In late 2024, Lobster Port became the “go-to” restaurant for family dinners with my dad. It’s centrally located for our clan, parking is easy, the food is good, and it doesn’t take too long to get through a multi-course dinner (about an hour and a half on most visits). Service is fairly friendly, albeit not the most attentive. They’re not perfect, but hits most of the elements we look for in a place to gather.

And since we generally visit as a large group, their set meals are a staple order. The Peking duck and lobster menu ($528) easily feeds ten and begins with one of our favourite dishes, a Peking duck. It’s carefully sliced table side and presented with a host of garnishes: traditional hoisin, cucumber, and green onion, but also cantaloupe and plum sauce as well.

The duck was lean but tender and the skin crispy without being too fatty. Their wraps are on the smaller site – so it’s difficult to put more than a slice of duck if you’re a fan of garnishes - but they did provide ~16 wrappers, so it was enough for most people to get a second.

Restaurants tend to offer either lettuce wraps or chopped up duck for the second course of the Peking duck. At Lobster Port, they switch it up by cutting the carcass into bite sized pieces and stir frying them to create a sautéed duck with scallion in soy sauce. It radiates wok hay, and the sweet soy makes the bony duck so tasty that we finished the dish.

During busy weekend visits, you may have to serve the fresh crab meat and fish maw thick soup yourself, as was the case with our table. In this instance, I would have preferred the soup in a deep bowl as the large shallow dish makes spooning difficult. Nonetheless, the soup was good, a nice consistency with tons of seafood scattered throughout and enough flavour.

Of course, most patrons visit Lobster Port for lobster and the stir-fried lobster with Maggi sauce didn’t disappoint, all six pounds of it. Rather than providing one large lobster, the dish was made from three smaller ones. Personally, I don’t mind this combination as I find the shell isn’t as thick and the meat more succulent. Plus, there are more claw and tail pieces to go around.

Their lobster was lightly dusted before being flash fried and then stir fried with the ideal amount of Maggi sauce, it was flavourful without being overly saturated with the sweet sauce that can sometimes overpower. It was also cooked well so the lobster remained sweet and tender.

While I’m not a fan of sea cucumber, their stir-fried king mushrooms, fresh abalone, and sea cucumbers had the ingredient chopped into small pieces, so they soaked up the satay sauce without becoming mushy. Some people found the dish salty, but it was perfect for me, especially paired with the abalone that would otherwise be tasteless.

The crispy salt and pepper beef bites looked weird arriving heaped into a bowl with fried King mushrooms and asparagus on the side. Did they run out of serving platters, so they had to present them separately? Still, the lightly battered beef bites were tasty, tender with a slightly crunchy coating. If you like popcorn chicken, you’ll love this dish.

Their steamed green bass with green onion presents the soy sauce in a separate vessel so it remains hot. Poured on table side, you can customize how salty you want the fish, which was steamed well – just cooked through so it’s flaky and moist.

With all the heavier dishes, I would have preferred a lighter vegetable dish, such as a simple snow pea shoot with garlic. Rather the meal comes with stir-fried pork jowl and green beans, which would be okay if the green beans weren’t flash fried so that they feel a little greasy and heavy. It’s not a bad dish, at least the pork jowl slices were tender and meaty and the seasoning well balanced.

While the garlic seafood fried rice lacked colour, it wasn’t missing any aroma. The dish smelled incredible and was a solid finish. The best part was it didn’t too long to arrive, a common occurrence with set meals where the final dishes sometimes get forgotten and put on the back burner.

Fully sedated after the filling meal, I forgot to take a picture of dessert: a white fungus and date sweet soup. It was surprisingly hot containing a generous amount of ingredients. I don’t always like this dessert, but during the winter it does feel soothing on the throat. A platter of delicious lychee and goji berry jelly and crumbly butter cookies also arrive for one last sweet bite.

I sense visits to Lobster Port will continue into 2025, with the biggest dinner challenge to come… Lunar New Year. How will the restaurant fair during the most manic times of the year? More to come.

I stumbled upon the Pho Hue while looking for another restaurant. Ultimately, I never did find Le Pho so maybe they have already been replaced. That’s the danger of being in a plaza where noodle restaurants are a dime a dozen, it’s difficult to stand out and thrive.

Pho Hue has an extensive menu with a variety of traditional dishes along with some speciality items and sandwiches as well. Their actual pho is slightly smaller than other restaurants, but prices trend lower as well so it’s a good choice for smaller appetites. I easily polished off the large ox tail rice noodle soup ($19.95), as there wasn’t a lot of noodles. But it did have plenty of fall-off-the-bone ox tail, which was a nice change from the typical flank or brisket and easier to eat than a hulking beef rib.

The broth was satisfying - piping hot, salty enough, and relatively clear. Perhaps, not quite as nuanced in flavour as some places, it still hit the spot on a cold winter day. I enjoyed all the fresh herbs garnishing the bowl, they gave the dish a bright punch.

Their noodles were 100% better than the complimentary vegetarian spring roll (normally $7.95 for two pieces) that was given in return for posting a Google review. I’ve had better spring rolls at buffets: at least they’re not as oily and even buffet fillings are more substantial than the paltry cabbage and carrot that makes up Pho Hue’s. It’s a shame Pho Hue serves their spring rolls plain… a vinaigrette would really help cut through the oiliness.

