Destiny Dim Sum

After seeing the article on Bubble Tea x Dim Sum crossover @ Destiny Tea House (Silver Star Blvd), we decided to go try it the next day. The food in the glossy magazine photos looked so good, but in reality, it didn't meet expecations. It was my first time at this location since renovation; the design is similar to the one in Richmond hill and they have magazines too but not a huge selection. The dishes are modern style: big heavy square teapot, thick square-ish tea cup, flat rectangular plate--nice to look at but not very practical (messy esp with crispy fried foods) There were quite a lot of wait staff at the time (Thursday noon) standing around, yet service wasn't exceptionally fast.

Beef & Enoki Mushroom Rice Roll: Thought it was the fatty beef kind like the one at Jpn AYCE, but turned out to be the minced-beef kind like those beef balls, which we both dislike!!

Deep fried Eggplant & Pumpkin: Pumpkin was good, but a bit too oily.

Egg Tarts: The best dish. Nice and hot! Everywhere else serves their tarts room temperature - these actually taste like they've come straight from the oven (or really high heat microwave?)

Mango pudding (sour), beef&mushroom roll, Turnip pastry (plenty of turnips but no scallop, overall ruined because of the presence of parsley!), Mango Shrimp Roll (crispy outside, not much taste inside, could use more mango or a dipping sauce) Notice how they have the same carrot/radish/parsley decoration for every dish. It has no taste, I think because it's not meant for eating*

Green Onion Pancake: too many air bubbles - not very authentic tasting, tasted more like a onion cracker?

Deep fried oily dishes = Super full and made be a bit sick afterwards. Got sick from Destiny's a year ago, too. 7 Dishes + Tea for 2 people cost around $26~ + tips. I guess the comfortable atmosphere balanced out the quality of the food.

Okonomi House

A small casual diner on Charles St, Okonomi House serves okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake made with flour, eggs, green onion + fillings of choice + bbq sauce + mayo) and teriyaki. I tried the Shrimp for $6.55 + $0.50 for Bonito flakes & seaweed.

Summerlicious @ Cafe Moroc

Appetizer: MAFTOUL - "moroccan cigars" with beef, cashews, raisins and aioli. Pretty interesting.. like a moroccan version of spring rolls (but couldnt taste cashews & raisins)

Entree: Sesame Crusted Salmon. The salmon wasn't served hot. It was dry and overcooked with no flavour. The sesame crust was interesting but it didn't go well with the mango coulis. The carrot & sweet potato mash wasn't that appetizing, and the beans were raw (would taste better cooked imo) This was a disappointing dish.

Dessert: Creme Brulee. The sugar on top hardened into one flat piece, instead of the sugar crystals sticking onto the creme brulee. This way, I had to eat the hard piece of sugar seperate from the creme part that was underneath. The creme was smooth and sweet, served cold, not bad but not the greatest.

Overall: Disappointed with this summerlicious because of the poorly prepared salmon :( Best one was definitely 5th Elementt!!

Urban

7/12 Didn't get to go to Hot House Cafe as planned :( Almost every restaurant was closed on Sunday. Finally ended up at Urban, somewhere along King St (?) They're not part of summerlicious, but they had their own 3 course meal special for $20. *Bread with Hummus*

Appetizer: Tomato & Pesto Tart.

Entree: Chicken Paella. Served nice and hot, but a bit too peppery for my taste. Only a few pieces of sausage (that were a bit hard) The yellow peppers were good though.

Dessert: Summer Berry Trifle.

Night Market 2009

7/11 finally tried smelly tofu. long line up as always. so this is how they make it...tofu stored in grey liquid in big containers, then deep fried.

It was really good! Crispy on the outside, hot on the inside with sweet-ish sauce. $3 for 5 pieces I think.

Octopus Balls (from Thee Asian Kitchen??) Waited sooooo long for this and it wasn't even good. Inside was so floury/pasty and not-solid like a ball. And it wasn't made the authentic way.. maybe that's why they didn't call it Takoyaki and the price was cheaper by $1.

Fibre Basil Drink. Cool, refreshing drink... the basil seeds look kinda gross though.

Summerlicious @ 5th Elementt

Pink Grapefruit Mocktail: Sweet & Refreshing~ ($4)

Appetizer: Bacon Wrapped Scallops (Soy Reduction)

Entree: Salmon in Curry Sauce with Basmati Pilaf Rice <3 Entree: Tandoori Chicken (Tomato Almond Sauce, Basmati Pilaf Rice) The sauce was very flavorful, similar to butter chicken

Dessert: Orange Mango Cheese Cake - So good!! The cheesecake was soft, light, flavorful, and I loved the chocolate crust! Large portion!

