seafood – Michael Eats

Tasty Eats at The Ex

Published on September 27, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 Princes’ Boulevard, Toronto
Website: https://www.theex.com/

Another year of the Ex, another batch of weird foods. A slightly smaller batch than I was hoping — I really wanted to try the pickle cheesecake on a stick, which seems like it should not exist and was therefore something I felt an odd compulsion to try. Alas, I couldn’t find the vendor that was serving it and eventually had to abandon that dream.

Fried lobster on a stick from Lobster on a Stick

This was actually one of the less odd new items at the Ex this year (there’s nothing particularly weird about it, aside from the inherent oddness of a luxury item like lobster being served at a carnival); it’s just a tempura-battered lobster tail on a stick. Still, aside from it being a bit tough, it was tasty, with the two sauces on the side (dill and garlic butter) being a nice complement.

Jamaican patty mini beef patty pierogies from Supreme Pierogi

Beef patties and pierogies aren’t necessarily a food I would have thought of cramming together, but hey, what do you know — this works. It’s essentially a pierogi exterior with beef patty filling. It’s lightly fried, giving it some texture. The slightly chewy wrapper works well with the Jamaican-spiced ground beef, and the filling is exactly what you’d find in a patty. This sounds weird in theory, but when you eat it, it makes complete sense.

Ramen-crusted frog legs from Farm to Fryer

This is maybe the weirdest-sounding item of the three I tried, and you know what? It was my favourite. I’m not entirely convinced that anything should be ramen-crusted (the ramen bits straddled the line between pleasantly crunchy and overly hard/dry), but the frog was freshly fried and very tender, with the texture of a good chicken wing. My expectation was that this would be cooked in advance and dry, so I was pleasantly surprised by how well-prepared it was (and the sweet chili sauce it was topped with was tasty).

I guess it was a good thing I couldn’t find the cheesecake, because I was three for three, and I can’t imagine pickle cheesecake would have been particularly palatable.

Great Sandwiches at Leslie’s Sandwich Room

Published on February 7, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 969 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.lesliessandwichrooms.com/

Leslie’s Sandwich Room is a great little sandwich shop on the east end. Pretty much every sandwich on their menu is something I want to try immediately, but I did manage to narrow it down to a couple.

Up first: The Cure (“focaccia, salmon, beets, horseradish dill mayo, rye croutons”). This was basically like an upscale tuna salad sandwich, with a really great flavour and texture on the salmon (and zero fishiness), and with some nice pops of flavour from the beets, not to mention the creaminess from the horseradish mayo. And the focaccia its served on works perfectly, with enough substance to hold up to the overstuffed sandwich, but not so much that it overwhelms.

The highlight here might have been the rye croutons, however. It never would have occurred to me to put croutons in a sandwich, but their satisfying crunchiness perfectly balances out the softness of the other components here.

I also tried La Bomba (“focaccia, roasted chicken, white American cheese, sriracha mayo, sweet pickles, spicy garlic bomba”). This was a really satisfying sandwich: meaty, cheesy, spicy, and profoundly rich. I kinda wished there was something here to cut the heaviness a bit (the pickles are presumably supposed to do that job, but they’re more sweet than zippy, and get a bit lost among the other flavours), but it was still a top-notch sandwich.

Tasty Hand Rolls at Hello Nori

Published on December 29, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 648 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.hellonori.com/

Hello Nori specializes in hand rolls — basically loosely constructed , uncut maki rolls –that they make in front of you and serve immediately. You wouldn’t think that would make that much of a difference, but the fact that the nori is still crispy when they give it to you is actually quite delightful.

It kind of reminds me of the onigiri they serve at variety stores in Japan, where the nori is wrapped on both sides to prevent contact with the rice until you eat it. Crispy nori and fluffy sushi rice turns out to be a great combo.

You can either order the rolls on their own (most of them are between six and nine dollars) or as a combo. I went with the four roll combo, which costs $23 and comes with negitoro (minced tuna and green onion), ora king salmon, snow crab, and spicy shrimp.

The negitoro was a bit oniony for me (raw onions are for jerks), but otherwise these were all thoroughly enjoyable. The rice was underseasoned, but then they do have soy sauce right in front of you at the bar; I think the expectation is that you’ll be dipping the rolls.

The salmon — which features big chunks of tasty fish — was probably my favourite of the bunch, but I liked them all.

I was worried four rolls might not be enough, but it was actually a pretty decent portion, at least for lunch.

Stellar Ramen at Ramen x Remix

Published on December 14, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 424 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://ramenxremix.com/

I feel like Ramen x Remix really deserves to be more popular. I’m going to assume (and hope) that they do better in the evenings, because I showed up for lunch on a Saturday, and the place was a complete ghost town. Based on the quality of ramen I was served, this is a crime. The place should be packed with a line out the door.

I ordered the Signature Yuzu Scallop Shio Consommé (“signature slow cooked clear chicken broth, pork and chicken chashu, clam meat, yuzu, lemon, sashimi grade torched scallop, pork shrimp wonton, menma, onions”) and it was absolutely fantastic.

It reminded me a lot of the ramen from Afuri. I liked that quite a lot, but I think this was even better.

The soup itself had such a clean chicken/seafoody flavour, with a subtle bright sweetness from the yuzu. A lot of ramen can be a real face-punch of flavour — and I love that, don’t get me wrong — but I really enjoyed how subtle this was. But it’s still complex enough that I wasn’t even close to sick of it by the time I got to the bottom of the bowl.

And everything else was great, from the super-tender pork and chicken to the sweet, fresh scallop and the noodles, which were nice and chewy. It’s a very tasty bowl of ramen.

Quick Bites: Apricot Tree Cafe, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Gouter

Published on July 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Apricot Breakfast from the Apricot Tree Cafe

The Apricot Tree Cafe seems to be quite well regarded, so maybe it’s just not my thing, but I got the Apricot Breakfast (“Smoked salmon, poached eggs, dill sour cream, Apricot Tree salad, toast”) and it mostly left me puzzled. Nothing on the plate was bad — in fact, the smoked salmon was actually quite good, and the eggs were well prepared, with a nice runny yolk. But none of the individual flavours particularly cohered in any meaningful way, so it basically just felt like random stuff on a plate. Also: the toast came unbuttered (with no butter on the side, either!), and get out of here with that.

Classic vanilla bundt cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes

True to their name, Nothing Bundt Cakes sells bundt cakes, bundt cakes, and more bundt cakes. They’re available in various flavours like chocolate, lemon, and red velvet (among many others), and they’re all topped with cream cheese icing. They have full-sized cakes, but their specialty seems to be smaller versions that are about the size of a very big cupcake. I went simple with the classic vanilla, and it was tasty enough. This place is apparently a chain with hundreds of locations, and yeah, that tracks. It basically tastes like if Little Debbie came out with a line of bundt cakes. I have a soft spot for junky treats like that, so I enjoyed it — but at about seven bucks per individual cake, it might be a bit overpriced for what it is.

Blueberry tart from Gouter

I had a raspberry croissant that I really did not care for the last time I visited Gouter; however, I just tried a blueberry tart from their Etobicoke location, and I think maybe they’re better than I gave them credit for, because the tart was quite good. The shortbread crust was buttery and had a nice texture, the custard filling was creamy and not too sweet, and the blueberries and crumble topping were thoroughly tasty.