Hue's Kitchen

Review Location:
774 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario

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This place is pretty close to where I work so once in a while I would grab lunch here. They self-proclaim themselves to have the best pho in Toronto, so of course I had to try. This place is really nice and clean unlike most Vietnamese places, and is very spacious. The decor is upscale and serene compared to most other take out or quick-lunch places in this area. It’s got a patio for the summer time, and an upstairs dining room for when it gets really really busy. I hear the wait and kitchen staff speaking Vietnamese, so it’s comforting to know that everything should be pretty authentic.

Vermicelli with Grilled Chicken and Spring Roll

There was nothing too stellar about the vermicelli order. Everything was pretty standard if not sub-par. The chicken was a bit on the dry size, and the noodles tasted like they weren't drained properly. As a result, it tasted like there was way too much diluted flavorless fish sauce. The spring roll was alright taste-wise, but could have been fried a little crispier. I guess the portion is considered large considering it's price and the restaurant's prime location in the Yorkville area.

Large Rare Beef Pho

The pho on the other hand, was one of the better pho’s I’ve had. The soup didn’t taste full of MSG and the meat was really tender and good quality. It said on the menu that they serve AAA angus beef. I did notice though, that at the end of the meal, the insides of several pieces of meat were still a little pink. I guess the soup wasn't quite as hot as it should have been. Other than that, really delicious!

So in the end, this place is really kind of hit and miss. Some of my coworkers tell me that other than the pho and roti dishes (they have a small variety of indian dishes too), nothing else is above average. Apparently the bubble tea is horrid as well. I guess you can't win them all.

Puck 'N Wings

Review Location:
10720 Yonge Street
Richmond Hill, ON

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Puck N' Wings is actually a franchise, and I'm not sure where all the other locations are, but I was told that there are about 5 other ones in Ontario. This location used to be an All Star Wings and Ribs so the layout of the restaurant hasn't really changed much. The decor is a little bit more themed now, all decked out in hockey stuff (like hockey sticks as jacket hangers) and had TV's at every angle playing different hockey matches.

In terms of the food, I think it's comparable to a lot of wing places.

Left: "Dry Cajun" -onions, bell peppers, chillies, pepper, herbs, garlic, 

Right: "Sweet Red Chili" -garlic, red jalepeno, chili peppers

The first thing I notice when I eat the wings, is that they are very meaty. Sometimes I go to wing places, and sure they are big, but it's just all batter with very dried up tiny wings on the inside. The ones we had here were really juicy with not too much batter. In fact it's almost as if they just deep fried it with no batter on. And even with such a thin layer of batter, the wings were considerably large! Each piece was around 7-10cm. The sauces flavours and combinations are not as unique as some of the other wing places, but we ended up choosing some typical flavours in the end, and as expected, they tasted pretty standard.

"Black N' Tan Onion Rings"

We also decided to order onion rings cause I was really craving it. On the menu, there was an option of regular onion rings, and these Black N' Tan onion rings. Although I'm sure I would've been satisfied getting the regular ones, we couldn't resist ordering these which had this as a description on the menu : "Not your average onion ring. Colossal Spanish onion double dipped in Canadian beer and Stout batter." And I'm so glad we ordered them. They were in fact quite colossal in size, and had a very prominent beer taste in the batter. AMAZING. I highly recommend ordering this if you like beer and/or onion rings.

Overall a good experience.

Joe Yee Vegetarian Cuisine

Review Location:
9688 Leslie St
Unit 17-18
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4C4

So for my Mommy's birthday we decided to go eat vegetarian food since she's not big on eating meat.

The restaurant was small in size, but luckily we made reservations and got a nice big table right when we got there. Good thing we went early, because after a while it was packed (and very "happening" as nelson described it)! The food in general was not bad, and I actually found the simulated meat dishes to be much better than those that had actual vegetarian ingredients in it!

"Deluxe Five Blessing Platter" (Simulated Meat):

 bbq pork (叉燒), sausage, popcorn chicken,crispy roast pork (燒肉), and seaweed salad

The meat plater was very well made both in appearance and in texture, with so much attention to detail that they even simulated the fat between the skin and the meat! Even being someone who does eat meat on a regular basis, the popcorn chicken could've fooled me!

