rice – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Tasty Kuwaiti Food at Walima

Published on August 4, 2025August 4, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1185 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/walimarestaurants/

I’ll sometimes browse Google Maps when I’m looking for new restaurants to check out; generally speaking, the ratings tend to hover between 4 and 4.5 out of 5. Walima, on the other hand, is sitting at a cool 4.7 with over 1800 reviews as I write this. I’m assuming the restaurant has encouraged their customers to submit 5-star reviews, but still, I felt like I had to check the place out.

They serve Kuwaiti cuisine, and the majority of the menu consists of lamb, fish, or chicken served on rice. I went with the maqlooba, which comes with your choice of lamb or chicken (I went with lamb). It seems a bit pricey at 27 bucks — until you realize that this is a shareable platter rather than a dish for one (it can easily feed two or three).

Yeah, okay — I get the rating. It’s a tasty dish. It’s maybe a bit on the oily side (I think the rice is cooked with the fatty lamb, and it’s absolutely suffused with grease), but it tastes quite good, and the pieces of lamb are melt-in-your-mouth tender.

The dish also features fried onions and creamy chunks of eggplant, which both complement the lamb quite well. It comes with a couple of hot sauces on the side — a red chili oil, and a green chili sauce. They both do a nice job of kicking up the rice and meat.

There’s also a little bowl of tomato soup on the side. I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be eaten separately or with the rice; I ate it with the rice, and I’m still not sure if that was the intended way to eat this, but it was tasty regardless.

Tasty Drinks at Yomie’s Rice X Yogurt

Published on June 8, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4188 Finch Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: None

I didn’t realize when I visited, but apparently Yomie’s is a chain with locations all over the world (I can’t find a listing of all their locations, but a quick Google search shows locations in the US, Australia, and Singapore). They specialize in yogurt drinks, and yeah, I get why they’re successful. It’s tasty.

They have a fairly extensive menu, but the purple rice yogurt seems to be the specialty, so that’s what I went with.

It’s a really simple drink: it’s just sweet yogurt with chewy purple rice. I had a similar drink at Kome Yogurt downtown, and I think I liked this one even better. It had a satisfying proportion of yogurt to rice, and the level of sweetness was slightly more restrained. It’s quite good.

Cheap Eats at Mini Bar

Published on April 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 116 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: None

If nothing else, Mini Bar is an absolute steal. A relatively hearty sandwich downtown for eight bucks? Yeah, you can’t go wrong there.

Well, I suppose you could go wrong if the sandwich didn’t taste good, but that’s clearly not an issue here.

I ordered the bulgogi and kimchi, which comes in a Kaiser roll, topped with tender beef bulgogi, kimchi, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and a slice of cheddar cheese.

Is it going to rock your world? No, probably not; it’s a pretty no-frills sandwich, but for what it is (and considering the price) it’s very tasty. If I worked in the area, I’m sure I’d be a regular.

Mini Bar serves kimbap on Fridays, which is also quite satisfying. They were making them as I ordered, so it was super fresh and filled with tasty stuff.

Tasty Burritos at Bolets Burrito

Published on March 30, 2025 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 134 Lower Sherbourne Street, Toronto
Website: https://boletsburrito.square.site/

Pretty much any time the topic of the best burrito in Toronto comes up on the Toronto food subreddit, Bolets is mentioned. I finally got around to it recently, and yeah: it’s quite good.

They have a handful of meat options (including some esoteric choices like Buffalo chicken and sweet spicy Thai), but the steak seems t o be the one they’re most known for, so that’s what I got.

The burrito comes crammed with steak, along with the usual assortment of rice, beans, and veggies.

The steak is tender, plentiful, and very well seasoned, and the proportion of meat to veggies to sauce is spot on. I asked for it hot, and while it’s not exactly going to blow your head off, it’s got a good kick. There were a couple of inedible gristly bits in the steak, which was unfortunate, but otherwise I really enjoyed this.

Is it the best burrito in the city? I don’t know, but it’s probably a contender.

Tasty Japanese Food at Tanuki

Published on February 4, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3160 Steeles Avenue East, Markham
Website: http://www.tanukirestaurant.com/

Tanuki is actually in the same location as the great Shiso Tree Cafe, which, sadly, shut down near the beginning of the pandemic. I kinda want to hate this place on principal, like, how dare you try to replace the Shiso Tree Cafe?? But you know what? Just based on this one visit, I think Tanuki might be just as good.

I came during their brunch service and tried the seared duck breast (“served medium rare, chimichurri, garlic chips”), along with the omurice (“soft omelette, chicken fried rice, shiitake, edamame, gravy”).

Both were very, very tasty. The duck breast was perfectly cooked; it was tender while still having a nice meaty bite, and while the skin wasn’t crispy, once I started eating, I didn’t miss it. The garlic chips give it that crispiness while also adding pops of flavour. It’s a great dish.

The omurice was just as good. Slicing the omlette open to reveal its eggy interior is thoroughly satisfying, and the creamy eggs complement the tasty fried rice quite nicely. That fried rice would have actually been perfectly fine on its own, with the mushroom/chicken combo being thoroughly delicious, nice pops of freshness from the edamame, the occasional bite of crispy rice, and some nice smokiness from the wok.

But once you add the perfectly cooked omelette, things really take off. The omelette is silky and creamy, with its richness only amped up by the gravy that comes on the side. Add a few spoonfuls of the zippy habanero sauce they have on the table, and you’re really in business.