Zet's Restaurant - its chicken soulvaki platter is out of this world

Dont believe me? Check out their website: http://www.zets.ca/, as their neon sign lights up the milky way.

Located by Toronto's Pearson Airport, this 24 hour diner style of awesomeness, is situated at 6445 Airport Road, (905) 678-1114, and always filled with airport personnel, and lovers of big portioned food (ME!), and i love telling my friends about it... consider YOU my FRIEND!!!! YAY!!!!! :)

It's cash only tho, so bring yo' bills, cause their ATM machine will charge you $1.90.... but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.  There's a whole bunch of stuff to choose from, and also a 24 breakfast selection.  Check our their full menu to get sense of what they can offer: http://www.zets.ca/restaurant-menu.html

So this dude got this burger as i was waiting for my food... and i asked to take a picture of it cause it looked so yummy... heehee. I THINK its like a double steak burger or something? Cause those don't look like patties. 

Famous Chicken Soulvaki Dinner - $12.95

SO this my first time dining in, since i'm always in a rush  (seems to be a theme), to get to the airport, i get it to go... which is an AWESOME option since they have the sturdiest CANADA made take out containers! (bonus, one for chicken and rice, and one for salad).  They have the juiciest chicken, and giant giant pieces, as you can see, even though they're so far away from the plate.  The salad is smothered in feta, mm their potatoes are awesome and the rice is ... um rice. Their tzatziki is really thick and super garlicky.  So make sure if you're gonna eat this and get on a plane, buy some gum (Thom!).

Small Onion Rings - $3.50

Also, for unknown reasons, after getting that ginormous Chicken Soulvaki dinner that i usually have shared with my bff, i got the rings... cause i always love getting rings.

Halibut Fish and Chips $10.50

Can you believe this giant piece of Halibut Fish and Chips is only $10.50! Along with coleslaw side in the styrofoam cup... how picnic chic!  The halibut was super meaty and juicy.  I would have more to say if i was offered more.... *ahem*... however the fries were a bit MEH.  kinda blah. im sure you get the gist of it from my non-word sounds.  BUT! LOVE ZET'S!!! you gotta go!

Quickie Breakfast: Cafe Supreme (Various Locations)

http://www.cafesupreme.ca/

So I'm one of those people who give themselves 5 minutes to get out of bed (do my bathroom business, maybe, maybe no time, brush my teeth, put on contacts, maybe... maybe no time and its glasses day, and get changed... maybe.. sometimes i wear what i go to sleep in to work... what???)... so i never... hardly... never, unless i pack it the night before, get a breakfast in.  I think i had a week when i ate cereal in the morning, but my trends always last for a week....

Anyway, so at my Sheppard subway station, there's a Cafe Supreme, and i've resisted it for a while, but one time i was like... man i'm gonna be late anyway (and i'm always late), and they have this giant sign in the front "BREAKFAST QUESADILLA", so i gave it a shot.. i just went to the website and they have 2 sections for breakfast, and i clicked "healthy"... this was not under healthy, i dont know why, since the ingredients list: Eggwhites, mozzarella, baby spinach, sauteed red peppers and mushrooms.

I could probably eat 3 of those things to get full. but one will suffice for a hungry jessica in the morning, i think it includes a coffee in the combo for around $5.00, which is a great start! It's no mcmuffin, but it also doesnt have the mcmuffin grease.  It's not the fastest to prepare so maybe i kinda lied in the quickie, so prepare for 5 minutes for it to be prepped.  And I also love their fresh baked croissants!

Super Shawarma Plate!

Happy Monday!!!!  So i've been meaning to go to the gym for the last... 5 years... and figured... nah, why dont i just walk to take out some Shawarma over at....

Shawarma Max

4969 Yonge Street

Toronto, ON

(416) 224-2423

This is a great go to place for me and friends alike, they're open late, they're fast, quick, and you get bountiful tasty chicken... check this out, they filled my Shawarma plate to the capacity where it broke the friggin box!

