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.