King Taps (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, November 04, 2017 by

Walking into King Taps I got a sense of déjà vu. Especially on the second floor, where the bar area seems to be a replica of another popular downtown Toronto hang out, both restaurants top choices for after work drinks. By 5:30 it’s packed. Despite it being early for dinner, I still had to wait about five minutes for the reserved table to be set-up - others are told it’ll be an hour wait.

I can see why King Taps is so popular - the atmosphere is casual, drawing in people of all ages, and their food is tasty but moderately priced.

There is of course a host of shareable plates for those who want to nibble. The poke ($16.50) is really tuna tartare, a stack of chunked Albacore tuna, mango, and avocado dressed with delicious miso sesame-ginger vinaigrette. Tempura bits are placed on top but most of the crunch comes from the deep fried wonton chips, which is light enough to not detract from the fish.


The steak frites ($27) is a good complete meal since it comes with a side of lemony Caesar salad. King Tap sources their steaks from PEI, the 7oz sirloin cooked to a perfect medium rare, tender and juicy. If you’ve never had beef from PEI, it's said that if the cow grazes outside, you can taste the minerals and salt in their meat due to the island’s proximity to the ocean. At King Taps, the steak was properly seasoned and the saltiness well balanced.


While I would have preferred the frites to be the thin variety, the chunky fries were nonetheless hot and crispy. The only oddity was the abundant side of horseradish that arrives with the meal; a condiment rarely seen outside of prime rib and there’s a reason – it’s too strong for such a lean meat. A side of au jus or aioli would work better.

If you like seafood, the salmon and prawn risotto ($26) is a great choice – there’s a large piece of salmon that’s moist and flakey and at least four fair-sized prawns mixed into the rice. The risotto’s consistency is spot on, creamy with enough broth so that it’s not overly watery or dry. The dish was also flavourful, perhaps a touch salty if that bothers you, but the chunky mushroom pieces helped tone the seasoning down.


Aside from the atmosphere and food, King Tap’s service is also commendable: staff members are friendly but are also great at managing the experience – our waitress advised that if she put our entire order into the system, the food would arrive together. Hence, she proceeded to enter our appetizer first and then when she saw it was received inputted the mains. For such a busy restaurant it’s a shame this is something staff need to look after, especially when it can be prone to errors; surely someone should look at the ordering system and have it set-up for a two stage firing from the kitchen.  

Thankfully, the dessert order isn’t something they need to remember as well. King Tap’s sweet offerings consist of a number of sundaes. The strawberry shortcake ($8) was a nice light sharable ending with a fair amount of soft serve-vanilla ice cream, layered strawberry compote, a few pieces of fruit, and crispy graham cracker crumb sprinkled over top. Not overly fancy, but executed well and priced decently, much like the rest of their menu. 

Oh and for beer aficionados they also have 50 selections on tap, some are even special collaborations with local breweries. Being a wine drinker, I didn’t crack into the tap, but nonetheless left with a happy buzz.   

Overall mark - 8 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 100 King Street West (in First Canadian Place)

 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:
King Taps Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

CONTEST: Win a pair of passes to the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo!

Posted on Friday, November 03, 2017 by

The Gourmet Food and Wine Expo ("GFWE") has got to be the largest food and drink event of the season. Occupying the Metro Convention Centre and entering its 23rd year vouches for GFWE's prominence and popularity.

Their extensive list of exhibitors ensures that no one will be hungry or thirsty. Despite the name, in terms of liberations, they offer more than just wine - beer, cider, spirits, and non-alcoholic options are available as well! But, they've also included travel operators and other service providers in case you need a brief non-indulging break.

Thanks to the folks at GFWE, Gastro World is giving away two pairs a tickets (valued at between $40-$80 for the pair) that can be used any day of the show! 

Entries will be accepted until November 11, 2017 at 12:00 AM. Sometime the following day, I will contact winners through email with further details. Accordingly, please make sure you enter a valid email address in Rafflecopter contest site. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
How To Find Them
 Address: Metro Convention Centre, North
                 222 Bremner Blvd

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

CLOSED: The Borough (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, October 29, 2017 by

For being a British colony, Toronto, surprisingly, has a lack of good English restaurants. We’re graced with more than our fair share of pub chains, but the menus are cookie cutter and none are exciting. While searching for a quick brunch place in East York, I was happy to stumble upon The Borough - the bright white and red restaurant isn’t your typical dark dank pub, but the food would even impress Mr. Bean.

Their Borough benedict ($15) is what lured me into the restaurant… the promise of my favourite breakfast main on top of Yorkshire pudding was irresistible. After experiencing the dish, I wouldn’t want it any other way. The cheddar cheese Yorkshire pudding was airy and fresh, its crevices perfect for cupping the medium runny egg yolk and hollandaise sauce. Unlike English muffin, which can be difficult to cut through, or biscuits that are way too dense, the pudding was doughy enough to hold up against everything else but not taste heavy. The old cheddar notes also made the benedict more flavourful than the typical buttery hollandaise.


