[Japan] Dinner @ Asou (大衆割烹 あそう)

Location Review:
Tokyo Shinjuku Kabukicho 1-22-4
東京都新宿区歌舞伎町1-22-4

Another day in Tokyo, means another dinner! After a long day at Tokyo Bay, we treked all the way back to Shinjuku where we stayed. In the same area as where we had ramen the first night, we found a nice little restaurant.


I was really attracted to this particular restaurant because of the display of live seafood outside, and there was also a guy outside the restaurant grilling shrimp on a barbeque looking grill. The combination of the two sealed the deal for me!

[Japan] Lunch @ Venus Fort Food Court

Location Review:
Venus Fort
1 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan


As part of our tourist itinerary, we visited the beautiful Tokyo Bay located on the southern region of Tokyo. The area is a collective of many islands, all of which are man-made with the except of one. These islands serve as a home for military bases, landfills, Haneda international airport, and tourism.  Because Rob wanted to see the Toyota MegaWeb showroom (part of Venus Fort mall) , we ended up going to Odaiba, which seems to be the most tourist friendly out of all the islands. It has a private light rail (Yurikamome rapid transit line) connecting various tourist attractions including the MegaWeb Toyota Showcase, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Big Sight Exhibition Centre, Fuji Television Studios, Aqua City Mall, and  the Statue of Liberty replica, among many others.We spent the entire day here, and was probably my favourite day in Tokyo.

[Japan] Lunch @ Tsukiji Market

Location Review
Tsukiji Market

5-2-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

The Tsukiji Market is one of Tokyo's popular tourist spot, as it is the largest wholesale food market in the world. It has a long history dating back to 1935 (if you are interested you can read it here), but essentially its a wholesale market where seafood and other supplies are auctioned off to authorized buyers (like restaurants), and immediate wholesalers (vendors at the market). Some of the restaurants that purchase the goods are situated right inside the market, serving fish purchased that very same day. Sashimi heaven! But more on that later.

[Japan] Ramen @ 回高屋

Review Location:
1-30-1 Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
(closest address)

The next leg of my Asia trip was one of the most highly anticipated countries on my own travel list : Japan! I don't know what it is about it, but the culture, food, and people just appeal to me so much! What would we do in a world without sushi, Hello Kitty, sexy cars, and super advanced technology?

Anyways, the area I stayed in Tokyo was the region/ward of Shinjuku. It's known for having the busiest train station in the world (Ican definitely vouch for that!) and one of the more popular red light districts. But I think regardless of what region you stay in, one thing in common, the food is great!

[Tawain] - Danshui Market 淡水夜市

If you read up on my Shilin night market post, you know how much good food there is in Taiwan. But the best part? there are actually multiple markets in Taiwan! I wish I had the chance to go to all of them, but it would probably take quite a bit of time and a toll on my waistline!

This market we went to in Danshui is definitely not as popular and infamous as the huge one in Shilin, and it's also a little further away from the heart of taipei (about 40 mins train). It's were the touristy Lover's Bridge is located, and in a nearby train stop of Beitou is where all the hot springs are.

[Taiwan] Rice Sandwich @ Family Mart

In western society, breads and buns make a majority of the grain intake. However in Asian cultures, rice is the much preferred grain medium. I don't think there's a day that goes by where my parents don't cook rice at home for dinner. Given its cultural significance, I decided to blog about my first experience eating...a rice sandwich! I know convenience store food isn't the most interesting to read about, and unfortunately this wouldn't be my first of such posts. I promise I'll try to keep this at a minimum for the future!

The rice sandwich is definitely not a new concept. Mcdonalds has had the McRice Burger since before 2005, and is found in multiple countries in Asia. And while I've heard about its existence for a while, I never actually ever tried it...until now.

[Taiwan] Mr. J Italian-French Kitchen 義法廚房

Location Review:
No. 43, Lane 308, Guangfu S. Rd., Taipei City
106 Taipei, Taiwan台北市大安區光復南路308巷43號


When I was in university, during a class presentation, on of my class mates asked the question "What's Taiwan known for?" Someone immediately blurted out "Jay Chou". The entire class laughed. And while it obviously wasn't the right answer, it was still funny because it was true.

