Restaurant Review – Page 22

A Delicious Korean Pancake at Hodo Kwaja

Published on November 27, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 656 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: http://hodokwaja.ca/

I previously tried the walnut cakes at Hodo Kwaja, which is their specialty. Those things are thoroughly delicious, and it was tempting to just order them again. But they also serve a few other desserts here, including hotteok — Korean pancakes with a sweet filling.

You can order these filled with either brown sugar or red bean; brown sugar is the more traditional choice, so that’s what I went with.

It’s extremely delicious. I figured this wouldn’t be on the level of the walnut cakes, but I actually think it might be even better? It’s just as good, that’s for sure.

The pancake itself is delightfully chewy, and the sweet brown sugar syrup complements it perfectly. It’s a very sweet dessert, but there’s a good balance between the pastry and the syrup; it’s not the throat-burner you might suspect.

A Great Veal Sandwich at Palma’s Kitchen

Published on November 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3485 Semenyk Court, Mississauga
Website: https://palmapasta.com/

I found this place after typing “veal sandwich” into Google Maps while shopping (hey, sometimes you’ve gotta have a veal sandwich), but Palma’s Kitchen has quite a bit more going on than that. There’s the typical Italian hot table, along with a small but fairly extensive supermarket selection.

They have a handful of sandwiches on the menu; I went for the veal, and had it topped simply, with just hot peppers — I don’t think a good sandwich like this needs anything else, and this is definitely a good one.

It’s that sauce. It has such a delightfully rich, savoury flavour; I could eat it out of a bowl like soup.

The veal is served from a hot table, so its crispiness is long gone, but when the sauce is this tasty and it’s really soaked into the veal (which is melt-in-your-mouth tender), you don’t miss it.

The bread — clearly very fresh — suits the sandwich perfectly, with a very light exterior crispiness, and enough heft within to hold up to the saucy veal (but not so much that it feels overly dense). It’s great quality bread.

I wish the hot peppers were a bit hotter (okay, a lot hotter — they’re only mildly spicy), but this was otherwise a seriously great sandwich.

Tasty Korean Food at Sinjeon Topokki

Published on November 21, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 712 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://sinjeoncanada.ca/

Sinjeon Topokki is a Korean chain that’s recently been expanding in the GTA — this is their third location. As you’d imagine from the name, they specialize in topokki (more commonly spelled “tteokbokki”), a dish that features chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce.

They have a few different types of topokki — I went with the original, which is the classic version of the dish. You can pick your spice level from one to three. I went with the second level, which is legitimately fiery.

It’s quite tasty, with a very pleasant chewiness on the rice cakes and with a whole bunch of the sweet, savoury, and spicy sauce. The rice cakes are basically swimming in sauce, which is good because you can use it as a dip for the other stuff you order.

I also tried the fried combo, which comes with an assortment of fried fish cakes, dumplings, and other fried goodness. This stuff is tasty on its own, and even tastier when you dip it in the topokki sauce.

Kimbap (which is kinda like a Korean sushi roll, but filled with non-sushi ingredients) is another specialty here; I went with the Sinjeon cheese kimbap, which is filled with kimchi and gooey cheese. This one was a bit dry, but a dunk in the topokki sauce makes quick work of that.

Stellar Sandwiches at Sleepy Pete’s

Published on November 17, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 69 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/sleepypetes/

I’ve noticed Sleepy Pete’s coming up in discussions of the best breakfast sandwich in the GTA; it’s also from the same people behind the great Kensington Market taco joint, Seven Lives. Obviously, I had to check it out.

So did a lot of other people, apparently. I showed up at around 11:00 on a Saturday morning and the place was packed. It was about a half hour between the time I showed up and the time I started eating, but you know what? Totally worth it.

I tried a couple of the sandwiches: the sausage and egg (“chicken sausage, hot honey, Kraft cheese”) and the fried chicken (“breaded chicken breast, hot lemon pepper sauce, mayo, pickles”). The sandwiches come on your choice of biscuit: buttermilk or jalapeno cheddar. I went with buttermilk on the breakfast sandwich and jalapeno cheddar on the fried chicken.

Both sandwiches were very, very good. This place is mostly known for its breakfast sandwiches, and yeah, I get it. Every element here is dead-on; in particular, the spicing in the meat is actually quite different from your standard breakfast sausage, but it really works. And the biscuit is pretty much perfect, with a great fluffy texture, just the right amount of density, and a lightly crispy exterior.

I’ve mentioned before that my secret food shame is that I think a McMuffin from McDonald’s is better than like 90% of the fancy breakfast sandwiches in the GTA. This is in the 10%. It’s so great.

The fried chicken didn’t knock my socks off like the sausage and egg, but it’s still a very good sandwich. I don’t think there were any pickles (at least not in my half of the sandwich), which would have been nice, but the combo of the savoury fried chicken and the sweet lemon pepper sauce was a tasty one. The chicken had a layer of crispy breading that’s lighter than most of the fried chicken sandwiches in the city, but that works quite well. I enjoyed it.

An Enjoyable Sandwich at Henry’s Fish & Chips

Published on November 12, 2024November 12, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 833 Westlock Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/p/Henrys-Fish-Chips-100070019051515/

I’ll admit that I mostly wanted to try Henry’s Fish & Chips because I was driving by and thought, hey, that looks delightfully old-school. And yeah: it is indeed delightfully old-school. The place has been around since 1987; if you’ve been kicking around for that many decades, clearly, you’re doing something right.

Also delightfully old-school: the prices. I got the cod on a bun, which came up to about nine bucks for a fairy substantial sandwich. The chips start at about two bucks, and the small coleslaw cost 66 cents. And if you’re really looking for a deal, one of the fish options is basa — you can get basa, chips, and a can of soda for just under seven bucks.

And the fish is quite good, though I’d definitely order the classic fish and chips over the sandwich next time; the bread is a bit too crusty and substantial, and the fish is so tasty that it just isn’t necessary.

Everything is fried to order, and the fish was nice and flaky and had a crispy, but — and this is key — not overly substantial exterior.

The fries were quite good too, with a great crispy/creamy balance. I saw a few other people ordering the poutine, and yeah, I’m sure that’s tasty.

I should note that the place is pretty tiny inside, with just a couple of small counters if you want to eat in.