Saigon Star.

beer crab... My friend Florence recently got into a design school in San Francisco called FIDM (congrats!), so of course we had to go out and celebrate with some good food. She decided on going to a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Star, mainly to get the Beer Crab dish that they serve. I had never tried this beer crab previously and was looking forward to a trying a crab cooked inside a broth/ soup made of beer. There were 4 of us (my friends Jess and Dave also), and we ordered about 3 dishes to share.
We ordered a Beer Crab Hot Pot dish ($39.95 + tax/tip for large), which was the definite highlight of the meal. It was literally a giant crab cooked in a large pot with a soup made with beer. The soup itself tasted awesome with lots of crab flavour mixed with a slight taste of beer. There was plenty of flavour in the soup, which was also loaded with vermicelli (which soaked up all the flavour too). Florence taught us how to eat this dish and here's the instructions:

1. Split the Crab up and using the tools they give you (ie. crab cracker..lol.i dunno if that's what it's called), take out as much meat as you can.
2. Pour out bowls of the soup (including everything in it, vermicelli, veggies, etc.)
3. Place lots of crab meat pieces (from step 1) into each individual bowl and enjoy!

This type of dish is perfect when it is colder outside, as the meal is really hearty and even with the beer in it, it make's you feel nice and warm inside after you eat it.haha. In addition to the beer crab we also wanted some variety and ordered a Vegetable Hot Pot ($9.50 + tax/tip), Curry Beef Brisket ($10.50 + tax/tip) and french bread ($1.50/each + tax/tip) to go with the curry. The vegetable hot pot was a pretty big portion of mixed vegetables (including broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, bok choi, etc) and vermicelli cooked with lots of flavour, tasted kind of like some satay type sauce. The dish was a little oily, but very good anyways. The beef brisket was also really good and it came in a pretty big portion. They warm the french bread up before they serve it so it is nice, soft and goes awesome with the curry. Unfortunately we were all pretty full from the beer crab, haha, so we didn't eat too much of the curry.
Since we came here to get beer crab, we also had to get some beer to drink along with the meal. We had to stick with Viet beer at a Viet restaurant, so we ordered 4 Tiger beers ($4.50/each + tax/tip). Florence also ordered a Vietnamese Ice Coffee ($3.50 + tax/tip). Saigon Star is located in Richmond Hill in a plaza on Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie (there is also a HSBC in the plaza and it's across the street just West of Commerce Gate). The unique beer crab dish is definitely worth checking out.

Saigon Star Restaurant
113-330 Highway 7 East
Richmond Hill, ON
905-731-7221

Harvey's 2 Original Burgers for $5.

burgers... Harvey's is currently holding a deal for their Original Burgers. Until May, 30 2010, you can grab 2 Original Burgers for $5 + tax (no coupon needed). I found this deal on RFD and apparently many locations are not advertising this, but if you ask them most places should honour this deal. I haven't been to Harvey's in awhile, but this is a pretty good deal considering how much bigger and better Harvey's burgers are compared to McDonald's (and you can load on the toppings!). Also: Harvey's free original burger day hasn't been advertised yet, but it should be coming soon (last year it was on May 24).

Golden Thai.

thai... For the past 5 weeks, I've been doing a placement for Physiotherapy at St. Mike's Hospital and in the last week, Jaimie, the Physiotherapist I'm working under, generously treated me and some students to lunch! We decided to check out a place called Golden Thai on Church street, which is conveniently located walking distance from St. Mike's Hospital (and Eaton Centre). It is a pretty busy place for lunch. The inside looks pretty nice with traditional looking decorations throughout the restaurant. The seating arrangement is quite spacious and the atmosphere seems more relaxed compared to other busy lunch places around the area.

