Food Review: Fushimi (Markham)

Okay, this post is mostly about the food.... because it's buffet style and they've got it all!

It's Fushimi

Location: North of Denison on Woodbine Ave.

Price: $23.99 (dinner, weeknight) or $26.99 (Fri-Sun & holidays)

The restaurants' entrance

The hibachi area (we got there at 5:30pm)

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And here comes the throw of food products that they offered.....

Baked mussels

Tuna tartar

Salmon

Salmon Sashimi

Maki roll with tuna tartar

Udon

Christmas special: Raw oysters (2 per person only)

This was an order of 5 raw oysters (here's 10), go figure!

Salmon Rose

Kiwi on top (hmmm... that was so-so)

Seaweed Salad

Fried Ice Cream

The surprise was "green tea"

Fried milk (way too fried and milk was too solid for the liking)

Black Sesame Pudding (left), Red Bean Ice Cream (right)

The one thing that made my meal superb was it's absolute beauty in it's presentation. Although they do buffet style, every dish is presented with care and beauty. I was very impressed with that. I felt like I was eating a la carte even though it was endless.

Most disappointing thing was the sweets, which is my favorite part. The red bean ice cream was gritty and the friend ice creams' skin was way too thick which did not compliment the green tea ice cream inside (which was very good).

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Overall, I rate this 4/5

Food Court Review: First Markham Place

It's funny, I never see any food court reviews on specific restaurants. But it might be a good idea to start since every shop is different. Let's start with the food court at First Markham Place. It's not new to most of us, but I thought I'd start talking about what I'm tasting.

When I went to First Markham Place to grab some dinner one night, I was a little overwhelmed by all the restaurants' menus. There were all posted up on their walls showing every single dish possible. Not being able to read Chinese myself (jok sing), I was even more overwhelmed on how to choose. Of course they had the English subtitle underneath it, but being half Canadian and half Chinese, I still knew the Chinese names of the food I usually eat and reading them in its translation was not as clear to me. 

But, when there's no choice, you do as much as you can. I was pretty happy when I was able to see that some of them had photos of the food.

We ended up choosing WOK'S KING. Why? No idea. haha sorry! But they had what I knew I wanted and so I just ordered. If you haven't been here, it's nice to know that with every order they give you a complimentary choice of cold soy milk or soup. 

On a cold night, we decided to get soup with our meal. The so-called fast food noodles were just as good as they are at other sit down restaurants. Of course, the greasiness does help it's taste. But the noodles were cooked wonderfully and it was very enjoyable.

It was a weeknight and so there wasn't much traffic, which I always love. This food court is very spacious with lots of seating. It was pretty clean as well.

Overall, I rate WOK'S KING 4/5

It's not about the glam or the plating, but the food is decent and inexpensive.

=0)

Food Review: Congee Time (North York)

In the plaza on the south east corner of Cummer/Yonge (just north of Yonge/Finch), there is another "Congee" type restaurant that delivers good chinese food.

It's not a chinese Hong Kong Style diner and that means the prices are slightly higher, but of course, for a supposedly better quality of food.

The restaurant can fit quite a bit, but being spacious is not one of their key attributes. The service is quick and the food is the same. I've had several meals here, and so far, I haven't had to complain... too much! 

Malaysian style noodles with seafood and veggies

As taste goes, this was eaten up pretty quickly. There's nothing about this dish I do not like. It was a very well done stir fried noodle dish. 

Next up.....

Trying something new, we had a very wet seafood sauced fried rice. This, like the Malaysian fried noodles, had a great taste. The spices were just right and the sauce made the fried rice that much more.

Overall, I rate this 4/5

It's simply a good chinese restaurant that does it authentic in style of cooking, way of serving and the prices aren't bad. 

Food Review: Tandoori House (North York)

Just around the corner from my neighborhood, I finally decided to try this Indian restaurant. Tucked between  many other restaurants, Tandoori House sticks out as the only Indian restaurant on that strip.

We made reservations for 6pm and when we got there, there were but few patrons already seated. However, once it passed 7pm, the restaurant was getting filled quickly.

Very traditional looking decor. The space could accommodate many patrons. 

The menu prices were fairly regular, same as I've seen with any other Indian restaurants.

Lamb Curry ($11.99)

Butter Chicken ($11.99)

Chicken Curry ($11.99)

Rice ($1.50)

The Butter Chicken was the best dish! It had a great taste! It was creamy with just enough spice to tickle our taste buds. The rice, as usual, was deliciously amazing.

