Sizzlers on Yonge.

late night food... One place that has become my frequent go to spot for late night food is Sizzlers on Yonge. Aside from the fact that it is like 2 seconds away from where I live, this place serves all types of food, from burgers and poutines to gyros and fish & chips. Sizzlers also specializes in late night food as they proudly advertise their place being open until 5 am daily. It would also be no surprise to find the place pretty busy at around 3 or 4 am.
The reason I first tried this place was because the McDonald's at Yonge and College is often super busy especially on weekend nights when everyone is looking for some quick, tasty, cheap food to fill their late night munchies. I usually get their Home Beef Burger ($4.95 + tax), which, at under $5 is an awesome deal to grab a quality open flame grilled burger late at night (or any time of the day). The usual toppings like lettuce and tomatoes are free, but things like bacon and cheese cost a bit more. Another item I often get is the poutine (small- $3.49 + tax, large- $5.99 + tax). I usually get the small, which is the one in the picture, which is more than enough as they fill up one of those aluminum foil containers (I can't even imagine how much more a large one will be lol).
My friend Tony from school also came here and tried the Gyro Pita ($4.99 + tax), which was basically a pita with a bunch of meat, onions, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce. I didn't try this but it looked like there was plenty of meat and my friend Tony was pretty satisfied with this Gyro. Sizzlers also has fish and chips, which comes in 2 sizes: 1/2 fish ($9.99 + tax) and 1/4 fish ($7.49 + tax). This also comes with a salad and a big plate of fries and tartar sauce. They just use frozen fish pieces (1/2 fish= 2 pieces, 1/4 fish= 1 piece), but sometimes that is exactly what you are craving for!
As a late night spot, Sizzlers is great as you can even get other items such as t-bone steaks, salmon steaks, ribs and fajita's up to 5 am! I consider this place to be like a better version of McDonald's. Although it is more expensive than Mickey D's, it is a good alternative, as nothing else is usually late at night (or early in the morning). They are open between 11am- 5am everyday and are located just North of College on Yonge. They also offer delivery between 5pm- 5am. Here is their delivery area.

Sizzlers on Yonge
460 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
416-966-4714

Chipotle Mexican Grill: Boo-rito Review.

WRITTEN and EATEN by Hu-Yan Leung & Marron Law

burritos… Halloween, the time for costumes and free candy. But how about free burritos? Every year on Halloween, if you dress up as anything on Chipotle Mexican Grill’s menu they will complete your costume with a free burrito. This is only from 6 pm – close. For our costume, all we did was wrap ourselves in some tin foil. The people are pretty lenient with it since we saw some guy who just taped a piece of tin foil to his forehead. There was a sign at the cash register advertising this special giveaway, but surprisingly there weren’t that many people who knew about the free burrito. As usual, the store was filled with customers, but almost all of them had paid for their meal. Even though we did not have to pay for our burrito, Chipotle did not cheap out on us.
For those of you not familiar with Chipotle, it is a popular American fast-food chain that opened one location in Canada. This location happens to be beside the Future Shop across Eaton’s. Although Chipotle is considered fast-food, it is way more healthy and fresh than McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, etc. Chipotle offers burritos, fajitas, tacos and quesadillas. There are 4 types of meat to choose from such as steak, chicken, barbacoa (beef braised in spices then shredded) and carnitas (pork seared, braised in spices then shredded). You can fill your burrito with an assortment of fillings such as cilantro-lime rice, pinto or black beans (or a bit of both), mild to hot salsas (fresh tomato, tomatillo green-chili, tomatillo red-chili, roasted chili-corn), sour cream, shredded cheese, guacamole and lettuce. The burritos are a very generous size and once the woman even ripped and wasted several tortillas just because my burrito was too big to wrap! If you don’t like tortillas, and just like the fillings, you can get a burrito bowl. Chipotle’s burritos always taste fresh, delicious and very satisfying. Every item on their menu is around $8.25 (they raised their prices recently...) and guacamole is an additional $2.22. The guac is pretty expensive, and several times I have not added it. But honestly, it is just not the same without it. To save money and to not compromise on flavour, a good idea is to bring your own guac. On Halloween, we went with a total of 4 people and ended up saving around $45 including guacamole. The price is a bit more expensive than your standard burrito, but in addition to all of the fillings being made fresh in-store, Chipotle also prides themselves in having naturally-raised, unprocessed and hormone free ingredients. This in itself is worth those extra few dollars.

