RAA

Date: July 2011
Location: 4848 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario
Website: www.raajapanese.com

C.C. and I check out daily deal all the time to look for good restaurant deal. Not only that it is a good way to try out different restaurants but also a great way to save money. I have heard of RAA advertising on 680 News when it first open. I always want to try it out. (That's the power of advertisement!). One day, I spotted a deal from RAA $20 for $40 of food on the internet. This is a perfect excuse to try out new food.


There is no free parking on site, however there is a green P at the back of this restaurant. This restaurant is heavily decorated with wood. My first impression is "wow it is very dark but warm and cozy". C.C. and I were greeted by the owner right away and a table for 2 was waiting for us. Next, the waitress gave us 3 different menus (1) Regular Menu (2) Drink Menu (3) Food not available Menu ^o^. At first I was surprise to see the "Food not available menu". Later on I was a bit disappointed because I found out the food which I wanted to order were on the not available menu. Finally, C.C. and I ordered some fried tapas and sashimi to try out.

7 Samurai and Tequi - RAA  sake cocktail

7 samurai is way too sour to drink on its own. It is not my taste.

Tequi - RAA is much better because it is an orange juice based drink.

Spicy Ika Yaki

Spicy grilled squid. C.C. said it is very spicy but I found it average.

It has a strong taste so not good with sashimi together.

Crispy Calamari

Deep fried squid, ginger mayo. I couldn't taste the ginger in the mayo at all.

Overall, this is a very delicious dish. The calamari was still crispy even when it is cold.

Sashimi Plate Medium

Regular Fishy not a big surprise.

House Chicken Rings

Crispy rings with soy ginger flavor. Excellent crispy rings and very juicy.

Shiso Tree (2nd Visit)

Date: June 2011
Location: Unit 1 - 3160 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON L3R 3Y2

I can't believe I haven't update my blog for such a long period of time. I guess I was getting too lazy.
This time I am going to talk about a restaurant which I have visited before - Shiso Tree. I have been visiting this restaurant regularly  and their quality of food are getting better and better. When they first started there weren't  lot of selections on the menu. However that has been changed. Their menu has 3 different sections: Wafu (Japanese style spaghetti), Cream and Tomato sauce based spaghetti.  As many of you may have notice, Shiso Tree only serve spaghetti and you can't find any other pastas. This time C.C. ordered Spaghettial nero di seppia on the menu of the month and I ordered Creamy Bacon Carbonara. We paid $7 extra to add the pasta set which includes soup of the day and a piece of cake. 

House Salad

greens with tomato in a soy sauce and sesame based dressing.

This is a very fresh and tasty salad. Soy sauce and sesame are a good combo.

Soup of the day - Mushroom Soup

A very freshly blended mushroom soup without lot of cream.

Shiso tree's soup is a must try.

Creamy Bacon Carbonara
I tried their spinach soup before and as always freshly blended. 
This is a big hit.  A very creamy dish yet I didn't have the gluey feeling in my month.
I tasted the egg yolk, cheese, and bacon combined together well. 
The garlic bread is very crispy on the side but warm and soft in the middle. ~$11

Spaghettial nero di seppia 

Spaghetti in squid ink sauce with clam and calamari. 

This is a special dish which is on the monthly menu. I wish they can include it in the regular menu.

This is my first time trying the squid ink spaghetti. Tell you the truth I can't really tasted the "ink".

The taste of the sea came from the clam and calamari which were cooked to perfection.

None of the seafood have the "rubber" texture. The spicy sauce just tied the whole dish together. $15

Lemon mousse cake

light creamy mousse cake with a hint of lemon taste.

 Mango & Strawberry cream cake

The fruits are fresh with the light cream. Not too sweet. Perfect for after dinner dessert.

