RICHMOND HILL: ELEPHANT GRIND COFFEE

Elephant Grind Coffee is a brunch spot located in Richmond Hill neighborhood. The restaurant is brightly lit with natural light. The interior is minimal with white walls and simple wooden furniture that creates a cozy ambiance. The menu features brunch classics with Asian flavours like char siu, lap cheong and go chu jang. On our weekday visit, we decided to stick with the classics and order the Egg Benedicts, Chicken & Waffles, and The Classic.

There are many options for Egg Benedicts. All served on english muffin with house salad & home fries. If you want an alternative to the classic Egg Benedict, you can try the house char siu pulled pork with pickled veggies and kale or truffle cream, cremini mushrooms and spinach. We went for the Egg Benedict with smoked salmon and yuzu avocado spread. The egg was nicely poached and covered with a blanket of creamy hollandaise sauce. However, I wasn’t able to taste the yuzu flavour in the avocado spread as it was thinly layered on top of the english muffin underneath the smoked salmon.

Chicken & Waffles ($15 CAD)
Hojicha Latte

Next up is the boneless fried chicken with Belgian style waffle, house salad, house hot sauce and cheddar sauce. The portion size was quite large as there were three large pieces of boneless fried chicken on top of the Belgian style waffles. The fried chicken were lightly seasoned and had a light batter. The crispy skin and tender chicken meat complimented well with the sweetness of maple syrup and fluffy waffles. I especially liked the side serving of spicy aioli which you can mix with maple syrup for a sweet and spicy twist.

The Classic ($13 CAD)

Lastly, The Classic is a breakfast staple and consisted of two eggs any style, bacon/sausage, sourdough toast and baked beans.

There is nothing fancy here, just a cozy place to go for decent brunch in Richmond Hill area. Keep a note that this restaurant is cafeteria style ordering where you order and pay at the counter first and wait for the food to be served to your table.

Elephant Grind Coffee
Address: 10 East Wilmot St Unit 7, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1G9
Website: https://www.elephantgrindcoffee.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elephantgrindcoffee/?hl=en

Food

TORONTO: FAMIGLIA BALDASSARRE

Famiglia Baldassarre hand makes fresh pasta from scratch in all shapes and wholesale to some of Toronto’s best restaurants. It is quite difficult to eat there as it only opens four days a week (Tuesday to Fridays) for two-hour lunch service. Only a limited amount of pasta is served, and when it’s sold out, it’s sold out.

Cavatelli (CAD $12)

Wednesday is always cavatelli day. Cavatelli have an elongated shape with a hollow cavity that is perfect for trapping sauces. Tiny but packing a textural punch, it has a hearty, and bready texture that works incredibly well with flavorful vegetables like broccoli rabe (also referred as rapini), mushroom or a bright, bold red sauce. Both cavatelli dish were wonderful. The homemade sausage and sugo was very hearty and paired well with the unique texture of cavatelli. Rapini and pasta is a classic italian pairing and the sprinkle of pecorino adds saltines and makes the dish taste stronger.

Fresh pasta in the making
Parma D.O.P. 16 month (CAD $6)

Tortellini Bolognesi in brodo di gallina is stuffed pastas in chicken broth. These delicious stuffed pasta pouches are filled with a mixture of pork loin, prosciutto di parma, mortadella and parmigiano reggiano. I really loved how well seasoned these tortellini were. The rich, fragrant chicken broth beautifully balanced the savory tortellini. This dish is delicious and comforting especially during the chilly winter months.

I’ve always had a soft spot for long, fresh pastas like tagliatelle, pappardelle, and tonnarelli. There’s something so decadent about the chewiness of fresh pastas. Paglia e Fieno (straw and hay) is a combination of plain and green tagliatelle flavored with spinach. This colorful pasta dish is served with butter and casera d.o.p cheese. The rustic flavor of the pasta pairs well with the casera cheese and has a nutty and sweet taste.

