Ruth's Chris Steak House

I have been re-visiting many of the restaurants that I had previously posted which is why I have not posted any new restaurants recently.  However as a flashback, I had previously gone to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse which is located in the heart of downtown Toronto.

Here they boast some of the best prime steaks in the city.  We decided to order two large pieces of medium rare prime steaks.  We also got a coupon from one of their postings in red flag deals where you can get X number of dollars off for ordering 2 pieces of steak.

Prime Rib

Butternut Squash

Within fifteen minutes of ordering, out came two large sizzling pieces of prime rib steak.  They had us hold onto our napkins to cover ourselves from the splashing steak oil.  The steak were huge and it appeared the chef simply just sprinkled some black pepper on it.

I was skeptical as to whether one can get such a big piece of meat into the medium rare category but one cut in and it was picture perfect.  The taste was excellent even though the chef did not appear to have done a whole lot to it.  The meat was soft and juicy and it was equivalent to a medium rare steak.

We also ordered a butternut squash soup on the side.  It too was delicious and it was a good way to wash down the prime rib.  It was mildly creamy but not too thick at all.

When it was all said and done we were completely full.  How could one not be?  Certainly at regular price it is difficult to come on a regular basis but if you have good surfing abilities, you can always search online at Groupons or Red Flag Deals to get a deal or two to this place.  I highly recommend this place to any meat lovers out there.  I give it a 4.25  out of 5. 

Ruth's Chris Steak House
145 Richmond Street West
Toronto Ontario

416 955-1455

Blue Ocean Cafe

First of all, I would like to give out a special thank you to all of my readers who have followed my blog religiously.  It has been exactly a year since this blog went up and with over 6500 hits I think this has been a success.  Oddly based on the tracking information, readers from all around the world have hit my site and not just those from North America. 

Moving forward, I will continue to try to hit as many different restaurants in the Toronto and GTA area.  There are so many of them and although I am finding myself going back to some of my favorite old ones, with the presence of this blog, I am eager to try something new every week.

This past weekend I had a chance to go to Blue Ocean Cafe which is another one of these Chinese Hong Kong Style Tea cafés. This place was recently renovated and underwent an ownership and name change.  Although I had been to the previous place numerous times, this was actually the first time I have been back to this place since it undergone its changes. 

Hainan Chicken

The interior has been completely revamped.  The new silver sleek walls and blue interior paint really does give you that “blue ocean” feel.  They have a television that advertises many of their specialty dishes.  Today I decided to go with the Hainan Chicken and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. 

All of the dishes arrived fairly quickly.  The Hainan Chicken had about 8 pieces, 2 pieces of cucumber and the equivalent of one bowl of rice with what appeared to be dried almonds laid out on top.  The chicken also came with its ginger sauce and red pepper vinaigrette sauce.  The chicken was juicy and the skin of the chicken was smooth as silk.  In comparison to Phoenix Restaurant, another place where I had this meal, this chicken was equally if not better than Phoenix.  As well, just those few extra pieces of dried almond flakes enlightened an otherwise bland white rice.  Overall the meal was very good and I was quite please with this dish. 

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

The other dish was the spaghetti and meat sauce dish.  It looked quite simple yet it too was surprisingly good.  It did not have that heavy grease feeling to it, it did not require any parmesan cheese and the spaghetti was perfectly cooked.  I have absolutely not complaints with this dish. 

Overall it was a good beginning.  With a HK style iced tea, this was almost the perfect lunch to have.  Located in Mong Kok shopping plaza in the corner of Highway 7 and Kennedy Road, this place is an excellent place to have breakfast, lunch or a quick dinner.  Price wise, it was about the equivalent of any other HK style cafes.  I give this place a 4.5 out of 5. 

Blue Ocean Café

8392 Kennedy Road

Markham Ontario


905-604-5200

McDonald's New Cashew Teriyaki Salad

Yes many are wondering why there is a McDonald’s listing here.  Well today for the very first time, I went out and tried a McDonald’s salad, more namely the New Cashew Teriyaki Salad.  If it wasn’t for the coupons I wouldn’t even have known about it but I only went because of the $2.00 off coupon. 

For those who know me, I have eaten a lot of McDonald’s in my days but I have always stuck with the standard meals.  I decided to go with something different today just to see what all the big fuss was about. 

The salad without the coupon is $6.99.  The cashews came in a separate pouch as did the Asian Sesame Sauce.  The salad consisted of red and romaine leaf lettuce, tomatoes, edamame, carrot strips, red onions and peppers.  You also had the choice of either grilled or crispy teriyaki chicken.  I went with the grilled chicken today. 

Cashew Teriyaki Salad

I have to admit that there was quite a rush when taking my first bite into a McDonald’s salad.  Since I never really had a McDonald’s salad before, I really didn’t know what to expect.  After a couple of bites, I soon realized that this was very similar to Subway’s Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich. To me it was completely identical except for the cashews as it gave it just that extra flavor and difference in texture.  It was quite juicy and the vegetables were indeed all quite fresh.  The sauce was mostly vinaigrette and gave the salad just that extra bit of zing to it. 

I was thoroughly amazed actually at the quality of the salad.  However after completing my salad, my only wish was that there was more.  If there were just a bit more vegetables, then it would have been a perfect lunch.  Still it was certainly not a bad tasting salad at all.  Overall, I would give it a 4.25 out of 5.

Station Asia Fusion Restaurant

The other day I had lunch at Station Asia Fusion Restaurant at Splendid China Towers.  We got there about 11 in the morning and the space was just starting to fill in.  Although they had a rather large menu, there was really no breakfast menu or a small special menu for one to choose from.  After being indecisive for once on what to eat, I decided to go with the Pork Chops on Rice combination. 

The meal came with a complimentary soup similar to a pork bone soup which quite honestly wasn’t too bad at all.  My main course arrived shortly afterwards. The pork chop itself was baked in a light batter. It was quite tender however there wasn’t a whole of lot of taste to it.  There was no sauce to dip it in either and the combination of a bland pork chop and white rice was a very bland combination to eat to say the least. 

The salad that came with the dish was probably the most tasty of the three.  A few pieces of lettuce and a couple of slices of tomatoes provided a slightly refreshing taste to it however it did not quite overwhelm the overall blandness of the dish.  I had also ordered an ice cold lemon ice tea from them as well to wash down the food. 

Overall it wasn’t one of the best however it wasn’t one of the worst.  I’m not too sure whether we had missed their breakfast meal or if they just maybe didn’t have one to begin with.  For people who are watching their taste buds this is probably one of the more safer meals on their menus.   The whole meal cost about eight dollars.  Service was okay nothing spectacular.  Overall, for this lunch I give it a 3 out of 5. 

Station Asia Fusion Restaurant

4675 Steeles Avenue East Scarborough,
ON M1V 4S5

Telephone: 416-321-0268