Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tomi Good Eats 湯米王

Date: Feb 2010
Location: First Markham Place - Food Court, 3255 Highway 7 E, Markham, Ontario L3R 3P9


My C.C. and I love to have noodle for lunch and Tomi Good Eats is one of the places we like. Their rice noodles are average but the soup base is the best. Every bowl of noodles have a choice of fish soup base or chicken broth soup base. Personally, I found the fish better than chicken as it is more tasteful and healthier (lot of omega 3).

Tomi Good Eats also serves 過穚米線 (Guo Qiao Mi Xian) and the direct translation is "crossing bridge rice noodle". You may wonder how come the name sounds so weird. Well there is a story behind it and for those who are interested, you can checked it here. Tomi Good Eats' 過穚米線 (Guo Qiao Mi Xian) is served with a big bowl of really hot soup and it comes with a few slices of thin raw chicken meat, fish, and some vegetables. The idea is to get the meat cooked by submerging them into the hot soup. A bowl of 過穚米線 (Guo Qiao Mi Xian) is about $5.99-$6.99 depending on the ingredients.

This time I didn't order their 過穚米線 (Guo Qiao Mi Xian) but I tried out their chicken rice noodle and dumpling rice noodle. Both are $4.99.

Tomi Good Eats

Chicken rice noodle with fish soup base
White fish soup base. Very delicious!

Dumpling rice noodle with fish soup base

 

Friday, January 29, 2010

Inatei 稻亭 (2nd visit)

Date: Jan 2010
Location: 9021 Leslie St., Unit 7&8, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 0B2

This is my second visit to Inatei within a month. Inatei is definitely one of my favorite Japanese Restaurants. Inatei distinct themselves by serving seasonal and special sashimi such as Hiarme (Fluke or 左口魚) and real white tuna. The waiter said they only serve real white tuna (Albacore), not butter fish (Escolar). Most importantly, their sashimi are always fresh and tasty. Oh! one more thing, I just can't resist their dessert which is different on a daily basis. Their sushi & sashimi lunch is $13.99 and Salmon Don is $10.99.

Let's talk about some of the sushi I tasted this time. Hirame has a very firm texture. It looks like the meat is taken from the fish's fin area. Because the meats are small and 2 of them are needed to top the sushi. The real White Tuna sushi has a totally different texture than butterfish. The meat is softer and less oily than butterfish and it is more refreshing. Kazunoko is Herring roe which has a bright yellow colour and it is very crispy!

Sushi & sashimi with California roll
 From L to R: Hirame, Salmon, White Tuna, Prawn, Kazunoko (Herring roe), Arctic Surf Clam
Salmon and Tuna Sashimi

Salmon sashimi don
Very fresh and fatty Salmon
I found the rice more tasty than last visit because it is firmer

Milk tea pudding
Very smooth and milky pudding. Yum!
I love the syrup container so cute! 

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ding Tai Fung Shanghai Restaurant 鼎泰豐

Date: January 2010
Location: 3235 Hwy 7 E Unit #18B, Markham, ON L3R 3P3

My C.C. and I were working busy til 8:00pm tonight so we decide to have dinner together. We chose 鼎泰豐 - Ding Tai Fung Shanghai Restaurant. For those who are not familiar about Shanghai Cuisine, here is the link for explanation. I had visit 鼎泰豐 Ding Tai Fung many times and I found their food to be okay. Their 蟹粉小籠包 Steam Crab Meat and Pork Dumpling are one of the best in town and it is also my favorite. However their other dishes are average depending on what you order. I am not very happy with my meal as I had try better dishes from this restaurant before. In terms of pricing, it is not expensive the whole meal only  cost $25 including tax and gratuities. The dumpling cost ~$7.99, noodle ~$6.5, and the beef roll is ~$5.49.

