Restaurant Review – Page 5

Tasty Noodle Soup at Pho Anh Vu

Published on March 26, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1482 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Website: https://phoanhvu.com/

I’ll admit that I did not have particularly high hopes for Pho Anh Vu. A chain Vietnamese restaurant in a Walmart plaza? Surely that will be okay at best.

And indeed, the chain Hakka joint a couple of stores over is just as mediocre as you’d think. This place, however? Surprisingly good. Way, way better than you’d expect.

In particular, I’d heard good things about the bun bo hue here, so that’s what I got. I actually got the deluxe version of the dish, bun bo hue dac biet, which they only serve on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: “Hue Style Beef Special, Crab Cake, Homemade Sausage, Rare Beef with Vermicelli Soup, Beef Shank, Ham Hock.”

It’s a tasty bowl of noodle soup and a solid version of this dish, with a vibrant, flavourful broth that has a nice spicy kick.

It’s also crammed with tasty stuff (though I think they left out the crab cake in mine, sadly), with the very tender beef and the flavour-packed sausage being the highlights. It’s quite good.

Quick Bites: Susie’s Rise & Dine, Dear Grain, The Saj Wraps

Published on March 24, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine at the Taste of Little Italy

The food at last year’s Taste of Little Italy was a bit of a disappointment — it was mostly an assortment of generic street festival stuff, without a whole lot of local flavour. There were a few gems, however. Most notably: the Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine, which consists of a bag of Fritos topped with a seriously tasty chili (that, as the name implies, is infused with mapo tofu flavour). They serve this at the restaurant, and clearly I’m going to have to check the place out.

Buckwheat cookie from Dear Grain

I can’t say I’ve ever had a buckwheat cookie before, but if the one from Dear Grain is anything to go by, I need more buckwheat cookies in my life. It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie, but with a nuttiness and earthiness from the buckwheat. It’s also got a nice sprinkling of salt on top to cut through the sweetness. It’s a very good cookie.

Sujuk saj wrap from The Saj Wraps

I feel like, very broadly, there are two types of restaurants: restaurants you’re happy to go out of your way for, and local joints that are solid, but not exciting enough to warrant any kind of trek (well, I guess there’s also a third kind — a bad one — but I make it a point to not discuss anything I outright do not enjoy on this blog). I’d classify The Saj Wraps as more of a local place — the wrap I tried was solid, but nothing about it particularly jumped out at me.

Delicious Slices at Sadboy Pizza

Published on March 23, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 51 Main Street South, Georgetown
Website: https://sadboy.ca/

I can’t say I’m in Georgetown often (or ever), but I had heard nothing about good things about Sadboy Pizza and was in the general vicinity, so sure, why not?

All those good things: 100% correct. Sadboy Pizza serves some top notch slices.

They have a variety of interesting-looking pizzas, but I’m all about the plain cheese, particularly when I’m first trying a place, so I went with the mozz OG (“fresh and aged mozzarella blend”).

It’s a great slice of pizza. In particular, the crust is just where you want it to be, with a perfect amount of exterior crispiness, a tender chewiness within, and a really satisfying flavour.

The combo of fresh and aged mozzarella adds a pop of flavour that you normally don’t get in this type of pizza, and there’s a good ratio of cheese to tasty sauce.

It’s not one of the bigger slices I’ve ever had, but it was also only five bucks even. Which means that it was small enough and cheap enough that I was able to justify buying a second slice. I went with the breakfast4dinner (“garlic cream sauce, crispy diced hashbrowns, bacon, chicken breakfast sausage (halal), sesame seed crust, frank’s maple syrup drizzle”), and yeah, it was just as good.

I don’t know that I would have guessed the breakfast angle if you hadn’t told me — it tastes like a pretty standard meaty pizza, though the syrup does add a nice sweetness that helps to balance out the saltiness from the sausage and bacon. Still, whatever it is, it’s quite delicious.

My only real complaint here is that both slices could have used another minute or two in the oven (they were both a bit lukewarm around the middle), but other than that? Sadboy totally holds up to any of the top-tier pizza joints in the GTA. It’s that good.

Tasty Katsu Curry at Hinoya Curry

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

Location: 20 Carlton Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.hinoyacurry.net/

Hinoya Curry is a chain that specializes in tonkatsu curry; they’ve got a bunch of locations in Japan and a few worldwide — including, most recently, right here in Toronto.

I actually tried the tonkatsu curry at Hinoya a few years ago in Tokyo and found it to be satisfying, but by Japanese standards, just okay.

By Toronto standards, on the other hand? Quite good!

I ordered the same dish here, tonkatsu curry, which features a fried pork cutlet on top of rice that’s absolutely doused in a rich, beefy curry sauce.

It’s very tasty. The menu describes the curry as “sweet first, spicy later,” and yeah, that’s about right. It’s got a nice balance of sweet and savoury, a pleasant curry flavour, and a lingering heat that’s mild, but definitely present.

It goes very well with the freshly fried tonkatsu, which is nice and tender and retains its crunch, despite being smothered in sauce.

It comes with some pickled radish on the side, which has a vinegary brightness that does a great job of cutting through the dish’s richness. I wish there were more of it, however; they put a teeny-tiny amount on the plate, and I could have used about double or triple (it’s in a container on the side in Japan — or at least it was when I visited — which makes much more sense).

Another nice touch: the container with a mix of puffed rice and toasted garlic on the table, which adds more crunch and flavour to the dish. I’ve never seen this anywhere but here, and I don’t know why — it seems like it would improve pretty much anything.

Quick Bites: The Pie Hut, Mr. Yummy, Falafel World

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

Pork, Apple & Fennel pie The Pie Hut (inside Good Behaviour)

It’s hard to find all that much information on it online, but the Queen Street location of Good Behaviour serves up a variety of tasty pot pies (along with the usual sandwiches and ice cream). I went with the pork, apple & fennel, and enjoyed it quite a lot. The crust is flaky and satisfying, it’s filled with a generous amount of tender pork, and the addition of apple adds a little bit of sweetness that helps to round things out. Bonus: it’s somewhat more svelte than the gut-busters they serve at a place like The Pie Commission, so if you’re looking for a pot pie where you don’t have to take a nap after, this is your spot.

Stir-fried vegetables and steamed rice with tofu at Mr. Yummy

I checked this dish out after Karon Liu wrote about it in an article about tasty eats for under $10, and indeed: it is tasty, and it is a steal at under ten bucks. Should you go out of your way for it? No, there’s nothing particularly exciting about it. But it’s got a decent kick, a nice contrast between the fresh crispiness of the veggies and the soft tofu, and again: it’s under ten bucks. If I lived near this place, I’d be a regular for sure.

Falafel plate from Falafel World

I don’t know if anyone else does this, but sometimes I’ll click on random restaurants on Google Maps to see if I can find anything interesting and/or well-regarded. That’s how I found Falafel World, a great little place on Bloor near Jane station. I got the falafel plate (I mean, what else are you going to order at a place called Falafel World?) and everything on the plate — hummus, salad, tabule, and three pieces of falafel, with pita bread on the side — was very tasty. The falafel was maybe a bit dense, but was otherwise fresh, herby, and tasty, with a nice crispy exterior.