Sloppy Sandwiches You Can't Refuse at Black Camel, Toronto

Pulled Pork Sandwich with BBQ Sauce, Horseradish and Caramelized Onions

Black Camel is one of Toronto's most popular sandwich shops. Serving only 5 basic sandwiches, Black Camel keeps it simple and focuses on food quality. Their beef brisket and pulled pork involves a 5-day prep process, and their sauces are fresh with layers and layers of serious flavor.

The five basic sandwiches include: slow roasted beef brisket, pulled pork shoulder, seared steak, roasted pulled chicken and  a vegetarian option with tomato, pepper, arugula & eggplant.

All sandwiches include a choice of 2 sauces/condiments, and extra sauces, condiments and toppings are available at extra charge.

The pulled pork and beef brisket sandwiches with BBQ sauce are a must try. The black camel BBQ sauce is smoky and sweet, and goes perfectly with the slow cooked meats. They are extremely generous with the BBQ sauce so be prepared to get dirty. Wet towelettes are provided to help with the clean up afterwards.

In March of this year, they opened up another sandwich joint near Yonge and Eglinton called Boar. With a very similar concept, Boar's 5 basic sandwiches are veal, chicken, meatball, sausage and portobello.

Beef Brisket Sandwich with BBQ Sauce and Dijon Mustard

Black Camel

4 Crescent Road

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 416-929-7518

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G for Gelato & Espresso Bar, Toronto

Someone told me about this place so I'm simply passing on the good word. G for Gelato & Espresso Bar has GREAT gelato!!!

CK and I split the cappuccino, pistachio and strawbery rhubarb trio. The cappuccino and pistachio were really good but the strawberry rhubarb is a must try! Tart and full of flavor. It was a new flavor they just started making, along with yogurt stracciatella.

Cappuccino, Pistachio and Strawberry Rhubarb Gelato

It all started in the 50's in Italy with Gerardo and Giuseppina Polsinelli, who ran a small gelato business using their own special technique and serving only 3 basic flavors. They did very well and their refrigerator on a bicycle business expanded to a truck business that served many different flavors. In 1967, they left Italy to start a better life with their 5 daughters. Decades later, the Polsinelli daughters bring back the family tradition with G for Gelato, which opened in 2011.

I love places with a story.

G for Gelato & Espresso Bar
75 Jarvis Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 416-792-1761

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Banh Mi Boys, Toronto

If you're in downtown Toronto and wanted to eat something easy, fun, exotic and affordable, check out Banh Mi Boys. It is a contemporary Vietnamese banh mi shop with a twist. The Chau brothers, who own the place, know how to do it well. They should since they learned the tricks of the trade from their parents who also owned Vietnamese sub shops - the traditional kind.

The place is set up like a fast food joint. Fast fast fast. In addition to Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, you can get Chinese style steam bao sandwiches or Korean style tacos. Seating is limited so it may be hard to snag a seat during peak hours.

There were a lot of things that I wanted to try on the menu, but finally, I decided on the lemongrass grilled pork banh mi served with Asian bbq sauce, house mayo, pickled carrots, pickled daikon, cilantro and cucumber. The pork was char grilled to perfection and had just the right amount of lemongrass.

Grilled Pork Banh Mi

CK ordered the Kalbi beef banh mi filled with beef short ribs, kimchi, Asian bbq sauce and the regular toppings. He really enjoyed his sandwich.

Kalbi Beef Banh Mi

We also ordered the kimchi fries. Unknown to us, the kimchi fries are covered with pulled pork in addition to the kimchi! While the fries were fantastic, I wished they posted the pork bit on their menu. Had I known, I would have ordered something smaller to make room for the heavy fries!

Kimchi Fries

We also got a jicama papaya salad to share. It was a nice light salad with a light soy sauce dressing.

Jicama Papaya Salad

Banh Mi Boys
392 Queen Street W
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 416-363-0588

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Pantheon Restaurant, Toronto

I've been sitting on this post forever...mainly out of fear. When I was in Toronto back in January, my Greek friend, K, who used to live in Toronto, gave me a list of recommended restaurants to try out. Almost all of his recommendations were bang on, except one. It's not that I didn't like it, I just didn't love it like he did. He felt that Pantheon served the best Greek food in Toronto. I questioned that statement. He was absolutely insulted that I felt that way, and I've been afraid to post since then.

Well, I've had 7 months to get over my fear. Anddd, because K has not lived in Toronto for quite a while, it turns out that Pantheon had switched owners since. I like to think that we were both right in our opinions.

Pantheon has a very extensive menu and like all Greek food, it is best when you have a big group of people to maximize the number of share plates. Unfortunately, it was only CK and I. We had a good meal nonetheless.

