sandwich – Page 35 – Michael Eats

Japanese Domination Continues at Koi Koi Sake Bar

Published on July 30, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 170 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.koikoibar.com/

Joining places like Little Pebbles, Sakoshi Mart, and Millie Creperie, the Japanese domination of this stretch of Kensington Market continues with Koi Koi Sake Bar, which features a tasty selection of Japanese eats. I, for one, welcome our new Japanese overlords.

I tried a few things. First up was a nice little snack that every table gets by default. I meant to ask what these were and completely forgot, but they were crunchy, savoury, and a little bit sweet.

Next up was the katsu sando, which is a fried pork sandwich topped with a generous amount of mayo and tangy tonkatsu sauce, with some romaine lettuce for added crunch and freshness. It’s a solid sandwich, though the pork was overcooked (I had a hard time even biting through it in parts).

The miso nasu followed, which is a dish consisting of grilled, miso-glazed eggplant. It feels like it’s missing something (a crunchy counterpoint to the soft eggplant, perhaps?), but it’s enjoyable enough; it basically tastes like they distilled the flavour of miso soup into a glaze and then brushed it onto an eggplant.

The last dish was the bacon fried rice, which food writer David Ort called “possibly the best fried rice [he’s] ever had.” This is mostly what made me want to come here.

I’m not sure if it’s the best I’ve ever had, but it was definitely top-shelf fried rice, with a nice meatiness from the generous bacon and a satisfying level of crispiness from the fried garlic slices. The creamy mayo on top was a nice touch.

Cheap, Satisfying Eats at Ho Garden Chinese Restaurant

Published on July 27, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 9255 Woodbine Avenue, Markham
Website: None

If you’re looking for bang for your buck, you’re not going to do much better than Ho Garden, a delightful Hong Kong-style diner in Markham. I ordered the egg sandwich, which comes with a generous bowl of noodle soup with beef, and a mug of milk tea. The price? Seven bucks. Delightful.

I was a little bit skeptical about the egg sandwich, but aside from the fact that it’s a Hong Kong comfort food staple, a friend strongly recommended it.

I’ll admit it — I was wrong to be skeptical. It was surprisingly delicious.

It’s the definition of simplicity: it’s just a plain omelette served inside of crustless white bread. No mayonnaise, no condiments — just eggs, salt, and untoasted bread. Sounds way too plain, right? Wrong.

The eggs were fluffy, creamy, and perfectly cooked, and the slightly sweet, light-as-a-cloud bread complimented them perfectly. Considering its utter simplicity, it was shockingly good.

The noodles — which feature a generous amount of toothsome noodles in a flavourful, slightly spicy broth, topped with tender beef — were quite tasty as well, but it’s that egg sandwich that was clearly the star of the show.

Average Meatball Sandwich at Little DaiLo

Published on July 2, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 111 Richmond Street West, Toronto (in the Assembly Chef’s Hall)
Website: https://chefs-hall.squarespace.com/

Little DaiLo in the Assembly Chef’s Hall currently has a garlic sambal meatball sandwich on their menu. I just tried it; it was a meatball sandwich. The End.

I should write a few more words, I suppose. But there’s not all that much to say about it — despite the presence of napa slaw and garlic sambal, it’s a super run-of-the-mill meatball sandwich. It’s perfectly tasty, but there isn’t anything about it that stands out.

Well, that’s not strictly true: though it doesn’t add all that much flavour, the sambal has a pleasant kick that makes the sandwich a bit more fiery than the norm.

The other thing that should set it apart is the napa slaw, but aside from a mild crunch, you can’t even tell it’s there.

Other than that, the beef meatballs and the sauce were standard-issue (though the meatballs in a meatball sandwich can sometimes be a bit mushy and these had a nice texture, so I appreciated that). The sandwich is ostensibly Asian-inspired, but it tastes like what you’ll find at any number of Italian sandwich joints around town. It’s good, but nothing about it stands out.

My only real issue here is with the bread. It was cold and clammy. I wish it had been even lightly toasted (or at least warmed up somehow), but it was otherwise fine.

Mind-blowing Smoked Meat at SumiLicious

Published on June 28, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5631 Steeles Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: https://sumilicious.ca/

Holy crap, SumiLicious. Holy. Crap.

I knew I’d have to check the place out as soon as I read this thread on Chowhound. A new smoked meat place? Yes please. Started by someone who worked at the legendary Schwartz’s in Montreal for 18 years? You had me at “new smoked meat place,” but now I’m really sold. And it’s delicious? Buddy, I’m sold already, you can stop. I’m there.

I’m kind of glad this place is such a trek from where I live, because if it were nearby, I’d be there every single day. It’s smoked meat perfection.

I can’t emphasize this enough: the smoked meat sandwich at SumiLicious is absolutely magnificent. It’s the best smoked meat sandwich that I’ve had in ages. Certainly, it’s the best smoked meat in the city, and it stands side-by-side with any sandwich I’ve had in Montreal or New York. It’s ridiculously good.

The sandwich is a heaping tower of intensely flavourful, ultra-tender, hand-sliced goodness. It’s quite fatty, but that fat is so perfectly cooked it’ll make your knees buckle. It just melts in your mouth like unctuous, luxurious meat butter.

And the meat itself is almost absurdly tender, but retains enough texture that it never feels mushy. It’s perfect.

The flavour is really unique, too. It’s got enough of the classic smoked meat seasoning to be pleasantly familiar, but it’s also got its own thing going on; they’re obviously doing something a little bit different with the spice blend (but don’t ask me specifically what — I’m terrible at identifying spices).

It’s a bit less salty than your typical smoked meat, which lets the beef’s natural flavour shine through more than you’d expect. It’s something special, that’s for sure.

But I mean, don’t take my word for it. Just look at this close-up:

Sexy AF. Downright NSFW. And it’s just as good as it looks.

I also tried the coleslaw, which is a tad too sweet, but otherwise has a nice vinegary bite and is a good foil for the heavy sandwich.

Oh, and it’s delightfully affordable, too: it’s nine bucks (not including the coleslaw), and considering the quality and the sheer size of the sandwich, that’s a crazy deal.

Of course, the question is whether or not they can keep up this insane level of quality. The last couple of high-profile smoked meat joints in the city — Caplansky’s and Ben & Izzy’s — both started out great and then slowly (or not-so-slowly in the case of Ben & Izzy’s) went downhill.

I’m very, very curious to see if SumiLicious can continue to pump out smoked meat of this calibre in the coming months and years. I hope they do, but I’d advise you to go there now so that you don’t lose out on basking in its magnificence.

Egg BLT Bagel at McDonald’s

Published on June 15, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4333 Bloor Street West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.ca

I like McDonald’s. The place tends to get a bad rap, but if you’re craving something junky and quick, it (usually) hits the spot. I’m sure a childhood’s worth of nostalgia helps, but there’s always going to be a place in my life for the occasional visit to the Golden Arches.

That being said, the Egg BLT Bagel was super duper gross and you should absolutely never eat it.

I got it on a plain bagel, which was overly sweet and substantial. The egg was dry and overcooked, the bacon was paper-thin and soggy, the lettuce was so stingy that it may as well not have even been there, and the mayo overload meant it was impossible to eat without making a greasy mess. There just wasn’t a whole lot of flavour here, other than the sweetness from the bagel.

The tomato was okay, though, so… hooray for that, I guess?