 蟹粉小籠包 Steam Crab Meat and Pork Dumpling
One order comes with 6 dumpling
The outer layers of the dumpling is very thin. you can see the soup waggly around 


The dumplings are very juicy but a bit oily too
All the crab meat is in the middle of the dumpling


炸醬麵 Noodles mixed in broad-bean sauce
  Surprisingly they use beef instead of pork which most other Shanghai Cuisine used
I don't found this noodle as tasty as I though because it is not spicy enough and the beef are too dry


牛肉卷 Beef Roll
Their beef roll is average and the whole dish is too dry
I feel the beef is not marinated enough as compare with Asian Legend
It has lot of raw green onion which I don't like



Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Inatei 稻亭

Date: Jan 1010
Location: 9021 Leslie St., Unit 7&8, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 0B2

I read some good reviews for Inatei Japenese Cuisine and I finally get to try out their food. They have a lunch menu with sushi, sashimi, bento, ramen which comes with miso shop, salad and dessert. My C.C. and I order a chirashi ($12.99) and a tonkatsu + sushi bento ($13.99).

The overall quality of the food are great as fishes were fresh and fatty. Their menu is a bit more expensive than the others. However,  fishes were fresh and tasteful so it is worth the price. For example, the shiitake mushrooms which came with the chirashi were marinated just right and not too salty. That's tell me the chef paid attention to all the ingredients in a dishes. This is also the reason why I love their food.

However, I overheard the next table said their sea weed was not crispy. I didn't order any sushi myself so I could not compare. Their cheese cake dessert was extremely delicious. The owner said they hire a chef to make desserts everyday with are different everyday. On the day of my visit, they prepared Tofu and Avocardo cheese cake.

I asked the waiter and he mentioned that Inatei offers Omakase with a base price of $60 and it is subject to change based on the seasonal ingredients. It must be reserved one day in advance so the chef can select and prepare the perfect meal.

Miso soup & Salad
Their salad was made from finely chopped cabbage which tasted like coleslaw


Chirashi
Great selection of different fishy: salmon, tuna, saba & saba with yellow fish eggs, hamachi, buri, shrimp, octopus, real crab meat, eggs and marinated shiitake mushroom
The rice was flavourfuI. I found it a bit too soft but C.C. said it was alright

 
松 Matsu Bento
Tonkatsu was crispy yet not dry and the orange was sweet


The salmon was fatty and tuna is very fishy unlike those from other restaurant


The salmon ongiris has the right texture and not salty. Excellent!


Tofu Cheese Cake
Very yummy cheese cake with a sponge like bottom


Beautiful design and good for large party




 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Danny's Fish & Chips

Date: January 2010
Location: 4721 Hwy 7, Markham, ON L3R 1M7

I don't usually have fish and chips for lunch but Danny's Fish and Chips is the place I love. Their fillet were not greasy and perfectly breaded. Each meal was prepared fresh after order has been placed. I tried their fries before and they were perfectly cooked, not soggy. There is always a special menu for $5.99 with a choice of (1) Catfish (2) Tilapia (3) Pollock-2 fillets, all comes with the "chips". Fries can be substitute by onion rings with extra $1. I ordered their Pollock and Tilapia before. My C.C. loves the Tilapia. This time I wanted to try their Cod fish with garden salad for $8.95. Another good thing about Danny's Fish and Chips is, you can have all you can drink coffee.

Open Clean Kitchen
Lot of people came in for lunch and ordered take-out


Dinning Area


Cod & Garden salad with Italian sauce
Cod fillet tasted firmer than Tilapia (it comes with 3 individual fires. Ha Ha)


Tilapia & Onion rings
It has a strong fishy taste, perfect for fish lover!
I found their onion rings better than the fries

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Miyabi 雅

Date: January 2010
Location: 280 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1B4


I never know there is a Japanese operated Japanese restaurant in Jubilee Square until my C.C. bought me there. It is a medium size restaurant with two traditional tatami party rooms and shoes must be off. They offer food similar to J-town and the price are similar too. However they have Japanese style hot pot which smelt very good although I did not order it. Miyabi also have Japanese magazines for customer to read. My C.C. and I were still full so we only ordered Tannin Don (牛肉丼) and Nabe yaki undo (Hot-pot Undo).

  Miso Soup
Surprisingly delicious and not salty at all. A very tasty bowl of soup

 
Nabe yaki undo
Fluffy, and crispy tempura shrimp. Very fresh!


I love the poach egg, because it is a real 溏心蛋 (runny yolk with harden crust)

  
Tannin Don
 A bit salty but still tasty


Japanese Magazine
My favourite Japanese drama - Nodame Cantabile 
Can't wait for the movie to come out