Zelda's Restaurant Patio and Bar

Date: October 2 2010
Location: 692 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4Y 2A6
Website: http://zeldas.ca/


My friends and I were walking along Yonge street and looking for a restaurant to fill our empty stomachs. We spotted the sign "ZELDA" which caught our attention as we are all gamers. Once we stepped into this restaurant, a friendly feminine male waiter came and served us. After a minute, we noticed a waiter wore a T-shirt saying "Legally to be Gay" and another topless waiter who only wore a tie. That's how we realized we stepped into a restaurant which is operated by a group of gay men. ^o^


Alright, enough with the drama and let's go back to the food. Zelda's Restaurant has a very good selections of food on their dinner menu includes burgers, pastas and vegetarian dishes. I was very satisfy with the food and my friends dishes were all delicious. Another special thing about Zelda's Restaurant is the bill or receipt was bought to us in a high heel shoe lol.

Down-Home Market Meatloaf

Country style with lean ground beef, blend of herbs & spices, topped with balsamic glaze and served with home style gravy $12.99

Mexicana Fish Tacos

Basa fish fillet pan-fried with authentic Tex-Mex spices & fresh lime, wrapped in two flour tortillas with tomato salsa & shreed lettuce, served with crisp nacho chips, guacamole & sour cream $10.99

The Classic Zelda Burger 

8oz. of juicy 100% never forzen lean ground beef, homemade with our special blend of herbs and spices & served with all the fixin's $9.99

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

with melted cheddar or Swiss cheese, served on tasted whole wheat, rye or egg loaf with crisp bacon, and peameal bacon $12.99

Shiso Tree Cafe

Date: November 2 2010
Location: Unit 1 - 3160 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON L3R 3Y2


Shiso Tree Cafe is another new restaurant situated in J-town. C.C. heard from his colleagues that this restaurant served Japanese style pasta so we decide to give it a try. Their menu have 8 different selections of pasta and two of them are Japanese style.

Here is a picture of what the restaurant looks like.

Green & Fruit Tee

Shiso Tree Cafe has a selection of different organic tea.

They are $3 each. I found it a bit pricey.

House Salad

This salad comes with the pasta we ordered.

This is the first time I tried out a soy sauce based salad dressing. 

Very interesting and quite tasty.

Tarako Pasta

Pollock roe flavored spaghetti with shimeji mushrooms, nori and shiso

I can't really tasted the Pollock roe but over all it is a very tasty dish.

Wafu Pasta

Japanese shoyu (soy sauce) based spaghetti with enoki, shimeji, oyster and king oyster mushrooms.

I don't find it to have a big different as compare with the Tarako pasta despite it is $1 more than the Tarako Pasta.

Menu

Izakaya Ju

Date: October 24 2010
Location: 3-3160 Steeles Ave E, Markham, ON L3R 4G9 (J-Town)
Website: http://www.izakayaju.com/index.html


There are 3 new restaurants open this year in J-Town and Izakaya Ju is one of the them. I've visit Izakaya Ju many times recently as their food are very Japanese and delicious. They got the liquor licence recently so there are selection of different Japanese beers and sakes. Izakaya Ju carries a lot of traditional dishes include: Yakitori, and Ochazuke. They use Binchōtan (a type of charcoal)  to grill the yakitori so it has the right amount of distinct smokiness. 

Asahi Dark Large Beer 
I love this dark large. It is very easy-to-drink.
However I don't think it is for sale in LCBO yet.

Gyu Tongue
Very tender beef tongue with spicy onion on top. It is a cold dish.

Deep Fried Sweet Shrimp
This is on the special menu which changed regularly.
The shrimps were very crispy and I can eat the "whole" shrimp along with the shell !!!

Ton toro
Ton toro is pork cheek meat. It is very tender and flavorful.

Curry Rice
Minced beef and veg curry on rice with porched egg.
This dish was covered with grounded beef cooked in curry. 
You don't see the curry sauce but it sure has a very strong taste.   
This is on the lunch menu but can be ordered during dinner as well.

Deep-fried Chicken Knuckle
A very interesting dish. It is a mixture between the crunchy cartilage and  the meat itself.

Motsuni 
Pork intestine and yamcake miso stew.
It has a strong miso taste which makes everything richer. 
The pork intestine tasted excellent because it has absorbed all the miso flavour.

Asari Sakamushi
Manila clams steamed in sake soup.
The clams were very fresh but nothing mind blowing.