At least service was friendly and because it’s not overly busy very attentive. During their grand opening period, they’re also offering 10% off, so the meal was at least budget friendly. Just make sure to bring something other than a credit card as they are cash and debit only.

If Pho Hue were situated elsewhere, I could potentially return for another meal. But since they’re in a plaza with so many other options, their offering wasn’t overly impressive, even though I do like ox tail. Good luck to you.

As a brunch staple goes, eggs benny still tops my list. Still, there are times I’m craving something different, even if it’s just slightly enhanced for brunch. Enter Le Lert, a Thai influenced restaurant located near College Station. Don’t worry, they still serve a plethora of egg dishes, it’s just that it’s paired with pork belly and tom yum instead.

Such as the pork belly avo ($20) where a silky scrambled egg omelette is covered with slices of roasted pork belly and placed on avocado toast, which is great for soaking up the other ingredients. The dish is drizzled with thinned hoisin creating a sweet and savoury flavour that’s so different from the traditional salt and pepper.

And for vegetarians, their vegan menu offered some of our favourite dishes of the meal. The coconut curry used in the jackfruit curry ($22) was fragrant and just flavourful enough to entice you to have one more bite. Using large chunks of the fruit, it soaked up the sauce’s flavours and provided a meaty texture to the dish. It’s not exactly brunch but add some of the omelette to the curry to create a hearty meal.

Even though it was the last dish to arrive, the jackfruit dip ($13) could be a great starter. Jackfruit is tossed with Thai salsa, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and a chili jam, creating a flavourful concoction that’s spicy, sour, and slightly sweet. It’s great spooned onto the extra-large pappadums or works wonderfully as a condiment.

You’ll want to make sure you order the jack fruit dip and pork belly avo to go with the salmon tom-yum quesadilla ($18) as there wasn’t an ounce of tom-yum in the dish. Still, the well toasted quesadilla contained a generous portion of salmon fillet, and the poached egg added a nice rich saucy element. Yet, add some of the extra smashed avocado and the jack fruit dip onto the tortilla and the dish is perfect. And for the price, it’s a very big portion.

The umami pasta ($26) sees spaghetti swimming in a creamy miso sauce liberally topped with tobiko. Topped with seaweed and scallop, Le Lert’s not kidding when they say this is an umami laced pasta. Though I’d find it too rich for a single person, instead great for sharing.

Le Lert offers an extensive drinks menu – both alcoholic and virgin. The black jack matcha highball ($14.95) could have used a bit more of the jasmine honey syrup to sweeten the whisky, matcha powdered, and blood orange juice, but it was refreshing and had a floral element from the mint syrup, yuzu, and orange blossom.

Some customers may find the font a bit hard to read but since a lot of their cocktails are card inspired (Black Jack, Queen, King, Ace, Joker) maybe you just close your eyes and pick a card. Sometimes in life you need to try something different, give it a chance.

Noodle restaurants seem to be springing up along Midland monthly. Seriously, travel along the street between Finch and Steeles and there are dozens of options. Modu Three Brothers is a newcomer to the crowd offering Chongqing specialties, a large region of China that’s located in the south close to Tibet.

It’s an area where sheep are a popular source of protein. The Chongqing lamb skewers ($5.99 for two) are shallow fried slightly crisping up the crevices and dusted with cumin and chili powder. The bite sized morsels are like a flavourful popcorn lamb, tender and tasty without the gaminess.

Modu’s menu is dominated by noodles with so many choices that choosing between the soup base, protein, and noodle types can be dizzying. We settled on their signature braised beef noodles ($15.99), which reminded me of the Taiwanese/Shanghainese version of the noodles except adorned with crispy fried yellow beans and chives… I enjoyed the freshness of the chives but could do without the oily hard mini chickpeas.  

Modu uses a digitized ordering process where diners scan a QR code at the table. It is helpful for customization requests given we wanted the beef noodles to be a mild spicy level. Our instructions were dutifully followed so despite the savoury broth looking fiery red the spiciness was tame.

For those who don’t want an ounce of heat, the signature freshly boiled chicken soup with noodles ($13.99) features a spice less broth that has a rich chicken taste. It was a tad oily for me but goes well with the noodles and garnishes.

At first, it may seem like the kitchen forgot the chicken but dig to the bottom and you’ll find a handful of chopped pieces. There’s not a lot of fowl and it does include the bones, so if you’re in the mood for big morsels of meat, you’ll want an order of the fried chicken on the side. Any chicken used in this dish is more for flavour than sustenance.

Yet, you’ll never leave Modu hungry as they offer free noodle refills. Simply request an order online and in a few minutes a bowl will arrive (about a cup and a half). Personally, I enjoy my noodles with a springy texture, so I did find Modu’s too soft. If you’re like me, I’d recommend requesting the noodles do be cooked less when ordering.

Torontonians are spoiled with the noodle offerings found across the city. If you don’t want to travel extensively, make your way up to Midland in Scarborough and you can easily create a slurplicious noodle crawl.