ginger... Another day at the beach means another meal by the beach. We were at Woodbine Beach and walked over to Ginger on Queen to grab lunch. Ginger is a Vietnamese/ Thai restaurant and their Queen location is quite spacious, with a nice patio perfect for the summer weather.
More importantly, the food is pretty good too! My friend, Monica, and I each got the Chicken Vermicelli meal ( $6.95 + Tax/ Tip), which comes with a decently sized grilled chicken and a Viet spring roll (this was good!) on top of vermicelli. It also comes with fish sauce and crushed peanuts on top, which makes the meal much tastier when you mix it up. Ula got the Charcoal Porkchop on rice ($6.25 + Tax/ Tip), which she loves and gets every time she goes to Ginger (yep, she's a regular at the restaurant.lol). This came with a giant grilled porkchop on top of white rice and some Chinese veggies on the side.
The dishes at Ginger are pretty good and decently priced as you can grab dinner or lunch here for under $10 including taxes and tips. They have 8 locations in total around Toronto.
GINGER HEADQUARTER
1985 Queen St. East
Toronto, On. M4L-1J1
Woodbine Beach
woodbine beach restaurant... Yesterday was another Saturday, so as usual, I headed down to Woodbine beach to play beach volleyball (best way to spend my weekends, no doubt!). Last time we had ice cream from the ice cream truck, but we were pretty hungry this time, so a couple of us decided to check out the "Boardwalk Pub" restaurant right by the beach. This place has a nice outdoor patio with a big tree that gives its customers some nice shade on a hot summer day. We all got a bunch of different stuff:
- Cheesy Cheese Burger - topped with Cheddar/ Jack cheese and Comes With Fries [$13 + Tax]
- Cajun Burger - Cajun toppings + lots of Jalapeno peppers [$12 + Tax]
- 1 lb of Chicken Wings (I got the Smokey BBQ sauce flavour) [$9 + Tax]
- Pasta of the Day - Creole Pasta [$12.95 + Tax]
- Sweet Potato Fries - came with creole mustard dipping sauce [$6 + Tax]
I had the wings and wow... I have to give them props as the flavour on these wings were awesome. They weren't the biggest or juiciest wings, but you could really taste the smokey flavour. Each of the burgers had 8 oz patties, and my friends who had thought that they were pretty big and tasty. The cajun one was loaded with jalapeno peppers, so if you like spicy, this would be decent. The Creole Pasta was the pasta of the day and was decently sized as you can see in the pics. My friend commented that there were about 4 or 5 big shrimps in there and that it was really spicy! We all shared the sweet potato fries, which are always good no matter where you get them (these were larger cuts of sweet potato then most places though).
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Overall, the Boardwalk Pub has some pretty delicious food with big portions, although it is quite pricey. I guess the fact that it has prime location, right by the beach, is the reason for the high prices. The only other options around the beach is the extra expensive Pizza Pizza and Hot Dog stands. Their patio is a nice place where you can relax in shade and take a break from being under the sun for hours at the beach. As it is a pub, they also serve alcohol, but mostly premium beers (ranging from $6-$7 a pint). It is located at 1681 Lake Shore Blvd. E., within the Woodbine Beach Park. If you don't want to drop this kinda cash, hot dog stand or bringing food to the beach (loblaws down the street) are good options.
ice cream... With the nice weather we've been having lately, I've been going to Woodbine Beach every weekend with friends to play volleyball. When its hot outside, the best thing at the beach is the Ice Cream Truck for some sweet cold treats. The one thing I always get is either a vanilla or swirl cone with chocolate dip. The chocolate dip that hardens into a crispy chocolate shell on your cone is a classic and will always be popular! I've craved for this since I was a kid. One of my friends ended up getting a waffle cone with chocolate dip... sounds amazing doesn't it?!.lol There were four of us who raided the ice cream truck and we got the following:
- 2 x Soft Serve Cone + Chocolate dip (small- $2.75, medium- $3.25, large- 3.75, chocolate dip- $0.75)
- Waffle Cone + Chocolate dip ($4.50, chocolate dip- $0.75)
- Raspberry Slush (small- $2.50, medium- $3.00, large- 3.50)
- Cartwheel ($3.00)
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The Cartwheel is basically an ice cream sandwich, which they make on the spot. The ice cream guy uses a crunchy chocolate cookie as the base and squirts out an entire cone worth of soft serve vanilla ice cream on the base. He then uses a second crunchy chocolate cookie to squish the entire thing down into a sandwich! The ice cream selections are awesome for a hot summer day, but getting a slush as well is great to wash down the ice cream and quench the thirsty feeling you get after eating all the ice cream goodness. If you get 2 items, you can even "double fist/ dual wield" the desserts, making other people without the tasty desserts even more envious!
The Woodbine Beach Ice Cream Truck is usually parked in the parking lot, right across from the washrooms and right in front of the boardwalk. On nice weekend days, you can definitely expect a 10 minute + wait, but it is worth it, without a doubt!