Upon being seated, we received lunch menus, which is what we all ordered from. There was a list of about 10 items (ranging from $7.95 + tax/tip- $9.95 + tax/tip) including things like Pad Thai, Salmon Curry, Pattaya Chicken/Shrimp/Beef. There were also Combo Options where you get to choose different items to go along with fried rice, noodles (yes, both noodles and rice!) and a salad (1 item- $5.95+ tax tip, 1 item + Vegetable Spring Roll- $6.95 + tax/tip, 2 items + Vegetable Spring Roll- $7.95 + tax/tip, 3 items + vegetable spring roll-$9.95 + tax/tip). There was a list of items you could choose from which included: Ginger Chicken, Lime Leaf Beef, Sweet and Sour Pork, Butterfly Shrimp, Spicy Calamari, Grilled Eggplant, Peanut Tofu.
I ordered the Pad Thai Plate ($7.95 + tax/tip, pictured top right), which came with shrimp, chicken, pad thai noodle, some veggies and a vegetable spring roll + a spicy/sweet dipping sauce. It also came with typical crushed peanuts that come with Pad Thai. I found that the Pad Thai noodles were a little too dry and was lacking some flavour, as I ended up dumping all the spring roll dipping sauce into the noodles. The portion was not too big either. There were about 2-3 pieces of shrimp wrapped around a deep fried dough, making it crispy as you bit into the shrimp.

Everybody else ordered the Combo Option (mentioned above) with 2 Items + fried, noodles fried rice, some veggies and a Vegetable Spring Roll ($7.95 + tax/tip, pictured middle left and bottom). The first impression of these combos were that the portions were huge. They piled on plenty of everything. Everyone different things including ginger beef, eggplants, peanut tofu, etc (as mentioned above). Most people at our table who ordered these combos had some trouble finishing it all or ended up only eating some!
Golden Thai is a decent place to have a nice quick lunch if you are in the downtown area as it is walking distance from Eaton Centre. The food isn't the greatest for a Thai place, but the prices are quite cheap as all the lunch menu items are below $10 (before tax/tip) and the place itself is nice and spacious (good place to go with a larger group of people and make reservations).

• Parking: park on the street (on Richmond), it is downtown though, so don't expect free parking around here
  

Golden Thai
105 Church Street
Toronto, Ontario
416-868-6668

Bangkok Garden.

thai... last weekend was my friend Pris' birthday and she invited a bunch of people out and we all went to a Thai restaurant downtown called Bangkok Garden. From outside, it looks pretty small, but once you walk into the dining area its very spacious and nicely decorated with lots of wood everywhere (really cool lights that look like wooden birdcages too!). Looking through the menu there were lots of different dishes including curries, noodles and grilled items as well (there were dips with many of their items as well, lol). We decided to order a bunch of appetizers to share first including a Satay ($7.95 + tax/tip), which were assorted thin marinated pieces of meat (pork, chicken and beef) on a stick with a vinegary type of dip and a peanut dipping sauce on the side. The satay was alright and I definitely prefer the dipping sauce. For appetizers, we also got the Thai Calamari ($7.95 + tax/tip) and Steamed Mussels ($7.95 + tax/tip). The calamari was pretty simple, as they were literally just normal deep fried calamari rings with some chili dip on the side (normal calamari rings taste awesome though!). The steamed mussels didn't really stand out to me, although it came with 10 of them and some spicy sauce on the side. For $7.95, it's an ok deal as you can compare it to mussels at Richtree where it costs $6.89 + tax/tip for 1/2 a pound (about 10-12 mussels).
I decided to be safe and go for a curry (which I knew would like for sure), I got the Emerald Curry of Chicken (green curry with chicken, $19.95 + tax/tip). A bunch of us also got the Tamarind Beef Curry (a tangier curry with beef and potatoes, $19.95 + tax/tip) and Vegetable Curry (vegetables and tofu in red curry, $16.95 + tax/tip). They also brought our whole table two huge bowls of rice to share and there were unlimited refills for the rice. The curries were all pretty normal, nothing special about them, especially for the nearly $20 price tag. My green curry chicken was rated at 4/5 peppers on the menu, although it was only moderately spicy, so if you like real spicy make sure you ask them to make your curry extra spicy. Pris had previously been here and suggested the Grilled Cornish Hen and Lemon Grass ($19.95 + tax/tip), which my friend Chris got. This dish was sick, it was a deboned and marinated cornish hen grilled really nicely. They were perfectly grilled and very tender pieces of the cornish hen. It also came with an orange dipping sauce, but the cornish hen itself was good enough. Also ordered were the Pattaya Grill (grilled marinated chicken breast with chili sauce on the side, $18.95) and the Ginger Duck (stir fried pieces of duck with ginger, garlic, onion, peppers, $21.95). The ginger duck came with a surprisingly generous amount of duck and went really well with rice as well.
Bangkok Garden is a decent Thai restaurant located downtown at Elm and Yonge. The food is alright and the place itself is very nice inside. It is a good place to go if you are looking to go out for to a nice Thai restaurant with a nice setting downtown. The place seemed pretty busy on a saturday night, so making a reservation wouldn't be a bad idea. Bangkok Garden is easily accessible from the Dundas TTC subway station. Although, I would suggest trying out Xaphire on Eglinton, which is pretty much half the price and equally as good or better food (check out the Xaphire Review).

