On a Wednesday night, I was on the hunt for a BBQ spot that was a short distance from my campus. A quick search, and Aft Kitchen & Bar was immediately brought to my attention. It was a pleasant 20 minute walk to the end of King Street, and trialing over the bridge onto Queen Street East. Upon entrance, I knew that this spot was going to be fantastic. Beautifully dimmed, cozy bar seating is available, two chalkboards: one with drinks and the next with specials - this spot was already bustling at 6PM on a weekday. 

CAPLANSKY'S DELICATESSEN
356 College Street
Toronto, Canada
Deli - Sandwiches - All-day breakfast - Open until 10PM
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I've walked past Caplansky's Delicatessen plenty of times during the summer, but at that time, all I wanted was a patio! The dining experience was far from what I expected. I imagined the spot to be half of it's size, and filled with only bench seating. But,  seating was plenty, and they have a bar which has five beers on tap! This is also an awesome spot for all-day breakfast. Very pleased to roll into this cozy (and clean!) old-school feeling diner after an exhausting two days, and still a long night ahead, I just needed a pint in my system. The service was fantastic, our server was super timely with everything, my tastebuds may also have been swayed after comping one of our orders after a mix-up and providing us with gluttonous maple-bacon donuts. Both of us, new to Jewish cuisine, we formerly decided to go for something fitting for this chilly weather, so we of course had to get their signature Matzo Ball Chicken Soup.

A Monday morning, and a round two of our attempt to Wonderland, the clouds have finally cleared and we were seated for breakfast at Panagio's Breakfast & Lunch. Briskly being seated, we were excited! Peeping at other fellow diner's meals, the portions definitely seemed to be value for money. I am hardly in any other place than downtown, so I always find it a peculiar sight to spot restaurants, practically deserted just off the highway. Panagio's is many of these few in Scarborough, You're able to squint a railway and a Canadian Tire in the distance, as well as an abandoned Staples.

The almighty caterer and bakery, Bakerbots Baking has opened up another store, specifically for their infamous Ice Cream Sandwiches, sharing the same street, Ossington Avenue. Hooray for Bang Bang Ice Cream. Do check out my review on their flagship bakery, here! I was ecstatic to hear that Bang Bang Ice Cream was a gracious 2-minute walk from my door step. Four simple and oddly shaped and sized benches and seats lay scattered in-front of the two wide open doors. You'll even spot the lovely Archie Andrews, welcoming you into the shop. Across the walls, behind the counter, you'll see paint tin sized tins lined along a simple free-hanging wooden shelf, each are labelled to show the flavours that this lovely place offers. Non-dairy items are also available to welcome all - of the dairy sort, there is Nocciola, London Fog, Bellwood Stout, Fresh Mint, PB Jelly and Orange Cardamon, just to give you a gist of what's in store.

A chiller stands, open to access and view, filled with tubs of Ice Cream that they have available for immediate purchase. Plain ol' black and white printed A4 sheets also line parts of the wall to show pricing and other beverages and ice cream sandwiches that you wouldn't suspect to be found in here - options to an Ice Cream Sandwich of an Hong Kong Egg Waffle, French Macaron, Lemon Meringue, Profiterole and good ol' Half or Full-sized cookies to wrap around your chosen Ice Cream. These Cookie options are also viewable from the class counter, and are well-descripted with Ice Cream pairings. The few of the cookies available, include: The Everything, RoCocoa Dark Sable, Birthday, Oatmeal, Captain Peanut and Gingerrrrrr - just from the names alone, you can figure out what you could expect.

 This day was all good weather, Bakerbots Baking was one of the first Ice Cream stores that I hit up once the sun came out to play. Bakerbots is located a very short walking distance from Ossington Station, just off Ossington Avenue. They cater their baked goods, most days after 3PM. I went with two of my good mates, and I happily introduced an Ice Cream Sandwich to them. We made our visit on a Wednesday afternoon, and lucky for us, the single table that they had in the shop was just cleared. There is also bench seating outside, merry places to sit and chow as well.

