GLOW Fresh Grill *.

Came here for my friends' birthday party.

The service was okay - there was a mix up with our orders but our waiter was very nice about it. It's a restaurant catered to families - the park in the middle had a bunch of children running around the place haha.

10OZ CENTER-CUT RIBEYE
(Mashed potato and asparagus on the side)
Meeeeeeeeeh - they mixed up my order and it wasn't that good lol I'll give it 2/5 stars. The asparagus was very old too.

My friends' ordered other steaks as well (Grilled T-bone & Top Sirloin etc.), we requested it to be cooked to medium-well but the steaks either came out blue (SUPER RARE #PoorTony LOL) or cooked to the core (sooo hard to cut through, not juicy at all - all burnt on the outside #PoorTony again HAHA - same guy, different steak upon complaint).

Note that they charge a price for cake plating fee*

Glow Fresh Grill

$$$  Canadian (New)

7 Marie Labatte Rd
Toronto, ON M3C 0J1

Bareburger *.

3.5 stars for Bareburger! We came here when the weather was super nice so getting the window seat was a plus!

The decor has a homey-cottage feel to it. Look at all the wooden decor!

Very cutesy, the logo for Bareburger is also very cute.
Service was excellent - our waitress was very friendly and knew the menu inside out. Very helpful for our first visit here!

DRINKS:  

Red wine (I forgot which one we ordered)
Strawberry chocolate milkshake

WIKI WIKI burger
(Wild boar, gouda, duck bacon, chickpea, onions, pineapple relish, brioche bun)
SO GOOD :) I loved this one! The meat was juicy & the pineapple relish sauce was very sweet - I'd recommend this burger!

EL MATADOR
(Bison, cheese curds, picked jalapenos, guacamole, green leaf, spicy pico de gallo, brioche bun)
Peter wanted something more on the spicy end but unfortunately, it wasn't that spicy.

+ SIDES (Onion rings & sweet potato fries)
Loved the onion rings! Usually when you eat the onion ring you will accidentally pull out the whole onion within the batter - and i did, but there's TWO onion rings within HAHA - I was so happy and impressed LOL

Bareburger

$$  Burgers

111 Dundas Street W
Toronto, ON M5G

Cheltenham Badlands *.

It's gorgeous here! :) ❤

Recently heard that this place is closing down due to preservation and decided to visit again.
It's a great place for pictures and the trails are nice to walk along. 

We walked up the hills - it was actually pretty steep!

❤

Be careful when parking on the roads! The hill is very slanted so parallel parking could be a little tricky. My boyfriend managed to snatch a spot that was at the centre point of the hill, which I'd recommend, because cars can actually see your car vs those parked on the top of the hill.

So much fun :) Especially when the weather was so nice too! 

Cheltenham Badlands

1901 Olde Base Line Road

Caledon, ON L7C 0J2

Mercatto *.

The 2 stars are really just for the service. 
Came here for a GNO but we all disliked the food that we've ordered. We heard good things about Mercatto's pastas. Maybe the hype was too high? We were all very disappointed in the quality of food that we've had.

I ordered the:

CHITARRA ALLA CARBONARA 
(pancetta, black pepper, egg, pecorino)
The display was cute! But it was very very salty :(

Mercatto

$$  Italian

15 Toronto Street
Toronto, ON M5C 2E3

Izakaya Ju *.

Izakaya Ju -  I come here quite often and I still love this place! :) 
They've renovated the restaurant by expanding it (kicked out the ramen place haha). It was a good choice because the customers are piling up.

NEBA NEBA
(Chopped Natto, Okura and Yam on Salmon Sashimi)
This is so delicious! I'm a big fan of natto beans. It's either you love it or hate it because of it's acquired taste. It's a mushy dish, yummy.

NANKOTSU - SOFT BONED CHICKEN
Crunchy cartilage, chicken. 

ANKIMO 
(Steamed Monkfish Liver with Ponzu Sauce)
After my omakase experience at YASU, Monkfish Liver became my new favourite! Tastes like buttery foie gras (on the fishy side :P).

GINDARA DAIKON
(Black Cod with Daikon soup broth)
This dish is soupy based and is more on the sweet side of taste buds. 

