Golden Star

Golden Star (7123 Yonge Street, Thornhill, Ontario)

Ever since I was little, I have always seen the giant yellow sign belonging to this joint and wondered how the place had survived so many years. This establishment is older than I am. Way older. Last night, I finally had the chance to discover just what this place was about. If it isn't obvious, Golden Star is about burgers.

The homemade burger is large in surface area, not too thick, and quite tasty. I didn't find the meat as juicy as the meat from Craft Burger, but I didn't find myself complaining that it was super dry either. The fixings that go with the burger are like Harvey's. You choose what you want on it and they're pretty standard burger toppings options. The soft bun had some trouble holding everything together. The fries are crispy, but not seasoned enough for me.

Around the corner from the ordering section, there is a full fridge of beer. Beer with your burger?

I'm definitely willing to go back.

Total damage for a homemade burger, friest, and a Sprite: $10.16.

Major Backlog

I haven't stopped eating; I just haven't been able to upload food pictures in a while due to computer problems.

Here are some old desk snacks that I used to keep handy:

Honey Nut Cheerios are awesome.

The Second Cup bars are actually pretty good.

Ten Ren's

Ten Ren Tea (330 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill)

905-881-8896

Waffle with bananas, peaches and green tea ice cream:
It's similar to Demetre's.

Ten Ren's is currently running a promotion. If the bill comes up to over $60, you can get a free "cha cha mug". That's the lowest tier, and a bill over $100 grants the customer a mug and a $10 coupon, I think.

I got Oolong Papa!

Collect them all!

Total damage: Free for me! Thanks, friends!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Yamato Japanese Restaurant

Yamato Japanese Restaurant (24 Bellair Street, Toronto)

416-927-0077

Lunch hours

Mon - Fri: 11:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Sat - Sun: 12 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Dinner hours
Mon - Thurs: 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.
Fri - Sat: 4 p.m. - 12 a.m.
Sun: 4 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Tori Tatsuta Udon ($13):
The meat was crispy and quite enjoyable. The noodles were standard, there were a lot of bean sprouts, and the broth had a distinct taste - something makes me think it's largely soy sauce based. Overall, it was pretty good.

What is exciting about Yamato is the teppenyaki show. Berta got a teppenyaki dish, so I got to watch the show. Our teppenyaki man flipped the salt and pepper mills like he was having fun. I think the most exciting part was the flaming onion volcano.

Total damage: approximately $20 (including an overpriced glass of apple juice).

Craft Burger (Yonge St)

Craft Burger (830 Yonge Street, Toronto)

416-922-8585

Hours:

Mon - Thurs: 11 A.M. - 10 P.M.

Fri: 11 A.M. - 11 P.M.

Sat: 12 P.M. - 11 P.M.

Sun: 12 P.M. - 9 P.M.

Last time I went to Craft Burger (King Street location), they totally ignored my "no ketchup" instructions. This time, I ordered the spicy burger combo, and made sure the burger didn't come with ketchup to begin with. (It comes with spicy mayonnaise.)

Andrew's spicy burger combo with onion rings:

The onion rings were very crispy, and I quite liked them. Andrew said that they could have used more salt. He noted that the burgers actually leak meat juice when he gets them during lunch time, but this particular time the burger lacked in leaky goodness. (We went on a Friday evening to avoid the huge lunch crowd.) He also lamented that the burgers have been more well done in recent visits, but they used to be medium rare and pink in the middle.

My spicy burger combo with fries:
The fries were crispy and I liked the seasoning. Andrew said that it was just salt, but it tasted like more than just salt to me - almost like potato chip seasonings. My burger had more pink colour inside than Andrew's and although it wasn't leaking meat juice, I still think it was one of the juicier burgers in the city. The tomato and lettuce weren't anything special, but at least they were present to garnish the meat. The sesame bun worked well in the package.

This location seemed to have a bit more space than its King Street sister. The burgers are pretty much the same though, and that's really all that matters.

Overall, I would have to say that this is one of my preferred burger joints in Toronto. How could anyone deny themselves a thick, juicy burger?

Total damage for the combo: $11.47.

Ten Ren Tea

Ten Ren Tea (330 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill)

905-881-8896

I've been told by some friends that the drinks from Ten Ren taste weird. It's probably because they use "the real stuff" to make their drinks. Taro drinks from many other bubble tea places use a powdered mix that gives it a really strong purple colour. In Mel's taro milk tea from Ten Ren, she could taste the actual taro chunks.

My red bean milk tea:
This is not something I usually order, but they were out of the warm almond drink. I think it's kind of neat that you can order your very own teapot. It's more expensive than other places, but there's novelty in having your own teapot.

This was part of Mel's meal:
I don't actually know what it is, but it's something in soup.

Ten Ren Tea is like a bubble tea shop for the slightly older, richer crowd. That being said, I didn't feel too out of place in super casual clothing (oversized hoodie and jeans).

It also has more focus on the tea. According to Mel, the noodles aren't bad either.

Total damage for my teapot: $10.

Random Food

Sheila's A&W Sirloin Baby Burger Twins:

Pillsbury crescent rolls filled with cheese - delicious melted cheese.
There was leftover food in an empty meeting room. Half a piece of steak and a cup of warm apple cider:

(I ate the ravioli, dessert and half the steak before taking the picture.)

It was free food at work day. There was also a lunch that was actually for us, but I felt too embarrassed to snap a photo of my plate in front of co-workers. We had salad, beef, potatoes, broccoli and little tarts. The small plate in the picture is from the leftovers of some meeting on my floor for higher ups. They had fancy ravioli, mini steaks, assorted cheeses, warm apple cider, mini desserts, and vegetables.

Mini cake from Longo's box in the fridge:

The light brown part had a texture similar to that of chocolate tart filling.

Mad Batter Bakers

Mad Batter Bakers
416-516-4759
cookies@madbatterbakers.com

Picked up these awesome gingerbread cookies at the One of a Kind Show. Aisle C was where all the food booths were!

They come in a fancy box that closes with magnets!
Cookies!
They come ten snowflakes in a box. The cookies are soft and delicious. The mildly sweet icing sugar works well with the spiced cookie. The icing isn't really hard or stale. Soft gingerbread cookies in the shape of snowflakes... in a box printed with snowflakes... I must have more.

Cookies!

Total damage: $12.42.

Sea Food

My brother brought this back for me from the Dominican. I didn't realize it was food until he said it was.

The blue pieces are candies, the purple "rocks" are candy-coated chocolates (like large M&Ms) and the fish is a cookie.

I really didn't know it was food. Pretty cool-looking!

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu

Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu (5445 Yonge Street, North York)

(647) 430-7458

Yet another post on this tofu soup restaurant.

Complimentary sides:

Those little beans are a bit hard to chew.

You're meant to crack the raw egg into the soup so that it cooks in there, I think.

Everything generally comes out pretty fast. Finding parking might be a bit tricky. There are a few spots behind the restaurant

See previous post on this restaurant.