Bangkok Garden
18 Elm Street, Toronto
M5G 1G7
416-977-6748

Baskin-Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night.

free ice cream!... Tomorrow night (Wednesday April 28 2010), Baskin-Robbins is holding their annual 31 cent scoop night across Canada. It's going to be a nice sunny day tomorrow, so be sure to head over to a Baskin-Robbins after work or school (the deal runs from 5pm- 10 pm) and get some 31 cent scoops of ice cream (if you get a waffle cone, it's like $1 extra, but worthhh it!!!).

Last year, I went (2009 31 Cent Scoop Night Review) and depending on the location, you might run into a lineup. From my experience though, they are pretty good with trying to make sure everyone gets their 31 cent scoops.

Not sure what flavours to get?! I suggest: Jamoca Almond Fudge (lots of chocolate and nuts) or Raspberry Cheese Louise (chunks of actual cheesecake in icecream!).

For locations across Canada check out the Facebook Event for 31 Cent Scoop Night.

Greek Crostini Recipe.

WRITTEN and EATEN by Felicia Mcclinton

If You Don’t Make these Healthy Mediterranean Recipes Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

Ingredients

1. 1000 grams of bread
2. 200 grams of Greek Kalamata Olives
3. 100 grams of Greek Feta Cheese
4. 8 tablespoons of Olive Oil
5. 1 clove Garlic
6. Salt and Pepper

This recipe is perfect for 8 persons and you can prepare it in 35 minutes. It is a very flavorful and sumptuous dish inspired by the Greek feta croutons and black olives. This is also one of the easiest recipes to prepare.

Preparation

Make 1.5-inch thick slices of bread. Place the sliced bread in the oven or toaster. Rub garlic on each slice of bread after toasting.Meanwhile, cut the feta cheese into small cubes. Cut the olives into quarters or halves. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the cubed feta cheese and olives and season with olive oil. Make sure the toasted breads are still hot before sprinkling the cheese and olive mixture. Serve and Enjoy.

Nutritional Value:

Food	Gr	Kcal	Fat	Carb	Pro	Fib	Water
White bread 00	1000	2900	0	680	80	30	290
Black olives	200	470	33	18.4	23.6	0	116.4
Greek cheese, feta	100	264	21.28	4.09	14.21	0	55.22
Olive oil	20	176.8	20	0	0	0	0
Garlic	2	2.98	0.01	0.66	0.13	0.04	1.17
Salt	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pepper	2	5.1	0.07	1.3	0.22	0.53	0.21
Total	1326	3818.88	74.36	704.45	118.16	30.57	463
A head (8)	165.75	477.36	9.3	88.06	14.77	3.82	57.88
Per 100 grams	100	288	5.61	53.13	8.91	2.31	34.92

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Felicia Mcclinton is a Guest Star/ Guest Writer for Good Food Toronto. She writes for mediterraneanrecipes.org. Her personal hobby blog focuses on cooking tips to eat like a real Mediterranean and eat healthy to prevent diseases.