So i got the chicken shawarma plate, see! ta da! @ $7.99, its like 2 scoops of rice, with veggies (lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, something pink (turnip?) and tastes like olives, and some pickles that tastes like olives,  3 sauces you can choose from, tahini, hummus, and some sort of garlic mayo, and you can tahini and hot sauce it up too, and what's the green stuff? and then tonnes and tonnes of chicken fresh off the rotisserie

here's a shot. Awesome monday to spend, eating shawarma and watching.. um Dancing with the Stars.  Btw, sidenote, it was driving me CRAZY cause i couldn't figure out the song that Kim and Hines danced to for their pasa doble that i kept thinking was the X-Men theme song and spent a good half hour on youtube trying to figure out what it was.... to save anyone who cares the trouble...  It's "Explosive" by this classical chick group, Bond. drove me crazy...more crazy...

Oriental Cafe @ Richlane Mall in Richmond Hill

I went out for lunch with my coworker, Maria, well, a 3:30 pm lunch, and i suggested we try the awesome asian mall by our work that i love eating at, the most awesome Richlane Mall! I mean, its awesome in it that it's close to use, and really there are only what, 12-15 stores/restaurants in there, but proximity is king.  Today we tried a new place to me, Oriental Cafe... psst. i picked up a take out menu:

Oriental Cafe 905-884-8678

9425 Leslie St. Unit 3, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3N7

It's headliner special is the Chef's special chunked beef noodle in soup, and Shanghai stye minched fish noodle in fish broth.  Along, they offer great "afternoon tea" snacks (toast w/ condense milk types) and value dishes (Afternoon Tea usually comes with a dish, and a hot drink, like a Hong Kong milk tea, and extra $1.00 for cold drink. ALWAYS extra $1.00 for a cold drink... how much does ice cost anyway)

As well they offer shanghai dim sum (my fav), noodles in soup (my fav), fried noodles/lo mein (my fav), rice, curry, steamed veggies, baked rice/spaghetti, rice cake, fried noodles, and soup.

After an hour of debating what to get... Maria went for the Cantonese Style Chow Mein @ $7.99.  I agree that I am also used to the kind where there is more seafood (like scallop and squid), this included bbq pork, but i guess you can put whatever you want in there, im guessing Cantonese Style means, we'll just throw leftovers on top of fried noodles.

And I went for the pork cutlet in noodle soup.  It was great! the pork was tender and not overcooked, plus the noodles were the right bite, great flavour, the broth was not too salty, and i think it came to, along with my HK milk tea, $7.99 as well. 

Korean Supermarket Galleria Food Court

The Galleria Supermarket re-opened up at a newer southern yonge location @ 7040 Yonge St (north of yonge and Steeles) and its... wait for it... open 24 hours!!!! Things i love about Toronto > Vancouver, the amount of 24 hour stores that are available... awesome! (Although i dont think the food court is open 24 hours)  It's a pretty huge Korean Supermarket, with fresh bakery, meat/seafood and ready to eat food sections, plus ailses of ramen, kimchi, and other korean and asian staples.  I actually didnt buy anything on my visit to check things out, but did check out the "food court" aka the 3 food stands in a row. I got a Pork Bone Soup from Wow Korean Restaurant Inc. and it was pretty good, it came to around 7-8 bucks, complete with freebie sides, and the pork was super tender and the broth was just as tasty as any korean restaurant in new korean town.  However i will judge, that usually at the end of my meal, at say, Owl of Minerva in North York, i'm usually about to roll over in a meaty pork induced coma, while at Korean food court, i'm just pleasantly full... which is good... i mean really who needs to puke a lil in their mouth from over eating....  

Here's the front...i think you have 15 options for food. haha.

And to the right, some japanese options:

Such as the pork katsu with udon.... im not a hugh fan of tonkatsu sauce but the cutlet was great.

