Beer Bistro

Location: 18 King Street East, Toronto ON M5C 1C4
Phone: (416) 861-9872
Website: http://www.beerbistro.com

Applewood Chicken: beer bread pizza. Stout brined, gouda cheese, caramelized onions, bbq sauce and coriander. (J) It was alright. I tasted chicken and BBQ sauce. Good to dip in mussel broth. (S) It got a bit dry as it got cold. Not bad though.

Brussels Mussels: mussel bowl steamed in beer broth; affligem, smoked sausage, tomato, hot chili, fennel, parsley and garlic. Served with a loaf of Cantillon Sour Dough. (J) My favourite part of dinner. You got a lot of mussels. The broth tasted really good. (S) Sooo good, lots of mussels and beer broth!

Belgian Frites: house-made mayonnaise & smoked tomato ketchup. (J) Good fries and mayo, but the ketchup still tasted weird to me. The first time I ate this I was full of Wendy's, so I enjoyed myself more on this occasion. Good to dip in mussel broth. (S) I like the ketchup, I asked for a second cup :P

East Side Mario's

Location: 10520 Yonge St., Richmond Hill ON L4C 3C7
Phone: (905) 770-4000
Website: http://www.eastsidemarios.com

Per Due - Dinner for Two

Water and grapefruit juice. (S) Sour >_<

Garlic homeloaf.

Garden salad & vegetable soup. (S) I was tempted to order another bowl of soup; alas, we were too full.

Starter

Bruschetta & Artichoke Fonduta: a pairing that is perfect for sharing. (J) I was already full from the above sides that I totally forgot about this. I liked the thin crispy bread. The artichoke dip was cheesy good. (S) Yea!! We forgot that we ordered this! I liked the bruschetta for the sauce and crunchy bread. The dip was really thick but tasty!

Entrées

Seafood Manicotti: shrimp, scallops and whitefish sauteed with white wine, roasted garlic and mushrooms, then hand rolled in our kitchen in pasta with ricotta cheese. Topped with our blend of cheeses and a drizzle of Besciamella-Tomato sauce and baked to order. (J) I could really taste the seafood. Was not stuffed with so much cheese like at The Old Spaghetti Factory. (S) Yumm, we had to take one roll to go cuz we were soooo full, the seafood was really good though.

Orecchiette Genovese Alfredo: Pasta Challenge winner. Seasoned chicken breast sauteed with whole roasted mushrooms, fire-roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes, tossed with our creamy Pesto Alfredo and traditional Italian orecchiette pasta. (J) I was expecting more sauce, but that's okay since Alfredo sauce is so fatty. (S) It was pretty good, I liked the minimal sauce.

Xe Lua

Location: 254 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, ON M5T 2C2‎
Phone: (416) 703-8330‎

Strawberry Smoothie. (S) Very strawberry-y...yumm! (J) I thought they forgot about our smoothie, but the girl was just making everyone's drink and then serving them all at once.

Pho: small house special. (S) I like all that weird stuff. (J) Lots of bean sprouts and lime juice.

Rice: with BBQ chicken and steamed egg. (S) Fatty meat. (J) I liked the chicken. The egg has stuff in it I didn't know what. I poured the sauce and everything tasted good.

Kenzo Ramen

Location: 138 Dundas St. W., Toronto ON M5G 1C3
Phone: (416) 205-1155
Website: http://www.kenzoramen.ca

Takoyaki: (J) These are different than regular takoyaki because they have cheese in them. Lots of octopus bits inside. (S) These were soooo good. Cheesy goodness.

The King of the Kings Ramen: hot Netsu ramen with five toppings. (J) I like lots of toppings. Broth was a peppery type of spice, so it didn't burn the mouth. (S) Too spicy!

Yakisoba cooked on an iron plate: original Japanese roasted noodles with vegetable. (J) Tasted sweet after eating my ramen. (S) I really liked this ramen, lots of veggies.

World Routes - México

Location: Harbourfront Centre
Website: México - Beyond Your Expectations

Grilled Chicken: from Mis Amigos, the same people who were at Luminato. Served with salad, rice and beans. (J) Chicken was good like before. Disappointed that the price was more than Luminato, and that the combo didn't come with plantains. (S) Overpriced. I'd rather pay $5 for the chicken + plantains.

