Seoul House

Hands down one of the best restaurant in the west end.

Seoul House serves up authentic Korean cuisine and is owned by Korean people NOT Chinese people. Some customers may get confused when they browse through the menu. Even though there's a section that displays Chinese food it''s actually Chinese-Korean fusion. Regardless, it's real Korean fare here.

My boyfriend brought me to this place. It's one of his favorite restaurant to go to for some fresh sashimi and Korean food.

From the outside the place didn't really look that big however, once you enter it is spacious. Inside it was decorated with a lot of figurines and other cutesy stuff.

Here are a few side dishes.

Here is mul naeng myun. It is buckwheat noodles served in a clear cold broth topped with sliced beef, pickled radish and boiled egg accompanied with hot mustard sauce. It was refreshingly delicious. Perfect for a hot summer day although outside it was freezing cold. Other places will add pear to it as well which I like better with the touch of sweetness. Nevertheless, it's really tasty. Cold soup may sound weird but believe me it taste really good.

Here is the kalbi. The beef short rib was juicy and tender. Just melted in your mouth.

My boyfriend's favourite was the sashimi. He had ordered tuna, red snapper and scallop. It was perfect. The scallops were so fresh my boyfriend claimed "he could taste the sea" lol. I agreed. It was the freshest scallops I have ever tasted. Also the tuna and snapper were tasty as well.

The roll I ordered was the red dragon roll. It was the best red dragon roll I had ever ate. Don't know if it was the fresh tuna or the sauce that was drizzled all over it was utterly delicious. I practically ate all of it. Well I did give my boyfriend one hehe. You snooze you lose. Okay that's mean but hey what can I say I'm a pig when it comes to food.

When we asked for our bill they gave us a complimentary cinnamon drink. It was a great way to end the meal. I love this drink. Sweet and refreshing.

If you are ever in the west side head to Seoul House. You will not regret it. The freshness of the fish and yummy food will blow you away.

TOTAL BILL $90...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Seoul House

265 Enfield Place, Unit #100

(Hurontario & Burnhamthorpe Rd. West)

905-848-5556

Porchetta & Co.

If you want a juicy pork sandwich then head to Porchetta. Located in Portugal Village, this tiny sandwich place serves up one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. Now I can see why there's so much excitement over this place.

Think about it. A piece of pork shoulder marinated for 24 long hours then it's wrapped in prosciutto for more flavor and then the whole entire meat is wrapped again in cured pork belly just to be roasted then slow cooked for another few more hours. Just reading it made me drool. Do you know any place else that does this? I sure don't. Also the sourdough bun they use are fresh from the Caldense Bakery which is right across the street. Just can't get better than that.

They only specialize in pork and there are only 2 items to choose from on their menu. The Porchetta plate or the sandwich. I chose the sandwich. The fun part was picking the toppings.

Here for my toppings I chose the truffle sauce, rappini, and mushrooms. I loved the bun. It was pillowy soft and it went perfectly well with the sandwich. It got really messy eating this. Most of my toppings kept falling out and the truffle sauce was running down my arms. So messy but soooo good:)

For this sandwich I made it simple. Just added tomato sauce and mozzarella. Simple is always best. It was delicious. They also added to each sandwich a few pieces of crispy pork rind for a nice added crunch.

For this place to specialize in only one item they better make it right and right on point they did. Porchetta is in my top faves for the best sandwich shops in the city.

Since it's a very small shop with only 6 stools for seating it's best to bring it home to enjoy if you live close by and savor every single bite. But if you eat there try to go in the summer. It was difficult for me to enjoy my sandwich while balancing my big bag and my winter coat on my lap all the while trying to make sure the sauce did not drip onto my coat and bag. Nevertheless, it was well worth it.

TOTAL BILL $17...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Gilead Cafe

I bought a voucher for Gilead Cafe and decided to head there for lunch today.

