Ema-tei.

Enjoyed a lovely, authentic dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Ema-tei downtown.  Had all the usual goodies including but not limited to, karage, green tea ice cream, and all yum yums imaginable.  Great food, good atmosphere, and family.

Don't know why people rated it so low.  Perhaps they didn't fancy the menu that includes chicken innards and ox tongue or fried salmon head (hmmmm good).

I'd give it a 4.5 out of 5.

The only thing that spoiled my evening was a brawl that happened around 10:15pm at Spadina and Dundas.  Two asian teenagers and some guy on a bike.  Honestly, keep the fights to the sidewalk.  Also loved how this old caucasian guy tried to get involved.  Throws his jacket on the ground and starts walking to the 3-person brawl and I'm sitting at a green light waiting for him to get out of the way.

Don't fight, just enjoy the food and the culture of Toronto.

平和

Tikki Tikka

Review 1 of a few more to come!

Honestly love this place.  Pretty decent atmosphere, small group of people running the place, awesome food, and a buffet for lunch!

I've ordered take out from this place several times already since I discovered it in November of 2009.  They're one of my favorite place in Mississauga to eat Indian food.  Sometimes it's not 100% authentic but hey, it's hard to find the right ingredients in Canada when a lot of people don't know what Paneer is.  All in all, I highly recommend this restaurant.

So I can try to be more objective on the review of food, I've ordered things that I never normally eat at this restaurant.  I got some Kulfi (finally, they're so high in demand that I have never been able to get my hands on any), butter chicken (with the usual side of naan), chicken pakoras, and beef samosas.

The Kulfi was excellent.  There's that ice cream-sweet flavor that so many people seek from a dessert yet it's not mind-numbingly cold.  It's also got some pistachios and some interesting herbs in it.  It tastes like those perfumed herbs and rock sugars that you can find at some Indian restaurants.  Delicious.  Although I am used to a heavier taste of condensed milk I like this version just as much.  Reader forewarned: you may have to get used to the flavor.  It's not like your usual Ben&Jerry's.

Hmm, butter chicken.  Now I have a lot of experience with dish since I ate it all the time back in Asia.  Home-made of course.  This dish doesn't disappoint.  The chicken is fairly tender although I wish they would marinate it for longer.  It's an interesting blend of the usual spices although there is something else in there.  Tomato?  I also have a suspicious feeling that the butter being used isn't the good stuff that normally goes into Indian food.  I'm talking about Ghee, of course.  It's a very generous serving of chicken in sauce though.

This is the naan that comes as a side.  You get it as a choice between basmati rice or half rice and half naan.  It's your typical naan; chewy, a little salty, great for dipping it into your curry or eating it with slabs of chicken between each bite.  It's a good consistency and I especially like how they do it via a pizza oven.  It doesn't have the charcoal flavor that normally follows naan made in the traditional method in the round oven that's open at the top.  Don't really know how it works but I normally see them stick their hand in there and put it on the side or something.  Regardless, it's all delicious.  I just like the naan without the charcoal since it masks the delicate herbs in the curry.

The chicken pakoras is essentially fried chicken.  It’s not burnt to a crisp like KFC or spicy like Popeye’s but the green sauce complements it very well.  This is a dish I would like to order when I’m feeling meaty but with less tastes to take in.  Overall it’s a decent dish.

The beef samosas were great!  I have a feeling that chickpeas are harder to find in Canada than they are elsewhere since I’m used to eating samosas with chickpeas with other sorts of garnish and varying types of meat.  Although the samosas here didn’t have chickpeas I do like the way they mixed the herbs and meat together.  It’s a little spicy but there’s a perfect balance.  The herbs don’t overwhelm the meat and the meat doesn’t overwhelm the goodness of the fried samosa and the herbs inside.  Very tasty.

I am a continuous customer at this restaurant.  Although my reviews in this post may seem a little harsh on certain aspects of the authenticity of food I would like to establish that it is completely understandable that the right ingredients are hard to find when some of them can only be found near the equator.  It's like going to a supermarket and trying to find green Thai chillies or Ghee (does anyone know where I can get some of that by the way?). The food is excellent, the people are friendly, the atmosphere at the restaurant is friendly, the service is extremely quick, and for a small restaurant they even have an online ordering service called eOrder that works a lot better than Pizzahut's (to this date I still cannot enter an address at UTM).