The home fries smell and taste like chips I’ve had in the UK. There’s something about them – despite being cut larger and made of solid pieces of potatoes there’s a fluffiness to the filling. With a hefty helping of sticky warm molasses baked beans, you’ll leave stuffed.

If that weren’t indulgent enough, that day they had a special eggs benedict topped with pork belly ($18). I didn’t try it, but my friend loved the crispy crackling crust over each thick piece of meat. They also do a proper full English breakfast, which seemed popular with other tables.


Should I ever have to venture to the neighbourhood again, I’d return to the Borough for their evening meals. At last, there’s a decent English restaurant in the fray and they’ve combined Yorkshire pudding with eggs benedict – genius.

 Overall mark - 8 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 1352 Danforth Avenue


 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:


SOCO Kitchen for brunch (Toronto)

Posted on Saturday, October 28, 2017 by
SOCO Kitchen duck hash toronto

There aren’t many hotel restaurants I regularly dine at except SOCO Kitchen, its convenient downtown location and reasonable pricing has me returning. Past visits typically revolve around corporate lunches or dinner after work, but when we found ourselves hungry after a morning at Fan Expo (SOCO Kitchen is literally across the street from the Metro Convention Centre), that afternoon marked my first brunch visit.

Despite it being a busy weekend with tons of tourists, it wasn’t packed at SOCO and we could walk-in and secure a table. In due time, I was set up with a refreshing Blanche de Chambly strawberry and basil Collins cocktail ($8) where the light Belgian style wheat ale is mixed with gin, maple syrup, and lemon juice. While the cocktail contains a lot less fruit than in the picture, the two strawberries on top did give off a fruity aroma.

SOCO’s buttermilk pancakes ($14) are fluffy while still having a cake-like quality so it’s not like eating air. The batter has a brown butter salty flavour, so when combined with icing sugar, maple syrup, and whipped cream the pancakes don’t taste overly sweet. Overall, they’re really good pancakes, with enough flavour and well a lovely caramelized searing to the crust.


Their duck hash ($17) takes shredded duck confit and mixes it with roasted smashed potatoes to create an almost creamy savoury hash. On top, the fried egg with a touch of hollandaise makes it into an even more decadant breakfast. The dish could have benefited from more onion and bell peppers (to give the hash more texture and aesthetics) and the potatoes being cooked longer (so it develops a bit of a crust to help make the hash's components more distinct).


Don’t make the same mistake as me and order the breakfast potatoes as a side (forgetting that the hash already has potatoes). Get the side salad instead, especially since the meal also comes with bread – with all the carbs in makes for an extremely filling meal – a great option for fuelling up before a big day of exploring downtown Toronto or braving the slew of crowds at Fan Expo.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 75 Lower Simcoe Street (in the Delta hotel)

 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:


Darvish Restaurant (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, October 22, 2017 by

For some people, their first impression of a restaurant is how it looks, whether it’s the establishment’s store front or an initial glimpse of the dining room. For me, a more important impression is how the place smells, the sense that intrigues my nose about things to come. Upon entering Darvish, it was the first thing that struck me – all the spices melding together with a faint smoky meat scent. Sure, their colourful tablecloths were nice, but that’s secondary.

Most of the heavenly aromas must come from Darvish’s stews. When our aubergine stew or bheymeh bademjoon ($16.99) was set on the table, it certainly made me inhale deeply, a calm yoga breath. You really can’t go wrong with a hearty dish spooned over the basmati rice, where the tomato sauce has a hint of citrus thanks to dried lime, which keeps it light while the split peas helps to thicken the sauce. The meat wasn’t immensely tender for veal, but good enough. I only wished there was more eggplant (especially since the stew was named after it), as the vegetable absorbed many flavours and I wish there was more than one piece.  


Make sure to choose the saffron barberry rice if you’re getting a kabob as despite looking regular basmati topped with cranberries, it's certainly more flavourful thanks to being cooked in saffron liquid. You’ll need the extra spice as the kabobs aren’t overly strong; tasty enough on their own but slightly plain without a flavoured grain.

We sampled a mixed kabob plate containing a skewer of koobideh and lamb ($18.99), I was pleasantly surprised by how moist the koobideh (a spiced minced meat) was as I find at most places it’s rendered into an overcooked hamburger. The lamb was tender and with a bit of the onion and parsley mixture helped augment its flavours and ensure there was no gaminess.


All in all, Darvish provides satisfying Persian comfort food. As much as they say ‘you eat with your eyes’, for me, I’m certainly eating with my nose as well. 

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 508 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:

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

You can Taste the Season in NOTL this November with this #contest!

Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2017 by

As Mother Nature gives it bounty, you can enjoy what the land has to offer with wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake with their annual Taste the Season event. Twenty wineries across the region are serving up holiday appropriate bites with a taste of their VQA wines.

Having attended a similar event in the spring, Sip and Sizzle, it was a great time - hiring a touring company to bring my husband and around as I ate and drank the day away. Here are some of the highlights of what we sampled, you can get the complete re-cap here.

Since Peller Estates was one of the first stops, we were spoiled by the full-sized wild boar sausage – you’re not leaving hungry. The gaminess of the wild boar was mellowed with grainy maple Dijon mustard and the salty crispy shallots were an excellent addition. With an equally generous pour of the 2015 Private Reserve Gamay Noir ($19.95), which pairs nicely with the meatiness of the dish, we could have stayed at the winery longer if they had tables to lounge in.


Château des Charmes had the most optimal pairing, in my opinion. Their 2016 Sauvignon Blanc ($14.95) was not quite as tart and mellow in a refreshing way. The creaminess of the citrus aioli on the cold sweet grilled shrimp and the strong herbs in the shoot and sprout salad went nicely with the light wine.
I even discovered something new while making return visits given the Sip and Sizzle tastings were often held in areas separated from the traditional tasting rooms. The best location goes to Ravine Vineyards: guests head downstairs to cellar’s private dining area where curing meats hang in a climate controlled room and barrels filled with aging wine line the walls.


You can experience a similar tasty day every weekend in November (Friday, Saturdays, and Sundays). Pick up the touring passport for $45 (plus taxes and fees) or a designated driver’s version for $25 (plus taxes and fees) that includes non-alcoholic drinks and you’re entitled to a taste of food and drink at each of the 20 participating wineries, valid all month long.



The Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake want to give a Gastro World reader a chance to experience it themselves. The winner will receive two passes (valued at $90 plus taxes and fees) to use anytime during the event. Please note, transportation and accommodations are not included. Simply enter below.

Entries will be accepted until October 28, 2017 at 12:00 AM. Sometime the following day, I will contact winners through email with further details. Accordingly, please make sure you enter a valid email address in Rafflecopter contest site. Cheers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How To Find Them
 Location: Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

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

QJD (Quanjude) Peking Duck 全聚德 (Markham)

Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2017 by

QJD or Quanjude has flew over the ocean from Beijing to Canada, and is one of the oldest Peking duck restaurants, operating since 1864. The Markham outpost is the second location outside of China (the first is in Melbourne) and is prominently set on the main floor of the Courtyard Marriott - just look for the towering duck statue. With the hotel comes a confusing parking situation: after asking the hotel’s concierge and restaurant staff we’re advised to park on the garage’s 4th floor and didn't need to pay for a ticket from the parking machine.

After settling into the sparkling white and turquoise dining room, I couldn’t help but drool over the carts of glistening ducks that just kept coming out – even tables of three (the smallest we could see) order duck. Our waiter suggests we put in the request for the Peking duck first, as it takes 30-minutes to prepare; a time-saving recommendation that allowed dinner to be finished in little over an hour.

Due to the long preparation time, all the other dishes come out first. QJD offers an extensive menu with a lot of offal items. We shied away from these but did try some atypical offering. One of these dishes was the Xi’an rice noodle dressed with spicy sauce ($11.99), which although described as cold, the knife cut noodles were thankfully warm. Overall, it’s a simple but enjoyable dish: the spicy sauce (bean paste mixed with chili oil) went nicely with the chewy noodles, crunchy julienned cucumbers, and spongy slivers of gluten.

Another little seen dish is the traditional Beijing style smoked chicken and tofu sheet roll ($15.99). While it looks pretty, the dish’s texture and flavour reminded everyone of cold mild Spam; for those who like the canned meat this could be fine, but for someone who doesn’t I was disappointed.


While the fried squid in pepper and salt ($18.99) was tender and had a great crunchy crust, it could stand to be drained longer and tasted like the chef forgot to add salt (although there was enough pepper). Luckily, we saved the chili oil from the chilled noodles, a good universal condiment, which helped to flavour the dish.


Finally, to balance out all the meat and carbs an order of sautéed snow pea shoots ($21.99) seemed ideal. It arrives in as a sizeable mound and was cooked nicely retaining the bright green colour and slight crunch.


After all the other dishes were finished, the main event … the DUCK ($118) … was served. The first teaser consists of bite-sized pieces of the oiliest skin – indulgent tastes you can augment with sugar.


Then the beautiful peony dish arrives - the reason you’d pay a $30 premium over their regular set. Since I’ve never had the "non-premium" version, I can’t comment whether you actually receive more of the fowl, however six hollow sesame seed buns are extra items with this combo. 