Agedashi Mochi
Deep fried rice cake in bonito broth.
The rice cake was deep fried so the surface absorb the flavour from the broth.
The centre of the rice cake was very soft and sticky. Love it!

Chawanmushi
An egg custard dish with shrimp and shiitake mushroom served in a tea cup.
The egg was very smooth and it was not over cooked.

Spare Ribs
Ju style BBQ Ribs.
Very juicy BBQ Ribs. I love the sweet BBQ sauce.

Chicken Salad with Cold udon with sesame oil
This can be found in the special menu.
It is a very refreshing dish and I enjoy the nutty sesame taste a lot.

Neba neba
Chopped natto, okura and Japanese yam on salmon sashimi topped with wasabi and seaweed
Natto is a very Japanese food and not everyone will like it.
I expected it to have a very strong Natto taste but surprisingly it tasted pretty good.
It tasted like regular soy bean but very slippery so it goes well with the salmon

Nankotsu
Grill chicken soft bone or cartilage. It is slightly spiced with salt only. 
I love its crunchy texture. 

Chang An Northwestern Chinese Cuisine 西北樓 陝西風味

Date: October 19 2010
Location: Unit A10 - 240 Alton Towers Circle, Scarborough, ON M1V 3Z3
Website: http://www.cn.qqeat.ca/search/show.php?id=719 **Website in Chinese only**
Menu: http://www.cn.qqeat.ca/search/file_show.php?filepath=../upload/1200266656.jpg
           http://www.cn.qqeat.ca/search/file_show.php?filepath=../upload/1200266705.jpg

C.C. and I enjoy spicy food a lot especially Szechwan style of Chinese food 四川風味. This is the first time we tried out Shaanxi Style Chinese food 陝西風味. I have very poor knowledge of China geography so I google on the web to find out where it is located. Apparently, Shaanxi is a province located in the central part of China. There are lot of delicious food in Shaanxi and Liang pi 涼皮 is the most popular food which you can find on every streets in this province.

Liang pi 涼皮 is a noodle made from wheat or rice flour. It is usually prepared cold in a source which contains many different flavours: sweet, sour, spicy, nutty and herbal. Liang pi is a very refreshing appetizer. There is another type of noodle which is very famous. It is called Qishan 岐山 noodle. This noodle is usually prepared hot in a soup base. It has a more chewy texture as compared with Liang pi 涼皮. 

* The English translation on the menu is not 100% correct, so I have translated it myself and put the real name along with the number in bracket *

Chuan Bei Liang Pi  川北涼粉

(216 Mixed round bean flour in Chuan Bei Style)

This is a spicy version of Liang pi 涼皮. It as all the flavours I described above.

I love this dish alot as it is not too sour.

Steamed Chicken with Sesame Source 口水雞
(Cannot find this on the internet menu)
This dish is not as delicious as I expected and I don't recommend it.
The steamed chicken is prepared cold with no flavour.
The flavour was only coming from the spicy sesame source.

Xi'an Rou Ga Mo 西安肉夾饃

(105 Xi'an delicious pork with pancake)

The waitress said, the pork is cooked slowly in a sauce and then pan fried to make it more flavourable.

It tasted a bit like pulled pork but the pork was cut into tiny cube size.

Very delicious dish but a bit oily.

Dapanji 大盤辣子雞 

(302 Cooking Pot Spicy Chicken )

The main ingredients include chicken, garlic, potato, green peppers, chili peppers, lot of chilly oils served with noodles. 

This is a very delicious dish however extremely oily. If you like spicy and herbal food it is a must try.

Qishan noodle  岐山麵

(Cannot find this on the internet menu)

I accidentally deleted the pictures I took so I substitute it with a picture on google.

The noodles are chewy and tasty. However the soup base is a bit too oily for me.

Tangyuan in Fermenting Flutinous rice soup base 酒釀湯圓

(120 Brewed rice with Rice Glue ball)

This is a dessert. Tangyuan 湯圓 is little rice ball made with glutinous rice flour. 

The one I ordered has black sesame fillings.

The rice balls are prepared in fermented rice soup base so it has a slight alcohol taste.
I enjoy this dessert a lot as it is not too sweet.