I love just about everything pasta and fresh pasta especially. Have you ever had fresh pasta? Trust me, you are missing out on an amazing experience if you haven’t. There is a huge difference between hardened pasta from a box and fresh pasta. I highly recommend Famiglia Baldassarre and is a must-try for pasta lovers.

P.S. Expect long lineups during summer time and they take cash only.

Famiglia Baldassarre
Address: 122 Geary Ave, Toronto, ON M6H 4H1
Website: http://famigliabaldassarre.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/famiglia_baldassarre/?hl=en

Food

TORONTO: EGGSTATIC

Eggstatic is a fairly new brunch spot located in Leaside neighborhood. The menu has a Middle Eastern influence serving foods like Hummus, Shakshuka and Pita bread. We came on a weekday for brunch and ordered the Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette, Oven Baked Tenderloin, and Biscoff Lotus Pancake.

Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette ($16.49 CAD)

The Shrimp & Feta Cheese Omelette consisted of shrimps, scallion, diced tomatoes, eggs, and feta cheese. The eggs were a tad overdone and dry but it was flavor packed with chunky tomato sauce, fresh herbs, garlic and feta.

The Oven Baked Tenderloin was an interesting dish with slow cooked beef tenderloin baked under a bread dome with tomato sauce and fire roasted veggies. This middle eastern influence dish was spicy and hearty. The smokiness and savory aromas of the spices add depth as they balance the flavor of tangy tomatoes. The dish is served with baked pita and veggies, providing the perfect carrier to soak up the sauce.

Biscoff Lotus Pancake ($15.79 CAD)

If you have a sweet tooth, try the Biscoff Lotus Pancake. Light and fluffy pancakes served with fruits, grounded lotus biscuits and vanilla ice cream topped with rich creamy peanut butter sauce. When there is ice cream on your pancakes, it’s like having a sundae for breakfast. The warm peanut butter sauce drizzled over ice cream was very good. The grounded lotus biscuits also adds caramel flavor and a little textural variation.

Overall, the food was good and our server was friendly. The food is a bit pricey though with a long wait time as it took close to 40 minutes for our food to be served. I would still recommend to check this place out at least once.

Eggstatic
Address: 1568 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON M4G 3B7
Website: https://eggstatic.ca/home
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eggstaticto/

Travel

EXPLORING HAKODATE MORNING MARKET (HOKKAIDO)

If there’s one thing you can’t miss when visiting Hokkaido, it’s their seafood! The whole Hokkaido region is famous for its abundance of seafood and there’s one great place to experience that in Hakodate, the Hakodate Asaichi.

Hakodate Asaichi is the city’s famous morning seafood market with an array of delectable fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables and many other delicious things. The market opens daily from 5am (6am during winter) until noon and is conveniently located close to JR Hakodate Station. The narrow lanes, congested alleys, vast sheds and crowded stalls are bustling with activity.

I’d recommend getting up early to enjoy the bustling morning atmosphere and try the mouth-watering kaisen don (seafood rice bowl) to start your day. Seafood rice bowl is a bowl of steaming rice topped with freshly-caught seafood.

Kikuyo Shokudo Honten（きくよ食堂)

Kikuyo Shokudo (きくよ食堂) is a long established restaurant at Hakodate morning market. The menu offers a vast variety of different seafood combinations for kaisen don and come in two sizes, full portion or half portion. We tried the kaisen don in half portion with four types of seafood consisting of uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe), crab and hotate (scallop) for 1680 yen and two types of seafood with hotate and amaebi (shrimp) for 1380 yen. The set comes with pickles and miso soup. The ingredients used for the kaisen don were fresh but the taste of the seafood was just average. The uni had a nice fragrance to it and the scallop were sweet. However, the crab meat didn’t have much taste in them.

Gano Katsu Ika Tsuribori (元祖活いか釣り堀)

Hakodate is famous for its fresh, delicious seafood, and squid in particular, and it doesn’t get any fresher than squid you catch yourself. One of the famous activities in the market is fishing for live squid. Experience the thrill of squid fishing from the fish tank in the market and enjoy your freshly caught squid a few minutes later served as sashimi. Fresh squid sashimi is tender and has a chewy texture. The natural sweetness of the beautifully transparent flesh is a real taste sensation.

