Vatican After Hours

Back in August, I travelled with my best friend, Sadaf, to Italy, France and Spain. It was a crazy fun two and a half weeks, the temperature was sizzling hot AND we went during the height of European tourism. In Rome, we stayed in a small, but modern bed and breakfast near Vatican City. One of the most enjoyable memories in Rome were the casual night walks to St. Peter's Square. The Square was surrounded by Bernini's beautiful larger-than-life sculptures. Couldn't get any pictures of the Swiss Guards, but I am pleased tell you they aren't bad to look at if you look past their funny attire ;)

Ra-ra-rahhh men

I haven't updated since July? That's just pure weaksauce. The weeks leading up to my European adventure was a little hectic. When I came back, I tried to squeeze the last remaining minutes of summer. Excuses, excuses I know, but now that it's getting cold, I will be hibernating at home dressed in my standard winter outfit (sweatpants and hoodies) blogging my Europe trip!

Before I left for Europe, I needed to devour as much Asian food as possible, I begged Julian to take me to eat ramen noodles at Kenzo. Kenzo is a popular Japanese ramen joint downtown. When I heard there was a Yonge and Finch location, I squeeled! That means I won't have to trek downtown to satisfy my sudden intense ramen craving on a cold winter's day *score!*

We pulled up to the tiny front parking lot (no joke). After reading reviews on my Urbanspoon and Yelp apps (yes, both, I'm crazy obsessive), I discovered this uptown location was not affiliated to the two downtown Kenzo locations. The sign looked a little different from the downtown location, but the menu was identical. It didn't matter because the ramen tasted just as good!!! Noodles were not too soft, al-dente to my liking, and they were not shy about loading up my bowl with chasiu (bbq pork), egg, sprouts, carrots, mushrooms, and grounded pork in a spicy ramen broth.

{ my fully loaded King of Kings ramen }

{ tonkotsu ramen: chasiu and egg in a pork bone soup }

{ gyoza dumplings with a chili vinegar dipping sauce }

There was poor ventilation in there for a muggy August day. I was sweating buckets while slurping on my yummy noodles. It didn't matter because it was SO GOOOOOD.


Kenzo Ramen
6180 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
(416) 229-4526

Sunny Saturday // Pizzeria Libretto

My friends and I headed out to the Distillery District this past sunny Saturday. I've been anticipating the Food Truck Eats event for a couple of weeks now. Good thing I ate a bit of food before I left the house, because the line up for one food vendor was 1-2 hours!! RIDICULOUS. I don't know if it was the combination of the Jazz Festival or if it was the ton of foodies out in full force ready to nom. After walking around for fifteen minutes with my starving friends, we decided it was NOT worth the wait in the blazing sun and left to eat at Pizzeria Libretto, a recommendation by Amanda and Jeff. Boy was it a good call.

According to their website, Pizzeria Libretto serves "Real Neapolitan Pizza", using the fresh, local, and natural ingredients. Pizzas are cooked in a 3rd generation, 900 degree wood burning oven, hand-made and imported from Naples, Italy. Sounds legit eh? 

They have a regular Lunch Prix Fixe menu, an amazing deal, $15 for a three course meal! Julian and I shared this one since we weren't that hungry. We started off with bruschetta: one vegetable, two meats. The vegetable bruschetta was good, the bread was toasted with a creamy goat cheese spread topped with fresh tomatoes. The highlight of the meal I would say was the beef meat bruschetta. I haven't been blown away by bruschetta considering, well it's only bruschetta, but this one was delicious. The meat, the tomatoes, and the cheese just went so perfectly together, hmmm.

{ l-r: goat cheese bruschetta, beef bruschetta }

{ Amanda's pear and walnut arugula salad }

{ Sharon's caprese salad }

The server let us know we were able to substitute the Margherita pizza for any pizza of choice (with an extra charge of a few dollars of course). Julian and I ordered the Duck Confit, Bosc Pear and Mozzarella pizza (fancy I know). The pears were sweet, a nice contrast to the very tender shredded duck meat. The dough in the centre of the pizza was a little hard to cut and not as crispy as I would like, but it was very tasty overall.

{ Julian and I's duck confit, bosc pear and mozzarella pizza }

{ Amanda's house-made sausage, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and chili oil pizza }

{ Chris' hot peppers, tomato, house-made sausage, mozzarella pizza }

{ Jeff's salami, tomato, gorgonzola, roasted red peppers, mozzarella pizza }

{ chocolate gelato }

We finished off with a very chocolatey gelato, too bad it was slightly melted. With the substituted pizza, the meal came up to $19. Incredible value for two people!




