T.O.bites | Toronto Food & Restaurant Blog

I’ve always wanted to try first class on an airplane.  My friend Kate once regaled me with her adventures in the sky flying first class from Australia.  She was pampered with unlimited wine, a first class meal, a chair that automatically converts into a bed, and a complimentary massage.  I can’t really fathom shelling out triple or more beyond the economy price just to fly in style.  Heck, it’s more about the destination than the actual journey in some cases.

That said, in April VIA Rail had a promotional sale where you could go to Montreal, Ottawa, or anywhere else nearby and save up to 60% off.  So for pretty much the price of a regular economy ticket, I was able to snag a ticket in VIA’s Business Class (formerly known as Via 1 Class) for my trip to Montreal this past June.  Right when you first arrive to the station, you’ll notice the difference in classes right away.  First, you get access to the Via Rail Panorama lounge which is a waiting area that has complimentary wifi, free coffee, tea and drinks contained inside of a mini fridge, and sometimes the odd snack or two.  You can go up to about an hour before your train departs but on the way back from Montreal I went in about two hours before my departure and had no problems.  I think the sweet part of the lounge deal is that you get to sit on a nice chair before you leave and you don’t have to worry about lining up.

About an hour into your journey, you’ll be given a menu where you get to choose your main course.  The selection usually includes meat, fish, or some alternative.  I do believe they have a vegetarian option but you may need to request it in advance.  For my return trip, I chose the turkey served with mashed squash.

Before your food arrives, you’re given a small bag of pretzels or “urban mix” which is pretty much just salty chip.  Much like in airplanes, they usually serve a few salty snacks before they start serving drinks so that the alcohol doesn’t hit you as hard if you have an empty stomach.

When the food arrives, you’re first given a finely chilled tray with your dessert and appetizer on it.  That day’s dessert was sort of a mango pudding pie which was quite excellent.  The mango filling was nice and puree’d and didn’t appear to be instant pie mix.  I usually eat my dessert after my main course so it was difficult to abstain myself from eating the pie before my dinner came.  It just kept staring at me with those mango chunks on top saying “eat me”.

The appetizer was roast beef and potato salad with bacon chunks in it.  The dressing was a little on the weak and bland side but at least the potatoes were thoroughly cooked.  To be honest, I like my potato salad to be nice and mayonnaise’d up, so I’m sure people who aren’t as accustomed to over-flavoured salads would fine this one to have just the right balance of flavour.  The roast beef was excellent.  Not chewy at all and had a nice beef gravy on top of it.

The main course comes about half an hour later after they’ve refilled your drinks and taken away the appetizer plates.  The plates come piping hot like they were freshly made (or freshly reheated given the amount of space on these trains).  The turkey was nice and soft, and literally melted in your mouth.  I’m actually surprised because given that this meal was probably prepared hours earlier, it was actually like something you’d get from a nice downtown restaurant.

I would recommend trying out the VIA business class experience at least once.  Given the usual high price of it, I wouldn’t recommend taking it both ways if you’re as cheap as me, but it is a nice way to end your long trip so I do recommend you take it on your way back so you can relax and have a nice meal on the way home.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many different cities across many different continents and oceans. I’m always curious about food from local places around different cities, and sometimes I’m even inclined to see how different the menu is at McDonald’s in China. So begins the first of my very own Foodventures on T.O.bites. Could I haven come up with a better cliche? Probably not.

I spent the past week in New York City, or Manhattan if you want to narrow it down. I’ve had the pleasure of being to Manhattan before, but this is the first time I’ve gone knowing that I can update my food blog when I return. During my hunt for an iPad (yes, they were sold out practically everywhere) and lining up in the standby lines for performances, I walked the streets of New York looking for that special place that New Yorkers proudly call their own Fran’s (or Caplansky’s, or Canoe’s, or Terroni… do you see where I’m getting with this?) Unfortunately, I can’t say I ever found out, but most midtown working New Yorkers swear by their hot dog stands.

Craving a hot dog, I came across a place not far from the NYU campus sitting on Bleecker St called New York Hotdog & Coffee. It’s not the blending of hot dogs and coffee that stands out. It’s the fact that they add bulgogi on top of your dog!

