Endy'

I ate at Kintaro on Saturday. They had a sign up saying they were re-open after renovations and were offering a free drink to customers until Sunday (turned out to be a can of Japanese green tea).

I'm in the middle of a Van trip right now and just wanted to add the following comments: -I stayed on Robson last trip and it was fine. Mostly be close to the SkyTrain station if you can. But there's lots of restaurants on the west end of Robson that you might want to hit -- the izakayas fmed mentioned, and Motomachi Shokudo too. -Japadog is good but you don't need to "allocate" a meal to it. They have 3 "Japa-style" hot dogs and unless you eat all 3 in 1 go it won't be a meal. I've been hitting them as a snack each day, with a reasonable metabolism you should be OK here. -if you go to Granville Island, try to avoid Monday/Tuesday so you'll catch the artisanal sake maker on a day they're open. I learned the hard way...

I went to Ba Shu Ren Jia a few weeks back and quite liked it. It's a Sichuan (Scheweztuzeuwhatever) restaurant; I don't know if that qualifies as interesting regional, but it was MARKEDLY different than what usually passes for Sichuan food in Toronto (generic Chinese or chop suey with hot peppers). http://www.flickr.com/photos/endy_/sets/72157603849281275/ it is, of course, in the suburbs.

thanks Global! Hope you had a good meal/snack.

thanks everyone! I will run this list by my friend who's joining me at GI. I did do Rangoli on last year's trip and honestly found it pretty mundane. I didn't know though that the Pacific Culinary Institute served lunch, that sounds pretty cool.

hrm, anything else? I've already kind of filled in Go Fish for one of the other days I'll be there...

any thoughts on a lunch stop near Granville Island for before I head over to check out the market? (no, Les Amis doesn't count...)

I really enjoyed the brunch I had at Ocean 6 Seventeen. And Tojo's was pretty good, but it's way past "mildly expensive".

interesting. There was a post in the Toronto forum where a visitor from PEI remarked that the selection in Toronto was actually better specifically because in PEI all they could get was Malpeques. Probably a pass on the oysters but a yes on the sandwiches. Thanks for the pertinent info.

thanks for all the suggestions so far, Fuel in particular looks really good, and as for dim sum I'll probably settle on Gingeri, it seems to be a popular suggestion. Global: how is the oyster selection at So.Cial? Do they have a lot of varieties on offer and is it all just West Coast stuff?

thanks for the advice! I'll look into Motomachi...I guess it's another ramen place? Is there a reason to try to hit both? I've heard from a coffee nerd that Elysian has been slipping recently (hence his rec of 49th)...I'll try to get to both though. and I'm not really sure how to interpret the comment on So.Cial...are you saying the restaurant is "just" good (and thus skippable)?

I'm planning a trip to Van for the end of February and will be there for a week or so. Last time around I got some excellent advice in an eG thread so I'm trying again . If interested, you can see previous suggestions and what I covered in last year's thread or the Flickr collection. I have a few specific questions, and a tentative list of restaurants on which I'd like some feedback (have any closed/moved/gone downhill recently). Any other suggestions are of course welcome. I'll probably be staying in the downtown area. current list: -Rare (it was just too good last time) -Metro (on the strength of Rare) -Ocean 6 Seventeen (another great rec from last year's thread) -Go Fish -Vij's (because I didn't get there last time) -Shun Feng in Richmond for dim sum? (saw a mention in a thread here, any updated thoughts?) -Kintaro, because duh! also: -Granville Island Market day (donuts/Oyama/sake/etc.) -coffee at 49th Parallel -izakaya somewhere downtown? (I tried Guu on Thurlow last time) -this Korean fried chicken place sounds awesome questions: -I remember reading some buzz here about So.Cial when it opened; what's the latest on it? Is it worth a trip? -thoughts on Feenie's? I know that Chef Feenie is no longer associated with those 2 restaurants, but I wonder if his departure has had a direct impact on the food at Feenie's...I enjoyed the lunch I had there last time. so that's what I've got so far. What else is out there? Thanks all.

thanks for the tip, I'll try it and report back (come to think of it, there's another noodle place in that stretch that I've been meaning to try too)! Is it Japanese or more of a Korean style?

at least this one seems to exist: http://www.edible-britishcolumbia.com/excl...es/shopchef.php, but I imagine something exists in most cities.

