Pho Dau Bo.

pho... I haven't been to Pho Dau Bo in the longest time, so I recently went there to grab dinner. This place definitely seems more authentic than places I usually go to like Pho 88 or Trainhead. Right on their window, they claim to have the "Most Famous Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup." This claim is backed up by the fact that the pho that they serve here is awesome and possibly the best Pho in Toronto.
I went with 3 other friends and I ordered #342, Special Assorted Beef Rice Noodle Soup. This came with rare beef, well done flank, soft tendon, beef trip and beef balls. Their prices for the beef noodle soup (aka pho) is pretty standard ranging from $4.75 for a small size to $7.00 for an XL bowl. The pho was awesome in terms of the perfect tasting soup, noodles and all the beef parts included in it. In addition to noodles, we also ordered two different types of tasty spring rolls to accompany our meal - the typical deep fried vietnamese spring rolls and also cold rice paper wrapped shrimp rolls (I don't remember the price of these ~about $4-5). I also like the fact that they serve ice cold tea during the summer, which is perfect when eating a really delicious yet steaming hot bowl of pho.
Pho Dau Bo is located in the west end of North York on Finch, just north of Weston Road. I think they serve the best Pho in Toronto and I'd love any feedback on even better places!

Pho Dau Bo
2437 Finch Avenue West
North York, ON M9M 2E7‎
(416) 749-9943‎

Subway @ Eastern/Leslie Deal.

subway deal... My buddy from McMaster, Mo, sent me this deal that is happening today (July 30, 2009, 11 am- 8 pm). The Subway at Eastern Ave and Leslie St is offering a free FOOTLONG if you buy any FOOTLONG at regular price + Medium 21 Oz Drink. If you are in the area, this is definitely a good chance to get a deal on their more expensive but tastier subs (ex. Sweet Onion Chicken Terikyaki). This is only for the Subway Restaurant at Eastern Ave & Leslie St (opposite of the Loblaws).

Panago Pizza.

gourmet pizza... My friend Fei was leaving Toronto for the summer, so we decided to share the last meal with her at Shiaang's place (another friend) in the form of takeout pizza from Panago Pizza. Another reason we went weas cause we also had a coupon that gave us a free medium pizza of any type with the purchase of any large pizza. The place was down the street from Shiaang's place, so we called them up for take out.
We decided to order 2 larges and a medium for the 5 of us and ended up getting their Philly Steak Pizza, Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza and a Chipotle Chicken Pizza. List of toppings below:

Philly Steak Pizza (medium- $13.75 + tax, but free for us with coupon) -Jalapeno white sauce, caramelized onions, green peppers, sauteed mushrooms, + mozarella

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza (large- $15 +tax) - Italian tomato sauce, Beef, red onions, bacon, mozarella + cheddar

Chipotle Chicken Pizza (large- $12 + tax) - Grilled chicken, roasted sweet corn seasoned with onion, red + green peppers, + mozarella on a bed of spicy chipotle cilantro

We also went with whole wheat crusts to be healthy and they all looked like amazing with the crazy choices with the crazy combinations of toppings. Unfortunately, there was too much hype as the pizza was alright, but not great (I prefer Martinos or even Pizza Nova over Panago). The toppings were a little too much especially with the chipotle chicken being covered with corn (they definitely are generous with toppings though, but excessive). Each of the pizzas were super savoury and definitely too heavy for my tastes. I enjoyed the philly steak pizza though, but next time I would definitely need to try one of their more simple pizzas (ex. pepperoni).
Panago is not a bad place though, in fact it is quite good, but it is more like having an entire non-pizza meal sitting on top of the crust. It definitely depends on your personal taste and what kind of pizza you like. If you like savoury pizzas, heavy on toppings and crazy combinations of toppings, Panago Pizza is the place to go. If you prefer simpler pizzas that are just straight up delcious, go with Martinos!

