Thai Angels

Sorry everyone. I've been slacking on my blog but now I'm back:)

Even though I haven't been blogging I've still been eating so I've got a lot to catch up on so most of the posts will be brief but to the point. It will always be my honest opinions no matter how good or bad it may be so here it goes.

Me and S&S wanted to try somewhere new uptown so we decided to give Thai Angels a try.

The place was small and very empty. There were only 2 other tables yet somehow we still ended up waiting for over an hour for our food. Not very pleased especially when we were all starving.

First off the ginger duck. It was delicious but the portion was too small and definitely not enough meat.

Thai Fay

Thai Fay is suppose to serve up some authentic Thai cuisine. The food was just mediocre to me.

Sizzling satay beef. I don't think you can go wrong with any sizzling dish. This was the best dish out of all 3. It had flavor and definitely did not lack in seasoning.

Brunch @ School...EPIC FAIL!!!

My last trip at School was mediocre. Not so good but not so bad either.

This time I returned for brunch and OMG what an EPIC FAIL!!!

Thank god Bonnie was there first. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have gotten a table. But when I arrived I noticed a lot of empty tables. WTH!!! Why the holdup then? Guess they are the type of resto where they make people wait just so that it appears to be busy. Already I wasn't too pleased.

I had my eye on the macadamia banana pancakes but was told that they didn't have any bananas so any dishes with the fruit would not be available. Once again not thrilled here. This is the 2nd time that I came and couldn't get the dish I wanted due to lack of ingredients.

WARNING: The pictures may appear mouthwatering but believe me did not taste as great as it looked.

We were waiting for quite some time for our meal so our waitress gave us complimentary muffins on the house. That made me feel a bit happier since I was starving.

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.

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.

Brunch @ Stockyards

Once again, it's just all hype.

I went to Stockyards last year for the sandwiches and ribs and I found it was just mediocre.

This time I returned for brunch since the menu was enticing coupled with the great reviews I figured why not.

Last Sunday we arrived around 12:30 and the place was jammed packed. Not only diners but the takeout line was crazy too. The place is really tiny so it was kinda claustrophobic standing inside so we gave our name and waited outside. Fifteen minutes later, we finally got a seat.

We knew what we wanted so we placed our order immediately after our waitress seated us. We were starving and it didn't help sitting directly in front of where all the food was prepared. Huge tease:(

We didn't get our food till at least 45 minutes later. That's how insane it was.

The smoked meat hash came with deep fried poached eggs. Soooooo so bland. If you want smoked meat hash I highly recommend Caplansky's. Now that is what you call smoked meat hash. This was just a pile of flavorless meat with even more tasteless poached eggs. Complete fail here.

Fire on the East Side

Fire on the East Side. Nothing to say except bland, bland, blaaaaand!

The service was great but wish I could say the same about the meal.

Chippy's

I wanted to try the fish & chips from Chippy's for a while but sadly it just wasn't good at all.

Ten-Ichi

Some people might think I'm crazy for saying this but... I don't like Ten-Ichi. There, I said it.

A friend raved about how she loved the sushi buffet, Ten-Ichi. I decided to take my inlaws there for dinner on a Saturday night. Thank god my father-in-law couldn't make it otherwise he would've been disgusted with my restaurant choice.

The earliest reservation I was able to make was at 8:15pm. When I arrived, the place was super packed. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long to get to our table even though my friend kept warning me that even with reservations I might have to wait at least 30 minutes for our table.

The tables were pretty close to one another. It was hard enough trying to squeeze through to get to our seats. They really maximized the space here.

Here was the only dish I actually ordered twice, aside from the sashimi, the beef skewers. It was very tasty and well seasoned. After this dish, everything else went downhill from here.

finger food such a tease...I was still hungry:(

Afternoon tea.

When I hear those words I think of little old grannies sitting around wearing big hats sipping tea.

Well that wasn't the case here at the Library Bar.

I bought a voucher for afternoon tea at the Fairmont Royal York inside the Library Bar.

When I called to make reservations, the earliest seating available was one month later. Wonder if it was because of the deal or was it really that good? Well it wasn't that great to me.

Raa? More Like Blah!

If it wasn't for the voucher and the fact that it was uptown I would never have bothered with this place. I can't believe the guy talked so much sh*t. If I didn't know any better I would have believed every word of it.

Raa recently opened at Yonge and Sheppard.

Despite the bad reviews I still went with hopes that it wouldn't be so bad. Once again should've listened to the people. I didn't leave smiling like this statue. I was fuming.

Five Guys is so Overrated

Really this is what people have been raving about?!

I decided to try out the burger at Five Guys since I saw so many people trying it.

I went to the Woodbridge location during the long weekend.

Surprisingly, there were quite a bit of people on Victoria Day. I think it's the location that brings in the people also with the fact that nothing else was really open.

The interior is red and white. There were bags of potatoes out on the floor so the fries were definitely not the frozen kind. But believe me not that great either. More on that later.

