Lamb Noodles at Three Sheep Gourmet Foods

Three Sheep Gourmet Foods
Location
: 1000 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: None

I was intrigued by Three Sheep Gourmet Foods when I saw that they had a dish on their menu called “Lamb Haggis Noodle Soup.”  My initial assumption was that this was just a translation quirk — but then I saw that they also have a dish called “Scottish Noodles.”

Could it be… Chinese/Scottish fusion??

Three Sheep Gourmet Foods

No; the answer to that is no.  I ordered the Lamb Haggis Noodle Soup, and the only connection to haggis is that it features a bunch of innards.  Otherwise, there’s nothing even remotely resembling that dish.

(Still kinda curious about those Scottish noodles, though.)

Three Sheep Gourmet Foods

Aside from dashing my Chinese/Scottish fusion dreams, it’s a solid dish.  The soup has a clean, meaty flavour (and is nicely kicked up by the optional chili oil on the counter), the various organs are nicely prepared, and it’s got a very generous amount of thick noodles (which were slightly overcooked, but still satisfying enough).

My only real complaint here is that one of the bits of offal (spleen, possibly?) was just too strong for me.  It was like liver times a million.  I actually like the metallic, minerally taste of liver, but this one kinda knocked me out.  I quite liked everything else in the bowl, however.

Quick Bites: Poke by Sushi Shop, Eataly Ristorante, Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop
Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop

The salmon & sushi poke bowl (“Salmon, tuna, lettuce, red cabbage, wakame, radish, orange masago, ponzu, teriyaki and poke sauces, spicy light mayo, nori”) at Poke by Sushi Shop is solid.  Did anything about it blow me away?  Not particularly (I also found the presence of a whole bunch of iceberg lettuce to be a bit off-putting).  But it featured some tasty toppings and sauces and a generous amount of fresh salmon and tuna.  For something from a food court (particularly the Sherway Gardens food court, which kinda sucks), it’s a nice option.

Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens
Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens

I haven’t been particularly crazy about anything I’ve had from the Eataly location in Sherway Gardens thus far, and yeah, that’s still the case.  I got a ragu pasta (which isn’t on the menu on their website, so I’m not sure what it was called or what was in it — very helpful, I know), and it was fine.  It had some surprisingly big chunks of pork, which were fork-tender and easily the highlight.  Otherwise it was just kinda one-note salty.  Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think anyone with even a moderate level of skill in the kitchen could whip up a tastier pasta dish with stuff in their pantry.

Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe
Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica is generally regarded as serving the best gelato in the city.  They’ve also started to expand, with a second location around Yonge and Eglinton.  So this is about the time you might expect the quality to start going downhill.  Happily, that doesn’t seem to be the case — at least not yet.  The black sesame gelato is just as rich and creamy as everything else I’ve had here, and has a very satsifying roasty sesame flavour.  It kinda reminded me of a gelato version of Sesame Snaps, but with no crunchiness.  I find most black sesame ice cream doesn’t quite have as much sesame flavour as I’d like, but this was pretty fantastic.

Tasty Eats at Lamb Soup Noodle House

Lamb Soup Noodle House
Location
: 4750 Yonge Street, Toronto (inside Emerald Park food court)
Website: none

The lamb soup at Lamb Soup Noodle House is pretty tasty, with a very clean lamby flavour.  I got the spicy version, which also had a very noticeable fiery kick.  Nothing about it blew my mind — but I’m a fan of lamb, and I’m never going to dislike anything that packed with lamb flavour.

Lamb Soup Noodle House

(The chunks of lamb are a bit tough and the fat noodles are overcooked, but I think the broth is the real reason to order this.)

I think the better thing to order here, oddly, isn’t the lamb soup — it’s the jian bing, an eggy Chinese crepe.

Lamb Soup Noodle House

I actually tried the jian bing here several years ago and quite enjoyed it.  It was called Gao’s Crepe back then, so I’m not sure if it’s the same place or another jian bing spot in the same location, but either way, it’s thoroughly delicious.

Lamb Soup Noodle House

Rather than going with the standard jian bing, I went with the one that comes stuffed with spicy noodles and cheese (!), and wow it was good.  The wrap itself was chewy and satisfying, it has a nice crunch, and the zippy noodles and melty processed cheese work surprisingly well together.  There’s also some kind of sausage in there, and yeah, that’s tasty too.  It’s all quite junky, but in a really satisfying way.

Tasty Thai Food at Kao Kang

Kao Kang
Location
: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://kaokang.ca/

Kao Kang, which is part of The Well’s recent expansion, is a spinoff of Koh Lipe, a Michelin-noted Thai restaurant downtown.

Michelin-adjacent eats in a food court?  Yeah, sign me up.

Kao Kang

The guy behind the counter noted that the pad gra prao (“holy basil, chili, green bean, garlic, fried egg on rice”) is their most popular dish, so that’s what I went with.  You can get it with either chicken or beef; I went with beef.

I enjoyed it.  Was it the best version of this dish that I’ve ever had?  No, absolutely not.  But it’s still a food court.  Let’s temper our expectations here.

Kao Kang

It’s very, very sweet, and is kinda lacking in the umami punch that you typically get from this dish.  It’s a bit one-note in its flavour, but is thoroughly pleasant, with a mild spicy kick and a perfectly cooked fried egg on top.  I don’t think I’d order it again, but I’m not mad I ate it.

Quick Bites: Brodflour, Corleone’s, Villa Madina

Pain Suisse from Brodflour
Pain Suisse from Brodflour

I’ll admit I hadn’t even heard of pain Suisse (which is similar to a chocolate croissant, but with pastry cream and chocolate chips) before seeing it at Brodflour, so I was excited to try it.  And yeah, it’s good.  I mean, look at it.  Of course it’s good.  The combo of the gooey chocolate chips and the slightly sweet pastry cream is a clear winner, and the croissant itself — as you’d expect from Brodflour — is stellar.

Veal sandwich from Corleone's
Veal sandwich from Corleone’s

Corleone’s sells a variety of Italian sandwiches like veal, meatball, and eggplant.  I tried the veal, and it was totally fine.  Nothing about it particularly jumped out at me (and the bun was a bit gummy) but it’s a solid sandwich.  There are a couple of things that stand out about this place, however.  One is that they offer a “junior” version of their sandwiches; most places like this sell massive gut-busters that pretty much demand that you take a nap afterwards, so I appreciated that the smaller sandwich here is satisfying without being comically oversized.  The other thing I appreciated is that the spiciest version of the sandwich is legitimately fiery, with a generous amount of a legitimately hot pepper paste spread on top.

Chicken shawarma wrap from Villa Madina
Chicken shawarma wrap from Villa Madina

Is the shawarma from Villa Madina the best you’ll ever eat?  No, absolutely not.  But it’s actually pretty decent, and for a eatery from a mall food court, that’s enough.  The shawarma has a decent amount of crispy bits and is relatively juicy, and the wrap itself is saucy and tasty.  It’s very middle-of-the-road, but it gets the job done.