I was looking forward to trying one of Jamie Kennedy's restaurants unfortunately, it ended up being a huge disappointment.

First off.

We arrived around 1:30pm and the place was packed. At first we were confused as to what to do. There was no host to greet us and I had to ask the cashier if I was suppose to seat myself or do I wait for a host or hostess to help me. He told me that we would have to find a seat on our own then come up to the counter to order and then the server will call our name and bring the food over to the table when it's ready. Pretty simple but one bad thing was there were no tables available. To kill the time I snapped some pictures.

Here is the menu all written on the chalkboard.

Here is a wall filled with jars of jams, syrup, and pickled items.

Ten minutes later we finally snatched an empty table.

I had my eye on the short rib poutine so I already knew what to order. That was the only reason why I wanted to try the cafe in the first place. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. It was extremely salty. Think it came from the pool of cheese oil that was gathering at the bottom of the bowl. It did not look appetizing at all. One positive aspect was that the fries were crispy just the way I liked it. I think the poutine at Mildred's Temple Kitchen is 10 times better than this and definitely more flavorful too.

My cousin had the pork schnitzel with anchovy mignonette. It was HORRIBLE. I swear it tasted like something rotten but I just couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Both the meat and the sauce was repulsive. I just couldn't pick which item was worse. I saw another patron with the exact dish and she made a face as well so at least I knew I wasn't the only one who didn't enjoyed it.

For dessert we chose the vanilla creme brulee with amaretti. It was too creamy. The texture felt more like a pudding and it was overly sweet. I liked the cookie though.

I have never been to any of Jamie's restaurants but after this experience I don't think I will want to try it either. Luckily I had a voucher otherwise to spend so much money on food that I did not enjoy at all is just plain ridiculous. Oh well at least now I can cross it off my list.

TOTAL BILL $42...ONCE IS ENOUGH!!!

The Bacon Stampeder

Giddy up! Around noon today across from the Dundas Square right in front of the H&M store, there was a showdown going on. Cookie showdown that is.

Food Network was filming a new show and they were giving out free samples of a product for the crowd to taste test.

There was live music, line dancing and a real-life cowboy twirling a rope making loops and stuff.

They were passing out a bacon flavored cookie and asking the crowd to fill out a survey as to what they thought of the cookie.

Of course I couldn't pass up on a free cookie so I gave it a try. It was surprisingly still warm like it came straight out from an oven. It was soft and chewy however, it tasted bland to me. There were bits and pieces of bacon but no flavor whatsoever. I just couldn't taste the bacon flavor. I don't think it was tasty at all but I have to say I never tried a bacon cookie before so that was the only unique aspect of it.

Wonder what the rest of the audience thought. Guess we will see when the show airs then again I don't even know what the name of the show will be lol.

Inakaya

Inakaya is now at the top of my list for the freshest fish in the city of Toronto.

Hidden along Willowdale Ave, this little sake bar was packed with people when we arrived. Also let me point out there were a lot of Japanese people dining there as well which was a very good indication of the authenticity of the place. If Japanese people are eating there then it must be good well at least most of the time this theory is true. In this case, it was.

To start off the meal we had the Sunomono salad. It consisted of King crabs, cooked shrimps, octopus, clams, seaweed, and cucumbers all dressed in a Japanese vinaigrette. It was a refreshing salad and the dressing was not too vinegary just perfect.

Next is the Zaru-soba. It is cold boiled soba noodles served with a soy bonito dipping sauce. It was tasty but my boyfriend found the noodles to be a tad overcooked.

Here is the beef amiyaki which is certified Angus beef cooked at the table on a small hibachi served with sweet red wine dipping sauce. I loved the little burner. It was small and cute with the Asian writing all over it. The meat itself was juicy and delicious.

Here is the ume yamaimo sushi roll. It is made up of shiso leaf, plum paste, Japanese mountain potato and sesame seeds. My boyfriend thought this tasted like candy but to me it just tasted minty. Not pleasant at all.