Uni Murakami

Uni Murakami is a restaurant that specialize in uni. It is operated directly by a uni processing plant and the key selling point is their preservative free uni. This restaurant was one of the two restaurants we tried at the Hakodate morning market. We tried the small size uni bowl trio with uni, salmon and ikura for 2160 yen. The prices here is more expensive than Kikuyo Shokudo, however the seafood served is definitely of higher quality. The uni was creamy, sweet, and melt in mouth with no foul aftertaste. The fresh quality of it can be seen by its plump shape and vibrant color. Definitely the best uni we tried at the market.

HAKODATE MORNING MARKET
Address: Japan, 〒040-0063 Hokkaido Prefecture, Hakodate, 若松町9−19
Website: www.hakodate-asaichi.com

Food

TORONTO: PIANO PIANO

Piano Piano is a charming Italian restaurant on Harbord Street. The interior of the restaurant feels spacious and sophisticated. The decor is very artsy with a mixture of gold, black and bold floral accents.

Our party of two each got the lunch special which includes your choice of any appetizer, any pizza or pasta and soft serve ice cream for $24 CAD. The lunch special is a good deal and the portions are quite generous.

For appetizer, we decided on Calamari Fritti (lemon, chili, parsley), and Smoked Burrata (endive, grapes, raisin, garlic, brown butter, toast). The Calamari Fritter was the most tender I’ve ever had. It was lightly battered and perfectly seasoned.

The Smoked Burrata was perfect, firm exterior with a gooey creamy center. The sweetness of the grapes and raisins softened the hit from the roasted garlic and complimented well with the burrata.

For entrees, we had the Egg Yolk Raviolo (spinach, ricotta, parmigiano, brown butter), and Mushroom Cavatelli (truffled scented oyster mushroom, parmigiano). The Egg Yolk Raviolo was recommended by our waiter and was beautiful in presentation. The oversize ravioli is packed with green spinach, ricotta and a duck egg yolk, which oozes out as your knife cuts through the pasta. The spinach and ricotta sauce lacked flavor but the yolk adds a heavenly silkiness to the filling that blended in beautifully with the al dente pasta. We also found the pasta to be a bit too hard around the edges for our liking.

The Mushroom Cavatelli was extremely fragrant and the smell of truffles very much dominated the senses. The cavatelli has a firm texture and the parmigiano adds salty creaminess to the hearty dish. However, because all the other dishes were so well seasoned, this creamy dish was less prominent in flavor profile. It kind of felt flat for me.

For Dessert, there is a choice between double espresso or soft serve ice cream. Skip the ice cream and go for the double espresso. Overall, this restaurant is well worth a visit for their great lunch special which is available 7 days a week between 11am-3pm.

PIANO PIANO
Address: 88 Harbord St, Toronto, ON M5S 1G5
Website: http://www.pianopianotherestaurant.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pianopianotherestaurant/

Food

TORONTO: OMAKASE AT JAPANGO

Japango is a small Japanese restaurant located on Elizabeth Street. The small space has extremely narrow layout and doesn’t seat many people. All the tables are so close together that it feels cramped.

Our party of two made reservations for omakase dinner. Omakase is a Japanese phrase that means “I’ll leave it up to you”. The intriguing thing about omakase is that you don’t know exactly what you will be getting. Omakase at Japango is priced at $120 CAD per person which is a higher price point than most Japanese restaurant. I had anticipated high quality sushi and sashimi from the price.

Oyster Shooter
Wakame Salad

Appetizer started with the oyster shooter that consisted of a small oyster, uni, ikura (salmon roe), raw quail egg and scallions. The shooter is an interesting combination of slippery-ness with a bit of crunch from the ikura and some resistance from the oyster. Next came the wakame (seaweed) salad with cucumber, crab meat and cherry tomatoes served in a vinegar dressing.