Originating from Taiwan, Jay Chou is a well-known acomplished song writer, singer, actor (Surely you've watched the Green Hornet, yes?), film director, TV show host, the list can go on. And now, what's this? The Taiwanese popstar has gone culinary as well? Indeed he has.

[Taiwan] Desserts @ Hankyu Department Store

Location Review:
Hankyu Department Store (統一阪急百貨)
台北市忠孝東路五段8號
ZhongXiao E. Road, Sec 5, No 8
Taipei City, Taiwan





It was pouring outside the day that my friends and I decided to walk around the Tapei 101 area in Taipei City. Go figure. Luckily we found our way inside Hankyu Department Store to shelter ourselves from the rain a bit. On the basement floor of the department store was actually a huge food area. They have food court style food, as well as desserts being sold at counters. It was like a department store for desserts. JACKPOT.

[Taiwan] Taiwanese Beef Noodles @ 建宏牛肉麵

Location Review:
Wan Hua District, No. 45-6 Luo Yang Street
台北市萬華區洛陽街45-6號







I've always thought that noodles are one of the most cultured items in Chinese cuisine. Most noodles being made from similar ingredients, it's mind blowing how different geographical regions and cultures can put their own spin and preparation techniques to transform it into a different eatting experience. It can be boiled, steamed, fried, deep fried, pulled, knife sliced, the list goes on.

In Taiwan, noodle soup is very popular, and it is commonly paired with braised beef brisket.

Lucky for me, I stayed in an area where there was an entire street of beef noodle soup spots close by. Luo Yang Street is filled with noodle vendors cart, and beside it are portable tables and chairs to eat at.

[Taiwan] Shilin Night Market (士林夜市)

Location Review:
Shilin Night Market
No.101, Jihe Rd., Shilin Dist., Taipei City 111, Taiwan

Away from Hong Kong, and to Taiwan we go! As a side trip, a couple of my friends and I went to Taiwan for the first time. Being well known for their many night markets, I was excited to eat all the local food!

[Hong Kong] Taiwanese Shaved Snow @ 糖仁街

Location Review:
G/F, 11 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀厚福街11號地下

After a very very filling dinner at Satay King, I met up with a friend to have dessert. If there is one thing you must know about me and dessert, its that 1) you are never too full for dessert, and 2) ice cream beats all. I plead guilty to multiple occasions where I've situated myself under thick blankets on my bed just so I could eat ice cream on a winter day. The dessert place we ended up going to (and the spotlight of today's post) didn't serve ice cream, but it offered something I'm willing to put close behind on the favourites list -Taiwanese shaved snow.

[Hong Kong] Satay King (沙嗲王)

Location Review
旺角彌敦道655號胡社生行4樓
4th Floor,Wu Sang House，No. 655 Nathan Road, Mong Kok

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After a day of shopping with Rob, we went to look for some dinner. I guess by now you can tell this is a common routine for me... Anyways, I did a quick look on Open Rice (which is basically the Urbanspoon of Hong Kong) and chose the highest ranking restaurant close to where we were. Random restaurant venturing? I'm down.

[Hong Kong] Street Style Noodles @ 川婆婆串串香

Location Review
Shop G20, GI MAIl, 34 Granville Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀加連威老道34號GI Mall G20號舖

One of the great things about Hong Kong, is that there is literally food everywhere. One day when I was shopping with some girlfriends, amidst all the "exercise" we were getting, we grew hungry and decided to go on a street food hunt. We had a couple of snacks, before stumbling on a tiny store selling cart style noodles.

