Toronto – Page 46 – Michael Eats

Pizza and Gelato at Eataly in Sherway Gardens

Published on November 3, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.eataly.ca/stores/eataly-sherway-gardens/

The Eataly in Sherway Gardens has just opened, and while it isn’t quite as impressive as the downtown location (it’s roughly half the size at 25,000 feet, as per Toronto Life), it’s still an absolute must-visit for anyone who’s even vaguely into Italian food.

The selection there is absolutely massive, with all kinds of pantry items, fresh pasta, cheese, meat, and prepared foods. The prices, however, are serious business — looking at the price tags on the prepared foods, in particular, is not for the faint of heart. It’s all a bit below restaurant pricing for stuff you have to bring home and heat up yourself, so I guess it’s not too crazy if the food is really good. But I will admit that paying 16 bucks for one small serving of cold lasagna just feels wrong on a very fundamental level, even if it’s delicious.

(Or maybe I’m just a cheapskate.)

I tried a couple of things. They have a decent selection of pizza slices that you can either eat in the restaurant (though there are only a handful of tables at the moment) or take out. It’s a thick crust, Roman-style pizza, which is ideal in a grab-and-go setting since it reheats quite well. I got the margherita, and while nothing about it particularly stood out (the crust, in particular, is pretty bland), it’s a solid slice of pizza.

They had eleven flavours of gelato on offer; I went with the old standby, pistachio, and it was fine. This is a thoroughly insufferable complaint, but I was recently in Italy and was eating gelato on a daily basis, and what they’re serving here is basically trash compared to that.

That’s not fair, of course, but even compared to what’s available in Toronto, the gelato here is good, but not great. The pistachio flavour was a bit off (it definitely tastes like they’re using real pistachios, but I think they might be using flavouring as well), and the texture wasn’t quite as creamy as it should be.

A Satisfying Breakfast at A Bing – Chinese Crepe

Published on October 31, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 895 Bay Street, Toronto
Website: None

I mentioned recently that jian bing — a tasty Chinese crepe — used to be nearly impossible to find in the city, and is now delightfully common. Case in point: A Bing – Chinese Crepe, which is now the third place I’ve written about specializing in the Chinese breakfast dish.

The menu features several different versions with fillings like sausage, chicken, or bacon, but as far as I’m concerned, the classic is where it’s at.

I ordered the traditional style crepe: “egg, crisp fritter, green onion, cilantro, sauce.”

It was quite tasty, though the flavour was a bit muted; slightly more of the sweet sauce would have been welcome. Plus, this dish generally features a hot sauce of some sort, and that was completely absent here. I’m assuming I could have requested this, but they didn’t mention it and I didn’t think to ask. Next time.

The taste might not have been quite as vibrant as I would have liked, but the texture was dead-on. The contrast between the crispy fritter and the slightly chewy eggy crepe was absolutely delightful.

Delicious and Unique Ramen at Afuri Ramen + Dumpling

Published on October 29, 2023October 29, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 411 Church Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.afuriramen.com/

There are many, many ramen shops in the GTA, but I can say with a good amount of certainty that what they’re serving at Afuri Ramen is delightfully unique.

Their specialty seems to be the yuzu shio, which the menu describes as “shio tare, chicken broth, bamboo shoot, frisee, chashu, egg, nori, yuzu, thin noodles.”

It’s the yuzu (a clementine-esque fruit from Asia) that sets this apart; the light, chicken-infused broth has a distinctive citrus-zest brightness that really makes it sing (there’s also a tasty browned garlic flavour that rounds things out). It’s leagues apart from the typically heavy tonkotsu ramen that’s so common in Toronto, but no less delicious.

The toppings are (mostly) quite tasty, with the perfectly cooked egg having a delightfully savoury kick, and with the light bitterness of the frisee contrasting nicely with the slightly sweet broth. That’s not to mention the thin, chewy noodles, which complement the bowl perfectly.

The chasu is the one weak point; it’s fine, but it’s a bit tough, and nothing about the flavour particularly stands out. Still, everything else is so good that this barely even matters.

Decent Ice Cream Sandwiches at Ernie’s Icebox

Published on October 27, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 403 Jane Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.erniesicebox.com/

Fact: there is no such thing as a bad ice cream sandwich. Cookies + ice cream = delicious. That’s just science.

Which is to say that Ernie’s Icebox specializes in ice cream sandwiches, and they are, of course, good.

Unlike a place like Bang Bang that makes everything to order, the sandwiches are pre-made and kept frozen. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but holy moly do they ever freeze the hell out of these things. When they serve it to you, it’s the most frozen thing you’ve ever seen. It’s an impenetrable brick; basically impossible to eat.

I let it stand for about 15 minutes, and it was still rock hard. So I waited yet another 15 minutes, which was probably five to ten minutes too long; it was a bit drippy.

I ordered the peanut butter and jam, which features raspberry (I think?) jam-infused ice cream with chewy peanut butter cookies.

And again, it was good — scientifically, it was an inevitability — but I can’t say anything about it jumped out at me. The ice cream was a bit thin, and nothing about the PB and J combo particularly popped. It was tasty, but both the peanut butter and jam flavours were a bit too muted.

Great Filipino Brunch at BB’s

Published on October 26, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5 Brock Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs.bbs/

BB’s is a delightful Filipino joint that’s mostly known for their brunch, though they are open in the evenings on the weekend, serving… not brunch? I don’t know, they don’t have a website. Maybe it’s all day brunch? Who knows; go and find out!

What a useful blog post this is. Not a waste of your time at all.

What I can say with some level of certainty is that if you show up between 11:00am and 4:00pm between Friday and Sunday, you can brunch it up. Even more of a certainty: the food is delicious.

I ordered the BB’s Silog, which the menu describes as “breakfast plate w/ garlic rice, two fried eggs, atsara, & your choice of house made longanisa, corned beef hash, fried milkfish.”

It’s a seriously, seriously tasty breakfast. I went with the corned beef hash, which is exactly what you want it to be: it’s super tender, the flavour is great, and it’s got a bunch of delightfully crispy bits from the griddle. It also has a perfect ratio of perfectly-cooked potato cubes to meat, which is to say that it’s mostly meat, with a few little potatoes interspersed throughout.

I also tried the longanisa, which is basically a Filipino take on chorizo. This was great, with an interesting sweetness and a great meaty texture. I’m a big fan of sausages with a more rustic grind, and that was definitely the case here.

As for everything else on the plate, the garlic rice was, as advertised, extremely garlicky, with an intense browned-garlic flavour and an interesting texture (it’s reminiscent of Vietnamese broken rice). The eggs were perfectly cooked, and the atsara (pickled papaya) was a perfect zingy counterpoint to everything else on the plate.

The only odd note was the big dollop of ketchup, which could not have been more unnecessary or unwelcome here. I tried a bit on its own, and as far as I could tell it was just plain old Heinz. I’m not a ketchup hater, but there was absolutely nothing on this delicious plate that even remotely needed it.