It’s a Korean run hot dog store where not only do you have the choice of bulgogi, but you can also put BBQ chicken, and even kimchi on top of your dog. Add $2 and you get your choice of fries, chips, or frozen yogurt with a drink. It’s amazing how something so simple as adding Korean meat on top of your dog can make it so great. I ordered the fries with my dog, but I’m going to say that you’d probably be better off going with the frozen yogurt. The fries were incredibly greasy but had a sand-like texture from the potatoes in the middle.

The next stop is a restaurant that’s right at home on Broadway by Times Square.  Fitting to it’s location, Ellen’s Stardust features singing waitstaff who are more than eager to serve and serenade you with their chords.  If you thought the singing cooks and cashiers at Lick’s was overdone, then you may want to visit Stardust with an open mind.  The staff each take turns belting out a tune as they walk around the place.  It’s actually quite in your face, but that’s what makes it enjoyable.  On the downside, if you want a glass a water and it’s your server’s turn to sing, you’re going to have to wait until after the song.

I read in a local magazine that the meatloaf at Ellen’s is pretty decent so I decided to try it myself.  I like that it was served with broccoli as a side.  I grow tired of places that serve meatloaf with carrots so seeing some green veggies was a nice surprise.  The meatloaf had gravy all over it which added to the taste.  It wasn’t the best meatloaf ever (as that title goes to Sara’s homemade meatloaf) but it was pretty decent.  It also came with a side of mashed potatoes which were real potatoes, not the dehydrated boxed kind.

On my last night, I was going to be around the upper west side area of Manhattan to see a performance at Juilliard.  I made a request at a local forum to see where students who attending Juilliard usually go to eat, and the majority of them agreed that Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grille was the place to check out.  When you first enter Ollie’s, you’re in the take out seating area which resembles a food court cafeteria.  It’s there for those who just want to pay for their food, eat it, and quickly head back out again.  Oddly, there was a wall inside there with about 15+ bicycles parked there.  Since when I went, the place appeared to be somewhat dead, I’m guessing the bicycles must have been owned by the staff.

Around the back is the dine in area which is also quite huge and fancy.  I was told that the orange chicken was the best thing to order.  There was a selection of a few dim sum plates, but it was a tiny selection compared to the dim sum we have here in Toronto (literally just a few BBQ buns and tapioca pudding.  Darn, no mango pudding.)  The orange chicken was not bad at all.  It was sweet but had a nice spicy kick to it, much like the popular General Tao’s Chicken of Not Just Noodles.  Everything else was a little lacking compared to the excellent chinese restaurants we have in our downtown chinatown.

I can hear your questions already so I plan to address them now:

1.  Yes, I did get an iPad.  I was hinted off from an employee that there *might* be a shipment coming in a few hours, so low and behold, they had iPads.  I arrived back just in time too as they only had a few left out of 200+ that they received merely a few hours ago.  These things are flying off the shelves in the US and with good reason; they’re great.  Infact, 80% of the above post was typed out on said iPad during the trip home.

2. Yes, there are Tim Horton’s in New York.  They’re not as established there as they are in Toronto, but they are there, and they are expanding as I walked by a few places that were under renovation with a “Tim Horton’s coming soon” sign on them.  They’ve got the same things we’ve got here in Canada but there didn’t appear to be any rolling up of the rims.  I doubt they’ll ever take over the Starbucks’ that sit on every corner, but Tim’s and Bucks are the apples and oranges of the coffee world but I do think Dunkin Donuts has some heavy competition moving in.

3. No!  I did not eat the Double Down sandwich from KFC.  They were launched the day after I arrived and I saw people ordering them but I believe it was more for the novelty of trying it out than anything else. Ok. I’m going to say it.  Double Down is one of the many reasons why companies like Jenny Craig still exist.  There, I said it.

I recently came back from a nearly month long trip to China, or rather the People’s Republic of China.  It also included a trip to Hong Kong, known globally for some of the best eating in the world.  Surprisringly, the number one question I get asked by friends isn’t “How was the Great Wall?” nor “How bad was the pollution in Beijing?”.  It’s actually “Did you have any McDonald’s while you were there?  How different is it from the McDonald’s here?”

