chocolate – Michael Eats

Tasty Cookies and Onigiri at Momochee’s Desserts

Published on June 26, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 263 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga
Website: https://momochees-desserts.square.site/

Momochee’s Desserts is a delightful bakery in Port Credit that specializes in cookies, basque cheesecake and, oddly enough, onigiri.

Onigiri, for the uninitiated, is a triangular rice ball with various fillings; frequently, it comes wrapped with a sheet of nori that’s been protected from the rice by plastic, keeping it crispy.

It’s not something that you’d expect to find at a bakery, but yeah, I’m into it. I’m a big fan of the stuff, but it’s hard to find a really good one in Toronto. Usually, the seasoning is off or it’s been sitting out too long, with unpleasantly firm rice.

I went with the spicy mayo onigiri, and aside from being served too cold, it was just right. The rice was fresh and nicely seasoned, it had a good proportion of creamy tuna filling (with a surprisingly pronounced spicy kick), and the nori was perfectly crispy.

But of course, the place is mostly a bakery, so I had to get a dessert. I went with the classic chocolate chip cookie, and it’s quite tasty. Nothing about it blew my mind, but the contrast between the crispy exterior and gooey interior was satisfying, and it had a nice amount of good quality chocolate chips.

Tasty Gelato at Aura Gelato Artigianale

Published on June 6, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1070 Saint Clair Avenue West, Toronto
Website: https://auragelato.com/

Aura Gelato Artigianale is a bit confusing — the sign on the outside says Gemma Gelato, but everything on the inside of the shop (including the cups) calls it Aura Gelato Artigianale. Online, it’s occasionally referred to as “Aura Gelato Artigianale at Gemma Gelateria.” So… it’s a collaboration between the two shops, I guess?

Whatever it is, it’s good.

I always like to go basic when I try a gelato or ice cream joint for the first time; it’s the best way to suss out the quality. With no big chunks or funky flavours to hide behind, it’s all about the gelato itself.

I got the dark chocolate, and yeah, that’s good stuff. It’s super rich and creamy, the sweetness is very well tuned, and the chocolate flavour is nicely robust. It’s really tasty.

Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Dipped Cone at Dairy Queen

Published on May 2, 2026May 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5369 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.dairyqueen.com/en-ca/

Dairy Queen recently came out with a “Breakfast Collection,” which includes a Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard, a Fruity Pebbles Shake, and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Dipped Cone.

Is a doughnut breakfast? I mean, I guess anything can be breakfast if want it to be, but if you’re regularly waking up and housing a doughnut or two, I’m not sure how many more years of eating breakfast (or just existing) you’ve got left.

But sure, for the sake of this exercise, let’s say a doughnut is breakfast, because that’s the one I tried. The Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard, as per Dairy Queen’s website: “Chocolate frosted donut pieces and DQ Signature Sprinkles are blended with our world-famous soft serve to Blizzard perfection.”

I actually liked this way more than I thought I would. I’m not sure if putting chopped up doughnuts into ice cream would even work (I feel like they’d get too hard and/or their flavour would be lost), but that’s not quite what they do here — instead, there are chewy, cookie-dough-like pieces that actually do a pretty great job of tasting doughnut-like enough that you know exactly what you’re eating.

The sprinkles don’t add much, but there are enough of those tasty doughnut bits to make this a thoroughly enjoyable Blizzard.

UPDATE: I went back and tried the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Dipped Cone (“First, we take our world-famous vanilla soft serve and dip it into a warm, rich cinnamon cereal-flavoured cone coating with crunchy cereal bits. To top it off, we add a generous dusting of sweet Cinnadust”). As usual with a dipped cone, the first bite was the best, but I enjoyed this. It has a pronounced cinnamon/sugar flavour, and does a respectable job of replicating the flavour of the classic cereal.

Chocolatey Amazingness at Blackbird Baking Co.

Published on April 12, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 172 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://blackbirdbakingco.com/

I’ve written about Blackbird several times (tl;dr — it’s great and you should go there), so my inclination is to just write a Quick Bite review about this. But the chocolate cork at Blackbird? It needs its own post. It’s too good to share space with anything else

It’s phenomenal. Legitimately one of the best pastries I’ve ever had. It’s kinda like a really great cakey brownie, but also stuffed with delicious chocolate mousse.

The chocolate flavour here is intense. If you like chocolate (or things that are delicious) then you owe it to yourself to try this.

I don’t have a whole lot more to say about this. But I feel very strongly that everyone needs to know how great it is.

Quick Bites: Susie’s Rise & Dine, Dear Grain, The Saj Wraps

Published on March 24, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine at the Taste of Little Italy

The food at last year’s Taste of Little Italy was a bit of a disappointment — it was mostly an assortment of generic street festival stuff, without a whole lot of local flavour. There were a few gems, however. Most notably: the Mapo Frito Pie from Susie’s Rise & Dine, which consists of a bag of Fritos topped with a seriously tasty chili (that, as the name implies, is infused with mapo tofu flavour). They serve this at the restaurant, and clearly I’m going to have to check the place out.

Buckwheat cookie from Dear Grain

I can’t say I’ve ever had a buckwheat cookie before, but if the one from Dear Grain is anything to go by, I need more buckwheat cookies in my life. It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie, but with a nuttiness and earthiness from the buckwheat. It’s also got a nice sprinkling of salt on top to cut through the sweetness. It’s a very good cookie.

Sujuk saj wrap from The Saj Wraps

I feel like, very broadly, there are two types of restaurants: restaurants you’re happy to go out of your way for, and local joints that are solid, but not exciting enough to warrant any kind of trek (well, I guess there’s also a third kind — a bad one — but I make it a point to not discuss anything I outright do not enjoy on this blog). I’d classify The Saj Wraps as more of a local place — the wrap I tried was solid, but nothing about it particularly jumped out at me.