Tastes of the Hill

(J) Like last year, local Richmond Hill restaurants gave out samples after we paid an entrance fee for charity. There weren't long lines this year and I got full pretty fast. I really enjoyed the shepherd's pie, steak, cookie and butter tart. Unfortunately Nando's and Turtle Jack's didn't give out chicken and wings respectively.

(S) I was disappointed that Nando's didn't have the chicken from last year. I always enjoy Moxie's steak, mushroom and blondie dessert. Unfortunately, we had too much sweets and cake the night before, so we passed on most cakes from Costco and other stands.

Location: Richmond Green Sports Centre
Website: Tastes of the Hill


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Tako Sushi

Soup & Salad (J) We're here again after failing to eat at Ikea due to their ridiculously long lineup. (S) This is our go-to sushi place if all else fails.

Unagi Don: (J) Mmm eel. Came in a cute lunch box. Too bad they didn't give double portions of eel like they did with their chicken. (S) I was weary that there would be little eel when I ordered this, but oh well, it was nice and soft.

Chirashi Don: (J) I liked the vinegar taste of the rice, but not the small pieces of ginger scattered throughout. (S) We picked around the ginger. Fish was good though!

Ice Cream: (J) Red bean as usual. This time we were able to finish all the food. We didn't order any sides, and these dishes were relatively small.

Location: 1300 Don Mills Road, North York, ON M3B 2W6
Phone: (416) 391-9188
Website: http://www.takosushi.ca


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Tako Sushi

Appetizer: spider roll. (J) We had a blackout in our area so we had to go out for dinner. I ate all the crispy crab legs. (S) Good excuse for some crunchy-goodness.

Vegetarian Dinner: salad, miso soup, avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, vegetable tempura, croquette, tofu and broccoli. (J) I liked the croquette and fried tofu, although all the fried food wasn't so good for us. (S) I felt like veggies, crunchy, fried veggies.

Take Dinner: miso soup, salad, California rolls, salmon rolls, teriyaki chicken, pasta salad, vegetable & shrimp tempura and broccoli. (J) I like this place because you get more chicken than other places. Pasta salad was new.

Dessert: red bean ice cream. (J) Even though we had a takeout box full of leftovers, we still had room for ice cream! (S) Red Been!

Location: 1300 Don Mills Road, North York, ON M3B 2W6
Phone: (416) 391-9188
Website: http://www.takosushi.ca


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Oshio

Miso Soup & Salad. (J) I wonder if the O's in their name are supposed to be surprised eyes O_O.

Love Boat: sushi, sashimi and maki boat A. (J) Nice big pieces of salmon. Everything tasted good. (S) Pretty standard deliciousness.

Location: 2900 Steeles Avenue East, Thornhill, ON L3T 4X1
Phone: (905) 881-5686
Website: The Shops on Steeles and 404

Furusato

Love Boat: SU1; Boat A (28pcs sushi, 12pcs maki). Served with salad and miso soup.

(J) All of the boats must have set sail because instead of a boat we got a love plate. Just the right number of pieces to refuel without being overstuffed. I didn't like the squid due to its slimy texture. Everything else was great. (S) I liked the squid! Bring on the weirdo textures! This meal didn't feel like a waste of a day of workout (snowboarding). I especially liked the yellow tail fish and the eel, they both melted in my mouth.

Location: 10 Fairview Road, Barrie, ON L4N 4P3
Phone: (705) 792-1435
Website: http://www.furusato.ca

Furusato

Love Boat: SS1; Boat A (16pcs sashimi, 12pcs sushi, 12pcs maki). Served with salad and miso soup.

(J) This is a good place to swing by after coming home from snowboarding on the 400. We were pleasantly surprised when we first tried it a couple of years ago. Everything hit the spot, but unfortunately they didn't do the tempura rolls like last time. (S) The boat was huge, made the portion seem bigger than it really was. The quality of the fish was pretty good, but the rolls weren't as big as last time.

Location: 10 Fairview Road, Barrie, ON L4N 4P3
Phone: (705) 792-1435
Website: http://www.furusato.ca

Momiji

Miso Soup & Salad. (J) Salad dressing had a strong orange taste that I enjoyed. (S) The same citrus scent was throughout the restaurant, not that I minded. It was refreshing.