Pure Rice @ Shinobu

I took my mommy to Shinobu for her birthday.

What a disappointment. I just couldn't wait to get the bill and leave.

First off we couldn't even find the restaurant. Kept looking for Shinobu but this is what we saw.

When we checked it was this place after all.

The restaurant is owned and operated by Japanese people. When we entered, the whole restaurant was filled with Japanese patrons except for one table. Let me point out the place was really tiny. There were only 5 tables in total which seated approximately 20 people or so. One chef and 2 waitresses.

I was excited since I thought the food must be good since it would be authentic Japanese cuisine. Also after perusing through the menu the prices were pretty high so it better be good for the price they charged. Boy was I crushed when the food arrived.

Iryewon Asian Fusion

Trying to catch up on my blog since been so busy at work so here is a quick post.

Me and my boyfriend were starving so we just picked a plaza and decided to give Iryewon a try.

Cafe du Lac

On Urbanspoon, out of 104 votes only 50% of the people actually liked Cafe du Lac. Not so great. Against the reviews I wanted to go see for myself. Mostly because when I glanced at the menu my eyes went straight to the short rib poutine with foie gras. Even better when there was a deal for it so I was still excited to try it out despite the negative reviews.

Wow I should have listened for once. It really was pretty bad.

Let me just warn you first. The pictures may appear

mouthwatering but in reality they did not taste as great as it looked. In this case, looks are really deceiving.

The place is cozy and I like the little blue pillows on the seat which gives the place a nice pop of color.

Here was the complimentary onion bun with truffle butter. This was nice. The bread was fluffy and once I teared it apart there was steam coming out of it. Once the butter touched the bun it melted quickly into the pores of the bun. It was luscious. Great start so far however, after this sadly it was just downhill.

Woodlot

I went to Woodlot for dinner for the Telus Tuesday promo where you buy one entree and your dessert and appetizer is on the house paid for by Telus. It was only for the month of April so reservations was a must. The only time available that I was able to book it for was at 8:15pm.

Located in Little Italy, Woodlot is off of a side street on Palmerston. When I entered I thought I had went through the kitchen door since there was a rack of trays directly by the door. I discovered it was the main entrance after all. The restaurant is very tiny and quite cramped. In fact it didn't even look like a restaurant. The bar was at the right of the entrance and there was a row of people sitting close to the entrance as well. I have to say it was kinda awkward. From my view standing all I saw was a row of heads. Sorry not great at describing it here wished I had taken a picture. Guess you will see what I mean when you go there yourself.

Once me and my friend were seated we were a bit disappointed by the lighting. Being the foodies we were we instantly knew that our pictures will not be so great with the dim lighting. I even tried to steal an extra candle for more lighting and that didn't really help either.

Here was the torched Hokkaido scallops and lentil salad with prosciutto, pickled cabbage and port vinaigrette. This was scrumptious. The scallops were well prepared and well seasoned. The display was great.

Dragon Pearl

This is definitely the biggest Chinese buffet I have ever been to. Wait how big is the Mandarin buffet in Brampton? Might be the same size I'm not sure since I have only been there once.

Sorry off track here. Back to the Dragon Pearl.

It's funny you would expect to see a dragon of some sort since the restaurant's name has the word 'Dragon' in it but what I saw at the front of the restaurant was this weird faceless blue creature with may I say some huge pearls hehe playing a guitar. I thought it was placed there by accident or something but after entering the restaurant I found that it was part of the decor. I still don't know what it's suppose to be or how it's related to the Asian theme. Guess that will be a mystery I will never uncover.

Now this definitely goes with the Asian decor. Everybody likes a happy smiling Buddha.

The waiting area was definitely unique. A whole row of statues of animal zodiac signs.

This is my animal, the rooster. Don't get me mad or I will peck at you hehe. Man why couldn't I be something cute like the rabbit or playful like the monkey lol.

Here was something pretty cool. The chef was flinging a single thin strand of noodle continuously into a boiling pot. This picture was the best I could capture since the guy was whipping it so fast that it was just a blur in the snapshot.

Here was the dessert table. I didn't really take any pix of the other stations since there were just too many people wondering about.

I thought the teapot looked nice so I snapped a photo of it. The holder is actually heart-shaped.

A piece of card is placed for each individual at a table so you can only get one serving for whatever is the special of the day. Tonight it was shrimp. On weekends I believe it's lobster. I did not eat the shrimp but my boyfriend found it to be really mush so it wasn't at all appetizing.

Here was my first plate of food. I had grilled pineapple, some stir fried veggies, sushi pizza, sweet potato pancakes and BBQ beef ribs. The best item on this place was the grilled pineapple. It was really juicy and sweet. The remaining items were just mediocre to me nothing that really excited me.

The salmon here was pretty fresh. The crispy salmon skin was horrendous. It just tasted way too fishy for me. The sushi rolls were okay considering it was an AYCE.

