Shinobu (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, January 16, 2016 by
Shinobu
Shinobu’s dining room isn’t very big, consider making a reservation if you want to avoid disappointment. The décor is sparse and there won’t be small segregated rooms, but what the restaurant lacks in esthetics they make up with their food.

The complimentary miso soup was nice and hot, the cloudy miso revealing cubes of tofu and seaweed. Even on par to some of the ones I’ve paid for before.


The edamame ($4.50), although not spectacular, was warm and well salted.


Torn between all the delicious sounding maki, I was about to order three when our waitress suggested starting off with two. I’m thankful for her warning as they were huge and leftover sushi is never good the next day.

An interesting addition, the lettuce used in the double shrimp cannon roll ($9.80) helped to provide extra crunch along with the tempura shrimp while keeping the maki light. Really, it was your typical dynamite roll with tobiko (fish roe) and avocado, but was a well-executed version.


Meanwhile, the volcano rainbow roll ($10.90) was more inventive, blow torched at the table. Slices of salmon, tuna, eel, and avocado glisten on top giving the dish a beautiful contrast and the rainbow description. Overtop was a light diluted honey sauce, which added a delicate sweetness and caramelized a bit from the heat while protecting the seafood itself. Inside the roll, avocado and tempura bits provided a creamy and crunchy contrast.


Unbeknown to me, my friend had switched tables to help the restaurant accommodate another group. So, after the filling meal they also treated us to scoops of intense black sesame ice cream; very rich and creamy. What a satisfying finish to a new local favourite sushi restaurant of mine. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


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

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

Tsui Wah 翠華餐廳 (Toronto)

Posted on Thursday, January 14, 2016 by
Tsui Wah is a no-frills Hong Kong style café with a menu offering a variety of baked rice, sandwich and stir fried noodles combinations. However, there is something a little more interesting and rarer, a style of cooking generally not found in other establishments, Guilin style noodles.

A cacophony of crunchy peanuts, pickled vegetables, vegetables and some sort of protein, it’s a more flavourful dish thanks to the area’s Sichuan influences. If you’re into a stronger dish with a variety of textures, you’d want to give this a try.

Of the two varieties at Tsui Wah, the beef Guilin style lo vermicelli ($8.25) provided a richer version of the dish. Lo essentially translates to ‘mix’, the bowl of noodles topped with pickled cabbage, bamboo, peanuts, tomatoes, fried garlic slivers, green onions and cilantro that you mix together. The sauce is soy sauce based with a more potent taste from spices used in it. Unlike the traditional dish, it wasn’t spicy but few drops of the intense chili oil on the table did the trick.


Whereas, the soup version, pictured here is the Guilin style minced pork vermicelli ($7.50) is lighter. Seemingly, they use the same soy sauce base but it’s diluted with a broth to mellow out the flavours. The ingredients used are the same, except in this case substituting minced pork for the stir fried beef.


Although the menu describes both dishes as ‘vermicelli’, the noodles are actually Guilin rice noodles also known as ‘mifen’. It’s about the thickness of ramen and the texture of Korean potato starch noodles – a bit chewy and doesn’t become soggy when left in the broth. There’s a silkiness to these delicate slippery noodles.


Just in case the bowls don’t contain enough vegetables, there’s always the opportunity to add some boiled yu choy with oyster sauce ($3.99) on the side. Tsui Wah provides a decent portion for the price.


Located in a non-descript commercial area down Kennedy Road, who knows how many times I’ve whizzed past the place. I’m glad my father decided to slow down and take a chance on the restaurant; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been introduced to it! Maybe it’s something we should all do more, just drive and stop at small establishments without all the glitz and reading about it first. Something I’ll try to do more of this year – after all, who knows what you’ll discover?

 Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 3261 Kennedy Road


 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:

Tsui Wah Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

The Captain's Boil (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2016 by
The Captain's boil

The idea of lobster boils and clam bakes has always been a dream of mine. Living in Toronto, it’s hard to partake in the romantic group dining experience that I’ve always envisioned – sitting outside on a picnic bench, the bounty of the sea thrown on a plastic table cloth covered table and everyone grabbing and nibbling while laughing into the early evening air.

Dining at the Captain’s Boil doesn’t exactly match my vision – you’re inside a cozy two storied building and the bounty arrives in plastic bags that you likely won’t empty onto the table lest you want to ruin the paper tablecloth. Yet, my friends and I were nibbling the night away laughing at what a mess we were making.


At the Captain’s Boil, you pick from a variety of seafood (get there early if you want crawfish or Dungeness crab), then choose a seasoning and spice level. There are also a variety of sides and starches on the menu to help you round out the meal.

Going with a larger group, we were able to score a reservation (minimum of eight people) and also share more items (since there’s a minimum of a pound per order). For all the seafood, we selected the ‘Captain’s Boil’ spice, which is essentially a combination of all the seasonings (Cajun, lemon pepper and garlic). And for the spiciness stuck with ‘medium’ where there was enough heat to already prompt us for water refills … I can only imagine how strong ‘fire’ would be.  

The shrimp ($12.95 per pound) and mussels ($10.95 per pound) are the least pricy options and there were surprisingly a lot of them in a pound – over a dozen for the shrimp and about ten for the mussels. Left with their heads on, the shrimp were able to scoop up more of the cooking liquid which married well with the sweet shrimp. Meanwhile, the mussels were large and meaty, but from the frozen variety so the texture more rubbery than and not as delicate as fresh ones.  