Love Bridge B: spider roll 9 pcs, spicy roll 6 pcs, nigiri 12 pcs. (J) I've never had a bridge before, and I thought it was a great alternative to a boat. There was also a fire in the little white cup! Spider rolls were really good. (S) Mmm...I liked the variety. Would have been easier if things were split into 3s though.

Maki Dinner B: dynamite roll 9 pcs, California roll 6 pcs and spicy roll 6pcs. (J) I liked the crunchy bits in the spicy rolls. (S) I didn't love the spicy rolls :P The dynamite rolls I enjoyed, though.

Churros: chocolate and vanilla with ice cream (?) dipping sauces. (J) Desserts were 25% off, so we had to try one. The menu called these "Chewrros"! They tasted good like Tiny Tom donuts. (S) This seemed out of place in a Japanese restaurant, but it was nice and sugary.

Location: 2111 Sheppard Ave E., North York ON M2J 1W6
Phone: (416) 499-2111
Website: http://www.momijis.com

Gal Sushi

CL7: lunch combo. (J) I got the lucky cat cup again. I didn't expect that this would fill me up, but the teriyaki salmon was very filling.

CL8: lunch combo. (S) I always like the salad dressing from this restaurant. The sashimi was really good, and so were the glass noodles. Yumm, so filling!

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

Toko Sushi

RedFlagDeals Deal of the Day

Miso Soup & Green Salad: (J) Soup was nice and hot. Salad had good orange dressing.

Chicken Udon: (J) big, filling bowl. (S) The soup looked clean, and the chicken kinda tasted like nothing, lol.

Tempura Appetizer, Edamame & Glass Noodles: (J) Tempura was hot and fresh. We didn't even touch the glass noodles and brought them home because we had too much food. (S) I could have had more edamame. The glass noodles tasted very salty.

3 Yellow Plates: cucumber and avocado rolls, rice-filled tofu, and egg sushi. (J) Tofu and egg were nice and sweet. (S) I liked the sweets.

2 Green Plates: cucumber rolls topped with shrimp or imitation crab. (S) The mayo was interesting.

2 Red Plates: spicy salmon and salmon rolls. (J) Rolls got better at the red plate level. I liked the spicy rolls with crispy bits on top. (S) Spicy was ok, I liked the flakey more.

1 Blue Plate: tempura shrimp rolls topped with eel and fish eggs. (J) Tempura was soft. Looked like the turnover rate for blue plates wasn't too high. (S) Eel was nice and I liked the fish eggs.

Desserts: green tea mochi (left); tempura ice cream (right): fried dough ball filled with green tea ice cream, served with chocolate sauce, cream, cantaloupe and lemon slices. (J) Mochi was semi-frozen yet chewy, and had a very good flavour. The tempura ice cream plate was a very odd combination, but I enjoyed it a lot. (S) Although the tempura ice cream looks much more exciting, I really liked the mochi because of its texture and taste. The tempura ice cream got pretty messy in the end, and I wasn't a big fan of the lemon/green tea ice cream.

Location: 637 Yonge St, Toronto, ON, M4Y 1Z5
Phone: (647) 436-9943
Website: http://www.tokorestaurant.ca/

Tastes of the Hill

Crab (lobster?) tart from Jack Astor's; cheesecake from Costco; chowder in a bread bowl; pasta with veal.







Fried calamari and spring roll; chicken and corn from Nando's; honey garlic wings from Wild Wing; kettle corn.







Pasta with rose sauce & corn and cranberry salad; butter tart from LaRocca; California rolls from Tomo; white brownie & honey steak from Moxie's.







Mushrooms from Moxie's; assorted Thai food; wing in butter sauce & corn and cheese on flat bread from Turtle Jack's; nachos from Lonestar.







Middle Eastern foods; fish & rice from Longos; strawberry and cookies & cream gelato; cheese & tomato kabob, salami & cheese, and smoked salmon & spinach dip on bread.







Persian spinach on rice from Friend's Restaurant.

(J) You pay $15 and get a card with many restaurant names on it. You then go around to each booth and get your card checked off and receive food! Some portions were bigger than others. I enjoyed the variety. My favourites were Nando's chicken and the strawberry gelato. They also had coupons for free appetizers and discounts!
(S) $15 is so worth the variety of food you get. I really liked the white brownie from Moxie's, the chowder in bread bowl, and Nando's...wow, the chicken portion was big! And so juicy!

Location: Richmond Green Sports Centre
Website: Tastes of the Hill