Although there is a short amount of pickings for pastries and other sweets (Macaroons, Cakes, Cupcakes..) on weekdays, we did not come here for either of those. The House-made Cookie ($1.50) options are plentiful, on the day I made my prance, there were Ginger Molasses, Captian Peanut, RoCocoa, The Everything, Birthday and Oatmeal. The Cookies make great pairings with their interesting assortments of rotating also, Homemade Ice Cream, these, being in Cinnamon Toast, Fresh Mint, Chocolate Chocolate, Vanilla Bean, Corn-on-the-cob and Burnt Toffee. The Ice Cream Sandwiches come in half ($4) or full sizes ($7), as well as in Vegan and Dairy Free options. The Dairy-free Ice Creams are either the selection of Raspberry or Chocolate. Don't forget to ask for pairing suggestions! 

We felt like nothing else but a big ol' carb-alicious sandwich from somewhere, anywhere after a lengthy 4-hour training. This End Up, a very hipster-esque Dundas West joint, was the right calling. We were seated and presented the specials on an oversized wooden cork pin-board... Very, very, hipster. I enjoyed the sight of the paintings, translating that they serve up local produce in their restaurant - a nice touch! 

Their menu was a unique one each sandwich had a twist to it - Gochuchang (Korean sauce) in a Chicken Sandwich, and slices of Pork Belly in a Beef Burger? We had to go for those. If I was here for the evening, I would have went for their drinks as well. There are various Vegetarian options available here as well, the Smoked Tofu Taco (3 for $12) and Cali-Coco BLT ($13) - with Smoked "Coconut" Bacon and Havarti sounds swell! Apart from their Sandwiches, you also have options of Baja Fish Tacos (3 for $13), Wings (1lb/$13) and Kimchili Cheese Fries ($8)... What part of this menu doesn't intrigue you???

Winging a walk through Kensington Market for dinner, we stumbled upon a stack of over-sized coins chained outside of a store, amused, we lit up our eyes to The Burgernator. The Burgernator isn't your ordinary Burger Shoppe, this place screams personality, you need to walk in and check it out for yourself.

The sound of sizzling as their in-house fresh-grinded meat patties are grilled on their flat-top, it feels like an intimate few minutes until your number is called. Since their sauces and fries are also made in-house, I made sure to make an order of their Rocket Fries, it is allll about that.

The moment I scrolled past a Red Bean + Matcha Ice Cream Sandwich from Zakkushi on Instagram, I absolutely fell in love and longed to get down to this place for months! What better than to hop on down to the place with a mate that once lived and breathed the country a few years ago. Letting my mate do the choosing, the were amazing choices - making more than half of the dishes ones that I would absolutely recommend to every passerbyer. Zakkushi, in Cabbagetown, such a nice spot. The place was cozy, and great for a dinner for all sorts of occasions, read on as I fall in love with the place!

My first being 'Wraps', my second favourite word is 'Lunch Prix Fixe'. With two so close by me, I don't make very frequent visits to them at all. My first pick has always been Libretto Pizza by Dundas and Ossington, the new winner, and change up from the consistent Italian flavours, is Bazara - just across Libretto, with their nicely done Asian Cuisine.

The restaurant was very well-lit, it had a very casual Asian-feel. I declared this as a perfect local spot for a catch-up lunch, I am a sucker for comfy booths! Our dishes came out slowly, but they were so well-plated and were of spectacular value, I soon forgot. There were so many beautiful menu choices that I had a tough time choosing, our choices were one (or, two in our case!) of each of the three courses. The first course begins with a Salad or a Soup, and the two following are either Sushi, Dumplings or a traditional Asian with rice. The Lunch Prix Fixe menu can be viewed here.

SMOQUE N' BONES

869 Queen Street West 

Toronto, ON
M6J 1G4 Canada

Southern BBQ - Queen West

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For the weeks leading up the their Grand Opening, I would often take the initiative to walk onto the South-side of Queen Street home just to peep into Smoque N' Bones. The day finally came, but I was in the wrong side of North America. I am now here, and ready to join the frenzy that Chef Alex Rad had lit up of his new joint. A Southern-style Barbecue joint is exactly what Queen Street needed. 

Real excited for a fine Southern-style grub with three Beauts of mine, Dianne, Nance and Emika. Starting, off our meal, we needed a cheer with our pints of Samuel Adams (also to be captured). It's great to see such a delicious lager on tap. I do hope that Samuel Adams is presented to many more restaurants in the future, because this would be my immediate beer of choice over any other commercial brand on tap. It held the perfect thick texture, was low in carbonation, held some fruity notes and was slightly hoppy. 