Yakitori:

MOMO
(Chicken Leg)
NEGIMA 
(Chicken Leg & Leek)
I usually get this with salt rather than teriyaki - salt has a lighter taste than teriyaki.

TEBA GYOZA (MY FAVOURITE!)
(Deep Fried Chicken Stuffed Pork Dumpling)
You must try this! This is one of my favourite items on the menu :) 
Plus, it comes with my beloved Okra.

OKRA
It's healthy & delicious.

Izakaya Ju

$$  Japanese

3160 Steeles Avenue E
Markham, ON L3R 4G9

George Restaurant *.

♪ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BAEBUI :D ♪
♕ I HAD A LOVELY TIME THX BB ♕

♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡

My boyfriend took me to George for our anniversary dinner and it was an amazing experience. They had fancy decor and the service was excellent. We ordered the 7 course tasting menu. For every one of the 7 dishes, different waiters brought the food out for us and all of them were very courteous.
Our main waiter was also very attentive.

What I loved about the food was that each item placed on the plate had a different flavour to it - even the garnish (down to a tiny block of carrot!).

Each item had a different taste and the plating was also very pretty. Very impressed! :) 

DRINKS:

Champagne Taittinger (Bubbly!)

And Peter being Peter, he ordered beer too haha

Dishes that stood out for me (all 5/5 stars) were:

AMUSE-BOUCHES (2)

EGGPLANTS with LENTILS & CRISPY DUCK SKIN

BRUSCHETTA - SALMON & ASPARAGUS

SEABASS with PISTACHIO & PEAS
The seabass was served as sashimi - delicious :D

STUFF TUNA TATAKI with ORGANIC VEGGIES
We had a hard time deciding whether the seabass or the tuna tataki was better.. Couldn't decide because both were amazing.

SCALLOPS with ORGANIC VEGGIES

MARINATED OCTOPUS with VEGGIES
We were comparing this dish to the Spanish tapas bars we went to in Toronto, George beats them by far! :D

POTATO WRAPPED TUNA
The potato tasted like meat! Looks like meat too.

CRAB CAKES 
Each garnish had a different taste.

RABBIT MEAT with QUAIL EGG & FOIE GRAS
Very cute display - put together like a mini slider. I LOVED the foie gras :) 

The chef gave us an extra foie gras as a special treat! (Thank you :D!)

VEIL with STUFFED CHEESE (om nom nom) & FOIE GRAS

RIB EYE with COUSCOUS
The meat was so tender - marinated very well!

RIB EYE with PURÉE

COW MILK CHEESE with ARUGULA & WALNUTS 

GOAT CHEESE & BREAD

DESSERTS :) 

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE with MANDARIN ORANGE

CARAMEL CUSTARD with BANANA TEMPURA
The banana tempura was SO DELICIOUS! Wish they added more of this..

"Happy Anniversary" was written on both our dessert plates - a cute touch!

♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡ ♥ ♡

Magic Noodle *.

What I like about Magic Noodle is that the chef actually makes the noodle infront of everyone.. So they weren't kidding about handmade noodles! Haha

(That's the TOFU SKEWER - I got too hangree and forgot to take pictures of the other food haha)

I'd recommend the LAMB and TOFU SKEWERS - so yummy! I like the sauce they marinate it with.. It's both sweet & spicy.

I ordered the imitation crab & fish/meatballs noodles, it is more on the light end of taste buds - I'll come back again to try the Taiwanese Beef Noodles ( 紅燒牛肉麵).

Magic Noodle

$  Chinese

3 - 1383 16th Avenue
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 1J3

Hakata Ramen Sho Ryu Ken *.

Hakata Ramen is a boutique-sized ramen place with excellent service. 
The waitress who served us was very friendly :)

Shoryu Wings 4/5
I loved this! So much flavour - I'd prefer more meat but I guess this is how they want to marinate their wings.

Black Tonkotsu 3/5
The broth wasn't too oily - which we all preferred. I'd recommend this broth out of all the broths that were offered (I tried my friends' noodles hahaha)

Agedashi Tofu 3/5

Beef tataki 1/5 (It's the bottom picture above) 
I didn't like this at all.. :S

Hakata Ramen Sho Ryu Ken

$$  Ramen

5321 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M2N 5R4