Saturday 27 December 2014

Review - Watan Kabob (Afghani restaurant)

If you used to eat Meditterranean food, you will appreciate the meal I'm about to review. It's an Afghani dish called Chaplee kabob from Watan Kabob. An aromatic and hot (spicy) beef patty, grilled to perfection. Served with seasoned rice and salad,  Afghani style spicy salsa and naad bread on the side. A full meal that can make you skip your dinner. I don't recommend this meal for dinner as it will be too heavy to have before you go to bed. Ironically, the combo which I just described called Chaplee kabob dinner meal :) The lunch version is only served with salad and naan bread.
The restaurant have other kabob options, but I found that Chaplee in particular tasted the best because of the spices it used and mixed into the beef patty.




To cool down the spicy meal, this place only has one, yes, one offering of dessert on their dessert menu. But it won't dissapoint you, if you enjoy eating custard. The dessert called Firnee. It's a milk custard topped with crushed pistachio nuts. Taste was not too sweet, with subtle flavour of milk. 
It was the perfect ending to the meal. Price for Chaplee kabob dinner mean is $9.49 and Firnee is $1.99. Well worth the price!




Royal Dansk Danish butter cookies - blast from the past!

Few weeks ago I was suddenly thinking of butter cookies I used to eat when I was at my early teens. The cookies came in a blue coloured round shape tin. It had small paper cups in it with each cup had about 3 to 4 cookies. Taste was nothing amazing, but it was tasty. After the thought of it, I found myself in a quest to find it :P So, I did found it at one of the local supermarket (Fresh Co.) thankfully it was the holiday seasons so it was available. It was not the same brand that I used to it, nor the taste was as good as I rememberred. But at least I found it.



Then one afternoon we went to an Afghani restaurant, located not far from it was a supermarket which sell lots of European items, Kosher items and freshly baked Challah bread. Supermarket is called Highland Farms. As we walked in the door, there were shelves of chocolates and biscuits displayed everywhere. As I walked around the shelf, there it was....the Royal Dansk Danish butter cookies I knew! What a blast from the past! :D And yes, it tasted exatly how I always knew and liked it. Too bad Highland farms didn't carry the bigger tin which has the cookie with raisins but, hey, I didn't complain. Enjoy!

Review - Qoola (Frozen yogurt)

The first frozen yogurt "ice cream" I tried from a stall (not the one you can buy in a tub at a supermarket) was Yogen Fruz, which I think was the first of it's kind. Then, I tried Pinkberry in MOE (Dubai) and Tutti Frutti in Ibn Battutta mall (Dubai). The recent new frozen yogurt shop I encountered was Qoola.

The difference between Qoola and the other two shops I've mentioned was that it's a self service from the time you pull down that lever of the ice cream machine, to put as much yogurt as you'd like to the paper cup, to the varities of toppings which you can put on top of your piling up yogurt, including three types of popping boba, which was like little tapioca pearls but instead of the texture being chewy, it bursts as soon as you bite into it! Too bad that the shell/ lining was made out of seaweed (I assume agar agar), because I don't eat seaweed. Taste of the yogurt was similar if it's not the same with the rest of its competitors. However, Qoola offers more varities especially the fruity flavoured yogurt.

I contacted Qoola Management and asked if the yogurt contains carrageenan (by product of seaweed) or cream (which contains carrageenan), and he confirmed that some of the non-organic yogurt contains carrageenan but non of their product contains cream. This is good news for me & my husband!

The picture shown here was a mixed of passion fruit and peach yogurt with popping boba (strawberry, lychee & mango). This was before I knew it used agar agar to made the popping boba :(

Below is an example of popping boba ingredients with passion fruit flavoring which I got from here.





  

Review - Moxie's Grill & Bar

I finally went to Moxie's. I like the look of the restaurant. The one I went to has family dining area, and a bar section area which has the sitting by the booth. The booth sitted area were not your normal kind. The seat was higher than usual but it has a foot rest by the leg of the table. This height made us the same height as poeple who actually sat at the bar stool by the bar. Genius!!


I browsed at their menu...not impressive. I prefer Kelsey's or Boston Pizza. Most of the dishes eaither have mushroom or bacon or just sounded boring. I finally settled on fish tacos (Haddock) with sweet potatoe fries (extra charge) and Montreal smoked meat sandwich (Reuben sandwich).

From score 1 to 5 and 5 being excellent, the fish tacos was 2.5 and  the Montreal smoked meat sandwich was 4.

There was a slight bitterness from the fish tacos which I didn't know where it came from. The fish was not tasty, and there was a hint of fishy taste. What helped was the jalapeno and the sauce that came with its version of tartar sauce (pinkish colour).
 