Glug, glug, glug. TGIF!

Bless this beautiful weather. These past six and a half months, I would happily boast 9 degrees to be patio weather, and now with this 20 degree beauty, I don't even know what to do with myself. There are so many hidden gems are scattered across Toronto, Starving Artist is one of my girlfriend's top recommendations.

Located in St. Clair West, this is the second location of Starving Artist - the first being on Lansdowne Ave. Starving Artist has a marvelous spacious indoor seating and boasts 29 waffle menu options, both of sweet and savoury. What truly drew me to this place and pinned down my mate to take me here, was the glorious Potato Waffles she would constantly rant about - I had to taste it for myself. Also to note for my negativity - having any sort of Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce for any meal is a real bummer for me. But, I felt like I had to go for it according to my girlfriend's wishes... So we went for two dishes of it.

 I couldn't have chosen a more perfect place for a lunch in-between being stuck outside in the chilly depths of Liberty Village. With so many quirky spots in this area, Maizal Quesadilla Cafe is one located in the much more quieter side of Liberty, definitely a place I'd get lost for. 'Maizal' is Spanish for 'plot of corn'. Maizal pride itself in their freshly made and pressed-to-order homemade tortillas. I really liked the look of this whole place, and the one server was delightfully sweet. Their dishes are great for sharing - I definitely see this as a place to catch-up with a old friend.

Taking in the thoughtfullyand colourfully illustrated chalkboard drawings, we sat by clay pots of beautifully toned paper flowers and woven placemats. One of the most irritating but exciting things about dining in Toronto, is that, half the time, I have no idea what the menu is serving up. Being led by the mouth-watering description of each, we made our orders.

High, high hopes expecting to bite into the best Pulled Pork I've ever had. Entering Lou Dawg's with a basement-esque feel with country music blasting, this scene was already not my kind of jam. Free Wi-Fi here, so that got a few things a tad more exciting. 

1. Meat Combos - 1 Meat + 2 Sides ($11.95)

Pulled Pork w/Deep Fried Pickles & Sweet Potato Fries

This was certainly underwhelming, such small portions. I would have been much better off trying a sandwich, but, damn my no-burger/sandwich misfortune. The Pulled Pork was of such a small portion, and wasn't great at all - I expected more from the sauces, very little flavour. The Deep Fried Pickles weren't fantastic either, the thin, fine breading was an irritating combination as well.

We stalled our departure from the office after our training for work to come the following week for DX3. It was one of the coldest nights that I've had the displeasure of experiencing, and the sounds of the wind violently shaking the windows did not cue me to move any faster. Negative thirty three degrees celsius and I began to wonder why teleportation machines were not invented yet.

Located in a quiet area of St Lawrence Market, WINE BAR was illuminated, stretching across the path to the entrance. After hanging up our coats, we were lead to choose our own tables, and disappointingly for me, each area had the same amount of poor orange lighting. The place was only filled with only two other tables throughout our Thursday night. After being seated, my friend told me that his favourite place to sit was at the bar, but instead of seeing bartenders serve up drinks, there were cooks in the spotlight. 

The thing with The Winebar, is that, their menu is changed weekly. I actually enjoyed this meal during this week (Feb 21. to Mar 1.), so, it is most likely that they wouldn't be running the same menu items. Also - along with each menu item, there is a Wine 'pairing' for each.

Italian - Pizzeria 

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At the very top of my list of 'Things that make me happy', is a well planned out night, filled with lots of goodies, all while in great company. I was pressured to sit into a chair at an effortless '300' (movie) booth at The Motorcycle Show at the Direct Energy Centre. Shown three stencils, I hesitantly looked over the three and nodded to the most subtle one. I felt my left sleeve being pulled up, exposing my inner forearm and watched the brisk 15 second spray of a pretty damn tacky airbrush tattoo come together. I stood up, glanced down at the new vibrant addition and reconsidered the worth of walking down here. There must have been something more to this. Spotting out a ballot box for - something something to do with 300, I filled in my full name and email, folded it in half and dropped it into the box, then made my way back to work. 

