Nguyen Huong

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Banh mi, Viet subs, ambiguous meat buns...whatever you want to call it, they're one of the best meals $1.75 can buy and Nguyen Huong is the best place to get them at. Located in chinatown just north of dundas/spadina, just look for the yellow sign. Better than Mcdonalds, better than street meet, better than alot of things...if you're on a budget or just plain cheap, this is the ultimate cheap lunch.

Banh mi ($1.75 no tax) comes in spicy or non spicy. I usually get the non spicy and it's what I got that day. Inside there's pickled radish, pickled carrots, pâté, cilantro, some sort of special butter and uhh the meat! But if you're wondering what kind of meat it is, I don't know...I'm not even 100% sure what animal it comes from (though I'm pretty sure it's all pig) but trust me it tastes delicious. They were a little skimpy on the meat though and it's usually packed with alot more.

Cheap, tasty, unidentifiable meat? If that's not a winning combination I don't know what is...side note, I practically lived off these for a week once and I'm still not sick of them, in fact that was one of the greatest weeks ever.

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banh mi

Nguyen Huong
322 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON
RATING: the very prestigious

Famous BBQ Express

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bulgogi / chicken on a bun

Famous BBQ Express (Queen/Peter)...where else can you get bulgogi, souvlaki, burgers, and chicken all in one place? Food might not be of the highest quality but you sure do get alot of it and the service is always friendly. Probably the best way to describe the food Famous BBQ Express is a pile of meat sitting on top of an even bigger pile of starch...kind of like a starchy mountain with meaty snowcap.

That day I got the bulgogi ($7.99 + tax). Salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, fries, rice, meat all on one plate. That's right, 3 kinds of starch...not quite sure what the logic there is but it does fill you up. The salad, coleslaw, and pasta salad are nothing special, the fries I'm pretty sure are from Costco, rice is rice, and the bulgogi was like a poor man's version of bulgogi at best...but still, it doesn't taste bad and at least you'll walk away full...that is assuming you can still walk after that.

Friends all opted for one of the specials, chicken on a bun ($5.99 + tax) which wasn't very good as the chicken was apparently very dry. I've had a similar experience with their steak on a bun so I'd recommend sticking with one of their starchy mountains.

Famous BBQ Express
385 Queen St. W
Toronto, ON
RATING:

Pizza 2 Go

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terrible picture / pepperoni pizza

Pizza 2 Go is located inside Union Station (front/between bay and york) across from the LCBO and used to be the place 2 go (eh? ehh? come on) for a quick cheap slice of pizza....key phrase there being used to be. It used to work out to be a dollar a slice plus a drink but now it's 1 slice and a drink for $3.00 tax incl. or 2 slices and a drink for $4.00 tax incl. ...and like before you still can't get a slice without a drink.

The pizza is nothing special, it never was but the point was that it was cheap...now not so much anymore and you're probably better off just going to the mcdonalds right next door. Though if you have a friend to split with, their medium pizza for $5.00 tax incl. is still a decent deal and a pretty good snack during exam time for any Ryerson students with exams at the MTCC.

The difference a dollar can make...or maybe I'm just being cheap.

Pizza 2 Go (in Union Station)
65 Front St. W
Toronto, ON
RATING: overall but the medium for $5 gets a

RaviSoups

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curried lamb wrap

I had some extra time to kill before class so I decided to make my way over to RaviSoups on Adelaide between Peter and John. Despite their somewhat out of the way location, they seem to have a pretty big following and I can see why. The menu is pretty limited, 5 kinds of soups and 4 kinds of wraps...but what they do they do well.

I got the curried lamb wrap ($8.99 + tax) which also came with a small side salad. In the wrap there were roasted yams, baby spinach, mango pineapple salsa, mint cilantro chutney, and of course the curried lamb. Now I know that all sounds pretty pretentious and yuppie but it actually all worked together and tasted delicious. The lamb especially had a nice strong curry flavour that was balanced out by the sweetness of the yams.