Ritz Caribbean Food.

jerk chicken... A great place to go for a cheap and quick lunch is Ritz Caribbean Food. They serve a variety of jamaican food including rotis, jerk chicken and patties. I walk by this place pretty often immediately noticed the sign advertising their $3.99 Jerk Chicken special (everyday 11am-3pm). This is for a small Jerk Chicken dinner, which includes a couple pieces of jerk chicken served on top of rice and coleslaw on the side. They also pour some kind of gravy on top, which goes great with the rice. The chicken itself is moderately spicy and you can taste all the different spices used to cook it. For those who can't handle spicy foods, for this deal, you can also get BBQ chicken instead of the Jerk chicken. This is a great deal for a quick takeout lunch when I'm downtown, but if I'm around North York, I still prefer the jerk chicken from Allwyn's Bakery (esp. the jerk sandwich!). The location I go to is at Yonge and College, although they have a few other locations in downtown toronto (listed below).

• the $3.99 small jerk chicken deal is served in a square styrofoam box, but if you buy a small jerk chicken at regular price, they give you more in a larger rectangular styrofoam box (still a good deal though!)

Ritz Caribbean Food
Locations:
450 Yonge St.
45 Overlea Blvd.
211 Yonge St
606 Yonge St
77 Lower Jarvis St

Better and Better Bakery Cafe.

bakery/cafe... If you like to chill or study at places like starbucks or tim hortons and think its too expensive, you should definitely check out Better and Better Bakery Cafe in Korea Town. This family run bakery/cafe is always quiet, with plenty of tables and seats. They serve freshly baked goods including muffins, bagels, pastries and fresh home made soups. The best thing about this place is that there is Free Wifi, which makes it great for those who like to study at coffee shops.
I always get bagels there, which are freshly baked. They are super soft and chewy! With cream cheese, the bagels are $1.85 and for an extra $0.50 they will even add vegetables (which usually cost $0.50 each at Tim Horton's. My friend Florence always gets coffee ($1.85 for a large mug) and according to her, the hazelnut flavoured coffee is the best with their homemade chocolate chip cookies ($0.55/cookie). These cookies were soft, chewy, had plenty of chocolate chips in it and you could taste a bit of salt added which made the cookie sweeter as a hole (although they are pretty average for size). Better and Better Bakery Cafe also has a daily homemade soup and daily specials for breakfast and lunch (ex. $5, taxes included for a sandwich and coffee, between 11am- 3pm everyday).

Better and Better Bakery Cafe is a great quiet place to study or chill at in Korea Town (just west of Bathurst, on the north side of Bloor, across from Honest Ed's). All of their baked goods including bagels and pastries are freshly baked and affordable. Every time I've been there, there have always been plenty of seats and I never get hassled for staying too long (ex. >2 hrs). In addition to this, the Free Wifi makes this place much better than typical coffee shops like Starbucks and Tim Horton's. They are open until 10 pm everyday.
Better and Better Bakery Cafe
586 Bloor St. W.
416-530-4666

Mela Cafe.