[Hong Kong] Suzuki Cafe Company (鈴木珈啡館)

Location Review:

Shop L407, 4/F, The ONE, 100 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

尖沙咀彌敦道100號The ONE 4樓L407號舖

This location of Suzuki Cafe Company is located in my favourite malls in Hong Kong. It's just under a year old, so everything is nice and new inside! While there are lots of nice luxurious malls to occupy yourself with in Hong Kong, for whatever reason I really like this one. Perhaps it's because it's a massive 30 story building (making it the tallest shopping complex in Hong Kong) with 25 floors, of which 15 of those have food and restaurants! But it's not only that, there's also some clothing brands I really like there, but that's a story for another type of blog. So lets get back to Suzuki Cafe.

[Hong Kong] Tsui Wah (翠華餐廳)

Location Review: 
493 - 495, Jaffe Road,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong







Tsui Wah is a very popular Hong Kong style restaurant that currently has a handful of locations across Hong Kong. Being relatively affordable and open 24 hours, it's a popular spot for getting a snack or meal during the off hours. Don't go expecting stellar service and a fancy dining room though. Like typical Hong Kong style tea restaurants, the selling point here is a place to grab decent, quick, and affordable food.

[Hong Kong] Genki Sushi (元気寿司)

Location Review: 
Shop 115-116, 1/F, Fortune City One, Shatin, Hong Kong
沙田置富第一城,一樓115及116舖

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Though its lost a bit of its hype and popularity, conveyor belt sushi is still one of my faves. While there are lots of places to have conveyor belt sushi in Hong Kong, I always end up coming back to Genki because it's close to where I live and can satisfy the sudden cravings. For those unfamiliar with the concept, conveyor belt sushi (also referred to as rotating sushi, 回転寿司), is where plates of sushi are placed on a conveyor belt and rotate around a circular belt structured to reach all or most of the dining guests of the restaurant. Sushi chefs continually replenish the belt, and the bill is settled based on the amount and type of sushi ordered (usually distinguished by the colour of the plate). Of course, if you are impatient to wait and watch for your item to come around the belt, there is an a la cart menu for sushi, as well as set meals.

[Hong Kong] Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant (洪記海鮮酒家)

Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant (洪記海鮮酒家)
西貢海旁廣場兆日大樓地下6號及9-10號
Shop 6; 9-10, G/F, Siu Yat Building, Sai Kung Hoi Pong Square, Sai Kung







Sai Kung is an well known area for having seafood. Sai Kung Town was once a fishing village, and despite the fact it's more modernized now, the harbour is still a place where much of the seafood served at near by restaurants are caught. The restaurants are situated on a street all along the harbour, and due to the proximity, the street definitely reeks of fish and salt water. But that's a small price to pay for the delicacies that are served. Amongst the many restaurants, we end up going to Hung Kee Seafood Restaurant based on friend referral. I love walking by each restaurant and just gazing at their gigantic tanks of seafood on display. It makes ordering easy too; you can literally point to the specific one you want and specify how you want it cooked. Since you're picking ingredients on a hungry stomach, you can bet you'll more than likely over order -everything looks so tasty!

[Hong Kong] Circle K -Microwavables

I admit, a convenience store is probably not the most conventional place to do a food blog post on. But one hurried morning, I was forced to have a quick breakfast (or more like a snack to tie me over) at a local Circle K convenience store. If you're unfamiliar with Hong Kong, Circle K is exactly like a 7-eleven offering common convenience store items: magazines, drinks, cigarettes, candy, alcohol, and most importantly,  cooked and microwave food! They even have a microwave equipped on site for immediate consumption. I can't even count the number of times I came here to grab something because they are also densely located. There is one at almost every corner of the city!

[Hong Kong] Aji Ichiban (味一番)

22-28 Hillwood Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
山林道22-28號, 尖沙咀

Not to be confused with the popular Hong Kong snack chain Aji Ichiban, this post is actually about a Japanese restaurant! One of the more exciting aspects about being in Hong Kong for me, is having Japanese food. Literally being surrounded by water, there is an abundant amount of fish and other seafood, making it so affordable to have good raw fish! One of my friend's dad brought us here, and is a regular customer so he ended up making most of the ordering choices for the night.