On the other hand, the smoked Montreal sandwich was tasty and generous! I tried reuben sandwich from Caplansky's food truck which was oh so dissapointing, even it was my first time I had a Reuben sandwich and Caplansky's was known for it's Reuben sandwich, Moxie's was better by far.

I will come again for the Montreal smoked meat sandwich and the nice service. Both dishes price at $15 each before tax.



Review - Aussie meat pies (Kanga)

I love meat pies! Who doesn't? Well, I know one Aussie lady who doesn't eat meat pie and she even said she may be the only Aussie who does not eat it.

One day returning from my trip from a Japanese supermarket, I saw this pop up sign for Aussie meat pies. I followed the sign and it lead me to a shop where it used to be a sandwich shop. I was excited and reluctant at the same time but I thought, let's give it a go.

Walked in to the shop, asked couple of questions about whether they put mushroom or bacon in the pies. Turned out they don't put both in their traditional Aussie meat pies. Yaaayyy!!

I looked at the pies which were displayed in a heated-see-through glass shelf and looked up the price on the wall...hhhmm...a bit pricey...$6.95 excluding tax for a small size of pie. But I ordered one anyway just to try.

I tasted it and I was let down. It was not as tasty as I'd remember the taste of meat pies I had in Australia. Tasted kind of flat/ bland. I guess when ever I crave for a meat pie, at least I know where to get  it :)

Thank you anyway, Kanga!



Recipe - Curry Leaves Powder

I appreciate simple things. Even with food. A friend of mine introduced me to this wonderful powder which I can just mix with steamed rice and sesame oil, and eat it. Taste so delicious, not to mention it is healthy and I can get my protein too without eating meat. It's an awesome travelling companion because shelf life is a month and no need of refrigeration. It's very handy for my husband and I who observe dietary commandment.

My friend called it Curry Leaves Powder. The recipe is as follow:

Curry leaves
Chilli to taste
Black pepper to taste
Urad dhal
Toor dhal
Salt

Fry the above in a little oil. Once charred, grind it until powdered. Keep in an air tight jar/ container.

Below is the picture of the powder which my friend generously shared to me. Look at that vibrant green colour! :)





Sunday 21 December 2014

Review - FUNE (Japanese restaurant)



Located at the entertainment district in down town Toronto, Fune - a nice Japanese restaurant, with sushi/ sashimi bars that has floating boat on water instead of conventional conveyer belt to display varieties of sushi and sashimi. 



Since I don't eat sushi anymore because of the seaweed/ kombu, I only tried their sake sashimi which was super fresh. I've tried two of their entrees options; Sirloin ($10++) , Ribeye ($11++) & Salmon ($11++) which served with rice, miso soup and salad plus sauted vegetables which consist of zucchini, carrot, bell pepper & mushroom. Of course I asked the chef to remove the mushroom - I don't eat it. Complimentary Japanese tea is also served as in all Japanese restaurant. 


Char-broiled new york cut striploin w/ garlic butter & soya sauce
Char-broiled juicy ribeye steak glazed w/ teriyaki sauce and mustard with wasabi dip on the side

I enjoyed the tasty food, although slightly on the saltier side for the teriyaki sauce for my liking. I liked the restaurant ambiance, the professional, friendly and swift service. It gets VERY busy and noisy around the rush lunch hour, but that is to be expected. Make sure to make a reservation a head of time or come early. Price for lunch menu to me is very reasonable. I always left teh restaurant satisfied. This place definitely has become one of my favorite restaurants to go to if I'm in downtown Toronto. Highly recommended.

Updated December 23, 2014

The following dishes were not good. Beef gyoza was tasteless and Salmon was overcooked and a tad over salted.



Saturday 20 December 2014

Review - (Hibiki-an) Kuradashi Matcha Pinnacle



Kuradashi Matcha Pinnacle



I was very impressed with how this matcha was packed. It came in golden box as you can see, and in a sealed tin with a tight rubber lid to close the tin after you unsealed the tin. It came with a silica gel packet which to help keep the moisture away. I have a very high expectation for this matcha.


Here came the most anticipated day to drink this matcha. As I poured the hot water into the bowl with the matcha powder in it, I smelled unusual aroma. Then when I tasted it I was shocked! What was that?! it tasted...unpleasant. I felt icky after I drank it.  I could not described it but it was nothing like matcha!

Anyhow, I gave it another try on the next day and that unpleasant taste has gone and it tasted more like how I know matcha should taste. I didn't taste any sweetness  as it claimed it has, which what I was looking for. It also had no astringent taste.  What I appreciate from this matcha was that it did not have bitter taste at all and yes, I've also tried it as koicha and it's fine. Will I be purchasing this type again? no, I won't. It's not worth the money. I prefer Matcha Premium, Matcha Superior and House Matcha to this. Perhaps I don't have that kind of sophisticated taste buds or that I happened to get a bad batch :)