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

Montana's Cookhouse food review

It has been a while since I've been to Montana's. The last time I was there, I was so hungry I forgot to take pictures of their food, thus, my review was mainly on the atmosphere. This time, I was sure to take pictures and write a better review.

regular pork back ribs with Texas Bold sauce with Southern Baked Beans and Rice Pilaf & Corn Bread- $20.99

Since Montana's is known for their South Western US of A food, we decided to settle for some ribs.
Smokehouse Pork Ribs. The menu described them as:

Rubbed, smoked, basted and grilled to finger licking perfection

It was REALLY good, the description was very accurate. We were sitting there wondering how did they make the pork so smooth yet it can be so thoroughly cooked. It was really good! For the sauce, we decided on Texas Bold since it seems that this place specializes in Texas Bold. The dish was literally grilled to perfection. The meat was so tender and was well marinaded. This entree included Corn Bread and 2 sides of our choice. It was very filling. ( we decided on the southern baked beans and rice... the sides were very filling, but we thought they could have tasted better. They both weren't very tasty... if you want something really good, I would recommend the mashed potatoes, they were really good!)

Signature dish - Oven-Baked Antojitos - $9.99

For the appetizer we order one of their signature appetizers, Oven-Baked Antojitos. They described this as:

A spicy blend of cheese, jalapeno, onion, and red pepper, rolled up in a flour tortilla and oven-baked till melted.
served with pesto sour cream dipping sauce

I really appreciated that it was oven baked (yet it was very crispy, like the fried ones, but healthier). This can be very filling, so I highly recommend that you share this dish with others... or you won't be able to try the other foods available.

Signature dish - mile high mud cake - $8.49

For dessert, we got their signature dessert, Mile High Mud Cake. 

A mountain of layers. Expresso chocolate chunk ice cream, creamy peanut butter, and chocolate ice cream on a crunchy chocolate cookie crust. Topped with Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sauce.

I think they got every irresistible cake flavour on this cake. It was huge... the picture doesn't reflect that though.

side view of mud cake $8.49

I totally failed at taking a clear picture of this I didn't want to look awkward taking a picture but look at how huge it is! It took us nearly 45 minutes to finish this. It was really delicious. There is a "half" cake option for this item, so if you want to try it but is already full, try that. (I'm sure it will be more than enough).

I would definitely come back to Montana's again. Their food, service, quality and quantity are all good.

I would give this place 9/10 (that's a very high score)

website: http://www.montanas.ca

Destiny's Scarborough Location review

For those who are old enough to remember, in the past Destiny's Tea at Scarborough was known for its bad service and serving unhygienic Cockroach drinks. They ended up "renovating and reopening a few months later.

After visiting this place for the first time in 2 years. I have seen some improvement. The servers are a bit better and the .

I tried a lunch special which consists of 1 dish (with rice) with a basic bubble tea. I think their cooking hasn't improved much (or at all), I do find the price reasonable for the amount of food there is though.

I also like the environmental, they have put effort into making their cafe look better and chatting friendly.

I should also mention the mint toothpicks they had available at their concierge which is quite delightful to "taste".

Overall, I would give this place a 3.5/5 points deducted for their minimal cooking skills and minimal service.

Montana's Cookhouse review

Sorry, I totally forgot about taking a picture of food while I was at this restaurant as I was too excited to try out the food. I hope you get the idea of where this place is based on it's logo and how we were able to write on their tables. (for food review, and a more detail review, please click here)

If not, based on my observations, this is a Texas cuisine style food restaurant which is casual and very cowboy-ish. Mainly selling barbecue ribs and wings. The food is quite good and very meaty with large portions. The price is quite reasonable. Their taste and cooking was good, I have wonder how they managed to make ribs so smooth, tasty and savoury.

Bier Market review

I have been to Bier Market quite a few times so I will write a general review of this restaurant & Bar, since I know hardly anything about beer.

First, to get in you need an ID, they literally have a bouncer in the doorway checking to see if you are of legal age. You are then ushered by friendly servers to a table/bar depending on what's available and where you want to eat/drink. I find this second procedure a little disorganized, several times have I not been served to a table and ended up having to search for a table for myself (which is poor service).

I am totally impressed by their wide selection of beer, they literally have EVERY beer you can think of.

The food is ok, there are a lot of seafood choices, but it is a little pricey.

I would give this place a 4.5/5

Milestone's Grill & Bar review

I haven't been a big fan of Milestones Grill + Bar because I feel the food and prices are not a good match (food there is too pricey and they do not provide fresh enough seafood to be charging so much). But I decided to give it a second try at a new Milestones.

This night it was "Girl's Night" and how convenient Milestone's offered a "Girl's Night Out" promotion. The promotion allows four girls to order 4 Bellini 's (which is Milestones' special promotional drink which is a peach flavoured drink with mixed with 7-up and contains an alcohol of some kind).  And to choose 4 appetizers from a list of 10-15 items for $40 (Canadian).

I have to say I wasn't pleased with the service nor with the food. We had a total of 33 girls, which means 4 Bellini's didn't work out properly, so we asked our server, not only did he allow us to order a fifth one for the same price for the odd member - (which is not his fault) but he kept mentioning some minimum charge that we had to pay for each guest present. I would not mind if he was nice but his attitude was not good. Usually servers at Milestones are rather well trained and very nice, but I guess we were unlucky this time.

I was quite disappointed in the Bellini because it was suppose to be their signature drink, however, the Bellini's we got were not made well. There was little peach flavor (which is supposingly the main flavour of this drink) and they added a LOT of alcohol, making the drink taste like something from a 20% alcohol drink.

The food was fortunately quite good. We ordered some pasta dishes and were quite full after.

I would recommend Milestones if you would like to take your party to an environment which looks good with good service (usually), but not so if you want to enjoy food and drinks.

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.