Showing posts with label eggplant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eggplant. Show all posts

Pomegranate (Toronto)


I was introduced to Pomegranate after meeting a Persian women dining by herself at a restaurant. Normally, I would never intrude on someone’s quiet time, but the tables were close together and she noticed me snapping photos of my food. Always in search of good authentic restaurants, I enquired about delicious Persian restaurants within Toronto. Pomegranate, she noted, was a small place, but the food is great and one of her favourite restaurants to visit.

The colourful tapestry adorning the wall instantly put me in a cheerful mood. Despite visiting as soon as the restaurant opened, light aromas of spices were already wafting throughout the dining area, a promise of the flavours to come. The women didn’t lie, it’s a small restaurant with perhaps a dozen tables, so consider making a reservation - even with our weeknight visit, we secured one of the last unreserved tables.

While waiting for our mains, we shared an order of the kashke-e bademjaan ($7.95), which wasn’t big, but rich enough to satisfy our table of four with a couple tablespoons each. A bed of soft charred eggplant is topped with Persian whey, garlic, walnuts and caramelized onions. The starter comes with a basket of hot lightly toasted soft pita bread that’s perfect for scooping up a bit of everything to get all the flavours and crunch. The whey had a light creamy consistency and when mixed with the garlic almost had a tahini feel to it.


I’m always partial of lamb dishes when visiting a Persian, Indian or Greek restaurant. Hence, immediately the queymeh ($15.50) called to me. The hearty stew is great for spooning over the basmati rice where the tomato saffron sauce could mix with the long grains of rice - oh if only I had saved some of the pita bread to dip into the stew as well!


The dish had a surprisingly sour finish due to the sun-dried lime added to the braised lamb and yellow split peas. It took a couple of forkfuls to get used to it, but afterwards I rather like the citrusy finish that helped mellow out the otherwise heavier stew. Yet, I wished all the sides accompanying it wasn’t also sour:  the shirazi salad was finely diced vegetables tossed with citrus; even the mixed greens had a vinegar and oil dressing. Anything, even a reduced balsamic vinaigrette with the mixed green, would have helped to provide contrast within the platter.

To end, a cup of the Persian chai ($2). The black tea isn’t as strong as its Indian counterpart, lacking the lovely cardamom scent (it just smelt like orange pekoe) and the spices steeped with the tea is evident but muted. If you prefer a weaker tea, the Persian chai may be a good choice. For me, I’d just stick with the tried and true mint version next time.


City dwellers are often guarded and like to exist within their own bubbles. Admittedly, I’m no different, not one to strike up conversations with a stranger. Sometimes, it’s nice to break through our comfort zone and get to know someone. Sure, we may never see them again, but what we learn from them could be interesting, useful, and delicious.

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 420 College Street

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:


The Pomegranate Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Shinobu Revisited (Toronto)

Finding a Japanese restaurant that serves reasonably priced sushi but is also feels authentic makes me happy. The fact that Shinobu is relatively close to my house makes things even better! I love introducing people to the place, so when two friends had a hankering for sushi, the small cozy restaurant came to mind.

Having had a great experience previously with their maki rolls, they had to be ordered again: you can read all about the double shrimp cannon ($9.80) and volcano rainbow roll ($10.90) in my first dinner post about Shinobu.

Another favourite that’ll have me coming back is the hotate dream roll ($10.50), a spicy salmon roll covered with thinly sliced scallop sushi and salmon roe. If sushi rolls could be a pillowy cloud the hotate is close, the scallop soft and creamy then topped with popping salmon roe and micro greens for interest.

Hotate dream roll

Plenty of avocado was layered over the green dragon ($9.90), the roll filled with BBQ eel and cucumber for an umami filled crunch. Their spicy tuna ($6.90) is the type I enjoy, where the fish isn’t pulverized instead left in small cubes and tossed with spicy mayonnaise.