"Party Tray A" : Simulated Sushi + Sashimi

The fish in the sushi was made from (I believe) gelatin, and was impressively simulated. You could definitely tell that it wasn't real fish when you tasted it, but I think it was as well done as it could be, considering what it actually was. It just looks soooo real!! I really liked the simulated shrimp, they were somehow able to recreate that bouncy crisp shrimp texture and the fishy/shrimpy flavour too. yums!

Vegetable dishes: left: stir fry veggies with oyster mushroom; Right: Veggies on Tofu

The veggie dishes I actually did not enjoy as much. The tofu was not very smooth, and the stir fried vegetables were slightly tasteless and cold. On top of that, there wasn't the novelty factor of the meat simulated dishes. I guess even in the vegetarian world, meat tastes better! 

Deep Fried Taro Fish

I don't think this dish was supposed to taste like real fish, because it was just literally deep fried battered taro. It tastes exactly as it sounds, but none the less I enjoyed it....possibly because I like taro, batter, and deep fry. The scuplted and drawn on fish characterstics (like fins and gills) were a nice touch too.

You'd think that not eating meat for dinner would make you very hungry at the end of it, but surprisingly we were all very full at the end. It was an interesting experience, and I think I would come back here again to try some other meat dishes  that we saw other people ordering...like sizzling plates!

[Richmond Hill] Kaori Japanese Restaurant

Review Location:

30 High Tech Road, Richmond Hill, ON

(905) 707-8858 ‎

Edamame and Beer

Appetizers: salad, bean sprouts, edamame, miso soup

Top: Spider Roll, Bottom: Blue Ocean Roll

Sushi Boat

Complementary Turnip and Mackerel Dish

So I've been wanting to try Kaori out for a really long time. Partially because there aren't too many good japanese places in richmond hill, and was hoping this would be a hidden gem to be unravelled.

The location of the restaurant used to be an Outback Steakhouse, and it doesn't really seem like they've made an effort to change the decor inside or out. Definitely nothing special here. In fact, there really wasn't anything special here at all.

The food was a really big disappointment. Since there were only two of us, we couldn't order very much. The appetizers were very very salty. This may be just a matter of preference, but I've had these preserved sardines before (made from the mother of one of my korean friends) and I don't remember it being so salty. Even the vinaigrette dressing in the salad was salty.

On to the actual food. In general, the rice was really dry, and the rolls were not well made. The insides of the rolls were falling out, and each roll did not have a consistent ratio between rice and stuffing. The only thing to commend on was the salmon sashimi, which was cut into good size pieces and was relatively fresh. The rest of the sashimi was subpar. The white tuna and squid had a spongy texture to them, and the white snapper and tuna were drenched in lemon juice, which are signs that they weren't fresh to begin with.

Suprisingly, the best thing here was the complimentary dish that was given to us. It was a stew with turnip and some sort of fish (mackerel?). The turnips were soft, and it was very flavourful. Any koreans out there know what dish this is?

For the price we paid, we both felt that we could've eaten something of a lot higher calibre. We wondered at the end of the dinner if the Korean food here would be better (since the restaurant seems to be Korean run), but we're not sure whether or not we want to come back here again to try.

Inauguration: the act of starting a new operation or practice.

So if you've been directed here from my other blog, then thanks for clicking! It's good to know you have much faith in me not to link you to some virus packed porno site. har-har-har...If you're here just because you're here, then that's cool too. And rest assured, there shall be no sketchy porno links here.

Regardless of why you're here, I extend my warmest welcomes in this inaugural post of my new food blog: Eat, Drink, and Be Mary! (yes...pun was in fact intended.)

I've actually wanted to start a food blog for a while. Reasons? 

     1) I eat food. 

     2) I take pictures. 

I don't see what else can be more apparent. 

Haha, but no seriously now. After years of accumulating gigabyes upon gigabites of food pictures (for really no reason other than remembering all the food that I try), and having countless people encouraging me to do it, I thought it was time I showed the world on a regular basis what enters stomach...and my mind.

So hopefully this blog will encourage you to be like me...go out there, explore food, and be merry! =)