Tag Archives: Restaurants

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.

Interior

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.

Calamari Fritti

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.

Smoked Burrata

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.

Egg Yolk Raviolo

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.

Mushroom Cavatelli  

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/

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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.

Afternoon Tea for Two

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/

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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.

The Green Wood: Interior

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.

The Green Wood Classic

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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