Restaurant Review – Page 34

A Meaty Bowl of Noodles at Szechuan Noodle Bowl

Published on September 2, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 526 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://szechuannoodlebowl.ca/

Szechuan Noodle Bowl is definitely about more than just noodles, with an impressively deep, multi-page menu that has a whole bunch of tasty-looking Chinese dishes. Still, it’s called “Szechuan Noodle Bowl,” so clearly, I had to order the first dish on the menu: Noodles, Sichuan style.

You can choose from either chicken or pork (I went with pork), and spicy or non-spicy (I went with spicy, of course).

It’s a solid bowl of noodles. The flavour was a bit more muted than I’d like (this is particularly true of the spice level, which was almost nonexistent — and sadly, the jar of chili oil that you’ll often find on the table at a place like this was absent, so there was no way of amping things up), but otherwise this was a really satisfying bowl of noodles.

The thick noodles were nice and chewy, the garlicky pork was quite tasty, and the peanuts added a good amount of texture. It didn’t exactly rock my world, but I enjoyed it (the affordable $11.99 price tag for a very substantial serving of both noodles and pork definitely helps).

Amazing Mexican Food at Puerto Bravo

Published on August 29, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1425 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
Website: https://puertobravo.ca/

When you’re eating a place that’s been featured in the Michelin Guide, it kinda elevates your expectations a bit. Not that Michelin is an infallible arbiter of taste, but generally speaking, the restaurants they highlight are above average.

Well, Puerto Brave has a “Bib Gourmand” designation from Michelin, my expectations were quite high, and even still, I was pretty blown away by how good everything was.

I tried a few things. I started with the guacamole (“Avocado, Lime, Cilantro, Jalapeño, Chips,”) and it was fantastic. A lot of guacamole tends to be a bit too oniony for me, with their harshness overwhelming the relatively delicate flavour of the avocado. Here, instead of mixing onions right in, they add zippy pickled onions on top, which is a huge improvement that lets the flavour of the creamy avocado shine through. And the tortilla chips on the side are way above average, with a hearty crunch and a nice toasty corn flavour.

Up next was the carne asada taco (“Grilled Beef, Asadero Cheese, Onions, Cabbage, Radish, Avocado Salsa, Red Salsa”). Every element here just works, with a nice balance of flavours and some seriously tasty grilled beef (a lot of the time with a taco like this, the flavour of the beef is buried by other stuff, but here it’s clearly the star of the show (and extremely delicious)).

Last and definitely not least was the Wera tostada (“Octopus, Shrimp, Macha Mayonnaise, Pico de Gallo, Avocado, Salsa Macha”). Wow this was good. The contrast between the crunchy tortilla, creamy avocado and meaty octopus and shrimp was so satisfying (the octopus, in particular, was almost improbably tender). I think this was my favourite of the three, and that’s saying something because everything was extremely delicious.

Solid Ramen at Midori Ramen

Published on August 26, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 412 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://midoriramen.com/

Ramen: it’s the best. I’ve said it on this blog before, and I have no doubt I’ll say it again. Even a mid-tier bowl of ramen is better than a great version of most other things.

Case in point: Midori Ramen. Is it the best bowl of ramen in the city? No, absolutely not. Is it tasty? It absolutely is.

Their specialty is tori paitan ramen, which is like the tonkotsu that’s so prevalent in the GTA, but made with chicken instead of pork. The best versions of this have an addictive roasted chicken flavour, and while this one was creamy and nice, it didn’t have much of a flavour outside of a pleasant, rich saltiness.

You can choose between thin, thick, and kale (??) noodles; they recommend thin. Like the broth, the noodles are pleasant, but they lack the toothsome chew that makes the best ramen noodles so special.

The toppings are all great, however. It comes with tasty pork chashu, a ridiculously tender slice of chicken, and a great ramen egg with a perfectly jammy yolk.

Tasty Korean Fusion at Oddseoul

Published on August 25, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 90 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/90oddseoul/

I know some people are down on the whole small plates format, but I like it. It’s always nice to try a variety of stuff. I guess the main complaint is that you wind up paying more for less food, but that’s not an issue here; with a couple of exceptions, pretty much everything on the menu is in the low- to mid-teens, and the portions are surprisingly generous.

I tried a few things. First up is the spicy scallion and avocado slaw: “mixed greens, cabbage, pickled chilies, bell peppers, crispy shallots, sweet and spicy sesame dressing.” This was a fantastic salad — it’s got a great variety of textures (crispy, crunchy, and creamy) a zippy dressing, and nice pops of acidity from the pickled chilies.

Up next was the squash poutine: “tempura squash, cheese curds, curried gravy, roasted kimchi, pickled onions.” This has very few poutine-like properties (the gooey cheese is fully liquefied, the gravy — while delicious — tastes nothing like a traditional gravy, and the squash can’t really be compared to fries), but whatever it is, it’s very tasty. I wish the squash were a bit crispier, but I’d happily order this again.

The loosey (“Korean Big Mac, served on Texas toast”) was the closest thing to a miss, and even it was tasty enough. The beef was too tightly packed and a bit tough, and none of the flavours struck me as particularly Korean or McDonald’s-esque. Still, it’s a decent enough burger.

Last but not least was the bulgogi cheesesteak (“sliced marinated steak, American cheese, sambal mayo, toasted baguette”). Crossing bulgogi and a Philly cheesesteak is actually kind of ingenious, and the bulgogi here is super tasty. I wish it had been a bit cheesier (it had one thin slice of partially melted American), but it’s still a great sandwich.

Delicious Slices at Mac’s Pizza

Published on August 10, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 759 Dovercourt Road, Toronto
Website: https://www.macspizza.ca/

It’s getting easier and easier to find great slices of pizza in the city — in and around the core, at least. Once you get further into the outskirts and the suburbs, good slice shops get few and far between (at least in the west end — does great pizza exist in Etobicoke or Mississauga? If it does, I haven’t found it!).

I’ve tried a couple of slices at Mac’s. The first was the Lemonhead: “lemon pepper cream, black peper, zest, wedge.”

Who knew that lemon could be so delicious on a pizza? I certainly wouldn’t have guessed, but the zippy lemon does a great job of balancing out the rich slice.

I also sampled the angry pep, which is more traditional: “pep, jalapeno, hot honey, basil.” It’s quite tasty. The pepperoni / hot honey combo seems to be getting more and more ubiquitous, and justifiably so; it’s a tasty combo. And the mild kick you get from the jalapenos complements the slice quite well.

The pizza itself is definitely above average, with a nice balance between the lightly crispy exterior and the chewy interior. It’s quite good.