Panago Pizza
44 Gerrard St
Toronto, ON M5B 2K3
(416) 310-0001
www.panago.com

Quiznos Torpedoes.

subs... Quiznos is known for having premium quality but expensive subs, but as most people have seen from their commercials they have been marketing their cheaper Torpedo Subs. In their commercials, it looked like an awesome deal, as the Torpedoes are 13 inch Quiznos Subs costing $4 + Tax (previously $5, but they reduced the price).

I decided to try one of the Torpedoes and chose the "Turkey Bacon Club" (Turkey, bacon, mozzarella, tomato/romaine confetti, Red Wine Vinaigrette, mayo). My first impression was that Torpedo was super skinny and that it was not enough! I mean, it was barely half the width of a normal foot long from subway. They have a chart that shows the Torpedoes' size in comparison to their other subs, but you notice how skinny they really are once you have the Torpedo in your hand. Taste wise, the Torpedo was solid, as Quiznos always makes tasty (but usually expensive subs). The bread they use is like a long toasted baguette.
Overall, I think the Torpedo is too small, but at $4 it is a decent price as these subs definitely do taste better than Subways $5 footlongs (although you get pretty much double the quantity for a dollar more at Subway). When going for these value subs, you will need to decide between quantity (Subway) or quality (torpedo).

In addition to the Turkey Bacon Club, the Torpedoes also come in 3 other flavours:

• Italian- Capicola, salami, pepperoni, ham, mozzarella, tomato/romaine confetti, Red Wine Vinaigrette

• Beef Bacon & Cheddar- Roast beef, bacon, cheddar, tomato/romaine confetti, mayo, Smokey Onion Mustard

• Big Kahuna Tuna- Tuna salad, cheddar and tomato/romaine confetti with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Avocado Salad & Sushi.

sushi... I was chilling with some friends who live downtown and we decided to grab dinner at Avocado Salad + Sushi. It was a pretty nice night out so we decided to sit out on their patio, which is pretty nice considering they have a patio for a sushi restaurant. My friend, Fei (who also has a food blog), recommended that we should try the bento boxes as they are decently priced and would fill us up.

A bunch of us each got Bento Box #6 w/ Chicken Teriyaki ($13.95). This meal came with Chicken Teriyaki, 1 california roll, 7 pieces of sashimi, 1 miso soup, 1 salad and 2 gyozas (aka deep fried dumplings, although they were served as boiled dumplings here). This was the biggest bento box combo and seemed like the best deal, so we each either got 1 of these or split it. The sushi was decent, tasted pretty good, but nothing too special (your typical bento boxes). In addition to this, we also all shared one order of edamame beans (~$3-5, don't really remember the price. I thought that this place was pretty nice in terms of having a patio and very friendly waiters.
For people who live around the area (especially the surrounding condos) or go to school around the area (ie. UofT), this is pretty convenient for an affordable non all you can eat sushi meal. They also offer 10% off for students (so just show your UofT student card, or whatever university you go to... or just borrow someone else's to get the deal). Parking in this area will cost you money. The closest TTC subway station is Bay Station.

Avocado Salad & Sushi
1105 Bay Street
Toronto, ON
(416) 323-9770
www.avocadosaladsushi.com

King Street Crawl.

free beer... I just found out about an event on King Street West happening tonight (July 23, 2009) between 6-10 pm called the King Street Crawl. This event will be happening along different bars on King West (between Spadina and Bathurst). You need to go to one of the bars to pickup a "free passport," and afterwards you can go to each bar and sample a different brand of beer. The sizes of the samples vary from bar to bar but apparently some are very generous. For more information, visit their Facebook page

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Here is a list of the participating bars:

Crush Wine Bar
455 King Street West
www.crushwinebar.com

Brassaii
461 King Street West
www.brassaii.com

Fynn's of Temple Bar
489 King Street West
www.fynnstemplebar.com

2 Cats
569 King Street West
www.2cats.ca

Loki Lounge
577 King Street West
www.lokilounge.ca

Bier Markt
600 King Street West
www.thebiermarkt.com

bar Wellington
520 Wellington Street West
www.barwellington.ca

KiWe Kitchen
587 King Street West
www.kiwekitchen.com

Lou Dawgs
589 King Street West
www.loudawgs.com

The Banknote
663 King Street West

South China Noodles Delight.