Presumably, since the buns arrive with the dish, these are meant to be eaten together. Sadly, the buns are cold and its dough is in dire need of seasoning; without adequate hoisin sauce, it’s rather plain – yet you don’t want to waste too much of the sauce as despite the hefty price the duck, each additional dish is another $1.39.


All the sudden, a manager arrives with a gong (how theatrical!) to announce the presentation of the rest of the duck. After the beautiful peony, everything else comes in a hacked up pile, seemingly to resemble the duck’s body. On the side, another dish holds slices of the duck’s neck and head – the neck is pretty tasteless but an interesting cut that’s not normally served.


QJD does provide plenty of steamed pancakes (24 to an order) all large enough to allow adequate folding around the ingredients. They’re unbelievably thin and elastic, one of the most impressive parts of the meal! Meanwhile, although the duck has glossy slightly crispy skin, it isn’t seasoned enough (especially the duck’s meat) so all the flavour comes from the condiments.


Surprisingly, despite the $118 price, there is no “second course”– typically lettuce wraps or the even a chopped-up carcass. Hence, even with all the dishes, it left our table of five comfortably satisfied but not overly full.

We opted for the cute duckling shaped crispy puff stuffed with date paste ($21.99) for dessert, which caused everyone to squeal like school girls when presented. In actuality, the overly thick pastry dough isn’t crispy and the dessert reminds me of a drier fig newton - picture worthy, but not an overly delicious dish. Luckily, we each received half a bowl of sweet almond soup, which although lukewarm helped to balance the crumbly dessert.


Without a doubt, QJD is nicely decorated and is a restaurant for celebrating an occasion or impressing guests. Unlike some Chinese restaurants, the service is also attentive and friendly: our waiter spoke three languages (so could answer everyone) and joked around with us.

Oddly, with all the branding elsewhere - from the gigantic duck out front to the duck chop stick holders) - their menu (the first thing a customer reads) looks like someone whipped it up on Excel and pressed print … not a drop of colour or even a logo in sight. I can understand they’re likely testing out the menu during their opening period, seeing what sells and adjusting accordingly, but at least pretty up the temporary document so it doesn’t paint such a stark contrast against everything else.


Duck statue, duck flowers, duckling desserts … all cute and flashy. Yet, I expected more from a restaurant that’s been operating for over 150 years. Who knows, maybe the recipe hasn’t changed since the Qing Dynasty and back then salt and spices were rare and used sparingly. Nowadays, it makes for a bland duck - pretty, but tasteless.

Overall mark - 6 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 7095 Woodbine Avenue

 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:

QJD Peking Duck Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Yin Ji Chang Fen 銀記腸粉 (Markham)

Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2017 by

If you’re claustrophobic and have an aversion to sitting in close quarters, Yin Ji Chang Fen is not a restaurant to visit. Each table’s real estate is used to capacity – during peak periods a table that fits four will not be given to three – so it’s best to go in even numbers.

What makes people return is Yin Ji’s chang fen or rice noodle rolls. Unlike the versions you find at dim sum, Yin Ji’s is thin yet still retains a hint of elasticity to resist breaking. Each order arrives as one massive rice noodle that’s filled with toppings. The marinated beef and shrimp rice roll ($5.75) incorporated diced pieces of soy sauce laced beef (as opposed to the soft patty found elsewhere) studded with plump shrimp.


You can add an egg coating (additional $1.25), which gives it a light wash on top of the actual rice noodle. Having had it with the BBQ pork and chive roll ($4.75), it does give the dish an added depth of flavour (and perhaps helps the soy sauce stick better), but takes away from the silky feeling of the rice roll itself.

Most people also add on a bowl of congee - the typical order seems to be a congee and chang fen per diner - and their Lai Wan ($5.50) version is popular. There’s the customary seafood (shrimp and white fish), since Lai Wan is a seaside village in China, but also includes BBQ pork slices, pork rind slivers, crunchy peanuts, thinly sliced egg, and a hefty dose of parsley (in lieu of spring onions) that really awakens the congee.


Their shredded pork and gold preserved egg congee ($5) was also decent, with enough of each ingredient. Some reviewers find their congee bland, but I found it adequately seasoned and the abundant toppings give it sufficient flavours - it’s not out-of-this-world but at $5 a bowl is good enough.

The menu includes other dim sum as well. Their sticky rice wrap ($4.50) arrives two to an order, each almost double the miniature versions found at dim sum restaurants. The glutinous rice is filled with mostly meat (seems to be pork in lieu of the traditional chicken) and arrives piping hot.

From the moment you enter, there’s a sense of frenzy … as if you’ve stepped into a night market street vendor instead of a strip mall in Markham. The environment takes some getting used to, but that chang fen … once you’ve had it a Yin Ji, dim sum will never be the same again. 

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10
How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 7010 Warden Avenue

 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:
Yin Ji Chang Fen Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)