[Hong Kong] Super Fast Food

Location Review:
Shop 108, 1/F, City One Plaza,
1 Ngan shing Street, Sha Tin, Hong Kong










As a first meal of the first day in Hong Kong, Rob and I decided to have a Hong Kong style breakfast in the plaza below my appartment. Just like the name of the restaurant may hint, this place is less of a restaurant and more so fast food. You order, get a chit, pass your chit to a lady behind a food counter which resembles a cafeteria serving station, and then wait for your food to be made.

I didn't die, I promise!

So I've been on a little bit of a hiatus for the past 3 weeks. I actually did a bit of travelling over in Asia, and internet being a scarce commodity for me, I was unable to update. What a shame, because Asia was like an eating heaven! Not to worry though, once I get past this jetlag and have my life in regular order again, I'll be sure to get you guys caught up on all the yummies that I had.  STAY TUNED BOYS AND GIRLS! =)

Dinner at Nelson's House

a couple weekends ago, my brother-in-law Nelson's family invited us over for dinner. His family being from Taiwan, we were in for some traditional Taiwan and Shanghai influenced dishes! Not being Taiwanese myself, I probably don't have the right names for most of these dishes, but delicious none the less!

[Newmarket] Kneadings Bread & Cafe

Location Review:
16655 Yonge Street
Newmarket, Ontario

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I'm sure most people will probably never stumble upon this little bakery due to its far proximity from the heart of Ontario, and for that I think is a shame. The other day my parents were in the Newmarket area after coming back down from some hiking trails up north, and decided to stop by this new bakery after receiving positive feed back from their friends. After grabbing some deli sandwiches, they brought back some breads and other treats in which I had the opportunity to try.

As a bit of a background, Kneadings Bread & Cafe is a bakery cafe that makes a whole range of baked goodies with stone-ground wheat flours, in-store fresh everyday. What makes this place very different, is that nothing in their store is made with additives or preservatives. I find you can actually tell the difference in the taste, texture, and smell. More on this later. While most people would just drop by to grab a loaf of bread, muffins, or some cookies, there is also the option of having some soup, salad, or deli / breakfast sandwiches on your choice of bread or bagel.

Scones ($2 each) -Cheddar (Top Left), Chocolate Chip (Top Right), Raisin (Bottom Left), Cranberry Orange (Bottom Right)

Without even taking into consideration that these scones have all natural ingredients, these were absolutely delicious. I toasted mine to a point where it had a mild crunchy exterior, and soft warm interior. On thing I do notice though, is that each scone was not the same. Some rose more during baking than others, and as a result tasted better because they were less dense.. My favourite one was the cranberry and orange. Very buttery, and had a subtle hint of sweetness from the honey (not sugar) and the cranberries.

"Honey Whole Wheat", and "Muesli" bread loaves"

Since my parents were the ones that picked these up, I have to say that these bread flavours are actually quite (for lack of a better word) boring compared to the ones that they offer. On a menu that they brought back, I saw that they have some pretty interesting loaves like "Strawberry and Pecan", "Spinach Feta", "Jalapeno Cheddar" and even "Irish Soda Bread" (A Saint Patrick's Day specialty made with buttermilk, eggs, currants, and coriander).

The loaves themselves were very heavy. I'd say the weight of one loaf is equivalent to two commercial loaves of bread. The texture of the bread is more dense and less uniformly risen. Because there are no additives, you can really taste the yeast in the bread. Or actually, being the Bio-nerd that I am, I should correct myself and say it is the alcohol by-product of the yeast fermentation process which you can taste. I wasn't used to it at first, but after a couple more bites I couldn't even notice it. Personally I think I prefer the texture of fluffy commercialized breads, but the fact that it was all natural definitely made me feel good about eating it.

[Toronto] Guu Izakaya

Location Review:
398 Church Street
Toronto, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Church St. and Gerrard St. E)

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Guu originated from our friends on the West coast of Canada, in British Columbia. With their bountiful fresh fish and lively atmosphere, they were able to create an izakaya so popular, that there are now two locations in Toronto. The name of the restaurant is supposed to resemble the sounds of a rumbling stomach, which is definitely how I recommend you should feel going into Guu. I've actually been here a couple times now, but never actually got around to posting up a review. After multiple visits, I've come to gather a lot of pictures, so hopefully you can bear through this visually long long post!