noodles... I went with my parents to South China Noodles Delight, which mainly serves Southern China style Noodle in Soup dishes (aka Guilin Rice Noodles). The restaurant is pretty small and even their wooden chairs seem to be smaller (maybe I'm just fat after all this eating lol). They have lots of different types of combinations for the noodle soups including shredded chicken, shrimp and fish balls, ox tail, beef brisket and and more uncommon things such as deer and ox offals.

I went with the Beef/ Ox Offals with Vermicelli in Soup (Large- $5.99 + Tax/Tip; small- $4.99 + Tax/Tip). Some people don't like beef offals (aka Ngau Chap in cantonese) because they are usually turned off by the fact that beef offas are basically a mix of the "weird" parts of the beef including lungs, kindey, liver, tripe, etc.. I love this stuff and I also get this every time I go to dim sum. The bowl of noodles was huge and was loaded with lots of beef parts and pickled Chinese vegetables. I was definitely satisfied after this tasty and flavourful bowl of noodles.
My parents went with the Ox Tender and Brisket with Vermicelli in Soup (Large- $5.99 + Tax/Tip; small- $4.99 + Tax/Tip). There was tons of beef brisket in the bowl as you can see in the top picture. The soup base for all the noodle soups were the same (a unique flavour that seemed both salty and sour, probably because of the pickled vegetables that are also thrown in).

To accompany our noodles, we also had one order of Pan Fried Sweet Corn Cake ($2.99). This tasted pretty good and you'll like it for sure if you like the taste of corn. It isn't really sweet though, just lots of corn flavour. The pancake also comes in lotus root and water chestnut flavours.
South China Noodles is a pretty unique restaurant as I haven't been to many other places in Toronto that serve these types of noodles. The portions are big and the prices are pretty cheap for a quick lunch or dinner. They are located in Scarborough just north of Finch on the west side of Midland.

South China Noodles Delight Inc.

3380 Midland Ave.
Toronto, ON M1V 5B5

(416) 293-1880‎

Ginger.

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

Mamma's Pizza.

pizza... If you enjoy pizza where every bite is a mouthful of tasty toppings, cheese and barely any crust, then Mamma's Pizza is for you. I went here because it was close to my house (North York) and it was recommended by some friends. We came to grab slices (~$4-5), which aren't the cheapest, but they are big, oily and tasty. I got the Canadian Slice, which comes loaded with toppings (mushrooms, bacon, pepperoni, etc.), while my friend got a deluxe one (pepperoni, peppers, mushrooms). The slices have very thing crusts, and almost no crust on the outside where you usually hold your pizza. The pizza here is pretty tasty, almost too tasty with the richness of all the toppings, and I definitely prefer the previously reviewed Martino Pizza (alhtough Mamma's is definitely better than The Big Slice).

Mamma's Pizza
Leslie & York Mills
808 York Mills Rd.
(416) 444 - 4588

Fred's Not Here.

