259 Host Fine Indian Cuisine

Last night on a cold December night, I ventured out to celebrate a friend’s birthday over at the Host Fine Indian Cuisine.  There are 2 locations in downtown Toronto however we decided to choose with 259 Host on Wellington Street.  We were in the mood for some nice authentic curry dishes and since one of my friends was Indian and they had a Groupon coupon, we decided to head out there and take advantage of the situation. 

We had reservations for the evening and were ushered to the top level of this three storey restaurant.  We sat down and although there were only approximately eight tables on the top floor, it had taken 3 requests and about twenty minutes before we were even given our glasses of water.  When we finally ordered, we went with five different dishes. 

Our first dish was a Samosa Sampler.  There were four different types of samosa on the plate.  Honestly I couldn’t really tell what two of the samosas were.  They were bland tasting and was actually more oily more than anything else.  The last two, the regular samosa and the avacoda samosa were the best ones of the bunch.  They had a strong flavor to them with the regular samosa a bit on the spicy side. 

Chicken Tikka

After the sampler came, there was a long wait for our main course dishes.  It was almost 40 minutes before our entrees arrived and when they did, they screwed up one of the dishes where we were given an incorrect dish.  One of the dishes that arrived correctly was the butter chicken.  Apparently this is their signature dish here at the restaurant.  It sure did not disappoint.  If I was to just have this dish alone, I would have given this place a 5 out of 5.  The juicy chicken mixed with a tomato butter sauce made this a must have dish if you do go this place. 

Samosa Sampler

Next to arrive was the Bharta Eggplant.  This roasted style eggplant came in what looked like a UFO plate.  The dish however wasn’t roasted as well as we would have liked.  In reality, it was actually quite bland and really lacked a strong taste to it.  It had a rough mushy texture to it, almost like eating oatmeal. 

Next to arrive was the chicken tikka.  It is basically chicken that has been marinated with sun dried tomatoes.  Although the chicken was of a drier variety, it was quite rich in taste and tasted quite nicely. 

Butter Chicken

We also had ordered the beef tenderloin.  Unfortunately when it arrived it was actually lamb or chicken meat inside the curry sauce.  We flagged the waiter down who took it back and got us the beef tenderloin.  Although I might not have taken notice, one of my friends believed strongly that all they did was take the old meat out and added the beef on top.  As a result, the beef was not very well marinated and was actually quite bland.  Furthermore, although the meat was supposedly medium cooked, it was very tough to chew on.  One had to use quite a bit of force to chew the meat and swallow it. 

We made three orders of nan which is almost like the equivalent of pitas and a saffiron rice which allowed one to mix it with the curry sauce in the beef tenderloin and the sauce in the butter chicken. 

Beef Tenderloin

Bharta Eggplant

Overall it was a decent night although my Indian friend said that the Host up in Richmond Hill was much better.  Furthermore, the service here surely had its quirky moments.  From the forty minute wait on food to a waiter somehow throwing my own spoon into one of the dishes, it sure made it an interesting night.  If I didn’t have the beef tenderloin, I probably would have given it higher marks.  The curries itself in both dishes were not spicy at all.  Again the butter chicken was a definite must have if you do end up going.  Overall I give it a 3.5 out of 5.   

259 Host Fine Indian Cuisine

259 Wellington Street
Toronto, Ontario
Phone: 416-599-4678

Windsor Arm High Tea

I decided to have a look back at a place we had visited a few months back.  It was high tea and they had a special deal out for during that time for people who were willing to try something different.  The Windsor Arms restaurant specializes in serving special types of pastries and teas inside their old landmark hotel, the Windsor Arms Hotel.  Inside one can also doff hats to give you that old British field as you are enjoying your meal. 

We had reservations in the early afternoon and they promptly got us in.  As we sat down we were asked as to what tea we would like.  I decided to go with Eve’s Temptation which is a fruity type tea and my wife went with the Earl Gray with Red Roses.  I have to admit it was one of my first times doing this so I was definitely not expecting the teas to be so strong and somewhat bitter.  The Earl Grey is definitely very different than the one you get from Lipton.  

