chicken – Page 4 – Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

Published on May 17, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 10 Dundas Street East, Toronto
Website: https://shakeshack.ca/

Shake Shack is currently doing a limited-time collaboration with Mimi Chinese. It ends on May 26, so you’d better hurry if you want to check it out (and trust me, you want to check it out). They’re serving a chicken sandwich, seasoned fries, and a black sesame milkshake; all three are thoroughly delicious.

First up: the Málà Chicken sandwich (“Crispy chicken spiced with MIMI’s signature chili oil, charred scallion relish, green chili mayo, tangy pickles and lettuce”).

In Chinese cuisine, “mala” refers to a flavour that’s simultaneously spicy and numbing (thanks to Sichuan peppercorns), and yeah, this sandwich nails that. It’s not the spiciest thing you’ll ever eat, but it’s got a good kick and a noticeable tingliness from the peppercorns.

The sandwich is otherwise nice and zippy, with a great balance of flavours. It was kind of a bummer that the piece of chicken in my sandwich only filled half the bun (it was basically a hefty chicken strip), but the quality was great, with a crispy exterior and a very juicy interior (particularly impressive, given that it’s white meat).

And everything here was so tasty that even the condiment-only half of the sandwich was still satisfying.

I also tried the Shaokao Fries (“Crinkle cuts, street food–style—dusted with cumin, chili, and Sichuan peppercorn. Served with green chili mayo”).

The fries themselves were standard-issue crinkle cut fries, but that tasty seasoning really elevates them, with more of that hot/numbing flavour. And the dip is a great combo of creamy and zesty.

I wasn’t planning on getting the milkshake, but if you’re already getting the sandwich and the fries, I guess you may as well go all the way and get the shake, too. The Black Sesame Coconut Shake: “A nutty blend of black sesame and coconut inspired by traditional Chinese desserts.”

And hey, what do you know — this was pretty great, too. In particular, the pronounced black sesame flavour actually works really well in a milkshake, which was nice and creamy without being overly thick.

Great Shawarma at Tahini’s

Published on April 5, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 347 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://tahinis.com/

Tahini’s is a shawarma chain with around a dozen locations peppered throughout the GTA, so I’ll admit that my expectations were not super high. Still, I figured I’d give it a shot.

I ordered the chicken shawarma wrap, which comes in three different configurations: original, old school, and authentic. I went with original (“garlic, tahini, pickles, tomatoes, pomegranate molasses, parsley”).

I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this.

Everything here is just where you want it to be: the chicken is juicy and has a decent amount of crispy bits, the proportion of toppings to meat is just right, and the sauces (which are very generously applied) are quite tasty. In particular, the addition of pomegranate molasses is kind of ingenious, as it gives the wrap a zippy brightness that helps to cut through its richness.

And the wrap (saj, I think?) is nicely toasted, giving it a nice balance between its lightly crispy exterior and chewy interior.

In my experience, once a restaurant opens more than two or three locations, the quality starts to take a nosedive, so the fact that Tahini’s is this delicious is a very pleasant surprise.

McSpicy at McDonald’s

Published on February 12, 2025 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The McSpicy isn’t the most exciting new item at McDonald’s. It’s basically a spicy McCrispy? I don’t think the chicken patty is identical, but the flavour and texture of the breading is similar enough that if they had called this the Spicy McCrispy, no one would have batted an eye.

Here’s how McDonald’s describes it: “The McSpicy chicken sandwich brings the heat, made with 100% seasoned white meat chicken breast marinated, battered and breaded in a fiery seasoning blend. Enjoy this crispy delight topped with shredded lettuce and cooling mayo-style sauce, all in a toasted sesame seed bun.”

It’s not super exciting, but also: it’s pretty good. Notably, the spice level is actually surprisingly pronounced. No, it’s not going to blow your face off, but for something from a fast food joint, it’s got some heat.

And that spice actually does make a difference — it takes what would otherwise be a pretty ho-hum, vaguely dry fast food chicken sandwich and gives it a decent amount of personality.

Great Ramen at Kaminari Ramen Bar

Published on January 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1330 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.bykaminari.com/

Kaminari Ramen Bar actually has a few types of ramen on the menu: clear Tokyo-style, creamy, “duck umami,” vegan, and a soupless yuzu ramen. The waiter said they don’t really have a specialty, so I went with the clear Tokyo-style.

The ramen, as per the menu: “Clear chicken broth, pork cha-shu, chicken cha-shu, wonton, Tokyo Negi, bamboo shoot, and nori seaweed.” You can get it either shio (salt) or shoyu (soy sauce); I went with the latter.

It’s a very good bowl of ramen. This style of ramen isn’t quite as common in the GTA as the more omnipresent creamy tonkotsu or tori paitan, but done well, it’s just as delicious.

The soup has a very rich and savoury soy-sauce-infused flavour. It’s the type of broth that never feels one-note or overly salty, no matter how much of it you have.

And everything else here was quite tasty, from the chewy, thin noodles to the tender chicken and pork. It’s a top-notch bowl of ramen.

A Great Wrap at Shawarma Alzaeem

Published on December 28, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1018 Eglinton Avenue East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.alzaeem.ca/

How many shawarma restaurants do you think there are in the GTA? A thousand? Two thousand? More?? There’s no shortage of shawarma, that’s for sure.

(This would be a great place for me to be like, well the actual number is [insert actual number here], but no, I haven’t done that research. What do I look like, Edward R. Murrow? I would be very curious to know the actual number, though.)

This means if you’re going to go out of your way for shawarma, it had better be pretty damn good, because there’s probably one or two (or more) shawarma joints within walking distance of basically any home in the GTA (well, outside of the hardcore suburbs where there’s basically nothing within walking distance).

So, is Shawarma Alzaeem worth going out of your way for? Yeah, kinda. I got the chicken shawarma saj wrap, and it was thoroughly tasty. Most notably, it’s absolutely doused in a particularly delicious garlic sauce that would make pretty much anything taste great. It’s also nicely toasted, giving the saj a light crispiness on the outside (while maintaining its interior chewiness).

My only real complaint is that the chicken is a bit on the dry side (I’m pretty sure it’s all white meat, which doesn’t help). But then there’s so much of that aforementioned sauce that this barely even matters.