Happy with my Pho Phuong order placed through Ritual. I liked the shrimp and coconut milk cakes and the rice flour rolls. I didn’t like their crab and egg cake much. I am fussy about crab.
You meant to say ‘crabby about crab’, right?
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Touché.
I think the crab used was frozen or canned, and maybe some offal was mixed in. I don’t know.
I love love love good crab, but rarely order it in Toronto.
Tried Naija Jollof, the Parliament location of a West African mini-chain in the GTA. We have only tried a handful of West African places, so we don’t have much experience for comparisons. The food was very flavourful, but the meat was tough and often dry. Anything collagen-filled was not slowly braised, leaving it very chewy. The prices are surprisingly high, with dishes being in the $20-30 range.
We tried the chicken with jollof rice and fried plantain, except they were out of plantain.
The chicken was tasty and had good kick, but was tough and dry. The rice had good flavour, although seemed likely converted.
Another selection was the egusi with fufu (pounded yam). This is a stew that includes squash seeds, cow skin, offal, smoked dried fish, mushrooms, and greens. It had a rich and many-layered flavour. But you have to like very chewy offal. The fufu was a neutral starch to mop up the flavours.
And the efo riro was a very differently-flavoured vegetable stew, featuring spinach, pieces of tripe, and some very tough pieces of mystery meat.
Overall the flavours were really interesting and different. However I preferred Suya Spot for its smokier jollof rice and its more palatable meat.
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The Heaven on Earth at Piri Piri Grill is a nicer version than Golden Wheat Bakery’s version. I suspect the Golden Wheat version contains something like Cool Whip.
Tonight’s take-out was a lentil and turnip dish from Gia,
Rapini
And unpictured charred romanesco.
It was fine. I prefer the vegetable dishes at Bar Vendetta and Beast Pizza, which also offer take-out. I suspect Gia’s pastas and maybe polenta are its star dishes.
I enjoyed take-out pasta with pork bolognese, pumpkin nduja pizza, broccoli side and carrot sides from Beast Pizza on Saturday.Beast Pizza [Toronto]
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I picked up a Thai Iced Milk Tea ($5.50) , green curry tofu ($16.50) and mango salad ($8) at Salad King today.
The Salad King on Queen W has a couple dishes that have different recipes than the Salad King on Yonge. The green curries on Queen W have a more nuanced green curry flavour, according to the owner.
The mango salad is more of a tangy version than some other places, light on the fish sauce. There may be mango juice in the dressing.
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Checked out Parallel Basta in Kensington Market. I like it!
This is the Sabich Hummus plate ($19) and butter bean salad ($4). I requested vegetables instead of pita.
Have you tried Afrobeat Kitchen? That has been our top Nigerian spot so far but admittedly we’ve only tried a handful of places. Prices are around the $20 range too but the specials are even more. We will have to return to try the specials when we have more people to share.
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Thanks. Happy to give it a try as we haven’t sampled widely either.
Take-out dim sum from Wok Theory, recommended by a chef friend. Excellent. Roughly same price point as Rol San, busy but not too crowded, and no line. More space between the tables . Nice owner and staff. Food was ready in 20 minutes.
Also, it’s wheelchair accessible, with restrooms on the main floor. Just west of Spadina on Dundas.
I haven’t been to any of the fancier places lately, so can’t compare. This is a 15 minute walk for me, and I enjoyed the shrimp and chive dumplings and ham sui gok/ 鹹水角 as much as the dim sum at Pearl Harbourfront.
I also tried an omelette rice flour roll, which I haven’t noticed elsewhere. It was fine but I like other fillings more. I think the dim sum at Wok Theory is more to my taste than my most recent orders at Rol San (before their move across Spadina, in 2022) or Sky Dragon (Aug 2019)
My friend also recommends the vegetarian eggplant hot pot served at dinner time.
Very good roasted chicken from Alimentari’s hot table tonight. $19 and change. Better than any recent grocery store rotisserie chickens I’ve purchased, and better than my most recent Sanagan’s roast chicken. (That coming from a Sanagan’s fan girl)
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Actually did Wok Theory and Pearl Yorkville back to back last week and in terms of food, slight edge to Pearl Yorkville. Wok Theory has better value. But at the end of the day, still don’t find them that refined and can’t say I have tried a really good one here in Toronto yet
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I’m not expecting refined in Chinatown, I’m expecting Hit the Spot!