 

The pastries were somewhat pre made as they were sitting on the side.  The waiter brought it over and next thing you know it was bon appetit.  On the bottom tray were Fresh Scones with Preserves and Devon Cream.  I don’t know about you but I have never been a scones fan.  They were quite dry and hard to chew on.  It actually felt like eating three day old bread.

There were three different types of sandwiches. There was the Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Sour Cream with Salmon Caviar, the Cucumber with Sundried Tomato Paste and Dill Cream Cheese and the Grilled Chicken, Granny Smith Apples Citrus Mayonnaise, Greek Yogurt & Chives.  My favorite of the three was probably the smoked salmon.  Not that I am biased with the salmon but it was probably the “juiciest” of the three. It also had some roe sprinkled on the top which helped with the juiciness of the sandwiches.   Truthfully, the sandwiches were all very dry and were somewhat hard to swallow.  It certainly was quite different then your average bowl of noodle soup.

 
At the end of the meal, you really are not full at all.  You are about half full, however you really just can’t stuff any more scones or sandwiches into your system.  The thickness of the pastries makes it quite difficult to eat more of this stuff.  Truthfully if I had this with a cup of coke or a beer, it might have gone down easier.  Otherwise the experience was an interesting one however it will probably be my only one.  At forty five dollars per person, personally I think it could have been better spent.  Lucky for us we had a two for one coupon. For this, I give this a 2.5 out of 5.   

Windsor Arms Hotel
18 Saint Thomas St  Toronto, ON M5S 2Z7

(416) 971-9666

Ichiban

A birthday was upon us so we decided to go get a big platter of sushi and sashimi from Sushi Ichiban in south Scarborough.  This place has been existence for the past 20 years with its fresh sushi and sashimi and friendly service. 

When one walks into the place, there are only three small tables available to sit.  The staff no matter how busy they are will always say hello when you walk through the door and one of the policies at the restaurant is that if you are made to wait for more than fifteen minutes for your meal, you were treated with a free hand roll. 

We placed a take out order earlier in the day and told the lady that we would pick it up at five p.m.  When I got there at five there were four other people inside the place.  I thought they were going to be late however at 5:05 pm, my extra large platter was ready to go. 

We brought the platter back and opened it up.  There were about 100 pieces of sushi and sashimi on the tray.  Included were tuna fish, salmon and butterfish and various types of sushi and maki rolls.  As you can see in the picture, the entire large plate was packed from one end the other end.  There was really no room to spare.  

As many of my readers know, there are two things I look for, taste and freshness.  In the past, there has never been a moment where there has been bad sashimi or sushi from this place.  This time did not disappoint either.  The fish was neither frozen nor mushy.  The fish was nice and tender and the salmon was sweet tasting.  The rice used for the maki and sushi were nicely cooked unlike the last place I was at.  The rice was not soggy or wet and it held the contents well. 

There was also a different type of butterfish on the plate that I had never had before.  The next time I am at Sushi Ichiban I will be sure to ask them what it was.  Although there was the usual white butterfish, there was also a reddish yellow butterfish that was mouth watering and very tasty. 

Overall a great experience once again.  There is a reason why this place has been in business for over 20 years.  There may be a couple of times where they had to make the extra hand roll as they were late making the meals, but it was definitely all worth it.  The only thing that has always plagued this place is the lack of parking that sometimes occur at the front.  Otherwise it is a decent place and for an extra large platter that contained over a hundred pieces, it only cost me 90 dollars, tax included.  With fresh fish and great tasting sushi and sashimi you couldn’t have asked for more.  Strongly recommended I give this place a 4 out of 5. 

Sushi Ichiban

80 Ellesmere Road, Scarborough, ON M1R4C2
Phone: (416) 447-3250

Frankie Tomatto’s

Last night we went out with some colleagues of mine out to Frankie Tomatto’s

to celebrate our Christmas Dinner up in Markham.  When we got there the place was packed with people at the door however there were a lot of empty seats on the inside.  The staff appeared to have a little bit of trouble clearing out the backflow.  We were given a pager even though we had reservations however the wait time was only five minutes.