Definitely go there, if not for authenticity, for the good food and the great people.  This is exactly what we need.  Some good food for a good price.

Their website is www.tikkitikka.com or you can call them at 905-823-2000.  Their address is 2057 Royal Windsor Dr in Mississauga.  It's right next to the southern parking lot of Clarkson Go Station.  It may be hard to find so just keep an eye out for it at the north-western corner of the Southdown&Royal Windsor Dr intersection.

Food

It's been a while since I've posted and I apologize.  It's been midterm season since my shawarma escapades and it's been hard finding time to run out to review food.

Planning on doing some reviews very soon!  Hopefully I'll get a lot more during the summer!

Ooops!

So I changed the reactions on my blog since I wanted to make it more relevant to how you, the reader, feel about the food I reviewed.

Sorry!  I think I may have deleted all the previous votes.  If you want, feel free to go back to those posts and put in some feedback!

Thanks!

Osmow's Restaurant

So instead of satisfying my sushi craving, I settled for settling another craving; LAMB SHAWARMA.  Now, I love this little place in the UK near Queensway station called "Taza".  I decided to find a place closer to home since I don't want to fly 7 hours to get my fix.

Enter, Osmow's Restaurant.  Being prone to food poisoning I did a lot of research on restaurants nearby (also, because gas is getting expensive again).  Found a few interesting ones but Osmow's seemed like that best choice since it got an 87% positive rating on urbanspoon.com.

There's a great selection of dishes!  Of course, I only go for what I want so I asked for the Shawarma but with lamb.  Now, it's called something else here, I'm not quite sure why but maybe that's the proper way of ordering what I had in mind.  So I got what I thought was a "lamb shawarma".  I believe it's called the Lamb Kofta.  Not sure how this works, didn't get a chance to clarify since they were so busy.

It's unbelievable but I live about 15 minutes away which means that I waited there for 30 minutes.  Don't get me wrong, they're not slow.  It's THAT BUSY.  I think I counted 12 people standing in line in front of me and while I was waiting about 14 showed up to stand in line behind me.

OK to get to the good stuff.  My 'lamb shawarma' consisted of all the usual goodies; spiced lamb, all their sauces, and veggies.  That's all great.  They are so generous with the sauce, driving home was an ordeal because I saw one on a plate and how the sauces were just flowing out of it.  I actually wrapped my seat belt around it so it wouldn't tip over and get sauces all over my leather.

When I got back it was as delicious as I hoped it would be.  I got that in the Super-Size and medium spicy.  Now, I'm a fan of spicy food and I can take quite a bit.  This was just right and it broke out some beads of sweat which is perfect (sweating while you eat spicy is good, it's part of the experience).  The lamb was juicy and tender and the ratio of condiments to wrap was excellent.  The wrap wasn't too thick but it was thick enough to keep the juices in there until I got around to the bottom of the shawarma.  The lamb didn't taste overwhelming and the sauces complimented with it excellently.

The only complaint I have is that the capacity of the shop is still very small despite their efficient layout and how they mount a massive rack of chicken into their rotisserie can almost kill a man.  Maybe YOU should go and eat there so they can expand in the near future and serve more of us!

The one I went to is at 251 Queen St South, Unit 1.  It's near the Streetsville station.

Hurrah!  Now, I still and only crave sushi.

***I know the pictures might not be that appetizing but what more can you want from an amateur photographer, economics student, phone camera, and a hungry hungry individual?

Crave.

I've been craving sushi for weeks now but no one wants to go with me cause A) they don't like raw fish or B) they don't have money.

Favorite places include, Sushi 168, Prince Sushi, and a couple places downtown.

For cheap, quick eats, I like Maki Maki.  Sure, it's not the best or certainly not on the same level as Ki but hey, it's good food and low prices.  If you don't like the raw fish there then you're welcome to try to make your own buffet of raw fish and fried yummies by yourself.

I WANT SUSHIIIII.

Apologies

I'm aware that my blog may be somewhat biased right now because it's all about Asian food.  Yes you may have guessed correctly, I'm Hong Kong-Canadian.

