Ichiban Sushi House

Gyoza: vegetable dumplings with ponzu sauce. (J) A Groupon deal gave us $40 worth of food for $20. Snow peas in the middle were a nice touch of colour. Gyozas were good. (S) Crispy goodness.

Sakura Set: bento box dinner combo; miso soup, wakame salad, shrimp & vegetable tempura, chicken teriyaki, nigiri sushi, California rolls and gyoza. (S) I really liked the wakame salad. It was very clean and crisp. We would not have ordered the gyoza appetizer had we known there were some included in the bento. Chicken was good! (J) I liked the variety. Gyozas were a nice surprise. Tempura were fresh from the fryer.

Chirashi: served with miso soup and green salad. (S) Everything was nice quality. I liked the black sesame seeds on the rice. (J) I was pretty full from the bento box by the time we started on this. Fish was good.

Location: 1375 Yonge St. Toronto ON M4T 1Y4
Phone: (416) 922-7500
Website: http://www.ichibansushi.com/index.html

Mandarin

Tominaga Sensei's 40th Anniversary













Dinner Buffet: corn soup, spring rolls, noodles, fried rice, broccoli & beef, macaroni salad, cream puff, broccoli salad, fried chicken, chocolate cake, tempura vegetables, spicy chicken.

(S) The buffet didn't provide much selection. It was probably half, if not less, than the usual selection of foods. I liked the broccoli...went back for a lot of it. Owell, anything for Sensei.
(J) Yeah I would have liked more variety. I liked the broccoli, spring rolls and macaroni salad.

Location: 7660 Woodbine Avenue, Markham ON L3R 2N2
Phone: (905) 479-6000
Website: http://www.mandarinbuffet.com

Grenadier Restaurant

All Day Breakfast: sausages, eggs, toast and home fries. (J) Nothing says picnic in the park more than an air conditioned restaurant in the middle of High Park. I really enjoy breakfast foods. (S) I really liked how the home fries were seasoned. The sausages were yummy, and the rye bread was good.

Ribs Special: half-rack ribs with fries and coleslaw. (J) Not the best, but quite good for $7.99. (S) The meat didn't fall off the bone, but for that price...can't complain.

Location: 200 Parkside Drive, Toronto, ON M6R 2Z3 (High Park)
Phone: (416) 769-9870

Canada's Wonderland

Behemoth Burger Combo: 1 lb patty, served with onion rings, drink and a free t-shirt (background). (J) This thing was huge, about an inch thick. I liked how cheese did not cost extra, but everything was expensive to begin with. Gravy on the burger prevented it from being dry. Onion rings were decent. This was a good choice to feed two people. (S) I was feeling a bit sick by this point, so J had to eat most of the burger. The onions rings went down very easily, though. I'm not sure I was a fan of the gravy on burger.

Funnel Cake: with icing sugar, ice cream and strawberries. (J) I've never had a funnel cake before, so I was excited to try this. I liked the dough string bits. Strawberries were soaked in very sweet syrup, but I'll count them as a serving of fruit anyway. It was all very good, but something I could only eat once a year at most. (S) Super sweet, and super calorific. Icing sugar was so messy, it got all over the place but tasted so good on the fried dough.

Location: 9580 Jane Street, Vaughan ON L6A 1S6
Phone: (905) 832-8131
Website: http://www.canadaswonderland.com

All Star Wings & Ribs

Bloody Caesar

Midnight Express

Honey Garlic

Dry Cajun

(J) 100 wings, consisting of 4 flavours, for 6 people. I didn't like how the flavours lacked descriptions, and most of the names sounded arbitrary. I can't remember what was in Midnight Express. Bloody Caesar was my favourite because it had parmesan cheese and little bit of spice. Cajun was my least favourite because it was dry. (S) Midnight express was spicy, but I ate it anyways. I liked them all, especially the saucy ones. The dry cajun wasn't bad, kinda lacked any distinctive taste though.

Location: 10520 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill ON L4C 3C7
Phone: (905) 737-4917
Website: http://www.allstarwingsandribs.com

Luminato: 1000 Tastes of Toronto

Grilled Chicken & Rice: from Mis Amigos. (J) There was no option for plantains like last year. Chicken was tasty, except for the charred bits. (S) A bit of it burnt through the plate. I liked the sauce and the rice was yummy!












Free Samples: from President's Choice; smoked meat sandwich, carbonated drinks (mango-peach and pomegranate-cherry?), mini ice cream cones (marshmallow chocolate swirl and rainbow). (J) I tried rainbow ice cream, which was cotton candy plus a berry flavour. It was very artificial tasting, but not bad. (S) I liked the marshmallow chocolate! The berries with the drinks were very good too! Good thing for me, Dri doesn't like condiments.

Poutine: with beef gravy from Poutini's. (J) The fries were fresh out of the fryer. We had a big chunk of cheese curd. (S) This was pretty good, I liked real cheese curds.

Fish: with plantains and salad, from Les Amazones. (J) A good amount of food. The plantains were thick like wedges, and had a good chewy texture. Not sure what kind of fish it was. I heard salmon, but the colour was wrong. (S) I didn't like that the fish had bones, but owell. It didn't taste bad. The plantains hit the spot; soooo good.

Tarts: berry and butter, from Dufflet. (J) We couldn't decide what to get with our last ticket, so we ended up with dessert. They were big and sweet. I liked the berry tart better; not too sweet and had a crumble on top. (S) I liked the butter tart better; it was super sweet! Haha.

Location: Queen's Park North, Toronto ON M7A 1A2
Website: http://www.luminato.com/2010/events/155

Koganei Japanese Seafood Restaurant

Location: 3901 Hwy. 7 West, Suite 103, Woodbridge ON
Phone: (905) 265-2288
Website: http://www.koganeisushi.com

Red Dragon Roll: cucumber and avocado on the inside, salmon on the outside. (J) Cucumbers were cut into many little sticks. It was refreshing. (S) I liked the avocados and cucumbers, definitely refreshing.

Dinner for Two

Assorted Sushi & Vegetable Tempura: (J) We like to get all veggies instead of shrimp tempura.

Grilled Mackerel: (S) Bones! Otherwise good. (J) At first fishy, but then surprisingly good and moist inside.

Chicken Teriyaki: with vegetables and rice. (S) I liked the crispy chicken skin and the soft meat. Yummmm... (J) They made the skin so crispy like Chinese crispy pork.

Green Tea Cheesecake & Red Bean Ice Cream: (S) The green tea cheesecake was nice and light, and the red bean ice cream was awesome as usual! (J) The dark green gel had a stronger green tea flavour. Yay for 50% off food!