summerlicious... Last Thursday night, one of my friends made a reservation at Fred's Not Here for their Summerlicious price fixe three course menu. Fred's Not Here is located on the busy restaurant filled King West strip and sits on top of another restaurant downstairs (The Red Tomato). While we were settling down and deciding on what to order, we were given a basket of bread that included many different types, with the cornbread being the highlight (it had jalapenos in it and was a little spicy!). We took awhile in ordering and the four of us devoured 2 full baskets of bread (gotta stock up on bread at these summerlicious things since portions are usually too small to be full.lol).
For the appetizer, we got the Baked Lobster & Crab Soup and the Salad Caprese (Imported Fresh Mozzarella, Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Fire Roasted Red Peppers & Extra Virgin Olive Oil). The cream based soup was baked with a flaky pastry on top of the bowl, which looked and tasted awesome when dipped into the lobster and crab soup. I thought that the soup was awesome and had plenty of lobster and crab taste in it, although one of my friends complained that it was too sweet. The salad was alright but nothing special about it.
For the main course, we ordered the Lobster "Thermidor" (Baked Stuffed East Coast Lobster with Snow Crab, Buttered French Green Beans) and the Steak "Diane" (Roasted "Certified Angus" Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes). Both of these were awesome in taste and portion size, especially for summerlicious menu items. The tenderloin was really tender and juicy, but after trying some of my friend's medium cooked steak that she couldn't finish, I would definitely recommend ordering the tenderloin at least medium rare (or rare, which tasted great!). I tried a little of the lobster, which had lots of flavour, mostly from all the stuffing.
For Dessert, we got both choices, the Mixed Berry Shortbread and the Chocolate Mousse. The chocolate Mousse was really rich, creamy and a little too heavy depending on your taste. The mixed berry short bread was alright, although it tasted pretty sour after eating the Chocolate Mousse. I was a little dissapointed in these desserts after the 2 other courses which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Their summerlicious menu is definitely one of the better ones, and a reservation is definitely recommended as the restaurant was packed. The place is pretty nice looking, and had a pretty diverse range of customers (some casually wearing shorts and t-shirts and others dressed up in suits).

Fred's Not Here
321 King Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 1J5
(416) 971-9155

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Fred's Not Here Summerlicious Dinner Menu ($35 + taxes and gratuity)
Appetizer
Our Famous Baked Lobster & Crab Soup
or
Chilled Gazpacho with Aged Balsamic & Shrimps
or
Fred’s Caesar Salad
or
Vitello Tonnato – Roasted Milk-Fed Veal, Tuna Caper Dressing
or
Warm Asparagus Salad, Sauce "Maltaise"
or
Salad Caprese
Imported Fresh Mozzarella, Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Fire Roasted Red Peppers & Extra Virgin Olive Oil


Entree
Steak "Diane"
Roasted "Certified Angus" Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes
or
Lobster "Thermidor"
Baked Stuffed East Coast Lobster with Snow Crab, Buttered French Green Beans
or
Grilled Milk-Fed Veal T-Bone, Lemon Garlic Thyme Flavoured with Toasted Gnocchi in Brown Butter, Fire Roasted Red Peppers, Arugula & Grilled Mixed Mushrooms
or
Grilled "Certified Angus" New York Strip Steak with Yam Yam & Yukon Gold Frites, 3-Peppercorn Vinaigrette
or
Roasted "White Stripe" Rack of Lamb with Fred’s BBQ Sauce, Celeriac Yukon Gold Mash
or
Roasted Fresh Filet of Black Cod, Sake Maple Marinated, Citrus Chili Sauce with Steamed Sticky Rice (Alaskan Naturally Raised Sablefish)
or
Grilled Mixed Local Vegetables & Mushrooms with Black Bean, Corn & Couscous Salad (vegetarian)

Dessert
Mixed Berry Short Bread
or
Chocolate Mousse

Ginza Sushi.

sushi... When I get sushi, I mostly go to all you can eat sushi places, but decided to go along with some friends to Ginza Sushi for dinner. My first impression of this place was that it seemed very modern looking with lots of colorful lit up tables. Looking through the menu, most of us decided to share the combos for 2 that they had.
We had a Combo 1 ($22 + Tax/Tip): Miso Soup, Seaweed Salad, BBQ Squid, 2 California Handrolls, 1 big bowl of vegetable fried rice, 2 Dragon Rolls and ice cream. This is definitely a good deal to get for 2 people as you get lots of food for pretty cheap. The dragon rolls are definitely a highlight as they look and taste delicious.

