bread – Michael Eats

A Gigantic (and Delicious) Shawarma Wrap at Flaming Stove

Published on February 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 21 Davisville Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://flamingstove.com/

Flaming Stove is one of those places that seems to perennially come up in conversations about the best shawarma in Toronto, and having just tried it, yeah. Yeah, that’s accurate.

I got the chicken shawarma wrap, and basically everything about it was spot-on. The house-made saj bread they wrap it in is nice and fresh, with just the right amount of substance and chewiness to hold up to the very generously-stuffed wrap. And it’s nicely toasted on its exterior — a must.

The wrap features a healthy amount of meat that’s well-balanced by the various pickles/veggies; I know it looks overstuffed, but the chicken remains the star.

My only real complaint is that the meat has been shaved in advance and is slightly dryer than it should be, and has lost the delightful crispiness that makes top-tier shawarma so great. But everything else here is so good that this never seems like a huge deal.

In particular, they add several sauces to the wrap — tahini, garlic, amba, and hot sauce — and it’s an absolute taste explosion. The combination of those sauces is magic; it’s tangy, garlicky, savoury, and thoroughly delicious. You could put those sauces on basically anything, and it would be amazing.

Also: this might have been the biggest shawarma wrap I’ve ever had? It comes cut in half, with each half wrapped separately, presumably because it would be too unwieldy if they tried to wrap them together. Each half is about the size and heft of a large burrito. It’s insane.

It costs 15 bucks, which seems a bit pricey until you take a look at it and realize that it can (and should!) be shared among two people.

A Tasty Meal at Angara Indian & Hakka Cuisine

Published on February 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5555 Eglinton Avenue West, Etobicoke
Website: https://angararestaurant.ca/

Angara is a great Indian restaurant in Etobicoke that recently opened a second location downtown. I checked out the original, and yeah, I get it — there’s clearly a reason that they’re doing well enough to expand.

I tried a couple of things. First up was the Chef Special Bombay Paneer: “Paneer prepared dry with red onion, green chilli, and curry leaves.” This was basically like a fried chicken dish, but with paneer subbing in for chicken; it’s battered and crispy, and tossed in a tangy, mildly spicy sauce.

You can also get this with chicken, which I’d imagine would be even better, but the dense, meaty paneer actually does a pretty solid job of subbing in for chicken. It’s a tasty dish.

Up next: Chef Special Lamb Angara (“Spicy yet creamy curry with homemade chef special spices served in a sizzling plate”). This was seriously good, with a generous amount of tender chunks of lamb in a rich, creamy, and ultra-savoury sauce. The sizzling plate it comes in kinda caramelizes the sauce around the edges. It’s delightful.

I also got an order of freshly-baked naan, which has the crispy bottom and chewy interior that you’re looking for. It, like everything else here, was seriously good.

Tasty French/Diner Fare at Le Swan

Published on January 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 892 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://leswan.ca/

Le Swan is interesting. It’s a cross between a French bistro and an old-school diner, with the menu literally being split in half between “French” and “Diner.”

I tried a few things, and everything was thoroughly tasty.

First up was the smoked trout rillette. No description in the menu, but Wikipedia describes rillettes as “a preservation method similar to confit where meat is seasoned then submerged in fat and cooked slowly over the course of several hours.” It’s generally classified as a spread, and this was substantially chunkier than that; it was more like a smoky tuna salad, with big chunks of fish and onion. Whatever it was, it was quite satisfying (I’m normally not a fan of raw onion, but the onion here was extremely mild, and added more texture than anything else).

Up next was the hot chicken sandwich, which features a whole bunch of very tender chicken and peas served on toast and smothered in gravy, with creamy mashed potatoes underneath. This was pretty much the definition of comfort food, with the flavour-packed gravy really making the dish sing.

The green beans were pretty simple; they were tossed in some kind of tasty vinaigrette and were served with toasted almonds for crunch. They were nicely cooked, with a satisfyingly tender (but still firm) texture.

Last but not least: the corn dogs, which are topped with some kind of mayonnaisey sauce and slices of pickled jalapenos, and are stuffed with cheese along with the expected hot dog. These were a little different than the norm, with the batter being more like a pancake than a traditional corn dog, and with no exterior crunch. I thought I’d miss that, but the pickled jalapenos do a good job of adding the texture that you’re looking for.

Tasty Pastries at Bartholomew Bakery

Published on September 29, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 467 Edgeley Boulevard, Vaughan
Website: https://www.bartholomewbakery.com/

Bartholomew Bakery does well. I showed up early on a Saturday afternoon and the place was absolutely packed, with a line out the door and a huge crowd inside. I almost left when I saw how busy it was, but there’s something about a line for food that calls out to me. What do those people know that I don’t?? I need to find out.

Anyway, it didn’t take much longer than 15 minutes to get to the front of the line, so it wasn’t too bad.

Bartholomew specializes in various croissants, along with sourdough bread. I got a pistachio croissant along with a loaf of sliced sourdough.

I neglected to take a photo of the bread, which is a shame because that was probably the highlight. All they had when I visited was the honey oat; I almost didn’t order this, because I was afraid it would be too sweet, but I’m glad I did. It is indeed a bit too sweet, but it’s nicely balanced out by the tang of the sourdough. The bread is dense, but not overly so, with a satisfying level of heft and chewiness. It’s a solid loaf of bread.

The pistachio croissant was quite good, but not on the level of the bread.

The pistachio filling had an eggy flavour that I wasn’t particularly crazy about, but otherwise had a great level of sweetness and was absolutely crammed with pistachio flavour. I wish they weren’t so generous with it, though; there’s just way, way too much of it, and it completely overwhelms the croissant itself. I think it was a good-quality croissant (albeit slightly lacking in its crisp-factor), but the deluge of pistachio filling makes it impossible to tell.

A Solid Sandwich at Banh Mi Tan Dinh

Published on November 11, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3415 Dixie Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/banhmitandinh/

If you’re craving a banh mi in this particular area of Mississauga, you’re all set — within a five minute drive of this place, there’s Banh Mi Saigon, Banh Mi Ba Le, Banh Mi Nguyet Minh, and Bot Chien Saigon. I’ve been to all of them at this point, and some are definitely better than others, but honestly? You can’t go wrong with any of them. There isn’t a dud in the bunch.

I ordered the same assorted cold cuts banh mi that I always get, and it’s a very good version of a classic sandwich.

The bread itself is a bit on the dry side, which holds it back from greatness somewhat, but otherwise everything is right where it should be, with a nice assortment of meaty cold cuts, creamy pate and mayo, and zippy pickled veggies.

I wish there were a bit more pate, but then I wish that of pretty much every banh mi I eat — I’m starting to wonder if most banh mi shops are being stingy with the pate, or if I just like my sandwich to be pate-heavy.

They asked if I wanted hot peppers, and yeah, of course. I could have used a few more, but the peppers that are there add some nice pops of spiciness to the sandwich.