Toronto – Page 40 – Michael Eats

Unique Chinese Food at Tangritah Kabab House

Published on December 17, 2023December 17, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 900 Rathburn Road West, Mississauga
Website: None

One of the things I like about living in Toronto is that not only is pretty much every country’s cuisine available to try (which I explore in another blog, 196 Plates — I think it might be about time to bring that one back), you can actually get so much more specific than that.

This place — which specializes in Uyghur cuisine — is a great example of this. “Chinese food” tends to be put under one enormous umbrella, but China is a huge country, and its food is wildly different from region to region.

I tried a few things here, and it was all extremely delicious. First up: a dish the menu only refers to as “fried meat.” I think it was beef, though it might have been lamb (if it was, it didn’t have much of a lamby flavour). Either way, it was super tasty, with a bunch of tender meat, nicely cooked onions, and a very cumin-tinged flavour that was extremely addictive.

Next up was the Tangritah Special Langmen, which is an Uyghur dish in which hand-pulled noodles are topped with stir-fried veggies and meat. The flavour here was a bit less distinctive than the fried meat, but the noodles had a really satisfying chewiness, and the veggies and meat were perfectly cooked (again, I’m not sure what the meat was, but I’m gonna say beef).

Finally, I tried the samsa, a bun filled with a mix of lamb and onions. This looks like it might have initially been crispy on its exterior, which would have been nice, but it was either steamed or microwaved to reheat and was soft throughout. Regardless, it was quite tasty.

Tasty Slices at Slowsouth Pizza

Published on December 14, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1588 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.slowsouthpizza.com/

Slowsouth is a delightfully unfussy pizza place that sells slices to go and whole pies, along with arancini, salads, and dessert. It serves the classic style of pizza you’ll find at chains like Pizza Pizza or Dominos, only much, much, much (much much much) better.

When I visited, they had four varieties of pizza on offer: standards like plain cheese, pepperoni, and vegetarian (topped with peppers, mushroom, tomato, etc.). I ordered the plain cheese, which they top with a couple of basil leaves post-heat.

It’s a solid slice of pizza: it’s got tasty sauce, quality cheese, a good proportion of ingredients, and the crust is fantastic. Their website says that they proof it for 72 hours, and yeah, it tastes like they’ve put a good amount of care into it.

I know a lot of people are all about the toppings, but for me, if you start with good dough and bake it well (which they definitely do here), then you don’t need a whole lot of ornamentation to make it sing. The crust here has a nice contrast of crispiness and chewiness, and the simple toppings complement it perfectly. It’s quite good.

Tasty Polish Doughnuts at Basket of Bread

Published on December 12, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2783 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke
Website: https://basketofbread.com/

Basket of Bread is a tiny little bakery on Lake Shore in Etobicoke; though they sell a small variety of breads and some imported grocery items from Eastern Europe, they specialize in Polish filled doughnuts called paczki.

According to Wikipedia, the two most traditional fillings are plum jam and rose petal jam, and both are options at Basket of Bread, along with other fillings like raspberry, strawberry, and Nutella.

I tried the plum and the rose, and they were both quite tasty, with a restrained level of sweetness that’s so far from the overly sweet sugar-bombs you’ll find at place like Krispy Kreme or Tim Hortons that it’s hard to believe that they’re even the same thing.

The doughnuts themselves are slightly more dense than the norm, and both fillings have a good balance of tartness and sweetness. The rose, in particular, was pretty interesting, with a pronounced rosewater flavour. I wish the filling were a bit more generous, but it’s a quality doughnut.

The McRib is Finally Back

Published on December 11, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2439 Steeles Avenue East, Brampton
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

The McRib! It’s back! Sort of — for some bizarre reason, McDonald’s has chosen to only bring it back to five random locations in the GTA, mostly in Brampton. But you know what? This is the first time in like a decade that the McRib has come back to Canada, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I seem to recall that the last time the McRib came back, it wasn’t as good as I remembered. But my McRib nostalgia is strong, so of course I had to try it again.

It’s good! I was wrong, it’s good. It helps that I got a freshly-prepared one — it was quite dry last time, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. It also helps that I ordered it without onions, and with extra pickles instead, and yeah, that’s the way to go. Raw onions are for jerks.

It comes absolutely slathered in a slightly smoky, sweet-but-not-too-sweet BBQ sauce, which is a pretty big part of its appeal.

Maybe I just got lucky and got a very well-prepared one, but I think is probably one of the better things on the McDonald’s menu. Hopefully it’s not another decade before they bring it back again.

Solid Noodle Soup at Kenzo Ramen

Published on December 10, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3337 Bloor Street West, Etobicoke
Website: http://www.kenzoramen.ca/

It’s hard to remember this now, but there was a time (not that long ago!) when ramen was actually pretty difficult to find in the GTA. And Kenzo is Toronto’s ramen OG; they opened their first location in 2002, and for quite a while, they were pretty much the only game in town if you wanted to sample ramen in the city.

Of course, these days it’s hard to go more than a few blocks without coming across a ramen joint, but Kenzo’s still around despite all the competition. So they must be doing something right.

And indeed, the bowl I had might not have been up there with the city’s best, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

They have a whole bunch of options, but the waiter mentioned that the King of Kings is their most popular, which is a spicy shio broth with an “assortment of stir-fried vegetables with ground pork, topped with charsu, egg, naruto maki, menma, wakame, green onion, nori.”

You can choose your spice level; I went with the spiciest, and it was indeed quite fiery.

The stir-fried vegetables are actually the most unique part; they give the whole bowl that distinctive stir-fried wok hay flavour, which makes it feel quite distinct. It actually kind of reminded me of a style of ramen called burnt miso ramen that I don’t believe you can find in the GTA.

The noodles were a bit on the soft side, and the broth lacked the complexity you’ll find in the best bowls of ramen, but overall it’s a tasty bowl of noodle soup.