Chipotle Mexican Grill
323 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M5B 1R7
(416) 596-8600

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Hu-Yan Leung and Marron Law are both Guest Stars/ Guest Writers for Good Food Toronto. They are both students who live and enjoy all types of food in Toronto. Marron is a student at York Mills CI, while Hu-Yan (who is my bro) goes to York University and shares my love for deals (especially free ones!).

Kom Jug Yuen.

cheap, dirty, tasty... After a crazy weekend of partying, my friend Shiang and I went to Kom Jug Yuen in china town to grab some cheap chinese food. Shiang was craving for some BBQ pork (aka Cha Siu) and considering the cheap prices here, it would definitely help his wallet out after ballin out at the clubs. I've actually been to this place a couple times and I have friends who religiously come here because of how cheap it is. It is not your typical chinese restaurant, but more like a "hole in the wall" type place. Throughout your meal, it is no surprise to see random staff walking through with giant plastic tubs full of barbecued pork or mopping up the floor as you eat.



To fulfill his craving, Shiang ordered a BBQ pork on rice ($4 + tax/tip). In a sign on their store front, they actually claim to have the "Best BBQ Pork in North America!" This is a pretty big claim especially in Toronto, where you can get Chinese barbecued meats in any of the many Chinese restaurants, food courts, plazas or malls. Fortunately, the BBQ pork lives up to their claim as it is really good- each piece has lots of flavour and the perfect texture balance of juiciness and chewiness. The best part is the charred edges that make Chinese BBQ pork so good. As for the dish itself, it was literally just BBQ pork on a giant plate of rice, and they brought us some Bok Choy (chinese vegetable) on the side as well. It also came with a soup; can't really complain about this meal for $4.
I ordered a rice noodle soup with BBQ Pork and BBQ duck ($6 + tax/tip). Again, this was pretty standard, but what makes it is definitely the BBQ pork which is awesome. They gave me the leg piece of the duck and I'm guessing they use the same type of technique to grill the duck as the skin is nice and crispy as well. This also came with some Bok Choy on the side. We also grabbed 2 Nesteas to complete the meal ($1.25/ can).

Kom Jug Yuen is a great place to grab a quick filling meal, while spending about the same price 3 McDonald's value meal items. This place has been around forever as I remember coming here when I was much younger and it probably looks the same as it does 10 years ago. It is a perfect place for students to eat in or grab takeout (close to UofT as it is just south of College on Spadina), but definitely not a place to bring a date haha. Like I said before, it's more like a hole in the wall type of place, so don't expect the cleanest or nicest place (actually, expect the opposite, but it's still great!).
Kom Jug Yuen Restaurant
371 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON, M5T 2G3

Green Thai- Viet Thai Fusion.

viet-thai... I recently went out to lunch with my family and my parents recommended that we go to Green Thai- Viet Thai Fusion. My 2 brothers were also there, so between the 5 of us, we had to order quite a bit of food to fill us up. The restaurant itself is really nice inside with lots of modern style decor (it almost seemed new, but I'm not sure how long this place has been open for exactly).
We ordered a whole bunch of different stuff ranging from noodles, rice, different meats and curry. Pictured top left is their signature "Green Thai Rack of Lamb" ($18.95 + tax/tip). This was one of their more expensive items but each piece was tender and juicy with plenty of flavour from the grill. There were about 7 or 8 pieces of lamb in the dish. Another dish we ordered was the "Malaysia Kwai Dew Pan Fried" ($7.99 + tax/tip). The portion size for this was decent and its better to share these types of dish, so you don't fill up on all the carbs haha. Taste wise, this dish was good, but didn't really stand out too much for me. As a group, we shared a "Thai Red Beef Brisket Curry" ($6.99). This was a little spicy, but it tasted awesome. You also have to get a side of rice or roti to complete this dish. They had different sides ranging from $1.50- $2.50 including rice (ex. jasmine rice, coconut rice and chicken flavoured rice) and also noodles or roti that goes great with the curry.
One pretty unique dish that they we ordered was the "Deep Fried Chicken in Pandang Leaves" ($9.99 + tax/tip). This dish was made up of some marinated boneless chicken pieces wrapped in some kind of leaves and then deep fried. Before eating it, you have to unwrap the leaves and the leaves seemed to keep the chicken more tender and moist by trapping the flavours inside. We also ordered some kind of seafood fried rice (don't remember the price, i think around $7-$10), which even had crab in it, although I felt that the strong flavours of all the other foods made this dish a little more bland than it actually should be. An awesome promotion that Green Thai is also running is that they will give each table an entire Curry Crab for FREE, if you order over $40. This is a serious deal, considering it is an entire crab and the curry sauce on this was filled with flavours from the crab as well. We ended up getting an order of roti to eat with this.

