The Healthy Butcher *.

The Healthy Butcher gets 3.5/5 stars for our cooking class experience. P signed us up for the sausage making class where you are taught how to make a sausage! It was a lot of fun. 

The session started at 8 pm and was supposed to end at 11 pm but we went over the time slot and ended at approximately 11:45 pm. The instructor spent one and a half hours explaining meat-knowledge to us, which I thought was a little long. There were no seats available at the butcher shop, the thing that kept us going for another 3 hours was the wine and drinks haha. (But I was still sooo tired from standing though lol).

There were a lot of alcohol provided the night that we attended the cooking class! There was also charcutiere and olives to munch on throughout the night. 

COOKING CLASS RUN-DOWN:

* CHOOSING YOUR MEAT

Most of the people who attended the class were coupled up. Each of us were placed in different teams. Each teams' task was to figure out which type of sausage we would make. We were given a choice of pork or beef for the meats and we chose beef. We also chose the type of grind for the meat.

* AUCTION FOR FRESH INGREDIENTS

We were given "monopoly money" ($100) to auction for fresh ingredients. After discussing with our group members, we were determined to spend our auction money on getting fresh minced garlic! We ended up getting more than just fresh garlic :D 

One team member was keen on making a "pho" themed sausage so we let him pick and choose.

Our team's combo includes: minced garlic, mint, maple syrup and onions!

* PICK YOUR DRY INGREDIENTS

Dry ingredients were free-for-all! This includes oregano, paprika, salt, pepper, rosemary...etc. 

I remember we added nutmeg in our dry ingredients mix.

*Behold* - the sausage making machine hahaa

* MAKING THE SAUSAGE

After mixing all the ingredients together, each team gets a try at the sausage-making machine. This was the part of the night where everyone had the most fun! There is enough time and meat for each member of the team to get a try at making the sausage.

* TASTE-TESTING

After all the teams were done making their final products, the instructor will cook one sausage from each teams' batch. Everyone will get to try each other's creations and judge which one they liked the most. There was a "competition" for the best tasting sausage but the instructor didn't pick a winner for our session because apparently "everybody is a winner" LOL. I was hoping he would actually pick his favourite mix -_-'' Anyways, this was one of the best parts of the night because we were so tired and hangry from making the sausages.


* FINAL PRODUCT

Each of us were given a bag with our final product. Some couples decided to switch with others to get variety. The instructor also taught us the different ways we can cook them at home. 

Overall, this was a fun experience and I'd recommend this to my friends! :)

The Healthy Butcher

$$$  Meat Shops, Grocery

298 Eglinton Avenue W
Toronto, ON M4R 1B2

Eat BKK *.

Jess recommended Eat BKK for our double date dinner and we all loved it! It was super cold out so good thing she booked a table for us in advance.. There was a long line up near the door for seats! This place is boutique-sized so I'd recommend you book a table before heading here. Service was great. 

Appetizers:

* SHRIMP CHIPS (4/5)

I love shrimp chips!! I wonder if they make these in-house because the shrimp chips I usually eat at Thai restaurants are much thicker than these. The shrimp chips here are thin and flavourful. It comes with peanut sauce for dipping.

* MANGO SALAD (4/5)

Something healthy needed to be added to our list of items for the night! Mango salad was marinated very well - the mango were sweet and crunchy cashews were paired with it. 

Mains:

* GREEN CURRY + chicken (5/5)

I looooveeeddd my choice!! We were basically choosing the items that had a *thumbs up* on the menu, which was one of the popular / recommended items by Eat BKK. The green curry had a strong coconut flavour to it, for those who don't like coconut-flavours.. be warned! I love coconut flavoured thai dishes so this was perfect for me. This comes with a bowl of rice.

* PAD KRAPRAO KAI DAO (4/5)
(beef, fried eggs, basil, onions, pepper)

The listed items sounded very flat and plain from the menu, but P trusted the *thumbs up* icon and decided to order this. Wise choice *slow claps* haha. This was delish!! The beef was diced in tiny pieces and had soo much flavour to it. He mentioned he would order this again the next time we visit!

