beef – Michael Eats

Delicious Noodle Soup at 555 Boat Noodles

Published on May 5, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5308 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://555noodles.com/

I recently wrote about the boat noodles at Paddler Thai Boat Noodles, which were pretty great. Well, the version at 555 Boat Noodles are equally delicious, so clearly, boat noodles deserve to be way, way more popular (I think these might be the only two restaurants in the GTA that serve the dish, or at least the only two that specialize in it).

The boat noodles here (“Chinese Broccoli, Garlic, Coriander, Bean Sprouts, and Onion”) come with your choice of beef, braised beef, or pork, and wonton noodles, rice noodles, or vermicelli. The waiter suggested braised beef and rice noodles, so that’s what I went with.

The braised beef probably could have been braised a bit longer (it was slightly tough), but otherwise this was a fantastic bowl of noodle soup. The broth is savoury and flavourful, with a decent amount of heat, a nice toasty garlic flavour, and a really satisfying tanginess that rounds things out.

And everything else in the bowl (aside from the aforementioned beef) was great, with a really generous amount of noodles, and a nice contrasting freshness and crunch from the veggies.

Delicious Empanadas at La Morena

Published on April 30, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1175A Saint Clair Avenue West, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/lamorenastclair/

If you’re looking for some very tasty empanadas, I think La Morena is where it’s at. The tiny place was doing very brisk business when I visited on a Saturday afternoon, and it’s easy enough to see why.

I tried a couple of empanadas: Colombian beef (“shredded beef and potato”) and Colombian chorizo (“homemade chorizo and potato”).

Both feature pastry made with corn flour, with a nice crispy exterior and just enough substance to hold up to the tasty fillings.

I was a bit surprised that both fillings tasted basically the same, and were a bit more muted in the flavour department than I was expecting.

But the optional hot sauce — a zingy, vibrant yellow concoction that I want to take home in a jug — brings some serious flavour. I would have enjoyed the empanadas without it, but that sauce really puts them over the top.

Tasty Hot Pot at Mabu Generation

Published on April 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: https://mabugeneration.com/

Mabu Generation is a small chain (they also have locations in Markham and Toronto) that serves what they call Taiwanese fusion. Their specialty seems to be their “Taiwanese style mini hot pot.” Not so sure about that “mini” designation — I split this with one person and it was way more food than either of us needed. I’m pretty sure you can comfortably share this with three or even four people (making it a great deal at 26 bucks).

I went with the House Special Spicy Hot Pot: “Nappa cabbage, seafood mushroom, tomato, iced tofu, meat ball (pork), clam, quail egg, pork blood cake, pork blood, pork intestine, preserved vegetables, cilantro, sliced beef, luncheon meat.”

It’s a very enjoyable dish. It’s absolutely crammed with tasty stuff, and the Sichuan-peppercorn-infused soup has that satisfying spicy/numbing mala thing going on in spades. It could probably be spicier, but it’s got a decent enough kick. It’s quite good.

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.

Decent Wraps at Shawarma Kingdom

Published on January 23, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 377 Burnhamthorpe Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.shawarmakingdom.ca/

Shawarma Kingdom is totally fine. It’s fine! It’s shawarma. It’s good. You don’t need to go out of your way for it, but it’s acceptably tasty.

I mostly wanted to check this place out because they have beef and lamb on the menu. I’m of the opinion that lamb shawarma is the best shawarma — and yet it’s almost impossible to find in the GTA. When you do see it, it’s mixed with beef like it is here (and in most cases, the mix leans much more towards beef than lamb). It’s a shame.

You can get the wrap either in a pita or saj (for a few bucks more). I went with saj and stuck with the default toppings, which are tahini sauce, tomato, onion, parsley and pickles (okay fine, I lied — I skipped the onion, as I tend to do).

They definitely don’t skimp on the meat; the wrap is absolutely crammed. They don’t skimp on the sauce, either, making this a bit of a mess. The saj was over-toasted, which meant that the wrap was very brittle, with its structural integrity being extremely questionable; it basically exploded, and I had to eat most of it with a fork and knife.

It’s a satisfying enough wrap, with the meat being fairly tender and flavourful, and with the generous amount of parsley giving it an interesting herby kick. I wish the tahini sauce were a bit zippier, and I wish the meat had more of the crispy bits you’re looking from shawarma, but it’s a solid wrap (figuratively, not literally — again, it fell apart basically instantly).