Dessert: Peanut Butter Chocolate Feast - very heavy peanut butter & chocolate cake with chocolate/pb pieces on top but still tasty.

Other appetizers: Shrimp Skewer, Apple & Pear Salad

Other entree: Pasta with goat cheese stuffing
Other dessert: Rasmalai

My favourite Summerlicious 2009

PARIS: Plats

Chicken Breast in Cream Sauce with Basmati Rice

Salmon Tartar! French version of sashimi

Pork Chop - so juicy

Japanese food! Curry Katsu <3

PARIS: sweets & dessert

Had a hard time deciding between this and the chocolat hazelnuts. Ended up getting this white chocolate nougat. love the box.

Berthillion ice cream - supposedly the best ice cream in Paris/France? 2 scoops for 6,80 euros at Le Bosquet (!!) Moka (very rich) and vanilla (super sweet). Love the plating!!

Macarons (coffee, chocolate, strawberry), Peach Tart, Pain du Chocolat from the local boulangerie/patisserie. Macarons are reaaally sweet and sticky.

Big meringues in store display.

Jeff de Burges fraise x vanille ice cream! loveeeee it.

The best tiramisu!! (Cafe du Marche) love it!! most of it is cream, which was delicious. the cake part was delicious too. different from north american .. this one is not soggy and cannot taste the alcohol. want to recreate this really pretty.

Best creme brulee, also from Cafe du Marche. soo creamy texture, served cold.

PARIS: Crepes, Gaufres, Chocolat Chaud

Just returned from Paris yesterday. Next few posts will be dedicated to some of the food highlights of my trip.

Creperie @ Rue Cler. Jambon et fromage. 4 euros.

yum yum yum. so much cheese. so gooey.

Another crepe place. This time a sweet crepe - Chocolat et banane. 3,50 euros. nice and warm~ I like the other crepe place better though because this one was too thick and tasted more like a pancake than crepe imo.

Waffle / Gaufre @ cafe near Notre Dame. Only tried a few bites, but it was pretty good if I can remember clearly. Much different from Amercian/Belgium waffles (fluffy, eggy, soft), this French one is harder/more dense and sweeter.

Hot Chocolate / chocolat chaud @ PAUL. American hot chocolate = flavoured powder + hot water. Paris hot chocolate = tastes like melted chocolate, literally. It is thick and rich, full of chocolate flavor, probably chunks of real chocolate melted in.

Green Bamboo

Cuisine: Vietnamese (/Thai)
Interior: modern, small
Price: $$

Yesterday we went to Green Bamboo for lunch. Don't judge a restaurant by its sign! Small little restaurant beside a spa and a fish store, with a name plate that is not very eye-catching. This led me to expect a dirty, plain old restaurant, somewhat like Golden Mango. But when we went inside, I was pleasantly surprised by the modern decor. Medium wood tables, Dark wood chairs. Two of the walls were replaced with windows, one is where the bar is, and the remaining wall is painted light green. Definitely very 'bamboo' feel.

Pad Thai - Delicious!!! Green onion, onion, red and green bell pepper, shrimp, chicken, peanuts...!

Fu kien style Noodle?? Miki Noodles x Vermicelli? Can't remember the name of this noodle, but it was a mix of two types of noodles, with shrimp, fish ball, squid, in clear broth.

Deep Fried Eggplant - so good!! Spicy and a tad oily, but I ate so much.

We went back for dinner again tonight. I ordered this Basil Curry Chicken (椰汁咖喱雞) with rice. Delicious! I love that coconut curry sauce. It was soooo delicious. The chicken was a bit tough and some of the rice was hard, but I love the sauce!

Yogoberri

Green Tea Yogurt-Ice Cream w frozen mangoes, strawberries, blueberries (Medium) cost me almost $6! That's double the price of Yogen Fruz, and it wasn't that outstanding in taste. But the presentation is nice, and the cafe is nice so I guess the extra cost is for the environment.

Waffle with ice cream and fruits. I didn't try this but it looks very nice, very colourful presentation.

Yogoberri does not have a wide range of menu selection. They serve primarily yogurt-icecream, waffles, coffee, and cake. It is a very popular spot for people to sit and chat. Their cakes and other mini bakery items look very delicious and unique, but they are so expensive I did not purchase any.