Ding Tai Fong

I am soooo behind on my blogging so will try to remember as much as I can about my experience here.

I went to Ding Tai Fong sometime in mid August. Sand recommended the place to me so we decided to go there on a Saturday morning.

Dang the place was packed when we arrived. Then again all dim sum places are always packed on a Saturday morning. This was no regular Chinese dim sum place. It was a Shanghai dim sum restaurant.

Chili Crab

"Chili crab is a seafood dish originating from Singapore. The crabs are lightly fried or streamed first with ginger, before being stir-fried in a chili sauce made mostly with chili paste, ketchup, and chicken eggs. The shells are usually partially cracked before cooking for ease of eating later". Drooling yet?

Now when you read that how can you resist.

June Harlowe

Pretty sketchy area but the food was good.

I bought a groupon for June Harlowe. I've never been in the Junction area before but because of the voucher thought I would venture into the unknown for some food. Besides it was the brunch that caught my attention and I just can't say no to brunch.

It's a cozy lil place however, it did not have a/c. Not good when it was scorching hot out. Oh well whatcha gonna do.

Fire Fly

Since I don't really go to First Markham, both Sue and Sand recommended Fire Fly. It was a good choice.

When we arrived it was a full house. The pix that I took was when they were pretty much closing. Let's just say we had a really good time that we almost didn't want to leave:)

We each got the set menu which came with a choice of soup or salad, bread, entree and drink.

For our drink, we all ordered the HK coffee tea. Unlike the one at Phoenix which is already all sugared up, this one here you had to add the sweetener yourself.

Stinky Tofu is Really STINKY!!!!

Stinky tofu is not called stinky for no reason.

I was walking around First Markham until Sue sniffed the air and told me she smelled stinky tofu. I have never ate it before so she insisted that I give it a try. We got Sand to also try it too even though he kept crying NOOOOOOOO!!! But hey since he never tried it thought we should try it together.

Rooftop Patio @ Joey Don Mills

My last trip to Joey Don Mills was for lunch. I fell in love with their molten lava chocolate souffle. Just the thought of it now is making me drool. This time around I found another new love.

My colleagues wanted to go out for lunch so I suggested Joey. Since it was such a gorgeous day we opted for the rooftop patio.

I got the ahi tuna club with grilled rare tuna loin with smoked bacon, red pepper relish, arugula and panko onion rings with a side of sweet potato fries. It was absolutely de-li-cious.

Tower of Babel...What a Monstrosity!!!

OH-MI-GOD what was I thinking???

2 weeks ago was my first trip to Burger Priest. I only tried the Priest which was off the regular menu. I really enjoyed it.

This time I wanted to try something off the "secret" menu but the feeling wasn't the same.

@chopstickhero challenged me to eat the Vatican sooooo

CHALLENGE...wait for it....ACCEPTED!!!

Uptown All Day Dim Sum

Me and my cousin were craving for some dim sum. Problem was that it was after 3pm. Most dim sum places end their dim sum around that time. I didn't know of any all day dim sum places uptown so I asked a friend who lived in the area if he could recommend any restaurants. He suggested Richmond Court at Times Square so off we went.

Epicure

Since so many restaurants had lineups we decided to give Epicure a try.

The place was empty when we arrived. Think it was around 8 or 9pm. Don't know if that's a good thing or not on a Saturday night but it did have a/c and that's the only thing that mattered to me at that time.

To start off we ordered the Paris pizza which came with smoked chicken, spinach, bacon, roasted peppers, portabello mushrooms, and mozzarella and brie cheese. It was delicious. Truthfully, we were hoping to eat at Pizzeria Libretto but since there was a 2 hour lineup forget that. Also there was no a/c in there well, at least I didn't feel it by the doorway. This pizza is not comparable to Libretto but it was pretty good.

Dlish Cupcakes

Last time I went to Dlish, there was only ONE cupcake left.

I still remember it clearly as if it just happened yesterday. Yes I'm pretty serious when it comes to my cupcakes, it's serious stuff (j/k or am I?).

It was 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, an hour before they closed, luckily me and my friend stepped in a few seconds earlier before the next people because there was only one cupcake left on the shelf. We bought it and sat by the window to eat. It was kinda mean watching people walk in only to be disappointed yet seeing us eat our cupcake hehe.

What a BEAST!!!

Ever seen maple bacon doughnuts like these ones??? So so sooooooo good but so bad for you.

Me, Sue and K went for brunch at Beast. I was so excited since this was on my list to try. One look at the brunch menu online I knew I had to go here one day.

At the bottom of the menu there's a disclaimer saying "beast restaurant uses local and sustainable ingredients whenever possible, from farms in Ontario, unless otherwise noted, everything is made in house". How great is that. Have to appreciate the restaurants that make their own products or at least support local farmers.

The artwork on the wall is quite eccentric which kinda goes with the theme of the restaurant. The food is definitely rich or BEASTLY yet sensual in its presentation and taste. Hmm dunno if that makes sense but you will soon see what I mean.

Ice 'n Cake

After filling our bellys with some delicious Thai food from Linda, we stopped by this new dessert place called Ice 'n Cake.

It was bustling with people when we arrived so we waited for it to die down before heading to the counter.

I love the fun colorful interior. Makes it appear playful and inviting.

Since we were kinda full I decided to pass on the cake and grab the gelato instead.

I got passion fruit and mango gelato. It was yummy.

It was a great way to end our day with 2 scoops of refreshing fruit flavored gelato. Hopefully next time I can try the cakes or maybe the crepe or even waffle... guess we will see;)

TOTAL BILL $3...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Ice 'n Cake

1090 Don Mills Rd.

(close to Lawrence)

416-444-2100

Linda, Sister of Salad King

I've never been to Salad King before but the sister restaurant sure pleased me.

My mommy rarely goes out so since it was a gorgeous day I took her to Shops at Don Mills to walk around.

I haven't ate anything all day so we stopped by Linda Restaurant to grab a bite. I chose Linda because my mommy never ate Thai food before so I prayed it would be a good experience for her since I've never even been to this restaurant.

Completely missed the door until I walked back and saw the door handles here.

Love the decor.

Artisano Bakery Cafe

Choice of soup or salad and a sandwich for $9.49 at Artisano Bakery Cafe.

I've said before that there's not too many places around my workplace to eat at so I decided to give this cafe a try.

Since my friend hadn't arrive yet I decided to do the ordering for him. I ordered 2 of the specials.

Here was the avocado and walnut salad. It came with baby spinach, arugula, bacon, gorgonzola, grape tomatoes, red onions and honey Dijon dressing. I picked this for my friend and think he said it was yummy.

Izakaya Ju

1st time good, 2nd time eh, 3rd time no more.

I've been to Izakaya Ju 3 times already and that first line pretty much described all 3 experiences. What I will be blogging about here will be my 3rd trip.

On my 3rd dinner here all the items I ordered were all dishes I haven't tried on my previous 2 trips. So something new but maybe that's where I went wrong.

This osaka style fried rice was the highlight of the meal. When it arrived my friend was like "whoa it's ALIVE!!!". What he was referring to were the bonito flakes lol. This dish was very flavorful and tasty even though it was mostly rice. I don't even remember what else was on this dish nevertheless, the most yummiest dish of the night.