pork – Page 10 – Michael Eats

Tasty Banh Mi at Ca Phe Rang

Published on January 17, 2023January 20, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 147 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://capherang.ca/

Ca Phe Rang is a Vietnamese joint that was opened by celebrity chef Matty Matheson along with his mentor, Rang Nguyen. The menu consists mostly of banh mi and pho (which can be combined by ordering a bowl of pho dipping sauce to go with your sandwich).

I tried a couple of the banh mi, along with the dipping sauce.

First up was the pork (“Roasted and glazed pork. Bánh mì comes with pâté, carrot, daikon, cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro, Thai basil, white onion, spicy chili paste”). I’ll admit that I wasn’t crazy about this. The pork was dry and mostly flavourless, and if there was pate in the sandwich, I couldn’t taste it. The generous pile of zingy veggies and fresh cilantro are quite tasty, but the sandwich really needed some kind of sauce to bring some moisture and flavour.

(There is the pho dip — which tastes like a pretty standard pho broth — which helps quite a lot. But this is an optional $3 add-on, so you’d think the sandwich would be able to stand on its own.)

The brisket (“Roasted and glazed brisket. Bánh Mì comes with pâté, carrot, daikon, cucumber, jalapeno, cilantro, white onion, spicy chili paste”) is substantially better. Again, the pate was either MIA or applied so sparingly that it may as well not be there. But the meat is super tender, and it’s saucy and flavourful enough that the sandwich never feels dry like the pork. It’s actually fairy sweet, but the vinegary bite of the veggies does a great job of balancing this out. This one doesn’t need the dip at all; it’s thoroughly delicious on its own.

A Delicious Sandwich at V’s Schnitzel House

Published on January 5, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 448 Brown’s Line, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.vsschnitzelhouse.com/

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the schnitzel sandwich at V’s Schnitzel House, so that’s what I ordered. It was delicious. I wish I hadn’t ordered it.

Specifically, I ordered the pork schnitzel sandwich (chicken is also an option), which comes topped with lettuce, tomato, and “Magic dill sauce.”

It’s a top-notch sandwich — the fluffy Kaiser roll has just enough heft to hold up to the meat without overwhelming, the lettuce and tomato add a nice dose of freshness and crunch, and the Magic dill sauce is seriously delicious.

I ordered the house salad on the side. It also comes with the Magic dill sauce, and man that stuff is so good. It’s creamy, a little bit sweet, garlicky, and has a pronounced dill flavour. You can buy a bottle of this stuff for ten bucks, and I’m very tempted to go back and pick one up.

But I mentioned that I wish I hadn’t ordered the sandwich (in spite of how delicious it was), and that’s because the schnitzel itself was amazing. It was hard to tell in the context of a sandwich, but I think this might have been the best schnitzel I’ve ever had? The exterior was perfectly crispy, the seasoning was great, and the meat itself was thoroughly tender. Clearly, I need to go back and try the schnitzel on its own ASAP.

Quick Bites: Porchetta and Co., Ruru Baked, Good Behaviour

Published on December 27, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Porchetta sandwich from Porchetta and Co.

I’ve written about the porchetta sandwich from this place before, but just as an update: it’s still quite tasty. However, on this particular visit it was a bit on the dry side, which made me kinda wish I had ordered the House Special sandwich (which comes with a bunch of toppings) instead of the porchetta on its own. And indeed, ordering the porchetta sandwich sans-toppings, which used to be the shop’s bread and butter, isn’t even listed on the menu at this point. Still, it’s a top notch sandwich however you order it.

Super Baked at Ruru Baked

“Super Baked” at Ruru Baked is a thoroughly odd (but tasty) scoop of ice cream. It’s absolutely crammed with various chunks of cake and cookies and it’s certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think it’s like 75% chunks and 25% ice cream? The ice cream is basically just there to bind the chunks together. I like a chunky ice cream as much as the next guy, but if I wanted to eat cake I’d eat cake. Still, it’s quite tasty, so I can’t complain too much.

Chocolate ice cream from Good Behaviour

And on the opposite end of the ice cream spectrum: plain old chocolate ice cream. Yeah, it’s kind of boring, but you know what? When the quality of ice cream is as good as it is here, it actually isn’t. The chocolate ice cream here has a super intense chocolate flavour, and a texture that’s abundantly rich and creamy. This place easily serves some of the best ice cream in the city (or the best? Maybe).

A Mind-Blowing Burrito at Comal y Canela

Published on November 27, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1692B Jane Street, York
Website: https://www.comalycanela.com/

I’m a bit late to the party here, but I feel like there was a time on Instagram recently where every other post was someone dipping a beefy taco into a cup of soup.

I’m talking about birria tacos, a dish in which braised beef and cheese are crammed into a tortilla, dunked in a beefy soup, griddle-fried, and then served with even more soup for dipping.

You can get this at Comal y Canela, and yeah, it’s good. How could it not be? Tender beef, gooey cheese, flavourful soup? It’s like a French dip sandwich but better, with amplified flavours and textures that are an absolute delight to eat.

The really surprising thing, however? The birria tacos weren’t even the highlight of the meal.

I also tried the michoacano burrito, which the menu describes as “giant flour tortilla with a cheese crust, black bean puree, braised pork, onion, jalapeno, avocado, crema fresca and queso fresco.”

Good lord, that burrito. I don’t want to overstate this, but I think this might have been the best burrito I’ve ever had? I’m skeptical that a better burrito exists. Okay, maybe I’m overstating it a tad, but I really, really enjoyed this burrito.

Every part of it works so well, though that cheese crust (I’m guessing they just take a pile of cheese and let it brown on the griddle) is downright genius. The combination of the gooey, crusty cheese and the ultra-tender pork (not to mention the creamy avocado and literally every other ingredient in this thing) is pure magic. I guess I could do without the raw onions, but there’s so much else going on here that they really just add some crunch.

It’s hard for me to say that this is the best burrito I’ve ever eaten, because I’ve had quite a few burritos in my lifetime, but I can honestly say that I cannot remember eating a better one. It’s that good.

Amazing Roast Pork at Luen Hing Barbecue

Published on November 13, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 888 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (inside the Mississauga Chinese Centre)
Website: None

If a restaurant has an enormous slab of tasty-looking roasted pork hanging in the window, you should eat at that restaurant. That’s just a fact. Is that a law? I think that might be the law. If you see a restaurant like that you have to eat there or you’ll go to jail. That sounds fair to me.

Luen Hing also has chicken and duck hanging in the window, and clearly I have to go back, because that pork… wow.

I ordered the roast pork and barbecue pork on rice, which comes with a seriously generous amount of tasty eats for about twelve bucks. It’s a great deal, that’s for sure.

I actually brought this home instead of eating in the food court, and I had resigned myself to the fact that the pork skin probably wouldn’t be particularly crispy. It’s hard to retain your crunch when you’ve been steaming in a sealed take-out box. But oh man, that skin was crisp. It was at delightful, kettle chip levels of crunchiness.

And the pork itself was so good. Super flavourful, nice and tender, fatty but not too fatty, and of course, the aforementioned super crunchy skin. Delightful.

The barbecue pork wasn’t quite on the same level — it was a bit dry — but it was still quite tasty, with a nice balance of sweet and savoury.

The steamed cabbage and the sauce they poured on top were also quite good. It all adds up to a seriously satisfying version of this dish, and a restaurant that I’ll almost certainly be returning to in the near future.