Yorkville Lunch Date: Hemingway's + MoRoCo

My friend Andrea moved to Toronto 3 months ago and we never found time to see each other (boo!!!! READ MY BLOG lol) so it was totally awesome to see her today! We went for lunch in the super elite neighbourhood of Yorkville (Yonge & Bloor), stopping first at the patio section of:

 Hemingway's

142 Cumberland Street
Toronto, ON M5R 1A8
(416) 968-2828

OH. it's a new zealand joint??? that totally explains the kiwi pictures everywhere.... i am so slow.

ALSO this makes me happy that i chose their lamb burger (cause im totally getting into lamb now... slow to start but it's growing on me!) cause there are more sheep in NZ than people right! 

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH BRIE AND APPLE - $10.89

Tender chicken breast with slices of granny smith apple and brie cheese served on a fresh twelve grain bun with mango mayonnaise

Andrea got this, she said it was really good! and loved the fries

KIWI LAMB BURGER - $12.89

New Zealand ground spring lamb, grilled and served on a lightly toasted bun with goat cheese and mint 

sauce, garnished with a slice of onion, tomato and lettuce

To curb new new lamb fixation i got this lamb burger, it was SUPER juicy, in fact it juiced all over my fries the first bite.  I woulda been pissed that i sogged my crispy fries in the first 2 seconds, but then again we were willingly sitting under the plant mist to cool ourselves down from the INSANE INTENSE HEATED SUMMER WEATHER.

After lunch, we were super stuffed. and just wanted to get ourselves in an A/C environment ASAP.  Did a little, well window shopping around (couldnt find anything :( but with the intent to get some gelato or frozen yogurt after.  She brought me to Moroco Chocolate:

Moroco Chocolat

99 Yorkville Avenue

Toronto, ON M5R 1C1

(416) 961-2202

this place is sooo pretty! Intent: Frozen Yogurt...

You step into their chocolate boutique area, i swear if i didnt know better (which i dont) i would have thought this was some fancy jewelry store.  Everything is delicately displayed, with a touch of decorum and class, fancy schmancy.

Beyond the chocolate boutique is a dining area. Black white and purple. Crystal studded plush black couches, and crystal chandeliers, zebra printed pillows.... basically if Lisa Frank had a back room for grown up parties, this is what it would look like. 

Case and point (from the star)

Well, we couldnt get our frozen yogurt :( Apparently, too many people came into the dining room area to order the frozen yogurt that it crammed up the dining room space. They only let you order if you have a big party and somebody wants it, or if its a private party or something other reason where there's a lot of money involved and not some schmutz who wants a measly froyo when they could be serving big spenders. 

They actually serve food, (but we were full). We noticed they do a high tea service here too! Would be nice to check out one day.

Well. these were my dessert options. 

I REALLY wanted a frozen desert type, cause it was soooooo hot. 

The only option that carried anything frozen that we saw was The Melteaser - $18.00

If i would have paid attention to the menu instead of seeing FROZEN... GET THAT. i would have read:

"Watch the Chocolate Sauce melt the Cocoa Shell to unveil three sweep scopes of Frozen Yougurt and Fresh Seasonal Berries"

If i saw that i woulda had my camera preparred! instead of just gawking at the waiter as he brought me a plate of chocolate globe. and poured a stream of chocolate over it, melting the chocolate globe away revealing the OVERSTATED scopes of FroYo. more like melon ball scoops. and a pinch of berries.

But HELLS was it AWESOME!!!!! those little malteaser balls added an awesome crunch!  I gotta say, it was totally impressive to eat, and felt a lot healthier than using my 18 bucks to buy a DQ chocolate log. The chocolate sauce was not too sweet, so it wasnt overbearing to consume such a large amount of chocolate.  

I ordered a glass of milk..... um... apparently nobody has ever ordered a glass of milk.... um.... except for children..... she gave me a straw. 

Andrea got the Kiss Me Kate

Moist Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. - $14.00

I think the presentation was very nice.  Although i think Andrea (and myself) were a lil disappointed with the cake... it was less red velvet than super chocolate. I much rather have a nice traditional red velvet with lots of perfect cream cheese frosting! 

It was a gorgeous place.  I kept saying, I FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS!!! it's a really nice place for girls to get their brunch and desserts on, you can fondue too, and the service was really good.  I would go for special occasions.... I would also go there if i didnt have to pay.....  but next time i have a frozen yogurt craving.... i'm going to Yogen Fruz... um that's more my budget....(unless someone wants to pay for my food!)