Manilla Clams with Sake

The next course was manilla clams with sake. The clams were fresh and I could taste the sake in the broth.

Blowtorched Wagyu Beef

Next came the blowtorched wagyu beef. The wagyu beef is thinly sliced and blowtorched for a smoky flavor. The succulent wagyu had high marbling content and melted in my mouth. It’s probably the best dish of the entire omakase.

Sashimi
Black Cod & Scallop

A sashimi platter was brought in front of us next which included salmon, o-toro (tuna), hamachi, saba (makerel), and uni from Japan. Japango went a little extra by garnishing the o-toro with edible gold leaf flakes. The sashimi was good until I tasted fish scales in my mouth from the saba. I mentioned it to the server when she cleared my plate and received an apology.

The next course is black cod misoyaki and scallop on half shell. The black cod misoyaki was tender and soft but the flavor was a little too sweet for my liking. The scallop on half shell had shimeji mushroom cooked in a buttery soyu sauce. The scallop was overcooked, salty and rubbery. Not the quality you would expect from an expensive omakase. Both me and my friend had one bite of the scallop and couldn’t eat more of it. We suspected that one of the factors for the overcooked texture is to cover up the freshness of the scallop. We ended up asking the server to take away the dish and serve the next course as it was unedible for us.

Next came the nigiri sushi platter, the quality were decent but I’ve had better at other Japanese restaurant. The uni served this time were from Boston instead of Japan.

The restaurant brought us another dish to compensate for the scallop. Aji Furani is horse mackerel that is coated in breadcrumbs and fried to a golden brown. Served with tartar sauce and garnished with ikura, the flavor of the mackerel is quite mild and the texture is firm and dense.

Matcha Tiramisu

For dessert, matcha tiramisu was served. It’s a classic tiramisu dessert with Japanese twist. The tiramisu was creamy but could not taste any matcha flavor.

I’m not usually the type of person to leave a negative review seeing that I am in no way a professional food critic. I don’t believe it’s fair for me to bash on a restaurant if the food wasn’t to my taste. But my experience at Japango was less than satisfactory. Moreover, I question the value of the meal considering how I’ve eaten some fine Omakase in town. I had anticipated high quality sushi and sashimi from the price. But the price does not match quality of food served. I would not recommend coming to Japango for Omakase.

Japango
Address: 122 Elizabeth St, Toronto, ON M5G 1P5
Website: https://japango.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japango122/

Food

HONG KONG: AFTERNOON TEA AT MADAME FU

Reminiscing of French salon, Madame Fu is located inside the former Central Police Station compound, Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts. Occupying the entire third floor of the beautifully restored colonial building, the space offers different lavishly decorated rooms each decked out with a distinct identity, including The Grand Cafe, The Pink Room, The Red & Blue Verandah, and The Library.

The Red & Blue Verandah

The Red & Blue Verandah is very picturesque with its velvet coaches, stunning lamps crafted out of vintage Hermes scarves and views of the Tai Kwun courtyard. The ambience of the restaurant allude exclusivity and elegance.

The Pink Room

The restaurant is the perfect example of east meet west serving food that is a contemporary take on Chinese cuisine. The menu range from lunch and afternoon tea, light bites, dinner and weekend brunch. All rooms serve the same food and drink menus. We were seated at The Pink Room and tried the afternoon tea. Afternoon tea is priced at $250 HKD for one and $450 HKD for two. The Pink Room is the perfect spot for instagrammers and fashion bloggers with its colorful millennial pink banquette, artfully distressed walls and velvet cushions.

The Afternoon Tea was served on three-tiered stand and consisted of prawn and smoked salmon open faced sandwiches on the bottom layer; a lemon meringue tart, tang yuan (sweet rice balls with black sesame filling) and tapioca pudding on the second; and chocolate tart and fruit tart on the top. The afternoon tea set also includes a dim sum of the day, and we tried the har gow (shrimp dumplings). The dim sum was brought to the table in a traditional steamer basket to keep it warm.

