Wonderpho- Free PHO for Father's Day.

free pho!...  Wonderpho is a restaurant in North York that specializes in vietnamese food.  I found out from my friend, Jason, who also runs the restaurant, that they are offering a FREE pho for Dads on Father's Day (Sunday, June 16 2013)!!!  It's a nice casual place to go for lunch, as the restaurant has a more modern decor than the typical Pho restaurants in Toronto- the only place in T.O. that I have eaten Pho at an Outdoor Patio!  I went yesterday and had the Rare Beef + Beef Brisket Noodle Soup (Regular Size- $7.99 + tax/tip) along with some appetizers (half price from 3-5 pm!).  The pho is pretty good- with the soup being pretty light, if you are used to heavily flavoured soup bases.  Also had the Pork and Tiger Shrimp Spring Rolls (~$2-$3/ plate with the happy hour special), which are stuffed! I want to go back for more of these super crispy + tasty spring rolls!  Also must try their complimentary Taro Chips, thinly sliced and baked pieces of Taro!

Info for FREE Pho on Father's Day:

- Print or Show Coupon to recieve Free Regular size Pho for Dads on June 16, 2013 (Valid for tables of 2 or more with another full paying adult order)

- Add $2 to upsize to a Large size Pho

Fickle Viet Chinese Cuisine.

pho in the downtown core!... Fickle is a Viet/Chinese restaurant downtown Toronto that has been open for about a year.  I was quite ecstatic when I heard about a pho place opening up around Yonge and College, where fast food joints are a dime a dozen. If you walk or drive by, their crazy interior lighting/ decor will really draw your attention.  The restaurant looks kind of like a club with colour changing walls and ceiling.  The entire place slowly changes colours while you are eating, which is kinda trippy (reminded me a bit of the mood lighting they use in planes during a long flight to HK).

When I first tried this restaurant, they definitely had their share of problems, especially slow/ inadequate service (waited 45 mins for food, clearly understaffed, no water refills, missing orders), but I recently went again and things have definitely improved.  Fickle has an extensive menu of chinese, viet and asian fusion type items, but I was here strictly to eat some Beef Noodle Soup aka Pho close to where I live.  The Pho comes in 2 sizes, Regular ($7.99 + tax/tip) and Large ($8.99 + tax/tip).  It is served with slices of lean beef and 2 out of the following items: Brisket, Soft Tendon, Beef Balls, Tripe. There isn't much variety in the pho- especially with the absence of chicken, seafood and curry pho choices! Aside from the inflated prices (the Regular and Large sizes are more like Small and Medium bowls at other places), the Pho is decent and comes with the usual tray of beansprouts/ lime.  For $9.99 + tax/tip, you can have the Fickle Special pho, which comes with a mix of all the meats listed above (kinda like #101 at Pho 88).  I also tried their viet Spring Rolls, which they call Fickle Spring Rolls ($4.99 + tax/tip).  These were good deep fried viet spring rolls that came with 2 rolls cut up. 

In terms of pho, there are definitely better places across the city (and cheaper), but the convenient location just north of College TTC station will keep my coming back when I don't want to travel far to get my fix of Pho.  They have lots of items I haven't tried and any feedback would be great if you have been to this place. The service at Fickle recently was pretty good and it seems that things are running much smoother than half a year ago.  Alcohol is served here, so you can get wasted and jam out to the colour changing walls! haha.

Fickle Viet Chinese Cuisine

507 Yonge St

Toronto, ON 

M4Y 1Y3

(647) 351-3529

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

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

Green Lemon Grass.

south east asian cuisine... One of my favourite places to eat at recently has been Green Lemon Grass, which serves a wide variety of South East Asian Cuisine including Thai, Viet and Malaysian food. I had tried a bit of their curry and roti before when my aunt bought some takeout for us and from that sampling of their food I had to go back for more.

Over the couple of times that I have gone their, I have picked out my favourite dishes from this place. I have gotten the Pad Thai ($8.50 + tax/tip) from here, which is amazing. The portion of their Pad Thai is massive and is more than enough to split between 2 people (the picture does not justify how big the portion size is). It is also loaded with chicken, shrimp, eggs and served with plenty of crushed peanuts on top. Not only is it big, but it tastes really good (I'd take this over the previously reviewed one from Joy Thai any day!). Another dish that I tried and would definitely order again is the Thai Style House Special Beef Noodle Soup (Regular- $6.25 + tax/tip, Large $7.25 + tax/tip). This is like the usual vietnamese beef noodle soup (aka pho), but instead of the typical pho soup, they use a Tom Yum style sweet and sourish broth that tastes awesome!
Finally, my favourite item from this place is definitely their Curry Roti dishes ($6-$11 + tax, depending on what type of curry you choose). I've tried the Curry Beef Brisket Roti ($9.95 + tax/tip) and Curry Goat Brisket Roti ($10.95 + tax/tip). The best part about these dishes is definitely their Roti, which comes out hot, a little crispy on the outside and a mix of stretchy and fluffy when you pull it apart. I'm not sure if this is how traditional Roti is supposed to be like, but their version of it is sick! I like the flavour of lamb (or goat), but I thought there were too many bones (yeah... I'm lazy with bones) compared to the beef brisket one, although both tasted great.

