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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.

Tasty Fried Chicken at Ghost Chicken

Published on June 7, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 74 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://ghostchicken.ca/

I think you could make the argument that the city has too many places that specialize in fried chicken sandwiches. I’m not saying I would, but someone could make that argument.

My counterpoint: fried chicken sandwiches are delicious and there should be a restaurant selling them on every block.

Ghost Chicken serves a variety of chicken sandwiches, along with wings, chicken strips, and a handful of sides. I went with the Nashville: “fried chicken thigh, Nashville spice blend & oil, sweet pickles, choice of heat: medium, hot, fire.”

It’s a solid fried chicken sandwich. It’s nice and crispy, generously sized, and the chicken itself is pleasantly juicy. The slightly sweet, fresh bun suits it well.

I wish it were a bit more flavourful, though. The chicken is a bit underseasoned, and even the pickles don’t add the zinginess you’re hoping for (I think maybe they weren’t quite pickled enough? They tasted mostly like soft cucumber slices). I ordered the “fire” level of spiciness, and while it did have somewhat of a kick, it didn’t put any sweat on my brow.

Still, it’s generally a well-prepared fried chicken sandwich; it’s hard to go wrong there, even if the flavours could have been amped up a bit.

Delicious Sandwiches at Bunmi

Published on June 4, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 822 The Queensway, Etobicoke
Website: http://bunmi.ca/

Bunmi is a banh mi shop where everything is available as a banh mi or a bao, and it’s absolutely fantastic. Seriously, seriously good.

They have a handful of sandwiches on the menu; I went with the signature banh mi, which comes with “BBQ lemongrass AAA tenderloin, with home-made butter, pickled carrots, cucumber, cilantro, topped with our secret BUN MI sauce.”

Everything about this just works. The beef is tender and flavourful, the creamy Bun Mi sauce complements it perfectly, and the pickled carrots cut through the richness (and add some nice crunch).

I wish it were spicier (it was barely spicy at all, though I think that’s because I wound up with only hot sauce and no hot peppers), but it was so delicious that it barely even mattered. It’s legitimately one of the tastiest banh mi that I’ve had in the GTA.

And the banh mi itself (i.e. the actual bread) was phenomenal, with a delicately crispy exterior and a fluffy interior. A lot of banh mi can be a bit of a mouth-wrecker if you don’t eat it carefully, but this one you can eat with aplomb with an uninjured mouth — without ever losing out on the crispiness that makes banh mi so delightful.

I will note that the sandwich is costs more than the norm at $11.55, but this is an absolute steal for a sandwich this delicious (and this crammed with meat). I’ve mentioned before that I think the expectation that Asian food needs to be dirt cheap is unfair; if you’re going to complain that a sandwich this good is overpriced at $11.55, you need to GTFO with that nonsense.

Tasty Eats at Wellington Market in The Well

Published on May 30, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 486 Front Street West, Toronto
Website: https://thewelltoronto.com/eat/wellington-market/

When I was invited to a press event at Wellington Market, the new upscale food court in The Well, my first thought was: do I really feel like braving downtown traffic on a random weeknight, only to arrive at a place where I’ll probably have to talk to people?

I’m lazy and antisocial, you see. But also: free food.

Yeah, the prospect of free food got me. The only thing better than food? Food that I don’t have to pay for.

And oh boy, was there a lot of food that I didn’t have to pay for at this event. If you’re unaware of Wellington Market’s whole deal, it’s basically a food court, but filled exclusively with stuff that’s a bit more interesting than standard food court fare. And on this particular night, every restaurant was just handing out free food like candy on Halloween. It was a free food bonanza; I tried a bunch of stuff.

I think the thing I was most excited about was Japadog, the legendary Vancouver chain (sampled by no less than Anthony Bourdain) that specializes in Japanese-influenced hot dogs.

I tried the chili dog, and while I didn’t notice anything particularly Japanese about the flavour, it was a top-notch dog, with a good amount of tasty chili and a satisfyingly smoky wiener (that’s what she said?). It was one of the better things I ate.

