[Toronto] Smoque N' Bones

Location Review
869 Queen St W
Toronto, Ontario
(647) 341-5730
Website

A little while back, I stopped by Smoque N' Bones (@SmoqueNBones) for dinner. At the time it was the new kid on Toronto's Queen West block, and was owner Alex Rad's initiating establishment. Prior to picking up the kitchen knife, Rad was a corporate finance professional. But make no mistake, this is no amateur spot. Smoque N' Bones set out to be an authentic Southern smokehouse, and it definitely delivers it well.

Smoque N' Bones

[Toronto] Little Sister Indonesian Food Bar

Location Review
2031 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 488-2031
Website

For such a multicultural city like Toronto, there is much to be desired when it comes to Indonesian food. Enter Little Sister Indonesian Food Bar (@LittleSisterTO). This newly opened eatery located in Midtown is a modern eatery serving up a menu created by Dutch-native chef Michael van den Winkel. Having cooked Dutch-Indo cuisine his entire life, you can be sure he's included all his favourite authentic dishes on the list.

Little Sister

[Niagara] Trius Winery - Harvest Table Lunch

Location Review

1249 Niagara Stone Rd
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Menu



If you just so happen to land on my blog the past week, then you'll notice that I was in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region recently for the Days of Wine and Chocolate festival (read my Day 1 and Day 2 adventures here!), sampling delectable desserts and local wines. Somewhere during the day my boyfriend rob and I decided it was time for some real food, and we headed to Trius Winery (@TriusWinery) which was formerly known as Hillebrand, for lunch. The winery restaurant offers regular lunch service, but we opted to partake in a special lunch Trius Winery hosts. The Harvest Table Lunch is a seasonal event offered each Saturday during the months of February and March, to the first 12 patrons to make a reservation. This intimate lunch is hosted by Trius Chef Frank Dodd's culinary team, who are knowledgeable in both food and wine. For us, this multi-talented individual would be Brad.

Trius Winery

So our Harvest Table Lunch experience starts when Brad leads us from our coatcheck to a glass wine cellar, where a reception consisting of charcuterie and sparkling wine awaits. We got acquainted with the four other individuals attending the lunch, which Rob and I would soon realize were the loveliest individuals to share the table with.

Helping ourselves to charcuterie

[Toronto] Bestellen - Suckling Pig Dinner

Location Review
972 College Street
Toronto, ON
Menu


WARNING: Please be advised if you are a vegetarian or have opinions against the consumption of animals/cute piglets, then you need to stop reading right now.

No seriously, because this is going to be one graphic post of meat consumption. If the title hadn't given it a way yet, you're going to be feasting your eyes on some serious suckling pig.Bestellen (@BestellenTO) is probably one of the few places I know in Toronto where an entire suckling pig can be ordered, so it was definitely an experience when I decided to head over with Ben, Carmen (@carmenhungry), Justine (@foodigatorJ), Jing (@jingloh) Joe (@jsinb88), Mike (@chopstickhero), and Vickie (@kiki_BFF) to partake in a family-style pig roast dinner for 8! For a price of $59 per person (and 72 hours notice), here is what you can expect out of Bestellen's Suckling Pig Dinner.

Bestellen

[Toronto] Bellwoods Brewery

Location Review:
124 Ossington Avenue
Toronto, ON


So what do Carmen (@carmenhungry), Grace(@foodinthecityTO), Jessica (@wherejessate), Vickie (@kiki_BFF), and I, have in common? Let's not jump to the most obvious two answers in relation to our genders and ethnicities here! Give up? Turns out, we've all never been to Bellwoods Brewery (@bellwoodsbeer) before, and it has been on our restaurant radars for a while!

So a little while back (yes, I'm still extremely delayed on these posts, I apologize!) the five of us girls headed over to Toronto's newest brewpub (opened just this April) in the Ossington area to see what their beer and snacks menu had to offer.

[Toronto] Kinton Ramen

Location Review
51 Baldwin Street
Toronto, Ontario



I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a restaurant opening. Oh wait, I do. It was for Guu Izakya, still one of my favourite izakaya's in Toronto. Now enter  Kinton Ramen (@KintonRamen). Being run by the same people who brought us Guu Izakya (@GuuToronto) and Guu Sakebar, naturally I was euphoric as I counted down the days to their official opening on May 18.

To be quite honest, I had no idea what to expect. With the astounding amount of Japanese restaurants in Toronto and the GTA, there is still a less than sufficient number of impressive ramen establishments. Was Kinton going to revolutionize ramen in Toronto as we know it? I didn't have a clue. I did however, anticipate two things : 1) the line ups outside would be insane, and 2) it would be a rowdy crowd on the inside.