Green Lemon Grass is an awesome place to go for some delicious south east asian food. The prices here are pretty cheap considering the giant portions you get (especially for the Pad Thai). It is located inside of a mini chinese mall by 16th Ave. and Leslie St..
Green Lemon Grass
Unit 8
9425 Leslie St
Richmond Hill
905-508-5328

Viet Hoi Noodles House.

pho... I was playing in the Taste of Asia basketball tournament a while back and it started raining like crazy, so my whole team decided to forget the tournament and go grab food instead lol. We were right by Pacific Mall (aka P-Mall, Pac-Mall) and someone suggested that we go eat at Viet Hoi Noodles House on the second floor. As you've seen in my previous posts (Trainhead, Pho 88, Pho Dau Bo, etc.), I love vietnamese noodles, so I was more than happy to go try this place.

The Pho at this place is pretty decent, but not as good as Pho Dau Bo. Everyone at our table ended up getting #39, Large Size Rare Beef Noodle Soup because they had a $3.99 promotion for this. I was tired from basketball, and still hung over from drinking the night before, so I totally did not notice this $3.99 deal and ended up getting the XL Lean Beef and Beef Brisket Noodle Soup ($6.85 +tax/tip). The pho here was decent but I don't think I would come back here unless they keep running the $3.99 deal, which is awesome for a Large bowl of pho! I'm not sure if they still have this deal, but if anyone knows, please let me know, as this has to be the cheapest bowl of pho you can get in Toronto.
Viet Hoi Noodles House is located on the second floor of Pacific Mall near where the Heritage Town area is.

Unit F30 Pacific Mall
4300 Steeles Ave E
Markham, Ontario
905-940-6828

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

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

Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine (aka Trainhead).

pho... I haven't eaten or reviewed a pho (fahhh) place in awhile, so we went to Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine (aka Trainhead) in China Town. This is a well known place in China Town that is frequented by many UofT students who live in and around the area. There are quite a few places to grab pho in china town, but this is the spot where me and my friends usually hit up, especially since it is open until late night (open till 6 am!). The pho or beef noodle soup here is a bit more expensive than other places (Small- $4.95, Large- $6.00, X-Large, $8.00), but they are pretty consistent with giant, tasty bowls of pho and the place is pretty nice, being recently renovated in the past year. Honestly, I don't think their pho deserves to be higher priced than other places, but I still keep coming back. I usually order #106 XL- Rare Beef Tendon and Tripe Rice Noodle Soup ($8.00), and my friends got #101 XL- Special Beef Noodle Soup ($8.00), which is just a mix of different types of beef.
I often come here after chilling with freinds or playing ball at UofT (...also going to class and studying...haha). After playing ball, one of my favourite things to get is a fresh fruit smoothie ($3.50 or $4.25 with tapioca). The mango and sour sop smoothies are legit (no idea what sour sop is, but it tastes good). The key to drinking these is to eat your whole bowl of noodles first and just killing the whole smoothie in one huge gulp- the feeling of refreshment is ridiculously good.

Xe Lua (aka Trainhead) is located at 254 Spadina Ave in China Town (South of Dundas). It's also quite spacious, so very seldom do you need to wait for a table. Its not the cheapest pho place, but it fills you up and i'm satisfied every time.

Pho Delight Vietnamese Cuisine.

pho... Since Pho Delight Vietnamese Cuisine is close to wear I live, I go here quite often if I want to grab some quick pho (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup) and not travel all the way to the Pho 88 at Bamburgh Circle (there is pho 88 at Empress, just not the same). Pho Delight Vietnamese Cuisine has a smaller menu than most places and only serves 2 sizes, large or small, but their pho is quite good. I usually like to order the beef brisket pho, which is not the same as the chinese style beef brisket, instead they give you thinly sliced pieces of brisket..mmm. I ordered the beef brisket one, while my friend got the rare beef and tripe pho. If you don't like the combinations of different types of meat they have on the menu for the pho, you can just ask them for whichever ones you want and from my experience, they will be happy to switch it up for you. In addition to the pho, we also got some spring rolls, which are gooood here and come with a side of vermicelli which tastes mad good with the fish sauce that comes on the side.
Quick Notes: The portions aren't as big as other pho places, especially with only 2 sizes to choose from, but its close by (North York) and pretty good. Pho Delight Vietnamese Cuisine is located on the west side of Yonge, North of Sheppard (5252 Yonge Street). The large pho is ~$7, the small one is ~$6 and the spring rolls were ~$4, from what I remember. I also came another time and my friend ordered a Malay/Thai curry dish that they also had and said it was alright.

• There is a small parking lot behind the restaurant, shared with the bar next to it, so park there for free if you plan on going