Overdraught Irish Pub

Location:
156 Front St W., Toronto

Overdraught is what I like to consider a hidden gem of an Irish pub, situated underground right between Joe Badali's and Canyon Creek Chophouse.



Here you can find all the usual pub details: dark corners, cheery folk and most importantly, GUINNESS.

The fish n' chips and wings are just bonuses.









A great place for groups, especially on St. Patty's Day.

China Garden

Location:

7071 Airport Road, Mississauga

www.chinagarden.ca/

If you're ever in the west end of the city looking for some yummy chinese food, there's a little joint, that's one part ghetto and 2 parts awesome.  It's called China Garden.  Looking neither like China nor a garden, it does however, have some wicked hakka style chinese for $9-12 a dish.

Order at the counter then grab a seat...

It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes for your piping hot dishes to arrive!







A favourite whenever we're in the area, it's also open until 10:30pm on the weekends!

GANDHI’S ROTI: oh, the calories!

I'd really rather not look at numbers, but if you are of the sort that prefers to count calories....

Have your fill here.

YIKES!

Il Fornello

Locations:
214 King Street West, Toronto
207 Queens Quay West, Toronto

www.ilfornello.com

The Queens Quay location of Il Fornello was where we first discovered the delicious Cookoothama Shiraz. With such a funny name and the child-like hand impressions on the bottle, we were intrigued. It's now a house-hold favourite.


The food is reliably good at Il Fornello; I never can complain and having been several times to both the Queens Quay and King Street locations. It's one of those places I didn't even think to review.

I love their pizzas for their unique combinations and nice size.
I love the Prosciutto and Fig pizzas.



Their pastas are hearty but for those (read: me) who like things more spicy or flavourful, even THEIR spicy is not enough.






The dishes are on the pricier end for Italian food ($15-25 for a main), and I think I prefer the Queens Quay location a bit more as the servers are not as harried, but for a pre or post-theatre meal on King street, Il Fornello is a safe choice where everyone can be satisfied.

Mercatto

Location:

330 Bay Street, Toronto

www.mercatto.ca

I LOVE prosciutto on pizza...MMM....

Okay....am back.

My friend recommended this spot and she's one whose taste I can now trust!  Thanks Roobs! :)

Pizza: prosciutto, tomato, gran padano, mozza, arugula $15



Pasta:  Chicken, spinach, tomatoes $17



Salad: Arugula, pear, walnuts, pecorino $8



Such a pretty interior with the wood and the chandeliers, it's the backdrop for a first date (or not so first date) or even a girlie gathering.



Highly recommended!  They have two other locations:

15 Toronto Street

101 College Street

After Mercatto, we were off to KI, to MANGI some more!

The Cupcake Shoppe

Location:

2417 Yonge Street, Toronto

www.thecupcakeshoppe.ca

Our friend had an engagement party and served up these gorgeous beauties from The Cupcake Shoppe!





Not only were they pretty, they were insanely good!  I heart.  A lot.

They're $2.50 a Cupcake or $20 for 6 Customized Cupcakes which is quite pricey.  And mini cupcakes have to be pre-ordered as well.   They're beautiful though, and a great idea for parties.  I love the petaled ones!

Amaya Express

Location:

1574 Bayview Avenue, Toronto

The "real" Amaya was closed for lunch and only opened at 5pm so we went express!

Looking like a somewhat modern-retro (isn't that an oxymoron?) cafeteria, we were the only group sitting inside the restaurant; the rest were outdoors on the patio.  We felt like we had the whole place to ourselves! Our server was quick to take our orders and ORDER WE DID!

Spicy Fries:

Mango Lassi:

Lamb Biryani

Sweet and Sour Eggplant

.

Malai Fish

Chicken Vindaloo

Amaya Prawns

Roti

Naan

I was in the company of like-minded gourmands (including A&M who we met back in my "SAD" King review) and we all agreed that the dishes were excellent in flavour and presentation.  Those spicy fries were a highlight and are only superseded by the ones had at Haldirams in Delhi!

Cora’s Breakfast and Lunch

Location:

277 Wellington Street West, Toronto

www.chezcora.com

Did people eat more in the '90s? I'm not sure. All I know is I ordered the 1990s Harvest for breakfast at Cora's on Saturday and it sure was a gigantic portion! 