[Chicago] The Purple Pig

Location Review:
500 N Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60611

MENU

After an early morning architecture boat tour of Chicago (which by the way was AMAZING), I went along with my sister, Nelson (@BiteMeFoodBlog), and a couple of friends, for some lunch at The Purple Pig (@thepigchicago). This award winning Chicago restaurant is located right on the Magnificent Mile, only steps away from the beautiful river where we had our boat tour. The pathway leading up to the restaurant entrance iis guarded by a large black gate, proudly displaying their motto: "Cheese, Swine, & Wine". And it really doesn't get much more straight forward than that. The restaurant is a collaboration of three well established Chicago chefs, bringing some of the best home made cheeses, pork dishes, and fine wines.

[Toronto] Porchetta & Co

Review Location:
825 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario

MENU

And the last chapter of my first food crawl with Andrew (@_aneb), Justine (@foodigatorJ), and Chieu (@chieunghi) takes place at a small sandwich shop in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood.

Porchetta and Co (@PorchettaAndCo) serves exactly what you think it does: porchetta. And that's pronounced "porketta" as Andrew would emphasize. The recipe for this traditional Italian pork roast at Porchetta and Co starts off with a 24 hour marinated pork shoulder. It's wrap it in prosciutto, then again wrap in cured pork belly, and roasted until crispy on the outside. This masterpiece is finally carved to be placed on sour dough buns. Sound amazing? Well it kind of is, so keep reading.

[Toronto] Auberge du Pommier

Location Review:
4150 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario

Auberge du Pommier

I have been to Auberge du Pommier on several ocassions, and have loved the experience every time! Belonging to the Oliver and Bonacini Restaurants family (along with Canoe, Jump, and LUMA,  to name a few), this French restaurant is located just north of york mills on Yonge Street. From the outside, the restaurant resembles a cozy little courtyard house complete with a garden, white picket fence, and a very charming cobblestone walkway. While it looks like a small on the outside, it is deceivingly spacious on the inside! The decor is simple and quaint with its neutral colour theme, fireplace, and stone walls. a romantic ambiance coupled with excellent food makes this the perfect date night spot!

[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.

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!

[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

Kim Po Vietnamese Restaurant

Review Location:
550 Hwy 7 E
Unit 6162A (Times Square)
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Leslie & Hwy 7)




The other day I cam here for dinner with some of my friends. I've been here once before a couple years ago, and the place definitely cleaned up both in decor since my last visit. Everything looks much cleaner and more like a restaurant. The one thing they didn't bother to renovate was probably the washroom. Gross and neglected like most Asian places. Luckily, the food got better since I last came too. Out of the 6 of us that went, half of us ordered vermicelli and half of us ordered pho.

Phoenix Restaurant

Review Location:
8190 Bayview Avenue
Thornhill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Langstaff Rd. & Bayview Ave)





So it's been a while since I posted, but its partially because I've been sick! I'll try to make up for it, starting with this one! The other day I came to this Phoenix for dinner. I' believe this location is a branch of the one near woodbine and Steeles, but the sign on the outside sure was similar. The inside was really really pretty. It had a red glowing ceiling with butterflies, and a some other decorations on the wall that made it seem like some sort of enchanted forest. I couldn't resist and took a picture (while people stared at me..). We ended up ordering 3 dishes.

Pho Mi Viet Thai

Review Location:
2354 Major MacKenzie Drive
Maple, Ontario

I always love going to Pho because it's fast, cheap, and relatively satisfying. I think because of that, I don't have too high an expectation for the restaurant surroundings or service (unless it's beyond terrible of course..). Pho Mi was exactly the restaurant that fills this situation. The restaurant is by no means fancy, food presentation isn't the best, and the server doesn't really do much, but the food tastes great and it was quite affordable.

 Large Special Pho

The pho I ordered came with all the typical ingredients that you find in a "special" pho like beef balls, tripe, tendon, flank, beef, etc. I have to admit, the pho here was really good. They used authentic pho noodles that were cooked just right, and the beef was a really good cut of meat. Of course the soup was basically all MSG, but I found it wasn't as bad as a lot of other pho places. The portions was also huge! The bowl was actually bigger than my head. Much much bigger than that picture portrays it to be. Good deals.

 Chicken and Pork Chop Rice Platter

The meat on this rice platter was very well marinated and well cooked. The meat was tender and went really well with the short grain Vietnamese rice. The menu actually has a really large selection of rice platters. While we were there, every table had one of these. A lot of them had an extra egg with it, so I really want to try it now!

The menu also had a large variety of fruit drinks like most other Vietnamese places, but some of the fruits they had were so exotic that I didn't even know what they were. Anyone know what a "Sweet Sop", or a "Sapodilla" is?

The name probably would've given it away, but they actually serve both Vietnamese and Thai food. We only ended up ordered Vietnamese food this time, though I wouldn't mind coming back to try the other Thai dishes. And maybe I'll finally try the rice dishes with the egg in it!