Go For Tea… Part II

Taro Slush with Popcorn Chicken Rice

Now, I know Jon already did a review of Go For Tea here, but since I ordered something different, I’ll do another one. I didn’t really eat anything the day that I went so I was feeling kind of hungry when I sat down. Go For Tea offers a fair amount of food dishes, even hot pot, which my friends got, but the prices seem to be fairly expensive. I got the popcorn chicken rice ($8.99 + tax), and it is actually a first time I ordered popcorn chicken for myself. Expecting it to be similar to Popeye’s or KFC, I think the popcorn chicken offers a similar taste, yet not as greasy, and that’s a good thing. The chicken wasn’t dry at all and I believe the meat is from the chicken leg, which is the best part. The plate also came with side dishes of wakame salad and ham, giving it a more luxurious feel . There was also a sauce on top of the rice that tasted a mixture of beans and potatoes, adding more flavour overall. Positive reviews were given by my friends about the hot pot as well, but I can’t seem to remember the price nor did I take a picture of it. Aside from the food, I got the taro slush ($5.99 + tax), but I got a large so it was a dollar more. As Jon mentioned before, the large was well worth it and I actually had to rush the drink in the end because there was so much left.

So, at first I thought I would just get something to simply satisfy my hunger, and it turned out to be a good meal in the end so I was happy. For food at a bubble tea place, it is actually decent and even above average considering the quality of food that I get at other places. However, for the price that you’re paying, you can bet that there are other places out there that are cheaper, but Go For Tea opens until 3am so what can you do. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for once being desperate doesn’t turn out to be a bad thing after all.

Go For Tea
Unit 2-230 Commerce Valley Dr E
Richmond Hill, ON

Chako Barbeque

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MEAT !

Late night Korean BBQ...great for those days when suddenly it's 10 at night and you haven't eaten yet and you're really hungry. Most Korean BBQ (or KBBQ as the kids like to call it) places are pretty much the same and Chako doesn't do anything very different though the decor is probably nicer than most. Differences between the regular and late night menu (10.99 + tax) can be seen here but I just go for the beef and short ribs anyway so I just stick to going at night.

To start off you get a salad and a bunch of side dishes including kimchi, beansprouts, pickled radish, and fried tofu. I like the pickled radish and fried tofu but that's just me. In terms of the meat...fish sticks to the grill, chicken takes too long to cook, pork gets too dry, and squid I just don't like for KBBQ...so yea, I just stick to the beef and short ribs but even the short ribs are kind of fatty. And then the vegetables are...wait...what is this? vegetables? I don't come here to eat vegetables! But if you really wanted to, you could also get zucchini and green/red peppers...not that I have ever tried them of course. Pssh...vegetables...

All in all a great night, I just hope all that meat isn't still stuck in my colon. Also watch the video on the proper way to cook beef at korean BBQ as demonstrated by Leo.

Chako Barbeque
163 York Blvd
Richmond Hill, ON

Cuisine Of India

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Lesson #1 about indian buffets, don't eat too much. Let's just say me and indian buffets don't have a great history together when it comes to portion control and being able to walk after. A friend met me up at work for lunch and we decided to have indian so we flipped a coin and ended up at Cuisine of India (the other option being Bombay Bhel).

Like alot of indian places, lunch at Cuisine of India is buffet style (10.99 + tax). First impressions of the buffet compared to other places was that the selection was pretty limited. Off to one side was the tiny salad bar and dessert selection which only had fruit and rice pudding. The main part of the buffet had a nice selection of vegetarian dishes but only 3 dishes that had meat. There were 2 chicken, 1 beef, and one of them was tandoori chicken so yea...very limited (not even any lamb??). The tandoori chicken I found too salty and the other meat dishes also pretty mediocre. I actually found the vegetarian dishes a to be bit better. There were all the usual suspects for the vegetarian options, spinach and paneer, chickpeas (chana), lentils (daal), deep fried eggplant and cauliflower, and uhh another eggplant dish (haha yea...my indian food knowledge is kind of lacking). They all tasted ok but I think I can say that I've much had better elsewhere.

