pork – Michael Eats

Tasty Filipino Food at Bella’s Inasal

Published on December 26, 2025December 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 848 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.bellaslechon.ca/

I don’t go to Filipino restaurants all that often, but whenever I do, I’m like, why is this not a regular thing in my life? Bella’s Inasal definitely gave me those thoughts.

They have a pretty huge menu, but considering they serve a dish called “chicken inasal,” I figured that was probably the thing to order.

The first thing that comes is a small bowl of a garlicky shrimp soup, and wow this was good — it’s got a really great shrimpy flavour, and the toasted garlic complements it perfectly.

As for the chicken inasal, it consists of a perfectly grilled piece of chicken, a generous amount of garlic rice, and a small dish of a zippy papaya slaw called atsara. It’s very, very good; the chicken is super flavourful and perfectly cooked, with a good amount of char from the grill. The rice is nice and garlicky, and the atsara helps cut through the richness. It’s a great dish.

I also tried the pork sisig (“Crispy Pork with Onion, Chili and Calamansi”), which I think I might have liked even better than the chicken? It comes on a sizzling hot plate, and it is absolutely crammed with porky flavour and crispy bits from the hot plate. It’s enormously satisfying.

Tasty Brunch at Gateau Ghost

Published on December 1, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 974 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://gateaughost.com/

Gateau Ghost is a charming brunch spot and bakery with a Korean twist (the menu features a variety of brunch standbys that are tweaked with stuff like bulgogi, kimchi, and Korean fried chicken).

I went with Owen’s Sando: “focaccia, caramelized onions, cabbage, jalapeño & cilantro, teriyaki pork shoulder OR teriyaki tofu.” (I went with pork shoulder, of course.)

It’s a solid sandwich with a great balance of flavours and textures: it’s sweet, savoury, crunchy, creamy, and chewy. In particular, the sandwich does a really great job of balancing out its sweet and savoury flavours, and it’s quite satisfying.

That’s not to mention the focaccia, which is clearly fresh and suits the sandwich perfectly. It’s a sloppy, overstuffed sandwich, but the bread holds up to it nicely without overwhelming.

The sliced pork shoulder is a bit on the dry side, which holds the sandwich back from greatness, but otherwise I liked this a lot.

You can also get a salad or fries for a four dollar upcharge; I went with the salad, which looks like the typical vinaigrette-dressed mixed greens you’ll find a place like this, but is actually a big upgrade from the norm, with a punchy zestiness that really works.

As for the bakery side of the equation, they mostly specialize in madeleines that come in various flavours. I tried the opera madeleine, which takes the coffee-and-chocolate infused flavours of an opera cake and crams it into a madeleine. It was really good.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

Published on November 23, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4186 Finch Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: https://fushi.co/

Fushi Co. mostly caught my eye thanks to the photos of the pork and rice they have posted in the window of their restaurant, which reminded me a lot of a mind-blowing pork dish I had in Taipei. That was back in 2019, and I still occasionally think about it. I’ll be sitting there minding my own business, and boom, I’m thinking about that pork. It was magical.

The dish I had here was a bit more deluxe — I could have had the one which just comes with braised pork knuckle, which I believe would have pretty much been identical to the one from Taiwan. But the “Signature Four Happiness Pork” comes with pork knuckle, pork belly, a bone with a decent amount of meat attached, and intestines. Why yes, I would like all the pork.

Is it too much pork? I think it’s too much pork. Certainly, it’s more pork than any reasonable person should eat in one sitting. But did I eat it all? You bet I did. Did I feel good about it after? I sure didn’t!

It’s quite tasty. All the pork is reasonably tender (even the intestine, which has none of the chewiness or gaminess you might expect), and the deeply savoury flavour is very satisfying. I wish there had been some kind of hot sauce or chili oil to kick things up, but such is life.

It’s not even remotely as good as the Taiwanese pork of my dreams (that was legitimately one of the best things I’ve ever eaten), but it’s still an enjoyable dish. Plus, at 15 bucks for enough rice and meat to comfortably feed two, it’s a great deal.

Great Noodles at Gun Gun Rice Noodle

Published on September 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 565 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/gungun.noodle/

Gun Gun Rice Noodle is a seriously delightful restaurant near Yonge and Bloor that specializes in noodle soups made with, of course, rice noodles. I heard the crispy pork spicy pickle rice noodle is the thing to order, so that’s what I did.

The menu doesn’t say what the dish is, though it does mention that all the soups come with “tofu skin, tofu puff, kelp, quail egg, chives, bok choy.”

I really enjoyed this. The broth is vibrant and flavour-packed, with a noticeable spicy kick; it’s actually quite addictive. The noodles were maybe a touch on the soft side, but everything else was so tasty that it really didn’t matter.

In particular, the crispy pork that comes on top of the soup is thoroughly delicious, with a perfectly seasoned crispy exterior and nicely tender pork within. The exterior is crispy enough to hold up to the soup for quite a while, but even once it starts to sog up a bit, it absorbs that delicious broth and becomes tastier.

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.