Green dragon rollSpicy tuna roll

Yet, you should branch out and try their izakaya eats, which were also impressive. The takoyaki ($6.90) is five soft glutinous mashed potato like balls of dough, fried so there’s a crispy coating and each containing a piece of grilled octopus. It’s one of the better versions in the city.

Takoyaki

The nasu dengaku ($6.90) was surprisingly delicious despite being a relatively simple dish. A Japanese eggplant is lightly fried, slit open and filled with a rich sweet dengaku miso sauce; since the longer Asian eggplant is not as seedy, it combines to become a creamy texture.

Nasu dengaku

Strangely, the green tea cheesecake ($5.50) is more ice cream than cake - the first thing you see is the large sphere of black sesame ice cream, on the side is the thinnest slice of cake I’ve seen, really just a garnish. The cake itself is pretty good, velvety with a deep matcha flavour, too bad it becomes lost in the ice cream.

Black sesame ice cream with green tea cheesecake

Oh well, it’s a small miss compared to all the hits at the restaurant. There’s no doubt I’ll be returning and welcome you to try this great find in the neighbourhood. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 3403 Yonge Street

Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:



Shinobu Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

CLOSED: Lychee Bay Cuisine 荔枝灣 (Toronto)

Location: Scarborough, Canada
Address: 4771 Steeles Ave E
Type of Meal: Dinner



My dinner at Lychee Bay Cuisine happened by chance. We had intended to eat at their neighbor, Ba Shu Ren Jia, only to be greeted by a renovations notice. Not wanting to find another place, Lychee Bay seemed like the best alternative - and it was a good choice. In fact, I ended up visiting again within the same month.

Lychee Bay is an area in Guangzhou that offers various seafood delicacies. At the restaurant, the large lobsters seems to be the popular choice amongst patrons. Unfortunately, their smallest lobster is five pounds ($16.95/lb) so unless you’re with a larger group it’s not the most conducive dish to order. So, we ordered a crab instead. Given that by itself it's already $50, the meal for four ($118 and includes a crab) is an economical choice.

To begin, the normal complementary pork and vegetable soup was substituted for shark fin (complementary soup pictured on left and shark fin on the right). I was a bit surprised it was real shark fin as I thought it’s banned in Toronto. Generally, for ethical reasons, I wouldn’t order it. But, I guiltily admit the soup base was good – thick and with a rich ham, chicken and seafood essence. It also had plenty of crab meat and shredded chicken. The shark fin itself is tasteless but adds a crunchy texture to the smooth base (personally I find bamboo shoots can serve the same purpose).


The star crab dish was steamed in Chinese wine allowing the crab’s natural sweetness to shine through. The crab was a bit thin so lacked the plump meat I’d like but was still satisfying. Underneath were thin bean thread vermicelli which soaks up all the delicious juices and is such a great part of the dish.


The stir fried clams with spicy black bean sauce was a decent interpretation and certainly had a kick from the chili pieces strewn throughout. The clams were a fair size and cooked perfectly.


If you’re ordering the set meal, remember – the vegetable dish that comes with it is yu choy (more on this later). Sitting in a flavourful supreme soup sauce with julienned Jinhua cured ham on top, it was good and not overdone.


The crispy roasted pigeon squab took forever to cook (we almost finished everything else before it finally came). But, it was worth the wait arriving piping hot, juicy and crispy. If you’ve never had pigeon squab, it’s a gamier fowl (more so than duck and quail) so can be an acquired taste. Marinated with five spice powder, soy sauce, vinegar and rice wine, the meat is full of flavour. Then it’s roasted and at some point blanched with hot oiled to really crisp up the skin. If you like Peking duck, you’ll probably want to try this dish.


On the whole, the set meal was fine but really not the greatest. Personally, I enjoyed the a la carte dishes more, even though they were more “everyday” non-fancy offerings. Below are the ones we've tried. 

