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/

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

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

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: Toronto

RICHMOND HILL: ELEPHANT GRIND COFFEE

TORONTO: FAMIGLIA BALDASSARRE

TORONTO: EGGSTATIC

TORONTO: PIANO PIANO

TORONTO: OMAKASE AT JAPANGO

TORONTO: RH COURTYARD CAFE

TORONTO: THE GREEN WOOD