We started with a hot pepper appetizer. I expected the hot peppers to be hot, but they were quite mild. The hot peppers were drizzled with oil, and topped with fresh capers.

Hot Peppers

Next came the spanakotiropita. These were humongous and delicious! The phyllo was crispy, and the filling was plentiful. Very very nice! Anyone by any chance know the difference between spanakotiropita and spanakopita? Is there even a difference?

Spanakotiropita

My main was under the light piato section: charcoal octopus with Greek salad. I thought that this would be grilled octopus with a side of Greek salad, but it turned out that it was a salad mixed with pieces of octopus. The octopus was tender, but I was slightly disappointed because my meal wasn't what I expected. I guess that was partly my fault.

Grilled Octopus Salad

What CK ordered was what I really wanted. I had major food envy. He ordered the grilled calamari dinner. This was seasoned whole calamari served with veggies. The calamari was good but was tougher than what I normally like.

Grilled Calamari

CK ordered a Greek salad on the side. The Greek salad here isn't quite the traditional 'no lettuce' Greek salad. Again, it wasn't what I expected, so I wasn't a fan of their Greek salad.

Greek Salad

After our dinner, we were handed a complimentary piece of honey cake topped with chocolate sauce. The cake was moist and had just the right amount of sweetness. Ironically, one of my favorite parts of the meal was free.

Honey Cake

Pantheon Restaurant407 Danforth Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 416-778-1929

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Chiu Chow Boy, Toronto

One of Wals' favorite Chinese restaurants in Toronto is Chiu Chow Boy. He always talks about how good the food is there, so Beebs and I took my grandmother there last week when I was in Tdot.

We ordered a few Chiu Chow style lunch dishes to share.

The first was the loh bak goh, or the pan fried radish cake. It was stir fried with chillies, bean sprouts and scallions, which was different from the normal dim sum style I'm used to. It was a great variation, and the chillies added an amazing taste. I will start cooking my loh bak goh this way from now on.

Pan Fried Radish Cake

My mom recommended the next dish, which is why I ordered it. However, the dish wasn't exactly how I imagined it. When you literally translate the name of the dish from Chinese to English, the name is 'fish skin dumplings'. Instead of dumplings with a fish skin filling, we got pork dumplings with fried fish skin thrown on top of the soup.

Fish Skin Soup with Pork Dumplings

Also served in the soup was seaweed, and cabbage.

Pork Dumpling

Next were thin rice noodles stir fried with veggies and soy sauce. It was simple but good.

Thin Rice Noodles with Veggies

The last dish also came as a surprise to us. We ordered the congee with preserved duck egg, and white fish. I've always had congee that resembled a thick porridge, but this congee was just like a bowl of soup with rice thrown into it. This is, I learned, how Chiu Chow style congee normally is.

Chiu Chow Style Congee with Preserved Duck Egg and White Fish

When I told Wals about my visit to Chiu Chow Boy, he informed me that I should have ordered the Chiu Chow marinated duck, satay beef, and congee with oysters.

Chiu Chow Boy
3261 Kennedy Road
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 416-335-0336

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Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine, Toronto

My mom, Beebs, and I recently took a quick one day trip to Toronto for a family reunion. We have a pretty big family, so it was great (and rare) to see everyone all under one roof. We ate so much Chinese food on our trip that I don't want to see or eat Chinese food for a while. Our first stop was at Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine.

This is a fairly new Shanghai restaurant that opened less than a year ago. They offer many dim sum dishes, and over 150 dishes overall. They have a large flat screen TV in the middle of the restaurant, and a soccer game was playing when we walked in.

The first dish we offered was a soup filled crab and pork xiao long bao. The crab meat was a nice change, and the soup in the dumpling was incredibly flavorful.

Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao

Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao

Strongly recommended by the owner was the house special bean curd skin. This was good but not the amazing dish that he advertised.

House Special Bean Curd

Look at the different layers of the bean curd skin.

Many Layers of the Bean Curd

Next was the pan fried pork buns. The dough was fresh, and these buns also had soup in them.

Pan Fried Pork Buns

One of my favorites is the Shanghai chow mein. This is best when it is mixed with tons of hot sauce. Their noodles had a strong red vinegar taste.

Shanghai Chow Mein

Last dish of the meal was the pan fried chive dumplings. I find chives are an acquired taste. People either love it or hate it.

Pan Fried Chive Dumplings

Filling of Pan Fried Chive Dumplings

Overall, I recommend this place. The ingredients are fresh, their staff is friendly, and the place is nice and clean.

Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine
505 Hwy 7 E., Bldg C. Unit 98-99
Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 905-370-6868

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Mini Japanese Crab Snacks

I returned to Pacific Mall again last weekend in search for some Chinese dragon beard candy. Unfortunately the guy that normally makes it was not selling any that weekend (he wasn't there). I didn't want to leave empty handed because we had drove 25 minutes out of our way to get there, and ended up circling around the BUSY mall for an hour looking for parking.