If one has never been in here before, Frankie Tomatto’s is mostly an Italian buffet style restaurant.  On this evening, they served a lot of pizzas, pastas, turkey, lasagnas, salads, seafood dishes and ribs.  The price for tonight’s dinner was $15.99 per person not including drinks.  One may want to go on their website at www.grankietomato.com to check out the rest of their pricing as it can be different for weekends and even on weekdays pending on what time one shows up for dinner. 

Again with buffet style places it is difficult to really photograph or even go through all the dishes one eats.   The place is rather large and can accommodate and/or seat quite a number of people.  As with my previous blogs, it is probably best that I give you a couple of the highlights and a couple of the lowlights. 

Bloody Caesar's

Let’s start off with what I thought was the bad.  The ribs here at the restaurant are huge which although optically is good, may not be the best ribs in town.  The barbeque sauce they use is not bad but when the ribs are big and are served big, it makes it very difficult for one to eat.  You literally have to eat with your hands and the meat so tough because of the age of the meat it makes it is difficult to cut and you literally have to “rip” the meat off the bone.  One suggestion is to possibly go with baby back ribs rather than full scale ribs. 

Another disappointment had to be the Caesar salad.  The romaine leaf is already mixed with the Caesar salad dressing however when one is trying to find croutons and bacon bits, they were no where to be found.  I asked the chef who was making the salad and he told me that “they were out”.  I found that to be quite odd but how can one be out of croutons as well as bacon bits.  To me it was more like they never had it to begin with.

On the flip side, the spaghetti and meatballs were quite nicely done.  The pasta sauce which was already mixed in with the meatballs was not too heavy or salty and blended well with the spaghetti.  It actually felt “light” and the noodles were somehow kept pretty soft which made it a pretty good dish to have. 

Another dish that went down well was the cranberry vegetarian rice which was located near at vegetarian table.  Again not fattening at all, it had a mixture of small vegetables, cranberries and white rice.  The rice was not like that of Chinese white rice but of the Uncle Ben variety.  Again, not a heavy dish which actually helped compliment some of the other food on the plate. 

Overall, it was a satisfactory experience. For the price one pays this place will feed you for the night.  The waiters are nice and they clear your dish quite rapidly.  The drinks however could have been better.  I ordered a double shot bloody Caesar thinking it was going to be strong, however it was basically 2 shots of alcohol with double amount of V8 and juice which made the drink super dilated and lacked and degree of spiciness to it.  Personally it felt as if some of the potential star dishes including some of the seafood and ribs failed while some of the more lackluster tight plates were better than expected.  A good place for office parties and again for the price one pays for buffet it is someone satisfactory.  Overall I give this a 3.25 out of 5.

Frankie Tomatto’s

7225 Woodbine Avenue  Markham, ON
(905) 940-1900

Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant

This morning we had a chance to have dim sum over at Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant inside Bamburgh Mall.  We decided to venture out there on a weekday morning as we hadn’t been there in quite some time.  We were told that the restaurant had early dim sum breakfast before 11:30a.m. where all dim sums were more or less $2.50 each.  After this time, the prices tend to jump an extra dollar or more.

We got there about 10:00 a.m. where the restaurant was about half full.  This restaurant does not have servers who call out the food on push carts but one needs to check off the food that they want on a piece of paper..  We chose about 12 items which were to be shared amongst four people. 

We ordered the usual shrimp dumplings, steamed rice noodle with shrimp and beef,  chicken feet, chestnut sponge cake and BBQ pork buns.  The food arrived slowly despite the lack of people in the restaurant.  Although it is difficult to really comment on everything that arrived, I could make comment on a couple of dishes that I liked and disliked.  

BBQ Buns

Sesame Balls

 The best was probably the sesame balls with sweet sesame paste on the inside.  The hot sesame paste was just perfectly sweet and the overall dish was a nice dessert to have at the end of the meal.  I personally liked this dish even though I am not really a sweets type of person. 

The worse dish ordered was probably the chestnut sponge cake.  It was rather dry and had more of a chocolate taste to it rather than a chestnut taste.  I ordered it for my daughter and she ate it without hesitation however I couldn’t help to say the taste certainly could have been better. For me sponge cakes should be sweet tasting and slightly moist so that it can somehow melt in your mouth or at least give you a juicy taste to it.  This one was rather dry and bland and therefore it did not taste as good as I would like it to have been. 