The evening started off with a pair of tickets to the '300: The Rise of the Empire' screening. I was probably the only non-fan, having my friend fill me in on the history of each character as each appeared. I spent the next two hours trying to be amused, but, the IMAX experience of blood splattering onto your shades quickly got old, and I was pretty relieved once it ended. Phase two of the night got us onto a Subway to Bathurst and Bloor, a chilly walk landed us infront of Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria.

Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria is really, the perfect place for a date. The seating was so cozy, and the lighting was just right. The next few hours were spent piecing ourselves together. It's really nights like these that keep me on track.

I've always been super curious of Filipino food. After completing my TAFE course in 2012 and putting all of my focus onto my hobbies, there were curious weeks with endless searches of recipes, of every Asian cuisine. A few Filipino food blogs would have dishes consisting of super simple ingredients together... A lot of them were hot dogs... mixed with a lot of random things, on rice (example). I was never intrigued enough to make any of them myself, though.

What made me happily agree to dinner at Lamesa, was being able to have the opportunity to try the Halo Halo dessert! I've tried plenty, plenty of variations of Vietnamese Halo Halo in Cabramatta and each were amazing. But, after finishing each cup, my curiousity would continue peaking for what the actual Filipino Halo Halo would taste like. As soon as we were promptly seated and ready to order, I immediately asked if they were serving Halo Halo tonight... But, nope, too my disappointment, it was only a Summer-time menu item. Dangit.

Once each of our dishes came out, I honestly did not understand what the server was describing to us. I just happily smiled and nodded like I eat Filipino food on a regular. There will be a lot of foreign descriptions...:

website - twitter - instagram

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My darling Food Adventure buddy was finally back from her month trip! I was pretty much done admiring the sights she witnessed and the beautiful weather she was experiencing by her Snapchats and Instagram posts. In thinking of a place for out 'First Supper of 2014', I immediately thought of Home of the Brave.

Located just above Lou Dawgs at King and Portand, held a 20 minute wait on a Friday evening. It was my first time chowing in this area, and there were just so many restaurants a few steps away which I wanted to try - Valdez and WVRST - you will both soon be mine!

For our 20 minute wait, we waited along side seated at the bar stools, had a nice catch up and browsed through the menu. Every menu item was good ol' American comfort food. I really liked it, the names and the creativity in the ingredients, I was pretty excited with what tonight had instore for us.

"What will we be having for our Last Supper of 2013, Phanny?". I immediately thought of HUSH Restaurant's D.I.Y Fondue.

It was 6:30PM on a Monday night and we had all of our intentions to meet at MoRoCo Chocolat, but, it quickly became 7PM, and with one hour left to go until closing, we hardly found it worth it. In these times, Yelp always becomes my best friend. After searching for a place for desserts Downtown, it wasn't too long before I settled for HUSH Restaurant, along with being in a lot of disbelief that their Campfire S'mores - D.I.Y set was only $13.

This evening was the first, slushy, incredibly irritating windy weather that I've experienced, upon my memory. Finally getting myself into the doors of HUSH Restaurant, ten minutes later, we were the two remaining customers. It was irritatingly noisy thirty minutes in, when a few of the staff members decided to test out the speakers, this noise level carried on until we left, we could hardly even hear what we were saying to each other.

All for dessert, but not very hungry, we ordered a Campfire S'mores to share...
Prepare for s'more spam (I'm punny).

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7 West will be the last-resort place I will take all of my dates (I could have used another word). It has the loveliest ambience. Upon my mate's simple suggestion of a place to go to after I requested to go to a place that is quiet and dark, he was quick to respond, 7 West Cafe. Made up of three levels, the third being apparently the coziest, we had to settle for the second since, to our misfortune, the third was under construction. We were seated in a perfect spot anyway, cornered off with mellow music and dim lights. The biggest beauty of it all, is that it's open 24/7. I'm a bit over my head to say, but this evening onwards is what changed my entire mindset, I have a slight attachment to this place.

The night was perfect. I never felt that anything else could be so right. 

I've wanted to try a Cube Toast Dessert since spotting one passing by a cafe (ZenQ) in Sydney two years ago. Finally, a sweet place Downtown has answered my prayers. Upon my bud's arrival, we quickly got excited over the place, connected to the free wifi (lol), ordered up a few things and pulled out a few gameboards. By this time, it was 9PM and the cafe was empty. The only games we were remotely familiar with were Boggle and Battleship... And just for photo purposes... Yep.