skunkbunny

apparently 6666 papineau is a good place as well. I have never been but many friends who know their stuff go there. You have to leave your knives for a day or two but it is something like 4-6$ per knife and they won't grind your Sabatier 12" chefs knife into a 9" boning knife... unless that's what you want.

Inspired by Thesorus we ventured out last Thursday: The décor, clean, red and black with a hardwood floor. A bar and a few tables at the front with steps up to a dining area at the back. There are ten other people in the place when we arrive and, as it turn out, the waiter is my friends neighbour from Westmount. We look over the menu and decide on a few appetizers to share and then one main between us. The service is good, even if the waiter seems a bit hesitant to recommend any one dish over another. After a bit of Tsing Tao our food starts arriving. Scallop tartare with a creamy tobiko dressing comes in a martini glass with some cuke, pickled ginger and small sheets of toasted seasoned nori (like the japanese snack packs) on the side. On top rests a crispy strip of some deep fried dough. The suggestion is made that we wrap the tartare in the strips of nori “like a Chinese taco”, and although this is a good texture play, the flavour of the seaweed runs all over the tartare, which is a mix of mayo (Japanese?) and tobiko with some super fresh scallops. Much more to our liking is the crispy strip, the texture is even crisper than the nori and the flavour is neutral and slightly rich from the frying. It goes much better with the tartare. Steamed pork dumplings with Szechwan and chilli vinegar dipping sauces come in a little bamaboo dim sum steamer. Four cute little soup dumplings (tang bao?) staring out at us. Although I love delicate dumplings, these are overly so. The wrappers are so fragile that any attempt to extract the dumplings from their steamer home results in torn skin and, more unfortunately, spilling of the delicious broth inside. The filling, texturally I find too delicate and in need of more spring. The flavours are good but fragile, and can’t compete with the dipping sauces both of which are based on Chinese black vinegar, one with somewhat thickly julienned ginger, and the other we presume to be the Szechwan style. Neither are very spicy and both are very very similar in flavour. What really stands out on this plate, and it comes back again, is a salad of shredded nappa cabbage, topped with salsa of ginger and chopped canned lychee. It took us about 5 minutes to dissect this salad, the lychee being the mystery ingredient, and it is a total winner. If they offered this salad by the bowlful I would definitely be in line. Grilled baby squid was unavailable so at the waiters suggestion we settle on the grilled chicken satay with kaffir lime and peanut sauce. The chicken is lightly marinated, perfectly cooked, and rests on some more sexy nappa salad with lychee salsa. A generous moat of thai lime flecked peanut sauce surrounds, rich, not too sweet. I really like this dish. I couldn’t put into words why and no it’s not just the lychee salsa. It’s just a dish that comes together for me, the sum of the parts being more than the whole and all that. Probably also the lack of sweetness that is the bane of so many peanut goop sauces. Billing your General Tao chicken as the best in the city takes a bit of balls and I have to confess that I am not really a General Tao fan; I can count the number of times I’ve eaten it on one hand, but I like to think that maybe I’m just waiting for a revelatory experience. So we orderd the Tao. Once again the meat is perfectly cooked and the batter is light. The sauce is thin but intensely sweet (maltose?), Sean assures me that sweetness is a Tao trademark but I still find it overpowering. It needs heat to balance it out, and, although there is good meaty flavour, the sweetness just blots it out for me. Now if you are a Tao fan this may be exactly what you’re looking for, a prefect blend of high quality ingredients with a nod towards the flavours of the Tao you had as a child. I approach this dish with no golden light cast by nostalgia and that may very well be my loss. A small side of steamed chinese veg, one fried rice noodle garnish that is spectacular and unwieldy and fabulous, some steamed rice, and there you have it. Am I converted, no. Is it a damn good Tao, you bet, probably just not meant for me. I never made it to Soy, but I will definitely be back to Bo, for more food and to try one of their sexy sounding martinis. 56$ for food three beers, after tax and before tip.

Do you perchance have the address of the above resto on Eglington. Also, what are your favourite Sri Lankan eating spots in Toronto? Any places with hoppers and/or string hoppers? I am back to TO once and a while and am always looking for new places to go.

Nino had sour cherries too, two days ago, but they were sitting in the sun.. so even if there're any left.... Fresh nopales at Super Mercado Gloria/Andes on St Laurent.. they usually have a few half decent dried chilies as well, poblano, ancho, one or two others.. As much as I love Mr DeVienne his prices make me a bit queasy, $7 for a small jar of star anise?

thanks all, we are looking for a top end place to go for my mum's birthday.. looking for stuff other than just sushi. I guess Kaji it is then. Thanks again

What other great high end Japanese restos are there in TO.. or is this the best?

