Saturday 23 February 2013

Pho Phuong

Pho Phuong is a Vietnamese restaurant on Dundas West. I have been here many times, and enjoy my food each time and again. The interior is a little more upscale than most of the Pho restaurants I  go to. Decor is nice, and the restaurant itself is quite large and spacious. I have tried many items from Pho Phuong's menu and am never disappointed. 
Bun with Spring Rolls. We also ordered a separate order of these deep fried rolls, and they were seriously scrumptious. The spring rolls were some of the best I've had. Perfectly crispy exterior, and filled with flavourful goodness,
Pho Noodle Soup. On this occasion I opted for no meat. The broth was still flavourful and overall, very soothing.
 Bun with Pork and Spring Roll.
Beef Pad Thai. 

If you are in the Dundas west area, you should check this place out. Be sure to try the spring rolls....trust me on this! 

Happy Eating! 
Pho Phuong Fine Vietnamese Cuisine on Urbanspoon

Wednesday 20 February 2013

Sunrise House - revisited

I'm a fan of Sunrise House at Bloor and Christie. I come here often to satisfy my Korean food fix and I am never dissapointed. Here's what I had on my last visit:
Soju and Hite (Korean Beer). We mixed a shot of the soju with some of the beer, and it worked nicely together. 
Kimchi Soup. This had sliced sausage, tofu, vegetables and noodles. It was spicy and full of flavour.
Seafood Pancake. This is my favourite dish!  Crispy and delicious. The dipping sauce puts it over the edge.
Side dishes: potatoes, spinach, glass noodles, spicy turnips and bean sprouts and kimchi.
Beef Short Ribs over sautéed onions. The meat is tender and flavourful. This dish is always a delight.

If you are in Korea town in T.O you should check out Sunrise house. 

Happy Eating! 
Sunrise House Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Sunday 17 February 2013

Feel Good Guru

Feel Good Guru = Clean, Organic, Vegan Food. This joint is located on Queen West and serves yummy smoothies, noodles, wraps, desserts and more. Feel Good Guru showcases how food can be very healthy AND delicious.
I tried the Hemp Shake Elevate which has banana, hemp seeds, medjool dates and vanilla beans. I thought this shake was full of flavour. I enjoyed every sip. I will be back to try out some other items on the menu including the raw carrot cake which I have heard is great! 

Happy Eating! 
Feel Good Guru on Urbanspoon

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Koja

What a pleasant surprise Koja Restaurant was! My friends and I were perusing liberty village last night looking for a place to eat. Most places were closing, so we stumbled in to Koja restaurant (as it was still open).  We were hungry and not expecting much from this tiny place…boy were we wrong. This place was fantastic! Koja is located on Atlantic Ave and serves up sushi and bibimbap and some other Korean dishes.  Here’s what we had:
Green Salad. 
Seaweed Salad beautifully presented in a martini glass.
Chicken Teriyaki. The chicken was tender and the sauce was tasty. 
Salmon Salad roll (no rice). I didn't try this one,  but my friend raved about how delicious it was.
Spicy Crab Roll. This was seriously delicious. Probably the best roll I've had in a long time. Koja uses purple rice, which has a slew of health benefits (all listed on their menu). I didn't find a huge difference in flavour from this rice to normal sushi rice. 
Kimchi Soup. This was nicely balanced in flavour. There was pork, tofu, veggies, kimchi and a side of their purple rice (pictured below). It was spicy and full of flavour. I enjoyed it. 
I found that everything brought to our table was well presented. I was actually surprised with how delicious everything tasted. I can't wait to come back and try more from Koja's menu! If you are in the area, you should definitely check this place out.

Happy Eating!
Koja on Urbanspoon

Thursday 7 February 2013

Lee Restaurant

Lee Restaurant, on King St West, is one of the many eccentric restaurants by renowned chef: Susur Lee. I came here to try out their Winterlicious menu and really enjoyed the experience. I particularly loved the atmosphere in the restaurant. It was lounge-like, with loud music playing, couch and table seating. It was a steal at 45 dollars for a 3 course meal! Here's what we had:
Started with a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
Asian style tuna ceviche. This came with red onion, watermelon, chilies and fried chinese donut in a coconut and calamansi vinaigrette. Below is a closer look.
The tuna was perfect. Not too fatty. It was velvety and had great texture. The watermelon added a refreshing sweetness to the dish.
Slow Braised Beef with smoked potato and leek puree and sour cream. The beef was tender and full of flavour. The potato soaked up the jus from the meat wonderfully. It was an enjoyable dish.
Breaded Chicken stuffed with prosciutto and pesto. On top is mozzarella and a tomato jam. It sits on a lemon parsley white wine sauce. The sauce was the best thing on this plate. The chicken had good flavour and wasn't dry. The tomato jam was surprisingly very sweet. 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar with a vanilla creme anglaise. The chocolate was very rich. Chocolate and peanut butter never fails to be an amazing combination.
Banana Chocolate Cake with Wild Blueberry. This was decadent. I loved every bite. 

The verdict? ....I give Lee Restaurant 2 thumbs up!

Happy Eating!
Lee Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Friday 1 February 2013

Kirei Sushi

Kirei Sushi is a pretty good sushi restaurant at Church and Richmond. My friend and I came to try out their Winterlicious lunch. Here's how it went down:
Green Salad. I really liked this salad. I liked it more than most standard green salads I've had at other sushi restaurants.
Miso Soup
Pork Belly. The meat was tender and had nice flavour. I was a little overwhelmed by how fatty it was. Too fatty for my liking.
Steamed Dumplings stuffed with shrimp. I enjoyed these little dumplings. They were soft, and had good flavour.
Sushi and Sashimi plate. This came with chef's choice of sushi and sashimi and a spicy salmon roll. The fish tasted fresh. I liked how their wasn't too much rice on the rolls and under the sushi, so you could really taste the fish. However, I found the Nigiri fell apart quite quickly upon picking it up to dip in the soya (which was a little annoying). 
Green Tea Ice-cream 
Black Sesame Ice-cream. Interesting, but I liked it.

Overall, it was a nice lunch at Kirei Sushi. I found service was very friendly and attentive. I also liked the interior of the restaurant, which was modern and welcoming. I think I would probably enjoy this restaurant more if I were ordering off their regular menu. I was curious about other rolls on the menu that looked good. 

Happy Eating!
Kirei Sushi + Bar on Urbanspoon