Although the lobster ($29.95 each) was split in half, if you sharing between more than two people you’ll have to break it apart further. Given the seasoning was so strong, it sort of detracts from the succulent lobster meat. Personally, I found the snow crab ($18.95 per pound) better – for sharing and complimenting the seasoning. Along with the shrimp, it was my favourite of the evening.  


On the side, the hot juicy corn on the cob ($1 per half ear) soaked in all the cooking liquid. Also, the Cajun fries ($4.95) were freshly made arriving sizzling hot and crispy – very delicious!


The cooking liquid remaining in the bag can also be enjoyed, garlicky and seeped in the seafood’s essence. The steamed rice ($2) went nicely with it, but hard to share given there were no plates and only one spoon per bowl. In the end, we resorted to making small balls of rice and dipping it into the liquid.

Captain’s Boil, please start offering plain toasted baguettes … these would be perfect for dipping. Although the menu offers garlic bread ($3.99), I’d rather have plain bread given the sauce is already so buttery and garlicky.

I only wish the dining experience was more environmentally friendly – almost everything used was disposable including the cups and the bags the seafood were served from. A clear plastic bucket to present the seafood in would be better … they could even mix different items together to avoid using too many buckets.


Overall, after the meal our table looked like a crime scene … definitely not the most pleasant looking. But, we had tons of fun creating the site and everything was delicious. Grab some seafood loving friends that aren’t dainty and afraid of some spice. You’re in for a messy but tasty experience. 

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 5313 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:

The Captain’s Boil Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


CLOSED: Joe's Crab Shack (San Francisco)

Posted on Saturday, January 09, 2016 by

Joe's Crab Shack
With its prominent tourist location and bright signage, I wasn’t expecting superb seafood at Joe's Crab Shack. Being a cold evening, we wandered into the restaurant to escape the wind … before researching the establishment. After being seated, it seemed rude to leave so we stuck it out despite the restaurant’s 2.5 star rating on Yelp and 3.5 stars everywhere else.

The cup of clam chowder ($3.99) was lukewarm, a big pet peeve of mine, mostly filled with potatoes than clams. You’re better off ordering the bowl ($7.29) and sharing. Since they add bacon bits and small clams into the mix, the soup is cooked again and my friend’s bowl arrived piping hot.


Since most reviews warned against Joe’s steam pots, my friend and I opted to split the Dungeness crab bucket ($37.49) instead. The crab itself was decent, seemingly fresh and not overdone; the Old Bay seasoning used in the “Chesapeake style” option complimented the crab well giving it a salty seasoning without being too strong.


Yet, its shrunken size amongst a large pot was disappointing, especially when compared to our friends’ voluminous orders of steam pot and assorted crab legs. Unlike what most reviews proclaim, not everything is good for sharing, the Dungeness crab being one, since I could have had the whole dish to myself.

Each entrée is accompanied with French fries & hush puppies or an ear corn & baby potatoes. Despite not regularly eating hush puppies, I’d imagine they shouldn’t arrive cold and the texture of stale Timbits (doughnut holes for Americans). The fries were only a step better, at least warm, but lacked seasoning so I had to resort to dipping them in the crab juices.


In the end, I kept my expectations low. After all, it’s a chain restaurant and the menu has pictures on it. All in all, at least the seafood was fresh and cooked nicely. But, if sharing, I’d stick to the larger steam pots, because a few crab legs isn’t nearly satisfying enough.

Overall mark - 6 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: San Francisco, USA
 Address: 245 Jefferson 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:



CLOSED: Mean Bao Delivery from Uber Eats (Toronto)

Posted on Tuesday, January 05, 2016 by

Mean Bao delivered with Uber Eats

As Uber enrages taxi drivers, they may soon add fast food delivery services to the list. In late 2015, the tech company launched the Uber Eats function, using their drivers to provide food delivery for numerous restaurants across the city.

Already being an Uber rider, I decided to test out the new app to take advantage of the $10 credit and free delivery being promoted during the 2015 launch. As fate would have it, Mean Bao (a place I’ve been wanting to try for a long time) was delivering during lunch.

Like Uber’s car service, the app was easy to navigate and already linked to my existing account and credit card. In a minute my order was placed with the system providing updates and revised delivery times (earlier than what was originally quoted before ordering). Surprisingly, the driver even met in the lobby of my company’s building; I didn’t need to wait at the nearest intersection as earlier Uber Eats pop-up days had done.


The braised beef bao ($3.95) was still warm containing a hefty slab of tender meat garnished with boiled bok choy, Taiwanese pickles, crushed peanuts and cilantro. Even with the pickles and nuts, the bao was rather soft, I would have liked more textural contrast (perhaps some carrot slivers or crunchier pickles would help). Nevertheless, the beef was well flavoured and the bao fluffy without becoming mushy.  


To make it a full meal, the cold noodle salad ($4.95) was a good addition and lends itself for delivery since it’s already cold. Along with the vermicelli were plump fried tofu puffs, julienned carrots, red cabbage and pickled daikon. The soy dressing was extremely garlicky with a hint of chili in the background. Overall, it would have been good if the garlic was toned down as the raw tang simply overpowered everything.


At this point, the majority of restaurants are in the downtown area, which is a shame when I need to return home to the suburbs. There has been the occasional juicing service or healthy eatery available during the weekends. Sadly, neither of those appeal to me. For those who are working late or too lazy to venture out of their building, a new savior is in town – let’s hope this doesn’t lead to additional protests and gridlock.

Overall mark - 6.5 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 

 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:



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