I've also tried the roasted pork shoulder wrap on a previous visit which was also very good. Though I forgot to try one of their soups this time (which I've heard are also all delicious) I'll definitely be getting one next time and probably get a wrap and soup combo ($10.99 + tax).

RaviSoups
322 Adelaide St. West
Toronto, ON
RATING:

Toong Korean Restaurant

Beef Ribs/ Spicy Rice Cake

First of all, I must apologize for my lack of updates. I’ve just been very busy with my own things for the past few weeks that I never had time to review (plus I broke my iphone and lost all my pictures). Basically, I couldn’t write anything for a while since I had nothing to write about.

Anyways, a dinner with my university friends brought us to Toong, located around the Yonge and Finch area. We ordered 2 combos that include a dish and either 5 beers or soju, which is korean vodka in my opinion). One was the table cooking beef ribs with 5 beers (32.99 + tax) and the other was the rice cake with a soju (25.99 + tax). I can honestly say, both of the dishes were mediocre at best. The meat wasn’t as thick and juicy as it should be and the rice cake was your average korean rice cake. Nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. The portion wasn’t a lot as well and we had to order a bibimbap (korean rice mixed, 7.99 + tax), which I forgot to take a picture until after I finished it. However, the bimbimbap was decent and better than the two previous dishes.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this place, especially since Nak Won (not sure about the spelling but it is another korean restaurant that has exactly the same stuff and more) is just right beside it. Hopefully, I’ll go to Nak Won soon.

Toong Korean Restaurant
5588 Yonge St.
North York, ON

RATING: (the bibimbap saved it, and because it's not SO bad that it deserves worse)

Yueh Tung Restaurant

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manchurian chicken / chili chicken....or is it the other way around

Back to school and back to being downtown so this is hopefully the first of many posts covering the area....unless I of course get that swine flu. But anyway, Yueh Tung is located right behind city hall off of Dundas, upstairs above some japanese restaurants. Always busy with nearby office workers, Yueh Tung is the place to go for a quick...big greasy plate of meat and rice. Pretty well known for their chili chicken, it's what I always get whenever I go.

We ordered a plate of the usual, chili chicken and rice ($6.25 + tax/tip) and also a manchurian chicken and rice ($6.25 + tax/tip). Both look exactly the same don't they? That's because they pretty much are with the exception that the chili chicken has onions and the manchurian chicken doesn't (finally settling an argument between me and my friend). The chili chicken here is usually pretty consistent, always a generous portion of chicken, rice, and grease...maybe a bit too generous on the grease though. It's definitely not something you want to be eating that often or before class (or you're going to sleep through it or spend it in the washroom).

Yueh Tung Restaurant
126 Elizabeth St.
Toronto, ON
RATING: ...unless you love grease then it's

Tasty House

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grapefruit bubble tea / black milk tea...bubble tea

Bubble tea? First Markham food court? Again? I'm pretty sure I just did one of these...but anyway it was Tasty House's turn this time after my usual pork katsu dinner. In the corner right beside the other bubble tea shop - Fruitti Mix, Tasty House is the one with the bright green neon sign and the big red banner advertising their "10th" anniversary special, all bubble tea $2.50 + tax (I think it's been their 10th anniversary for like the past 3 years lol).

I just got the usual, black milk tea with tapioca while my friend Justin chose to try something different this time and got a grapefruit bubble tea. Black milk tea is usually all the same no matter where you go and it's no exception here, pretty good but the tapioca I thought was too chewy. The grapefruit on the other hand wasn't good. Even though it did taste like grapefruit like I guess it should have...maybe it tasted a bit too much like grapefruit and wasn't sweet enough.

I'd say Tasty House is just slightly better than the bubble tea at Fruitti Mix though Fruitti Mix is cheaper....and anything is better than Rainbow.

Tasty House (in the First Markham Place food court)
3255 Highway 7 East
Markham, ON
RATING: for value / for taste