Oh Geul Boh Geul

Oh Geul Boh Geul (5320 Yonge St, Willowdale)
416-733-3385

We were looking for a new tofu soup place as Buk Chang Dong Soon tofu place increased their prices and gave me and others stomach problems on different occasions.

So a storefront or two down from The Owl lies this place. You can choose to have a non spicy tofu soup if you want, which satisfied Renée. They start you off with lots of banchan, including this yummy savoury pancake thing. I approve. The soon dobu soup was acceptable as well. Lots of tofu in it.

Other things to note: at least one server can speak Mandarin in this Korean restaurant, orange slices come with the bill, the rice was a bit hard, they fill in the middle seating area before allowing people to sit at the curtained-off booths lined along the wall.

Would I return? Yeah, probably. It's unassuming enough, and provides many of the Korean staple dishes. Plus, I enjoy the banchan offerings.

Update with the banchan pics. The pancake is the best. I also enjoy the spicy potatoes.

The Cantina

The Cantina (501 Queen Street West)

Tomorrow is the last day!

Campbell's newest marketing strategy: 

I thought the ramen and roasted beer can cream of chicken soup were lacking in flavour. Also, I think just having regular ol' chicken and beer would taste better. The creamy tomato black bean taco soup tasted like... well, exactly how it sounded. My favourite was the Thai chicken and rice khao soi. It had the most flavour, and stood out to me. I thought these things were heat and serve, but apparently you have to add other ingredients/work. Oh well. Free soup. Can't complain.

Also free, was a little grab bag that was handed to me as I was leaving. It contained two cans of Campbell's Star Wars pasta, a soup kit, and a recipe booklet on how to make the four soups that were served. I'm staring at the soup kit and wondering if I can just add it to the cans of pasta in broth... 

Anyway, closing time for free soup is tomorrow, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Lim Ga Ne

Lim Ga Ne (5529 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

647-435-2700

Decided to try the 24 hour Korean restaurant with the orange sign. It seemed pretty popular for a Saturday night at about 9 p.m. 

The complimentary side dishes are not uncommon in Korean restaurants, but there were a lot here. And the little fish with nuts plate was new to me. 

Also somewhat different from other Korean joints I frequent was the purple rice. The purple gives it flavour. ;)

It's purple rice in Jo's dolsot bibimbap too!

 I decided to try something new, and got a sausage stew. In addition to the coloured rice, it came topped with a clump of spicy red paste. The stew was served bubbling hot and filled with coriander and green onion bits. The sausage chunks in it are pretty cool as they have glass noodles embedded in them. There were also pieces of mystery meat that I'm not sure I could identify. They were chewy like tendon with an odd crunchy section in the middle. I wasn't particularly a fan of these pieces, but I'm sure my tendon-loving friends wouldn't mind them. 

In the middle of our meal, a waitress comes up to us with this pancake dish. She asks us if we've received it yet, and as we reply that we have not (with puzzled looks on our faces 0_o), she asks us if we want it. We accept, of course, but I'm still not sure why exactly it was served to us.  

It's actually quite nice. It's crispy on the outside, and somewhat chewy on the inside. There are green onions and vegetable slivers in it. The pancake is served with seasoned soy sauce. Overall, it reminds me of Chinese fried white radish cakes, but with a slightly chewier texture. I felt like it had the consistency of a flattened Korean rice cake. Jo and I quite enjoyed it.

Would I return? Yeah. Purple rice! Actually, the rice might have been slightly dry, but I didn't notice when I dunked it into my stew. The staff are VERY efficient and they seem friendly enough. They cleared our table of all the dishes in less than 15 seconds. There's a raised section of the restaurant that's for cushion-on-floor seating with the short tables. The rest is just regular old chairs and tables. The prices seemed a little higher to me than neighbouring restaurants for similar items, but then I realized that tax is included in those prices. On our way out, there was a small queue of people waiting for tables. I'm not sure if it's the food that's appealing or the hours. Or the fact that they have Korean wine and Korean whiskey on the menu.

Exclusive specials are displayed on the walls - only for people who can read Korean.

Total damage: $8 for my stew + tip.

Spuntini

Spuntini Ristorante and Bar (116 Avenue Road, Toronto)

416-962-1110

Hours:  5 p.m. - 11 p.m. daily.

spuntini.rest@sympatico.ca

Soup of the day

A cabbage and potato purée. It was more flavourful than its description. Its orange-reddish colour made it look more like tomato soup (possibly also due to lighting). It was larger and more filling than I had expected.

Rigatoni portobello.

The sauce was quite creamy, the shredded Parmesan on top was nice, and the pasta was cooked pretty much to al dente status. The large chunks of portobello were tasty and just the right turgidity for me. The first bite through the piece had a slight pop, and as my teeth sunk into the squishy flesh, the mushroom juices flowed nicely.

Would I return? Yes. Our server was quite friendly and polite. The food was good, portions were more generous than I had anticipated, and Felicia's tiramisu looked legit with its boozey lady fingers. Prices aren't on the cheap side, but they're not super extravagant either. The main entrance is lined with pictures of celebrities who have visited the restaurant. My one beef with the experience was that the soot from the candle was blowing into my face due to the open window. Luckily, it wasn't that windy and that only happened on occasion throughout the dinner.

Total damage: $37 for my soup, pasta, and coffee.