Overall, I rate this 3/5

I'm not usually a big fan of Indian food, but I did enjoy all the different dishes! 

The service was very good

The location is central

The atmosphere was good

The price was average

The taste was good

=0)

Food Review: Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine (Tsai Tsan Tang)

Here is my second review on one of GTA's HK diner restaurants

Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine

Location: Warden & Finch (North West corner plaza, next to Price chopper)

This establishment is not as visible. It's located inside a very large plaza. However, if you keep going north on Warden, you see an opening into the plaza (left) and once you drive in, it has a medium-size sign.

I went in the late afternoon, which was just around the time they were serving afternoon tea. For those of you who don't know what afternoon tea is, it's set time (usually 3-5, sometimes as early as 2:30pm) where they have a different menu, greater value and along with the food, they provide a complimentary beverage. In this restaurant, they extend that service and offer 2 other options on top of the regular hot milk tea, coffee and lemon tea. At Mr. Congee (during afternoon tea 3-5pm), you can choose a Red Bean Ice Cream or Bubble Tea. *yum

The food here is not average, like most HK diners. 

My favorite dish was the fried rice, which was cooked perfectly and made very tasty. The soup noodles were as to expect, not bad but not great. My sister who had the beef in the red sauce, said it was not to her liking.

The restaurant is not too small, but not as spacious. The atmosphere and decor is very nice and very clean looking. The staff is so-so.

And best of all, the drinks. hahah It gets me all the time, I don't know why! I just find it makes the deal so much sweeter!

Overall, I rate this 3.3/5

Location .......... 5/5

Atmosphere ......... 4/5 

Service .............. 3/5

Prices ......... 3.3/5

Drinks ......... 5/5

I hope this post helped! =0) Enjoy your day everyone!

Food Review: Leslie Cafe (Tsai Tsan Tang)

I am a lover of hot milk tea and I am in search of the best hidden HK diner gems surrounding the Toronto GTA.

Since there's no real list or good list for Hong Kong Diner style restaurants in Toronto, I have decided to put matters into my own hands and do it myself. 

This is my first blog stop: Leslie Cafe 

Location: Leslie St. & Finch (North East corner plaza)

Specials Offer Daily:

Breakfast specials that end at 10:30am (or 11am, not a 100% on that) 

Afternoon Tea Specials between 2:30 - 5:30pm

I came here with 2 other people on a late Sunday morning. It was nearing 11:30am and we were very hungry. Other than that 2-sided menu (above), we noticed that in their "regular menu" that their prices were just as good. We definitely liked the extension on good priced specials.

If you order from their Special menu, you will also receive a complimentary drink. You may choose from the following:

Hot milk tea 

Hot water

Coffee

Hot Lemon Tea

This was each of our orders...

They look gigantic, don't they? Well, it's really that big. Of course, you can immediately tell that the "food" itself is only drizzled on top while a massive amount of rice is embedded underneath. 

1) Smooth Egg with beef on rice (back, left)

2) Spare ribs with black bean sauce with veggies on rice (front)

3) Curry chicken with veggies on rice (back, right)

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My thoughts on the 3 dishes:

The best tasting dish turned out to be the smooth egg with beef. The sauce mixed with the rice was a very easy to please. 

Unfortunately, my order of "spare ribs" was very disappointing. There was little to no meat on any of the spare ribs. The spare ribs themselves seemed smaller. What saved the dish was the sauce. 

My least favorite dish was the Curry chicken with vegetables on rice (photo below). I did not taste any flavour. It tasted very bland and boring. There were no spices and nothing to help save this dish. It was a big disaster, I'm sorry to say.

The thing that saved whole meal was when I had my first sip of my Hot Milk Tea. The creaminess with the tea itself was made to be very tasty. It was not watery and the tea flavours were bursting out and dancing on my tongue. 

Overall, I give Leslie Cafe a 2.9/5

I was very pleased with the service (easy & quick)

For a HK diner in TO, I was pleased with the cleanliness and modernity of this place

I was very pleased with the big portions offered

Beware of what is good and not (If you happen to be like me and miss 2/3 of the dishes, then be smart for next time, if you ever go back)

I was very pleased with the hot milk tea

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And in case you're curious to try, here's the menu for the value prices:

Thanks for reading. Keep looking out for my HK diner reviews. =0)