Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine.

shawarma!... I wrote a post last week about a very disappointing shawarma place, and its good to know you can still grab some tasty middle eastern food without getting blatantly ripped off.  After a study session for our PT exams, we headed out to grab a quick bite at a Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine at Dundas and University.  Most people have probably seen one one of these Ali Baba's around Toronto as they have a ton of locations around Toronto, so this review is specifically for the one on Dundas near University.  I've walked by this place many times in the recent months and it has always seemed packed at lunch, where they have a different special every day of the week. We went on a saturday and grabbed the Friday/Saturday special, which was 2 Shawarma Plate Dinners for $13.99 + tax. We chose 2 Chicken dinner plates (you can get beef instead), and for $7 each, it was a lot of food.  The plate was loaded with a yellow buttery rice, pickled turnips and some different salads.  They freshly shaved and grilled the chicken for us which was nice to see as some places just give you cold/ old pieces of meat. You can also ask them for a pita on the side, which they toast for you although they didn't seem to give this out unless you actually asked.  It wasn't the best shawarma but tasted better than I expected for the price.

This place seems to have 10+ locations around Toronto, so I would expect some differences in food/ service/ deals. For this location specifically, the best deals appear to be on $8.29/ 2 Chicken Shawarma Sandwiches (Mondays) and $8.29/ 2 Beef Shawarma Sandwiches (Wednesdays).  The service is what you'd expect at a fast food type place, but this place is a pretty decent spot for a quick bite- expect it to be busy during weekday lunches. It's also open pretty late, not exactly sure but I've seen it open around 2 am before.

Ali Baba's Middle Eastern Cuisine

197 Dundas St W

Toronto, ON

M5G 1C8

(416) 538-7001

Windfield's Restaurant.

all day breakfast!... I've passed by Windfield's Restaurant in North York a million times in the past 10 + years and the all day breakfast sign always catches my eye. Windfields is a family restaurant sitting at the South East corner of Leslie and Yorkmills. My friend Everett suggested that we try Windfields for a late breakfast/ lunch, knowing that they serve all day breakfast. We went on a Sunday afternoon (Around 2 pm), and the place seemed half full, with most people finishing up their meals and paying their bills.  To satisfy his breakfast cravings, Everett went straight for the All Day Breakfast combo (pictured below) that comes with 3 Eggs any style, choice of bacon/ sausage/ ham, toast and french fries ($8.75 + tax/tip). Not the cheapest, but not bad if your too lazy to cook and are craving breakfast- allday. They have quite an extensive menu including different pastas, seafood, breakfast items and sandwiches among other things.  
I ordered the Chicken Pita Hoagie ($10.75 + tax/tip), which was grilled chicken breast on a pita with grilled peppers, onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese melted on top. This also came with fries, and actually looked more like a pizza than a sandwich. I found this to be a little bland though-  could use some additional seasoning or flavour. I was quite full as this was  a pretty large dish loaded with cheese.  My friend Chris ordered the Halibut Fish and Chips ($13.95 + tax/tip).  This came with 2 large pieces of fish along with fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce. Chris said the fish was pretty good- what he expected, and that the french fries were especially good/crispy.


Overall, Windfields is a good convenient spot where you can get anything from fish and chips to breakfast all day.  The food is decent, the dishes are simple but the prices are definitely not cheap (too be expected in the area).  They also have a couple morning specials (7 am - 11 am) including an Eggs Benedict for under $10.


Windfield's Restaurant
801 York Mills Road
North York, ON
M3B 1X7
(416) 445-1630 ‎

Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ.

taiwanese food!... Went to grab lunch yesterday with my brother Kendrew.  We were both craving some asian food and I suggested this taiwanese place, "Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ" at Metro Square in Markham.  I was originally introduced to this place by my taiwanese friend Peter Cheng (anyone need a real estate agent?!) and I have been grabbing quick lunch and dinner take out meals from here quite often as it's super tasty and pretty cheap.  People seem to come here most often for their lunch/dinner boxes/ combos that come with a meat item, 3 sides, rice and soup (All lunch/dinner boxes: $6.25 + tax, $0.50 extra to switch soup for Pop or Bottled Water). You can choose from a large selection of meat items including Deep Fried Pork Chop, BBQ Chicken Leg, Smoked Duck, just to name a few.  The most popular item by far is the "Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets" (pictured above) also known as Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken or 鹹酥雞. I see pretty much 99% of the customers order this- it's better than the ones you get at bubbletea places like Go For Tea or Destiny. They give you a pretty large portion and the popcorn chicken is covered with salty, tasty flavour. It's usually hot and crispy when you order it as they have high turnover on this item . 
In terms of sides, there are a lot of different choices including different veggies and some smaller portion meat items (these sides put Manchu Wok to shame!)When we went yesterday, Kendrew got the "Deep Fried Chicken Nuggets" combo with Eggplant, Green Beans and some bean curd/tofu thing and the lady working explicitly mentioned that those were the most sold items.  The soup was kind of herbal tasting this time, but they serve different soups all the time. 


