Canada – Page 107 – Michael Eats

Middling Taiyaki at Sukoshi Mart

Published on August 26, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 160 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.sukoshimart.com/

Sukoshi Mart is a little Japanese convenience store in Kensington Market that sells hard-to-find Japanese goods. They also sell freshly-made taiyaki, a waffle-like dessert that’s traditionally filled with either red bean or custard.

I like this place. If you’re looking for Japanese snacks or candy, it’s worth a visit.

The taiyaki, on the other hand? Not so much.

It’s fine. It’s perfectly edible, but the exterior is dense and doughy, and the red bean is overly sweet. It’s also misshapen and haphazard, so it doesn’t even have the (usually) delightful visual component. It’s not the best.

Tasty Middle Eastern Food at Azkadenya

Published on August 23, 2019August 23, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 235 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.azkadenya.ca/

I’ll admit that I didn’t have particularly high expectations for Azkadenya, a “mezza diner” with locations all over the Middle East. Aside from the fact that it’s a chain restaurant, the slick decor and quirky dishes made me think it would be style over substance.

Well, don’t judge a book by its cover, I guess? This place was actually quite good, though the restaurant is clearly at its best when it sticks with the classics and doesn’t mess around too much.

We started with the hummus, which is creamy and tasty. It didn’t quite knock my socks off, but it’s a solid bowl of hummus. It helps that it comes topped with healthy amount of good quality olive oil, with a bottle available on the table to top it up (which you should absolutely do — hummus and EVOO are best friends and should never be apart).

Actually, I should mention the multiple bottles at the table — there’s olive oil, a couple of tasty hot sauces, a tahini sauce, and something labeled “sour but sweet” that I completely forgot to try (I know, what’s wrong with me?).

Servers are constantly walking around to replenish your supply of pita bread — they bake these things fresh in what appears to be a wood-burning oven, so yeah, they’re quite good.

Next up was the falafel, which comes in an order of eight. This was easily the highlight of the meal. They’re nicely spiced and not too big, which gives you the perfect ratio of crispy exterior to fluffy interior (too many places make huge, almost tennis-ball-sized falafel, and the crisp-to-fluffy ratio is all wrong). They’re also not dry in the middle, which is another common issue with falafel in the GTA. They’re really good.

Then there was the beef “shawarma.” I’m putting that in quotes because, I’m sorry, but this isn’t shawarma. It comes essentially looking like a kabob (though the beef is sliced, even if it doesn’t look that way). It’s a fun gimmick, and the presentation is certainly striking, but it’s not shawarma. It tastes nothing like shawarma.

Still, it’s tasty enough for what it is. The meat is tender and nicely marinated. Once you put it in a pita with some of the condiments (it comes with pickles, tahini sauce, garlic sauce, and tomatoes) it’s quite satisfying.

Last up was the kunafah pops, which takes the traditional Middle Eastern dessert and turns it into little deep-fried balls. Like the shawarma, this was the restaurant being a bit too clever for their own good. All of the textures are wrong — the exterior is a bit too crunchy, the cheesy interior doesn’t quite have the gooeyness you’re looking for, and it has a mild oily flavour from the fryer. It certainly wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but traditional kunafah would have been vastly superior.

Jerk Chicken at Rasta Pasta

Published on August 22, 2019October 17, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 61 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://eatrastapasta.ca/

Rasta Pasta serves, as the name implies, a fusion of Caribbean and Italian cuisine. It’s a bizarre amalgamation of flavours, but they’ve been a Kensington Market hotspot for years, so they’re obviously doing something right.

Their pasta wasn’t available when I visited, so I kept it simple and ordered the jerk chicken sandwich, dubbed the Vatican.

The sandwich consists of saucy jerk chicken and coleslaw in a soft roll that’s nicely crispified thanks to a panini press. It’s quite good.

However, despite the presence of a functioning grill at the front of the restaurant, the chicken tastes more braised than grilled. It’s extremely tender, and the jerk sauce is flavour-packed and mildly spicy, but the crispy exterior and smoky flavour that you expect from jerk chicken is completely absent.

And yet it’s so tasty that it isn’t particularly an issue. The sweet coleslaw complements the savoury chicken really well, and the crispy roll is the perfect vehicle. It’s a very satisfying sandwich.

Tasty Japanese Cream Buns at Hattendo Cafe

Published on August 21, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 13 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.hattendo.ca/

One of the things that takes some getting used to in Asia is that some countries there consider white bread to essentially be a dessert. More than once, I’ve gone to a convenience store and bought what appears to be a Twinkie-esque pastry, only to realize that it’s just a plain white bun, like a hot dog bun.

Which is to say that if you’ve never had the type of Japanese cream bun they serve at Hattendo, you might be surprised to discover that the bun itself is basically just a soft, fluffy hamburger bun. Once you get used to it, however, it’s quite tasty.

I tried three: custard, chocolate, and red bean. The bun itself is quite nice. It’s soft, fluffly, and just a little bit sweet.

The custard was my least favourite of the three flavours. It was nice and creamy, but the flavour was middling; there just wasn’t much to it.

The chocolate was much better, with a pronounced cocoa-infused flavour and a satisfyingly restrained level of sweetness.

The red bean was the best of the three. If you normally don’t like beany sweets, this might just be the perfect gateway dessert — it’s super creamy and tasty, with a really nice balance between the creamy custard and the sweet red beans.

Solid Tacos at Grand Electric

Published on August 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 923 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: http://grandelectrictoronto.com/

Though Grand Electric doesn’t get nearly the amount of buzz that it did when it first opened, it’s still chugging along. In fact, they’ve just recently opened a new location a bit further east on Queen (though it’s still on the west end of the city).

When I visited the original location a few years ago, they had some pretty out-there stuff on the menu, like a scrapple taco and pig head fries.

The menu here is much less ambitious than that — there’s nothing beyond the usual suspects (chicken, fried fish, etc.).

It might not be particularly exciting, but if the two tacos I tried were anything to go by, they still know exactly what they’re doing.

The first one I tried was the shrimp taco, which consists of a few generously-sized pieces of fried shrimp topped with a zesty sauce, lettuce, onion, and cilantro.

The shrimp is nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked, with a crunchy exterior that doesn’t overwhelm. The sauce basically tastes like a variation on shrimp sauce, and the other components add a good amount of freshness. It’s a solid taco.

Up next was the Carne Asada, which features steak topped with cilantro, chopped onions, and a couple of salsas. This was even better than the shrimp; the steak was super tender and very nicely marinated, with a nice vibrant flavour that never overwhelms its beefiness. And the salsas compliment it perfectly.