restaurant – Page 7 – Michael Eats

A Middling Breakfast at Cafe Crepe

Published on February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 246 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://cafecrepe.com/

Cafe Crepe does surprisingly well; I recently showed up at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, expecting it to be mostly empty, and the place was absolutely packed. People, apparently, love crepes.

And the crepe itself is solid. Everything else, on the other hand…

I ordered the Cafe Crepe Speciale, which comes with three eggs that are theoretically cooked how you like them, “with bacon or sausage & your choice of crêpe: sugar butter, lemon sugar or cinnamon sugar.”

I went with a lemon sugar crepe, sausage, and eggs cooked over easy.

I briefly considered mentioning something when the waitress plopped down a plate of scrambled eggs, but the prospect of eating in shifts with my dining companion wasn’t particularly compelling.

It was fine? I guess? The scrambled eggs were slightly overcooked and completely underseasoned (if they had any salt, I couldn’t taste it), but decent enough. And the sausage was something resembling chorizo rather than the breakfast sausage you’re expecting, but it’s tasty enough.

As for the crepe, it’s actually very good — it’s nice and fresh, with a texture that does a great job of balancing tenderness and bite. But it’s absolutely doused in sugar (it’s both on top of and inside the crepe), and the lemon (which was also copiously applied) tasted off; I’m pretty sure it was actually ReaLemon or something similar.

It wasn’t a bad breakfast, but it probably makes more sense to order a crepe that’s harder to mess up, like Nutella and banana.

A Disappointing Meal at Dreyfus

Published on February 13, 2020 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 96 Harbord Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Dreyfus-Toronto-382976892314156/

Dreyfus’ main claim to fame is that it was opened by an alumnus of Joe Beef, a seriously acclaimed Montreal bistro (among many, many accolades, it was recently called Canada’s second best restaurant). I’ve never tried that place, so this seemed like the next best thing.

The menu consists of various small, shareable plates with big price tags; cheap eats this isn’t, but then every now and then you need to break the bank and try some top-notch food. Or at least, that was the idea.

The menu is entirely French, which means that effectively, there is no menu — the waiter tells you about every dish, and then you have to remember it all; not ideal for a place that requires you to order multiple dishes. That whole conceit is a bit overly precious, but if the food is great, who cares?

Yeah, about that.

Nothing is outright bad, I’ll give it that, but for what they’re charging, the food is very much a mixed bag.

There were some highlights, however. There was a dish that featured endives topped with tender roast pork shoulder that was particularly delicious. The endive was doused in a tasty, Russian-style dressing and was basically a variation on a wedge salad, and the thickly-sliced pork was meaty and tender.

The croque cubano — essentially an open-faced Cubano that you can eat in a couple of bites — was crispy, meaty, zesty, and satisfying.

And the ice cream sandwich featured top-notch ice cream sandwiched between two chewy, delicious cookies.

Everything else was a bit iffy. The steak tartare was fine, but it was way overseasoned and had zero beefy flavour.

I can’t remember what the croquette was even supposed to be; the vaguely yogurty interior was basically just a thick, tasteless sludge.

This squash dish topped with Jersey Royal cheese should have been tasty, but the cheese was haphazardly applied, and most of the squash was undercooked and crunchy.

The mackerel seemed okay, but it was absolutely doused in an overly vinegary sauce that completely overwhelmed the fish.

The madelines were basically tasty, but they were overcooked and dry, and the sauce that comes on the side was overly sweet (the sugar that was haphazardly dumped into the container probably didn’t help).

Quality Noodles at Wuhan Noodle 1950

Published on February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3621 Highway 7, Markham
Website: https://www.wuhan-noodle-1950.com/

I actually visited Wuhan Noodle and wrote this post back in December, well before all the coronavirus shenanigans and racism that put this place in the news. To be clear: no, you won’t get the coronavirus by visiting this restaurant. I wish I were a bit more positive about it now, but here’s what I originally wrote back in December:

I think I’ve become spoiled by the abundant availability of hand-pulled noodles in the GTA. Case in point: Wuhan Noodle 1950. They serve a very tasty bowl of noodles — but it’s hard not to compare them to the places that make their own in-house.

It probably doesn’t help that the dish I ordered — the Wuhan Dry Noodles — is basically all noodles and sauce, which means that the noodles themselves are front-and-centre.

And the noodles here are perfectly cooked, with a nice firm bite — but they lack that addictive chewiness that you only get when you make them fresh.

Still, the creamy sesame- and peanut-infused sauce is very tasty; the included spoonful of chili oil gives it a mild kick, and the herbs and pickled veg bring some nice pops of flavour that compliment the creamy sauce.

It’s probably not reasonable to expect every place like this to make their own noodles, and yet… here we are.

Amazing Roast Pork at Wilson’s Haus of Lechon

Published on January 30, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 365 Wilson Avenue, North York
Website: https://www.facebook.com/wilsonshausoflechon/

If you’re looking for tasty roast pork, go to Wilson’s Haus of Lechon. Trust me on this one; just do it.

As you might imagine, this place specializes in lechon, the Philippines’s version of roast suckling pig. I knew I was probably in good hands as soon as I walked in the door and saw the whole, glorious pig sitting behind the counter.

I wound up trying the roast pig and the roast chicken, and both were pretty much incredible.

The pork is absolutely fantastic; it’s tender, juicy, and absolutely exploding with flavour. The meat itself was thoroughly infused with a delightfully garlicky, herby punch of flavour. But the pork itself still shines through. It’s so good.

I wish the skin had been a bit crispier, but it was otherwise so delicious that it didn’t really matter.

The chicken was also pretty amazing, though it’s hard for anything to compare to that pork. I wanted dark meat and wound up with a breast, but it was surprisingly tender for white meat, and of course it had that same garlicky/herby flavour.

The combo comes with sticky rice and lumpia Shanghai, which is a very tasty pork-stuffed Filipino spring roll. It’s all so good.

Decent Pork Belly at Chengdu Guokui

Published on January 2, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4750 Yonge Street, North York (in the Emerald Park food court)
Website: None

I’ve mentioned before that the Emerald Park food court near Yonge and Sheppard is a treasure trove of unique Asian eateries (though not everything there is particularly great).

My latest discovery: Chengdu Guokui, which specializes in Sichuan cuisine.

I ordered the braised pork rice bowl, which comes with the aforementioned pork, stewed eggplant (I think?), and a spicy slaw on top of rice.

It’s almost 17 bucks with tax, which seems excessive until you get your bowl and realize that it weighs about a pound, and is crammed with enough pork belly to feed a small family.

It’s certainly better than the last thing I tried in this food court, but alas, it’s not great. The main issue here is the pork; it’s quite underseasoned, and is lacking the punch of flavour you’re expecting from the dish. It also had a vague leftover flavour, and wasn’t quite as melt-in-your-mouth tender as it should have been. It was tasty enough, but it was nothing special.

The eggplant was nice and tender, and the rice, though mushy, featured a tasty sauce and was fairly satisfying.

The star of the show, oddly enough, was the slaw; it was tossed in an intensely flavourful chili oil, and had that great numbing heat you get from Sichuan cuisine. I wish there had been about double the amount.