Health Herb Harmony

Health Herb Harmony (550 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

905-886-8380

info@herbal3.com

Walnut soup paste ($4.50).

I think I've been mixing up the cashew and walnut flavours... I now know that the darker coloured one is the walnut one. It is this one that I like because it has a stronger flavour to it, and it seems thicker. I actually tried to order the cashew one this time (thinking it would be the darker walnut soup), but the girl kindly explained that they were out and that most people ordered the walnut one anyway. It had the soup skin layer on top, but that disappeared after I mixed it. I'm a fan of the strong nutty taste.

Steamed tofu dessert soup.

The tofu was really soft, and I liked it. 

Would I return? Yeah, it's the only place where I get my walnut paste soup, and there's a student discount (but we forgot to have them apply that).

The Owl of Minerva

The Owl of Minerva (5324 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

416-221-7275

Wow, this little place gets busy. We lucked out when we got there and took one of the last free tables right before the crowd piled in for dinner. 

Pork bone soup (kamjatang).

There were a good 3-4 large pieces of pork bone stuck to big chunks of meat. The soup isn't incredibly spicy, and there were small chunks of bell peppers. I also had one large chunk of potato in mine. The soup is satisfying, as was the amount of meat. The complimentary snack dishes aren't as plentiful as other Korean restaurants in the area, but the soup was filling enough. 

Would I return? Sure. It's affordable Korean comfort food.

Total damage: approximately $16 for 2 pork bone soup orders + tax + tip.

Cho Won

Cho Won Family Restaurant (17 Drewry Avenue, North York, Ontario)

Pork bone soup (kamja tang).

Last time I was here, Jon ordered this and the meat was sticking out of the bowl. This was not the case when I ordered it. Nevertheless, it wasn't bad. 

Would I return? Sure. 

Total damage: under $10. 

Kaori

Kaori Japanese Restaurant (30 High Tech Road, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

Complimentary appetizers and salad

I usually like the chunky sauce for the salad, but it was a bit salty this time - too much soy sauce or something.

Dumpling and rice cake soup

It's actually quite filling. The dumplings are boiled and fall apart a little too easily sometimes, but I still managed to finish the whole bowl. 

Would I return? Yeah, the place is pretty comfortable with its booth seating lining the walls. Our server was a lot more smiley this time than the ones we got on our previous visits. Jo noted that the white rice that came with her tofu soup had sesame oil at the bottom in addition to the Julienne vegetables and seaweed on top. I think I prefer the Korean dishes to their Japanese ones, and there isn't much Korean restaurant competition in the near vicinity.

Total damage: approximately $10 + tax + tip.

Katz's Deli and Corned Beef Emporium

Katz's Deli (3300 Dufferin Street, Toronto)

416-782-1111

Hours:

Mon - Sat 8:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Corned beef sandwich and soup of the day (beef barley)

It was a bit confusing when first walking in. On the left, there was take-out, and on the right was the cafeteria style grab and go line. There were sides on ice that we walked by on the way to the meat slicers. It took a little while for the staff to slice the meat.

The sandwiches are a bit pricey at $7.95 for meat on rye, but they do serve a pretty large mound of meat on very little bread. The bread was soft on the inside and crispy at the edges, which was nice. The meat was okay, but I was expecting a little more out of my corned beef when the name of the place has "corned beef emporium" in it. The meat was a bit fatty, but I felt better about my sandwich when I saw that the meat in Sheila's smoked meat sandwich was almost all fat-coloured. The corned beef was warm and not too dry. The beef barley soup was... unmemorable. 

Sheila's Montreal smoked meat sandwich.

Would I return? Probably not by choice. It's definitely on the pricey side for cafeteria style deli sandwiches. Though it wasn't downright awful, it wasn't really amazing either. 

Total damage: $13.45 for my soup and sandwich.

Nak Won

Nak Won (5594 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)
416-590-1435

This place was pretty busy on the Friday night that we went. The bench at the front was lined with people waiting for tables. Luckily, the line moved pretty quickly. 

Domestic beer: $3.50 each.

Complimentary appetizers

The dressing on the salad tasted a bit like tartar sauce.

Beef broth soup.

This tasted like water. There was absolutely no flavour in it. When Jo tried it, she thought it tasted like they had forgotten to add the msg. 

The beef chunks in the soup weren't any better.

The meat was incredibly difficult to chew. It was like trying to eat rubber. It didn't taste like much either.

Would I return? I'm not sure. The soup that I ordered really was almost uneatable, and I felt pretty ripped off. Jess said that's what the authentic ones taste like... like nothing. I might go again and try the pork bone soup since Jess thought that was okay.

Total damage: $13.50 for a beer and the beef soup.

Boudin

Boudin Bakery (Pier 39, San Francisco, USA)
415-421-0185

Nice arrangement of breads behind the counter.

Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl

There was much hype from friends surrounding this particular item at the fisherman's wharf. Well, I'm glad we shared it between three of us because we were all unimpressed, and finishing one each would have been difficult. There was a lot of potato. The little clams that were present were hard to chew. The chowder was heavy and filling. As for the bread bowl, I found the dough also weirdly chewy as if it were stale. Maybe it's because we've been to Boston, but New England clam chowder is better in New England.

Would I return? Probably not. That whole area is a bit of a tourist trap anyway. It's not exciting food stalls like Quincy market in Boston.

Total damage: $7.98 USD.