* KHAO SOI 
(egg noodle, bean sprouts, pickled cabbage)

Jess ordered the khao soi and I only had room to try a bit of the noodle soup - It was sooo goodd. I don't want to put a rating with this dish as I've only tried a tiny bit of her meal (too stuffed!) but my friend did mention this is her go-to dish whenever she visits (and she comes here very often).

Dessert:

* MANGO STICKY RICE (4/5)

I've always loved Thai mango sticky rice so I did make room for this dessert. We shared this dessert amongst 4 people, which I think is a good portion after a full meal. The rice portion was a lot (It was equivalent to the bowl of rice I got from the green curry)!! Loved the sauce that marinated the rice - I believe it is coconut milk (?) I highly recommend this dessert!!

EAT BKK Thai Kitchen

$$  Thai, Asian Fusion, Food Delivery Services

4704 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M2N 5M4

Old Country Inn Restaurant *.

😻 Belated Christmas post 😻

My family and I had a lovely Christmas dinner at Old Country Inn Restaurant.

Even though the restaurant has been located at Unionville Main Street for quite a while, we haven't visited until now - glad we did! Look at the pretty decor :)

 Service was lovely. Our server was very friendly and cheery the entire night. I'd recommend this place for family gatherings.

😻 The salad was actually pretty good hahaha

* STEAK INNSBRUCK (4/5)

Very tender and juicy! Loved the gravy for our steak. It's a big portion. We ordered 3 of these to share amongst 9 people. It came with veggies on the side.

* PORK HOCK (3.5/5)

The pork hock was delicious. I was surprised at how well this was marinated because the "grilled", "non-saucy" pork hocks are fairly dry in taste. This pork hock was flavourful and the sauerkraut as side dish was a good pairing for the switch of taste buds.


DESSERTS:

* APPLE STRUDEL (5/5)

The apple strudel came nice and hot :) The crust was crunchy and the apple sauce in the middle (with real apples) were delicious. The apple filling was a mix of sweet and sour.

Old Country Inn Restaurant

$$  German, Modern European

198 Main Street
Unionville, ON L3R 2G9

Cheese Garden *.

Maria recommended Cheesecake Garden to me and said their cheese cakes tastes better than Uncle Tetsu's. I agree!! 

We ordered the 7" Japanese Cheesecake ($10.00). It was freshly baked when we ordered it so we got to try both the "fresh out the oven" texture and the "after putting it in the fridge" texture. 

If you prefer a softer texture then eat it right away. I prefer the cheesecake texture after putting it in the fridge for a while because it creates a harder "crust" on the top of the cheesecake. It is what I think differs Cheesecake Garden's cheesecakes from Uncle Tetsu's because I liked this "crust" on the top. It's also more (full)filling if you eat it after you put it in the fridge.

It's a boutique shop, intended for you to grab and go but they are a few tables available for you to sit and eat. There's also free wifi available.

To pair our Japanese cheesecake, P and I watched a Japanese film - "Your Name". We liked it! There is a plot twist... #nospoilers.. haha 

Cheese Garden

$$  Cheese Shops, Custom Cakes

5291 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M2N 5R3

Miku Toronto *.

😻  It's Winterlicious season!! 😻 

(happy belated Winterlicious - it's been busy! :P)

PB and I revisited Miku to try out their Winterlicious menu. Miku is now officially my favourite Japanese restaurant in Toronto!! The menu items were the dishes that we liked from our last visit and this was sooo worth it :) The menu was $48pp which includes appetizer, entrée and dessert (3 options to choose from each category). Service was excellent. Our server was very friendly.

DRINKS:
* Stoneburn Sauvignon Blanc (mine) 
* Underwood Pinot Noir (his)

Appetizer:

* MIKU SIGNATURE ABURI SUSHI SELECTION (5/5)
(salmon, ebi, coal harbour roll, queens quay roll, aburi nigiri)

We loved each selection of the sushis in this dish.. Our favourite was the scallop and aburi nigiris.. Their rice is so rich in flavour and creamy!! I love it!

