Crystal Buffet.

$5 Buffet!!!... This is not a joke. Crystal Buffet opened in November and is offering Buy One Get One Free buffet from Monday to Wednesday for both lunch and dinner. Lunch is $9.99 and dinner is $16.99. Which means for lunch, 2 people the bill comes to... you guessed it! $11.29 including tax! So if that isn't enough to get you to go, I must admit the food wasn't terrible. Crystal Buffet like Mandarin, Dragon Pearl/Legend, King's Buffet, and the list goes on and on, all serve the same Chinese-Canadian food. Fried rice/ noodles, fried chicken, sushi (sans raw fish), california rolls, dim sum were all on par with any other buffet I've ever been to. And anyone who believes buffets are about food quality is really missing the point. Buffet is about quantity. So although I'm not a buffet connoisseur, the food was well... food! and the selection wasn't bad either. Every station was constantly being refilled and stocked. And for that price, it was well worth the trip. I actually paid more because we had 3 people in our group which meant we paid $20+tax. So the lesson here is to always go with an even number of people. // 22 Metropolitan Rd, Scarborough

Kom Jug Yuen.

cheap, dirty, tasty... After a crazy weekend of partying, my friend Shiang and I went to Kom Jug Yuen in china town to grab some cheap chinese food. Shiang was craving for some BBQ pork (aka Cha Siu) and considering the cheap prices here, it would definitely help his wallet out after ballin out at the clubs. I've actually been to this place a couple times and I have friends who religiously come here because of how cheap it is. It is not your typical chinese restaurant, but more like a "hole in the wall" type place. Throughout your meal, it is no surprise to see random staff walking through with giant plastic tubs full of barbecued pork or mopping up the floor as you eat.



To fulfill his craving, Shiang ordered a BBQ pork on rice ($4 + tax/tip). In a sign on their store front, they actually claim to have the "Best BBQ Pork in North America!" This is a pretty big claim especially in Toronto, where you can get Chinese barbecued meats in any of the many Chinese restaurants, food courts, plazas or malls. Fortunately, the BBQ pork lives up to their claim as it is really good- each piece has lots of flavour and the perfect texture balance of juiciness and chewiness. The best part is the charred edges that make Chinese BBQ pork so good. As for the dish itself, it was literally just BBQ pork on a giant plate of rice, and they brought us some Bok Choy (chinese vegetable) on the side as well. It also came with a soup; can't really complain about this meal for $4.
I ordered a rice noodle soup with BBQ Pork and BBQ duck ($6 + tax/tip). Again, this was pretty standard, but what makes it is definitely the BBQ pork which is awesome. They gave me the leg piece of the duck and I'm guessing they use the same type of technique to grill the duck as the skin is nice and crispy as well. This also came with some Bok Choy on the side. We also grabbed 2 Nesteas to complete the meal ($1.25/ can).

Kom Jug Yuen is a great place to grab a quick filling meal, while spending about the same price 3 McDonald's value meal items. This place has been around forever as I remember coming here when I was much younger and it probably looks the same as it does 10 years ago. It is a perfect place for students to eat in or grab takeout (close to UofT as it is just south of College on Spadina), but definitely not a place to bring a date haha. Like I said before, it's more like a hole in the wall type of place, so don't expect the cleanest or nicest place (actually, expect the opposite, but it's still great!).
Kom Jug Yuen Restaurant
371 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON, M5T 2G3

IKEA Meatball Deal.

swedish meatballs... If you've ever been to IKEA, you know that they make shopping for furniture a fun experience with their cool displays and even a full restaurant at each location. I just went to IKEA in North York to check out some beds, and also to check out a deal on meatballs that my friend Hugh has been talking about for awhile.

You can get a plate of 15 Swedish meatballs along with mashed potatoes or fries (w/ free gravy and cranberry sauce) for $2.99! . The meatballs are actually really good and this meal usually cost $5.99. You can get this meatball meal on Mondays and Tuesdays, anytime after 5 pm (the restaurant closes at 8 pm). The deal will be running until December 31, 2009.