Overall just ok, and I'd like to see how Bombay Bhel (just a bit south) compares. Now back to that lesson....what was it again? Needless to say I almost fell asleep at my desk later after a slow walk back to work.

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round 2 / round 3...and defeat

Cuisine Of India
5222 Yonge St.
North York, ON

[CLOSED] Mr. Sun's Noodle House

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the best beef noodle soup in toronto

Mr. Sun's Noodle House at Midland/Finch in Scarborough is one of those places you'd walk past a million times and never expect to have food this good unless someone told you about it. The decor...and possibly hygiene...could definitely use some work but after trying some of their beef noodle soup suddenly none of that matters anymore. Sure the kitchen probably looks something like a shirtless bearded chinese guy wearing an apron and wellington boots, smoking a cigarette cooking over a bathtub...but even if that were true I'd still keep going back, it's just that good.

There's one reason I love Mr. Sun's (no homo) and that's for their beef noodle soup (6.99 + tax). Even on the menu it says "Best beef noodle soup in Toronto" and for once I'd actually agree with one of these outrageous claims because it really is the best here. Angelic trumpets, heavenly trombones...I don't know how else to describe it. The beef is incredibly soft and the perfect texture for a bowl of beef noodle soup. The noodles are also great, nice and thick and slightly chewy without being too gumy like alot of places. But for me the real star is the soup. Let's just say I drink the whole bowl and I don't need to explain any more on that.

So unless you want to deny yourself from trying the best beef noodle soup in Toronto, I recommend you go to Mr. Sun's Noodle house right now! ...just don't use the bathrooms.

Mr. Sun's Noodle House
4186 Finch Avenue East, Unit 25
Scarborough, ON

Special Category: Hainanese Chicken – YOGI Noodle

Hainanese Chicken at YOGI Noodle

Personally, I am a BIG fan of chicken. More specifically, I am a BIG BIG fan of Hainanese Chicken (as to Jon and his pork cutlet fetish). Jon and I actually have an agreement that whenever we try a new place he must order the curry pork or pork cutlet and I must order the Hainanese Chicken if it is on the menu. So, in honour of this special dish, I will be making specific posts reviewing all the Hainanese Chicken in the GTA. There are three things that I believe rates whether the dish overall is good or not: authenticity, quantity and of course quality. The latter two are pretty easy to understand but for authenticity, what I mean is how the dish presents itself to what Hainanese Chicken should be. Basically this means that the rice should be the yellow and oily chicken rice and there should be a soup that comes with it.

For those of you new to this blog and don’t know about YOGI Noodle, please refer to this post. Now on to the Hainanese Chicken. At a price of 7.99 + tax, this is fairly a cheaper price for Hainanese Chicken compared to the others that I’ve tried before. When the dish came, however, I understood why. First of all, the chicken was only a leg. In fact, it was less than a leg as you can see in the picture, with only 5 pieces. The rice made an attempt to be authentic, but it was not yellow nor it tasted close to the actual chicken rice. It was better than plain rice though. The chicken itself was decent, as it did taste like Hainanese Chicken at least and was not rough or old. The soup that came with the meal was a Chinese soup, similar to the ones you get before any meal at Chinese restaurants. Although it was a bit inauthentic, but I do like how the soup was not bombarded with MSG and such as it actually tasted good.

So, as many would recommend YOGI Noodle as a place to eat, I would disagree on recommending their Hainanese Chicken. I’ve had better at other places and YOGI’s just falls under the stereotypical and average Hainanese Chicken that you can get anywhere else, possibly for a lower price and higher quantity too.

Rating: 6.5/10 (The quality of the chicken saved itself from getting a lower rating)

Yogi Noodle
325 Bamburgh Circle, Unit 109A
Scarborough, ON

Kenzo Ramen

Tonkotsu (Pork Bone Soup Based Ramen)

Located south of Steeles on Yonge, this tiny little ramen shop can satisfy anyone’s hunger for authentic AND delicious ramen noodles. I’ve heard about this ramen place several times before, and I’ve been here once already so I have an idea how it good it is. However, rather than trying something new for my second visit, I decided to order the same things just to see if the quality is consistent. Besides, my friend wanted to the same things as my first visit, so it was coincidental.

