mhkhung

I have ordered from Healthy Butcher a few times and they always jog down my name+phone and my meat is always ready when I arrive.. I got some flat-iron steak last weekend (walk-in, not pre-ordered) and oh it is sooo good.. - M

I have been to Atelier Thuet (liberty village/king w) for brunch a few times and they have the best French toast I ever had in my life.. (although the kitchen seems a bit slow)

Website is way too much work.. Why not just Facebook? - M

So I made Sous Vide (the first time) chicken last Saturday to serve my guests in one of the dinner courses. 1 piece of breast and 1 piece of leg in 61C bath for about 3 hours (basically started cooking at 4 and serve straight for the course at around 7). The chicken is "perfect". Good enough that I forgot I made a sauce for it.. But, over the discussion, we figured what's wrong with Sous Vide cooking.. (My guests and us have both ate at a number of restaurants that use Sous Vide.. including the FL) Our conclusion is that the food cooked in Sous Vide lacks "passion". It doesn't vary depends on the weather of day, the difference in the heat of the stove and the skill/execution of the chefs. At the end of the day, it's like food mass produced from a factory.. - M

Ouch.. London restaurants.. Compare to Toronto, the better restaurants here are way too expensive for the quality. Asian food is almost hopeless.. A pad thai can easily set you back $16+.. Ouch.. If you insist, Crave http://www.craverestaurant.ca/home.htm and on-the-fork http://www.restaurantica.com/restaurants/422/ are some of the better ones. For really good food, drive half an hour to Stratford: http://www.bijourestaurant.com/ - M

Pesticide is chemical. Heating the milk is not going to remove any chemical.. Just like boiling water won't..

First.. Chowhound is way-over-moderated that they are impeding free-speech. Their web interface is so bad I removed them from my bookmarks.. and I don't think their updated forum's any better.. On raw-milk.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_milk Health officials are paranoids.. You can't blame them. It is not against the law to consume raw milk products.. just selling them.. Is this going to be another Eigensinn farm fiasco?

Just do an image search.. http://images.google.com/images?q=Xiao+Long+Bao It is streamed pork dumpling.. IMHO Ding Tai Fung's way too fatty. Asian Legend's much more balanced. I also like to go to Peking Man restaurant (Sheppard / Leslie). They have very good xiao long bao and wonderful noodles. (Asian Legend's noodle's decent too). - M

Yumm.. It's time to go to Susur again.. Although I am kinda broke after my trip to Eigensinn Farm last week.. - M

I think Bobby Flay's dishes are safe and traditional with more interesting sauces. Susur's dishes are more creative with weird combinations and more Chinese but at the same time may not please every judge (hence riskier). Overall I think Bobby Flay executes very well to tie the match (he has much more experience in that kitchen and format afterall). But I would go for the Susur iron chef dinner (if he has one) any evening.. - M

Just saw on Food Network.. Wed May 3rd, 9pm

Agree or disagree with the list, how many of you guys complaining the list have visited ALL those 20 restaurants at least once or more than once in the past year and the ones you wish on the list a few times? I certainly don't go out to those expensive places more than 10 times a year total. Or have any of you been to Lai-wah-heen for dinner last year (rather than dimsum or not at all) (I haven't)? - M

It was at that price the last time I went.. which was 2 summers ago I think.. And the time before was cheaper.. may be at $150. I can only afford them once every 2-3 years.. But the best thing is you can bring your best wine there.. although we only picked a few half-bottles (like 6-7) for 4 of us. Another suggestion is skip lunch.. and find a hotel/b&b close by. (I was so full even the next morning I couldn't take any breakfast).. - M

The hardest part is actually locate the place.. You almost need a GPS to locate it.. It's stored on my car GPS now M

Anywhere selling it with good price?

Dinning alone's always hard. I would go to Lee for dinner and sit at the bar. For lunch may be at JK wine bar.. None of these requires reservation and they don't cost an arm. - M

I have nothing but positive experience with the new JOV. I and my family tried the restaurant twice with the new chef (And a number of times in the last 2 years with the old). The first time we all have his tasting menu, the second time we ordered a-la-carte. We all feel that the new chef's somewhat better than the old. - M

There used to be another butcher selling organic meat in Thornhill, but they went out-of-business around the same time as the mad-cow hits.. I missed them so much.. will definitely stop by the healthy butcher this weekend for some good meat.. M

I think the dish really has a great potential to be the most memorable part of the meal. I remembered when the staff presented us the dish.. my expectation went way up.. I was thinking.. what a nice touch to have the bone marrow. Too bad it wasn't executed perfectly when I was there. (The beef part was perfectly done though). What was the overall experience in Feb? Was Keller there that day? M

I joined their drinking/cooking tour in Florence a few years ago and it was one of my best experience in Italy... http://www.accidentaltourist.com/ Michael

I think consistent service is the key.. We need to value more about the consistent (good) food/service more. Another restaurant that I found with consistent service over many many years is Scaramouche. I also hate it when the chef's not in the kitchen when you visit. The quality goes down an order and you are paying the same price. I don't think I will ever go to another expensive restaurant where the chef has another restaurant somewhere (esp those famous ones in the States). Michael

The Japense market at Steeles/Victoria Park sells many kinds/brands of miso.. M

This is normal for LCBO releases.. I have all but given up on them.. Esp the big LCBOs.. (Summerhill, Bayview Village) You might have better luck going to smaller vintages stores.. (Or ottawa, the people are not as crazy there) M

FL mini review: Summary: WAY overrated, not worth a trip. While the service is near perfect (the waiting-staff has excellent knowledge and would be expected with 19% service charge..), and the food is technically very good, the overall food/experience can best be described as boring and passionless. There is no way the restaurant can be compared to any 3-stars restaurants in Europe. I would say it's 1-star at best and it's mostly from the service. May be Keller's busy in his NY restaurant making sure they will get the stars there. (The food might be better if Keller's there.. but why should I be paying $600 for 2 for his apprentice?) My partner and I arrived the FL at our reservation time. Service is definitely one of the best I have received in America. We picked the 9 course tasting menu. We had the usual Salmon tartar and "Oysters and Pearls". The "Oysters and Pearls", I think, is the best dish I have that night. Then I have the $25 extra foie gras and my partner had the salad of some Hawaii fruit. The foie gras is seared perfectly but nothing really special. The salad actually tastes pretty good. Then we have a fish course followed by lobster claws. The fish is good, the lobster claws are very nice. 2 meat courses followed. The rabbit sausage is porched perfectly. The beef course, a nice cut of prime rib, is topped with a deep-fried bone marrow. The bone marrow is way too oily and salty. Finally, a cheese course (With just 1 piece of cheese), and two desserts. The cheese is boring (may be Americans can't take cheese?). The last dessert being the "chocolate tempations", which is the worst chocolate thing I have tasted in a long time. The chocolate pudding/whatever/thing is at room temp and kinda stuck in your throat. Overall, most of the dishes are done technically near perfect (except the bone marrow), and the average pastry chef. I can't sense any energy, creativity and passion in the food. It is boring. Anyway, the following evening, we went to the CIA restaurant for dinner, and had a much much better experience. It isn't fine dining, but there is so much energy, creativity in every dish there, the ingredients are not as expensive but tastes so much better overall. Even the cheese course, with 3 kinds of cheese: goat, cow, and sheep, is WAY better than the one at FL.. M

I am pretty sure Splendido is open on Sunday. So is Chiado. Those are the limited top-end options on Sunday. You can actually walk to Splendido from Yorkville. It's just 2 blocks.. may be 15mins walk. Chiado's 10mins cab ride. Michael