SOOO to rectify this problem, I will definitely try to blog more on Western food although right now I'm bored with the usual Moxie's and Jack Astor's.  And, I cook a mean pasta, so, stay tuned!  One of these days I shall venture into Western territory again!

Thanks for staying in tune!

Pho Mi 99

Decided to go out and get some warm food since our furnace has been broken for the last two days.  Wanted some nice hot food that wasn't heavy on flavor and was very filling, sort of like how when Chinese people get sick they crave congee.  Ordered the medium rare beef with rice noodle soup, some more fresh shrimp rolls, grilled pork meat balls, and minced shrimp on sugar cane.

These are a few family favorites back when I lived in South-East Asia so I have fairly high standards.  The noodles were great, Pho Mi 99 is incredibly generous with their garnish and their meat.  It was light and simple as I had hoped and the noodles were done just right.  The beef was thinly sliced and was very tender even though it was soaking in soup water.  It also came with some sauce, and a bag of veggies which does contain basil, lime, and some Asian vegetables that I only know in Thai and Chinese.  Needless to say, this was excellent.  I didn't get a taste of a lot of artificial flavouring so that makes it even better.

The shrimp rolls weren't as good as Spice Avenue, which I reviewed earlier today.  There wasn't enough shrimp in it and once again, it lacked the basil leaves and the Vietnamese carrot and turnip, sweet and sour sauce.

The Minced shrimp on sugar cane is probably the best that I've had in Canada but truth be told, the South-East Asian version is much better.  It's a little sweet and the shrimp is very soft and has a smooth texture.  It was slightly oily for my taste and there was more flour in the ingredients than shrimp.  However, I still liked it since the flavour was still there.  And also, chewing some sugar cane is great!  It's sweet but also has a little savory flavor from the shrimp.

The most interesting dish I had were the grilled pork meatballs.  They were redder than I expected although they did taste very good.  The sweet sauce that suspiciously tasted like it contained honey was a delicious complement to the meatballs.  They were very tender and did not contain too much pepper, which some places tend to go overboard with.

It was incredibly filling and I am very, very warm despite the -20 Celsius weather we are enjoying today in the GTA.  Cost of satisfaction, $21.47 so, great prices with fairly decent food!  The restaurant I went to is at 3920 Grand Park Drive, Unit #D1 in Mississauga.  It's in the plaza with the Reitman's and Staples near the T&T supermarket.

Spice Avenue

Went for a little afternoon munch with some friends at this new place called Spice Avenue.  The address is 2661 Dundas St West, Mississauga, L5K 1R9.  Their phone number is 905-820-2661.

Now this is one of those, fusion Vietnamese/Thai places so when I walked in I wasn't really expecting much.  Surprise, surprise!  The authenticity of the food was quite good.

Assorted platter- didn't try it but it sure did smell good!
(Spring roll, fried wanton, and mango salad)

Had the shrimp rolls and a lime soda, done the Asian way.  Also tried some TomYumGung, which is a coconut-curry soup with shrimp that traditionally has chilies and a bit of lemon grass in it.  The one served wasn't entirely traditional since it contained figs and tomatoes.  The taste was fairly good although it was a little sweeter than it should be.  Excellent spice level, definitely something that spice-lovers should try.

The lime soda isn't actually a soda.  For all of you who have been to Asia, this lime soda is the one found in the older, traditionally places so it's definitely not Schweppes Lime soda.  It's lime squeezed into water mixed with a little sugar.  The trick is that they add a little more sugar to the bottom of the cup so as you drink it, you get the granules in as part of the experience.  It's cool and refreshing.  The sugar at the bottom kind of makes it feel like you're drinking a Margarita with a proper salt-rimmed glass.

                                       

Here are the pictures of the fresh shrimp rolls!  Excellent sauce, although I'm not entirely sure what's supposed to be in it.  Tamarind?  It's even sprinkled with a little peanut so, peanut warning for all of you who are allergic!  The shrimp roll is only missing a little chopped chili in the sauce and some basil leaves that should go either into the roll or come on the side so you can munch on it with some mint leaves.