Oriental Cafe Part II: Now with actual Camera

Oriental Cafe 

905-884-8678

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

Here is my first visit to Oriental Cafe with my coworker Maria

It seems like it's the co-worker's restaurant of choice when im suggesting we hit up the AWESOME RICHLANE MALL.  Today, i wrangled my quad neighbourino Mark to hit up Richlane Mall when i heard him retort he wished to try something new.  And just when Maria agreed to go, i gave them both the tour, you have:
Most Excellent BBQ (hanging meats galore!)
Lemon Grass (delicious southeast asianess!)
Ichiban Fish House (a staple for quick japanese fix)
Some HK Cafe that i've been too but didn't post! (something something)

My conclusion. is that my non asian coworkers are freaking scared of the unknown. and Oriental Cafe had the most non-threatening decore, and white pleathery seats in an open space.

This picture really does nothing to explain my theory.

Anyway, Mark's friend swore by Hot and Sour Soup, and he'd never had it before, so we ordered 1 to give it a try.  I was a little apprehensive cause he's a picky mofo (who kept asking me if there was fruit in anything... he really doesn't like fruit!) So i wasn't sure how he'd take this flavour combo.  I was almost afraid to tell him what the black stuff was, but he ate it, and i confessedd, it was fungus. haha. shrooms! He almost finished 1 bowl. good job!

One of my fav parts of Shang-Hai cuisine are Xiaolongbaos! mmm those tasty lil soup dumplings filled with tasty moist and juicy pork... well unfortunately/fortunately Mark isn't the biggest fan, so my attempt to WOW him with little pockets of meat and juice was um, unsuccessful. He did finish one whole dumpling! and dumped the juice :(  To be honest, these werent the best dumplings so i'll let it go.  I had to eat the other 5. So i'll let it go.

If you've ever read my blog, or know me. you know that everything is my dad's favorite.  This is my dad's favorite.  The green onion beef brisket green wrap.  Again, i was apprehensive if Mark would like it or not, with his distain for fruits and sweet.  Im not sure what kinda sauce, im just guessing its some hoisin type sauce, or equally sweet (if you know, please correct me), i compared it to a sweet BBQ type. He actually kinda liked it. and he finished a whole one! good job Mark!

 Mark picked this one, we were going to go for Shanghai noodles but this caught his eye.  A pretty basic dish i think, beef and veggies on rice.  I normally go for the flat rice noodle variety (HOR FAN!), he asked me if this is what my family eats, i explained it was usually steamed rice, with several accompanying dishes, like a veggie dish, meat dish, etc.  which explains why i would choose a noodle dish over rice, since it's like something i would get at home. makes sense.

All in all, i think Mark had a good experience, i was totally impressed he tried something new outside of his usual subway, mr. sub, wendys, etc lunches.  And the total came to around $23, so it wasnt bad at all! I think he would have really liked the BBQ meats place (cause what man does not like a plate full of BBQ meats), if he can get past the hanging meats part. next time!

Free Lunch! Courtesy of Whining.

MMMM.... so i have a girl at work from nicaragua, (where? nicaragua... i love making her say it) and she gets the most awesome lunches, cause they do all this great spanish stuff.  She told her mom about me, and her mom was like, ok i made all this stuff, why dont you bring a lunch to jessica to try. but she DIDNT! cause she was too lazy to pack it for me!!! and i grumble as i do, and remind her her lazy ass costed me a free awesome mom made lunch.  So today! i breeze into work and see a tupperware container of pasta on my desk.  You know what beats free food? GOOD home made free food.  

Me and her are apparently on a "diet" right now. haha. so nothing makes a good meal than a cheesy pasta dish. i'm getting to the health part, she used ground chicken, and 'shrooms, and spinach, garlic, onions, tomatos, with lots of mozzarella, and jalapeno oil.  I think that's what it was.  I cant remember! but it was deeeelicious! Thanks M! You're the best!!!!

Ichiban fish house @ Richlane Mall FULL MEAL!

Come with me as poseidon Brenden Frasier beckons us into Ichiban Fish House @ the most awesome Richlane mall, by Leslie and 16 in Richmond Hill, Ont. (9425 Leslie Street, Richmond Hill, ON (905) 737-7313 if you're precise)

Ichiban fish house wants you to know they do not import... from japan... 

     So Ichiban Fish House is an interesting lil place. you go in, and its pics among pics of sushi trays and fridge/display of fish/uni/octopus/etc, and you head into the dining area, which seats, maybe 24 ppl in the whole place.  There is one waitress (whenever i go, but its off peak hours?), and maybe 2 people in the kitchen? 3? im not sure. ANYWAY the interesting part is, that you get menu. which consists of, 1 menu. and then 2 photo albums of just pictures of food + cost + name.  Which is AWESOME.  One is like a roll menu, i think, and the other is everything else.

     Like check it out... i took a few pics, i wonder if could get a set of ones of these, cause it's awesome.  It's like, oh hey, a family photo album... if your family was delicious food that you want to EAT! They have everything, from basics, sashimi types, and fried stuff types, and bento box types, terriyaki types, etc etc. But they also have hot roll types!