Sushi Bong Reprise and every single pomegranate in the world in one place

So last week, i had dinner with my lovely co-worker girls, and we all loooove sushi, and since i'm the lone pedestrian, they let me pick the place, somewhere close by me, so they can drop me off after work. (they're the best!).  And since i'd been raving about the neighbourhood hole in the wall, Sushi Bong, i insisted we check it out. We did end up getting kicked out of the 10 people seater eatery, so i suggest you be ready to cut your meaningful conversations short when the sole waitress hands you the bill to get the hell out. 

Here's the bong sashimi for 2, @ around $20 bucks.

shrimp tempura @ around 9 bucks

this is 1 softshell crab roll... @ around 10 bucks

Dynamite roll @ around 6 bucks and spicy salmon roll @ around 4 bucks.

So after we got kicked out of Sushi Bong, it was SOMEBODY'S good idea to walk into the first brightly lite store, Marouf Tochal... i still have no idea what this place is! Like Ned Flanders' store where everything is left handed, everything here is pomegranate, pom juice, pom ice cream, pom slushes, pom smoothies.... 

After mulling over the menu for about 5 minutes and not finding anything, 2 of us decided to try the pomegranate ice cream with pomegranate syrup.  Which, the syrup is actually quite interesting (they sell it there in bulk as well, for making dressings, or marinades, etc.)  The ice cream was tart as hell, and i had an instant Renee Zellweger lemon face, but.. it tasted healthy! the PERSON who brought us to this place ordered nothing... haha

I checked out its facebook page and it lists it as:

For ppl who love sour flavor of pomegranate juice,pomegranate ice cream,pomegranate lavashak! and more products of pomegranate!

which, i cant really fault it. if you like sour. this is what you like

Lots of pom EVERYWHERE.

proscuitto & mozza roll sandwich

Had a quick snack the other day at work, you know those proscuitto and mozzerella rolls? sometimes with basil wrapped in as well.  Unrolled it out on a section of ciabatta that i sliced up at home, took a packet of mustard i stole from the movie theatres. put it thru the toaster oven and instant sandwhich. mmm.  Those rolls are awesome! meat and cheese and herb all in one. toast. eat. done. easy.

Any Time is Congee Time!

Congee Time

5817 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
(416) 225-6688

http://www.congeetime.com/

Ohhhh fancy shot! hahha i was so proud of this one since im generally a pretty horrible picture taker. haha. SO Congee Time, what can i say except this place brings me back... when i first moved to Toronto some 3 years ago, my friend Stef and her boyfriend at the time picked me up from the airport and brought me to this place by Stef's condo, and my new home for the next year.  Congee time, i made the stupid joke of asking them, if they knew what time it was, and they fell for it and i got to say, IT'S CONGEE TIME!!!! (though i guess it's always time for lots of stuff... morphing time, tool time, hammer time?)

Oh yeah, well Congee Time is near the Yonge and Finch intersection, and it's always pretty crowded during the dinner scene.  I used to take out quite a bit when i lived near by, they have really good take out containers for their congee (canadian made! hard plastic! selling point! :)

 

I went with Chris and he picked one of their SuperBowls, which is the equivalent of 2 normal orders... i left the teacup for scale. This superbowl consists of: shredded duck, shredded chicken, mushroom and egg - $7.75... which is super cheap, considering my minced beef congee at Vancouver's Congee noodle house was almost 6 dollars... (however, I would pay to have Congee Noodle House congee shipped to my mouth. so...... )

Also, we got the Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Minced Pork.  Funny story, one time i ordered the wrong thing, cause their menu is massive with M15 and A5 and B20 ETC ETC ETC and i called out the wrong thing and accidently ordered a MAO PO TOFU which i never order, and only eat if my dad orders it (cause he loves it, my dad loves everything, if you have been reading along, lol).  which is tofu, with this spicy pork, and i tried to send it back and the waitress would have non of it, comeon', its a chinese place.  So I was stuck with it, and was like, I AM NOT EATING IT, but i remember people like to put it in their congee, so i did so and DAMN it was sooo good, so hence, this time i ordered this eggplant version.

if you know me but at all, this will not come as a surprise to you, cause i am a messy girl with no judgement of volume whatsoever, with addition of gluttony and greed. This wasn't done so I could take a shot of an overfollowing bowl of congee... i just couldnt judge how small the bowl was.....