We were already stuffed by the end of the meal, and then one more surprise came when owner recognized my parents from the last time they came and gave us a free dessert, which was Deep Fried Banana with Honey. This tasted way better than the ones you get at all you can eat sushi places and the banana was even covered in shredded coconut before it was deep fried which made it taste awesome!
Green Thai- Viet Thai Fusion is a nice restaurant if you like Viet, Thai, or Malaysian food. Both the portions and prices are pretty decent (it came out to around $10-$12/ person after taxes and tips). If you go more than once, definitely ask for a VIP discount card, which gets you 10% off each time you eat here. It is located in the plaza on the west side of Bayview and High Tech Road.

Green Thai- Viet Thai Fusion

8750 Bayview

Richmond Hill, ON
L4B 4V9

616 Restaurant Coupon 2.

hot pot... I previously posted a coupon for 616 Restaurant, which serves Chinese Hot Pot Buffet for dinner. The owners of 616 Restaurant have sent me another coupon for their Hot Pot dinner. If you print out this coupon (or click on the picture), for every 4 people that eat, 1 will be free. This is a pretty good deal and it expires Nov. 30, 2009 (basically 25% if you have four people). I haven't been their recently, but apparently they have made some changes in their food recently, so if anyone goes, please let us all know what you think of this place.

Bonga Buldak.

spicccyy... If you like spicy food or korean food in general, Bonga Buldak is the place for you. My friend Shiaang showed me this place after I recently moved downtown and Bonga Buldak is my new regular spot to grab food. This place serves a variety of Korean dishes and I think they specialize in spicy chicken. The place itself is pretty nice and the atmosphere is very casual as it is clearly a spot frequented by many students. Its a nice spot to grab some drinks with friends, especially since they have the typical Korean alcohol combos (like they have at Kokuryo across the street) and pretty cheap beers (~$3 +tax/tip). Inside the restaurant, they have huge posters of their lunch menu on the wall (which is actually served all the time). They also have some crazy names for some dishes like Blazing Fire Chicken with Fried Rice ($5.99 + tax/tip, pictured top right). The entire thing comes out in a hot plate with some pretty spicy chicken and tasty and crispy fried rice since its on the hot plate. The rice also has plenty of sesame oil flavour which makes it even better. The couple times I went with Shiaang, he has created his own giant combo which will definitely fill any hungry person up. He orders 2 dishes: Oyster Fried Rice ($6.99 + tax/tip, pictured middle left) and Gam Ja Tang aka Pork Bone Soup ($6.99 + tax/tip, pictured bottom left). The oyster fried rice is different than the the typical chinese style fried rice I'm used to, but it tastes damn good with plenty of oyster pieces, dried seaweed and a touch of spiciness. The Gam Ja Tang is also good here according to both Shiaang and my friend Mark, who commented that the soup base really stands out. The tasty pork meat from the Gam Ja Tang also seems to go really well with the oyster fried rice (if you are crazy enough or hungry enough to order 2 dishes like Shiaang).
Bonga Buldak is a good place for some pretty inexpensive spicy Korean dishes. It is also right in the middle of downtown just south of Yonge and Bloor (at St. Mary Street). They are also open pretty late, until 2 am, so its a good, cheap sit down option if you need to grab a late dinner.

• they also serve complimentary Banchan (aka korean side dishes), but sometimes they don't bring them all out, so ask specifically for kimchi, salad or pickled radishes and they will be happy to bring it to you
• pretty much paid parking everywhere around this area and closest TTC stop is Yonge and Bloor

Bonga Buldak "Home of Hot Taste"
710 Yonge St
Toronto, ON
(416) 975-0000

PaPa Ceo Fine Italian Foods & Pizza.

pizza... After my previous post about Cora Pizza, I received some comments on the Good Food Toronto Fan Page from Allison and Lulu saying that close by PaPa Ceo's Pizza was much better. With these comments, I had to go and try out PaPa Ceo's. It is actually 2 stores next to Cora's, and both pizza places get a large amount of customers from UofT.

