Toronto – Page 71 – Michael Eats

Choices, Choices, and More Choices at The SOS

Published on November 26, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 118 John Street, Toronto
Website: http://sospasta.ca/

I know that this is an odd complaint that most people probably won’t agree with, but I’ll admit that restaurants that offer a million different combinations kind of bug me. If you’re going to do this, at least give me a few suggestions so I have an idea of what works well together. How am I supposed to know which sauces compliment which pasta varieties? And which toppings work best with those? I’m not a chef. Why are you getting me to do your job for you? Do you want me to come into the kitchen and cook my meal as well?

Which is to say that at The SOS they have 11 types of pasta, 10 sauces, 11 toppings, and absolutely no guidance on what goes best with what (at least not without asking the cashier and holding up the line like a jerk, which I didn’t particularly care to do).

Thankfully they have a daily special; on this particular day it was panko-crusted mac and cheese, which I obviously ordered.

It’s quite tasty. The pasta is perfectly al dente, and the sauce is incredibly rich and creamy, with a mild cheesy flavour. The crispy panko offers a nice bit of texture. It’s slightly underseasoned, and nothing about it rocked my world, but it’s a solid bowl of mac and cheese.

Extremely Spicy Noodles at Momofuku Noodle Bar

Published on November 21, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 190 University Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://noodlebar-toronto.momofuku.com/

After my recent disappointment with Canada’s so-called hottest burrito, I found myself craving extreme spice. That burrito was a complete buzzkill. You can’t get me all hyped up to eat something stupidly spicy and then serve a regular burrito with a little bit of hot sauce on the side. That’s not cool.

The ~~Very~~ Extremely Spicy Noodles at Momofuku Noodle Bar was just what the doctor ordered.

I knew it would be; I tried it a couple of years ago and found it to be quite tasty, but spicy enough that I needed a year or two to want to eat it again (especially when there’s so much good stuff on the menu at the Noodle Bar). But enough time had passed for me to go for round two.

It is definitely as advertised. It’s extremely spicy, but not so ridiculous that it’s inedible. It’s a very, very spicy dish, but it’s clearly designed to be delicious, and not to be something you’d only eat on a dare.

It’s an explosion of flavours; it’s spicy, garlicky, fermented, and funky. It also has that numbing heat from Sichuan peppercorns, which helps to balance out the extreme spice.

The explosive sauce and the chewy noodles are a great combo. Assuming you have a decent tolerance for spice, it’s seriously delicious (and the glass of soy milk that comes on the side does a decent job of cooling down the inferno in your mouth).

I also tried the hot cocoa soft serve, which the menu describes as “chocolate, coffee, ancho, cocoa cookie”; this wasn’t quite as good.

I think the main issue is that it’s clearly mislabeled — it tastes way more strongly of coffee than chocolate. It’s basically coffee ice cream with mild chocolatey undertones, and a surprisingly restrained level of sweetness.

I don’t particularly like coffee, but if you do I’m sure you’ll find this delicious. The ice cream has an amazingly smooth and creamy consistency, but the coffee flavour was way too intense for me.

Dumplings on Wheels at FeasTO

Published on November 20, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: It’s a truck, so check their Twitter
Website: http://www.feasto.ca/

FeasTO is a very single-minded food truck: they serve dumplings, dumplings, and more dumplings. It’s always a good idea to do one thing and do it well.

FeasTO definitely does it well.

I tried a couple of things: the Korean Chicken and the Chili Sesame Shrimp Wontons.

They were both quite tasty, though I think the shrimp was my favourite of the two. They were basically like the shrimp wontons you’ll find in a bowl of wonton noodle soup, with a tasty sauce that adds some zing.

It’s nicely cooked; the thin wrapper isn’t too mushy, and the shrimp is perfect.

I didn’t like the Korean fried chicken quite as much, but there certainly wasn’t anything wrong with it. It’s deep fried and crispy, and tossed in the type of sweet and spicy sauce you’ll find on Korean fried chicken.

The sauce is a bit more subtle than I’d like (or perhaps there just wasn’t enough of it) and the spice level was non-existent (this was an issue with both varieties), but I still quite enjoyed it.

Empty Instagram Bait at Taiyaki NYC

Published on November 19, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 128 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://taiyakinyc.com/

Taiyaki NYC is basically the same concept as Sukoi Desserts, in which a taiyaki (a Japanese waffle-like dessert in the shape of a fish) is filled with ice cream and other toppings.

It’s a dessert that’s tailor-made for Instagram; in fact, Taiyaki NYC even has a portion of their wall made entirely of flowers to make your photo really pop. I just wish they put in half as much effort to make the food pop.

It’s a dessert I should love. Ice cream is great. Taiyaki is great. Cramming those two things together should be a home run. And yet…

I went with the Mangonificient, which is supposedly one of their most popular flavours — it features a mango/vanilla swirl inside a custard taiyaki.

The ice cream is the biggest issue. It’s not good — it has a decent mango flavour, but it’s icy and thin. It’s topped with a cookie and a few tiny cubes of tasteless mochi on a stick. It looks impressive, but the taste is another story.

I will say, however, that the taiyaki itself is actually quite good. It’s nice and fresh, with a crispy exterior and a perfectly cakey/fluffy interior. They sell them on their own, which is clearly the thing to order. It probably won’t be much of a hit on social media, though, so what’s the point, right?

Authentic Ramen at Hakata Ikkousha Ramen

Published on November 18, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 247 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.ikkousha.ca/

I tend not to mention my travels too often on this blog, because:

That would get insufferable fast.
It’s generally not fair to compare a version of a dish in Toronto to its legit counterpoint thousands of miles away. There are so many reasons why it’s hard to perfectly replicate a dish outside of its home country, from the availability of ingredients to the pool of local chefs. That’s not to mention the psychological aspect; there’s something about being in a place that makes the food taste better. Of course the croissant you just had in Toronto isn’t as good as the one from the charming little bakery in Paris. That would be an uphill battle in so many ways.

However, in this case it can’t be helped; I’ve eaten the ramen at the original location of Hakata Ikkousha Ramen in Fukuoka, so it’s impossible for me not to make a very direct comparison.

Ikkousha serves Hakata ramen, a particularly rich variety of tonkatsu ramen that’s served with ultra-thin noodles.

Shockingly enough, the bowl they’re serving here is basically indistinguishable from the one I had in Fukuoka. I didn’t love it there and I don’t love it here, but the quality is about the same.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s quite tasty. But it’s a bit one-note in its porky intensity. Still, it has a somewhat roasty flavour that keeps things interesting.

The secret to this type of ramen (unless it’s exceptional, and this place isn’t exceptional) are the condiments. Particularly: pickled ginger and spicy pickled mustard leaf. Adding a generous amount of both of these condiments gives the bowl a nice zippiness that cuts through the rich broth quite nicely.

The rest of the bowl is (mostly) quite good. The egg is a $2 add-on, but it’s totally worth it; it’s perfectly cooked and very flavourful. The noodles, despite being very thin, have a nice bite to them and compliment the creamy soup perfectly. And the chashu was nice and tender, though it did have a mildly gamy/leftovery flavour.