McCain Marché Harvest Pockets

Fanciest non-pizza pocket I've ever eaten. It is alright... A bit salty, but pretty much what is expected of frozen foods. I might prefer the original pizza pockets more for convenience and nostalgia. I am not a superfan of fake healthy foods.

Red Bench

The Red Bench (611 Yonge Street, Toronto)

(647) 748-4868

info@findtheredbench.ca

Hours: 1 PM - 10 PM daily. 

 A full ice cream sandwich: $6 plus tax. Brookie and Cookies n Cream cookies with Peanut butter ice cream.

For the full sandwich, you can choose two types of organic cookies, the ice cream flavour (on rotation), and a topping. There is a decent selection of toppings, but I opted for roasted almonds. The Brookie cookie (described as "brownie in a cookie costume") seemed softer and worked better in the ice cream sandwich. The other cookie was a bit harder, which made eating a bit messier. My advice would be to pick the Brookie or an equally softer-looking cookie. Overall, pretty good. I split this with Julie, and the half is a pretty decent size for a dessert/snack.

Photo by Phoebe.

Would I return? I might. I'm not crazy about ice cream in general, but ice cream sandwiches are a bit nostalgic for me. The cookies are organic, and they have some fun flavours. The made-to-order cookies reminds me of Sweet Flour, but this place is more conveniently located. Come to think of it, I never did try the ice cream sandwiches there... they'd probably be awesome since their cookies were fluffy and soft.

Cow's

Cow's (397 Capital Drive, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)

902-628-3614

Hours: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily.

Before travelling to Charlottetown, there was a lot of hype about Cow's ice cream. I was planning on only eating lobster, but figured if multiple people suggested it, maybe local ice cream couldn't hurt. There were multiple locations on the island, and there are other locations in Canada as well.

New York Moosecake

The ice cream flavour names generally have some sort of cow pun. The ice cream was good, as ice cream usually is. I guess the texture might've been creamier than lesser ice creams. I wasn't blown away, but it was good.

After Jo arrived to town, we had to go again so that she could see what all the hype was about.

 Cookie dough.

Would I return? Sure, I wouldn't mind. Ice cream is rarely a bad idea in the summertime. They have fun flavours, and merchandise includes cow-ified pop culture t-shirts. Oh, and they make cheese. Don't have a picture, but we bought their applewood smoked cheese at a Superstore in Truro, and daaaaaamn. The cheese almost tastes like bacon in the best possible way. Would definitely eat that cheese again. I think I might like the cheese more than their ice cream.

Total damage: about $5 per cone.

Edit: Found a pic of the cheese!

World's Best at WCC Cheese 2014!!!

This appletree smoked cheese was so delicious, I had to get Monique to bring me back some more in her cooler. Seriously delicious. So smokey and super flavourful. I am craving some now.

Sushitto

Sushitto (food truck found on University Avenue, near Toronto General Hospital)

Julie was raving about wanting to try this food truck that sells sushi burritos. I imagined a bastardized, oversized sushi roll wrapped in a tortilla, and told her to have fun with that. 

We passed by the truck at 11 a.m. on a weekday, but the sign said they open at 11:30. When we returned at about 11:35 a.m., there was a line of about 20-30 people waiting to order. Julie joined that line in anticipation of awesomely weird truck food. 

Prices seem a bit high, but I guess that's normal for downtown. 

The Cermaq box says "sustainable aquaculture", so that seems decent.

The wait in line was long, but the wait for the food was longer. Julie noted that the cash person was very focused on collecting cash and orders, and waited for a row of orders to be ready before beginning to hand out food. 

About thirty to forty minutes after lining up, the half shrimp tempura burrito was served - accompanied with what was described as sweetened sriracha sauce.

It looked like a hungry student made it. There was, however fake crab meat and alfalfa sprouts in it, which was considered a perk. It seemed like the wait and the price were too much for the product. Julie's review: "Sushitto was so shitto". 

Would I try it? I don't know... eating this would mean foregoing my lunch break nap. And I could actually get a full meal with beverage at McDonald's for those prices.