There's not a whole lot of selection for brunch downtown...I mean, really downtown, near the Queens Quay area. The closest place we could think of was Cora's. And I guess everyone else thought the same. The line-up was huge! And that too, on such a blustery cold day. Our wait was about 20 or so minutes, normally we'd have gone elsewhere, but there was nowhere else to go, except for maybe the brunch at 5 Senses (or is it Sen5es?), which didn't have a line-up, which we took as it either not being good or being too pricey. Turns out a "gourmet" breakfast buffet will set you back $21.95. A bit too much to pay for eggs and toast, me thinks. As it is, breakfast is the easiest meal to prepare and uses the cheapest of ingredients.

At Cora's it's still a little too much for what it is, but it really hit the spot that day.

Of course, I'm sure everyone could have done without the wait, but when we did finally get seated, our server was really nice and my 1990s Harvest was absolutely perfect....the raisin french toast, the bacon, the eggs, the pile of fruit (all of it exactly like the larger than life photo in the menu) . What a heaping portion. The blueberry crepes were a bit of a dud, but between the two of us we covered all of our cravings...AND some. 

LOCAL FEATURE: 360 Restaurant

Location:

CN Tower, 301 Front Street West, Toronto

The 360 Restaurant at the CN Tower has a magnificent revolving view of Toronto and is located more than 351 metres (1,151 ft) from the ground.  The subtle rotation of the restaurant takes a few minutes to get used to but the changing landscape takes no adjustment at all!  It's quite simply, stunning!







In addition to their dinner menu, they also offer prix fixe menus and as we were happy to discover, a whole vegetarian menu !  Everyone at the table was very pleased and it didn't take us very long to decide what to eat.  Orders placed, we feasted on their magnificent bread basket while we leisurely enjoyed the view.



When our dishes arrived, it was clear that everything was not only exceptionally presented, but we also felt well taken care of.

CRISPY EGGPLANT “PARMESAN”
WITH BUFFALO MOZZARELLA
Piquillo peppers, beefsteak tomatoes, grilled asparagus, cherry tomato jus
$35



 PAN ROASTED WILD BLACK COD
Wilted Swiss chard, preserved orange, fennel pollen, black olive vinaigrette $38



 PAN SEARED FILLET OF ATLANTIC SALMON
Toasted almond and ginger vinaigrette, steamed baby bok choy, shiitake scented brown rice $35



BLACK TRUFFLE HONEY GLAZED BONELESS HALF CHICKEN
Fennel and olive oil mashed potatoes, summer squash, cider jus $35



A lovely Birthday treat!



The 360 Restaurant is definitely a special place to bring your favourite person (or people) or if your quest is to impress!  And make sure you are there at sunset..it's absolutely breath-taking!



The night view ain't too shabby, either ! ;)



Highly recommended for visitors but I think especially if you live in Toronto, 'cause chances are you've taken the La Tour CN for granted!  It really is a wonderful architectural and engineering wonder of the world, in our city.

Frugal Fare #6: The Banknote

Location:
663 King Street West, Toronto

The Banknote is one of those work-lunch and after-work dinner/drinks places serving up burger & beer type meals in a bank setting.  Yes, aptly named The Banknote, as it used to a bank, they still have the ol' vault in the back and teller booths.  If that ambiance doesn't suit you, there's always their cosy patio on the King Street side.

It's a great place for post-rock-climbing eats as Rock Oasis is just around the corner!  I'd choose this over The Wheatsheaf, if you were wondering. :)



Burger and fries special



Pasta of the day:



Eggplant Parm Burger:



Penne:



Chicken Burg:



Fish n' Chips:

Canton Chilli

Location:
418 Spadina Ave., Toronto
cantonchilli.com

For HUGE portions of good hakka chinese, look no further than Canton Chilli on Spadina.

I can't get over the dissimilarity between the website and the restaurant. But hey, they have a website!

Anyway, we chose from the special group menu which included soup and spring rolls. Each of us had to order a main from the list. So we chose wisely (it was late though and we'd had some beers earlier, so not all of the following may be true): Hunan Tofu, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, Hunan Chicken, General Tso Chicken, Szechuan Beef.

The hot and sour soup really WAS hot, all of us were in tears and sweats.



That alone was a meal in itself, but we were greedy and wanted more! MORE!

Here's more:













All of it spicy, all of it delicious!

Aside from the one hair we found, and now I can't even recall where it was found, this place is what I like to call, yummaloush!



And look, FREE PARKING!! It says.