I know that I can buy a pressed bean curd that is called "smoked tofu", it is a dark dark brown, almost black, on the outside and a lighter brown on the inside.. doesn't really taste smoked but there you have it.. have no clue what to do with it. Could this be one of your products?

It is on CDN just up the hill from Cote St Catherine, across from the church. It's downstairs (sous sol level) under a hair dressing/beauty place. White sign, red letters, the "lao" is the chinese chr for "old", nothing to do with the country Laos. It was completely full when I went by yesterday at lunchtime... Hellokitty70.. have you been?

Think it's on Cote des Neiges. anyone?

A bit late on this one... It isn't wild asparagus, it's a type of grass, remember reading a slightly vitriolic french article to this effect. Not bad though, but not worth the price and misleading name tag.

This is totally off topic, but does heating the walnut oil make it less flavourful? I'm thinking of how when you heat peanut or sesame oil to fry in it you nix a lot of the flavour.. anyone?

I am an absolute sucker for cured fish. The O'Thym version was, I reckon, cold smoked. It had quite a high proportion of fat, which added to the buttery mouthfeel. No pepper crust in evidence. Why does pepper crusting make them questionable from a swedish standpoint, too overpowering? I am still looking for Boquerones anchovies. BTW , good call on the blood orange sorbet at JTM.. was delicious.. whoever called that one.

3 questions: 1) quebec smoked mackrel? 2) blue shelled eggs (I could dye them myself, but why not let God do the work) ? 3) eggs with intensly yellow yolks (free range I would guess) ? The smoked mackrel I had recently at O 'Thym on Maisonneuve and it was spectacular, very buttery with a beautiful texture. Havn't asked around for any of these, thought I'd give the master sourcers on the eG board first crack. :)

my 2 cents I have a mortar and pestle as well as a Sumeet kitchen thingy. The Sumeet is great for dry spices, and is a godsend for wet pastes (especially thai... grinding lemongrass by hand is torturous) as well as coconut etc.. It works best for larger quantities. For smaller quantities of dried spices I still use the mortar and pestle as it is so much handier and easier to clean. I also enjoy the workout. I bought it at a Thai grocery years ago. If I didn`t have the Sumeet I would probably get a coffee grinder as my mum uses one and has no complaints. I agree with the Bague25 as to toasting the spices, whatever your method it makes grinding easier, although the flavour obviously changes a bit. If you really want perfection, David Thompson`s `Thai Food` suggests grinding the spices, sifting them through a fine sieve, and then re-grinding the larger bits. :)

I am interested to know how/if black rice is used in Korean cooking (or Japanese cooking for that matter). Thank you

I've written two responses to this post, which I have subsequantly erased as I found them .. well smug. Using your hands and mouth to taste and feel is part of cooking as I see it. I can see how you might want a clean spoon every time the chef tastes your sauce but that is not practical when he might taste 100-200 times a night. If you think about it, unless you are extremely vigilant, to the point of being obsessive compulsive, you most likely come in contact with the germs of tens if not hundreds of people a day.. from the pole in the metro, to money, to packages, to shaking hands etc...and then you rub your eye and woops, the guy that picked up dog crap in Westmount park this morning just rubbed your eye with you. At least the staff at PDC washed their hands. In general we are I believe way too paranoid about all this germ stuff. I once worked in a place where the waitress ate a mousse de foie de volaille that had sat on the counter for four hours... I asked her about it and she said that North Americans were paranoid. She was French, and she wasn't sick the next day. I also worked for an extremely well known asian chef in Toronto who used to wear hacked off long underwear in the kitchen. This did not affect his career or his spectacular food, or for that matter the hygene of the kitchen. Apparently, you also can't eat day old rice that has sat out all night without risk of violent food poisoning. That's strange because I do it at least twice a month. I like the way that the staff are dressed at PDC. It's casual and if I were still working in kitchens it's the way I would want to dress. As to tasting, and consequently, cooking with your hands: well, it's pretty unavoidable, whether the boss pretends he cares or not. Myself I would rather that they taste it than not. I would worry more about the hormones/antibiotics they pumped into your chicken breast at lunch. Or perhaps the fecal matter that continually shows up in tests of ground beef.. not about the fingers. We've been sticking our fingers in sauces for centuries. We haven't been buggering cows with syringes full of steroids for centuries and then eating them. ... there.. one less chip on my shoulder...

