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!

TRAVEL: Stirling, Scotland, No. 2 Baker Street

Location:

2 Baker Street, Stirling

As far as pubs go, No. 2 Baker Street (yes, sounding very much like a popular 80s TV show) is the No. 1 place to go.  A local favourite, it serves up my favourite beer Guinness, and serves it EXTRA COLD.

They don't serve food at the pub, but bags of chips sure hit the spot.

And you can't go home without trying the Scotch.

Needless to say, we frequented No. 2 Baker Street muchly during our two day stay in Stirling.

Now, if only they could change the address to 1 Baker Street.

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  Those spicy fries were a highlight and are only superseded by the ones had at Haldirams in Delhi!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. 

TRAVEL: Mr. B’s Bistro, N’awlins

Location:

201 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA

www.mrbsbistro.com

So, this is another one of those overdue/back-burner pieces.
Better late than never, right?

Located in the French Quarter, and coming highly recommended from many a source on the world wide web, my first impression of Mr. B's was that it seemed more suited towards a 40+ suit crowd.

Suits and in our case, bibs.

The bibs for de-shelling the shrimps in Mr. B's signiture BBQ shrimp dish!
(Gulf shrimp barbequed New Orleans style, served in the shells with a peppery butter sauce, and French bread for dipping $18.00)

EEEE!

Apart from the de-shelling, this dish was fantastic! And I love that they share the recipe online!

The other dish was less painful.  Also, a bit bland.  Catfish with beans (Pecan crusted farm raised catfish topped with Creole meuniere sauce $15.00 )



The fried oysters $6.75 were excellent.



Blueberry Cobbler $8, perfectly old fashioned.

Suits or not, bibs or not...Mr. B's Bistro is everything you imagine "N'awlins" to be.

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:

TRAVEL: India, Delhi: Yo China!

Location:

Third Floor, City Square Mall, Rajouri Garden, Delhi

www.yo-china.com

Definitely one of the highlights from our trip to Delhi was eating chinese food.  That may sound weird, but chinese food in India is simply superb!  It's spicy and flavourful in the way that chinese food isn't in the west.  The closest you can get to that taste is haka chinese and Spadina Garden comes close, which is why it's a fave of mine.

We were treated to an open menu dinner by the wonderful owners of Yo China!

The service was outstanding, and the presentation of the dishes, exquisite.

Just take a look:

Honey Chilly Potato Fries, which is their signature dish - crispy potato fingers, stir fried in the wok with honey chilly sauce & sesame seeds

Honey Chilly Potato - RS 79

Chilli Chicken, Dry:

Chilli Chicken Dry  - RS 89

Prawns tossed with ginger lemon coriander sauce:

Prawn Singtu RS 159

Chicken Satay:

Chicken Satay RS 139

Legendary Malha Sizzler:Babycorn, Beans, Broccoli, Mushroom and black mushroom, red and yellow peppers tossed in the legendary Malha sauce served on a sizzler

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Chicken Satay RS 139"]

Legendary Malha
Sizzler

[/caption]

Dumplings

Dumplings

Inside the dumplings

Lobster (off menu)

ChickenFried Rice 69

American Chop suey

Devil's Chocolate Cake With Ice Cream

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="342" caption=" Yo ! Snicker Sundae"]
[/caption]

By the time the lobster came out, we were fully stuffed 'cause the portions are massive.

And then when the dessert came out, well, I wasn't going to refuse this:

Highly recommended!!!

All around a fantastic place to get chinese food!

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.

O&B Canteen NOW OPEN + O&B Cafe, Oakville

Locations:

O&B Canteen: 330 King St. West, TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto

O&B Cafe & Grill: 240 Leighland Avenue #235, Oakville

The new TIFF building's restaurant is now open - here's their menu online. It seems to always be packed in there and one day I will try it.

Not too long ago, we dined at the O&B cafe & grill at Oakville Place. Here, some shots.

The bread was delicious! So cutely packaged in a little metal box with little covered butter pots (reminded me of the packaging we used to get on airplanes back in the day).

This location of O&B has a really nice, quiet patio, designed in sleek woods and metals and clean lines.

Okay, but back to the bread. MMM MM mmm....warm, soft, and with a dab of butter...melted right in the mouth.

Did I mention the bread? It was soooooooooooo good!

To start us off we got the popcorn shrimp, which was AMAZING!  Very greasy though, but they'd already thought of that, placing the deep fried shrimp on a bed of crunchy filler crispy noddles which soaked up all the excess oil avoiding making the plate look slick.

Didn't really need the miso mayo it arrived with, the shrimp was just perfect on it's own.

We enjoyed a glass of Lillypilly Shiraz and a local beer.

Okay, so now, after quite some time had passed (and much bread had been consumed) another server arrived at our table with someone elses order: a plate of mac and cheese and a beef burger.  We noted to ourselves that our own server was too busy chatting it up with the couple (who appeared to be regulars) next to our table to notice this mistake on their part.

We send the food back and finally our server comes over and to compensate asks us if we want soup or salad...we chose salad and received a delicious spinach salad with sugar-coated pecans and thinly sliced pears...mMMmmmm MMM! Not exactly a healthy salad, I  assure you, but welcomed nonetheless!

Finally our meal arrives:  a chicken burger with fries and a margarita pizza. Boy, was the burger ever tasty! Usually when one orders a chicken burger, one gets a bland hunk of chicken breast with sorry looking grill marks on either side. Am I right? This, however was actual ground chicken, like we make at home. Very moist and juicy; I'd get it again in a heartbeat. Did I mention it came with bacon? Yesssssss!

The pizza had a super thin crust and was very light and non-greasy. Great tasting and a nice change from the burger.

The food was fantastic, our server was not.  Even by the time we were ready for the bill, he was still chatting it up with the regulars.  We didn't even get water refills once or asked how our food was.  When he finally did bring us our bill, it was the wrong one!  Yay!

Still, I'd go back for that shrimp.

Recipe: Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Just in time for Saturday morning's breakfast!

I'd only ever made Aunt Jemima pancakes when I was younger so when I found this recipe for pancakes on Allrecipes.com (with 4.5 stars and 3,327 reviews!), I had to try it. It's easily the best pancake recipe, ever, and the only one I use and will continue to use from now on.

Here it is, with my changes in italics:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (definitely DON'T use whole wheat flour, ever! I tried this once and the pancakes were too chewy, thick and heavy)
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 C *or as desired* Ghiradelli's (or any brand) dark chocolate chips

Directions
1.In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2.Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.





Toppings
Frozen blueberries and/or strawberries tossed into a saucepan makes a lovely fruit topping
or
Fresh raspberries and powdered sugar on top of maple syrup.
Sometimes I like to spread Godiva chocolate spread over the pancakes...yep, it's delicious.