Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.
Location
: 4186 Finch Avenue East, Scarborough
Website: https://fushi.co/

Fushi Co. mostly caught my eye thanks to the photos of the pork and rice they have posted in the window of their restaurant, which reminded me a lot of a mind-blowing pork dish I had in Taipei.  That was back in 2019, and I still occasionally think about it.  I’ll be sitting there minding my own business, and boom, I’m thinking about that pork.  It was magical.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

The dish I had here was a bit more deluxe — I could have had the one which just comes with braised pork knuckle, which I believe would have pretty much been identical to the one from Taiwan.  But the “Signature Four Happiness Pork” comes with pork knuckle, pork belly, a bone with a decent amount of meat attached, and intestines.  Why yes, I would like all the pork.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

Is it too much pork?  I think it’s too much pork.  Certainly, it’s more pork than any reasonable person should eat in one sitting.  But did I eat it all?  You bet I did.  Did I feel good about it after?  I sure didn’t!

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

It’s quite tasty.  All the pork is reasonably tender (even the intestine, which has none of the chewiness or gaminess you might expect), and the deeply savoury flavour is very satisfying.  I wish there had been some kind of hot sauce or chili oil to kick things up, but such is life.

Pork Overload at Fushi Co.

It’s not even remotely as good as the Taiwanese pork of my dreams (that was legitimately one of the best things I’ve ever eaten), but it’s still an enjoyable dish.  Plus, at 15 bucks for enough rice and meat to comfortably feed two, it’s a great deal.

Tasty Drinks at Yomie’s Rice X Yogurt

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt
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.

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt

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

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt

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.

Tasty Soup at Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef

Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef
Location
: 3380 Midland Avenue, Scarborough
Website: None

Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef is a great under-the-radar Chinese restaurant; they’ve got a whole bunch of tasty looking noodle dishes on the menu (not to mention a lamb bun that it seemed like most of the other tables were ordering — I’ll have to come back to try that one), but their specialty is paomo, a delicious lamb soup.

Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef

They serve a regular version and a spicy version; I went with the spicy version.

The thing that makes this dish stand out are the chopped-up pieces of flatbread interspersed throughout.  They’re kinda like very thick, chopped up noodles; they have a great amount of chewiness to them (they’re not soggy or mushy at all) and bring the soup a ton of personality.

Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef

The bowl is also crammed with a generous amount of sizable pieces of tender lamb.  It’s a hearty soup, that’s for sure.

Tang Home Style Lamb and Beef

As for the broth, it’s mildly spicy and has a very zesty, slightly sweet flavour.  I liked it on its own, but it really comes alive once you add some of the smoky chili oil that’s on the table.

An Amazing Croissant at La La Bakeshop

An Amazing Croissant at La La Bakeshop
Location
: 3272 Midland Avenue, Scarborough
Website: https://www.lalabakeshop.ca/

La La Bakeshop is a thoroughly delightful bakery that melds French and Vietnamese flavours, mostly through its assortment of Asian-inspired croissants (though they do have several other cakes and desserts, and everything looked great).

I went with the condensed milk croissant, which certainly isn’t a taste combo that I would have thought of.  But oh man.  It was insanely delicious.

An Amazing Croissant at La La Bakeshop

Mostly, it’s the croissant.  There are roughly a billion bakeries in the GTA where you can find a croissant, but most of them aren’t much better than okay.  Frequently, the texture isn’t quite right, or they’re not buttery enough, or they’re not fresh enough, or they’re just… not good.

An Amazing Croissant at La La Bakeshop

The croissant here was remarkable.  Perfect texture — it’s super flaky and crispy, with just the right level of tenderness and heft on its interior.  Great buttery flavour.  Legitimately one of the best croissants I’ve had in the GTA.

An Amazing Croissant at La La Bakeshop

It’s filled with a pretty generous amount of gooey, oozy condensed milk, and you’d think it would be too sweet, but somehow, it isn’t.  The croissant and the condensed milk work so well together that I’m shocked I’ve never seen this combination before.  It would be a tasty combo with even a lesser croissant, but with a croissant of this quality?  It’s a contender for the best pastry in the GTA.

Hot and Fresh Mochi Doughnuts at LaMochi

LaMochi
Location
: 3272 Midland Avenue, Scarborough
Website: https://lamochisweets.com/

Though I’ve had a decent amount of mochi doughnuts in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever had one that was hot and fresh out of the fryer like they serve at LaMochi, and let me tell you: it was delightful.

LaMochi

I ordered the black sesame doughnut, which comes with a decent amount of a sweet, mildly nutty sesame glaze.  It complemented the slightly chewy doughnut quite well.  But the freshness of the doughnut was the star of the show.

LaMochi

I don’t know if they always serve them this way or if I just got lucky, but it was so good.  You can’t go wrong with basically anything that’s freshly fried, and that’s definitely true here.  The exterior was lightly crispy from the fryer, and the inside was fluffy and warm.  The distinctive chewiness was there, but a bit less pronounced than your standard mochi doughnut (I’m guessing the mochi’s chew-factor becomes more pronounced as it cools).