Here was my last plate of food. It included black peppered beef, spicy green beans, yam, baked salmon, tofu and some ketchup-flavored noodles which I guess was suppose to be pad thai. The only thing I enjoyed in this round was the yam. Everything else was just eh.

For dessert nothing caught my eye so I settled on this sweet soy/tofu dish. The 3 or 4 spoons of honey I added definitely sweetened it up and made it more enjoyable.

I also had the coffee flavored ice cream sprinkled well more like a huge scoop of cookie crumbs lol. It was just okay as well.

To end the meal can't forget our fortune cookies. I don't remember what mine said but it was one of those that don't make sense lol.

Overall, the buffet was just eh to me. Nothing wow and nothing too horrible. The only points I give is for the decor and the size of the place.

Me and my sister-in-law had differing opinions as to which buffet was better, Dragon Pearl or Mandarin. She thought this place was better than Mandarin. C'mon what other buffet offers all-you-can-eat CRAB LEGS. The only thing I will hand to Dragon Pearl was their sushi bar. It was way better than Mandarin but other than that they can't hold a candle next to Mandarin.

TOTAL BILL $23 (per person)...ONCE IS ENOUGH!!!

Terroni Bar Centrale

Such a huge disappointment.

Why did Terroni have to close down their Balmoral location? That was my first time experiencing Terroni where I automatically fell head over heels for their orgasmic flourless chocolate cake. Man oh man I am just drooling thinking about the super moist light airy cake. Mmmmm. But now I discover that they no longer even serve my cake. WTH!!!

I went to check out their new location Terroni Bar Centrale which isn't far from their old location. As I was walking to the place I noticed Nadege Patisserie will be opening next to it. Woohoo!! I can't wait to check that out. It's much more closer now for me to get to so can't wait to try out their desserts.

Back to Terroni. The restaurant was super tiny and extremely narrow. It felt claustrophobic for me. The place was packed but the waitress was nice enough to inform us that a few people should be leaving soon so we wouldn't have to wait as long.

Once seated at the bar, we were given a menu I just couldn't seem to read. I couldn't figure out how it was categorized and what exactly were the dishes. I had to ask the bartender to decipher the menu for me. He told me it was a tapas menu. They don't serve any entrees. However, later on the entire 2nd floor will be transformed into a dining area and the bottom floor will be used for the bar area. That's great to know assuming I would ever return again.

I wanted to try this deep fried chocolate that I saw on the site Foodspotting but only to discover that they never even heard of it. When I went home to check the site again I realized it was from the Balmoral location. Urrrghhhhh... Once again why did they close down the place?!!

We decided to opt for the pistachio beignets. It definitely was not what I had expected. Biting into it I was expecting a soft donut texture but instead got a hard cookie. The filling inside was pistachio flavoring with a lemony hint to it. I personally don't like citrus flavoring so this was not appetizing to me. My dessert at Table 17 was way better than this. We should have just stayed there and ordered more desserts.

The service was great but I'm just still angry at the fact that my chocolate cake is no longer there so I don't think I will be returning again.

TOTAL BILL $10...ONCE IS ENOUGH (for the dessert only)

Commensal

I tried to be a vegetarian but it just didn't work out.

I bought a voucher for Commensal after reading that it was a buffet that serves vegetarian food. The menu sounded interesting so I thought it would be a nice change for once to be a herbivore. The one thing that was unique about this place was they charge you based on the weight of the food. Perfect for calorie counters. (not that I'm one of them lol think my blog says it all)

Here was my plate of food. There was Seitan bourguignon, Millet pie, steamed broccoli, beet and apple salad, bean salad, pickled cabbage, squash and one other thing I'm not quite sure of. Out of the whole pile of food the only things that were interesting were the beet and apple salad and the bourguignon. The salad was delicious. The sweet apples were a great sidekick to the red beets. The bourguignon had chunks of seitan which almost tasted like meat to me. If you don't know what seitan is it's made from the gluten of wheat. To vegetarians, this is their meat. For more info on seitan click here.

My friend seemed to have only focused on the salad station. The other stations didn't really appealed to her. Let's just say she wasn't as thrilled with her food either. (Sorry Kristy I will make it up to you)

For dessert she had the brownie which was extremely dry. I just sampled a tiny bit and even from that I was able to taste how unappetizing it was. However, my soya cake was absolutely delicious. Finally a dessert I can eat without feeling guilty. Then again not like I ever did feel that way hehe. I love my sweets.

After all the food we got we still had a few bucks to spend on but we didn't want anymore food. Not that we were full it's just nothing appealed to us. Instead we both got a bottled sparkling water that was flavored with pomegranate and elderflower. I have no clue what elderflower was but the drink was refreshing.

If you do want to give this place a try there are two deals available. On Mondays students receive 50% off. Also there's a similar deal for seniors except it's only applicable on Tuesdays.

Personally I will never return again even with the deal. I think the best vegetarian food is Korean food. Most of their side dishes are meat-free and they are much more tastier to eat.

TOTAL BILL $25...ONCE IS ENOUGH!!!