My experience here was great despite the small things that stray a little from tradition.  Perhaps I'm too old fashioned.  It's also styled in a combination of Nouveau-Arte and Zen with the simple Japanese plates and simple cutlery.  There are two sections, the bar&lounge where you could also eat and the actual dining area that has a dark ambiance.  The bar&lounge is closer to the front door where the bar is and during the day the curtains are drawn creating a nice soothing effect.  It's nice for all of the young people of Toronto looking for a date-place, I would highly recommend it.

Congee Dynasty- Mississauga

There's a little Chinese restaurant located at 1100 Burnhamthorpe Rd West that has some of the best Chinese food available.  Here's a little review of what I got from Congee Dynasty on a lazy, rainy Sunday.

Got myself some Ham Yur Gai Lup Fan and some Shurn Lat Tong.  That's, salted fish and chicken fried rice with hot and sour soup.  Two of my favorite dishes.

It tastes great and it doesn't cost much at all.  I paid $27.29 for 2 orders of the fried rice and 1 order of the soup.  I don't know why I got 2 orders of the fried rice.  Doesn't matter, means I have something to eat for dinner as well.

The Ham Yur Gai Lup Fan (salted fish and chicken fried rice) is like your typical Hong Kong street shop, it's a little oily, it's full of flavor, and it's hot and if you get it to go, it comes wrapped in aluminum foil and a styrofoam box.  The only complaint I have is the hot and sour soup.  It's not entirely authentic, although it's the best that I've had in Toronto to this date.  There's some carrots in there and the mushrooms taste a little funny.  But all in all, a very decent soup to have on a cold day.  It's still spicy and sour so it's still worth a visit.

Their number is 905-949-1988.  You can either eat there and enjoy browsing through their menu or you can order food via take-out and go and pick up your food.  Bring another person cause on busy days like Sunday, you might have trouble finding a parking spot!

Protein Shakes

Hey gang,

So I've finally joined the hype and decided to try out this "protein shake" that's supposedly supposed to help me build muscles.  Boy, was I surprised.

I know that you may be wondering about what this has to do with cuisine and taste.  As I said, I will talk about every product and every consumable product so please bear with me.

I haven't worked out in two years so I expected myself to be sore after all the stretching, cardio, and weight lifting but after I took this protein shake, I'm feeling surprisingly fine and there definitely seems to be an improvement in my overall well-being.

So many people complain about the taste of protein shakes and do all sorts of things that include peanut butter, flavoured milk, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, chocolate, soy milk, and all sorts of fruit, just to name a few.

Finally finding a good deal for some amateur whey protein from Walmart, I bought some to give it a shot.

It's pretty good!  All I put in was a scoop of whey powder, a full banana, and about a glass-full of 1% skim milk.  It tastes like a regular chocolate banana milkshake!

A friend, known as De Fraz, bought the strawberry flavor and I got the chocolate flavor.  Both of us are pleased to announce that this may be one of the best tasting whey protein shakes we have available to us.

The brand in question is "Six Star Muscle".  The professional strength whey protein.

So if anyone is looking for an effective muscle builder for toning (I don't know about it's application for body-building) with a decent taste for a low cost and minimal need to buy other ingredients I would fully suggest getting this from Walmart.

They have a special for $18.86 + tax and you get a free XL work out shirt!

Enjoy!

The Cause

Dear all,

Welcome and congratulations on finding my website! This is still brand new so I'd like to apologize for any mistakes or if I have stepped on anyone's toes for anything that I do with this blog.

How often have you been presented with a flood of advertising in your mailbox, but couldn't really find any comprehensive reviews regarding cuisine or the best places to shop for food?

No worries! I am here to save the day.

Being a local Torontonian, I am an avid food-lover. Some may call me a glutton. So what? Cuisine in it's art form is beautiful. The amount of history and innovation it takes to create the skin of Ha Gao or the perfection of a George Foreman grill should make us all appreciate the efforts of these pioneers.

So let's get it right. I will express my most objective opinion on restaurants, supermarkets, and places where you can find food including and not limited to, fast food chains, pizza parlors, and hawker stalls.  And why? Because I think that there are too many restaurants all over the GTA. Here, I present you with my best efforts, the reviews of the places that I have been to.

You will not see any pictures of myself. And I will not disclose any personal information for my own safety. Consider me as a vigilante of cuisine.

I shall be known as, Mokoto.