In addition to their lunch, dinner combos, this place sells taiwanese style meats including salt cooked chicken/ duck/ goose,smoked chicken/ duck/ goose and deep fried pork belly among other things. My mom loves buying the Smoked Duck for take out ($20+ tax for a full duck, $10+ tax for half) and they chop it into pieces for you.  This place is really busy at lunch time, so don't be surprised if there is a line- theyre fast though!  By default, customers are spoken to in Mandarin, sometimes Cantonese, but english works too! lol


Tai Ping Hsiang BBQ
3636 Steeles Ave E
Markham, ON L3R 2Z5
(905) 947-9998

Bannock Grab and Go Cafe.

lunch!... I was around the Eaton centre for lunch, and really didn't feel like anything from their new Urban Eatery food court, where line ups and crowds are still the norm.  I didn't have much time and I had previously read about the newly opened "Bannock" at Queen and Bay  (right across from Nathan Phillips Square/ Eaton Centre south entrance).  Bannock is part of the Oliver & Bonacini line of restaurants in Toronto, specializing in "Canadian Comfort Food" and offers a dine-in area and a separate Take-Out Cafe (they call it a grab and go counter) + Coffee Shop, perfect for a quick lunch.  I tried  one of their artisan sandwiches: Smoke Salmon and Egg Salad on a Croissant ($8 taxes included).  They took my order and the guy made the sandwich for me fast! under a minute!  The sandwich was small, expensive, but all the ingredients including the croissant and salmon were very fresh tasting.  They even had some kind of dill flavoured mayo or sauce that made the sandwich flavourful yet light.  The Grab and Go counter is open monday to friday (7.30 am- 10 pm), saturday (8 am - 10 pm), and sunday (8 am- 6 pm).  In terms of take out, they also offers soups, salads, breakfast wraps, stews and even some dine-in menu items (Bannock Grab and Go Menu -Menu items may vary).
Side Note: I definitely plan to try out their dine-in menu! Just taking a peek at their menu and reading yelp reviews, I noticed they have a Smoked Duck Poutine Pizza! and also Bannocks (some type of traditional scottish/native/Canadian flat bread). Definitely need to try and report back.

Bannock

401 Bay St

Toronto, ON M5H 2Y4

(416) 861-6996

McDonald's Creme Brulee Mcflurry.

creme brulee mcflurry is back!... I received one of those McDonald's coupon flyers in the mail in awhile back that advertised their Creme Brulee Crunch Mcflurry.  These don't seem to be explicitly advertised in store, but some locations do carry them right now for a limited time.  I dropped by the McDs at York Mills and Leslie last night (Nov/21/11), and  ordered a snack size Creme Brulee Crunch Mcflurry ($1.99 + tax). 8 oz snack size and 12 oz regular size are available as per the usual Mcflurrys. The creme brulee version is loaded with "crunchy, caramelized sugar bits" and mixed in with their usual vanilla ice cream.  It's not exactly a creme brulee- but it'll satisfy a quick craving for a cold, crunchy treat at a super low price... 24 hours a day.. only McDonalds! haha 
Side Note: McD's has finally joined in on the reloadable gift card craze! Everyday, thousands of people carry around Starbucks Cards, Tim Cards and now Mickey D Cards! The McDonald's Card actually looks really nice with a simple striped design representing their famous hamburgers... sick! it even has sesame seeds on it!

Wrap and Roll- Shady Practices.

bad food toronto...! I'm dissapointed to have to share this, but sometimes bad business practices need to be exposed. A Downtown Shawarma/ Shisha spot called "Wrap & Roll" is guilty here.  I wrote a rant about this place a couple months back in a Red Flag Deals forum. Since then people have shared similar  negative opinions, including consistently bad reviews on Yelp, Restaurantica and Google Reviews. My rant as posted on RFD:

I went there on June 10, 2011... and I experienced the exact same thing as original poster, but even worse. He tried charging us $70 for 1 shisha and 2 drinks saying it was a per person charge (there were 4 of us, $70/4= ~$17/ person, wtf this isn't an ayce buffet, its a fast food shwarama place). We argued with him and he kept manually changing the price, down to $50 , $40..tryin to act dumb. This restaurant is blatantly trying to steal from customers. In addition this place is dirrtttty! There were mice running around all over their counter and I even quickly snapped a picture. We told the guy about the mice while we were angrily arguing our ridiculous $70 bill and he just kept acting dumb manually playing with the price of the cash register.The guy also tried to sell us "beer" pretending that it was alcoholic beer (he even manually scratched out the nonalcoholic label)... they don't have a liquor license and are jus trying scam people. I would urge people not to buy any food from this place as the cleanliness of this place is highly in question- we literally just left after seeing the mice run around inside the fridge display as we were grossed out.