(I think this is a great thread idea) I'd like to see more options for dining out late. Similarly, more options on Sundays (and Mondays?) would be great. I'd love to see quality food back in downtown/Spadina Chinatown. Don't think it will ever happen again though. I hope some new ramen shops open in Toronto. And izakaya joints too maybe. raw milk: I don't personally feel strongly about the product, but I'd like the idea of it being made legal. I think it'd really cool if tea received more attention in restaurants (I don't mean afternoon tea). Certainly it'll always take a back seat to wine, but just because it comes after dinner, doesn't mean it has to be an afterthought.

on the topic of getting lifelong vegetarians onto meat, someone once recommended stocks and consommés. Which makes sense to me as you can easily vary its "strength".

maybe an analogy would help. Consider a musician. Her official website is glossy, professional, and nicely laid out, with no pop-ups and probably no forum. All the pictures are professionally shot, there's a bio written by the PR department, a discography with clips, and tour date listings. 99% of the content is generated by the record label, and the site and hosting comes out of the label's budget. Finally, ANY content from the artist herself -- including music -- is heavily groomed by the label before posting. Google returns this site as the first result for any number of searches; the label probably pays so that it shows up in Google Ads too. meanwhile, the musician keeps her own personal 'blog on the side. It's probably hosted on some crappy service like LiveJournal or Blogger. It may even be written under a pseudonym. There are almost certainly Google ads. The content is posts from the artist herself talking about her work, maybe a blurry phone-cam pic of bandmates doing something silly, maybe she posts an MP3 of her impromptu cover of someone else's song. It's probably not even linked off her official site, it's hidden on the 3rd page of Google results, and only the hardcore fans bother to find and read it. is anyone really interpreting cheffowke.com as trying to fit into the first category?

I started reading cheffowke.com before this thread, and I thought it was clear from the amateurish design of the site that it ISN'T the main site for the 2 restaurants. The entries are clearly random amusing/interesting tidbits from Chef Fowke, and the forum just further confirms it. there are cook's 'blogs that I follow (or have followed), simply because I find their experiences interesting. Most of them had non-professional layouts and Google ads, and I was OK with that, because they're just 'blogs. I don't think that just because Chef Fowke is a chef and not a cook that he's suddenly not allowed to write a personal 'blog, or that he should have to do it anonymously. to me the only problem is that Metro and Rare's websites are hard to find on their own. I did a few quick Google searches, and none of them returned the websites in the first few links -- ideally, all of them should show the official websites as the first link. also, Googling "Chef Fowke" gives cheffowke.com as the first result, when it really should be metrodining.ca or rarevancouver.com. Yes, both are linked off your 'blog, but most people Googling for your name are diners looking for your restaurants, not readers looking for your 'blog, and having to click through the 'blog looks and feels sloppy.

great topic. I love the visual contrast in a slice of rare steak. The striking reds and oranges of raw salmon. the shape of restaurant Chinese rice bowls, with that perfect dome of rice coming out the top. Iconic. less related, I like watching the condensation on the inside of the lid of a pot of boiling water. As it goes from clear to opaque to forming the tiniest beads of water, as they grow to drops and run down, to be replaced by new drops...

this probably won't fit with the brief nature of your visits, but I posted a review (several years old) of Verses in Kitchener here. I have no idea if it's even still around. And I've heard very good things about Langdon Hall in Cambridge. I really liked the all-day breakfasts at Cedar Barn, just north of Waterloo. Google says they're at 1217 Lobsinger Line in St. Jacobs. Try the farmer's sausage. it's honestly nothing special, but I always found myself going back to the pasta at Salute (21 King St. N. Waterloo) for lunch. Bhima's Warung (262 King St. N. Waterloo) does Asian fusion that for once doesn't suck, but I don't love it either. A lot of people I know like it, but part of that is, IMO, because it's the only thing of its kind in Waterloo -- if you're travelling from someplace else it's probably not worth a stop. can't help on the coffee front, sorry.

actually, I don't think you're wrong at all and I see us as having the same opinion from different perspectives. I do want to point out that my use of the word "safe" was not intended to draw comparisons between Splendido and Colborne Lane, which would be a bit extreme. I was trying to keep the comparison to Splendido and Perigee, which was more useful in context. and I want to re-iterate that I know my previous post could be interpreted as my insulting Splendido, which is very much not the intention.

gampunggi = chicken (often wings, but I don't think it has to be) in a sweet, sticky, slightly spicy sauce. With the ubiquitous sesame seeds. And I believe laksa is Malay in origin. mmmmm jokbal.

something that surprised me the first time I had mandu was the presence of noodles (think they were those translucent "bean stick") inside. I don't think I've ever seen that in Chinese dumplings, which are most often filled with pork + chives/napa cabbage/mushrooms, or shrimp. Less common would be cucumber or egg (still in a base of pork). Kimchi would of course be a very distinctly Korean filling

thanks for posting your Travelogue, I'm excited to see how "restaurant-Korean" differs from the real thing. Also, thanks for posting a picture of your sangchu ssam so I know what it should look like

are they new? I don't recall an espresso joint in the area, but I haven't been there in a few months. This is near Frangipane, etc. right?