[Markham] Gal's Sushi

Review Location:
3621 Hwy 7
Markham, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Hwy 7 & Warden Ave)

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I've been to Gal's a couple of times, and I have never been disappointed. Each time they have served  consistently fresh fish, great service, and attention to presentation. Definitely a go-to place whenever the sushi cravings arise!

[Richmond Hill] Pho Hoang Kim

Review Location:
330 Hwy 7 East
Richmond Hill, Ontario







Situated in the Golden Gate Plaza, the restaurant is right where the former Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine  with its iconic pho train store sign used to be. Having been to predecessor restaurant a couple times in the past, I can tell you that nothing has really changed. The renovations and furnishing are exactly the same, and the menu is almost identical. But then again, most Vietnamese restaurants serve up similar dishes anyway. On a Friday night at around 9pm, Rob and I came here to grab a quick dinner. As you read this entry you may  start to notice that I always end up ordering the same things whenever I go have Vietnamese food. I guess I know what I like!

[Toronto] Spirits Bar and Grill

Review Location
642 Church St
Toronto, Ontario
(Yorkville)

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One afternoon my co-workers and I went out for a quick lunch. We wanted to sit out in the patio because it was a nice day, so chose this smaller pub in hopes that it wasn't already packed from the lunch crowd. Spirits ended up being the perfect place. This place has it all. They serve brunch, lunch, and dinner, and have an awesome stocked bar. Because I was here for a weekday lunch with the co-workers I didn't end up ordering drinks, but looking through the drink menu I noticed they had an extensive beer list on tap. Even draft Strongbow! Obviously the beer offerings were no match to that of Beer Bistro or other specialized restaurants, but for a tiny pub its not too bad.

[Toronto] Food at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE)

Review Location:
210 Princes' Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario






If you've never been to CNE (or what is commonly referred to as The Ex) then your definitely missing out. Each year, this 18 day exhibition attracts thousands of people with its carnival games, food stands, fair rides, casino, animal shows, shopping, and much more. Obviously as a huge foodie, every year I only remember CNE by the countless hours roaming the food building and food carts. This year was no exception. Infact, this year I went with @misswu23 as well as a bunch of other girls, and went on an all fried food frenzy. Believe it or not, for the entire day I did not eat a single thing that was unfried. What a disgustingly amazing day. 

[Markham] Old Firehall Confectionery

Review Location:
170 Main Street
Unionville, Ontario










As a followup to the disappointing reality that  Al Dente was in fact located in Mains St. Markham and not Unionville, later that evening Rob and I decided to take a stroll around the latter.. I was no stranger to the Historic Main Street Unionville area. It is so charming with its beautiful Victoria style streets, but never have I seen it so romantic as it was after sunset. It was a completely different atmosphere.

While most retail stores would be closed at this time elsewhere, most of the little shops here were still open. The stores sold a variety of interesting items and trinkets, but you could tell most people went in for the sole purpose of browsing. It was definitely the ice cream stores that brought in the most business on the warm summer night. Not being able to resist we decided to get ice cream ourselves.

[Markham] Al Dente

Review Location:
39 Main Street N,
Markham, Ontario

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The term "al dente"  is an Italian expression to describe pasta, rice, and even vegetables that are cooked to a firm but not hard texture. So if you haven't made the connection, today's post is about Italian food. From just the address listed above, one might think that this restaurant is located in the romantic historic gem of Unioniville. Well, I know I did at least. Turns out this was on Main street Markham, and not Unionville (who knew there was a difference?). Being a bit lost, I called the restaurant to ask for directions only to be greeted by an abrupt and rude lady. Aside from repeating the address she made no effort to help me navigate my way there. She sounded impatient and just wanted to hang up. Not the best first impression.