After seeing the mice and having this place try to scam me, i've decided to contact the city of toronto - public health food premises ...hopefully can help close this place down. Heres a link for toronto public health if anyone else would like to email/call and complain about this place: http://app.toronto.ca/food2/FDContactUs.jsp

Who do I contact in terms of them not having a liquor license and blatantly trying to sell nonalcoholic beer as alcoholic beer?

I ended up trying to contact the media (CP24, Toronto Star, City News) but did not get any response. Filing a complaint to Toronto Public Health resulted in nothing:

RE: 519 Yonge St

Dear complainant,

Please be advised that your complaint was investigated on June 17/11.At the time of inspection, there was no evidence of rat infestation.The operator was in substantial compliance with O. Reg 562 (Food Premises), as amended.Thanks for contacting Toronto Public Health.

Vashti Rajpatty, BASc, CPHI(C)

Public Health Inspector

Toronto Public Health

Tel 416 392 0936 Fax 416 392 0714

Wrap & Roll continues to stay open with the same shady practices (as per the latest yelp/restaurantica reviews), scamming customers of their money and posing as a health risk to the public and it needs to be exposed. Avoid this place! but go have a visit if you don't believe me (I'd be surprised but happy if things have changed for the better).


Wrap & Roll
519 Yonge St
Toronto, ON 
M4Y 1Y3
(416) 929-9727

The Big Xtra is Back!.

big Xtra is back!... I have not seen the Big Xtra at Mcd's since back when they had the daily deals- big Xtra mondays!  I made a trip to the Wal- Mart at Bayview and Highway 7 and on my way out, I dropped by the instore McDonald's with a pleasant suprise. I could not believe my eyes when I saw the big Xtra on the menu. I have missed that 800+ dirty calories of goodness- big Xtra= Xtra tasty! Apparently the big Xtra has returned to all Canadian Wal- Mart McDs (if anyone can confirm this, that'd be awesome), but I've included the address below if anyone wants to be sure of a place to grab a big Xtra (for now a least!). It's $6.99 + tax ($7.90) for the Big Xtra meal that comes with fries and a drink!


If you can't find a McDonalds that has brought back the tasty sandwich, use the following instructions (taken from the Big Xtra Fanpage on facebook):

"Go into McDonalds. Order a quarter pounder, modify it. Ask for no mustard, then ask to add tomato, lettuce (bacon, cheese) and McChicken sauce."

Wal Mart McDonalds 
255 Silver Linden Drive 
Richmond Hill 
ON L4B 4V5

Mini Food Truck Eats Pop Up.

food trucks!... If you ever watch the show "Eat St." on Food Network, you know how popular food trucks are becoming in North America.  The craze hasn't quite hit Toronto yet, but more and more food trucks are starting to show up.  On Friday, I was walking on Yonge towards Eaton Centre and just happened to pass by a caged lot full of Food Trucks.  I recently went to Boston and had the chance to track down and taste many of their famous Food Trucks (Roxy's grilled cheese ftw!) and this was a nice surprise to see in T.O.. I think the event was called "Mini Food Truck Eats Pop  Up" and the trucks were at the corner of Yonge and Gould (where Salad King was before) from 11am-2pm on that day. One of the food truck vendors mentioned that this is a one time event for now and that they are hoping to be invited back to same location. Considering the lot is right beside Ryerson, it could be an awesome permanent fixture for students and shoppers in the area.

There was a lineup of 5 trucks: Toasted Tangerine, Gorilla Cheese, El Gastrónomo Vagabundo, Caplanksy's, and Cupcake Diner. This type of Food Truck event doesn't seem to happen often in Toronto and the novelty of the trucks clearly drew a large crowd with many snapping pictures with their phones.  Luckily, I arrived 
early as there were deep lineups of 20+ people bundled up for the cold weather by 12 pm.  I tried the Toasted Ravioli ($6 taxes included) from "The Toasted Tangerine", pictured above .  There were 4 large home made Raviolis stuffed with ricotta cheese, spinach, breaded, deep fried and served with marinara sauce. The raviolis were quite flavourful, crispy on the outside with hot ricotta cheese inside. The general pricing of these food trucks seemed to be around $6-$10 an item, not cheap, but the line ups speak for themselves.  Check out the full listing of the food truck menus and prices here.


Side Note lol: One of these Food Truck owners must be making some nice cash as there was an awkwardly parked Porsche Boxster among the food trucks (See in above pic!).