chamekke

A quick note to report on how the visit went! In terms of trying out new restaurants, my father and I ended up going to Thuan Kieu and Hong Ping - and loving them both. (In fact, we went to Thuan Kieu twice during my visit! Thanks, CaliPoutine, for recommending the Thai curry shrimp - that was really good.) And at Hong Ping we tried out the dim sum, which turned out to be a great hit with my Dad... he actually liked all four items we tried, including the turnip cakes which at first he'd been a little scared to taste! Incidentally, Hong Ping recently started offering delivery - including dim sum dishes, despite the fact that the dim sum doesn't actually appear on the takeout/delivery menu. So those of you who are as crazy for dim sum as I am might enjoy giving that a whirl. If anyone's interested, I can give details of the particular dishes that we liked at Thuan Kieu and Hong Ping. In any case, we have found two firm favourites now, thanks to your kind recommendations, and I'm sure we'll go back and work our way through those menus over the coming months One bit of sad news - I phoned the Village Cafe on Richmond Street to make a reservation, only to discover that the business (plus its phone number) has been taken over by a new cafe called the Dragonfly Bistro. When I asked the man on the phone if the menu was the same, he said that it was "similar", and obligingly ran through the lunch menu... which, alas, didn't have the items on it that we'd especially enjoyed. So we didn't have the heart to go try its replacement. Apparently the Village Cafe closed its doors in June 2007. That yummy teriyaki beef is now a dim memory {sob}.

Sounds like Thuan Kieu at 1472 Huron Street? Sounds like a possibility, especially since it's not too far away. The reviews for it on Restaurantica are not bad. Any recommendations on what to order? Aside from the pad thai and pho that is... I love pho, but doubt that my father could manage it very easily. (And while pad thai is always tasty, I tend to prefer to eat Vietnamese when at a Vietnamese restaurant; it's such a great cuisine in its own right.)

I heard today that one condition of the sale to Sobey's is that the new owners will give Thrifty employees a decent pension plan. Evidently the Thrifty chain had been too small (?) to put together a pension plan for its staff. If this is true, it's evidence that the erstwhile owner really did keep the welfare of his employees on his mind when he made the sale.

Sounds like this one (found on a London Free Press web listing): I have an idea it might be the Ethiopian restauarant we tried before. (If so, you're right, the food is excellent!) Well, now that I have their phone number I can ring first to be on the safe side. In any case I hope we can try it out - thank you!

Thank you both for all the excellent suggestions! I'll check these out as best I can (i.e. according to my father's whimsy as well as my own ), and will let you know which ones strike us as outstanding.

Thank you, Pookie! I really appreciate your recommendations, and I will certainly e-mail you for more information if I need it. Quick question for now - is the Ethiopian restaurant the one near the train tracks? (I don't know London geography really well) There was one Ethiopian restaurant that was great - whenever we could get to it - but its hours were irregular and it was closed more often than not. chamekke P.S. We did discover the Village Cafe a couple of visits back, when we taxi-ed out to Bangkok Phad Thai but found it closed. It's GREAT.

I'd love to have some restaurant or cafe recommendations for London, ON. I visit my elderly father there 3 or 4 times a year, and he really enjoys eating out. In general he's a Swiss Chalet kind of person, but one of the great things about him is that he's willing to try something a little different. (Last year we discovered Bangkok Pad Thai, for example, and he absolutely loves it!) I'm going again in three weeks' time (mid-August 2007), and am interested in trying something new. May I please ask for your suggestions? Extra points for: - Physical location in north or central London - Any cuisine is OK, but anything ethnic (and especially Asian) is always of special interest :-) On the whole, we don't care whether the ambiance is simple or elegant: we're just looking for delicious food. The only real caveat is that if the place is noisy, it's probably not so good ... noise can make dining conversation a stressful struggle for anyone with hearing problems (i.e. Dad). Thanks!

Aaaugh! I hadn't read the Victoria Times-Colonist yet today... but after seeing your posting, I checked online, and - sigh - you're absolutely right. My only local grocery is a Thrifty's store, and I absolutely love it. Aside from the local produce, I really appreciate that they are good corporate citizens - donating generously to various local causes. You can count on seeing their name as a donor or sponsor at any number of local events and fundraisers. Hopefully the sale won't result in any big changes. Thrifty Foods is wonderful exactly as it is.

Just looked up the Dock 503 website, as I'm about to visit Sidney again for the first time in 2 or 3 years, and found this on their homepage: Dock 503 has closed after an amazing nine years. We wish to thank our loyal customers that made it so rewarding, our dedicated staff that committed above and beyond and our suppliers who always supported us with exceptional service. We send our best wishes and thanks to everyone. Oh... phooey Any other recommendations for downtown Sidney?

I couldn't agree more, and sadly the first person to do this all the time is my father. He owns a restaurant that sells a garlic seasoning, and carries a shaker with him at all times, even my marinated lamb racks, that have more than enough of garlic and enough salt, get "seasoned" before tasted. My sisters look at me when he does it as I cringe. ← Someone, I can't think who, described people who do this as "autocondimentors". My husband does this all the time (he's otherwise very lovable!)

I'm extremely fond of Re-Bar: Modern Food Cookbook (from the predominantly vegetarian restaurant of the same name in Victoria, BC), but would have to read through its ingredients lists to see whether it "retains essentially Canadian elements". Can you define what these are? Maple syrup, poutine, fiddleheads...?

I'm coming in very late to this thread... but wanted to comment that for whatever reason, barley tea (mugicha) seems to be naturally - if very slightly - sweet. I've never felt the need to add any sweetener whatsoever. I just steep it, chill it, and voila... the perfect hot-weather drink. I go through gallons of it every summer.

When I lived in Cumbria (in the north of England) about 13 years ago, I discovered something on the menu of our local pub called "Milky Coffee in a Mug". This turned out to be a mugful of hot milk with a spoonful of instant coffee mixed in. Of course, if you're chilly from the winter damp, and are craving something hot and nourishing to drink, it's not half bad Anyhow, the pub later discovered the delights of real ground coffee served in cafetieres; but I still feel nostalgic for the simple Milky Coffee in a Mug. The poor man's latte!

A couple of tips. First of all, matcha should really come with a "best by" date. If it's missing, the matcha may still be OK - but you might be taking a chance. Stale matcha is not worth drinking (although sometimes you can still cook or bake with it). Also, I'm told that the best matcha sellers keep the unopen tins refrigerated. Again, this isn't as common as you might hope. But it helps to preserve the tea's freshness. I study Chadou (Japanese tea ceremony), and most of the time I don't have to buy matcha myself because my tea teacher keeps bringing it back from Japan for us! This is lucky, since the matcha that's available locally is usually not very good. The best I've found so far is the ceremonial matcha sold by Blenz, the coffee-shop franchise. Although they don't refrigerate it (and I don't think they use a best-by date), it is still very good, and I've certainly never opened a tin to find it stale. But I think Blenz is still restricted to British Columbia, Canada, so this may not be too helpful to most people. There are some online sellers who will ship directly from Japan. If I had to buy my own on a regular basis, that's probably where I'd go.

Not in my household! {looks fruitlessly in cupboard} "Hey, didn't we buy a fresh jar of Marmite last week? Where is it?" {husband looks innocent, whistles artlessly} {smacks husband}