Now this was the main star of the meal, the sashimi. We had ordered 9 pieces of tuna, 4 pieces of scallops, 3 pieces of octopus, and 9 pieces of fluke. It was amazingly fresh and did not have that fishy taste at all. It was silky smooth and cut perfectly. My boyfriend absolutely loved the fluke so much he ordered another 9 pieces of it. Also our table was situated directly in front of the sushi bar so you can watch the chef's extraordinary knife skills at work. You can see the chef carefully examining the fish and cutting it with precision and skill.

This last dish was a fiery finale. The volcano roll. It included sauteed sliced onions in butter and olive oil, blanched zucchini, torched sliced Angus beef on top served on an iron plate with teriyaki sauce and sliced scallions in a pool of fire. This was pretty cool when it arrived to our table. I tried to snap as many pictures as possible. It was tasty.

This is the place to head to if you want really fresh sashimi but be sure to either arrive early or after the rush since it's a very tiny place so seats are limited.

TOTAL BILL $160...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Inakaya

126 Willowdale Ave.

(close to Sheppard)

416-224-8881

Tsuki Pt 2 Not so Good

Tsuki Izakaya was so good the last time we were here I just don't understand what happened this time around. Maybe it was because we arrived at a quarter to one in the morning but hey they close at 2am and the place was still half filled. Then again think the patrons are just there to drink since most of the tables had a bottle of sake or some sort of alcoholic drink. Or maybe it was a different chef. Regardless I was pretty disappointed with the food.

The complimentary tofu dish wasn't so great tonight. It was a bit warm unlike last time it was served cold. It was still flavorful but the coldness made a big difference for me.

Here is the ankimo which is steamed monk fish liver with ground daikon and ponzu. It tasted like some sort of pate. I think some crackers or bread would have been nice since it was a bit too fishy on its own.

Next is the natto with 2 sides of Japanese pickle and a quail egg. You pour the yolk into the bowl and mix everything around. Added a bit of soy sauce to it and it wasn't that bad. My boyfriend didn't like the gooey texture.

Here is the grilled Gyu tongue with salt and pepper. The sliced beef tongue was delicious. Unlike Embrujo, this did not taste like an actual tongue. The texture was just like any other piece of meat. I did not have any problem swallowing this down.

My boyfriend also ordered the 21 piece sashimi and Korean style beef sashimi which we had ordered on our last trip. Unfortunately, the sashimi was a huge letdown. It was not fresh at all instead it was frozen fish they had served us. The beef sashimi was tasty but it should have been colder.

Overall, an epic fail. I don't know if I would ever return again. I like the service and the fact that it's opened late night. But then again the food did not live up to my expectations at all.

TOTAL BILL $64...MAY EAT AGAIN?!

Tsuki Izakaya

5182 Yonge Street

(close to Sheppard)

416-229-6719

Tofu Village

My cousin wanted to try out Tofu Village in Koreatown. The name of the restaurant definitely suited the place. They were not kidding about the tofu. There was so much tofu I couldn't even finish my soup.

When we first arrived there were only 3 other tables of customers. By the time we were eating the place was packed.

One thing I did like about the restaurant was the placemats. While waiting for our food we were reading the placemats learning how to pronounce some basic sentences in Korean. Don't know if we pronounced it correctly however, it was a fun and productive way of passing the time.

Here were the side dishes.

The kimchi was okay.

The purple rice had no beans and not as fluffy as Mot Na Son.

We had ordered the house special and the seafood soon tofu soup. Both mild. Both soup looked identical with the abundance amount of tofu hidden below the fiery red surface. It was delicious but boy was there a lot of tofu.

The food was mediocre nothing outstanding. Good portions at fairly cheap prices so can't complain there but will try other places since there's so many restaurants to choose from in the Annex.

TOTAL BILL $15...MAY EAT AGAIN?!