The heritage environment, artistic decor and ambience is great for afternoon tea but the quality of food was very average. Nonetheless, a visit to this restaurant is still a unique and worthwhile experience.

Madame Fu
Address: 3/F, Block three, Tai Kwun, No. 10 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong
Website: https://www.madamefu.com.hk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madamefugrandcafe/

Food

TORONTO: RH COURTYARD CAFE

RH Courtyard Cafe is a beautifully decorated cafe within an upscale furniture store inside Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The ambiance is the best part about dining here. The interior is stunning with natural lighting and elegant settings that makes you feel like you’re inside a Parisian cafe. The extravagant space with beautiful statement-making chandeliers and greenery is a treasure cove for an instagram photo.

The menu offers standard Canadian fare like lobster rolls, scrambled eggs, and burgers. The food is a bit pricey for what it is but you’re paying for the experience. We ordered the RH Scramble and lobster roll.

RH Scramble ($14 CAD)
Interior

The RH Scramble consisted of slow scrambled eggs topped with snipped chives, sourdough, and half a avocado. The scramble eggs were delicious and I loved how creamy and moist they were. The sourdough and avocado were nothing special.

The lobster roll had some sizable chunks of lobster meat nestled inside a lightly toasted split-top bun. The bun was crispy on the sides but barely buttery. The lobster meat is slightly overcooked and lacked seasoning. Nothing to say about the fries but I did like the garlic aioli that came on the side.

The food won’t blow you away, but you wouldn’t expect it to be as it’s not a specialty restaurant. You’re mostly there to enjoy the ambience. Because the RH Courtyard Cafe doesn’t take reservations, if you go during meal time, be prepared to wait at least 45 mins.

RH Courtyard Cafe
Address: 3401 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6A 2T9
(Located in Yorkdale, Restoration Hardware)
Website: https://www.restorationhardware.com/content/category.jsp?context=TorontoCafe

Travel

SUMMER IN FURANO & BIEI (HOKKAIDO)

Last summer, I checked off Hokkaido on my bucket list. Since forever, i’ve wanting to visit Hokkaido which is famed for its beautiful pristine countryside. Furano is a town located in the central area of Hokkaido, known for its picturesque rural landscape. The city is rich in nature, and there are many colorful flower fields which blooms beautifully during summer. It’s best known for the lavender fields which is a spectacle of color best enjoyed in July when they’re in full bloom. The neighboring town of Biei is also known for its beautiful rural landscape of rolling hills and vast fields. As these two areas are close to each other, we were able to drive to the various attractions of both areas relatively easy.

Farm Tomita

Colorful flower fields

Lavender Field
Lavender Ice Cream

Address: 15 Kisenkita, Nakafurano-cho, Sorachi-gun 071-0704, Hokkaido
Map Code: 349 277 672

There are numerous flower fields of various sizes across Furano. The best spot to view lavender fields that grow as far as the eye can see is Farm Tomita. The farm is covered in breathtaking rows of bright purple lavenders during the summer months. In pictures, it looks too beautiful to be real. It is a scenery everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. The farm is free to enter and besides the flower fields, there are also cafes and shops that sell a wide range of lavender related products. Don’t forget to try the lavender soft serve before you leave. The rich lavender flavour has a refreshing taste and is particularly delightful on a hot summer day.

Kumagera

Local Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu
Wagyu Beef Sashimi over rice

Address: 3-22 Hinodemachi, Furano, Hokkaido
Map Code: 349 032 102

Kumagera is a restaurant that focuses on local Furano style cuisine. The restaurant offers a wide range of dishes using locally sourced ingredients. We ordered the wagyu sashimi over rice and Shabu Shabu. The beef used in both dishes are local wagyu. Wagyu is a supreme variety of beef in which the fat content is much higher than usual, giving the meat it’s signature high marbling. The fat also has a very low melting point which is why it feels like it melts in your mouth. The wagyu sashimi was very tender and juicy and taste like a piece of heaven in your mouth. You will regret it if you don’t order this dish. The restaurant is very popular so be sure to make a reservation or come early to avoid long lineups.

