Kim Po

Kim Po Vietnamese Restaurant (550 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

905-763-8338

Hours: 

Mon - Fri: 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

Sat - Sun: 10 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.

I remember going to this place before the renovations. It looks waaaay better now than it used to. 

Rare beef and beef ball pho (half eaten).

The broth a lot of flavour, and the noodles are cooked just right. 

Jo's order looked really good. That bread-type stuff was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with just a slight bit of chewiness.

Would I return? Yes. The pho prices are more or less standard (around $6-7) and I wouldn't mind trying their other stuff. I enjoy the pho soup.

Drink

This is what happens when I get bored. 

Sake, pear juice, Disaronno. Tastes good to me!!!! I had to play around with the amounts for a bit, making me a bit tipsy... and when I finally found a combination I enjoyed, I didn't make note of it. That just means I'll have to play around with those ingredients some more next time. That nutty flavour is pretty strong.

Overall, this makes a pretty damn sweet drink - like something of a dessert drink.

Man Doo Hyang

Update: This place no longer exists. In its place is some other Korean restaurant. :'(

Man Doo Hyang (6068 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

416-512-2007

It's been a while since I've visited Man Doo Hyang. There was one visit where the broth was lacking in flavour, and I stayed away for a while. On the return to Yuna Kim, I ordered a bowl of handmade noodles in soup and split a plate of deep-fried dumplings with Renée. The broth was flavourful, the noodles were of the correct density, and the fried dumplings were very large. Bonus: staff was super nice and polite. 

Would I return? Yes. 

Total damage: approximately $12.

Sake Drinks

Ice, sake, cucumber, lime juice.

Sake, cucumber, pear juice, lime juice.

Sake, cucumber, lime juice, 7Up.

I think sake, cucumber, lime juice and simple syrup would have been best... but I was too lazy to make simple syrup. The sake, cucumber, lime juice combination works well for me. I think this would be awesome in the summer.

Deep-fry party!

Bianca had the genius idea of having a deep-fry party. And yes, it was as unhealthy as it sounds: crispy and delicious. Everything was thrown in the freezer to chill before frying. Jenny provided the batter, and I think she said it was a mix of milk, eggs, flour, and baking soda.

Deep-fried Oreos

Deep-fried bananas

I think these were my favourite since they weren't killing me with sweetness.

Deep-fried Twinkie with some canned whipped cream

There were also deep-fried Mars bars, and deep-fried Kit Kat bars. I didn't try the Kit Kat bars, but from what I had I liked the bananas and Mars bars the best. Julie measured the difference in oil (before and after), and noted that between the eight or nine of us, we consumed 500mL of oil. 

Cheers to Bianca for setting this up, and to everyone for coming together and bringing deep fryers and stuff to fry! I think we should have a vegetable party next.

Pie

Pie (34 Commerce Park Drive, Barrie, Ontario)
705-725-9663

Megan and Brandan introduced us to this place, and they mention that they've never ordered anything and not liked it. Sounds good to me!

I got this after 8 p.m. special that included a stein of Sapporo (or Sleeman) for $9.50 and a Kobi 3 pizza pie that comes with it for free! 

This picture really doesn't demonstrate the sheer monstrosity that a stein of beer is. The best part was not knowing what a stein of beer was and then being pleasantly surprised at the hugeness of it. The hand-tossed,  wood-fired pizza is also quite large. It hangs over the plate a bit. Each additional topping to the pizza was $2, so I added some spicy sausage. It's good sausage.

I thought it was a pretty decent deal when I thought it was a pint of beer... then the comically large beer mug that was taller than my face came out. :D Comically large!!!! It was suggested to me that I drink it with two hands or get a straw. What made it all the better was that it was sapporo and not Coors water. The pizza crust was super thin, and it was entertaining to occasionally watch the guys at the front toss them up into the air while making the dough. Also entertaining were the random, old music videos projected on to the wall behind us. 

Would I return? YES. STEIN OF BEER. It's a really good deal. The pizza was good. I enjoyed the flavour of the sausage and the thin crust. Brandan also mentioned that their dessert pizzas and pasta dishes were good, so I will have to try those next time. 

They also sell frozen pizza pies. Each package contains two pizzas for about $14. Two packages of frozen pizzas (4 pizzas in total) is $25.

Total damage: $12.74 (pre-tip) for my Sapporo and Kobi pizza with one additional topping.

St. Louis Bar & Grill

St. Louis Bar & Grill (Atrium on Bay, 595 Bay Street, Toronto)

647-435-9464

Southwest Taquito Trio ($14.99 + tax) Feb. 18 - Mar. 17. It comes with a 20oz. pint of Coors Light. 

There's bacon-wrapped macaroni and cheese balls on sticks. I preferred the deep-fried mac 'n cheese balls that Bianca made. There's something that looks like Caucasian spring rolls... and that's more or less what it tastes like. There's a mini stack of taquitos. The whole plate was kind of meh, even though I was hungry. On the plus side, stuff that was supposed to be crispy was crispy. It was more filling than it looked. 

I didn't actually drink my Coors Light. I switched the watery beer for Derek's Heineken since he thinks that all beer tastes the same (NO, it does NOT). Cheers to him for not caring either way. 

Pho Hung

Pho Hung (350 Spadina Avenue, Toronto)
416-593-4274

Don't let the ghetto-looking exterior fool you. The food is good.

#17 bún. 

At least four out of the six people at our table ordered this. It is awesome. The fish sauce is necessary so don't forget it. It is an integral part of the dish. The meat is quite delicious and the "small" bowl is extremely filling, even for a hungry student like myself. 

Would I go back? Yes. The price is right. The food is good and plentiful. That pork is loaded with flavour.

Total damage: approximately $10.

Ippai

Ippai (8865 Woodbine Avenue, Markham)
905-470-1688
info@ippai.ca

Ginger soup ramen ($9.95)

There is the option of combining your preferred soup base with your preferred toppings, but I just couldn't be bothered. There were lunch specials, but they were mostly bento boxes or some sort of rice dish. I wanted ramen.

I was particularly hungry that day, so I don't remember much about the meal. The noodles were good and bouncy, but I don't remember much ginger flavour coming from the broth. Again, I inhaled this so it might've been more flavourful than I give it credit for. Jo seemed to like her Japanese curry pork just fine. 

Would I return? Sure. The prices are more or less normal for ramen, and Jo said that some of the other soup bases were pretty good. The only thing that stuck out to me was the paper thin naruto. It's like they were running out or something.

Rosewood Chinese Cuisine

Rosewood Chinese Cuisine (463 Dundas West, Toronto)

416-593-9998

Momo found this place with their special dim sum pricing of $1.88 per dish, available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. This applies to any size dish. 

We were greeted in Mandarin, but as we were led upstairs, I noticed that the staff also spoke Cantonese. We were given a dim sum menu that had two columns with Chinese headers. 

Momo tries to decipher the words.

This is but a fraction of what we ordered and ate.

Overall, the place is surprisingly clean for Chinatown - at least the upstairs was; I didn't quite get a good look at the downstairs area. There are four large screens put together for karaoke, which was not going on when we went to eat there. 

Would I return? Yes. I enjoyed the food. Most of it tasted like the real deal. I was just a bit disappointed at the cha siu chaan bao because it wasn't the sticky, glazed top kind. Other than that, the stuff we ordered tasted as expected. There is a tea charge, but the price per plate (during the early bird pricing) was very fair. 

Total damage: approximately $15 each. With the leftovers, this was more like two meals for the price of one.