Pizzeria Libretto
221 Ossington Ave.
(416) 532-8000
Website

Another Sunday Brunch

My friend Nicola visited Toronto a couple of weeks ago. She said Vancouver doesn't have many cute brunch restaurants (surprising). Julian and I took her to School for a Sunday brunch!

I tried something new this time. The asparagus and cheese omelette, with a side of home fries and green salad ($13). I don't know what it is, but I don't LOVE omelettes, but I insist on ordering them when I'm in the "I-need-to-feel-heathly" mood. However, drenching it in hot sauce does make it taste better (I'm a hot sauce lova lova).

The service that day wasn't so great. Our server did not fill our waters once and we had to call her over many times to request for something, like utensils! The washrooms were plugged, so we had to trek across to street and use the washrooms in the stadium (wtf?). Even though this particular day was a miss, I will go back simply because I know their food is usually delicious. The bright side was that they have two beautiful patios. One at the front and one at the side of the restaurant, it was perfect patio weather that day.

After brunch, we headed to Queen St. West to check out some vintage stores and stopped by Nadege for a macaron treat. Hope you had a great time back in the tdot, Nic!

{ pistachio macarons from Nadge }

School of Bakery & Café
70 Fraser Ave.

Toronto, ON

(416) 588-0005

Website

Nadege

780 Queen Street West

Toronto, ON

(416) 368-2009

Website

Taste of Asia Night Market

Summer night markets are back in full force! The Taste of Asia festival re-creates popular Asian night markets with vendors selling street eats, nonsense gadgets, toys, and clothing. Each year Kennedy Road (near Pacific Mall) closes down for 2 days.

While my friends and I walked to P Mall, we could smell the looming god awful stench of stinky tofu in the air. Some jump for joy, others dread getting closer. Warning! This isn't for everyone, the street is very crowded, there are long lines for food, and the stench of stinky tofu (some say it smells like rotten garbage) will creep into your clothes and hair, but it is so worth it. It brings back memories of visiting Hong Kong!

{ Jeff enoying his corn, fob style }

{ bbq squid and octopus, $3 }

{ lamb skewers, $1 }

{ takoyaki are squid balls. a very popular street snack in japan, $5 }

{ egg puffs pastry, $3, we ate half before i took a picture }

 { Diana's Seafood shucking away }

{ very meaty fanny bay oysters }

{ $10 for 8 oysters, not bad! }

{ grilled pork jerky }

{ Julian's $5 pineapple drink }

{ steamed rice noodle rolls }

{ rice noodle rolls all dressed up with hoisin, peanut, and hot sauce, $3 } 

{ so good they went for seconds }

{ last but not least, stinky tofu with pickled cabbage. i didn't have any, but i'll "try" to have it the next time! }

{ a make-shift garbage can }

Here are some of my tips for night market adventures:

1. Do not wear nice shoes (the ground is sticky and covered in garbage)
2. Wear clothes you don't mind to getting dirty or smelly (hoards of crowds walking around with skewers of meat. Re: stinky tofu... the smell is that awful)
3. Wear a cross shoulder bag
4. Bring tissue and hand sanitizer
5. Go to the washroom before you leave the house unless you want to use the smelly port-a-potties
6. Have fun and happy nom'ing!

Sashimi House

Sashimi House is my go-to-place for quality sushi at an affordable price. Tucked in a small plaza on Sheppard Ave East (near Fairview Mall), this mom and pop shop has been around for many years. The restaurant is often filled with a busy business lunch crowd during the weekdays. I discovered this place through my uncle... he works there haha. The interior is nothing really special, the chairs aren't the most comfortable, but customers are willing to put that aside for fresh fish.

We came here to celebrate Mother's Day with Julian's family. We ordered a sushi party tray of 80 pieces for the 5 of us ($53). Julian decided to get his usual House B Special ($14.99). Their combos are the best bang for your buck. The portions are generous, sushi dinner combos are between $14-17 and lunch boxes range from $5-9! A-la-carte items are also available. They make a mean spicy salmon roll, it's spicy and actually crispy!

{ sushi party on a boat, woot woot! }

 

{ tofu tempura on the house } 

{ Julian's House B Special with a side of shrimp tempura }

Sashimi House makes amazing banana tempura. Strangely, this dessert isn't on the menu. If they have bananas in stock that day, then you're in luck, never hurts to ask! It is sooooo delicious dipped in maple syrup!

Sashimi House

2038 Sheppard Ave E

Toronto, ON (North York)

(416) 495-1208