Hugh and I both went and we each got one of the $2.99 meatball combos with mash potatoes. In addition to this, we each also got garlic bread ($0.50/ piece). The meatballs taste especially good with the cranberry sauce. The meatballs are pretty small, but 15 of them + mash potatoes or fries will definitely fill the average person up. Unfortunately we're not really average and we ended up going back to IKEA for more within 15 minutes of leaving.lol. If you want to get a soft drink, they are $1 with unlimited refills, or you can be really cheap and just ask them for a glass of water (or bring your own glass haha) as they have self serve soft drink stations.
IKEA North York
15 Provost Drive
North York, Ontario
M2K 2X9

IKEA Etobicoke
1475 The Queensway
Etobicoke, Ontario
M8Z 1T3

IKEA Vaughn
200 Interchange Way
Vaughan, Ontario
L4K 5C3

Sushi Bong.

cheap sushi... If you're looking for some good value for sushi, Sushi Bong is the place to go. They offer giant portions for cheap prices, which are 2 key aspects for an awesome deal! This is a small Korean run restaurant in North York that mostly does takeout for people in the Condos around the area. It really is tiny, as they only have about 6-8 seats in the entire place and very often, more than half of the customers in the restaurant are just waiting for their takeout.

I live pretty close to this place, so I come here whenever I need a quick and cheap sushi fix. Me and my friends usually order the same thing every time we're here. For 2 people, we order the Dynamite Roll ($5.95) and the Sushi Bong Special (I think its around $10). The Dynamite Roll (pictured bottom left and right) is HUGE! It is seriously the biggest roll I have ever seen as each piece is almost as wide as your fist and it is basically a California roll filled with Tempura Shrimp and covered in tempura giving it the crunchiness of a Dynamite Roll. This roll alone will fill one person up! The Sushi Bong Special (pictured top right) gives you a little more variety as it comes with 17 pieces- 3 Salmon sushis, 1 Unagi sushi, 1 Snapper sushi, 4 pieces Salmon Roll, 4 pieces California Roll, 4 pieces of California Roll with salmon. The food is pretty decent as well, although this is not the place to go if your looking for super high quality Japanese food and super high quality fish.
Sushi Bong is an awesome place if you are looking for quantity and a good deal. The Sushi Bong Special / Dynamite Roll meal I always get comes out to under $20 after tax/tip and fully satisfies a quick sushi craving. They are super fast as well (seems like you wait max 2 or 3 minutes for your order), as I will often be in and out of this place in under 15 minutes. It is located in the Northtown plaza below the Northtown Condos just south of Yonge/ Finch (it is right off Yonge street). You can either park in the plaza (limited spots), Yonge Street or park in the free Metro supermarket underground parking lot next door.

Sushi Bong
5 Northtown Way
North York, ON
M2N 7A1
(416) 227-0022

What You Pay Per Calorie.

Check out this article. I found this on yahoo finance. They went out to search for the best deal on food in terms of lowest cost per calories. They ranked the different fast food items in terms of how much it costs per 100 calories... haha, pretty interesting stuff if you eat a lot of fast food like me.

The number 1 value per 100 calories is...
32 oz coke from subway costs $0.38 /100 calories (32 oz coke= 330 calories). That is a giant coke for a bit over $1 u.s.!

Foody Mart Chinese Takeout.

chinese takeout... The other day I went to the Foody Mart at Bamburgh Circle to grab some fruits, when I came across their chinese take out area. The Foody Mart is similar to the T & T supermarkets as it is quite a modern supermarket, with a takeout and sushi area (although they have less selection). I noticed that they had rice and dish combos for really cheap. $3.99 (+ tax) for around 2.5 bowls of rice and any 2 items. I grabbed 2 of these combos to take home and eat for dinner. Clearly from the pics, you can see the quantity that you get for $3.99 is awesome. The taste is not the greatest though, I had some pork ribs, garlic shoots w/ squid, snow peas and some stir fried mushrooms with beef. The quality isn't that good, but it is definitely a better and cheaper alternative to a place like Manchu Wok. I wouldn't come here specifically for the takeout, but since its so cheap, if I happened to be there, I might pick some up again. Another thing to note is that the takeout area at Foody Mart closes earlier than the store does. The supermarket closes at 12 am, but the takeout and sushi area is usually closed much earlier (not sure exactly what time). I have not tried it yet, but Foody Mart also sells chinese BBQ meats such as duck and pork.