Ah, McDonald’s.  The golden arches  are the most popular and internationally recognized logo, as far as fast food is concerned. Now mind you, China (Hong Kong especially) has some of the finest cuisine you can consume.  Even after eating some of the worlds best Dim Sum and Peking Duck for weeks on end, it’s comforting to know that you can always find a McDonald’s around the corner when you’re seeking a bit of a reminder of home.  Before going to China, I started hearing stories of McDonald’s only having Crab Burgers, or Shrimp fries.  This may sound quite delicious to most people, but having a shell fish allergy, it was bad news to me.  Thankfully for me, that was not the case, at least not in China.

The fries were exactly the same, and all of the combos came with them.  The standard fare of drinks were present (Coke, Sprite, Diet Coke) but they did have a few more options, mainly being fruit sodas.  These concoctions were soda water mixed with a bit of fruit flavoring (mainly Mango, being the most popular fruit in Asia), but they also contained chunks of said fruit in the bottom of the cup.  They were delicious and fruity yet not too sweet like Coke and Sprite.  I only wish we had these types of fruit soda drinks on our own side of the world.

McDonald’s has the same favorites we know and love here:  The Big Mac, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, McNuggets, Fish Filet, McChicken Sandwich…  But what we don’t have is the extra chicken options they have.   You can get a grilled chicken sandwich which is marinated in teriyaki-like sauce,  and you can also get chicken wings.  Yes, chicken wings!  Not the best chicken wings I’ve had but a nice alternative to the usual boot-shaped Chicken McNuggets.  Going back to the grilled chicken sandwich, it was recommended to me by the cashier, as she said it was one of China’s most popular sandwiches from McDonald’s, and she wasn’t kidding.  Nearly every table had the sandwich on it, clearly distinct with it’s light blue wrapping, not unlike the Filet o’ Fish wrappings here.  She said the beef sandwiches aren’t as popular and mostly foreigners buy them.  I can’t say I was too thrilled with the grilled chicken sandwich though.  It was incredibly slimy and greasy, not to say that the beef burgers aren’t, but I just felt for a grilled chicken, it just seemed too greasy and less grilled.

Now for dessert, there’s the usual sundaes like we have, and then there’s the pies.  In Canada we’ve got Apple and Strawberry, although the 2nd flavour usually changes from time to time.  I’ve never been to a McDonald’s which doesn’t serve apple pie though.  In China, they’ve got Egg Pie, Mango Pie, and Appl– wait, no Apple Pie?!  That’s right!  They’ve just got Egg Pie and Mango Pie.  Chinese people love their eggs as much as they love their mangos!

I only had a chance to try the mango pie while I was there, but I’m slightly indifferent to the experience of eating one.  Unlike our apple pies, which contain chunks of apples within them (whether the apples are real or not is up for debate, right alongside the french fries aren’t made from potatoes debate), the mango pies contain a pure mayonnaise consistency filling in them.  It sort of tastes like candy mangoes, incredibly sweet but not too tangy.  What it did actually remind me of was the taste of the liquid banana penicillin I was given as a child.

As for the prices, they were a bit cheaper then here but only by a few dollars.  $32HKD/$30RMB nets you a full combo (which is roughly $4.50 Canadian).  Also they don’t pay taxes on food in China so the price you see is the price you pay.  You may also notice the fries and drink sizes in the photo.  There are no supersize sizes in China, their large is about the size of our medium, and that’s about as big as the fries get.  For the drinks, you get a medium (as seen above) which is the size of small in Canada.  Their large size drinks only get as big as our mediums.  One thing about China is they love their tea and non-sweetened drinks way more than westerners do.  So their sweeter soft drinks tend to come in smaller sizes and cost a bit more than usual.

So how different is the McDonald’s in China?  Actually, not that different at all.  It’s got all the usual tasty yet so unhealthy goodness that we’ve come to expect, but with a nice cultural flare of magoes and slimy chicken.

Being amongst many grad students, I’m often finding hanging out with them for study sessions, where I other work on my many websites or my own assignments.  Many times, my friends like to group up and head out for late night studying together as the night time provides less distractions.  Without the sun shining, you feel less guilty staying inside keeping your eyes glued to your textbooks.