We also had Combo 3 ($25 + Tax/Tip): Miso Soup, Seaweed Salad, Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll, Salmon Kamikachi Roll, Sashimi (4 Salmon, 2 Tuna, 2 Snapper), Sushi (2 BBQ Eel, 2 White Tuna, 2 Shrimp) and ice cream. This meal tastes better as they even give you a pretty good selection of sashimi (which is pretty fresh here). Unfortunately, this combo does not really fill you up since the portions are pretty small for 2 people. They should definitely include an extra roll or a big bowl of fried rice to make it perfect.

Other than the combos for 2 people, 3 others split a big tray of assorted sushi and sashimi, the Party Tray "Special" ($90). This is awesome if you want to split it with some people as it comes with 90 pieces in the form of tasty sashimi, sushi and maki rolls.
They finished our meals off with either mango or green tea ice cream. Ginza Sushi is a pretty nice place to get some non all you can eat sushi for a decent price. It seems like these days uptown is mostly filled with the all you can eat places (not complaining about it, but its good to take a break from AYCE). They are located in the plaza on Finch, between Leslie and Bayview.

Ginza Sushi
652 Finch Ave E
416-512-0049

Tealish- Free Iced Tea.

tea... I was chilling at my friend Roger's place and picked up a NOW free newspaper (July 2009 edition) that he had. As i was looking through it, I came across an advertisement for a place called Tealish. You can bring the ad in and get one FREE drink from their new iced tea menu. Some of my other friends have been to this place and they specialize in different types of loose leaf tea. So, if you wanna try out one of their free iced teas, pick up one of these NOW newspapers in those boxes by bus stops and bring the ad in. There is also no expiration date on the ad/ coupon, so take advantage of this if you are in the area.

Tealish
198 Walnut Ave.
1/2 block S. of Queen St. W. near Trinity Bellwoods Park
416-203-3301
www.tealish.com

Oatmeal Crisp.

cereal... I don't usually eat cereal in the morning, but I recently tried Vanilla Almond Flavour Oatmeal Crisp for the first time and this stuff is amazing! The mixture of sliced almonds and sugary oatmeal flakes makes this cereal taste like a dessert. It is a pretty sweet cereal, and I'm pretty sure it's not healthy lol (they don't advertise as being healthy anywhere on the box either). The only other cereal that I was addicted to as a kid was Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which was super sugary as well. Regardless of healthiness, Oatmeal Crisp is a great crunchy and sweet snack that you can pick up at any regular supermarket. Cereals may be known for breakfast, but this stuff tastes good anytime of the day.

Ten Ren's Tea (Empress Walk)

bubble tea... After all these posts, I haven't posted once about bubble tea because I haven't been to a bubble tea place in months. I was looking for a place that we could grab some dinner, while still being able to chill out for longer, so we headed over to Ten Ren's at Empress. Ten Rens is mainly known as a place mainly for bubble tea as they have a long extensive menu of different bubble tea drinks, but we also got some food as we were all starving.

Each of us got one of their set rice meals (all are $8.49 + tax/tip, and additional cost to change the drink to a more expensive drink). Each meal comes with a soup, 2 small appetizers (kimchi, cold bean sprouts), a bowl of rice, meat dish and a small cold green or black tea. Between the four of us, we tried the Deep Fried Spiced Chicken and Curry Beef Meals. The food was nothing special at all. The curry beef was just basic curry beef and the deep fried spiced chicken could have been much crispier.
Drinks on the other hand are what this place is known for and 3 of us paid extra to upgrade the drinks to the following: large honey dew slush, large mango slush and large milk tea. Each of these drinks run for about $5-$6 regular price, so they definitely are not cheap, but they look and taste awesome. In addition to this, you can chill at Ten Rens for a long time (same concept as Starbucks- pay premium prices for drinks and chill for hours.lol). Over their drinks are good and the environment is nice to just chill with some friends. In terms of food, it's not really good, so I wouldn't really recommend eating at this Ten Rens location.
It is located beside the Staples at Yonge and Empress with the entrance on Empress. The closest TTC subway station is North York Centre.

Ten Ren's Tea (Empress Walk)
5095 Yonge St. Unit A2
North York, ONT. M2N 6Z6
Tel: 416.229.1688