Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at Gushi Fried Chicken

Published on June 26, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 707 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.eatgushi.com/

There are a bunch of great options in Market 707, a collection of street vendors that operate out of shipping containers near Kensington Market. I’ve previously tried (and loved) Marq’s Chicago Beef, and I think the fried chicken at Gushi is just as good.

I ordered the original Gushi chicken meal, which comes with a generous amount of karaage (Japanese fried chicken made from bite-sized pieces of thigh meat) on top of purple rice, topped with spicy mayo.

The fried chicken is stellar. It’s super crispy, nicely seasoned, and features perfectly cooked chicken. It’s incredibly satisfying, and works very well with the sticky purple rice.

The only thing I would change is that I’d probably ask for the spicy mayo to be on the side next time. It’s quite tasty — and its zippy flavour complements the fried chicken very well — but there’s a lot of it. It’s a bit overwhelming. The chicken is so tasty on its own that such a thorough deluge of heavy sauce is probably overkill.

A Solid Sandwich at Banh Mi Boys

Published on June 24, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 392 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://banhmiboys.com/

Remember Banh Mi Boys? They opened back in 2011, and were thoroughly amazing. They were one of my favourite places for a quick bite downtown. But then they expanded and, like with so many places, the quality went downhill. After a couple of particularly iffy sandwiches, I stopped going altogether.

But it’s been a few years, and I figured it was time to give them another shot. And hey, what do you know — they’re pretty good again. I don’t know if they’ll ever hit the highs of their early days, but it was a really solid sandwich.

I had the five spice pork belly banh mi, and yeah, it was tasty. The pork was slightly tough and the flavours don’t quite pop like they used to (and the spice level was sadly anemic, despite asking for it hot), but this was otherwise a satisfying banh mi. The bread was nice and fresh, and the abundant pickled veggies do a good job of cutting through the richness of the pork.

Amazing Sandwiches at BEAR Steak Sandwiches

Published on June 20, 2024June 20, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 550A College Street, Toronto
Website: https://bearsteak.ca/

BEAR Steak started out small, serving sandwiches out of someone’s house — a pandemic-era pop-up that was popular enough to graduate to a real-deal restaurant (albeit a tiny one with just enough room to grab your sandwich and go).

The place has gotten an enormous amount of hype since it opened, and let me tell you: it’s all 100% deserved. The hype is real.

They only have a couple of sandwiches on the menu: roast pork, and their specialty, the original steak sandwich. The sandwich is beyond simple — it’s just thickly-sliced flank steak and chimichurri sauce on a Portuguese roll. It’s so good.

You have to be pretty confident in what you’re serving to slice the steak this thick; if the meat isn’t perfectly tender, you’re going to end up pulling it out of the sandwich after your first bite, and no one wants that. But the medium rare beef here somehow manages to be buttery tender while still having a satisfying meaty bite.

It’s also got a great beefy flavour that lets you know they’re using the good stuff. The zippy, garlicky chimichurri adds a nice brightness that complements the beef perfectly, and the lightly crusty bread has just enough substance to hold up to the meat without overwhelming. It’s one of the best sandwiches in the city.

Delightful Mochi Doughnuts at Marry Me Mochi

Published on June 19, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: https://www.marrymemochi.ca/

Mochi doughnuts are one of those things that were basically impossible to find in the city just a few years ago, and I wouldn’t say they’re everywhere now, but they’re certainly available. It may be basically impossible to live affordably in the GTA, but on the other hand… mochi doughnuts? You win some, you lose some.

Marry Me Mochi features an assortment of permanent flavours, as well as a rotating menu of specials; I went with one of the permanent varieties, creme brulee, which the menu says is their most popular.

The doughnut gets all its flavour from the frosting on top — there’s no custard filling here — but still manages to do a pretty impressive job of replicating the taste of creme brulee. It actually does have a custardy flavour, and while it’s not crispy on top, it is torched, which helps it to land that flavour.

It’s also delightfully restrained in its sweetness. A lot of doughnuts like this are both glazed and then frosted, which makes them a bit of a sugar bomb. The sweetness here is just in the frosting, which lets you taste the doughnut itself and doesn’t overwhelm.

And, of course, it’s a mochi doughnut, so it has that pleasant springiness (but without being overly chewy). It’s a great doughnut.

Tasty Fried Goodness at Len Duckworth’s Fish & Chips

Published on June 18, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2638 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://lenduckworthfishandchips.ca/

Whenever I see that a restaurant has been around for decades, my first thought is, “well, they must be doing something right.” Len Duckworth’s Fish & Chips has been around since 1929 (!), and yeah, they’re clearly doing something right.

Even setting aside the quality (which is quite high), if you come at lunch, you can get a fantastic deal: a four ounce piece of haddock, fries, and a drink, all for a delightfully affordable $8.50.

I’m not sure if you get a good sense of scale from that picture (I think the big, chunky fries make the piece of fish look smaller than it is), but it was actually a decent size.

And it was really, really tasty. My problem with a lot of fish and chips in the city is that they go a bit overboard with the batter, with a thick, overly crunchy layer that completely overwhelms the delicate fish. That’s absolutely not the case here, with batter that’s thick enough to give you a satisfying crispiness, but thin enough to let the fish be the star of the show.

And the fries were just what you want them to be, with a crispy exterior and perfectly creamy interior.

The fish was slightly on the dry side (potentially because the lunch piece is smaller than the standard), but this was otherwise a stellar plate of fish and chips. Bonus: the zippy tartar sauce is quite tasty, and they give you a whole bottle of it instead of the stingy little cup that a lot of places offer. As someone who likes to dip his fries as well as the fish into the tartar sauce, this was appreciated.