Chicken Feet

Chestnut Sponge Cake

 

Although these to me were the best and worse dishes ordered, there were also the MIAs.  There were two beef dishes including a beef meatball dish that never arrived.  After 30 minutes of waiting we flagged a waitress down about the missing two meat dishes.  She apologized and went to the back to check it out however another 20 minutes went by and it still hadn’t arrived.  Disappointed, we couldn’t wait much longer so we asked for the bill. 

Overall the food was satisfactory however my own personal pet peeve has always been if you go with the pick and choose on paper format rather than the push cart format, you better be able to bring all the food that was ordered on the order sheet.  Somehow, not one but two dishes were missing.  Humans make mistakes however what gets me is that when you remind the waitresses that two of our dishes were missing and they still don’t arrive, then that to me is unacceptable.  That is poor restaurant service and no matter how good the food may or may not be, it will never be acceptable and in some cases can ruin one’s entire meal.  There was also no wow factor with the shrimp dumplings or with the siu mei’s either.  Slightly disappointed, the highest I can give is a 2.5 out of 5. 

Sam Woo Seafood Restaurant

375 Bamburgh Circle 

 Toronto, ON
416-502-2888

Takara Bune

Today we decided to go to Takara Bune for lunch.  This is located at the corner of Victoria Park Avenue and Sheppard Avenue East in the east side of North York.  I have been to this place for lunch and dinner in the past and they have provided me with some decent Japanese food. 

I got there about a quarter to noon and the guy told me that they were not opened yet.  Most Japanese restaurants don’t usually open until noon hour.  I figured since I eat a lot of sushi and sashimi I would mix it up and try something a tad bit different.  On their menu, they have a Spicy Maki Tray which basically has about 40 pieces of maki and rolls for $35 dollars. 

It took about 20 minutes to make but it did look good. The 40 pieces are made up of 6 pieces of spicy tuna roll, 6 pieces of spicy salmon roll, 6 pieces of spicy ebi roll, 6  pieces of scallop roll, 8 pieces of fire dynamite and 8 rolls of kamikaze maki. 

The fire dynamite in my mind was one of the better ones there.  Its uniqueness lies within the maki where they sprinkle bits of tempura crumbs on top of the maki to make it crunchy.  By doing so, it changes the texture of the roll.  While, the rice, avocado and fish are “soft” and where the crumbs are “hard”, the contrast of these two makes it a nice roll to have.  

The kamikaze maki was not that spicy at all.  Actually the whole dish was not spicy at all.  Personally I think the wasabi soya sauce that my wife made was way more spicier than what was in each of these rolls.  Overall, I would give the overall spiciness a 3 out of 10.  There really wasn’t much to report on the kamikaze rolls. 

Out of the tuna, ebi, salmon and scallop rolls, the scallop probably tasted the best out of the four.  The scallops were nice and fresh and the spiciness in the scallop was a tad bit more spicier than the rest of the rolls.  I don’t know whether if it was my imagination or whether the wasabi just blended better with the scallop but it just felt that way.  The tuna and salmon rolls were really unspectacular.  If anything they tasted like any other tuna or salmon sushis. 

Overall it was satisfactory however I will make one comment.  I don’t know whether it was because I was the first in the restaurant but the rice to make the makis was a bit soggy.  It seemed like I was eating leftover rice and there was a chance that they could have been the case as I was the first one there.  It made all the rolls have that wet and soggy feeling and taste to it which is really too bad.  I truly think that this entire plate could have earned another half to full mark if the rice had been better.  As well, I would have expected it to be more spicier since it was advertised as a spicy tray.  These two flaws unfortunately probably made this dish a little bit harder to stomach but in the end 40 pieces will still fill one’s stomach.  Overall I would have to give this a 2.75 out of 5.   

Takara Bune

2450 Sheppard Avenue East Unit 106

Toronto Ontario

416 491 6688

Pho Vietnam

The other day we had lunch over at Pho Vietnam which they say houses some of the best noodle soups in the city.  The restaurant is located in the heart of a commercial area in Scarborough where many furniture stores are located.  There are only a few parking spots located at the front of the restaurant. However don’t let the exterior fool you because the restaurant has pretty nice décor on the inside and is relatively clean.