We both got the Tonkotsu (Pork Bone Soup Based Ramen, $9.95 + tax) and shared a Takoyaki (Octopus Balls, $6.99 + tax i think). Just a note that both things that we ordered did not actually had a price tag on them and I forgot to take a picture of the bill to remind me the price. Guess I’ll have to go again to double check the price, which is not a bad thing actually. The Tokotsu comes with ramen (obviously), chasu (Japanese style BBQ pork) and a demi egg while the Takoyaki is topped with a bit of mayo and thin slices of onions. The ramen soup was thick and flavourful, but there is still room for improvement as it is not as thick as I wanted it. The noodles were thick and pretty good, not too chewy and not too soft. The chasu could’ve been better as they were also not as flavourful as I wanted, but were pretty tender to my liking (I like my soup and meat VERY thick so it may vary according to your own personal tastes). The takoyaki seems to have gotten better than last time, as they were more sticky and chewy. The flavour on them were also VERY thick, and I could taste the sauce all over the takoyaki and not just on the top part.

Takoyaki (Octopus balls)

My conclusion? This place is so far the best ramen noodle shop that I’ve tried so far. There is also another Kenzo Ramen located downtown by Dundas and Bay. I’ve been there once as well and I must say, this one is better. The Kenzo downtown is actually the original Kenzo with the original owners, but their noodles seem to be thinner and just isn’t as good as their Steeles & Yonge counterpart (Plus when I went they charged my friend $1.00 for green tea while it was free at Steeles & Yonge). So, for the Kenzo Ramen on Yonge, definitely worth another visit in the future.

Rating: 8/10

Kenzo Ramen
6180Yonge St.
North York, ON

Firefly Seafood & Steak House

Puff Pastry Onion Soup

A reunion with my previous co-workers at Jipolis Amusement Center (R.I.P JIPS) brought me to Firefly Seafood & Steak House at First Markham Place. This was a week exact after my wisdom teeth removal (which was July 29th to show you how behind I am with this blog). After a look at the menu I was set to order pasta, which would go easy on my mouth. Soon after though, a quick glance at another menu revealed something more worthy for this occasion. There was a special going with the words and I quote “SUPER SHOCKING LOW PRICE – 17.99 + tax”. The original price of this “special” was 34.99 mind you. Two things I thought after seeing this: 1)I can’t believe people actually put something like that on a menu 2) 17.99 + tax is considered a low price meal? But, being the sucker that I am, I eventually got the SUPER SHOCKING SPECIAL (17.99 + tax) in the end. Basically, this is a 4 course meal with: house salad with ginger and vinegar sauce, puff pastry onion soup, prime rib with mashed potatoes and a dessert.

Roast Beef with Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables

I forgot to take pictures of the salad and dessert (which was just a mango pudding, nothing special), but I did remember to take the soup and roast beef (see above). Anyways, the salad was average. Small and average to be exact. The soup looked decent and it tasted alright, at least the puff pastry part did. The soup itself was quite bland and watered down. The whole time it would try to make a comeback (No MJ jokes please) but failed to give me a real sense of flavour. The prime rib was better than I expected, but it was no Harbour Sixty or even Keg prime rib. It was more like Mandarin prime rib, which is actually roast beef in disguise. However, it was more tender and juicy than Mandarin which is at least a good thing.

Before the reunion, I think I haven’t been to Firefly for about 3-4 years already. After the meal, I remembered why I didn’t go and why I shouldn’t go there again. For the price of the food, I’m sure you can go to other places for the same price but better quality (Moxies, Milestones to name a few). I guess I don’t even have to say whether I’m going to go back to this place or not. You guys be the judge.

Rating: 6.5/10 (+0.5 more for the effort on the puff pastry only = 7/10)

Firefly Seafood & Steak House
3255 Highway 7 East, Unit 2-2A
Markham, ON