[Richmond Hill] Chili Secrets

Location Review:
9021 Leslie Street
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Leslie St. and Hwy 7)





The other day I came here to have dim sum with the family and some family friends. Located just by Time Square, Chili secrets gets lots of traffic for both lunch and dinner service. It serves up a fusion of Cantonese, Szechuan and Shanghai cuisines. The great thing about this place is that they have lots of vegetarian options. Because we had a vegetarian with us that day, we had less meat dishes than usual.

[Toronto] Copacabana Brazilian Steak House

Review Location:
150 Eglinton Ave E
Toronto, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Yonge St. and Eglinton Ave)

When I found out that I would be going to an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ for dinner one night, my carnivorous side got pretty excited. I don't know of too many places like this, but Copacabana is definitely the most well known Brazilian BBQ that I know of. Everyone who's been there had great things to rave about, so that just added to my anticipation. Bottomless meat for a fixed prix of $35? YES PLEASE!

Myungdong Kalkuksu Noodles and Shabu Shabu

Review Location:
8194 Bayview Ave
Thornhill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Bayview Ave & Langstaff Rd E.)




The other day my friend Jess and I went out for a catch-up dinner. For whatever reason we always end up having Korean, but no complaints since I love Korean food! 

Despite this restaurant being open for a while now, this was my first time trying it. The food was so good, I'm surprised I didn't hear about this place earlier! Perhaps its the name of the restaurant. I was actually recommending this restaurant to someone else yesterday, and had quite a bit of difficulty communicating the restaurant name. I'm sure in Korean it is probably less of a weird mouthful of words. In the interest of time and typing efforts, I will now refer to this restaurant as Myungdong for the rest of the post.

[Toronto] Paramount Fine Foods

Review Location
253 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Yonge St. and Dundas St.)







One afternoon my coworkers and I were craving Mediterranean, so we decided to go to Paramount Fine Foods near Dundas Square after it was suggested by my co-worker Fatima. I was surprised to learn that this restaurant has several locations, including Mississauga and even North York!


The first impression I got coming in here was its very cultural. There was soft bollywood music playing, and the waitstaff consisted of all different ethnicities. The decor has a rustic warehouse feel to it, with it's high ceiling and dull orange brick walls. The dark oak furnishings, carpeted floors and chandeliers tops off the decor with a classier touch. It was a busy afternoon, so we were placed in the upstairs dining room.

[Richmond Hill] Sushi Tei

Review Location
115 Times Avenue
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Highway 7 Rd & Valleymede Dr.)

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Having not eaten sushi for a while, this was a much anticipated meal for me. My blog probably needs this injection of a sushi review as well, since it seems like I had a good dominating Japanese theme going on!

When I found out that Sushi Tei is a Korean-Japanese fusion restaurant, I was immediately skeptical about how much I would enjoy this place. I am a huge fan of Japanese and Korean food individually, but I'm not too fond of is most Korean influenced Japanese food. I'm not saying that all Korean made sushi is terrible (because quite frankly in my opinion Sushi Bong can kick a lot of Japanese place out of the water), just that most of the time I don't find it as satisfying. However, rob had been here before and commented that it was alright so we decided to eat here anyways.

Sofra Grill

Location Review:
8707 Dufferin St
Vaughan, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Dufferin Street and Highway 7 Road)

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Out of all the places I've reviewed so far, Sofra Grill wins the award for the most visits from me! This restaurant is located in the rarely crossed upon city of Vaughan and is relatively close to Rob's house, so it's a frequent go-to place for dinner. I probably eat here once a month at least. You'd think eating here so often I would grow weary of it, but this is hardly the case. Yes people, it IS that good! 

Peridot Resto Lounge

Review Location:
81 Bloor Street East
Toronto, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Yonge and Bloor)

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Despite what my blog says, my coworkers and I rarely go out for lunch. Even if we do, its usually a quick place. Today however, was a special ocassion so we took the time and went to a fancier place to fill our starving mid-day tummies. Peridot is right by my office in yorkville. I have been here on a couple of occasions. Usually we sit in the dining room, but because of the weather we opted for the rooftop patio.

