Steam Whistle Brewing *.

My boyfriend and I came here for the brewery tour - slots fill up quickly so it's best to arrive earlier and mark down a good time slot!

The tour guide was very welcoming and passionate about her job. She was knowledgeable about the brewery's functions and history. 

(We ordered pretzels + pickle and mustard on the side - a bit salty but perfect with our beers!)

We learnt a lot about the beer-making process and enjoyed the tour very much. The tour made us appreciate Steam Whistle beer a lot more than before haha.

They were very generous with the sample beers (as part of the tour). 
We were pretty buzzed before we even started hahaha..

I'm very happy with my experience here at the brewery, it is definitely worth a go! :)

THANKS PETER :D hehe

Steam Whistle Brewing

255 Bremner Boulevard
Toronto, ON M5V 3M9

Barhop *.

I enjoyed my time at Barhop! Service was excellent. 

My boyfriend and I usually come here with friends for drinks but we heard good things about the food so we came here to try it out.

GRILLED FLANK STEAK
(with roasted fingerling potato, honey mushroom & chimichurri)
We ordered it as medium rare, very tender and juicy.

PORK BELLY
(with bone marrow, duck egg, and bread)
I'd recommend this out of the 2 we've ordered! The bone marrow was delicious (worth the cholesterol D:).. the pork belly's taste was not bland at all - very flavourful - paired well with the sweet potatoes!

Will definitely revisit :)

Barhop

391 King Street W
Toronto, ON M5V 1K1

YASU *.

My boyfriend took me to Yasu for Valentine's Day dinner :) 
(THANKS PETER! :D)
He booked a month in advance - so book early if you plan on visiting here!
It was amaaazing.. We agreed on coming back here again :P 
Highly recommended!

We ordered the sake pairing which comes in a set of 6:
1) Niigata prefecture sake
2) Niigata prefecture sake #2
3) Ichinokura from Miyagi, Japan
4) Yamagata prefecture sake
5) Seikyo from Hiroshima, Japan
6) Yuzu sake

CHEF OMAKASE (18 sushis in total - chef selection):
pictures are in sequence

1. SEA BASS from Greece WITH UNI from Vancouver, Canada
Uni was very fresh  - a good mix with the sea bass.

2. SHINAME FLUKE from Japan
Sweet taste to it

3. MARINATED TUNA from Sri Lanka
Buttery flavour and cuts in very easily - not too much fat

4. WHITE SHRIMP from Japan
Sweet and mushy

5. SCALLOPS WITH ROCK SALTS from Hokkaido, Japan
Sweet and mushy - similar to the white shrimp but more sea-taste

6. OCEAN TROUT from Scotland
The fatty is SO GOOD :D

7. GOLDEN ICE SNAPPER from Portugal
Tail moves up when he seared it! So fresh! Not too strong of a fishy taste

8. SNOW CRAB from the East Coast
My boyfriend said he got goosebumps from eating this because he loves this so much hahaha

9. BLUE RAY MACKEREL WITH PICKLED DAIKON
Salty mackerel and daikon created a good texture and a good balance

10. IKURA handroll
One of my favourite! The roes were huge and juicy

11. STRIPPED JACK from Kyushu, Japan
Chewy and super fresh

12. MONK FISH FOIE GRAS from Boston, USA
This one is MY FAVOURITE :D - We actually ordered another set of this at the end of our meal because we loved this the most out of the 18 sushis that we've had. AMAZING :) The mint was a good mixture with the flavour - monk fish was very sweet.. loved it!

13. SEA BREAM from Greece
Less chewy version of the snapper, similar in freshness

14. OTORO from Spain
My top 5 picks of the night :)

15. BONITO from Japan
Seared part of the fish was amazing

16. TORO and SCALLOP HANDROLL from Japan
My boyfriend said it was the best handroll he's ever had in his life.. hahaha 
The sushi chef made this handroll in a very crafty way - he cut up the seaweed so that the contents would stay in tact easier

17. ANAGO from Peru
So sweet, not too much bones

18. TAMAGO
Tastes like cake

DESSERTS:
- Green tea panna cotta
- Ginger ice cream (I liked this one more)

Yasu

81 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON M5S

Ps. Happy belated Valentine's Day! :) 

Little Fin*.

Revisited Little Fin again and was not disappointed!

This time I ordered the BIG EYE TUNA burger set with seaweed salad and fries on the side.
The big eye tuna was half cooked, marinated in scallion, ginger, thai basil and sesame - very juicy and fresh. The line up wasn't bad at all - would visit here again :) 

Little Fin

4 Temperance Street
Toronto, ON

Mambo Lounge *.

I gave this place a 1/5 stars on Yelp haha...

Our party (of 14 people) came here for Winterlicious..
Our reservation was at 8:30 pm and we ended dinner at around 12 pm - not because of us taking our time but because of how slow the service was at the restaurant.
The interval of us flagging someone down took 15 mins, and another 30 mins for whatever we ordered to arrive at our table (even our bill!!).

3 course meal from Winterlicious:

TROPICAL SALAD
Normal salad - nothing special about it. I was happy there were a few pieces of avocado though.

MERO ANTARTICO (Sea bass fillet with coconut rice)
This was the most bland looking and bland tasting sea bass I've had. The coconut rice wasn't fully cooked - parts of it were still raw.. best part was probably the carrots... LOL

MOUSSE DE CHOCOLATE (Chocolate cake)
How'd it take them 30 minutes to bring this out? It's just a piece of chocolate cake that was sliced up. Nothing special.

Will not visit here again..
Side note: Who chose this place anyways?! LOL

Mambo Lounge

120 Danforth Ave
Toronto, ON M4K 1N1

Thoroughbred Food & Drink *.

Thoroughbred is a hidden gem - in a little corner :)
A hipster setting with hipster staff - the waiters working the day I visited the restaurant had really cool hair hahaha

For drinks: Beau's Lug Tread Lagered Ale

I'd recommend:

KUNG PAO CAULIFLOWER 3.5/5
Om nom! This is so good for appetizers - starts up a good appetite. Very tasty and something more on the healthy end before you order the meats.

CHICKEN SOIGNE 4.5/5
How'd they make the chicken so tender? Not dry at all - very juicy.

It's wrapped up chicken breast with white meat on the outside, dark meat in the inside. It's a combination of organic chicken, foie gras and truffles.
The sauce that comes with it is also very delicious.. 
Very filling but worth every meaty bite :D

Thoroughbred Food & Drink

304 Richmond Street W
Toronto, ON M5V 3M6