hey hey, Just got back from Federicks (my brother remarked on the missing r as well) we had: -Shrimp Pakoras: lovely and generous with lots of green chilies and lots of shrimp - ma po to fu: hmmmmm..whatever, and hey is that chicken in the ma po tofu?. -crispy beef: yummy strips of deep fried beef with a sweet soy/chili sauce, very good. -shrimp with lobster sauce: mmm nice, but bland and hey is that chicken again in the sauce? -chili chicken: excessivly generous portion but not too exciting flavour wise, I was hoping for more chiliness, we added hot sauce and the crispy beef sauce and it was better. -deep fried bananas: mmmm.. synthetic vanilla ice cream, aunt jemima syrup and a few bits of green chili in the batter. all this, with rice and two beers for 60$ b4 tax... definitly not a raw deal. As said the clientele was almost exclusively indian, and big on the take out. The noodles seemed very popular and I would try them next time. We were four and my god.. soo much food. We didn't find the food very spicy, apart from the Pakoras which, with the crispy beef, were definite keepers. Thanks for a great recomendation!!!

Mata Hari it is... it's Malay? ooops. my bad lol. Am going to try some Hakka food tonight either Fredericks or the other one.

Yeah.. baldwin that's it :). Do you know if the greasy chinese pastry shop is still there.. Hsing wa????? not sure of the name. I have fond childhood memories of little white paper bags with grease soaking through them and of buying too many sesame balls and tearfully having to get rid of them. Also, while we're here... what about good Malaysian resto's in TO??

where to buy boqueron anchovies??

Is this the place south of Prince Arthur on the east side? If so: Ageh dashi tofu is really good

I'm a amazed no-one has answered this. This resto used to be here two years ago .. I have absolutely no idea if it still is. Go down St George... continue on Beverly past college and then take either the first or second left (sorry .. don't remember which.. it's the street with the restos on it.) About 1/2 a block down on the south side there used to be an Indonesian resto with a small terrasse.. oops PATIO.. had goood lunch specials. And there was that lovely old school chinese bakery across the street.. everything was greasy..... Like I said it's probably way too late and god only knows if these places are still there. Good luck Mike As a note: I found a listing for a Hakka restaurant Kim Ling 2173 Lawrence East ???? Does anyone have the lowdown????

Nothing but total assumption on my part but anyway: The story from the man that owned the pottery and kitchen supply store downstairs was that the owner of the building was jacking up the rents to get rid of the tennants and install his own people. I am assuming that the same thing happened to Kim Phat. Both stores have taken a serious nose dive quality wise since the new owners took over, the downstairs store has more useless "gugus pour les touristes" and the upstairs has never had fewer customers and sadder looking veg. I am glad to know that there is another KP location in CDN.

La Vieille Europe on St Laurent also has both types of smoked paprika. It's great, like adding bacon to your dish. They also have "Dutchy of Cornwall" organic shortbreads, which are a little pricy ($6.95) but are amazing, with flavours like Orange, Ginger, and Lemon as well as Chive, and Black Pepper (only tried orange). Pickled daisy buds (Bourgeons de marguerites (?)) are available again at Les Saveurs du Marché.... A nice caper-like, caper alternative with an interesting... mmmm .. caper-like flavour. I am now salitvating for olives.

Supermarché Arkavan (sp?) which is an Iranian grocery store is located at 6170 Sherbrooke West. Although you are loooking for asian stuff: if you go to Arkavan you can stock up on sour cherry juice (I like Turtamek brand in the glass bottle but it's a matter of taste), sour cherry jam which is very yummy and inexpensive (and lots of other yummy jams) as well as salted lemon flavoured pistachios and dried fruits. You can taste most of the dried stuff before you buy as it is bulk. Across the street from Arkavan is a Korean grocery. It is not super extensive but they have a good selection of homemade kim-chi: daikon, cabbage as well as octopus and occasionally chili leaf kim chi which is exceptional. They also have a good selection bottled sauces and marinades, pre-cut frozen meat, some standard Korean veg (burdock root sometimes, Cabbages, mung sprouts, giant radish..), as well as 1 lb bags of crushed dried chilies (just what you need) Outside of Chinatown I like to go to the three asian supermarkets located south on St Denis at the intersection of Jean Talon .. a bit more South East Asian (Thai, Viet etc..) than Chinese but good selection (Since Kim Phat got kicked out of their location in Chinatown I reckon there is a serious need for a good, large chinese grocery in the Quartier Chinois). And of course there are the looooovely Marché Victoria (good veg selection this time of year) and Marché Jolee for all or most of your south asian needs.. even if the rotis are leathery and old. Now you make me huuuuuungry... portabello burgers for dinner.