I think there are at least 5 levels of dim sum.
2 fancy levels: the level where people drive 45 minutes out of their way level, which would have been Yang’s for me around 2009, and the expensive downtown level with cloth tablecloths which includes Pearl. I haven’t tried Moon Palace yet.
I put Wok Theory in the fantastic (really good for me) for Chinatown level, ahead of the decent for Chinatown level, and the cheap fill your belly level.
There’s no accounting for taste, so your experiences and rankings could be completely different than mine!
I also do not go north of Bloor to eat, and haven’t been to Scarborough for food since 2018, so location is something that sets limits for the dim sum I’m ordering.
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So sad, you’re missing out on some excellent food 
I ordered take-out Ukrainian food tonight:
cheese chebureck (fried hand pie, hadn’t thought about it before today, that the word chebureck/ cheburek is related to or borrowed from Yugoslavian burek/Turkish borek/ Israeli bourekas etc),
sauerkraut bun,
borscht,
and perogies from the Heavenly Perogy
Everything tasted good. The prices seem steep for the food, considering the restaurant is run from a church basement. I still like it .
My meal came to just under $40 including tax and tip.
I thought there would be plenty of leftovers. I’ll probably finish the 4 perogies and half Chebureck later tonight.
I like Heavenly Perogy.
Cafe Polonez on Roncesvalles provides a little more bang for the buck, if you’re looking for a perogies and borscht dinner.
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Good fried spring rolls and pork meatball vermicelli bowl from Ca Phe Rang on Spadina near Richmond. I’ll be back to try more.
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Man of Kent beef and ale pie (ordered take-out but ate it outside). I was really happy with the Scotch Egg and this pie. I will be back soon for take-out.
Take-out momos
Beef momos and potato momos from Loga’s Corner ($9 for 10 momos), and beef momos from Tashi Delek on Jameson ($8.99 for 10 momos, the momos at the bottom of photo). The Loga’s beef momos had cumin. The Despak beef momos had more garlic and the beef filing was more tightly packed. We preferred the Loga’s beef momos. Loga’s Corner’s potato momos were spicy and the filling was curried.
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Another dinner from Café Polonez .
Tonight, I ordered one borscht with mushroom dumplings ($8.50), pork schnitzel with mushrooms main ($23.95), a side of perogies ($5.95 upgrade to a main), potato pancake stuffed with pork goulash main ($22.95) and lecso with beans main ($18.95). Each main comes with a container of 3 prepared vegetables. Rye bread and butter was also included.
Happy with everything. This meal came to around $100 including tax and tip.
The lecso with beans.
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We had noticed Casa Manila open on the Danforth sometime during the pandemic and added it to our long to-try list. We then heard that Suresh Doss and one of the chefs from Lake Inez are fans, so we got around to trying them for takeout recently. We really don’t know Filipino food that well, but overall the food had rich and interesting flavours.
Tamarind Soup (Sinigang) - we went with the vegetable version with imported dried tamarind (no MSG), garlic, onions, tomatoes, bokchoy, okra, daikon, Asian eggplant, and green beans. The broth was tangy and vibrant and great for a cold night.
Atchara Pickled Papaya Slaw - made with young papaya, carrots, ginger, raisins, and red pepper. This was fun, not too vinegary, and a nice contrast to the richer dishes below.
Adobo Tofu, Green Beans & Eggplant - adobo sauce, tofu, eggplant, green beans, and a blend of spices. Complex sweet sauce with a bit of tang.
Peanut-Garlic Beef Stew (Beef Kare-Kare) - beef in peanut garlic sauce, with eggplant, green beans, and bokchoy - rich nutty flavour, with a highly umami fermented shrimp paste as a condiment.
Seafood Noodles (Pancit Palabok) - rice vermicelli dish with a sauce made from boiled shrimp heads and shells, topped with shrimp, squid, fish flakes, chicharon, boiled egg, fried garlic, and green onions. A riot of flavours and textures, and very, very rich.
Ube layer cake with ube halaya inside and a buttercream icing. Eye catching, but a bit dry and ho-hum.
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