Trust me, you’ll want to order the salt and squid ($8.95). Not only was it a huge portion at a low price, but the squid was tender, had a great crispy crust and was well flavoured. Although it wasn’t the best I’ve ever had (I’m partial to My Wonderful Kitchen), it was nonetheless delicious and satisfying.


The pan fried pork neck with lotus slice and chili ($12.95) may sound odd but is rather a tame dish. Essentially, the pork neck tastes like lean pork but more tender and has a somewhat crunchy bite to it. The lotus root is what drew me to the dish as I love when it’s just quickly stir fried and remains in its crispy fresh state. Just be mindful of the peppers mixed throughout as they’re much spicier than they look.


As a child, I loved having the sizzling “ja ja” chicken hot pot ($10.95) at a hole-in-the-wall in Broadview.  Sadly, the restaurant has long closed and I’ve been to various places trying to relive the wonderful taste. I didn’t find it at Lychee Bay but it wasn’t horrible. If only it wasn’t so overcooked (the chicken a bit shrunken looking and a tad dry) the dish would be better. Lychee Bay also adds sweet cured lap cheong to the dish to give it more flavour and a fatty essence.


The eggplant in hot pot ($8.95) was a mixture of sweet, spicy and savouriness. At Lychee Bay, I found the dish slightly tarter than most. But, this saucy dish is a great to eat with plain steamed rice.  


I found the stir fried snow pea leaves with prince mushroom ($16.95) to be an average interpretation. The vegetables were crispy and tender but the mushrooms sliced too thinly so the “meatiness” I enjoy in the mushroom was lost.


You’ll also receive a complementary dessert. During our first visit we were treated to a great milk soup with bird’s nest. It was such a great silky texture and ever so lightly sweetened. The second visit we were served tofu pudding, which is much plainer. But, it was piping hot and had a great soy flavour (rather than being the tasteless powdered versions that is so often served).


The service was refreshingly friendly and attentive … sadly, not something you can always expect at Chinese restaurants. However, each visit a mistake was made:


  • At the first dinner we were overcharged for a dish (sometimes it pays to be a blogger since I note down prices for each post). Of course, it could have been an honest mistake since Lychee Bay still makes bills manually and they were apologetic and fixed the error.
  • The second visit was worse and lowered the mark they ended up receiving. During this dinner we ordered the set meal. When the snow pea shoots arrived we naturally assumed it was the vegetable dish that’s part of the meal. It wasn’t until the second correct vegetable (yu choy) was served that we realized the error. The whole situation was rather uncomfortable as the waitress looked at us and asked if we still wanted the first dish. Indeed, we didn’t. But, having already eaten a portion, it seemed rather awkward to make her take it back. So, we grudgingly accepted it.


On the whole, these are small mistakes. But, you should carefully remember what you order and how much it costs. It won’t keep me away from visiting again (as I did enjoy the surroundings, service and dishes) but Lychee Bay won’t become a regular haunt. Their Cantonese style dishes were good; but, there are plenty of other restaurants that offer comparable versions without having to deal with the administrative errors. 


Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

 


CLOSED: Cava (Toronto)

Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 1560 Yonge Street
Type of Meal: Dinner




Situated in a street level corridor of the St. Clair Centre, it’s not a location you’d expect to find a restaurant with Cava’s Spanish and Latin American flair. But, individuals certainly known about it given its busy dinner service on our week night visit. Their dining room is a stark contrast from the dimly lit corridor outside, as upon entering you’re greeted with clean blonde wood and tons of lighting.

With a fairly extensive tapas menu, there are a large number of choices and a particularly good vegetarian selection. We relied on the advice of Theran, our server, to narrow down our choices. His favourite dish is the pincho of Gamay-poached foie gras ($9), so we ordered one each given the small portion.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of foie gras (based on taste and ethical reasons), but decided to try it anyways given the hyped up dish. Thick slices of cool foie gras sit on a crisp crostini and is topped with a dollop of pear mostarda (similar to a chutney). The poached foie gras is one of the smoothest I’ve ever had with a consistency similar to a flourless chocolate torte.  As it melts in your mouth, your tongue is coated with rich flavour; but, before it becomes too overpowering the sweet mostarda cuts through and mellows everything out. If you like foie gras than this is a dish you need to try.