Although my wife went for the traditional pho noodles, I went with the curry chicken and rice.  You may wonder why I would do that and that’s because I find that pho could potentially be all the same especially when it comes to noodles and raw meat.  Not much changes except for the soup base so I went with the more untraditional order and got the curry chicken instead.

When it arrived, the bowl carrying the curry was huge.  The rice on the plate was even bigger and contained almost 2 bowls of rice.  The curry was dark brown and it contained 3 pieces of chicken and 2 pieces of potatoes and a ton of curry sauce. 

A couple pieces of the chicken were quite chewy.  They were large pieces which led me to believe that these pieces were probably “older” chicken that were served.  The 2 pieces of potatoes were actually one that was split into two.  The sauce itself was not spicy at all.  Although one can certainly taste the curry, it was at best a bland curry.  The sauce was thick and reminded me of Japanese style curry except even in Japanese curry there was more spiciness than this. 

The meal itself was like seven dollars which was one dollar more than the pho.  It was filling but then again 2 bowls of rice will do that to you.  I will try the pho the next time as my wife and colleague all tried it and said it was decent.  The only complaint they had was that the medium size they ordered was like as a small at other restaurants.  As for the curry chicken, it was acceptable but not the greatest. I give it a 3 out of 5. 

1280 Kennedy Road  

Scarborough, ON M1P 2L5
(416) 755-0909

Matsuda Japanese Cuisine

On the eve of winter my cousins and I decided to go to Matsuda Japanese Cuisine Restaurant since we haven’t had Japanese for quite some time.  This restaurant offers an all you can eat buffet style of Japanese foods.  Although I am not a huge favorite of Japanese buffets, I decided to give this one a go since I have not been to this one before.

We got there late however there were reservations made.  The restaurant was about three-quarters full and the staff was courteous.  This all you can eat buffet is not the type on a conveyor belt or where you have to go up and get type buffets.  It’s the ones you tell the waitress what you want and they will bring it out for you. 

There was a lot of food ordered tonight so it is impossible to tell you everything we ate.  I think the best way to do it is to give you what I thought were some of the better dishes and which ones were less than desirable.

Tataki

Avocado Seafood Salad

Salmon Roses Sushi

My personal favorites of the night were the salmon skin, spicy salmon, tuna and eel hand rolls.  The fish was quite fresh and an added difference to other hand rolls from other places is that they add small pieces of tempura crumbs on top of the hand rolls.  Although the tempura crumbs are tasteless, it is that added different texture and crunchiness that makes this hand roll unique from all the others. 

I also personally enjoyed the herb salmon dish which is only served between Monday to Thursday.  The dish comes with about 20 pieces of other fish however it is the herb salmon that people want.  The salmon are seared on the outside and are then sprinkled with a slightly spicy herb.  It also comes with its own soya sauce although you can certainly use your own self made wasabi soya sauce.  I like this dish because the herbs give the salmon a totally different dimension in taste and not a bad one either. 

The other one I enjoyed was the tataki which is basically raw meat.  It too comes with its own special sauce however there were some at the table who felt that the sauce was a little too soury or minty.  I believe the meat was already briefly marinated in vinegar so there might have been a bit of overkill here.  However I just added the meat to my own self made wasabi soya sauce and it tasted wonderful. 

Beef

Steamed Mussels

Some of the stuff there that I would never try again included the Avocado Seafood Salad.  Even though on the menu they say that it took 25 minutes to make and this was one of their signature dishes, this dish surely was not worth the wait.  It has a very mushy taste to it and the combination of seafood and avocado made it somewhat bitter to taste.  It comes on a seashell but the appearance and color of it also made it less appealing.  

The steamed mussels were also less appealing.  There were chewy and had little to no taste to them.  It was definitely not one of the better dishes of the night.   Some of the makis we ordered were also suspect.  The Matsuda Maki, Philadelphia Maki and Mango Roses Maki were satisfactory although no one could explain to me why they were all so smoky tasting.  I am guessing that it could be part of their maki collection of dishes however I was hoping that not every piece of maki was so smoky tasting. 