The first thing you notice when you walk into PaPa Ceo's is all there different pizzas that they have on display (they advertise "20 gourmet slices to choose from" on a sign in front of the store). They've even named many of their pizzas after hollywood stars like "Marlon Brando," "Al Pacino" and "Rambo."
I went with my friend Jackson, as we were planning to play some ball at the UofT Athletic Centre across the street afterwards. As for the pizza, I got a slice of the "Marlon Brando" (toppings: Pesto & Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Ham, Ground Beef, Onions and Mushrooms). Jackson got a slice of the "Rambo" (toppings: Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Ham, Sausage and Parmigion Cheese). Both of these cost $3.99 taxes included and more basic pizzas like a Pepperoni will run you $3 flat. The "Marlon Brando" slice that I had tasted really good, especially with all the toppings that provide plenty flavour (especially the ham!). In comparison to Cora's next door, I think Papa Ceo's wins out with better combinations of toppings and generally tastier slices, although Cora's has their own unique slices and thinner crusts.

PaPa Ceo's is also great for late night pizza runs as it is open everyday from 10 pm- 4 am. They have a couple of ghetto looking tables in the back that probably seat about 10-12 people, which is good enough if you just need a place to chow down the tasty pizza. Since I'm always in the area, I'll definitely be coming back here, although I will still mix it up by going to Cora's from time to time. My preference is definitely still Martino Pizza at Dupont and St. George.
PaPa Ceo Fine Italian Foods & Pizza
654 Spadina Ave.
Toronto, ON M5S 2H7
Daily 10:00am- 4:00am
Tel: (416) 961-2222

Cora Pizza.

pizza... I was about to play some pickup baksetball at UofT, but the courts were closed, so me and my friend Will decided to go grab something to eat instead. We wanted something close by, fast and cheap so Will suggested we go to Cora Pizza, which is right by the UofT downtown campus. Cora Pizza is a small pizza shop with the majority of its customers being UofT students. They have barely any seating available except one small table, so expect to grab a slice to go if you come here.

They serve a wide range of Pizzas, from simple slices($3.50/slice, taxes included) like Pepperoni and Deluxe to specialty ones like the Cha Cha Cha that me and Will got ($4.00/slice, taxes included). I had gotten the Cha Cha Cha before, which is covered in Roasted Chicken, Mushroom, Onions and Red Peppers. This seems to be a very popular slice and it tastes really good. The toppings, giant slices and value definitely make the pizza good here, although I found the slices lacking the proper amount of cheese (I usually love that melting, gooey cheese on my pizza!).
Cora Pizza is an awesome place for students at the UofT campus as it is so close. They are also open until 2 am on weekdays and until 4 am on Fridays and Saturdays, which makes it a great place for some late night eats, especially when your drunk and need some cheap after partying food!

Cora Pizza
656A Spadina Avenue,
Toronto, ON, M5S 2H7
416-922-1188

TTC $1 Pizza Slices.

$1 pizza... The TTC (the transit system in Toronto, for those of you not from T.O.) is selling $1 Pizza slices every Wednesday until November 4, 2009. You can buy the slices between 11 am and 6:30 pm at the stations listed below and all proceeds go to United Way Toronto. If you haven't bought a slice in the past, they are "Pizza Pizza" square slices, not the best or biggest, but if you happen to be taking the subway home, its a cheap, quick snack and of course, its for charity too!

Stations where $1 pizza slices will be sold:

Yonge - University - Spadina subway: Finch, Sheppard, York Mills, Bloor (north- and southbound), Dundas (northbound), King, Union, Queen’s Park, Eglinton West, Lawrence West, Yorkdale, Wilson, Downsview.

Bloor - Danforth subway: Kipling, Islington, Royal York, Jane, Ossington, Spadina, St. George, Bay, Broadview, Pape, Coxwell, Main, Victoria Park, Warden, Kennedy.

Scarborough rapid transit: Kennedy, Scarborough Centre.

Sheppard subway: Don Mills

Taste of Mediterranean.

shawarma... I haven't been updating much lately because I've been busy with school and also because I've just been lazy.haha, so hopefully that will change a little. I have school everyday around University and Dundas, so me and my classmate Henry have been grabbing lunch at places around the area. decided to go check out Taste of Mediterranean for shawarmas instead of getting subway (which many of us were eating for the first week or 2 of class lol). They sell shawarma sandwiches, platters, salads, roast chicken and pizza too.

We both went for the chicken shawarma sandwich (~$4.50 after tax) and they have the usual toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, pickled radishes, onions, hummus, etc). They also grill the shawarmas with a panini machine which I think always makes these wraps taste much better. The sandwich itself tasted pretty good and filled me up for lunch, although other places seem to be more generous with the chicken. One thing I didn't like was that they used some pre-carved chicken for our sandwiches. I prefer having the chicken freshly shaved off the giant spit so you know its hot and fresh. The place was also totally empty considering it was around noon and the area around University and Dundas is pretty busy.