There was also Blue Claw, which specializes in lobster rolls. The lobster roll here was probably my least favourite thing that I ate that night, but hey, they can’t all be winners.

(Also, the lights here did something very weird to my phone’s camera, which I’ve never seen before.)

Rosie’s Burgers has a few locations throughout the GTA. They were handing out chicken sandwiches, and yeah, it was a great sandwich. Satisfying combo of crunchiness/juiciness, and a nice zippy sauce to cut through the richness.

There’s also some dessert shops here, including Shake Therapy, which specializes in milkshakes and falooda, a sweet, milky Indian dessert with ice cream.

I tried the rose falooda and thought it was quite tasty, though the texture was odd (it was basically like drinking a sweet glass of milk with a scoop of ice cream in it). Still, I enjoyed it and would get it again.

Back to savoury, there was Doraji, which specializes in Korean bibimbap.

They were handing out samples of the bulgogi beef bibimbap, which you can top with a number of sauces (I went with the old classic, gochujang). This was comparable to the better bowls of bibimbap I’ve had in the GTA; I quite liked it.

There was also La Cubana, a Cuban restaurant with a couple of locations in the city.

They were serving a sampling plate with the classic Cubano, yucca fries, plantain, and a little doughnut hole. Everything here was tasty, though the doughnut was the highlight, weirdly. It had a great lightly crispy/chewy texture, and just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar.

Then there was Samosarie, which, as you’d assume from the name, specializes in samosas.

They have a whole bunch of funky flavours on offer; I was told the tandoori chicken was the most popular, so I went with that.

I enjoyed it (it really nails the tandoori chicken flavour), though it doesn’t have the crispy fried exterior that you’re expecting. I think it’s baked rather than fried, and it reminded me more of a Jamaican patty than a traditional samosa. It’s not bad; it’s just different.

I was getting quite full by this point, but there was still room for a bit more.

This place is called Sam’s Juices. I guess they mostly specialize in drinks, but they do have a “hot & honey” chicken sandwich on the menu.

There was nothing about this that got my heart rate up in any particular way, but I enjoyed it (and it’s quite possible that I would have enjoyed it more if I weren’t extremely full).

I was pretty much ready to tap out, though I did see a place called A La Table handing out what appeared to be fruit cups, which I figured I could handle.

This turned out to have a bunch of cheese and crackers in there, along with the fruit. I’m not sure who would order this or why, but hey, it exists if that’s your thing.

And that was pretty much that. There were a few more places I wish I could have tried (most pressingly: Ryu’s Noodle Bar, which serves some of the best ramen in the city), but alas, I only have so much stomach space.

(I was thinking about making a Schindler’s List “I could have eaten more” joke, but you know what? I’m too classy for that.)

Delicious Sandwiches at Mattachioni

Published on May 23, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1617 Dupont Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.mattachioni.com/mattachioni-west

I previously tried the mortadella sandwich at Mattachioni and found it to be thoroughly delicious. Well, clearly this place knows their way around a tasty sandwich, because I just tried a couple more and they were both extremely tasty.

First up is the porchetta, which is as simple as it gets — it’s just a whole bunch of sliced porchetta on toasted sourdough. If the porchetta itself weren’t so good, this might have been too simple, but the tender, herby, and intensely flavourful pork shines brightly enough to not need any accompaniments.

The bread is great too, though it might have been a bit too aggressively toasted; I don’t think bread that good needs that level of crunchifying, not to mention the fact that it was so toasty that it was difficult to eat without wrecking the inside of your mouth.

I also tried the S. Marcobruno: “Tuna in olive oil, Egg, Tomato, Arugula, Radicchio,
Pickled red onion, Lemon.” I liked both sandwiches, but I think this one was the superior of the two, with a great balance between the meatiness from the tuna and richness from the egg, punched up with some delightfully zippy flavours. The bread was untoasted, and the quality level of the sourdough here is so high that I think that’s the way to go.