     They start you off with a free salad and miso, and end you off with a free green tea ice cream.  Which i really should stop accepting cause it is proven, at least in this stomach, that raw fish and ice cream does not mix... but... free!

So me and Maria got the tempura.  Another interesting bit. Apple Tempura! i liked it! cause it's deep fried... but i can see how ppl would find it weird. good tempura, lightly battered, veggies are tender at every bite.

Maria got the Sushi Combo 1, which was like $9 bucks or something, but she chose the all salmon one, which consists of... what you see in the picture.

I got the spicy tuna, i think it was $4-5 bucks.  I realize that anything that is 'spicy' costs extra, and really they just dot some hot mayo on top, what i didn't know is that when we asked for some mayo on the side, they gave us a whole bowl of spicy mayo. tip from me. ask for spicy mayo on the side cause that's free!

I got the hand rolls cause they looked pretty it was around $9 bucks. They were filled to the bottom, which is always a good sign, and the seaweed remained nice and crunchy.  yum yum. 

So I've gone to this place probably 5 times now, it's a good, fast, easy lunch place to go, (or dinner, i think Richlane Mall closes at 12PM), it's a lil more expensive than what i am used to (though being from vancouver, where the fish jump into your mouth, its a whole diff animal i guess), but it's fresh, speedy, and good. 

Fresh Fusion: healthy make your own more expensive salads

Fresh Fusion

16 Vogell RoadRichmond Hill, Ontario

P: 905-780-7878

F: 905-780-7877

So today, me and Maria decided to have a "healthy" lunch... (since we TacoBell/KFC'ed it last time....), a good portion of my coworkers, including myself had checked this place out when it opened a few months ago... there's a lot that they offer: salads, wraps, pressini, burritos, breakfast, smoothies, and soup... and they have separate line ups for each major station.

The way they make your salads is pretty... different... it's kinda like the marble slab of salads, minus the 10,000 caloric ice cream cheesecake.  I mean, they have a million different salad toppings, you can choose from existing signature menus items, or customize it yourself. and they toss (heh) all your ingredients on the giant long cutting board, and with a double sickle, basically go medieval on your salad til its itty bitty massacred pieces.

 

And here is my completed wrap! I was like, oohhh FREE DELIVERY! but no. there is a surcharge of $1.99, and the min is like $15.99, which, i could easily order and eat... so.. no big.

My $8.00 dollar Chicken Tikki Wrap (Romaine, Tandoori Chicken, Cucumber, Carrots, Red Onion, Tamarind Sauce, Lime Yogurt Chutney).. the sauce was actually really really good, but... i think i was hungrier after eating it...  

I also got a $3.00 Tomato Tortellini soup that was served in a thimble, i'm also such a sucker whenever i see tortellini, even though, there's only ever 1 or 2 tortellini. 

Maria got a steak and cheese pressini.

I didn't try any... but it looked like a pressini. 

Prix Fixe Lunches in Spain: part dos!

Here's another prix fixe meal i throughly enjoyed on my trip in Spain, this time we stayed close by to our resort town of Salou, and wandered around and, actually, stepped into the wrong restaurant we were looking at... they're all so close together! I got this chicken salad, and it was the most bizarre, interesting, flavourful, unique experience.  There was like, marmalade, or some sort of jam in my salad, as well as this olive paste, and the contrast of flavours confused me at first, i was like, what the hell am i suppose to do with orange jam? and i'm pretty sure i vocalized my confusion at first, but combined... it was savoury sweet and heart. it was SO GOOD. anyone heard of this combo before???

And for the main, giant chunks of succulent pork, i think it was in some sort of sour cream sauce, with roasted potatoes, totally rustic, and hearty. and guess what, i couldnt even finish it. Prix Fixe meals are the best!!!! 

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. 

Most Excellent BBQ is Most Excellent. @ Richlane Mall, Richmond Hill

Another awesome little place by my work in the always giving Richlane Mall , 9425 Leslie Street 16th Avenue Richmond Hill, Ontario, this lil BBQ place: Most Excellent BBQ. 

Me and Chris always come here for a good generous fix of most excellent meals for lunch. There's always a line (for take out), which is sign of a good thing, like one time i was sitting there eating and just watching the line, there was a constant line of 4-5 ppl from when i sat down to eat til when i finished.

The sit in meals that we always get are either $5.99 or $6.99, the $5.99 includes 1 type of meat (like bbq pork, roast pork, roast duck, sausage, soy chicken, the usual Chinese bbq stuff), on rice, with a side of steamed veggies, plus a soup, plus a drink (pop, soy milk, or tea).  With $6.99 you get 2 types of meats, or what I got was the BBQ duck in rice noodle soup, plus greens, plus drink.

There's a framed picture of jean cretien eating there, so it must be good if he's opening his sideways mouth for this!

$5.99 BBQ Pork Meal

my $6.99 Duck on rice noodle soup dish!