Galleria Supermarket

Location: 7171 Yonge Street, Thornhill ON L2T 2A9
Phone: (905) 771-1474
Website: http://www.galleriasm.com

Seafood Udon: from Osaka Sushi. (J) Lots of little tentacles and weird processed fish slices. No big shrimps like in the picture. (S) I ate all the weird stuff :P

Stone Pot Bibimbap: from Jang Kang. (S) Kinda tasted like eating nothing...not much flavour going on.

Red bean fish: from the stand in front of the supermarket. (J) Tasted like waffles. Red bean filling oozes out. (S) These came in threes; they're crispy and yummy.

5th Elementt

Location: 1033 Bay street, toronto, ON M5S 3A5
Phone: (416) 923-8159
Website: http://www.5thelementt.com

Summerlicious

Appetizer

Parsley Butter Shrimp Skewer: mango vinaigrette, tender greens. (J) I was surprised there were so many shrimp. (S) Lots of yummy shrimp, very good. I wanna try the bacon-wrapped scallops next time.

Rack of Lamb: sweet potato mashed, lamb jus. (J) Lamb was so tender. (S) Yea, so good; Very impressed.

Main Course

Kashmir Lamb Shank: mashed potato, greek cheese crumble. (J) I didn't notice any cheese crumble. I liked that it didn't have a strong lamb taste. Extremely tender. (S) I left you half the cheese crumble but forgot to mention it was on the spoon, oops. Fall-off-the-bone goodness. I had absolutely no trouble eating this with utensils, as I didn't have to scrape things off the bone.

Los Angeles Baseball Steak – 10oz: sweet potato fries, celery dip. (J) I asked for rare, and the steak was nice and soft. The dip was really tasty. (S) *Drools. The steak was blooding. I was very impressed.

Dessert

Orange Mango Cheese Cake: elder berry syrup. (J) The Oreo on the bottom was good. (S) This one wasn't as heavy as the one below, but it was also super good. Very impressed.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Feast: strawberry sauce. (J) It sounded weird on the menu, but everything worked well together, and it tasted really good. The Reese candies on top added a good crunch. (S) Holy crap this was so good. I'm glad there wasn't a lot of strawberry stuff on it.

(S) Very successful and satisfying Summerlicious menu for $25. I would definitely come back; 5th Elementt is back in my good books.

Canyon Creek Chophouse

Location: 430 Progress Avenue, Scarborough, ON M1P 5J1
Phone: (416) 296-1400
Website: http://www.canyoncreekchophouse.com

Lobster Lust
It was the first day of the Lobster Lust promotion, so we decided to go all lobster.

Heavy-on-the-Lobster Cakes: rich bites of lobster in these cakes, pan-fried in a panko crust served with chipotle mayo on the side for a bit of heat. (J) The mayo was really tasty. (S) We wanted to use that mayo on everything.

Grapefruit Juice: freshly squeezed. (J) It was freshly squeezed; with pulp and some small seeds. Good sourness and fat-burning properties. (S) Sometimes I like pamplemousse.

Canyon Burger with Lobster: Hearty 7 oz burger topped with fresh avocado, and a mixture of lobster, onion, pickles, chives & mayo, finished with tomato, lettuce and fries. (J) It tasted like a burger with mayo on it. The mayo also cooled the burger down. The fries were really good; salty and extremely thin. (S) I like burgers; this one hit the spot for me, lobster or no lobster. The fries were super salty goodness with the mayo from the lobster cakes.

Truffled Deep Seafood Salad: Poached lobster, black tiger shrimp and grilled calamari with crisp lettuce and grape tomatoes, dressed with white truffle and lemon vinaigrette. (J) Lots of seafood. This was the only dish where I could really see and taste lobster. I liked how the calamari wasn't tough or chewy. (S) Yes, calamari was delicious. Very refreshing and tasty.

Mango Mousse: birthday cake from a Chinese bakery. (J) I liked the layer of cake under the mousse, which made it more substantial. (S) Vincent cut the slices into such huge portions so almost everyone had to share, lol. Good stuff though, *drools...cake...

Bakery Nakamura

Location: J-Town, 3160 Steeles Ave. E, Markham, ON L3R 4G9
Phone: (905) 477-3555‎
Website: http://www.jtown.ca

Turtle Bun: filled with chocolate. (J) Not too sweet. It had a subtle chocolate taste. (S) Chocolate turtle bun!!