Philadelphia Maki

Spicy Salmon Hand Roll

Herb Salmon

Overall it was a satisfactory night.  We ended up clearing the desert menu with a variety of ice creams, mousses and mango puddings.  As mentioned there are pros and cons when having many unique and specialty dishes.  I admit the majority would probably taste good but there will always be one or two that will leave you scratching your head.  The price on the weekdays was about $21.95 per person and a few dollars more on the weekend.  There was plenty of free parking outside and there was plenty of staff to take down your order.  I would give this a 3.5 out of 5. 

O Mei Restaurant - Alaskan Crab Dnner

For the first time, I will be doing a double blog on a restaurant where I had been there before.  It was my father’s birthday so we went back to O Mei to have the crab seafood dinner.  Last time we were here we got the 9 lb lobster, this time we got the 10 lb Alaskan Crab.  Again it was made in 4 different ways.  It was steamed with green onions only, green onions with garlic, fried with batter similar to tempura and the rest of it was made into fried rice.

10 lb Alaskan Crab

Crab Legs with Green Onions

 

The first two ways were very similar.  They used the crab legs to make the steamed dishes.  The most outer legs were made with the green onions only.  The more proximal legs were used with garlic and green onions.  Both dishes also had vermicelli mixed with the dishes.  I have to admit the meat was very smooth and fresh.  It was delicious and the vermicelli captured all of the crab’s juice.  This was very tasty and it was not heavy at all.  Unlike the lobster, it was lighter and one “could eat more” of the crab when compared to the lobster. 

The “tempura” style of the crab meat was not as good as the lobster style.  The batter was slightly thicker which may it made it slightly more “soggier”.  The lobster dish was much more spicier and crunchier compared to the crab dish.  Still, it was quite good.  In some sense by not making it as spicy, one can taste the crab meat better. 

Crab Legs with Garlic and Green Onions

Fried Crab Meat

The crab rice was not as tasty as the lobster rice dish.  It was more bland and there were more egg and egg white in it. Since the lobster contains more membrane in it, the lobster rice would certainly have a stronger flavor and taste to it.  The crab I was told has less membrane therefore it is not as seafood tasting like.  Still the dish was very pure, sweet and delicious tasting. 

Crab Rice

Overall, it was a wonderful evening.  There was complimentary desert given to us as well including fresh mango covered in coconut, black sesame gluten balls mixed in honey and a couple of sweet desert soups.  If you have cholesterol problems or blood pressure issues, the crab would be the better way to go when compared to the lobster because it is somewhat less fattening and somewhat easier on the cholesterol.  Price wise however it is more expensive compared to the lobster.  It cost about $480.00 for the whole night.  Not for the faint of heart but for one night it was all very worth it.  Happy birthday to my dad!! Hope you enjoyed the meal.  For the night, I give it a 5 out of 5!

PF Chang's Restaurant

Yesterday we went over the border to Buffalo to do some shopping and check out a couple of places to eat.  We were over at the Cheesecake Factory at the Walden Galleria for which we were there many times before and of course the lineup was horrendous.  So instead we opted for PF Chang’s which is further down in the mall.  There, it was less crowded and we were seated within five minutes. 

The décor was quite nice and the staff was very courteous.  We were starving so we ended up sharing a few things for the day.  They provided a high chair for us and gave us a huge table knowing that we had a little one with us. 

We ended up ordering a Hot and Sour soup, Dan Dan Noodles, Sesame Chicken, Lobster Sauce Rice and Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wrap.  The waitress forewarned us that the proportions would be satisfactory however if we were really hungry, this combination of food would not be enough for five people.  We were okay with it given the fact you can always order more afterwards.  She also demonstrated how to make a mustard, chili soya sauce for the chicken wrap. 

The hot and sour soup arrived first and it was dark.  It had all the ingredients of the hot and sour soup expect for the hotness.  There was zero spiciness to it but it was quite sour.  A little too much on the soya sauce and vinegar and not enough peppers.  Not the best soup in the world if you are a fan of hot and sour soup.

Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wrap

Sesame Chicken

Next to arrive was the chicken wrap.  The lettuce was nicely washed and the chicken came in on a separate plate.  The self made wrap with a little of the waitress’ made chili soya sauce was excellent!! It was refreshing, not fattening at all and was delicious.  It hit all the right spots on the empty stomach. 