The most suitable places for latenight studying would have to have food (of course!), free wi-fi internet, power outlets for our laptops, and be open late.  Fortunately, living in downtown Toronto, we do have a few options…

Name: Tim Hortons
Location: Many but I’m talking about the Bay and Wellesley one
Hours: Most are 24 hours
Amenities: Food, Coffee
Would Recommend: Yes, great if you’re just reading as they have bright lights and it’s not too loud there.  But no plugs or internet.

Unfortunately, you’ll see they’re missing both power outlets and internet, but the place does have a fair amount of tables with somewhat comfortable seats.  At the location I usually go to, they have a whole row of booth seats with cushioned backs which make sitting for long periods much easier.

And it’s Tim Hortons so you know what to expect food wise.  Addictive coffee, scrumptious cookies, and delicious doughnuts to name a few.  One of the downsides with going later is they usually run out of most food items.  I’ve only been able to get a baguette sandwich 1 out of the 5 times I’ve came after midnight.

So if you don’t need internet or power outlets to power your electronic devices, then feel free to hop down to your local 24 hour Tim Hortons.

Name: 7 West Cafe
Location: 7 Charles St (near Yonge and Charles)
Hours: 24 hours
Amenities: Food, wifi internet, and some outlets
Would Recommend: Probably not, as it seems the servers don’t really like us studying there.  Plus it’s really dark and loud.

7 West was recommended to me by a friend who stated they have free internet, and plugs.  Name aside, this is more like a restaurant though, and less a cafe.  There’s loud club music played in the background, and servers will come asking you if you need anything every 5 to 10 minutes.  They also do frown upon those who plan to go there just to study.

I went there once with a friend to buy some of their famous caramel cheesecake, and get in a bit of studying, but after about 40 minutes or so of having our notebooks out (finding a table with outlets as an ordeal in itself) we were asked by the server to keep our stay no longer than another 20 minutes unless we planned on ordering more food.

My other friends have had better luck and were able to sit there for about 3 hours between the hours of 2am to 5am, and weren’t really harassed by the servers about their studying.  It’s probably not the best place to choose to get some studying in if you plan on staying for a long time.  On the other hand, the food here is great, and these guys are due for a T.O. Bites review.

Name: Golden Griddle
Location: A few around the city but the one I haunt is at Carleton and Church
Hours: 24 hours
Amenities: Food, wifi internet, and outlets
Would Recommend: Yes, and the servers are student friendly!  It’s somewhat bright in some areas, and the music isn’t too loud.

Golden Griddle, a hot student study spot?!  Well, yes!  They have decent food fairly prices, lots of outlets, free wifi, and tons of seating space so you can usually find your own little corner.  The overnight servers are pretty friendly, and if you tell them that you’re there to study, they’re usually okay with it as long as you order at least a tea or a coffee.

The downside is that Carleton and Church isn’t one of the friendliest areas of the city.  4 out of 5 times, when I leave the place I’ll get asked by someone for change, or get hassled verbally if I don’t respond.  Also, I’ve seen a bike stolen right before my eyes, which I promptly reported.  I’m used to seeing this, as I’ve lived in the city my whole life, but for someone new from out of town, this could be a bit intimidating.  It wouldn’t hurt to travel with a study buddy.

Just make sure even if you’ve only ordered a coffee, please tip these guys at least a twoonie.  Working overnight at a shady area of the city really sucks, and these guys deserve a tip.

Name: Futures Bakery & Cafe
Location: 483 Bloor St W (in the Annex near Bloor and Bathurst)
Hours: 7:00 AM – 2:00AM
Amenities: Food and outlets
Would Recommend: Yes, as long as you don’t need internet and don’t mind loud music.  It is a little dark there for reading, though.

This place would easily be the spot for late night studying if it wasn’t for only being open until 2am, and having no internet. Oddly, I have seen people using the internet there, but I couldn’t find an open access point.  It’s possible that they’re using someone elses locked network.

Futures has great food; some of the best desserts and they usually have a student special on food if you’re a U of T student card holder.  On the downside, they’re usually packed right up until closing, and it’s pretty loud there.  Finding a seat near some outlets might be a little bit tough.

Keep in mind, they do close at 2AM as well.  If you plan on pulling an allnighter, expect to get kicked out early.