In absence of dragon beard candy, I headed to Ding Dong for some Asian snacks. I grabbed the usual: grape candy for my sis, some dried preserved lemon peels that always grosses CK out, and then, I came across some mini crab snacks...

What the!? They were real, whole, little edible crabs!

The sales person explained to me that they were mini soft shell crabs from Japan that were coated with a sweet sauce.

I bought a little bag for myself for $6.99/100g, and brought them home to try. The moment we got into the car, CK was complaining about how he could smell the fishiness from the crab snacks. I just ignored him.

Let me tell you, they are not the tastiest little buggers. They don't taste awful, but there's nothing special about them. They are crunchy like chips, but as soon as you start chewing on the crab shells, they become gritty in texture. The gritty bits end up sticking to your teeth because of the sugar coating. The little balls that cover the crabs seemed to be tiny little crunchy rice balls.

To get an idea of how mini they were, I took a photo of three different sized crabs beside a Canadian Toonie ($2 coin), an American quarter, and a Canadian dime.

There must have been something added to them to make them addictive because although the crabs didn't taste all that great, I found myself reaching in the bag for another, and another...

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Nicest Convenience Store in Toronto...Maybe Even North America?

While CK and I were driving along Jarvis Street in Toronto, we were shocked to see a Mac's convenience store housed in an old Victorian style house. It looked like it was too nice to even go in. Naturally, I asked CK to pull over so that I could take a picture.

I wonder how much their rent is?

Mac's Convenience Store

471 Jarvis Street

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 416-921-2715

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The Tart Off - Pastel de Nata Challenge

After enjoying my very first pastel de nata (portugese custard tart) last week, I decided to search for the best pastel de nata in Toronto. This all started with Mark's comment on my Golden Wheat Bakery post.

Two places that came up most frequently were Nova Era bakery and Caldense bakery. About half of the people were die hard Nova Era fans, and the other half were Caldense fans. I decided to try them both out for myself, and find out which was better with a tart off!

I went to Dundas Street West, and bought a pastel de nata from each store. CK set up the blind taste test, and I judged the tarts on 3 criteria:

1. Taste of pastry alone

2. Taste of custard alone

3. Taste of pastry and custard together

Here were my results:

As you can see, tart #1 won hands down. And the winner was, drum roll please...

This was a fun little test, and CK and I had a great time doing it! This post is by no means saying that Nova Era bakery is better than Caldense bakery. We had read very good things about both places.

This made me think...there must be a mom-and-pop shop in Little Portugal that can make a mean pastel de nata.

If you know of any places that make them well, not necessarily in Toronto, I'd love to hear about it.

Thanks to Mark who made this challenge happen!

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Pain Perdu, Toronto

If you want to taste real french pastries, visit Pain Perdu. When we walked into this bakery, we forgot where we were for a second. There was charming French music playing in the background, we were greeted by soft spoken Parisian staff, and the majority of their menu was written in French such as tarte a l'oignon and croque monsieur.

I came here for one thing, and that was for their croissants. Their croissants were named Best Croissant 3 times by the Toronto Star, so I had to check it out for myself.

Croissants made purely from butter are much harder to work with than croissants made from a combination of butter and shortening. Croissants made from pure butter are not only tastier, but they are much flakier and crispier. As a result, it is very hard to curl them like what you see at the grocery store. As a rule of thumb, good croissants should never be curled.

There's so much more to a good croissant, and if I had the time, I could write a dissertation on the topic. The difficulty of making a good one should not be ignored. A good croissant should be delicate, but not too delicate. Although made from butter, it should never feel too greasy. Lastly, it should never be chewy, but flakey on the inside.

I was explaining this to my mom and she said that it is ironic because in Chinese, croissants are literally translated as 'cow horns'. And because a cow horn is curved, Chinese always look for croissants that are curled.

Enough talking, here is my croissant paired with a cappuccino.

I'm probably the most ungraceful eater there is. CK was shaking his head at me the whole time because every time I took a bite, the croissant would shatter all over my plate and lap, and bits of the flakey pastry would stick to and cover my lips. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it, and gobbled it down within seconds. Unlike CK, I had no self control. When I was done eating my croissant, he had taken only two bites. Oh! Mon dieu!

CK ordered the almond croissant and a café au lait.

Pain perdu is more than just a boulangerie. They offer other sweet pastries, and lunch plates such as duck confit, and quiches. They, of course, also offer pain perdu or "lost bread", which is similar to but not to be mistaken as North American french toast.

Pain Perdu

736 St. Clair Avenue West

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 416-656-7246

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