Anpan Man: bun in the shape of a man's face, filled with red bean. (J) Had lots of red bean inside. I liked his puffy cheeks and chocolate eyes and mouth. (S) Bursting with red bean! Yumm! Looks like Sensei!

Gal Sushi

Location: 324 HWY 7 East Unit 3, Hoview plaza Richmond Hill, ON
Phone: (905) 882-9959

Green tea and salad: (J) I liked the sushi pictures on the cups. (S) The sauce was good.

S1: 16 piece sushi and roll combo (6 x dynamite roll, 10 x nigiri sushi); miso soup. (S) I like that there wasn't an overload of rice.

D12: dinner box combo (6 x dynamite roll, 10 x sashimi, unagi don); miso soup. (J) Lots of variety and a good portion of eel. I would get this again. (S) Yumm, eel...yea, I like the variety.

Night It Up

Location: Metro Square, 3636 Steeles Ave. East, Markham ON
Website: http://nightitup.com

Round 1

Smelly Tofu ($3): from Wei's. (J) Tasted like sour tofu. I liked how it was crispy on the outside and spongy on the inside. I got used to the smell and it wasn't as bad as I expected. (S) Not bad, smell's pungent, but tastes like regular stuff just a bit sour.

Fried Imitation Lobster Balls ($2): (J) Tasted like imitation crab. (S) Haha yup!

Pork Okonomiyaki ($3): in the shape of a Hello Kitty head. (J) Kinda hard to see with the bonito flakes. (S) The face is kinda skewed to the left. It's cute though.

Authentic Osaka Takoyaki ($5): traditional Japanese octopus balls. (J) Balls were so light and tasty. (S) Yup, this place had the longest lineup for takoyakis.

Grilled Meat (3 for $5): one beef and two lamb. (J) The beef was good but the lamb was too chewy. (S) Too much extra tendon on the lamb.

Chicken Cutlet ($4): (J) So oily yet so tasty. Crispy outside, moist inside. (S) OMG, we couldn't finish this one. It was disgustingly oily, but it was so crispy and tasty.

Round 2

Stir Fry Ice Cream (free, $5): from Marbolicious. Chocolate ice cream with Oreo (top) and Softhard Creamsy House Special (bottom). (J) This house special had the best name so I had to get it. The marshmallows and butter nuts inside were also really good. (S) Nice of them to give us two cuz they screwed up our order. The butter nuts and marshmallow were good. Yumm.

Murtabak ($8): Malaysian roti filled with chicken and peas. (J) Big and filling, but it was also more expensive. It had a nice amount of spice, and a some good crispy parts. (S) Yea, it was filling and crispy. Yum, roti.

Sausage and sticky rice ($2 each): (J) I thought they were two types of sausages, but the sticky rice was in sausage form too. (S) Haha, I thought so too. I was only interested in the red sausage cuz the lighter one seemed uncooked or something, but it was sticky rice.

Grilled Squid ($4): (J) I finally tried a tentacle and I didn't like it. I thought it would be crispy but it was not. (S) Too spicy for me. We each took a bit then gave it to Mel, haha.

Drinks

Lemonade ($1.50): no picture available. (J) The sourness balanced well with all the salty and sweet foods. (S) Very refreshing. Good blend of sour and sweet. Too bad no picture.

Bubble Tea ($3): taro flavour. (J) It looked colder than it really was. (S) Yep, I strategically chose the one that felt colder to the touch, but that backfired.

Basil Seed Drink ($3): (J) The basil seeds were surrounded by a white jelly that made it look like eyeballs. The liquid tasted like lemon tea. (S) Interesting...

Watermelon Juice ($2): (J) I expected lots of ice, but it seemed like all real watermelon. (S) Yes, refreshing as well, if only it was a bit colder.

Caribbean Bistro

Location: 2439 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4P 2E7‎
Phone: (416) 480-1581‎
Website: http://www.caribbeanbistro.com

Sahiena: spinach fritter made with split pea flour, herbs and a hint of garlic. (J) A bit dry because ours didn't come with sauce like the menu said. I prefer doubles. (S) Agreed.

House Special: jerk chicken with rice and peas, served with vegetables and salad. (J) Chicken was more sweet than spicy. (S) It was good, it wasn't spicy.

Goat Roti: boneless goat slowly curried, served with salad. (S) Ohh so good, hit the spot.