Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Poke by Sushi Shop, Eataly Ristorante, Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Published on July 5, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop

The salmon & sushi poke bowl (“Salmon, tuna, lettuce, red cabbage, wakame, radish, orange masago, ponzu, teriyaki and poke sauces, spicy light mayo, nori”) at Poke by Sushi Shop is solid. Did anything about it blow me away? Not particularly (I also found the presence of a whole bunch of iceberg lettuce to be a bit off-putting). But it featured some tasty toppings and sauces and a generous amount of fresh salmon and tuna. For something from a food court (particularly the Sherway Gardens food court, which kinda sucks), it’s a nice option.

Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens

I haven’t been particularly crazy about anything I’ve had from the Eataly location in Sherway Gardens thus far, and yeah, that’s still the case. I got a ragu pasta (which isn’t on the menu on their website, so I’m not sure what it was called or what was in it — very helpful, I know), and it was fine. It had some surprisingly big chunks of pork, which were fork-tender and easily the highlight. Otherwise it was just kinda one-note salty. Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think anyone with even a moderate level of skill in the kitchen could whip up a tastier pasta dish with stuff in their pantry.

Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica is generally regarded as serving the best gelato in the city. They’ve also started to expand, with a second location around Yonge and Eglinton. So this is about the time you might expect the quality to start going downhill. Happily, that doesn’t seem to be the case — at least not yet. The black sesame gelato is just as rich and creamy as everything else I’ve had here, and has a very satsifying roasty sesame flavour. It kinda reminded me of a gelato version of Sesame Snaps, but with no crunchiness. I find most black sesame ice cream doesn’t quite have as much sesame flavour as I’d like, but this was pretty fantastic.

A Delicious (and Gigantic) Meal at Brown Donkatsu

Published on July 3, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 487 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://browndonkatsu.ca/

Brown Donkatsu serves the Korean version of tonkatsu, which is quite similar, but with a sweeter sauce.

Before checking this place out, I had read a few references to how big the portions are, so I was expecting a hefty meal. I was unprepared.

Wow, it’s a lot of food. I got the combo katsu, which comes with half brown katsu sauce, and half cream sauce. You can choose from chicken or pork; I went with pork.

Every order comes with two fried cutlets, and I’m not sure if you can get a sense of the scale from the photo, but they’re surprisingly massive. One of these would be enough for any reasonable person. Two is… a lot.

I think the reasonable thing to do is to eat one and take the other to go. The problem here is that they’re very, very good. So once I started eating, I couldn’t stop. The crispy exterior is substantial enough to give you a very hearty crunch, but light enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the pork. And the pork is nice and tender. It’s seriously tasty.

I finished it, but I didn’t feel good about it, that’s for sure. It’s the type of meal where you feel like you have to go lie down to recover.

I will say that I’ll probably just stick with the brown sauce if I ever find myself back here. It complements the meaty pork quite well, with a nice sweetness that helps round things out (it’s also quite different from the curry or tonkatsu sauce that you might expect). The ultra-rich cream sauce, on the other hand, is a bit one-note heavy. I certainly didn’t dislike eating it, but a little of it goes a long way. I would have liked about 90% brown sauce, and 10% cream sauce for a little bit of extra richness.

As for the other stuff on the plate, the sweet, creamy dressing on the cabbage is nice, and the corn and rice are corn and rice.

Tasty Buns at Blooming Garden Dessert House

Published on July 1, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: None

Look, I’m a simple man with simple pleasures. Put a red bean bun in front of me, and I’m going to eat and enjoy that bun. I’ve had a lot of red bean buns of varying levels of quality, but I’ve never had one I’ve outright disliked.

I also enjoy desserts that are on the less sweet side of things, so when I saw that Blooming Garden Dessert House serves something that they call a “less sugar red bean pineapple bun,” I was all over that.

I know that I just said that I’d enjoy literally any red bean bun that you put in front of me, so maybe that kills my credibility a bit, but this was a particularly good one. I really, really enjoyed it.

I thought it might be barely sweet at all, but while the sugar level is definitely on the more restrained side of things, it’s plenty sweet. The sweetness level is about on par with the better red bean buns that I’ve had, so advertising this as “less sugar” is probably overkill.

Everything here is just right, from the satisfying chunkiness of the filling, to the ultra fresh and chewy bread, to the perfectly crispy topping. It’s legitimately one of the better versions of this that I’ve had in a while.

Extremely Chewy Noodles at Miss Xu Potato Fans

Published on June 28, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/miss_xupotatofans/

As you might guess from the name, Miss Xu Potato Fans specializes in potatoes. Specifically: potato noodles, which are basically a much, much chewier version of normal noodles.

They actually have a pretty deep menu; I went with the Braised Pork Mashed Potato Mix Noodles, which comes with mashed potato, braised pork, veggies, and potato noodles. You have the choice of three different preparations for the mashed potato: hot pot, curry, or tomato. I went with hot pot.

It’s a really interesting dish. I’ve never even heard of eating noodles with mashed potatoes, which certainly seems like an odd combo. It works, however; the mashed potatoes do a great job of clinging to the noodles, and they have the vibrant flavour that you associate with Sichuan-style hot pot. But instead of hot pot, it’s… mashed potatoes. Again, odd but tasty.

About half of the noodles are covered with a very generous amount of mashed potatoes, and the other half is coated in a savoury, slightly sweet sauce that kinda reminded me of Korean black bean noodles. The dish also features a generous amount of braised pork belly, which was tasty, if not particularly mind-blowing.

As for the potato noodles, they are very, very chewy. To make another Korean comparison, they reminded me a lot of the noodles you’ll find in naengmyeon — but even chewier, somehow? I think it’s because they’re relatively thick, which makes the chewiness feel more pronounced. It’s a fun novelty, though ultimately, I would have rather just been eating normal noodles (which is also an option here).

A Delicious Burger at General Public

Published on June 27, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 201 Geary Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.generalpublic.ca/

It’s been a while since I’ve had a really good burger, so the one at General Public hit the spot. They only serve it on the happy hour menu, for some reason (which is 4:00pm to 6:00pm), but it’s worth coming here at that time to check it out. Really, really good.

The GP Burger, as per their menu: “red leicester & cheddar blend, bone marrow, onion, branston pickle.”

Given how hard it is to find anything other than a smashed burger in Toronto, a hamburger in any other style is kinda delightful by default.

This one features a nice, hefty patty that’s cooked to a perfect medium rare. They’re obviously using good quality beef with a good amount of fat, because it’s seriously juicy and has a satisfying beefy flavour.

The cheese is nice and gooey, and the toppings mostly complement the burger quite well, other than the onion (I’m not a fan of raw onion, so this my fault, not the burger’s). The bun appears to be too big, and yeah, it kinda is, but it’s so plush and fluffy that it’s not nearly as big of a problem as it seems just by looking at it. It works.

I tried a couple of other things. There was the curried lamb tartare (“kashmiri, curry mayo, poppadom”), which was a really unique spin on a classic dish, with a nice crispy crunch from the poppadom that comes on the side, and a spiced flavour (particularly cumin) that distinguishes it from any tartare you’ve had before.

I also tried the bone marrow, which isn’t normally on the menu but was a special when I went. It’s over-the-top rich (the bread that comes on the side is basically soaked in butter, as if it weren’t decadent enough on its own), but it’s so, so good.

I also had the lemon posset for dessert, which features an ultra-creamy lemon pudding topped with a crispy shortbread cookie. Like everything else, it was seriously tasty — the pudding itself was maybe the silkiest I’ve ever had, and the bright, lemony flavour was perfectly tuned.