shawarma, and the sauce tasted mostly of mayonnaise.  The rice was also super greasy.     

Chicken Shawarma & Chicken on the Rocks

Chicken Shawarma Filling

Tomato Stem in Shawarma

Take a pass at Osmow's Grill.  I don't know if it's because they are franchised and thats why there is no quality control there.  Maybe other locations taste better?  I don't know, but I'd honestly rather eat anywhere but here.....

Osmow's Grill

8750 Bayview Road, Unit #2

Richmond Hill, ON

L4B 4V9

Phone:  (905) 882-5455

Hours:  Monday - Thursday 11:00a - 10:00p

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

             Sunday 11:00a - 10:00p

http://www.mrosmow.com

Ottawa Road Trip Summer 2013

The intention was to help my friend move into his Ottawa apartment, the ulterior motive for this trip was so I could go eat at my favorite spots in Ottawa.

Reid's Dairy:
This was a childhood favourite.  My dad used to work near a Reids Dairy store.  Every so often he would bring home a 4L bag of chocolate milk and one of their loonie milkshakes for me and my sister to share.  Over the years, all of the store locations have closed, with the exception of the Belleville location.  Since it was on the way to Ottawa, we stopped off there for a blast from the past.  The loonie milkshakes still exist!  There are many more flavours than before, it used to be only chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.  Now there's flavours like orange, cappuccino as well.

Loonie Milkshake

Reid's Dairy
222 Bell Blvd,
Belleville, ON
K8P 5L7
http://www.reidsdairy.com

Shawarma Palace:
This is probably the only non Chinese hole in the wall restaurant I have been to.  You can tell these places are good by the amount of people that are still lining up when it's not regular meal hours.  We went to eat at around 11pm, yes 11pm, for dinner.  And there were 3-4 people ahead of us in line.  While we were eating, there was constantly 3-4 people in line waiting for food.  The food is good, fresh  and huge portions.  Last time I ordered a mixed shawarma plate, and with my husband (then boyfriend), we finished it.  This time, I ordered the same thing, and split with my friend (female), and we didn't do so well.  I felt really bad about wasting the food.....but I couldn't fit anymore inside my stomach.  Husband was sad that I didn't bring him home the leftovers.

Mixed Shawarma Plate (Before)

Mixed Shawarma Plate (After)

Shawarma Palace
464 Rideau St.,
Ottawa, ON
K1N 5Z3
613-789-9533
http://www.shawarmapalace.ca

The Scone Witch:
Moist crumbly scones.  I like.  Breakfast was at noon because my friend is super slow.  So I was starving!  I would have ordered just a scone and coffee/tea.  But I was starving.  They have a breakfast set which includes a scone of your choice, salad, scrambled eggs and toppings.  The eggs were creamy and delicious, and I'm usually not a fan of scrambled eggs.  I prefer sunny side up normally.  I chose a vanilla scone with some jam (I can't remember what I chose).  Sooooo good.  My friend got the same breakfast combo, but chose a gluten free jalapeño scone.  I didn't like that one as much.  Denser and tougher.  My other friends got scone "sandwiches".  The ham was supposedly amazing.  I didn't get a chance to try it.  Maybe next time.

Eggs with Roasted Veggies & Goat Cheese, Salad, Fruit, and Vanilla Scone & Jam

Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Salad, Fruit, and Gluten Free Jalapeño Scone

Artisanal Ham & Cheese Sconewich

Tuna Sconewich

The Scone Witch
35 Beechwood Ave.,
Ottawa, ON,
K1M 1M1
613-741-4141
Hours:  Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday - Sunday 8am - 4pm
https://www.facebook.com/TheSconeWitch