Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at Lamb Soup Noodle House

Published on May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4750 Yonge Street, Toronto (inside Emerald Park food court)
Website: none

The lamb soup at Lamb Soup Noodle House is pretty tasty, with a very clean lamby flavour. I got the spicy version, which also had a very noticeable fiery kick. Nothing about it blew my mind — but I’m a fan of lamb, and I’m never going to dislike anything that packed with lamb flavour.

(The chunks of lamb are a bit tough and the fat noodles are overcooked, but I think the broth is the real reason to order this.)

I think the better thing to order here, oddly, isn’t the lamb soup — it’s the jian bing, an eggy Chinese crepe.

I actually tried the jian bing here several years ago and quite enjoyed it. It was called Gao’s Crepe back then, so I’m not sure if it’s the same place or another jian bing spot in the same location, but either way, it’s thoroughly delicious.

Rather than going with the standard jian bing, I went with the one that comes stuffed with spicy noodles and cheese (!), and wow it was good. The wrap itself was chewy and satisfying, it has a nice crunch, and the zippy noodles and melty processed cheese work surprisingly well together. There’s also some kind of sausage in there, and yeah, that’s tasty too. It’s all quite junky, but in a really satisfying way.

Tasty Thai Food at Kao Kang

Published on May 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://kaokang.ca/

Kao Kang, which is part of The Well’s recent expansion, is a spinoff of Koh Lipe, a Michelin-noted Thai restaurant downtown.

Michelin-adjacent eats in a food court? Yeah, sign me up.

The guy behind the counter noted that the pad gra prao (“holy basil, chili, green bean, garlic, fried egg on rice”) is their most popular dish, so that’s what I went with. You can get it with either chicken or beef; I went with beef.

I enjoyed it. Was it the best version of this dish that I’ve ever had? No, absolutely not. But it’s still a food court. Let’s temper our expectations here.

It’s very, very sweet, and is kinda lacking in the umami punch that you typically get from this dish. It’s a bit one-note in its flavour, but is thoroughly pleasant, with a mild spicy kick and a perfectly cooked fried egg on top. I don’t think I’d order it again, but I’m not mad I ate it.

Strawberry Salad from Wendy’s

Published on May 14, 2026May 14, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

A few years ago, pretty much every fast food chain started serving salads in a short-lived attempt to prove to everyone that they’re not just about clogging your arteries and raising your blood pressure. But healthy eats at a fast food joint is an affront to everything that is good and pure about the world, and the salads are pretty much all gone — except at Wendy’s.

I guess people actually order the salads at Wendy’s? Because not only are they still on the menu, but they’re adding new ones, too.

Here’s how Wendy’s website describes the Strawberry Salad: “Herb-marinated, grilled 100% Canadian grilled chicken breast topped with fire-roasted corn, sharp white cheddar, roasted pecans, greenhouse-grown strawberries and lettuce all finished with a sweet onion vinaigrette. It’s the best you’ll pick all year.”

It’s fine? It’s a pretty generic salad. I didn’t dislike eating it, but the guy next to me was eating a burger and I’ll admit that I was pretty jealous.

It mostly all works pretty well — in particular, the balance between the salty cheese, the sweet strawberries and candied pecans, and the zippy dressing is fairly satisfying. I was worried that the dressing might be too oniony, but it was fine.

The biggest issue here are the chicken pieces. I was hoping they’d use freshly-cooked chicken, but instead it’s those pre-cooked chicken breast pieces that you can find in the supermarket or at Costco. They get the job done, but they have a very processed taste and texture that I’m not crazy about.

Quick Bites: Emmer, Dear Grain, Craque de Creme

Published on May 13, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Peanut Butter Miso Cookie from Emmer

Toronto Life recently called the peanut butter miso cookie from Emmer one of the best new cookies in the city, so obviously I needed to try it. And yeah, it’s fantastic, with a really addictive crispy/chewy contrast and a deep savouriness from the miso and the generous amount of salt on top. The level of sweetness here is very, very restrained, which seems like it maybe shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.

Blueberry Scone from Dear Grain

I feel like I can’t bring up Dear Grain without grumbling about their refusal to slice most of their (very delicious!) bread (unless you buy it frozen), so: what’s the deal with that?? With that out of the way, I’ll say that their blueberry scone is absolutely fantastic. Seriously, seriously good. The exterior is nice and crispy, it’s sweet without being too sweet, it’s got a nice blueberry punch, and the texture of the scone itself is perfect. It also comes with a little cup of tasty lemon curd, and its pleasant tartness really takes things over the top. It’s so good.

Canele from Craque de Creme

Speaking of tasty pastries, the canele from Craque de Creme is thoroughly tasty, with a rich custardy flavour and a restrained sweetness that I found to be quite delightful. The overly crunchy exterior does hold it back from canele perfection, however. I love a nice crisp, caramelized exterior on a canele, but this one takes a step or two (or three, or four) too far. The rock hard exterior here kinda shredded the inside of my mouth.

Tasty Cold Cut Sandwiches at Bevi Birra

Published on May 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3072 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://bevi-birra.com/

Though Bevi Birra seems like yet another place serving Italian cold cut sandwiches because that’s the trend, they’ve actually been around since 2020. Props to them for doing this purely because that’s what they want to serve — not to jump on a bandwagon.

And you know what? That level of passion makes a difference. The sandwiches here are very, very good.

I tried a couple. First up: the Anna Rosaria (“Prosciutto, provolone, rosemary aioli, olive tapenade, arugula”).

They make their sourdough bread in-house, and it’s absolutely fantastic. It’s got a great crispy (but not overly crunchy) exterior, a chewy interior, and a nice sourdough flavour. I could have just eaten the bread alone and walked away satisfied.

But everything else here was thoroughly tasty as well, with a nice hit of saltiness from the cold cuts and the tapenade, a creaminess from the aioli, and with the pepperiness of the arugula balancing it all out.

I also tried the Giovanna (“Hot sopressata, garlic ricotta, pepperoncino, honey, arugula.”

Both sandwiches were very good, but this one might have been my favourite. In particular, the salty/sweet combo from the sopressata and the honey is kinda irresistible, and the sandwich’s spicy kick is very satisfying. It’s seriously delicious.