Entrée (We ordered different mains):

* KYOTO SAIKYO MISO BAKED SABLE FISH & YUZU BUTTER POACHED HALF ATLANTIC LOBSTER TAIL (5/5)
(kale and root vegetables, cauliflower fritter, eggplant purée, quinoa, wasabi chimichurri, tomato chutney)

You know you're making the right decision when you order anything fish-related at a Japanese restaurant haha. I ordered the cod last time at Miku. And, of course, this time I'd order fish again. The sable fish was nicely marinated. All pairing dishes were also delish, particularly the cauliflower fritter - it was deep fried and was paired with the eggplant purée - perfect combo!

* PETITE BEEF TENDERLOIN AND PAN SEARED MISO FOIE GRAS (4/5)
(tamari soy veal jus, wasabi spinach purée, shiitake mushroom, charred broccoli, baby carrot, garlic arare crumble)

P ordered this. Loved the pan seared miso foie gras!! It was soo delicious - I wish we had a bigger portion haha. The beef tenderloin is small in portion but I think the amount is just right because the appetizer and dessert will definitely fill you up. Highlights of the side dishes are the shiitake mushrooms and the wasabi spinach purée. 

Dessert (We ordered two different desserts):

* GREEN TEA OPERA (4/5)
(green tea génoise, matcha butter cream, dark chocolate ganache, adzuki bean cream, hazelnut wafer, matcha ice cream)

We ordered this the last time we visited Miku as this was deemed their "signature dessert", quoting our previous server haha. Delicious! Love the different textures in the cake. It is both crunchy and soft :)

* CHOCOLATE CROISSANT BREAD PUDDING (5/5)
(miso salted caramel sauce,Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, candied sesame pecan)

This was our first time trying this dessert - and omg, I would come back to Miku just to eat this dessert again. The bread pudding had a crunchy crust and a soft breaded interior. It's the best dessert at Miku by farrrr - LOVEE this!! P actually ordered this and when I tried a bit of it, I requested to trade desserts with him hahaha. THANK YOUU :D

Miku Toronto

$$$  Japanese, Sushi Bars

10 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M5J 2R8

Carisma *.

My boyfriend and I came to Carisma for dinner. 

This was after multiple trolling (him making me back and forth on the street because he wants to confuse me as to where we're actually going) LOL. #petersurprise well done. I thought we were going to St. Lawrence Market at one point hahaha.

The atmosphere is dim and candlelit - great for date nights! Service was excellent. 

Our server was very entertaining and checked on us at good intervals. He was great at answering the questions we had about the menu items (translating some words for us in Italian haha).

* BREAD
It was complimentary bread but I felt like I should write a note about it.. It's yummy!! I love how sizzling hot it was - the olive oil + salt was a great combo for dressing.

* TAGIATELLE IN BUTTER AND TRUFFLE SAUCE (4/5)
I loved this pasta! It was one of the pastas of the day, which was recommended by our server. Loved the truffle sauce. I've always been a fan on truffle-anything so I am picky when it comes to this! The sauce was creamy and flavourful, the cream does not overpower the truffle flavour. I'd recommend you order this if they make it available for the day :)

* BRANZINO (3/5)
(Mediterranean Sea Bass, Grilled with olive oil and lemon)

This was ok - I felt like the lemon sauce was too much. The fish tasted sour-y because there was too much lemon juice drenched over it. It would be much better if the lemon juice was toned down a bit!

* OSSO BUCO ALLA MILANESE (2.5/5)
(Veal Osso Bucco, Saffron Risotto, Herbed Gremolata)

This was too bland for my liking. The risotto was watery due to the sauce from the veal. The veal didn't have much taste to it - not sure if this was marinated. I wouldn't recommend this dish.

Overall, I'd recommend ordering the pastas at Carisma.

Carisma

$$$  Italian

73 King Street E
Toronto, ON M5C 3J6