Etobicoke – Page 9 – Michael Eats

Amazing Sri Lankan Rolls at Reggie’s Rolls

Published on December 8, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: No permanent location
Website: https://www.reggies-rolls.com/

Sherway Gardens currently has a Christmas Market where Nordstrom used to be (it’s running until December 23). It’s mostly not super interesting (at least from a food point of view), but there are a couple of vendors serving stuff you can eat. Most notably: Reggie’s Rolls, which sells delicious Sri Lankan rolls.

These things are seriously, seriously good. When I went, they were offering three flavours: mutton (which is the classic), cheeseburger, and butter paneer. I went with mutton and paneer (the cheeseburger variety is intriguing, but I figured I’d stick with more traditional choices since it was my first time trying it).

Did I mention how good these are? Because they’re amazing. I’ve actually never tried this particular dish before, though it is a Sri Lankan standby. So I can’t say how authentic it is, but I can say that it tastes extremely good.

The exterior isn’t quite as crispy as I was expecting — I figured it would be something like an egg roll, but it has a very lightly crispy but mostly chewy texture that worked quite well. And the filling was a taste explosion, with the mutton variety having a really complex curry-tinged flavour and a pronounced spicy kick. The texture is similar to a Jamaican patty, with the meat being quite finely ground, with a few larger chunks.

The butter paneer had a similar texture and a slightly sweeter flavour, with a much milder level of spice (I actually don’t think it was spicy at all, but I did eat it after the mutton, so it might have been a bit spicy and I just didn’t notice). Of the two, I preferred the mutton, but both were seriously tasty.

Sadly, they don’t have a permanent location, but as per their website, they do occasionally pop up at events like the Christmas Market. Otherwise, they’re wholesale only, which is a shame.

Solid Poke Bowls at Pokeworks

Published on December 5, 2023December 7, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 197 North Queen Street, Etobicoke
Website: https://pokeworks.ca/

Pokeworks is an American poke chain that’s just starting their Canadian expansion (with 50 locations to come, apparently).

If you’ve been to a poke place before, then you know the deal: they’ve got the usual assortment of raw tuna and salmon (along with cooked chicken and tofu) that you can get with various toppings and sauces, served on rice, noodles, or salad (or some combination of the two).

You can either create your own bowl or go with one of their “Signature Works.” I went with the latter, and got the Umami Ahi (“Ahi tuna, cucumber, sweet onion, shredded nori, edamame, umami shoyu sauce, surimi salad, pickled ginger, green onion, sesame seeds, garlic crisps”).

It didn’t exactly blow me away, but it’s a solid bowl of poke. In particular, the chunks of tuna are fresh, sizable, and generous. The flavours are a bit too muted and the rice was overcooked (it was mushy in spots), but everything else was quite tasty.

I don’t think it’s going to rock anyone’s world, but if you’re in the area and you’re looking for a tasty, relatively healthy meal, you could definitely do worse.

Pizza and Gelato at Eataly in Sherway Gardens

Published on November 3, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.eataly.ca/stores/eataly-sherway-gardens/

The Eataly in Sherway Gardens has just opened, and while it isn’t quite as impressive as the downtown location (it’s roughly half the size at 25,000 feet, as per Toronto Life), it’s still an absolute must-visit for anyone who’s even vaguely into Italian food.

The selection there is absolutely massive, with all kinds of pantry items, fresh pasta, cheese, meat, and prepared foods. The prices, however, are serious business — looking at the price tags on the prepared foods, in particular, is not for the faint of heart. It’s all a bit below restaurant pricing for stuff you have to bring home and heat up yourself, so I guess it’s not too crazy if the food is really good. But I will admit that paying 16 bucks for one small serving of cold lasagna just feels wrong on a very fundamental level, even if it’s delicious.

(Or maybe I’m just a cheapskate.)

I tried a couple of things. They have a decent selection of pizza slices that you can either eat in the restaurant (though there are only a handful of tables at the moment) or take out. It’s a thick crust, Roman-style pizza, which is ideal in a grab-and-go setting since it reheats quite well. I got the margherita, and while nothing about it particularly stood out (the crust, in particular, is pretty bland), it’s a solid slice of pizza.

They had eleven flavours of gelato on offer; I went with the old standby, pistachio, and it was fine. This is a thoroughly insufferable complaint, but I was recently in Italy and was eating gelato on a daily basis, and what they’re serving here is basically trash compared to that.

That’s not fair, of course, but even compared to what’s available in Toronto, the gelato here is good, but not great. The pistachio flavour was a bit off (it definitely tastes like they’re using real pistachios, but I think they might be using flavouring as well), and the texture wasn’t quite as creamy as it should be.

Delicious Thai Food at Thammada Thai Cuisine

Published on October 25, 2023October 31, 2023 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 2888 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke
Website: https://thammada.meemup.com/

I visited Thammada Thai Cuisine on a recent Sunday for lunch; the place was completely deserted for the entire time I was there, which is a damn shame because all of the food was very, very good.

I had read about this place in the Toronto Star, so of course I had to try the main dish they recommended, which is a whole fried fish that you can either order with fried garlic or nam chim sauce. I went with the latter, which is a delightfully zesty, zippy sauce that complements the crispy fried fish perfectly.

The fish looks like it’s going to be one of those dishes you have to eat very carefully, with a minefield of tiny little bones, but it’s actually completely deboned aside from the tail and the head. It’s all edible and it’s all delicious, with a perfectly crisp exterior and flaky meat within.

I also sampled the tried-and-true pad thai, which was just as good as the fish. I sometimes find this dish to be a bit cloying, but the version here had a really great balance of flavours, perfectly chewy noodles, and a mild smokiness from the blazing hot wok. It was probably one of the better versions of pad thai that I’ve ever had.

Amazing Roast Pork at B’s Sizzling Kitchen

Published on January 22, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 430 Horner Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.bsizzlingkitchen.com/

B’s Sizzling Kitchen is one of those places that you’d probably never discover if you hadn’t heard about it from a friend or read about it online, since it’s kinda hidden away in a very nondescript industrial/residential area of Etobicoke. But it’s absolutely worth coming out of your way for.

It’s a Filipino restaurant that specializes in Cebu lechon — ultra-tender roast pork with delightfully crispy skin — and man, it’s good.

I started with the lechon sisig fries, which features a heaping portion of tasty pork on top of crispy, crinkle-cut fries. This was everything you want it to be. It’s porky, crispy, sweet, and addictive. It’s profoundly delicious.

But of course, the Cebu lechon is what you’re here for, and it’s just the absolute best. They make it with pork belly, and… I mean, just look at it.

Look at it.

The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, it’s perfectly seasoned and intensely flavourful, and the crispy skin is the stuff dreams are made of. Just give me a big bag of that skin and let me eat it like potato chips.

I’m going to like pretty much any well-prepared fatty pork dish by default, but this one is something special.

As I was leaving, there was a whole suckling pig sitting on a table waiting to be picked up, and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything so badly in my entire life.