Next to arrive was the dan dan noodles.  This dish was yummy! It is actually quite different than the dan dan noodles in Toronto.  It was actually closer to the “cha cheung mien” in Hong Kong.  Very spicy though.  It’s mixture of cucumbers, egg noodles and bean sprouts was a perfect combination for this dish.  Honestly this dish will make your tongue go numb.  Very tasty but again very, very spicy.  On the spiciness scale this one hit a 8. 

Next to the arrive to the menu was a lobster sauce rice.  Interesting they call it a lobster sauce because the only lobster you taste is the sauce itself.  It had lots of egg and shrimp in it but no lobster meat.  Compared to the dan dan noodles, this was fairly bland but again if you are MSG conscious, this could be the dish for you. 

Last to arrive was the sesame chicken rice dish.  This dish was loaded with broccoli and chicken and it was okay.  One thing you will notice is the different taste and texture of the chicken.  On the outside the chicken is tasty with it’s sesame barbeque sauce.  On the inside it is a more tender and had a total different taste that was not easy to describe.  Still tasty but interesting to say the least. 

Lobster Sauce Rice

Dan Dan Noodles

Overall it was a good experience and a good alternative.  We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory when we came down and although we did buy a cheesecake from them afterwards, it was almost 20 times into our meal before they paged us back saying our table was ready.  PF Chang’s is definitely a good alternative.  Watch out for the dan dan noodles!!  I give this a 3.75 out of 5.  

PF Chang's Restaurant

Walden Galleria
1 Galleria Dr. TH131
Buffalo, NY 14225
716-706-0791

Very Fair Seafood Cuisine

This past weekend we had a chance to dine at Very Fair Seafood Cuisine.  For those who are not totally familiar with this restaurant, yes that is the name of the restaurant.  This place had gone through multiple owner changes however this present owner has been there for at least the past 5 years.  We were there this past week to celebrate a birthday and in doing so we decided to get a 10 course meal from them. 

First up, just want to apologize for some of the photography.  For some of the dishes the waitress was either separating them on a cart or from another table. 

We sat down to eat on this busy evening.  There was also a wedding going on that evening inside the restaurant but we were still given a couple of tables outside the wedding reception area. 

Roasted Suckling Pig with Jelly Fish

Deep Fried Crab Claws

The first thing to arrive was the roasted suckling pig.  It came with jelly fish which were cold but it mixed well with the pork.  The skin was pretty crunchy and it was quite tasty.  It also came with oyster sauce which also adds extra flavor to the dish.  The meat was salty tasting and was pretty good. 

The fried crab claws arrived next and this is a very typical main course dish.  What they do is that they take a claw and its meat and dip it into fried batter therefore making a nice fried claw ball.  People eat this dish with red vinegar.   The crab meat was tasty and they did not make the batter and this dish too oily. 

The shark fin soup arrived next.  Unfortunately for this restaurant this would be one of the last times they would serve this dish due to the city’s ban on shark fin.  It was however well done and each bowl contained at least some shark fin in it. 

Shark Fin Soup

Baby Bok Choy with Mushrooms

The baby bok choy and mushrooms arrived next.  It was not overdone and the mushroom sauce provided good flavor to the overall dish.  It is always good to have a dish like this because it is refreshing and usually allows one to “break away” from all the fatty dishes before and after this.

The baked lobster was next to arrive and it was serve with green onion and garlic sauce.  The lobster was nice cooked and was quite fresh.  The meat was juicy and they did not overdo the garlic sauce which brought out the best of the lobster.

The chicken came out next.  This was pretty good chicken.  Usually they serve this dish with fried shrimp crackers.  However this time they serve this with nuts over the chicken.  I believe the nuts were chestnut however others might dispute this.  Either way, I do like the variety and by doing it this way, the chicken was more softer and juicier and not as dry like typical roasted crispy chicken dishes. 

Baked Lobster

Crispy Chicken

The last couple of dishes to arrive were the noodles and rice.  It is a tradition for them to serve this at the end to make sure that if you were not full by now, then you will be full after this.  They also served some red bean soup as well afterwards for desert which was not bad at all either. 

