chicken – Page 6 – Michael Eats

Stellar Ramen at Ramen x Remix

Published on December 14, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 424 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://ramenxremix.com/

I feel like Ramen x Remix really deserves to be more popular. I’m going to assume (and hope) that they do better in the evenings, because I showed up for lunch on a Saturday, and the place was a complete ghost town. Based on the quality of ramen I was served, this is a crime. The place should be packed with a line out the door.

I ordered the Signature Yuzu Scallop Shio Consommé (“signature slow cooked clear chicken broth, pork and chicken chashu, clam meat, yuzu, lemon, sashimi grade torched scallop, pork shrimp wonton, menma, onions”) and it was absolutely fantastic.

It reminded me a lot of the ramen from Afuri. I liked that quite a lot, but I think this was even better.

The soup itself had such a clean chicken/seafoody flavour, with a subtle bright sweetness from the yuzu. A lot of ramen can be a real face-punch of flavour — and I love that, don’t get me wrong — but I really enjoyed how subtle this was. But it’s still complex enough that I wasn’t even close to sick of it by the time I got to the bottom of the bowl.

And everything else was great, from the super-tender pork and chicken to the sweet, fresh scallop and the noodles, which were nice and chewy. It’s a very tasty bowl of ramen.

Tasty Wraps at I Am Doner

Published on December 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 433 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.iamdoner.ca/

I Am Doner is an oddly-named doner chain from the UK that serves beef doner and chicken shawarma (along with various vegetarian options like falafel and halloumi) that you can either get as a wrap or a bowl.

I ordered the house special, which comes crammed with chicken shawarma, beef doner, falafel, and halloumi. Because why get one thing when you can get everything?? That’s just science. I ordered it as a wrap, which, by default, comes with chili sauce, mayo, and a whole bunch of veggies.

Between the meat, the cheese, the falafel, the various veggies, and the generous amount of sauce, it’s a bit of a mess. It’s ridiculously crammed with stuff. They’re not kidding around, that’s for sure.

It’s very tasty, but there’s so much going on here that it’s hard to even gauge the quality of the individual components. It’s just one meaty, saucy mass of food. I liked it a lot, but I’d probably just pick one of the meats next time so I can have a better idea of what I’m eating.

The bread they wrap it in definitely has a big job to do, because this thing is so overstuffed that it really needs something with heft to hold up to it all. And yeah, it does its job. It’s nice and chewy, and holds together nicely. It’s a very good wrap.

Tasty Fried Chicken Sandwiches at Knuckle Sandwich

Published on November 29, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 969 Coxwell Avenue, East York
Website: https://knucklesandwich.ca/

Though Knuckle Sandwich has a variety of sandwiches on the menu, their specialty seems to be fried chicken — it comes first on the menu, and they offer three different varieties (classic, Buffalo, and Korean).

(You’d think there would be a titular “Knuckle Sandwich,” but there is not, which strikes me as a bit odd. You’re really going to name your restaurant Knuckle Sandwich and not have a knuckle sandwich on the menu? Come on.)

I went with the Korean fried chicken (“Gochujang Glaze, Miso Kimchi Slaw, House Pickles”), and I enjoyed it. The sauce was nice and zippy, though the level of crunch wasn’t quite where it should be, the spice level was basically nonexistent, and the chicken itself was a bit dry.

Still, those aren’t huge complaints; the fact that I’m even nitpicking this sandwich is more indicative of how spoiled we are for great fried chicken sandwiches in the GTA than of the actual quality level of this particular one. A few years ago, I would have been blown away by this sandwich, but the current bar for fried chicken sandwiches is impossibly high.

Stellar Sandwiches at Sleepy Pete’s

Published on November 17, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 69 Kensington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/sleepypetes/

I’ve noticed Sleepy Pete’s coming up in discussions of the best breakfast sandwich in the GTA; it’s also from the same people behind the great Kensington Market taco joint, Seven Lives. Obviously, I had to check it out.

So did a lot of other people, apparently. I showed up at around 11:00 on a Saturday morning and the place was packed. It was about a half hour between the time I showed up and the time I started eating, but you know what? Totally worth it.

I tried a couple of the sandwiches: the sausage and egg (“chicken sausage, hot honey, Kraft cheese”) and the fried chicken (“breaded chicken breast, hot lemon pepper sauce, mayo, pickles”). The sandwiches come on your choice of biscuit: buttermilk or jalapeno cheddar. I went with buttermilk on the breakfast sandwich and jalapeno cheddar on the fried chicken.

Both sandwiches were very, very good. This place is mostly known for its breakfast sandwiches, and yeah, I get it. Every element here is dead-on; in particular, the spicing in the meat is actually quite different from your standard breakfast sausage, but it really works. And the biscuit is pretty much perfect, with a great fluffy texture, just the right amount of density, and a lightly crispy exterior.

I’ve mentioned before that my secret food shame is that I think a McMuffin from McDonald’s is better than like 90% of the fancy breakfast sandwiches in the GTA. This is in the 10%. It’s so great.

The fried chicken didn’t knock my socks off like the sausage and egg, but it’s still a very good sandwich. I don’t think there were any pickles (at least not in my half of the sandwich), which would have been nice, but the combo of the savoury fried chicken and the sweet lemon pepper sauce was a tasty one. The chicken had a layer of crispy breading that’s lighter than most of the fried chicken sandwiches in the city, but that works quite well. I enjoyed it.

Cajun Ranch McCrispy at McDonald’s

Published on November 14, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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

I’ll admit that after the upsettingly bad Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine, I thought, maybe I should give McDonald’s a break? Maybe I don’t need to keep doing this to myself?

But no, I do need to keep doing this to myself. I am compelled. Maybe admitting I have a problem is the first step?

I actually enjoyed this one, though. What do you know!

The Cajun Ranch McCrispy, per McDonald’s website: “A crispy chicken sandwich made with tender and juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, topped with shredded lettuce, red bell pepper crisps and creamy Cajun ranch sauce, all served on a toasted potato bun.”

I quite liked that Cajun ranch sauce. It had the usual ranch flavour, but was also enjoyably zesty with a very, very mild spicy kick. I’d buy a bottle of that stuff.

And the red bell pepper crisps were a nice touch. They were basically like the crispy onions or crispy jalapenos that McDonald’s has used a few times before, but… with red bell peppers. Little crispy fried bits are always going to be welcome on a sandwich.

Otherwise it’s a standard McCrispy, but that sauce actually does elevate it.