Pho Delight

We had lunch at Pho Delight on Yonge St, just north of Empress. This is a small restaurant with a decent flow of customers, but we have never had to wait for a table.



Rare beef rice noodle soup - 4/5
The soup base was good, and the amount of beef was sufficient. The beef could have been slightly more rare. Excellent value ($5.95).



BBQ pork and spring roll on vermicelli - 4.5/5
Delicious. Lots of meat, tasty spring roll and tons of vermicelli. I only subtracted 0.5 because I prefer the thinner type of noodle. Again, excellent value ($6.75).

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes, and I do go back every chance I get!

Sa Ri Won Korean Restaurant

We went for Korean BBQ at Sa Ri Won at Yonge and Clark in Thornhill. It is quite large, unlike many of the Korean BBQ places that I have been to where there is a line up outside the door. The interior is spacious and clean, and the tables are huge enough to hold all of the small dishes.







Side dishes - 5/5
They tasted fine, and you definitely could not complain about the quantity. There were more than I've shown photos of...I could not have gotten them all on one picture!




Seafood and beef BBQ - 2/5
I'm not sure why we chose the seafood...I don't even like seafood that much and it's hard to BBQ. Everything ended up getting overcooked and rubbery, even though the staff actually did a lot of the cooking for us. Even the beef didn't taste very good. I left feeling full, but not very satisfied.



Kimchee chigae - 3.5/5
It was fine, but nothing special. It was included with the meal.

Service - 3/5
The staff were nice enough, but they never came by to refill our tea. We had to ask for it.

Would I go back to this restaurant? No. It was quite expensive ($26 per person for the seafood and beef), and not very good.

Ambassador Chinese Cuisine

We had dinner at Ambassador Chinese Cuisine (Highway 7 and Leslie, Richmond Hill). This restaurant is definitely more upscale (and more expensive) than the places that we usually go to. The restaurant was clean and the decor was more classy. It wasn't extremely busy, especially for a Saturday night. There seemed to be about a 2:1 ratio of tables to servers, so we were never waiting long for anything. All of the menus are in Chinese and English, so they cater to a more diverse crowd. I didn't feel intimidated walking in there as a non-Chinese. Now, for the food!


Soup: dried scallop, chicken, egg white - 3.5/5
I thought that it was pretty good, but some of the other diners complained that it was too salty. They were generous with the ingredients.




Peking duck appetizer - Taste 5/5, User friendliness 2/5
The duck was very tasty. I was happy that they brought out two dishes each of the cucumber, onions and sauce so that the five of us didn't have to constantly pass the dishes around. However, it was difficult to eat once you put it together. The duck slices were large and difficult to wrap in the tiny pancakes, as you can see in the second picture. The cucumbers could have been more thinly sliced as well.




Peking duck lettuce wrap - 5/5
This was very tasty, and the shape of the lettuce pieces made it easy to cup the filling.



Sizzling filets of grouper and tofu - 4.5/5
The taste was very good, and the battered fish pieces were boneless (I've had it at other places where there were more bones than fish). Our only complaint was that it was too watery.



Jumbo shrimp with sauteed greens - 5/5
Whatever they put in the seasoning/sauce, it was delicious. And I'm not even a big fan of shrimp!



Half crispy chicken - 2/5
This was the disappointment of the meal. The chicken was quite dry. We didn't eat very much of it.



Gailan with beef - 5/5
Another excellent dish. No complaints!


Red bean dessert - 4/5
It had tapioca and bits of orange peel in it, which was a nice touch. The consistency was good, and it was served at just the right temperature. I think I would have liked it just a touch sweeter.

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes, for a special occasion. It's too pricey for me to become a regular! But I would pass on the crispy chicken next time.

Owl of Minerva (Korean Restaurant)

We used to go to the one at 5324 Yonge St all the time, but there are also locations in First Markham Place and in Koreatown. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I get these crazy cravings for spicy kamjatang (Pork Bone Soup). Tonight, we ordered kamjatang and kalbi (beef short ribs).

Kamjatang - 5/5
Large serving, well cooked meat (easily pulled off the bones), just the right spiciness and good soup. It comes with a bowl of rice.

Kalbi - 5/5
It was really tasty! The portion size was decent, too.

Side dishes - 5/5
Seaweed and kimchi (cabbage and white radish). They tasted fine to me, but I wouldn't consider myself to be a picky kimchi eater. No complaints!

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes, and I have gone back many times!

Pho 99

We went to Pho 99 Vietnamese restaurant at the north east corner of Highway 7 and McCowan in Markham for lunch. I ordered the grilled chicken rice noodle soup ($6.50 - one size only) and Tony ordered the brisket, tendon and beef tripe rice noodle soup (large, $6.50).

Soup base - 3.5/5
The soup base was fine. It wasn't the best that we have had, but we didn't have anything to complain about, either.

Quantity of meat - 3.5/5
There was enough chicken in my soup for my liking, but Tony could have used more beef.

Quantity of noodles - 5/5
Lots and lots. I couldn't finish mine.

Side veggies - 5/5
They gave us plenty of spouts and they looked reasonably fresh.

The food came out quickly and the service was pretty much what you would expect for this type of restaurant. Good value.

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes.

Dinner at Tsukiji Sushi Village

I am a sansei (third-generation Japanese) and I spent a year in Japan, but I am by no means an expert on Japanese food. I am just particular about what I like. I think I was spoiled living in Vancouver, where it is fairly easy to find decent Japanese food at affordable prices. Since moving to Toronto, I have had a more difficult time with this.

We tried out Tsukiji Sushi Village in Markham. There was a steady stream of customers, but no line-up to get a table (a Friday night). We were greeted and seated promptly.

There was quite a bit of variety on the menu. The only complaint that I had was that some of the food had only the English translation and not the Japanese name. I don't mean that it has to be written in Japanese characters, but it helps me recognize the dish if I see the romaji. For example, the agedashi tofu was listed as deep-fried tofu, the gyoza as fried dumpling...it took a minute for me to clue into what those were.

Here is what we ordered. Too bad we didn't have the camera with us...next time!

Miso soup - 4/5
Yellow miso, with some seaweed, tofu and green onions. Tasty, but I like a little more tofu.

16 piece sashimi boat - 3.5/5
The slices of salmon were quite thin. This dish was okay for the price (about $12). The fish tasted reasonably fresh.

Mango tango roll - 4/5
An inside-out roll (rice on the outside) with cucumber in the middle and slices of salmon and mango on top. Salmon and mango are a great combination.

Spicy tuna roll - 4/5
This roll was also inside-out. It was quite good, with just the right amount of spiciness for my taste. It had some tempura bits around it, which I could have done without.

Grilled eggplant - 3/5
It was good, but we only got half an asian eggplant for $5??

Grilled salmon-stuffed rice ball (Nigiri) - 5/5
I don't usually see this in restaurants, so they get a high score for effort ;). If you don't know what this is, check out this link. I'm not sure if they were really that great, or if I just enjoyed it because I haven't had one in so long.

Oyster motoyaki - No rating
I can't rate this because I never order it. My fiance wanted to try it, and he couldn't finish the two oysters by himself...they were too rich/flavourful/greasy.

Teppanyaki beef - 2/5
I wouldn't order this again. I don't know how else to describe the beef besides "puffy." It was a bit chewy, too.

The service was decent, the food came out quickly, and our tea cups were always full. It was good tea, too...tasted like genmaicha (brown rice tea). Can't ask for much more than that!

Would I go back to this restaurant? Yes. This is probably one of the better Japanese restaurants that I have tried in the GTA.