Patties Express

Patties Express (4 Elm Street, Toronto)

647-350-0111

info@pattiesexpress.com

The extra spicy beef patty was more like mild to me, but I guess I eat really spicy foods. The patty was served hot, and the meat was gushing out with each bite. The coco bread was incredibly soft and pillowy. There might have been a very subtle coconut flavour, but that also might've been in my head. I didn't think a patty needed to go inside bread, but it actually works. And it was pretty filling.

Coco bread and beef patty

Would I return? Yes. Relatively cheap snacks are hard to come by in downtown Toronto. And I like oozy meat.

Total damage: $3.39 plus tax.

Snacks from Japan!

Udon by Lan

It's so fancy; look at all the extra stuff (other than noodles) it has!! So much cutting involved.

Lan came back from Japan with loot bags of stuff, including my very favourite snack in the world: msg crackers.

There was an orange package, and a red one, but I ate them at different times, so I'm not sure if they were different flavours or not. Crispy, puffy, and full of umami, of course, I ate these very quickly.

Also in the package was Japanese variety KitKats. 

Dark was nice. Slightly bitter, but it's what I like.

Not pictured are all the other snacks she brought back and were shared with us. The mochi balls were soft and awesome. 

Cheers to Lan for the imports! 

Green Tea KitKat

Received this import from Japan

It has the KitKat crunch, but it the sweetness is cut with bitterness from the green tea taste. It's a sweet snack for those who don't prefer sweets. :) 

Cheers to Phoebe for this import! 

Sharetea

Sharetea (15 Northtown Way, Toronto)

416-901-9988

Hot fresh taro milk tea ($4.60)

It has chunks! Ever since Chatime's taro milk tea became some grainy, sandy disappointment, I've been wanting some hot milk tea with chunks of taro. Sharetea delivers this. Sugar content is adjustable based on order. 

Would I return? Probably, just not if I am in a rush. It took a while for someone to take our order. And when the order was placed, there was a lot of confusion. I'm not really sure what was going on as Viv and the Sharetea girl had a back and forth discussion in Mandarin for our order of two drinks. Regardless, I was satisfied with the drink itself. Chunks! :D 

Innis & Gunn

Innis & Gunn

I think this might be my favourite brand of beer. For a while, the LCBO was selling the rum finish and irish whiskey finish flavours, so I decided to try them before they stopped selling it.

Whiskey finish: manly, woody, not as sweet. There's a strong flavour, and a slight coffee taste. It has the highest alcohol content of the three at 7.4% ABV. It's okay, but not my favourite.

Rum finish: less sweet and a bit more alcoholic tasting than original. I might prefer it to the original since it is less sweet.

Original: vanilla hint, goes down easy. It is the most sweet-tasting of the three, and has a lighter colour. 

As I was drinking all three bottles simultaneously, I thought they went great with Cheetos. :D

Kekou Gelato

Kekou Gelato House (13 Baldwin Street, Toronto)

416-792-8858

info@kekou.ca

Summer hours: 12:30 p.m. - 11 p.m. daily... I don't know what they're going to do in the winter. :/

This place sells gelato with Asian-inspired flavours. 

Pandan (left) and whiskey green tea gelato. 

I had a sample of the whiskey green tea and it definitely lived up to its name. The flavour came out very strong, and I liked it. The pandan flavour was also strong, but it was a bit too herbal-y tasting for me. I had no idea what pandan was, but apparently it's a plant. Its leaves are used to wrap some foods  for cooking in Asian cuisines. 

Total damage: $4 for a medium cup of up to two flavours. 

Would I return? Yes. There are lots of other flavours that I want to try, including black sesame, durian, spicy mango, vanilla lotus, Vietnamese coffee, and milk tea coffee. They're friendly there, and you can get a punch card to keep going back. I've heard good things about the Vietnamese coffee flavour.

Hollywood Gelato

Hollywood Gelato (1640 Bayview Avenue, Toronto)
416-544-9829

$4 for a small cup (2 flavours).

Pear: the only gelato flavour worth getting in my eyes, so I got a double shot of that. Jo got the Rocky Rocher and pear in a waffle cone. It's gelato, and it's delicious. I could taste bits of pear in mine.  

Feast

Dinner is served.