WRITTEN and EATEN by Hu-Yan Leung & Marron Law

Italian… Mela is an Italian, vegetarian/vegan restaurant located on 7 Yorkville Road, a 5 minute walk from the Bloor-Yonge station. The eatery is literally in a garage and the garage door is often left open. Little round stone tables fill the small dining area. Mela serves some delicious dishes, not the stereotypical vegetarian stuff. They place the food on display, freshly pre-made and then heat it up to serve. Everything is topped off with their famous tomato sauce, which is so good, they sell it for $7.99/litre. Made with organic and fresh ingredients, their menu changes seasonally, but has some staple items such as fair-trade organic coffee and some desserts. Often times you see the chef returning with some fresh groceries when you’re sitting there enjoying your meal. The owner and chef here is the former chef of the Four Seasons and Il Fornello, and the food here at Mela reflects his impressive résumé.Previously, we’ve ordered the spaghetti frittata (spaghetti pie), potato & mushroom pie (bottom right) and butternut squash pasta (bottom left). All of these dishes were very authentic, perfectly flavoured and tasted great. Filled with lots of veggies and herbs, eating here made us feel very healthy.However, out of all the dishes, our favourite was the potato & mushroom pie. The earthiness of the mushrooms complimented the starchy flavour of the potatoes amazingly. As we dug deeper into the pie, we discovered bits of cheddar cheese which added just enough saltiness. For a cheese lover, the cheese may not have seemed enough, but it was actually the perfect amount. It was such a change from the overwhelming oiliness of Italian-American restaurants. This time, we ordered the potato & mushroom pie again along with lasagna with spinach and ricotta (bottom right). The lasagna was not your traditional heavy, cheesy and meaty lasagna. It was light, healthy and made me feel good about eating it. As mentioned above, they top everything off with their famous tomato sauce. This tomato is sweet and sour, with chunks of tomato found throughout the sauce. Although they put it in everything, it is not overwhelming as it is so light. You could seriously drink it like a soup! Mela also has some amazing desserts. Previously, we’ve ordered the cannelloni (cylindrical shell filled with cream and dried fruits) and their famous butter tart. The butter tart was seriously the best I’ve ever had. It was the perfect amount of sweet and sticky all in a buttery and flaky tart shell. As tempting as it was to order it again this time, we decided to order the pumpkin pie (bottom left) since it is a seasonal item. The pie was definitely not your traditional pumpkin pie. As usual, it was very light. It tasted of a blend of spices such as nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and was the texture of a cheesecake combined with a mousse. Like the butter tart, the pie crust was perfect.The price for each dish is around $6-$8 and the desserts range from $3-$5. The prices may seem expensive for the portion size, but it is definitely worth it for the quality and taste of the food. Next time, we will definitely be trying their famous panini.

Mela Cafe
7 Yorkville Avenue
Toronto, ON
M4W 1L1
(416) 916-0619‎

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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!).

Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine.

shawarrrrmmma... If you didn't know already, I'm currently studying Physiotherapy at the University of Toronto and our building is at University and Dundas. A new shawarma place called Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine (I think it is a chain) opened up right behind our building and of course I had to go check it out. It is also very close by to OCAD. On their opening day, they had 2 dollar shawarmas which I took full advantage of. Since then, I've gone a couple times because it is so close to where I'm at school everyday. Anoush is a pretty small place with only a couple of chairs to sit at (most of their customers seem to do take out).
Most people who come here seem to get either a shawarma wrap or a shawarma dinner plate. The one pictured middle left is a chicken shawarma wrap ($4.99 + tax, or $5.49 + tax for Beef). As you can see in both pictures of the chicken shawarma, it is pretty damn big and they are not stingy at all with the toppings which include shaved chicken pieces, lettuce, tomatoes, hummus, pickled radishes, pickles, something that looks like parsley. They also cover it with the typical white sauce and hot sauce that you get at these shawarma joints. Taste wise, I'd say it is pretty average for a shawarma place as my friend Yasir from school walks all the way to Taste of the Mediterranean where he claims the shawarma's taste much better (although they are much smaller... here is a picture). The best part about Anoush is that you get a free pop or Lentil soup with every wrap or plate purchase. I've tried their soup once, but it is kind of bland and literally just pureed lentils (maybe I just don't like the taste). This is a limited time offer, although I'm not sure when it will end.
When I am really hungry at lunch, I will get the Chicken Shawarma plate ($6.49 + tax), pictured middle right. It is really big and will definitely fill you up + more for a lunch. It is basically the exact same as the chicken shawarma wrap but set out on a plate with salad, rice and toppings of your choice. They also give you a couple chunks of roasted potato. Again, the price also includes the free pop or lentil soup. Anoush is a good place to go if your hungry and want large portions of shawarma wraps or plates (the free drink doesn't hurt either). In case your wondering, they only take cash or debit.