Chris picked this Salt and Pepper fried shrimp for his side. I think this is one of my dads favorites too... hahahaha.

And the total... not too bad eh? It's decent food, decent prices, quick service, and a bright environment, you'll see lots of postings from this place for sure.

Bay Sushi - Vancouver

Bay Sushi

678 Seymour Street

Vancouver, BC

(604) 806-0363
http://www.baysushicafe.com/

Here`s another Vancouver post, cause... again, i was visiting last week, and i have sooo many pictures to update with, seriously, the amount of eating i did in vancouver last week would have served me well for 2 normal weeks... So 2 wednesday ago, I went downtown to Zeal Salon on Robson to get my hair did (i LOVE their massage chairs, and friendly, cute, anime Japanese service, detail oriented and man i love that scalp massage on the, did i mention massage chair).  Anyway, since i used to live in that area, after my hair appointment, I went to check out my once favourite neighbour cheap sushi joint: Bay Sushi, by... well The Bay (HBC), across from the granville skytrain station... that place is always packed with exchange students, and suits, and hungry people of all sorts.  You go pick out your food, they have the same specials since i was around 3 years ago on a chalkboard out front, and various pics around inside, so order your food, get a cute laminated ticket, wait for your food, and eat in, or take out! 

I choose the eat-in option with a Chirashi Don at around $13-$14 bucks. This thing was MASSIVE as i could not even finish it. The fish was fresh and assorted. salmon, tuna, some other white fish, and squid maybe, i dunno. I got the hot version, which really, just came with a big bottle of hot sauce. Fresh and delicious! Man i miss vancouver

here`s a shot of the fish once i moved the seaweed out of the way... 

Congee Noodle House with Mom and Dad

Congee Noodle House

141 E Broadway

Vancouver, BC V5T1W1

Tel: (604) 879-8221

I LOVE the congee at congee noodle house, i dont know what it is, its so smooth, but there`s bits of texture within the smoothness, ahhh its just sooo good.  I haven`t been able to find anything like it here in Toronto, if anyone knows what im talking about, please lead on to the right way, i am looking for some good congee!

We got a basic minced beef congee, and even that is the most amazing congee to me... i want congee noodle housssseeeeeeeee

I always mention my dad`s favs, but this is one of my favs, rice noodle with beef and veggie... um the wet version. My dad preferred the version we got from Mui Garden the day before, but meh, i love em all. 

Ok this is my dad`s fav, he loves Jongs. which is basically sticky rice with green beans, fatty pork and salty egg in the middle.  Why, he said cause it fills him up.... which would NEVER be a reason for me to like something... my dad is weird.

Oh, and another one of my dad`s favorites... haha. wontons, though he forgot to order the noodles, which really is his favorite,  he loves a good chewy wonton noodle.  Me, eh, not bad.  

The end, this is a pretty boring post. i blame the basic staples of chinese quick eats. 

Make shift meal: Salmon Potato Cakes

So last night, I was hungry and had barely nothing in the fridge...sure i had a bunch of frozen stuff, but i was really craving FRESH, and really not feeling like leaving the house (it was snowing?) so i pulled together what I had to make my makeshift Salmon Cakes.

ingredients i used:

-2 cans of canned salmon (i'll probably try with fresh and other types of fish)

-2 potates (whatever i had leftover from my salmon chowder)

-1 onion

-fresh thyme (leftover from my salmon chowder)

-6 quail eggs (i had NO EGGS, my roommate had quail eggs, haha i would probably use more quail eggs to bind it, maybe 8? 10? whats the equivalent in normal eggs?)

