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Thursday 18 August 2011

Alimentaires Nostalgique Partie Trois

Taken in Annecy, France. It is famous for having the cleanest and clearest water in the world. Oh how I wish I have a melon gelato right now. 
Taken in a MacDonald in Zurich, Switzerland. Yeah, all the MCDs in Europe look as sleek as this one with wifi, multiple televisions and all. 



Their lemon sundae. :) 

The following taken in Vienna, Austria.
The Käsekrainer Sausage (standard Austrian cuisine) with potatoes and horseradish. 
My chocolate mousse cake. 
The Schnitzel at the top right. Basically, it's deep fried boneless pork. 
The famous Sachertorte. Very dense and chocolatey. 
Gelato at night. :) Did you know grapefruit gelato is AMAZING? 
I have no idea what's inside, but it's flipping good! And that's not a mango smoothie and strawberry frap. 
More ice cream in the morning! Did I mention melon and grapefruit gelato is AMAZING? 
At a local patisserie.
Raspberry mousse. 

Alimentaires Nostalgique Partie Deux

If you haven't seen Food Nostalgia part one, go there first! :) This is taken from Bern, Switzerland. 


At a local patisserie. This has been my wall paper for quite a while.


For all those chocolate lovers.


More goodies.


Taken at Evian, France. I apologize for the quality and the number of photos. I wasn't into food photography at the time. But in the picture is a crème brûlée, pear tart and a raspberry tart. 


The following taken in Milano, Italia. 

First time trying Arugula. Arugula, seafood and mushroom pizza. Canadian pizza is no comparison.


Friend's ham, cheese and mushroom pizza.


Cheese tortellini I believe.



Salmon and cream penne. Heaven on earth. So simple yet so delicious.

The following taken in Roma, Italia.

Bruschetta. Friend's meal.


Friend's meal.


You know you want it ;)

Alimentaires Nostalgique

Since I'm going to LA in two days, I'm totally in travel mode. So I decided to show you guys some pictures from my trip to Leysin, Switzerland. :)


My first meal in Europe. It was a latte and a sandwich. I was scared this is what I have to eat for 6 weeks, because it did not taste good at all.


My first gelato experience with them girls. :)



Let's just say I went a little crazy seeing this in the supermarket.


They paint their eggs in Switzerland. :)


Raclette (cheese fondue) using the cheese Raclette.



Oh how efficient.



Yeah the legal age to drink is 16 in Europe. My first Manhattan.

Tuesday 9 August 2011

Stoweners' Party


So this year the new Stoweners' welcoming party is held at Mercatto. I've heard about Mercatto and I've read about it. It has quite a bit of positive reviews so I was pretty excited. Since there were so many people, they made us a three course prix fixe menu. 


The choice for starters was either the ginger potato soup from above or a salad. So obviously I chose the potato soup. It was steaming hot when the waitress brought it to me, but to my surprise, it was still hot when it cooled. Spicy hot that is. In my opinion, there is too much ginger in the soup and it overpowered all other flavours. I don't know how they over-reduced the ginger so much so that it tastes even more gingery than the ginger tea my grandma makes. HOWEVER, I'm not saying it's a bad thing, it just depends on your palate and preference.


Bucatini. There is so much more described on the menu than what actually came out. The bucatini tasted like chilli on steroids. WAY too spicy for me to finish. I had my glass refilled several times during this course. However, the bucatini is perfectly cooked.


This is the other main dish, the cornish hen. The meat tastes very tender, perfectly cooked and seasoned. I think I would've enjoyed this a lot more.


Lemon tart/pie or something like that. :P This is the only dessert available to us. I do like the flavour combination with the crème fraiche, but I feel the texture of the cake/tart/pie (whatever it's called) isn't that great. It's a bit too dry and grainy to be a pound cake and too hard to be a sponge cake. Maybe that's what they were aiming for, but it makes it quite super-markety in my opinion. 


Overall Review: 


I don't feel confident giving Mercatto scores based on the limited options. Looking at their regular menu, a lot of dishes sound delicious so yeah. It's hard to organize and order from a full blown menu with 30 people. However, they DO lack in the dessert department (I don't see any dessert at all on their menu). Maybe it's due to the size of our party, the food came incredibly slow. I understand they don't want to pre-make the next dish before we finish our previous course, but I still feel it's a bit too slow with that in mind. Also, I can't help but notice that on a Friday night, there is no line, and the restaurant wasn't even packed. All in all, I feel that this particular meal was not worth $40 and I would rather go to Il Fornello. I would go back and try their regular menu. But often, it's the people that matters, not necessarily the food. :) 


Address: 
101 College St
Toronto, ON M5G 1L7



(416) 595-5625



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Rainforest Café at Niagara Falls










Monday 8 August 2011

Ramune says: Guu is Guuud!


In the past 6 months, several friends have approached me on different occasions to come to this restaurant/bar. I didn't get what the rave was all about until I've paid one unplanned and surprise visit to Guu. It was unplanned and surprising since my friend wanted to bring me to one of her favourite Japanese restaurant and I was not told where and what the name of the restaurant actually was. We had an especially early dinner (at around 5; that's when they open) and it was already packed! We had to sit in the bar area because there were no tables left. Talk about the hype right?