Anoush Middle Eastern Cuisine
250 Dundas St. W. Unit 15
Toronto, ON
416-204-1680

McDonald's Double Filet-O-Fish.

double filet-o-fish... Whenever I go to McDonald's, I choose from the value menu or I get a filet-o-fish (tastes so good! even for it's more expensive price compared to other burgers of the same size). On the way home from a recent snowboard trip at blue mountain, my friend Mike claimed that you could go into any McDonald's and get the greatest sandwich ever... a DOUBLE Filet-O-Fish! Just the thought of the sandwich made me salivate.lol. I had previously seen this as a promotional item at McDonald's restaurants in Hong Kong before, but actually being able to order one and chow down on one anytime would be amazing! With all this talk of a double filet-o-fish, of course we stopped by a Mickey D's and tried to order it. I followed the instructions from Mike to ask for a Big Mac with Fish Patties instead. The cashier asked me if I would like it to be in the style of a filet-o-fish (with the tartar sauce and cheese) and rang up the order- they added $1.39 for an extra fish patty and added ~$1 to switch the bun to a Big Mac Bun, making the sandwich come out to around $5. Not cheap, but sooo tasty!

Double Filet-O-Fish mmm...

• Big Mac Bun, 2 Fish Patties, 2 slices of cheese, tartar sauce!
  

Kelsey's Free 1 lb Wings.

free wings!... on January 21, 2010 Kelsey's is celebrating their 30th anniversary (or something like that...) and they are giving out 1 lb of free wings to each customer. On their site, it says you have to go after 4 pm and also that there is a maximum of 8 wings for each customer. There wings are not the best, but it is FREE wings lol. Last time I went I tried their Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce and it was not good, so stay away from that. I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it to this because there aren't too many locations downtown, but check out the locations for yourself if you plan on grabbing these wings.

Xaphire.

asian fusion... I knew my friend Jess had been working at a restaurant called Xaphire for awhile, so a group of us decided to go try the restaurant out and bother her at work lol. Initially, we came here to visit her, but the food turned out to be surprisingly good and affordable! Xaphire's menu consists of Thai, Viet, Chinese and even Korean food served in a nice classier context (similar to the popular "Spring Rolls" restaurant). The place itself is pretty aesthetically pleasing and reminds me of a cozier/smaller lounge that serves lots of asian food.
There were 5 of us in total, and we all ordered different dishes. To start, we shared the shrimp salad rolls ($6 + tax). There were about 2 full rolls here- cut up into 8 smaller pieces. These were basically rice paper rolls (the softer white coloured spring rolls) filled with shrimp, mango, carrots and according to their menu, a bit of mint as well. We were pretty pleased with these as each piece had that crisp/crunchy texture indicating freshness. I knew Xaphire's curry is pretty good as I had previously tried some when Jess took it out, so I decided to go for the Traditional Pad Thai ($10 + tax) instead. It came with chicken, shrimp, egg, tofu, sprouts and crushed peanuts on the side. The portion size for the Pad Thai was ok as you can see in the picture (not as big as at Green Lemon Grass, but very reasonablly priced).
We also ordered a Beef Green Curry ($10 + tax) and a Chicken Green Curry ($10 + tax), which is their spicier curry. Although they advertise this as being their spicier curry, do not be scared, as the spice is very mild. They both came in LARGE bowls (they give you a lot of curry!) and the beef one definitely was infused with lots of beefy, meaty flavour, along with the very evident coconut flavour. As I mentioned before, this curry is just flat out tasty! One thing to keep in mind is that this dish does not come with rice and you have to order it separately (~$2-$3 a bowl, I don't really remember). Finally, we also ordered Kalbi Beef Ribs ($10 + tax, rice also separate). This dish came with about 3 large racks of korean Kalbi Beef Ribs and a small salad on the side. When this came, the mix of quality grilling and the sweet Korean marinade made it look, taste and smell delicious!
All the dishes we ordered were $10 or less (actually all the entrees we ordered were $10) and we all left quite full/ satisfied. Looking at the modern ambiance and decor of this place, you would definitely expect the prices to be higher, but they keep the food affordable without sacrificing taste. If you come here and see my friend Jess (short asian girl in the blurry last picture), say whats up and let her know that Good Food Toronto sent you. You can even try talking her into trades (ex. one of my friends traded a free Starbuck's coupon for a lychee martini ~$9 value I think lol).

• for Parking, look for a spot on one of the side streets off of Eglinton
• open Sunday- Friday (5-10 pm), Saturday (5-11 pm) and closed on Mondays
  

Xaphire Restaurant
530 Eglinton Ave. West
416-482-3380
http://xaphire.ca