Tasty Gelato at Kati Thai Gelato

Kati Thai Gelato
Location
: 567 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/katitoronto/

Note: This location has closed since I visited, but you can check their Instagram for other locations.

As you’d guess from the name, Kati Thai Gelato serves gelato that’s infused with Thai flavours.  As you probably wouldn’t guess from the name, they also serve a variety of savoury Thai snacks like grilled pork skewers and bao buns.

Kati Thai Gelato

I stuck to the gelato side of things, and had a scoop of the Milo: “A nostalgic childhood favourite, featuring the rich, chocolatey taste of Milo (chocolate malt powder).”

They certainly have more interesting flavours here, but I have a hard time saying no to anything Milo-related.  It’s malty, chocolatey, and delicious.

Kati Thai Gelato

It’s predictably tasty in gelato form.  Why wouldn’t it be?  The gelato itself is maybe a bit thin, but it’s very smooth with zero iciness, and has a nice hit of Milo flavour.

Tasty Slices at Revolver Pizza

Revolver Pizza
Location
: 388 Royal York Road, Etobicoke
Websitehttps://revolverpizza.com/

Revolver Pizza is clearly doing quite well.  They now have four locations, and when I visited on a weekday afternoon, the place was packed.

Revolver Pizza

And yeah, I get it.  I got the margherita (“sauce, fresh mozzarella, fior di latte, and basil”), and it was a solid slice of pizza.

I wish the slice had been a bit crispier on the bottom (or crispy at all — it had a softer texture, closer to Neapolitan than New York style), but otherwise, I quite enjoyed this.

Revolver Pizza

I think the prodigious amount of cheese might have something to do with the crust’s lack of texture — I’m certainly not going to say no to a lot of cheese on a pizza, but there probably could have been a bit less here.

Revolver Pizza

Still, the overall quality is pretty high, including a good amount of flavour and a nice chewiness on the crust.  I don’t know if it’s up there with the best in the city, but it’s a top-shelf slice of pizza, that’s for sure (bonus: it costs about five bucks for a pretty sizable slice).

A Gigantic (and Delicious) Shawarma Wrap at Flaming Stove

Flaming Stove
Location
: 21 Davisville Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://flamingstove.com/

Flaming Stove is one of those places that seems to perennially come up in conversations about the best shawarma in Toronto, and having just tried it, yeah.  Yeah, that’s accurate.

Flaming Stove

I got the chicken shawarma wrap, and basically everything about it was spot-on.  The house-made saj bread they wrap it in is nice and fresh, with just the right amount of substance and  chewiness to hold up to the very generously-stuffed wrap.  And it’s nicely toasted on its exterior — a must.

Flaming Stove

The wrap features a healthy amount of meat that’s well-balanced by the various  pickles/veggies; I know it looks overstuffed, but the chicken remains the star.

My only real complaint is that the meat has been shaved in advance and is slightly dryer than it should be, and has lost the delightful crispiness that makes top-tier shawarma so great.  But everything else here is so good that this never seems like a huge deal.

Flaming Stove

In particular, they add several sauces to the wrap — tahini, garlic, amba, and hot sauce — and it’s an absolute taste explosion.  The combination of those sauces is magic; it’s tangy, garlicky, savoury, and thoroughly delicious.  You could put those sauces on basically anything, and it would be amazing.

Flaming Stove

Also: this might have been the biggest shawarma wrap I’ve ever had?  It comes cut in half, with each half wrapped separately, presumably because it would be too unwieldy if they tried to wrap them together.  Each half is about the size and heft of a large burrito.  It’s insane.

It costs 15 bucks, which seems a bit pricey until you take a look at it and realize that it can (and should!) be shared among two people.

A Tasty Veal Sandwich at Buon Giorno Caffe & Panini

Buon Giorno Cafe
Location
1134 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Websitehttps://www.buongiornocaffe.ca/

The last time I visited Buon Giorno Caffe, I was specifically there to try the veal, but was sidetracked by the cold cut sandwich (which was thoroughly delicious — I regret nothing).  I finally came back to try the veal sandwich, and yeah, it was worth the wait.

You can have the sandwich topped with mushrooms, onions, hot peppers, or sweet peppers (cheese is also available for a bit extra).  To me, all a good veal sandwich needs is some spice, so I went with the hot peppers and left it at that.

Buon Giorno Cafe

I used to have a pretty hardline opinion that the veal in this type of sandwich needs to be freshly fried and sauced on the spot so that it stays at least a little bit crispy.  But I’ve come around to the pleasures of the hot table version of this sandwich, which they serve here, where the sauce has had time to really soak into the nooks and crannies of the veal.

It gives you a soft, silky texture that you couldn’t get from a freshly-fried version.  It’s different, but if done right, still very tasty.

Buon Giorno Cafe

Spoiler alert: they did it right here, with a generous amount of tasty veal, a whole bunch of rich and flavourful sauce that really sings, and a nice kick from the hot peppers.

The texture of the veal was great; it wasn’t so tender that it was just mush — it still had some bite to it — but wasn’t tough at all.  And the hearty bread is the perfect match for the saucy sandwich, retaining its texture and chew even under the deluge of sauce.

Great Mexican Food at Balam

Balam
Location
: 584 Lansdowne Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/balamtoronto/

Chilaquiles is one of those dishes that can be really, really good, but can also easily go wrong.  It’s basically just tortilla chips tossed in sauce, so if the sauce isn’t tasty or if the chips are allowed to get mushy, it’s kind of a dud.

The version at Balam?  Not a dud.  Not even close.

Balam

The chilaquiles here can either be tossed in a red or green sauce (I went with red), and come topped with red onion (which I skipped), queso fresco, crema, and avocado.  There are also a variety of proteins you can get on top for an extra three or four bucks; I went with chorizo.

Balam

It’s a great dish.  The red sauce is zippy and satisfying, with a nice savouriness that’s quite compelling, and the chips retain their crunch despite being tossed in sauce.

The toppings all complement the dish perfectly, particularly the robust, meaty chorizo, which is easily worth the upcharge.

Balam

That’s not to mention the pair of mildly spicy sauces on the table, both of which do a great job of making the dish really pop.