Normally this is a typical ten course meal.  Others may add a couple more where there is abalone and/or fish.   We decided to bypass that as there were a lot of food on the table already and everybody was stuffed.  A table of ten to serve all of this will cost you $188 per table.  Cash preferred of course.  Overall we were quite full after the meal and it was decent.  The only drawback was that there was no one dish that was spectacular.  It was fair just like its name.  For tonight I give this place a 3.75 out of 5.  

Very Fair Seafood Cuisine

17 Milliken Boulevard  Toronto, ON

(416) 299-6368

Crown Princess Fine Dining Restaurant

We were happily invited to have lunch with some of our out of town friends to Crown Princess Restaurant for some dim sum.  Now I have always resisted from blogging on dim sum places because sometimes it can be difficult to really blog everything that comes through.  But after today I think a restaurant is a restaurant so here goes. 

We got there just before noon hour and it was three-quarters full.  By noon hour, this place was lined up all the way outside.  I was told that this restaurant is one of the more pricier restaurants for dim sum and that it is a more of an upper class type dim sum restaurant.  This place goes by the mark on the sheet what you want system.  The teapots and plates are of a slightly fancier type. We ordered a variety of dim sum but I will just highlight the main ones.

Snow Peas Shoot In Garlic Sauce

Abalone Tarts

We ordered snow pea shoots to add an extra food group in our meal since everything was mostly seafood or meat.  The snow pea shoot was off the simple type where it was cooked into garlic sauce.  Keeping things simple, the vegetables were quite nice. 

We also ordered the abalone tarts.  This is not a dessert.  Shaped like an abalone, the insides consisted mostly of ground pork and mushrooms.  We are not too sure if there were any abalone on the inside.  We could taste any but that does not mean it was there.  It was slightly on the salty side and a little oily but was edible otherwise. It is a "special dish" on the paper card.

Dumpling, Siu Mei and Tripe

Mango Pudding

We also a variety of dumplings and tripe.  The famous "siu mei" had a small mushroom on the top.  The meat was nicely done.  The taste was interesting in that it wasn't heavy on the meat side.  It was a good siu mei and slightly different from other restaurants.  The tripe had some carrots on top mostly for decoration.  The tripe was very tender and "crunchy".  It was quite fresh and again one thing I noticed was that it was not that heavy on the MSG.  It was quite light yet still tasty..  We also ordered a mango puddingwhich came in the shape of a fish.  With some condensed milk, this dessert was quite good.  There were no mango chunks but definitely a strong mango taste to it.

Vegetarian Roll

Shark Fin Seafood Dumpling in Soup

 

 

 

 

A couple of other interesting dishes that arrived were the sweet potato, taro and mushroom rolls.  Basked in a nice soup sauce, this is a great dish to have for any vegetarian lover.  The flavor of the soup was such that it was not so heavy that it took away the taste of the individual ingredients. 

Finally the last one was the "shark fin" seafood soup.  Recently the city banned shark fin so the fins were substituted with vermicelli like strands.  The big dumpling inside the soup plus the "shark fin" is suppose to make this dish one of the most special dishes in the menu.  When it arrived it came with special bowl and dish.  We split it up into 5 bowls.  Inside the dumpling also contained some ground pork.  It was quite tasty and did not disappoint. 

Overall it was a great experience.  We also ordered meat and shrimp steamed noodle rolls or also known as Cheung Fun.  We also had a seafood congree which contained some scallops and clams which help filled the void of an empty stomach and a pumpkin soup that sure looked and tasted a lot like a butternut squash soup. 

The restaurant is somewhat divided where if one wants a more private area, they could sit on the other side of the room for more privacy.  There was plenty of public parking all around the restaurant.  This place is located in the heart of downtown Toronto and would make a great lunch and dinner place. This place however is a little pricey and if one is concerned with that, then an alternative dim sum restaurant might be in order.  Otherwise the food is pretty good and not heavy on the MSG. For this place, I give this a 4 out of 5.

Crown Princess Fine Dining Restaurant
1033 Bay Street  Toronto, ON

(416) 923-8784