My friends really enjoyed the Spanish mackerel ceviche verde ($14) which is less tart than typical ceviches. Instead, the cilantro, fish and tomatillos (?) shine through, with the mixture tasting good on its own or with the fried tortillas accompanying it. For me, I found it a bit bland and would have liked more heat and citrus to counteract the oiliness from the tortilla chips.


The warm salad ($10) had some great vegetables in it - artichoke, piquillo pepper and oyster mushrooms. They are all grilled and dressed with a simple caper vinaigrette and sprinkled with cilantro. This is a hearty salad and good for the cold weather.


This dinner was the first time I’ve tried jamón Serrano ($16.50) and must admit that after having Ibérico is a bit of a disappointment, but you get what you pay for. The slices were too thick making them difficult to cut or chew. Overall, it was sort of tough – perhaps because the ham wasn’t well marbled – and doesn’t have that melt-in-your-mouth quality I enjoy with charcuterie.


Hands down my favourite dish of the night was the eggplant ($9.75). Wedges of eggplant are coated, deep fried and then cooked in a dish with tons of gooey queso fresco (cheese) and a tangy tomatillo sauce. Drizzles of honey and tons of bonito flakes top everything and just brings the dish together so well. It had a great combination of flavours and I could easily eat a whole plate of the eggplant with some crusty bread. You definitely have to try out this dish when you visit.


The roasted brussel sprouts ($8.95) were nice but pretty plain. Sure they were cooked well and had a nice caramelized crust to bring out its natural sweetness but they lacked a complementary flavour – the black garlic just didn’t really stand out.


To end we had a series of the more substantial small plates. The first was the grilled squid and zucchini ($15.75) in a romesco sauce (a hazelnut and red pepper blended puree). There was a fair amount of squid accompanying the dish, but could have benefited from a bit more time on the grill to give it a smokier crust. Although quite colourful, the romesco sauce wasn’t very strong; overall, it’s decent but lacked anything exciting.

                                                      
The grilled sea scallops ($23) were perfectly cooked so they were just cooked through and remained sweet and tender. The cauliflower puree was creamy and certainly had some butter in it. I love the addition of lentils to contrast the smooth puree, but wish they were softer.


Lastly, my friends wanted to try the veal sweetbreads ($23). Having only had a small piece of it once in my life, I knew it wasn’t horrible but was always under the impression it was calf brains. Turns out I was completely misinformed and sweetbreads is actually the thymus (throat) and pancreas of the animal. At Cava, Chef McDonald uses the thymus of the veal.  As with my first experience, it actually tastes pretty good (akin to a very tender piece of chicken with a denser pâté texture) but not something I’d order on a regular basis. Hats off to the chef for pairing it with a radicchio-poblano chile salad, which went so well adding a freshness against the heavy sweetbread.


To end, we shared a plate of churros con chocolate ($8). You really can’t go wrong with freshly fried pieces of dough dusted with sugar and served with hot melted dark chocolate. If the star anise was left out of the batter it would be even better; the licorice taste of the spice just isn’t something I like. But, once the luscious chocolate covers it, the flavour is thoroughly masked so not a deal breaker.


All in all, the food was good; our meal had some really great dishes and none were overly disappointing. But, the true highlight was the great service we received from Theran – friendly and approachable, attentive to our needs and so knowledgeable about Cava’s menu. However, I’d caution you to order a few dishes at a time and then order more if required. We ended up ordering too much and were stuffed by the time the scallops and sweetbread arrived. But, just make sure you order the eggplants, you’ll thank me for it later.

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10


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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!