Toronto restaurant recommendation - Page 45

Went to Porchetta yesterday evening, damn that was amazing. Truffle sauce on the pork, gold!

I had an ACME burger the other day (Bloor around Spadina or Bathurst). Pretty good, nothing amazing but good quality fast food. I think Craft is better so far.

If people are into middle-eastern cuisine, Armenian Kitchen in the Vic Park & Eglinton area is pretty solid.
No high dining by any means, more like a quick lunch joint when you're in the area.
I've been there twice, had the chicken kebabs, which were tasty with good-quality meat.
Their falafel is a bit so-so, and their hummous is a bit creamier than I like, but not bad overall.
Their baba ghanoush is quite tasty. Meals come with thin pitas or rice.

Since I might be visiting this hole area ( Vic Park & Eglinton ) again soon, are there any other places people can recommend?

Went to Lai Wah Heen for lunch today. Unfortunately they were closed and will remain so until next week. So, we had to change our plans, and for some reason decided to try Kenzo, the Ramen place nearby. We were initially seated at the front, which is quite cramped and cold by the door, but moved ourselves to a booth a few minutes later. The place is really clean, the bowls and utensils look new. I had the King of kings ramen, which was slightly spicy with lots of toppings inside, including half an egg, several meats, sprouts and mushrooms, etc. I think they make their own noodles, and while they're a bit on the thin side, they are tasty, and I enjoyed the soup. My companion had some sesame-oil based soup, which was surprisingly not very salty (a good thing), and tasty, but they had thickened it with corn starch or some other way, and I wasn't too fond of the consistency. Overall a decent experience. A hot bowl of soup was exactly what I needed on such an ugly and wet day. I would probably go back.

auberge du pommier dinner. tasting menu. me and my partner unimpressed.

good service tho.

best thing was a soup with truffle, egg, and if i remember, cauliflower cream. that was frenchy and yummy.

the had a good cheese dish. but that's more a function of just having a good supplier of brie.

nothing else was memorable. the main dish, beef and scallop, was just okay. the scallop was over-seasoned. ew. if there's anything a fine dining restaurant should do well, it better be scallop.

seed

Has anyone been to e11even?

Also there is a bar next to the Real Sports monstrosity in Le Germain that serves unorthodox martinis (I read somewhere it was different base liquors than your usual gin or vodka)

And in the Telus tower, I think there's another bar or restaurant opening up. The way the place is laid out, I can't imagine it isn't a bar of some kind. I walked by it on Sunday.

Like Kenzo as well. Asian restaurant full of asian people is always a good sign.

Situated on Dundas just west of Bay. Broth is delicious and the King of Kings is the best order. If you don't like spicy, get the Sapporo with extra cha shu.

I was at Khao San Road on Monday for lunch. There are maybe a dozen tables and two long communal tables. I came in at 12pm with a lunch mate and had to sit at the communal table. A large party then came in and completely took over another communal table and one couple sat next to us.

The period after that was almost like chaos. We ordered some fresh spring rolls, a curry of the day with rice and some kind of sweet chicken on jasmine rice. It took an hour before the entrees showed up one by one. The large party ended up being served first before us. The couple next to us only received their soup. One of the waiters gave me a free bowl of curry to compensate. By the time I finished my entree, I got the bill, only because the waiters came by with entrees for the poor couple (they were sharing by this time). We were making jokes on who will get out the door first. I don't know how they make certain things but you would assume some items are pre-made, like a soup, can come out pretty easily.

Luckily the restaurant knows they are too busy and stopped letting people in. They stopped answering the phone which rang continuously.

This place got good reviews in the last couple of weeks but until they fix their service, I doubt it will last long. My lunch mate said the curry was good but she'll never come back for a 90 minute lunch where you only eat for 10 minutes.