Quick Notes: The supermarket itself is cheap (cheaper than T & T) and good for groceries, but the plaza is pretty busy, especially during the weekends. Foody Mart is located in the Bamburgh Circle Plaza on Warden, South of Steeles.

Northern Dumpling Kitchen.

yummy... Being a Chinese person, it is almost a given that I love dumplings! I had a request to put up some Chinese food and its a good thing that I just happened to come back from this sick dumpling place for lunch. This place is called the Northern Dumpling Kitchen, and I made the visit with some friends that I met during my summer in Shanghai. To quote one of my friends, who was visiting T.O. from Cali, "These dumplings are HELLA good, I haven't ate dumplings like this since Shanghai!" So there were three of us and of course we ordered the Xiao Long Bao (soup filled dumplings), Steamed Leek and Pork Dumplings, Steamed Cabbage and Pork Dumplings, Steamed Fennel and Pork Dumplings, Silver Roll (a chinese bun you dip in condensed milk) and 3 glasses of sweeeeet cold soy milk. The Xiao Long Bao are HELLA good and come in orders of 6. Their Xiao Long Bao alone have made me a regular at this place over the past couple of months. They are filled with the perfect amount of soup and out of the 100s that I have eaten at this place, not one has ever broken (like they do at other places) as they've perfected the dumpling skin and steamed each order perfectly. The dumplings come in orders of 6 and I would recommend the leek and pork or the cabbage and pork. The fennel and pork ones are alright, but the fennel flavour is a bit strong, and tastes almost like a bag of dill pickle chips.lol. Finally the silver roll comes either steamed or deep fried (I prefer the deep fried) and is cheap and a good addition to the dumplings. We ordered the steamed one because one person at the table was a super health freak (even complaining about oil in pho places!).
Quick Notes: The best part about the Northern Dumpling Kitchen is that it is cheap! It's doesn't' have as nice of a decor as a place like Ding Tai Fung or Asian Legend, but it tastes awesome and has HELLA good value! I normally just order off the first page and get dumplings and appetizer type things, which are all under $5. 1 order of Xiao Long Bao ($4.99/order), 3 orders of Steamed Dumplings ($3.99/order), Silver Roll ($???), 3 Glasses of Soy Milk ($???) came to a total price of around $25 (after tax, before tip). The waitresses/waiters mostly speak Mandarin and a bit of English and there is also one who speaks Canto. Where can you find this awesome place? At the Times Square Plaza (Leslie/Highway 7) in Richmond Hill. It is located at the corner facing the parking lot on the inside of the plaza (not facing Leslie or Highway 7), a couple doors left of the Richmond Court entrance.

Mickey D's.

late night munchies... Nothing special with this post, just good old mickey d's. Mcdonald's is crap food and leaves a taste in your mouth that doesn't go away but its cheap and always reliable! Usually I will only go to Mcdonald's for their breakfast "mmm. sausage egg mcmuffin!". It was late tonight though and I wasn't sure where to go so I hit up the York Mills/Leslie location (open 24 hrs) at around 1:30 am. As usual, I had to go with the $1.39 value menu- Junior Chicken, Double Cheeseburger and Small Fries (Total after tax was: $4.71).
Quick Notes: Very underated on the value menu are the 2 pies for $1.39. Very good quantity for value ratio! They got strawberry pies right now too which are alright, but apple is still the best. On a not so good note, the new big mac wrap, which is basically a wrap with a big mac patty inside looks like dirt. If anyones tasted that crap, I'd definitely like to hear about it (never know, cause those double cheeseburgers are addictive...)
Update: I haven't tried the "Mac Snack Wrap" yet but I thought I would post a pic so everyone knows what I'm talking about. ughhh, big mac in a wrap...looks so dirty,lol...