Shikisai no oka

Shikisai no oka

Address: Dai 3 Shinsei, Biei-cho, Kamikawa-gun 071-0473, Hokkaido
Map Code: 349 701 160

Another popular tourist attraction is Shikisai no Oka. The flower field is carpeted with different kinds of flowers on the grounds of gently rolling hills from April to October. This feast for the eye features a wide range of seasonal flowers that include tulips, lupine, lavender, sunflowers and more. The sight of the rainbow colored flowers, blue sky and mountain range is storybook picturesque. There is also a alpaca farm which offers you a chance to feed and touch cute fluffy alpacas.

Popura Farm

Address: 18 Higashi1senkita, Nakafurano-cho, Sorachi-gun 071-0771, Hokkaido
Map Code: 349 309 690

Two things you can’t miss when visiting Hokkaido is the various dairy products and melon. A local specialty in Furano is melon topped with soft serve. It is a refreshing treat in the summer and an Instagram worthy dessert. Popura Farm is a quaint roadside cafe with indoor and outdoor seating. We drove by this place on our way to Biei and ordered a quarter melon with original milk soft serve. Furano melon is very juicy and doesn’t have a sugary taste but a mild fruity sweetness that’s very satisfying. The milk soft serve complimented very well with the sweetness of the melon. Another must eat when visiting Furano.

Blue Pond

Address: Shirogane, Biei-cho, Kamikawa-gun 071-0235, Hokkaido
Map Code: 349 568 888

Blue Pond is a mysterious, shining blue pond that rests in the mountainous countryside of Biei. The pond displays various hues of blue depending on the season and the weather. During the summer months, it displays a captivating shade of turquoise that conveys peace and tranquillity.

Food

TORONTO: THE GREEN WOOD

The Green Wood is located in Leslieville neighborhood at Queen Street East and Greenwood Avenue. Tucked away in the well-lit lower level, the space has a clean, modern aesthetic with white exposed brick walls, coral pink tiles and succulents.

Open everyday from 9am-4pm, The Green Wood focuses on serving scratch-made Canadian menu that prominently features local Ontario ingredients. We came on a weekday to try out their brunch and ordered the Salmon Rosti, Coziest French Toast, and the Green Wood Classic.

From top to bottom: Salmon Rosti, Coziest French Toast & The Green Wood Classic

The Salmon Rosti consisted of crispy potato pancake, two poached eggs, smoked salmon, fresh cucumber, and dill and sour cream. The dish was delightful and the potato rosti was much lighter and crisper than I was expected.

The Green Wood Classic is exactly what you would expect from a classic breakfast, two eggs, bacon or sausage, fresh greens, roasted potatoes and toast.

If you have a sweet tooth, make sure you don’t miss the French Toast. The cinnamon-swirled house brioche is a cross between challah bread and cinnamon roll, perfectly cooked with a crisp buttery exterior and soft custardy interior. The french toast is soaked in vanilla custard and covered in fresh berries and maple syrup.

The Green Wood hits all the right spots. The space is comfy and the food was good. Love the use of local ingredients as you can really taste the freshness in the produce.

The Green Wood
Address: 1402 Queen St E, Toronto, ON M4L 1C9
Website: https://eatgreenwood.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatgreenwood/

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Tag Archives: Food

RICHMOND HILL: ELEPHANT GRIND COFFEE

TORONTO: FAMIGLIA BALDASSARRE

TORONTO: EGGSTATIC

EXPLORING HAKODATE MORNING MARKET (HOKKAIDO)

TORONTO: PIANO PIANO

TORONTO: OMAKASE AT JAPANGO

HONG KONG: AFTERNOON TEA AT MADAME FU

TORONTO: RH COURTYARD CAFE

SUMMER IN FURANO & BIEI (HOKKAIDO)

TORONTO: THE GREEN WOOD