Tried m:brgr on King the other day. I believe its fairly successful in Montreal. Okay but not knock-your-socks-off-burger-good. They have the marketing-gimmick $100 kobe burger on the menu, truffle fries (not bad, actually, the fries not the kobe), martinis, etc. The problem is it wants to be a trendy, upscale burger spot but its a long walk for the Bay Street crowd and I'm not sure the neighbourhood that far out will support it.

the burgs at m:brgr are pretty solid (remarkable given how toronto's home to so many awful "gourmet" burger joints)...but the joint itself looks atrocious (basically some suburbanite's idea of what a mid-90s cocktail lounge should look like). definitely no competition for one of marben's burgers (one of the city's best).

After the m:brgr experience a friend steered us toward Bymark for a better burger. Bymark is actually pretty good in general, I don't know why I don't go there more often. Lobster poutine. A $35 burger with brie de meaux and mushrooms. Very good. The burger itself is thick and cooked to order, I was told it is ground on-site. The only thing I would have asked different is something with a bit of acidity in between the layers of luxurious, rare meat, brie and Ace bakery bun. Nothing so pedestrian as ketchup but maybe a slice of tomato or something pickled. Its a little too rich without something to put a bit of bite into it.

I went to Aria at the foot of the Telus Tower at York and Bremner for lunch on Tuesday. I saw this place a few weeks ago being renovated or built in. It is your typical Italian place, although it didn't have Pelligrino which was a bit of a disappointment considering I didn't want to drink for lunch. The space is new and fresh of course. The service, however, is iffy. I ordered a buffalo mozarella and tomatoes plus a baresi sausage with rapini. The mozarella was nice. Baresi was interesting, rapini they cut up and put on the sausage. Lunch mate had the soup of the day, some thick pasty soup with proscuitto and a sea bass. The problem was getting the food. The waiter came by twice, once to confirm I wanted buffalo mozarella and not proscuitto for appetizer and then again to confirm I wanted baresi and not something else. Then the entrees do finally come out. I got chicken rigatoni and my lunch mate had a sea bass. This was another table's order. Another long wait and we finally get the meal. The waiter even apologized "because we're a new restaurant" - interesting because there is a lot of wait staff there. The portions are nice - small enough you can actually eat and have another course. I didn't think it was spectacular but it was decent. Obviously they still need to improve the service. It's not under serviced, just poorly serviced. $75 + tip.

Wednesday night I went to e11even for dinner (same intersection). I had the tuna tartare and a petit filet. Tuna tartare was much too oily. The avocado made it like a typical sushi pizza. The petit filet was a good size (6 oz) but drizzled with far too much butter. I didn't even know it was cooked medium rare. Two whiskeys and it ended up being about $90 + tip.

I went to Galangal Thai Fusion yesterday for lunch. This used to be called Thai Dish on Colborne next to Colborne Lane, and basically has the same decor but I assume different management. The menu is different - there are more lunch combos and I think in general more variety in the menu. Perhaps the biggest difference was the kitchen staff. You get your meal pretty quick. Previously there was a long wait between appetizer and entree. Maybe that's why the place wasn't filled up at lunch because they actually turn around tables quicker. Entrees were $9-$12. I had the pad thai, which I didn't think was spectacular but at that price in a quiet sit down place what more could you want.

Next door, Six Steps gave up serving rubbish to people at high prices and closed up.

I was at the Gabardine last night. This was where the old Blue Moon bar was. The space is essentially laid out the same but very bright and airy compared to Blue Moon. The kitchen is see through now. I had the mac and cheese, which many critics have raved about - simple but nice. Portions are sized enough that I had room for the toffee something dessert - a bit too much on the sweet side. The old fashioneds were nice but I was too much along to try any of the other cocktails. Service was quick but maybe becuase my dinner started at 9pm. The place attracts a younger more eccentric type crowd on a Friday night - more like the Ossington strip than the typical money pits in and around the financial district. (a couple of Mad Men wannabes too) I'd come back again for lunch but it seems like they're always packed. Other than the steak & frites and ploughman's platter, I think most entrees were $15 or below.

Just came out of a business lunch at Little Anthony's. Entrees and starters came out at extremely varied times such that some people were finished lunch before anything else came. Granted, I've never seen this place so busy but still it's pretty inexcusable that 90 minutes for a party of 12 we barely made it to coffee.

The good part of the day: going to Splendido. The bad part: entertaining someone from work.