[Toronto] Kabab Grill

Review Location:
70 Gerrard St W
Toronto, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Bay and College)

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Because Rob and I were in the college and yonge area, for dinner one night we came to Kabab Grill. This restaurant advertises itself for serving traditional healthy Lebanese food. I can't vouch for the authenticity since I've never been to Lebnon and had their food, but there were several items on the menu that I had never seen anywhere else.

Niwa-tei

Location Review:
3160 Steeles Avenue East (Unit 2)
Markham, Ontario






Before actually coming to try Niwa-tei, I had heard mixed opinions about it.  Some people really love it, and others don't care for it much. It seems to be that way too if you do a quick google search for Niwa-tei reviews. For me, I would have to say it was a mixed-opinion experience as well.

[Las Vegas] Maggiano's Little Italy

Review Location
(Inside Fashion Show Mall)
3200 Las Vegas Blvd South ,
Las Vegas, Nevada

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This reataurant was on the list of retaurants to eat at even before we got here. Mike, who has eaten here before and was also in Vegas with me Canada weekend made a bold statement that  "Maggiano's is the best Italian food ever". When our other friend Curtis agreed, I knew I had to get my camera and food blog taste buds ready for this meal!

Maggiano's is a chain restaurant with locations all over the United States. Unfortunstely no locations in Canada yet! The one we visited was in the Fashion show mall next to Wynn and Encore Hotels. 

[Las Vegas] Bamboo Pool

Review Location:
(Inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel)
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, Nevada

One of  the days while I was in Las Vegas, we spent the entire first half of a day by the pool in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. The Bamboo Pool is a pretty interesting pool, as it's not on the ground floor like most others. It's located on the 14th floor, and is almost like a big balcony. Deep blue swimming pools, palm tress, sunny skies--I wish it didn't have to end!

While at the pool, we bought a cabana which had a minimum spending amount. With this quota we ordered some drinks, and figured we should have lunch while we were at it!

[Las Vegas] The Henry (Cosmopolitan Hotel)

Location Review:
(inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel)
708 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, Nevada





VIVA LAS VEGAS! For Canada day weekend I headed over to the city that never sleeps. Amongst the relaxing, sun tanning, gambling, celeb-seeing, shopping, and partying, I made sure I left some time for my favourite hobby of all time -eating!


For the duration of the trip, we stayed at The Cosmopolitan Hotel  that just opened last new year's eve, making it the newest hotel on the Las Vegas Strip! If this was a hotels review blog, I would tell you that The Cosmo is probably the trendiest, most glamorous modern hotel I've been to, and how I can never stay at another hotel in Las Vegas again. But since this is a food blog, I won't.


The Henry is located inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the main floor right next to the Chandelier Bar (fun fact of the day, the chandelier hanging over the chandelier bar is actually the largest chandelier in North America!). It has a pink and mahogany theme to it, and was comfortable yet classy with its comfy padded seats and chic decor. 

[Vaughan] Menchie's Frozen Yogurt

Review Location:
9360 Bathurst Street
Vaughan, Ontario
(major intersection: Bathurst St. & 16th Ave)





In recognition of the scorching summer weather that we are finally getting here in Toronto, one night Rob and I went out for some chilled treats after dinner. Usually Mcdonalds is my go-to ice cream place, but decided to be adventurous and try out this new Menchie's location that opened up. Menchie's a frozen yogurt franchise that originated in the United States, but has locations all over the world including 2 in the Toronto region. Basically you build your own frozen yogurt and customize everything that goes into your cup. That being said, this was a dessert heaven for me!

[Toronot] Marquis Lounge and Bistro

Location Review:
92 Peter Street
Toronto, Ontario
(Major intersection: Adelaide St. W and Spadina Ave)





Not too long ago, my company held an employee appreciation event offering some discount tickets and vouchers to certain attractions and restaurants. I ended up picking one up for Marquis Lounge and Bistro for $10 which came with four 50% off dine in vouchers. The restaurant is actually located on the 2nd floor of a Hilton hotel. Walking into the restaurant you will notice