I also noticed that they had a deal for a 7'' Halal Pizza for ~$3.00 which I will definitely have to try next time. There's so many places to get shawarmas around downtown Toronto, but this is right by my classes, so it works out.
Taste of Mediterranean
205 Dundas Street West
Toronto, Ontario
416-850-3338

IKEA Meatball Deal.

swedish meatballs... If you've ever been to IKEA, you know that they make shopping for furniture a fun experience with their cool displays and even a full restaurant at each location. I just went to IKEA in North York to check out some beds, and also to check out a deal on meatballs that my friend Hugh has been talking about for awhile.

You can get a plate of 15 Swedish meatballs along with mashed potatoes or fries (w/ free gravy and cranberry sauce) for $2.99! . The meatballs are actually really good and this meal usually cost $5.99. You can get this meatball meal on Mondays and Tuesdays, anytime after 5 pm (the restaurant closes at 8 pm). The deal will be running until December 31, 2009.

Hugh and I both went and we each got one of the $2.99 meatball combos with mash potatoes. In addition to this, we each also got garlic bread ($0.50/ piece). The meatballs taste especially good with the cranberry sauce. The meatballs are pretty small, but 15 of them + mash potatoes or fries will definitely fill the average person up. Unfortunately we're not really average and we ended up going back to IKEA for more within 15 minutes of leaving.lol. If you want to get a soft drink, they are $1 with unlimited refills, or you can be really cheap and just ask them for a glass of water (or bring your own glass haha) as they have self serve soft drink stations.
IKEA North York
15 Provost Drive
North York, Ontario
M2K 2X9

IKEA Etobicoke
1475 The Queensway
Etobicoke, Ontario
M8Z 1T3

IKEA Vaughn
200 Interchange Way
Vaughan, Ontario
L4K 5C3

Hard Rock Cafe.

american... In most major cities and tourist spots in the world, there is always a Hard Rock Cafe to be found. Here in Toronto, it's no different as we have a Hard Rock Cafe that sits right at Dundas Square and overlooks the always busy downtown spot. Honestly though, I have never been to Hard Rock Cafe before this recent visit. My buddy, Tien, was leaving for the states for school, so we decided to go out for a night at the CNE casino and a little drinking before he left Toronto (good luck in the states man!).We headed over to Hard Rock Cafe at about 11:30 PM on a Saturday night and were quickly informed that last call for food and alcohol was at 12 AM and that they close at 1:00 AM (seemed pretty early to close for a Saturday night, and maybe that explained the emptiness of this place). As for food, we decided to share their Jumbo Combo of Appetizers ($19.95 + tax/tip). This was pretty good as it included Santa Fe Spring Rolls (they were served in some kind of Greek salad and it actually tasted really good when using the salad like a dip). The platter also came with Hickory-Smoked Chicken Wings, Onion Rings, Potato Skins and Chicken Tenders. The Jumbo Combo was pretty good as it came with a bunch of different sauces for dipping as well (tangy bbq sauce, blue cheese dip, sour cream and something else). We also asked for some extra sauce, which they didn't charge us extra for. Between the 4 of us, we split this Jumbo Combo and also a Grilled Hawaiian Chicken Dinner ($17.95 + tax/tip). This was a huge disappointment! Not only was it pricey for a small half chicken, but the chicken was really dry! They made up a little for it with the mash potatoes and gravy though. The gravy was thick and dark, looking almost like chocolate sauce, but tasted awesome!
We also got some drinks, which varied in quality and price. Sophia, Tien, Nancy and I split a pitcher of Sangria ($30.99 + tax/tip). This was very fruity in flavour and pretty light, perfect for a summer night out for some light drinking. Nancy also decided to get a Sex on the Beach, which ended up being really watered down. In addition to this we also got a couple of beers (~$5/ bottle of budweiser).

This being my first time at Hard Rock Cafe, I was pretty disappointed with the quality of food and drinks here. It is a pricey place, but that is understandable considering the brand name that Hard Rock Cafe carries and the prime location they have at Dundas Square. It is a nice place though, and it has an outside patio that overlooks Dundas Square. Inside, they also have plenty of rock and sports memorabilia, which is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the combination of their varying food quality, high prices and early close time led to this sub par review.

Hard Rock Cafe
279 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON, M5B 1N8
416-362-3636