Sorento Wood Oven Stove review

For my Birthday (yes... sorry... I know this has been a while) my cousin decided to take me to this Mediterranean place which cooks their food on a Wood Oven Stove.

Escargot (Appetizer)

Escargot

Impressions:

• portion is small (only 6 escargot)
• small size of escargot
• loved the cheese and sauce

I found this quite expensive... for almost $10 CND... the portion is quite small...

Taste-wise, it was good... the cheese and spinach cream sauce was delicious. The Escargot didn't seem fresh though.

Score: 6.5/10

close up of Escargot 

Sorento Specialty Pizza

Sorento Pizza

Impressions:

• hot! lots of hot peppers
• thin crispy crust 
• very filling

I liked the pizza... it was definitely much more worth than the escargots, the pizza was around $12. Be careful though, there are quite a lot of salty hot peppers, they were quite a surprise when I ate them... I didn't expect there to be too many... but regardless, it was a well made thin crust pizza. 

AND... although it looks small... it is extremely filling.

Score: 9/10

Sorento Specialty Spaghetti

Sorento Spaghetti

Impressions:

• lots of sauce
• would be much better if they used a thicker pasta (e.g. fettuccine, Linguine)
• Portion looks small but extremely filling
• lots of chicken
• loved the sauce

I was obsessed with the sauce, it was very tasty. The blend of herbs with the cream was perfect, this was a Spinach, Mediterranean herb sauce, I also appreciated the amount of sauce contained... but wished it was a thicker pasta... the Spaghetti was having a hard time holding the sauce and it was too thin making it less tasty.

Score: 8.5/10

I was quite happy with this meal, the service was not too good though, they were not very tentative and we had to make an effort to grab their attention.

website: no website

Toronto McDonald' s 2015 Mclobster review

2 mcLobster Meal

It has been a year since I have had the chance to try McLobster and it is back! I'm so glad it is back! And it seems they have made huge improvements. The meal costed $9.95+tax. You can check out my first review here. 

close up of McLobster

McLobster was first introduced in the Atlantic side of Canada and has made their way to different parts of Canada last year (2014). Last year I was very excited but had slight disappointments due to the price and taste.

Impressions:

• Lots more lobster 
• improvements to recipe

The filling or inside of the Mclobster is made from a mixture of different ingredients including mayonnaise, celery, green onions and shredded lettuce. Last year, I complained that the celery and green onions were too strong and stole the taste of the lobster. THIS year, I found improvements, they eased up on the celery and onions; this made the delicious taste of fresh lobster stand out much more. 

I also like how they have provided a combo for the Mclobster making it slightly more affordable than it was last year.

Overall, I was very happy with their improvements, it is clear that McDonald's had listened (or read, in my case) our voices. I am still anticipating that they will have a warm/hot version.

Score: 8.5/10

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ (no page for Mclobster)

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

奶蓋咩 Latte Mei review

photo credits: Lum. V. from yelp.ca

After a shopping trip to Eaton Centre, a friend and I walked along Dundas looking for a place to chat. We were both attracted by the greenness of this shop, so we decided to go in. The shop is quite small and simple. After going in the shop, we discovered it was "Taiwan's No. 1 Tea". I was so excited to learn that I can try something authentically Taiwan in Toronto. However, that being said, this place isn't as busy as you would expect (no long lines). Most come for take out and hardly stay.

my friend and I decided to order Jelly Noodle White Gourd tea, since it was one of their recommended drinks. I was very curious as to what "Jelly" Noodle was. The wait time (from paying to getting our orders) was quite lengthy. 

After taking the first sip, I was a little disappointed with the "Jelly Noodle", it was nothing more than some sort of chewy tasteless... "noodle". It didn't impress me at all.

On the other hand, the drink itself, the Gourd tea was quite a surprise. It was good!! The gourd here is a winter melon. Not too sweet or too dull (?). Over the years I have almost given up on getting "melon" type teas because of the large amounts of sugar they put into it. I am glad I have FINALLY found a place that does not overdose their Winter Melon Tea!

The prices at this place is quite reasonable. For $3.99, located in the heart of downtown Toronto, this is definitely a deal, HOWEVER, keep in mind there is NO SERVICE and wait times can be pretty long.

website: http://www.lattemei.com.tw/

Gabby's Bar and Grill review

half price wings available every Monday and Wednesday

Gabby's is located on Bloor near Avenue road, it seem to be one of more affordable places (for a simple casual dinner). The restaurant is a bar/diner type of restaurant.

Due to the extremities, I will split this review into 3 parts: food, drinks and service. Read on and you will know what I mean:

Food:

Food was good quality given the price, I was quite satisfied with the tenderness and smoothness of the fried Halibut. The wings were average, we were fortunate to go there on Monday and make use of their half price wings. The portions were quite filling. We couldn't even finish the fries.

Halibut Fish and Chips

Drinks:
I ordered Cranberry juice, something you can't go wrong with because it is one of the MOST common drinks, I don't know WHAT type of cranberry did they use (or if it is even cranberry juice), it tasted like cranberry syrup (the artificial concentrated kind)

Service:

Service was TERRIBLE! I thought our waiter was friendly at first, but after asking several times and dealing with the server, I was absolutely disappointed. It was alright he kept forgetting our orders, his attitude was terrible, he made it seem like we were giving him so much trouble when all we wanted was some food and drinks (which were placed during our initial order). When we got the bill, it was approximately $30 (which is quite a deal), we didn't have change so we put in $40. When he picked up our money and bill, he had the guts to ask if we wanted any change....(?!?!?!), we were just speechless.

I am reconsidering whether I will return to Gabby's... the food (and perhaps price) seems to be the only thing that is worth going back for.


website: http://www.gabbys.ca

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.