gravy – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Heirloom Food Truck, Sleepy Pete’s, Han Kki

Published on April 17, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

General Tao Pork Belly Sandwich from Heirloom Food Truck

I’m sure there are people out there who can say no to a crispy pork belly sandwich; I am not one of those people. The General Tao Pork Belly Sandwich, as per Heirloom’s menu: “crispy pork belly, homemade General Tao sauce, pickled sesame cabbage slaw, cilantro, chipotle aioli, brioche bun.” It’s a ridiculously messy sandwich (it’s a bit overstuffed), but the combo of the sweet sauce and the zippy slaw is a tasty one, that’s for sure. The pork belly wasn’t particularly crispy and was a bit tough, but otherwise this was a solid sandwich (figuratively — it was kinda falling apart as I ate it).

Biscuits and Gravy from Sleepy Pete’s

When I ordered the biscuits and gravy at Sleepy Pete’s (“Chicken sausage & bacon gravy, chives”), I wasn’t sure what it was. A sandwich? Or a biscuit with gravy on the side? It turns out: neither! It’s a biscuit covered in gravy, and it’s so abundantly doused that it’s basically gravy soup. Please note: I’m complaining. When I got this, I was like, well, there’s no way I’m eating all this gravy. Spoiler alert: I ate all the gravy. It was maybe the best sausage gravy I’ve ever had, with a seriously rich flavour and a generous amount of tasty sausage and bacon interspersed throughout. I got it with the jalapeno biscuit, which has a nice spicy pop that stands up nicely to the deluge of gravy.

Pork Bone Soup from Han Kki

Mostly, nothing about the bowl of pork bone soup I had at Han Kki particularly stands out — it was thoroughly tasty, but nothing mind-blowing. I will say, however, that the pork they used might have been the meatiest I’ve ever seen in this dish. And it was all perfectly cooked and super tender. Every time I thought I must have depleted all the pork in the bowl, I found some more. It was quite delightful.

Delicious Hot Turkey at White Lily Diner

Published on January 16, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 678 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://whitelilydiner.ca/

I tried the meatloaf sandwich at the White Lily Diner a few years ago and found it to be thoroughly tasty. I recently went back, and I’m happy to report that the place is still cranking out delicious food.

That meatloaf sandwich is tough to beat, but I think the hot turkey (“stuffing French toast + smoked turkey + gravy + chutney + maple butter”) might just do it.

The idea of making French toast that tastes like stuffing is actually fairly ingenious, and works perfectly with the smoky turkey. The rich gravy soaks into the French toast and amps up the flavour from the turkey, and the creamy maple butter on top cranks the richness up to 11.

It’s a dish that could very easily be too rich, but the sweet, tangy cranberry chutney does a great job of ensuring that this never happens. It’s a fantastic dish.

Delicious Roast Pork at The Carvery

Published on July 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto (inside Wellington Market)
Website: https://thewelltoronto.com/directory/the-carvery/

Wellington Market at the Well recently expanded a bit — they have a handful of new restaurants, including locations of BEAR Steak Sandwiches, Chen Chen’s Nashville Hot Chicken, and the one I checked out, The Carvery.

This is an outpost of a Windsor restaurant that specializes in various roast meats — chicken, pork, lamb, and beef — that you can have in a sandwich or on a plate.

I went with the roast pork plate, which comes with the pork, a crispy piece of crackling, peas, carrots, squash, potatoes, and a dinner roll. At $13.90 for a massive plate of food, it’s an incredible deal.

No, it’s not the most photogenic dish ever — it’s basically just various shades of brown, though there is a generous amount of vegetables buried under there.

But if it tastes this good, I can’t say I’m too concerned about what it looks like.

Most importantly, the roast pork is great — it’s tender and nicely seasoned, with the gravy on top just amping up its flavour. There’s also the ultra-crunchy piece of crackling on top, and yeah, that’s good stuff.

As for everything else, the vegetables are all cooked perfectly (the potato has a satisfyingly crispy exterior), and the roll is clearly fresh, with a nicely buttery flavour.

And again: it’s $13.90. It’s an amazing value for the quantity and quality of the food you’re getting here.

Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine at McDonald’s

Published on November 8, 2024November 8, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I’ll admit that the Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine kind of sent me into an existential panic. Like, where did I go wrong in my life that I’m sitting alone in a McDonald’s on a Friday evening, scarfing down an ill-advised novelty poutine so I can review it for my food blog? What wrong turn did I make to get here?

The Raptor Chicken Nacho Poutine is not good. But hey, I ate it. It caused me to look deep down inside myself and not like what I see, but I did eat it and finish it, so of course I’m going to blog about it. Otherwise what was it all for??

Here’s how McDonald’s describes this thing: “this new offering is made with 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, our World Famous Fries™ layered with stringy cheese curds and savoury gravy, topped with tortilla strips and drizzled with nacho cheese sauce.”

Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit about how bad this is. It’s not gross, I guess, but I didn’t find anything about eating it to be particularly pleasant. It’s mostly just an odd hodgepodge of flavours and textures that don’t particularly belong together.

I think the nacho cheese sauce is the worst offender. I actually like nacho cheese sauce, but combined with the gravy and curds it had an odd sourness that I found off-putting. The tortilla strips were fine, but again, they just seemed odd in the context of a poutine.

As for the big chunks of chicken that they had plopped on top — like everything else, they’re just kinda there, doing their own thing. They don’t really add anything to the dish.

Then there’s the poutine base, which is fine, but I don’t think McDonald’s has a great poutine in the best of times, and this was certainly not the best of times (the fact that the fries were paler and soggier than usual didn’t help).

Gravy Lovers Sandwich at KFC

Published on November 10, 2022November 10, 2022 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 1610 The Queensway, Toronto
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

KFC just came out with a sandwich called the Gravy Lovers Sandwich, and yes. Of course. Of course I’m going to try that sandwich. I’m sold just based on the name alone.

The Gravy Lovers Sandwich, as per the KFC website: “features our delicious hand breaded chicken filet, 1 slice of Monterey Jack cheese, creamy mayo and 1 crunchy indented hashbrown with an individual gravy.”

Here’s the problem with ordering anything from a big fast food chain: it’s a crapshoot. Sometimes you get food that’s nice and fresh, and sometimes you get food that’s… not. I very much got the latter.

It’s a decent enough sandwich in theory, I’ll give it that. How could it not be? Fried chicken + gravy is always going to be a good thing.

It comes with a surprisingly large container of gravy (which is standard KFC gravy — thick and generically salty, but tasty enough), and you’re supposed to take off the top bun and pour it onto the sandwich. I poured out about a quarter of it, and used the rest as a dip between bites.

The biggest problem here (aside from the fact that they forgot about the slice of cheese, and I guess decided to give me lettuce instead) is that both the chicken and the hashbrown had clearly been sitting in one of those warming trays for hours. Days? Weeks?? The meat had a texture that I will charitably describe as leathery, and the hashbrown (which you expect to be crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside) was crunchy and dry throughout.

The copious serving of gravy actually helped quite a bit in this regard, because the sandwich otherwise would have been inedibly dry. I finished it, and I don’t think that would have been the case if not for the added moisture from the gravy.

Also: the sandwich (on its own — no combo!) costs $11.50 before tax. Maybe I just don’t eat enough fast food these days, but I’ll admit that this gave me sticker shock. For around the same price, you can go to a local joint like Chica’s or PG Clucks and get a sandwich that’s roughly a trillion times better.