Heirloom – Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at Do West Fest

Published on June 10, 2024June 8, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Do West Fest is a surprisingly massive street festival (it covers about 1.5 km, from Landsdown to Ossington) with a whole bunch of tasty eats. I tried a few things.

Heirloom’s Hot & Honey Big Crunch from Heirloom Food Truck

I was actually quite excited about this one. I tried the Szechuan fried chicken sandwich from this food truck a few years ago, and thought that it was basically fried chicken perfection. It was crazy good.

So when I saw the Heirloom truck, I figured another fried chicken sandwich was a safe bet. They have a few on the menu (though not the Szechuan, sadly), but the Hot & Honey Big Crunch caught my eye. “Crispy chicken breast, hot & honey sauce, creamy slaw, pickled cucumber, iceberg lettuce, chipotle aioli, brioche bun.”

It’s a solid fried chicken sandwich. It’s nice and crunchy, and features a good balance of sweetness and acidity (alas, very little spice). It’s tasty. But, in my sandwich at least, the chicken itself was pretty dry, as was the thick brioche bun. I still enjoyed it, but that was a bit of a bummer. Certainly, it wasn’t the mindblower that the Szechuan sandwich was.

Strawberry Rhubarb cake from Moonmilk

Moonmilk is a great little ice cream shop and bakery on Dundas. I’ve tried the ice cream on a previous visit, and it was quite tasty. They also sell a handful of cakes; I went with the strawberry rhubarb, and yeah, this place knows what they’re doing.

It’s a pretty simple cake — basically just strawberry and rhubarb layered with buttercream frosting and a fairly plain cake — but it’s thoroughly delicious. It’s kinda strawberry shortcake-esque, with a great balance between the slightly tart strawberry/rhubarb filling and the silky buttercream. The cake has a good amount of substance to it, but isn’t too dense. It’s very good.

Margherita pizza from Acute Pizzeria

Acute boasts that their pizzas are made from sourdough, and yeah, the crust does have a bit of that sourdough tang. It actually works quite well. It’s also clear that they know exactly how to bake it, as it has a nice crackly crust, a bit of char, and a fluffy interior.

I got the margherita, and it was really good for all the reasons that margherita pizzas tend to be really good — they nailed it. I’d say this place is only a teeny-tiny step below top-tier pizzas like Badiali and North of Brooklyn.

Crispy Coconut Shrimp Dumplings from FeasTO

FeasTO is a dumpling truck that’s been around a while (I last tried it in 2019), and given how good their dumplings are, it’s easy enough to see why.

I tried the crispy coconut shrimp dumplings, which feature a great balance between the crispy fried exterior and the perfectly cooked shrimp within. The sauce they put on top was a bit sweet for me (it’s pretty intense), but otherwise these were quite satisfying.

Fried Chicken Perfection at Heirloom

Published on October 30, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: It’s a truck, so check Twitter or their website
Website: https://www.heirloomtoronto.com/

Either my memory is wrong or the food at the Heirloom food truck has seriously improved, because I have a vague recollection of trying their fried chicken sandwich a few years ago and not being particularly impressed.

I just had the Szechuan fried chicken sandwich, and holy guacamole, it was so good.

Heirloom’s menu describes this as “brined chicken thigh, homemade Szechuan sauce, pickled cucumber, bean sprout, organic peanut, scallion aioli, brioche bun.”

My only real complaint is that the chicken was a bit dry; though the menu claims they’re using thigh meat, I’m fairly certain it was actually breast. Either way, it was slightly overcooked and a bit less juicy than it should have been.

Other than that? Crazy good.

The exterior crisp-factor was perfect, with a profound level of crunchiness that’s never overbearing.

And let’s face it: there are very few things in life more satisfying than biting into a perfectly crispy piece of fried chicken.

The sandwich is saucy as hell (it’s impossible to eat without getting sauce all over your hands and face), but it absolutely works.

The Szechuan sauce is sweet, savoury, garlicky, and a little bit spicy (this is a minor complaint, but I wish it were a bit spicier. It’s basically a mild tingle). It’s absolutely fantastic, and the big peanut chunks give it a nice nutty crunchiness.

The richness of the aioli works great with the flavour-packed sauce, and the pickled veggies help to cut through the overall heaviness of the sandwich.

The whole thing is an absolute assault of assertive flavours and textures, but it’s so well balanced. It’s easily one of the best fried chicken sandwiches I’ve had in a while.

Cheesecake by Heirloom

Published on March 13, 2018October 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Cheesecake is good. You know what’s better? Cheesecake dipped in chocolate and nuts, and covered with chocolate and caramel sauces.

Cheesecake by Heirloom was in the Concept section of Yorkdale (I’m a bit late posting this, and it’s now gone — super useful blog post, I know, but supposedly they’ll be selling cheesecakes again at a different location in April), and it’s pretty great. I mean, how could it not be? They start with a good quality piece of New York style cheesecake, then they cover it in all the aforementioned stuff.

And all that stuff is quite good. It’s incredibly sweet and rich — maybe to a fault. It’s not a subtle dessert. It’s probably not something you’d want to eat all the time, but man, it’s delicious.