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Roasted Garlic Chicken Sandwich at Popeyes

Published on March 24, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5306 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.popeyeschicken.ca/

I’m pretty sure the Roasted Garlic Chicken Sandwich from Popeyes is the garlickiest thing I’ve ever eaten at a fast food joint. Possibly the garlickiest thing I’ve ever eaten, period? It’s up there, that’s for sure.

Here’s how Popeyes describes it: “Our classic marinated chicken fillet, that’s battered and breaded in our signature buttermilk coating and then fried up hot and crispy. Served on a butter toasted brioche bun with our ‘New’ sweet and tangy, Roasted Garlic aioli and topped with nutty Havarti cheese and crisp leaf lettuce.”

It basically tastes like they took an entire head of roasted garlic, salted it aggressively (it’s an incredibly salty sandwich), and then mashed it onto a piece of fried chicken. It’s intense.

It’s possible that something went wrong with the batch in my sandwich, because the description above says that it’s “sweet and tangy,” and I detected absolutely no sweetness or tanginess in my sandwich. Just a pure, unadulterated face-punch of garlic and salt.

Some sweetness or tanginess actually would have been very appreciated as a counterpoint to the other flavours here — it’s a bit one note (putting it kindly). But as someone who quite likes roasted garlic, I still mostly enjoyed this. If you’re on the fence about that flavour, however, stay far, far away.

As for the chicken itself, it’s a pretty standard fast food fried chicken patty — it’s vaguely dry and kinda generic, but it’ll get the job done. The lettuce and cheese are completely overwhelmed by the garlic sauce, and the bun (which actually does have a little bit of sweetness, though not enough to make any real impact) is fine.

Tasty Japanese Food at Tanuki

Published on February 4, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3160 Steeles Avenue East, Markham
Website: http://www.tanukirestaurant.com/

Tanuki is actually in the same location as the great Shiso Tree Cafe, which, sadly, shut down near the beginning of the pandemic. I kinda want to hate this place on principal, like, how dare you try to replace the Shiso Tree Cafe?? But you know what? Just based on this one visit, I think Tanuki might be just as good.

I came during their brunch service and tried the seared duck breast (“served medium rare, chimichurri, garlic chips”), along with the omurice (“soft omelette, chicken fried rice, shiitake, edamame, gravy”).

Both were very, very tasty. The duck breast was perfectly cooked; it was tender while still having a nice meaty bite, and while the skin wasn’t crispy, once I started eating, I didn’t miss it. The garlic chips give it that crispiness while also adding pops of flavour. It’s a great dish.

The omurice was just as good. Slicing the omlette open to reveal its eggy interior is thoroughly satisfying, and the creamy eggs complement the tasty fried rice quite nicely. That fried rice would have actually been perfectly fine on its own, with the mushroom/chicken combo being thoroughly delicious, nice pops of freshness from the edamame, the occasional bite of crispy rice, and some nice smokiness from the wok.

But once you add the perfectly cooked omelette, things really take off. The omelette is silky and creamy, with its richness only amped up by the gravy that comes on the side. Add a few spoonfuls of the zippy habanero sauce they have on the table, and you’re really in business.

A Great Wrap at Shawarma Alzaeem

Published on December 28, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1018 Eglinton Avenue East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.alzaeem.ca/

How many shawarma restaurants do you think there are in the GTA? A thousand? Two thousand? More?? There’s no shortage of shawarma, that’s for sure.

(This would be a great place for me to be like, well the actual number is [insert actual number here], but no, I haven’t done that research. What do I look like, Edward R. Murrow? I would be very curious to know the actual number, though.)

This means if you’re going to go out of your way for shawarma, it had better be pretty damn good, because there’s probably one or two (or more) shawarma joints within walking distance of basically any home in the GTA (well, outside of the hardcore suburbs where there’s basically nothing within walking distance).

So, is Shawarma Alzaeem worth going out of your way for? Yeah, kinda. I got the chicken shawarma saj wrap, and it was thoroughly tasty. Most notably, it’s absolutely doused in a particularly delicious garlic sauce that would make pretty much anything taste great. It’s also nicely toasted, giving the saj a light crispiness on the outside (while maintaining its interior chewiness).

My only real complaint is that the chicken is a bit on the dry side (I’m pretty sure it’s all white meat, which doesn’t help). But then there’s so much of that aforementioned sauce that this barely even matters.

Garlic Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger at Wendy’s

Published on November 20, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

Wendy’s is on a roll — the last burger I tried here, the French Onion Cheeseburger, was easily a top-tier fast food hamburger. This one? Not on that level, but still quite tasty!

The Garlic Mushroom Bacon Cheeseburger, as per their website: “A quarter pound of fresh, never-frozen Canadian beef, roasted mushrooms, 3 strips of Applewood smoked bacon, muenster cheese, and Renée’s Gourmet Creamy Garlic Spread. Literally oozing with umami.”

Muenster cheese! On a fast food cheeseburger! Ooh la la.

Also, normally I’d mock the line “literally oozing with umami,” but you know what? It kinda is. It’s savoury AF, and is definitely more umami-packed than your typical fast food fare.

Maybe too umami-packed? On top of being incredibly savoury, it’s a bit of a salt bomb. Something with a little sweetness and/or acidity to cut through the salty richness would be nice.

Still, I can’t deny that it’s tasty. The very rich, garlicky sauce pairs nicely with the mushrooms and the bacon, and the slice of muenster cheese definitely sets it apart from its American-cheese-topped fast food brethren.

Seriously though, throw some pickles on there or something? It’s a lot.

Thin Crust Pizza at Burattino Brick Oven Pizza

Published on April 9, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3109 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.burattinopizza.ca/

Burattino is an LA pizza chain specializing in thin-crust pizzas that opened their first location in Toronto a couple of years ago.

They have a handful of fairly unique pizzas on their menu, though the black garlic 120 pepperoni caught my eye — it comes topped with black-garlic-infused marinara, along with a whole bunch of pepperoni (120 refers to the amount of pepperoni slices on the large version of pizza).

For the unfamiliar, black garlic is made by roasting garlic at a very low temperature over the course of several days, giving it a unique jet-black colour and a mild, sweet flavour.

It’s a solid pizza. The black garlic sauce gives the pie a tasty roasted garlic flavour, which contrasts nicely with the salty pepperoni. The thin crust is a bit boring (it’s comparable to chains like Pizza Nova or Dominos rather than the better pizza joints in the GTA), but it gets the job done.