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Solid Singaporean Food at Kiss My Pans

Published on September 22, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 713 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.kissmypans.com/

I’ve mentioned before that Singaporean cuisine isn’t nearly common enough in the city, so it’s quite delightful that Kiss My Pans — a Singaporean brunch spot in Little Italy — not only exists, but is extremely popular.

They have a pretty extensive menu that basically covers Singapore’s greatest hits; I tried the roasted chicken rice, and the char kway teow.

Chicken rice is a classic dish that features chicken served with chicken-infused rice. It’s traditionally served with either poached (which is my preference) or roasted chicken, which is what they serve here (well, they call it roasted, but I think it’s actually fried, as it has a level of crispiness I don’t think you can get in the oven?).

It’s quite tasty. Both the rice and the chicken are slightly on the dry side, but otherwise the flavours are right where you want them to be, with the soy and chili sauces on the side adding a nice savouriness and zippiness.

I also tried the char kway teow, a stir-fried noodle dish that gets its distinctive dark colour from dark and light soy sauce. Again, it’s not the best version of the dish that I’ve had (the flavours don’t quite pop the way they should, and the wok hei might be a bit too pronounced, with a borderline bitter flavour throughout), but it’s still very tasty. And again, it’s not like we have a million Singaporean restaurants to choose from in the GTA; I’m just happy that this place exists, and is pretty good.

Quick Bites: Tarboosh Restaurant, Maji Curry, The Night Baker

Published on September 9, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Shawarma and falafel plate at Tarboosh Restaurant

I ordered the Tarboosh combination plate here (because you should always order a dish with the name of the restaurant in it), which comes with chicken shawarma (beef is also an option), falafel, and two sides (I went with hummus and tabouleh). It didn’t rock my world, but it was all tasty enough. The chicken tasted more like baked chicken breast than like shawarma; it was nicely seasoned, but I wish it had been a bit juicier. The falafel was actually quite unique — it was easily the lightest, fluffiest falafel I’ve ever had, and the flavour reminded me more of a hush puppy than typical falafel. And the two sides were pretty solid, particularly the hummus, which was a bit heavier on the tahini than I generally prefer, but super creamy and luxurious.

Pork Cutlet Curry with Cheese from Maji Curry

Maji Curry is a Japanese curry chain that recently opened in Toronto. I’m a big fan of Japanese curry (what’s not to love?), so yeah, I checked it out. I ordered the pork cutlet curry with cheese, which is one of their signature dishes. It’s odd; I figured the pork cutlet would be panko-breaded tonkatsu, but it looked and tasted more battered than breaded (and the pork itself was a bit on the dry side). The “cheese” seemed to be more decorative than anything else, as it had a milky texture and not much flavour. As for the star of the show — the curry — it was perfectly tasty (I certainly didn’t dislike eating it), but it wasn’t substantially better than the Japanese curry bricks you can get at Asian supermarkets.

Classic chocolate chunk cookie from The Night Baker

I actually assumed I had already blogged about this place, which is why I only took one quick photo and then scarfed the cookie down. Apparently I haven’t! Oh well, next time I guess. And there will definitely be a next time: the classic chocolate chunk cookie here (which also has walnuts and sea salt) is top notch. It’s nicely chewy with a crisp exterior, the flavours are all where they should be, and the walnuts do a great job of adding a mild crunch and tempering the sweetness of the cookie a bit.

Solid Ramen at Midori Ramen

Published on August 26, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 412 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://midoriramen.com/

Ramen: it’s the best. I’ve said it on this blog before, and I have no doubt I’ll say it again. Even a mid-tier bowl of ramen is better than a great version of most other things.

Case in point: Midori Ramen. Is it the best bowl of ramen in the city? No, absolutely not. Is it tasty? It absolutely is.

Their specialty is tori paitan ramen, which is like the tonkotsu that’s so prevalent in the GTA, but made with chicken instead of pork. The best versions of this have an addictive roasted chicken flavour, and while this one was creamy and nice, it didn’t have much of a flavour outside of a pleasant, rich saltiness.

You can choose between thin, thick, and kale (??) noodles; they recommend thin. Like the broth, the noodles are pleasant, but they lack the toothsome chew that makes the best ramen noodles so special.

The toppings are all great, however. It comes with tasty pork chashu, a ridiculously tender slice of chicken, and a great ramen egg with a perfectly jammy yolk.

KD Mac & Cheese Chicken Sandwich from KFC

Published on August 21, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3517 Dundas Street West, York
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

I’ve gotta give it to KFC: they know exactly what I want out of a fast food joint. If they keep pumping out carnival-style food, I’m gonna keep trying it.

I think the massive success of the Double Down might have broken something in the brains of all the KFC executives, because they’re clearly still chasing that high (the Festive Chicken Sandwich, the Gravy Lovers Sandwich, etc.), and I’m very happy to be along for the ride.

As per the KFC website, “the KD® Mac & Cheese Chicken Sandwich features our signature Chicken fillet, topped with KD macaroni noodles and creamy KD cheese sauce brought together to deliver on the ultimate Cheesy experience!”

It’s actually not bad, though calling it “the ultimate cheesy experience” might be a bit of a stretch. I don’t know if Kraft Dinner is way more bland than I remembered or if they just didn’t put enough sauce in this particular batch, but it mostly just tasted like plain macaroni (despite having that distinctive orange glow). I think there might have been a tiny bit of the “creamy KD cheese sauce” on top, but not enough to make much of a difference.

Still, I got lucky and got a reasonably hot and fresh piece of chicken, so just as a normal sandwich, it was tasty; the chicken was reasonably juicy, with a nicely crunchy exterior. The mac and cheese mostly just added some creaminess and — if you really concentrate — the vaguest patina of cheesy flavour. So no, it doesn’t add a whole lot, but it doesn’t detract, either.

Firecracker McCrispy at McDonald’s

Published on July 27, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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

I wasn’t a particularly big fan of the regular McCrispy, which I thought was fine, but way too plain to be particularly worth thinking about. But a spicy version? Yeah, now you’re talking.

The McDonald’s website describes this as “a crispy chicken sandwich topped with a creamy sweet and spicy sauce and crispy jalapenos. Made with tender and juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken and served on a soft potato bun.”

You can get it with or without bacon; the signage outside of the store advertised the bacon version, so that’s what I got.

It’s pretty decent. It’s a big upgrade over the standard McCrispy, that’s for sure. The sweet and spicy sauce is, as advertised, very sweet and a little bit spicy. It’s borderline too sweet, but with all the other stuff, it works.

The crispy jalapenos add some extra crispiness and a tiny bit more heat, and the patty itself is what it is. It’s fine.

The bacon is probably unnecessary, though. Something a bit thicker likely would have enhanced things, but the bacon here was so thin that it kinda got lost among the other components of the sandwich.