We were greeted with the whole staff shouting some very enthusiastic Japanese once we walked in. If you hate noise, I suggest you don't come to Guu because every time someone enters/leaves the whole staff greets/bids them goodbye. This also left my friend and I wondering whether the staff lose their voices every night after work and how much they get paid for doing this or how much they got to drink before work. Don't get me wrong, I think Guu is very unique and upbeat. You'll have a new sense of appreciation for how serene and quite the world is once you leave the restaurant, as my friend likes to put it. :P



Berries sake (assorted fruits in Japanese rice wine). Didn't have this, so I don't know how it tastes, but since it was right in front of me, I could smell a very strong scent of liquor seeping out of the jar.


Ramune mojito! Ramune (right) is I guess an equivalent to sprite but way more lemony. When you pop the bottle, a clear marble falls into the bottle. Anyways, it tastes incredibly good with lime and fresh mint! In my opinion, it tastes way better than the original mojito!


Spinach covered in sweet sesame paste. To me, this did not sound appetizing at all, but my friend really liked it so I gave it a try. And I must say, it was a very pleasant surprise to find this so tasty! The combination of chilled spinach and sweet sesame does not only taste healthy (in a good way), it is also a very refreshing appetizer for a hot summer day. If you decide to pay Guu a visit, definitely try this!


All hail the heavenly bibimbap! I bow down to thee! That should tell you how much I LOVE this dish. It's Korean food with a Western and Japanese twist. FYI, the the black stuff is seaweed and the yellow stuff is cheese. Another heavenly combination. I have no idea how they made this so lip-smackingly delectable with such simple ingredients; I swear they put crack in this to get me so addicted (just kidding)! If you go to Guu, this is a must try, oh and not to mention this is their most famous dish.


How the rice looked like after you mixed everything together. Moist and steamy...yum...


Fried cheese with blueberry and mango sauce. I was flat out disappointed by this dish. I mean it's cheese! And it's melted! How can it NOT taste good?! Sigh, if you're a cheese person and you've tasted this dish, you'll understand how painful it is to witness such tragedy. They made cheese taste like unsalted mayo and the sauce at the bottom did not come to the rescue. After two amazing dishes and heightened expectations, I get this. I've tasted much better Japanese fried cheese before. Oh poor cheese, they have done you injustice... rest in peace.



If you look carefully, you can see the cheese crying in agony.


Okonomyaki (Japanese savoury pancake). I didn't like this as much as the Korean pancake. I think this is largely due to the sour/spicy mustard on top. (No, sadly the white sauce is not cheese). I'm just not fond of mixing savoury and sour flavours together. The combination tastes like rotten eggs most of the time. Not a big fan.


Deep fried soy sauce marinated chicken with garlic mayo (sadly, it's not cheese neither). We felt like we didn't order any meat so we went with this. Oh boy were we fooled by the name. This just tastes like any fried chicken you'd have in a bar and the there were no garlic taste to the mayo. The the mayo tastes unsalted; horrifically similar to the fried cheese in every way. I mean, I'm not a big fan of junk food and fried food in general, so I'm not a good judge of how successful this dish actually is. But seriously, don't order the fried cheese; it's glaringly similar to the unsalted mayo dip for the chicken. 

Overall Review: 
Food: 9.5/10
I believe we just ordered the wrong food since we weren't drinking. The fried dishes were meant to be bar food for those who came to Guu to drink. So I based my scores on the spinach, bibimbap and okonomiyaki. I feel that it's unjust to base their score on the fried cheese since it wouldn't be a fair representation of the quality of food at Guu. It's a good place to go with a bunch of friends since the dishes are designed to be shared.

Ambience: 9/10
Again, the score is relative. I wouldn't suggest going to Guu every week unless you love loud places like clubs and bars. One sitting probably made me lose a few ear hair cells that will never rejuvenate. With that said, it's a very good place to go on a Friday night. Even if you go by yourself, you'll be absorbed by the upbeat atmosphere and you would not feel alone. 

Service: 9/10
Except for the fact that it was hard to get hold of our waitress, everything was up to par. The staff is super friendly, the food came in good speed and the staff was really helpful even though they weren't our designated waitress. I also liked the complimentary frozen grapes (even though frozen grapes is my thing). It was a nice touch to a great night. Clean washrooms is a plus!

Price: 8/10
Appetizers ~$4, "main" dishes ~$10. We paid $20-25 per person and we couldn't finish everything; however, my friend and I don't eat a lot so keep that in mind. I feel that Guu is a tad expensive for Japanese food, but hey, you're paying for the experience. 

Final Verdict: 9/10
I will definitely go back and try some of their other food, especially after seeing pictures of other food they offer. If you're looking for a good time, afterwork drinks, or just a place to go on Friday night, Guu is the perfect choice! But don't say I didn't warn you; get there early! No matter if it's winter or summer, there'll always be a long lineup by 6! My friend got there on a Thursday night at 5:30 and she had to wait for 45 minutes outside in the cold to be seated. Everyone that's been to Guu will tell you that the line is crazy but in the end, the food is worth the wait. 

Address: 
398 Church St
Toronto, ON M5B
(416) 977-0999


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