Shiso clam vongolé Pasta @Shiso Tree Cafe JTown Review

Shiso Tree Menu

please click here for my review about the restaurant and Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine pasta

Shiso Tree is a Japanese-Italian Fusion restaurant. It is famous for their Italian pastas with a mix of Japanese culture. Before I talk about this dish, I want to mention about how much I like this restaurant, the atmosphere is very casual yet elegant, there is a mix of Japanese in its simple interior design. Every time I go, there is Jazz music playing softly in the background.

Impressions:

• Great atmosphere for chatting and hanging out
• service is good
• great pasta, great salad
• skip the soup

When the weather starts to warm up, I find myself longing to come to Shiso Tree @ JTown. It seems to be a very Spring/Summery place to visit with its Japanese/modern decorations and natural lighting and "light food". For this particular visit, I had ordered Shiso Clam Vongolé Pasta from their Wafu Pasta selection.

Shiso Tree complimentary salad

Salad:

With every Pasta set, they provide Garlic Toast and a Wafu Salad. As I mentioned in my previous Shiso tree post, The Wafu salad dressing, it is one of the best tasting salad dressings I have ever tried in a Japanese restaurant. If you visit this place, you cannot miss it. I'm not an expert in salad dressings, so based on my limited understanding and trusty taste buds I would say it tastes like  a clam/mussel soup base combined with soy sauce and sesame oil).

Shiso clam vongolé – white wine, olive oil, garlic, bacon, tomato, fresh Manila clams & shiso

Pasta:

Now, for the dish, Since I always get Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine pasta, I decided to try something new... I mean... life is about trying new things and having different experiences, no? I decided to give the Shiso clam vongolé a try. It consists of White Wine, Olive Oil, Garlic, Bacon, Tomato, Fresh Manila clams and Shiso. This pasta was from their Wafu pasta category. (Wafu can be translated to touch of Japanese)

The price was $15, I think it was because of the amount of clams they had. I mentioned that their prices may be startling at first, but when you finish your meal you will be happy you decided to eat here. This dish added Shiso shavings, I think they taste a bit like lemon/lime leaves. But... to be honest, other than the unique herbiness of Shiso and clams, I found it troublesome to distinguish this dish from the Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine Pasta. They seem to taste very similar. It was still good... but I was looking forward to something different.

This was a well made dish, but I think it would be better if they could make the different pastas taste more different so each dish can preserve its uniqueness. I will continue to visit this place and try their new dishes in hopes of finding something that tastes really different yet as delicious!

the soup we decided to pay extra for

Soup:

I did not enjoy the soup, it was very average. I was thinking it would be something that would "wow" me, but it was none other than an ordinary tomato, beef- soup based beef brisket vegetable soup. The taste was very ordinary, I was quite disappointed. The presentation was interesting, but the soup was very average.

Verdict:

The Pasta and atmosphere are what attracts me to this restaurant, I really love their salad. However, I do not recommend you paying extra to try their soup, it is not worth it.

address: 3160 Steeles Ave E #1, Markham, ON L3R
score: 8.5/10

website: http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/shiso-tree-cafe-markham

Costco - Markham + 14th discrimination

65 Kirkham Dr
Markham, ON L3S 0A9
(905) 201-3500

There are no pictures this time, I am very frustrated. I can't believe I experienced racism in Canada. At least not by someone who can be pretty much discriminated against herself (I think she was Tamil)

Time: 6:00 (January 31, 2013)
Location: 65 Kirkham Dr
Markham, ON L3S 0A9
Booth: Campbell's Soup (I think the product was some kind of vegetable Campbell's "orange looking" soup)
Person: a middle aged women who is Indian/Tamil.

For those who haven't been to any Costco, they have little booths where they would give some food samples (since at Costco you need to buy your food in bulk form, it is good to know what it tastes like before you make a purchase).

So the story:
So I was walking around Costco (the one located at 65 Kirkham Dr) and came across a few food booths. There was a line for Campbell's Soup (which claims it is a vegan soup). My mom and I lined up showing interest in the product. My mom was in line first and I was behind, followed by a Caucasian girl. When it was my mom's turn, we waited for the lady to give her her soup sample, the lady just gave my mom half portion and claimed there were no more samples and told me to leave, just as I took a step back, she waved for the Caucasian girl (who was behind me in that line) to get some samples. My reaction: didn't she just say there wasn't any left? As I watched her, she poured a full portion of soup for the Caucasian girl.

How ridiculous! Totally outrageous! How can we be treated like this in Canada? A country who claims to be multiculturalism? I felt so humiliated and totally discriminated against.

I have always loved shopping at Costco (specifically this Costco), however after this bad experience, I can hardly bring myself to coming back to shopping at this store without feeling I might be discriminated against.

I might be naive, but I hope someone from the management at Costco sees this post and does some justice!

If you have had similar experiences, please feel free to write them in the comments below!

Shiso Tree Cafe @ JTown review

Smoked Salmon à la Créme Vodka - Vodka based cream sauce with Smoked salmon & fresh dill. Garnished with ikura (salmon roe) & caviar.

I am hardly a fan of Fusion Cuisine as the food is usually combined in all the wrong areas, however after visiting Shiso Tree Cafe & JTown in Toronto, I was impressed. Shiso Tree Cafe is a Japanese restaurant which combines Italian and Japanese cuisine.

I tried the Smoked Salmon a la Red Wine pasta entree. It was part of the Cream and Rosè Sauce pasta category. Though the price might be startling at first ($12), I can guarantee you being full after the meal. The serving sizes are quite big.

The pasta entrees also come with a piece of very crispy, toasted garlic bread and salad.

The wafu salad dressing, it is one of the best tasting salad dressings I have ever tried in a Japanese restaurant. I'm not an expert in salad dressings, so based on my limited understanding and trusty taste buds I   would say it tastes like somewhat a clam/mussel soup base combined with soy sauce and sesame oil).

The pasta was very tasteful, the sauce was light yet very flavourful, there was a lot of smoked salmon. The iKura (Salmon Roe) and Caviar were there but a little too less, they felt like "decorations" more than being part of the actual dish. The pasta was very well prepared, not too soft and not too hard, just right. I was very impressed. The whole pasta entree was very well put together.

I was also very surprised as to how full I can be from eating something that seems to have such a small serving size.

I would give Shiso Tree Cafe a rating of 4.5/5.