-Bread crumbs - i used panko bread crumbs i had bought when i wanted to fry japanese style shrimp... love these impulse buys that i do nothing with

-salt, pepper, montreal salmon steak seasoning, paprika

damn quail eggs equate to nothing!!!!

I scooped out lil ... im trying to figure out what kinda sports balls they were the size of... baseball? no... not softball... bacci ball? no.. Pool Ball. yeah, size of a pool ball.  cubbed the potatoes, boiled and mashed and threw everything in. breaded it with more panko

Fried it up on low-medium heat in some butter... yeah you can see it was kinda falling apart, maybe cause i only used 6 quail eggs, or maybe i shoulda let it sit, cause the leftover ones i had today were perfectly held together.  As you can see, the salmon  cans (super tasty and juicy) were courtesy of jenice from her awesome fish store in Burnaby, FISH.

With no tarter sauce, I tried to make my own with some lemon yogurt, relish packets i stole from the movie theatre, and dill in a tube.  The flavours were all there, plus its fresh and the least fattening tarter sauce ever!  I ran out of relish this morning, so i chopped up dill pickles and threw it in with the yogurt, worked just as well, more tart. 

Here's the mid nom nom noming dish... hehe. 

 And here is my attempt at a plating pic. haha. 

In conclusion.  A super quick and cheap eat at home, will in the future attempt to add other stuff in the cakes (like leeks! never used leeks before, but saw it on TV), as this is my FIRST TIME ever making a potato cake of any variety, i am indeed a fan as they are cheap, delicious, and i get to pretend im fancy. 

Villa Malaysia

So I was having a chat with my coworker yesterday about food, and she was talking about Ethiopian food, (that i've never tried) she said there's no cutlery and you have this pancake that you eat everything with.  Then it got me started on Malaysian food and my love for the roti.


I love the Roti Canai from Banana Leaf and seldom dream of floating away in a parachute of a giant roti... 


So i was like. i had to have it. and looked up the closest Malaysian place from work to try out.  Google located me to Villa Malaysia, which... got 4 stars out of 2 reviews on Urban Spoon so... that's... promising.


I got Chris to go with me, it's, it located in that plaza on East Beaver Creek and Hwy 7 in Richmond Hill.. or if you like specifics: Villa Malaysia 140 York Blvd | Richmond Hill | Ontario | L4B 3J6


It was the day before the blizzard, and it was also like 5:30... so we were the only people there.... it's a ginormous spaces, with private rooms with flatscreen tv's.  I guess they promote it as a lounge as well.


According to their website, they also own another Malaysian restaurant, Restoran Malaysia ‘www.Restoranmalaysia.com’.


It looked kinda trendy, and i'm always skeptical on trendy asian places, cause sometimes the attention goes on the decor than the food... however, i was most impressed with the food, given that, we were the only people in a huge empty restaurant (that wasn't a good first impression), but the food was really good!

Gado Gado    $6

   Beansprout-jicama-cucumber-fried tofu-boiled egg-peanut dressing

I had a roommate from Bali during undergrad, and she would bring back these packages of peanut sauce for gado gado, and she and her bf made it for me once and it was ammmaaazzzing... and i'd been in love ever since, so when i see gado gado on the menu, i order it.  This version was great!  I've never had it "chunky" style, but its the sauce that makes this dish.  The Jicama, not sure if i've had it before, but it reminds me of a cross between a water chestnut and turnip, very crisp and refreshing.  You finish this meal feeling satisfied and guilt-free, which is satisfaction in itself.