Red Lobster

"There is no one of-woman-born who does not like Red Lobster cheddar biscuits." -Tina Fey

I think that pretty much says it all.

Renée was kind enough to share her take-out half dozen of biscuits (~$3) with me. They were warm, salty, and delicious. She insisted on eating one in the car before leaving the parking lot to make sure she got to enjoy a fresh one.

Loblaws

Loblaws (60 Carlton Street, Toronto)

When they turned Maple Leaf Gardens into a giant Loblaws, I was really excited. We couldn't make it to the opening day, but Monique and I managed to find a day to visit. And we were glad we did!

The first thing we see: CUPCAKES!

Many kinds, different sizes. The display looks lovely.

 There's sushi, there's hot food, there's soups and sandwiches. Monique got chicken and sides and the chicken didn't look dry one bit. She was happy with it.

 In case you don't know where things are, there are giant signs. DELI!

There are plates of samples on top of the display. 

There are definitely some T&T elements in this Loblaws.

This thing scared the crap out of me, as it made gun sounds while shooting out those flat snacks.

The cheese selection looks extensive.

The block of carved chocolate looks kind of cool... but I thought it was going to be giant.

Uptairs, there's some tables, a cooking school,  Joe Fresh, and one more thing...

LCBO! Loblaws + LCBO = magic. I wish I could live there.

The LCBO had Korbel! 

But I picked up a bottle of this instead.

There wasn't regular Sir Perry, but there was Sir Perry Berry. 

We had to go back and get some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting infusion (approximately $3.50 each).

That was a lot of cream cheese. I felt like there was 1/2 a pack of Philadelphia in there. The flavour was good, but the cake could have been softer. I'd get it again. It would satisfy my random cake cravings.

Would I return?
Yes. That cooked chicken looked really good. Free samples and nice staff are right around the corner. There were cheese samples, cold cut samples, cake samples, cracker and spread samples, Chinese cookie samples, and bread samples... and we didn't even go into the grocery section yet. The LCBO upstairs had a good selection of stuff I want.

Jamie Kennedy Fries

Jamie Kennedy Fries (300 level of the Air Canada Centre, 40 Bay Street, Toronto)

Grabbing a snack at the ACC doesn't always sound so appealing. Everything is ridiculously overpriced and it's usually about as fancy as movie theatre food. I was pretty surprised to see Jamie Kennedy's name in there on anything, but there it was... right above the word "fries". 

Fries with cider mayonnaise ($6.50)

The fries are decent. They're seasoned with what I think is thyme. I liked the cider mayo. The acidity gave it a nice tangy flavour. Jo said that got old fast, and that all she could taste afterwards was the seasoning on the fries. I only ate a few, so I didn't have that problem. 

Would I return? Well, if I'm stuck at the ACC with an empty stomach, I think those fries just might be the most worth it thing to get. That or a large beer... the lid it comes with is meant to be used with a straw. Beer with a straw? Ha ha ha. 

Cheers to Jo for sharing! 

Absolute Bakery

Absolute Bakery (589 Parliament Street, Toronto)

416-929-2700

Walking around Cabbagetown on a Sunday, Jess and I stumbled upon this bakery that was still open after 5 p.m. I went in with the intention of buying a sweet pastry snack, and I came out with diabetes dinner.

I was going for sweet, but the staff convinced me to get this savoury thing. Unfortunately, I didn't read what this was. 

It sort of tastes like a curry samosa in phyllo pastry. I thought it'd be a little crispier and flakier than it was. It was kind of messy to eat. I wasn't a superfan of this, but it was okay.

Apple turnover.

Very nice. Nice, large, sweetened apple slices half-naked in a solid flaky pastry. This had just the right amount of sweetness and sturdiness for me.

Chocolate danish. 

There was more chocolateness in it than I had expected. This was good, but not as good as the turnover. 

Would I return? Yeah, probably. Staff was really friendly. I liked the sweet pastries I bought. In the window display, they also had some almond twists that looked absolutely fabulous, but I was a bit disheartened when I was told that they had some berry content. Regardless, I was satisfied with what I bought there, and I wouldn't mind trying some of their other stuff.

Total damage: $7.25