Michael Eats

Holy Mint Ice Cream at Sweet Jesus

Published on December 23, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.sweetjesusicecream.com/

The latest featured flavour at Sweet Jesus is Holy Mint, and if you like the mint/chocolate combo, you’ll almost certainly enjoy it.

Personally, I like that combo, so yeah — I enjoyed it.

Holy Mint, as per the Sweet Jesus website: “Mint soft serve, chocolate mints, chocolate mint cookies, milk cookies, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce.”

It’s quite tasty. In particular, the mint soft serve is fantastic; it’s nice and creamy, and the mint flavour is perfect. Some mint desserts can be a bit overwhelming and toothpasty, but the flavour here is nicely balanced. It’s also sweet, but not too sweet. It’s great.

I will say that I’m a bit concerned about Sweet Jesus, particularly their Sherway Gardens location. I visited on Saturday — i.e. the last Saturday before Christmas — and the mall was, not surprisingly, wall-to-wall people. And yet Sweet Jesus was as deserted as it always seems to be. I’ll be very surprised if this particular location makes it through 2020, and that makes me sad.

Surprisingly Tasty Carbonara at Bobbie Sue’s Mac + Cheese

Published on December 19, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 162 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://bobbiesues.com/

I was pretty much completely blown away by the carbonara at Bobbie Sue’s Mac + Cheese. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all, but in all the best ways.

I sort of figured it was going to be some kind of bizarre mash-up of mac and cheese and carbonara, but it definitely wasn’t that. It was actually a legit bowl of carbonara, and it was delightful.

The menu describes the carbonara as “pancetta + Grana Padano + egg yolk.” I really enjoyed it.

The diced pancetta (and yes, it was pancetta, as it should be — not bacon) was abundant and nicely crisped up — it was crispy, salty, and porky. The sauce was rich and creamy from the egg yolks, with a nice cheesy kick from the Grana Padano (an Italian cheese that’s very similar to Parmesan). And the pasta was perfectly al dente.

It was maybe slightly too dry, but aside from that it was shockingly good. You’re barely expecting a bowl of carbonara from an actual Italian restaurant to be that delicious, let alone a mac and cheese take-out window that doesn’t have a seating area. It’s a really delightful surprise.

Tasty Chocolate Ice Cream at Avoca

Published on December 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 176 Hampton Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://avoca.business.site/

Avoca is a delightful little chocolate shop that makes their own ice cream. It’s also in a seriously unfortunate location — it’s in Greektown right off the Danforth, but it’s far enough off the main stretch that you wouldn’t know it’s there unless you’re looking for it. It’s a bit hidden.

It’s a shame; I think more people would be talking about this place if it were in a better location. I’m not sure about the chocolates, but the ice cream is top notch.

I tried a scoop of the classic chocolate ice cream, and it’s definitely above average. It was served way too cold (the woman behind the counter was having quite the struggle just getting a scoop), but everything else about it was great — it had a deep chocolately flavour, it wasn’t too sweet, and the ice cream itself was rich and creamy.

Pizza and Gelato at Eataly

Published on December 16, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 55 Bloor Street West, Toronto (inside the Manulife Centre)
Website: https://www.eataly.ca/

After years and years of speculation and hype, Eataly finally opened in Toronto last month; judging by the intense crowds, it’s a hit. Apparently there were lines just to get in for the first few weeks, and on a recent visit on Saturday, the place was absolutely packed.

So was it worth the wait? It’s hard to say based on one relatively brief visit, but I’m gonna say yeah, it was. It’s basically an enormous, high-end Italian grocery store crossed with a food hall. They sell all kinds of really interesting looking stuff, and all the food I tried was tasty. It’s delightful.

I tried a couple of things. First up was a pizza at La Pizza & La Pasta, a sit-down restaurant with a wood-burning oven that pumps out authentic Neapolitan pizzas.

The meal started with some seriously good-quality bread, which came with a bowl of intensely nutty olive oil for dipping.

As for the pizza, I had to try the margherita. As I’ve said before, I think it’s one of the world’s few perfect foods. It’s also a great way to judge the quality of a pizza joint; its simplicity puts the technique of the kitchen in full display. There’s no fancy ingredients to hide behind.

The version they serve here didn’t blow me away — the crust was slightly lacking in substance and flavour — but it was a solid B+. In particular, the pizza had a perfect amount of char from the blazing hot oven. The person manning the oven clearly knows what he’s doing.

Just around the corner from the restaurant is Il Gelato Artigianale, which has a whole bunch of tasty-looking flavours of gelato on offer. I went with stracciatella, and I quite enjoyed it.

I found it a bit overly sweet at first, but the combo of the sweet ice cream and the very bitter chocolate (they’re definitely using a darker chocolate than the norm) won me over. And the gelato itself is nice and creamy, even if it was slightly on the thin side.

Subtle, Tasty Ramen at Hakata Shoryuken Ramen

Published on December 12, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 225 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.hakatashoryuken.com/

A lot of times, the broth in a bowl of Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen can be overwhelmingly porky. The one-note pork flavour can get a bit wearying.

I’m normally not a big condiments guy — I’ll just eat it as it comes — but with this type of ramen, condiments tend to be necessary. In particular, pickled ginger does a good job of adding some vibrancy and cutting through the soup’s richness.

Oddly, however, the Hakata ramen at Hakata Shoryuken Ramen has the opposite problem; the flavour isn’t in-your-face at all. It’s surprisingly mellow.

It’s unexpectedly low-key, but quite tasty. The soup is nice and creamy, and though the porky flavour is subtle, it’s definitely there. It’s not going to knock anyone’s socks off, but it’s a pleasant bowl of soup.

The pickled ginger was still necessary, however — it gave the soup some welcome pops of flavour. It’s a fifty cent add-on, but it’s worth ordering.

The egg was another add-on ($1.50), and it wasn’t great. It was bland, and the texture was just odd — it was somewhere between an onsen tamago and a traditional ramen egg, and it wasn’t as good as either.

Everything else was solid. The chashu, in particular, was tender, tasty, and perfectly fatty. The noodles were slightly too soft, but otherwise got the job done.