Roti Curry Chicken/Beef   $8.5

Two pieces of crisp and soft roti canai

So my whole raison d'etre, for that moment at least, was to satisfy my Roti craving.  I got the Roti Curry, with the 2 pieces of roti canai, and i was not disappointed. I love the Malaysian roti, I also love the Indian curry, but with this roti, there's this sweetness to it that i can just eat on my own, but when i pair it with the spicy curry, there's a flavour circus in my mouth.  I basically mopped up my entire bowl clean with my roti, it was that-good.  I didn't take a picture, but they offered a home made chili sauce that was tangy and packed a hidden punch... which i think was also a pokemon skill.......LOL

Banana Fritters with Coconut Ice Cream   $6

Now, i was satisfactory full when I finished my curry, but the attentive waiter came by and offered a dessert menu, and Chris had been staring at the giant poster on the wall, featuring the deep fried bananas. so why not. Love deep fried bananas, combined with the tropical flavoring of coconut.  When it came... i was kinda... put off by its ..... shall i say, phallic resemblance... but totally amused by its resemblance to also another animal of dark brown skin flaps...

hehe

It was pretty good, the banana was fried through, so it melted in your mouth, and the coating was super chewy, but added to a resistance in texture when combing the ice cream and soft banana together, so it wasn't just all mush.  There were coconut bits in the coconut ice cream, though i thought it could have been more coconutty.

On a side note, there was a tank of fishys that kept starring at us the whole time. they kept following you wherever you went... here's a pic of one smiling at me.  I'll come eat you next time.

Kenzo Ramen

Whoa.
I know i've been totally MIA... but it's totally cause i started reading the Millennium Trilogy books (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Girl who played with fire, Girl who kicked the hornet's next), and they're like 700 pages each. hehe. Totally consumed my life, i even had dreams and... hallucinations... 


anyway, so, when me and my friends want our ramen fix, we usually head to Ajisen Ramen, http://www.ajisen.ca/, where there's quite an impressive menu, not just ramen for those (*wink*) who don't like their noodle soup dish, side dishes like.... deep fried chicken knuckles (yum), tofu with roe, beef wrapped enoki, and that's the regular side menu i order.... There's a few of these, in Vancouver and Toronto, I patron the one across from North York Centre. But one day, one of my friends suggested we try Kenzo Ramen http://www.kenzoramen.ca/ located around yonge and steeles,  according to some website: this is their info:


Kenzo Ramen 
6180 Yonge St (south of steeles, west side of yonge)
Toronto, ON
416.229.4526
Open everyday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.


Anyway, I've always passed it when i took the yonge bus home, it looked like a cozy (read: tiny) place, but thats where a lot of good food comes out of, the heart!  Anyway, we all agreed that the broth at Kenzo totally blew Ajisen out of the stock pot.


So I started with a Okonomiyaki , or savoury seafood pancake.

I love this stuff, hot on the pan..crispy on the outside and chewy pancake and seafood on the inside.i think for someone who's not used to it, the okonomiyaki sauce (the brown stuff), can be a lil over powering cause its very strong in its sweet, sour, savory flavor, but i can top mayo on anything.  And i love the benito flakes, which is like, dried fish shavings... i like how they dance to the heat. 

I got the King of Kings Ramen off the spicy ramen menu... ordered the mild and my face still burned half off. It was awesome.  there's 4 pieces of grilled pork (charsiu), and bits and pieces of seasoned ground pork all around... the meat was really good, it almost tasted like chopped up sausages, and made finishing this monster sized ramen quite a pleasure. There were tonnes of veggies, ala sprouts and carrots, and some other stuff, and from what you can see, half an egg, fish cake? seaweed, and whatever that brown stuff is, how am i suppose to know.  What i do know is that this was for serious the most delicious ramen I've had in a long while. 

 Here's a wall pic of the their Specials menu, I saw a lot of people (well.. not really a lot since that place seats like...i dunno 12-15 tables)... but yes, a lot of people ordering the gyozas, and the takoyaki.  


As for the price, the seafood pancake was around 10 something and my royal ramen was like 9, though you can pretty good deal ordering a basic ramen and pairing it with a gyoza, or tonkatsu.  It's been my second time around, and i would definitely go again, and would recommend it to noodle soup lovers all around.