Friday, February 28, 2014

Fresh Burger

I was reading reviews about Fresh Burger and what really caught my eye/interest was the fact that one reviewer said that this place is better than The Burgers Priest.  Now this is one big claim.  So I knew I had to try Fresh Burger.  I wanted to go during Christmas, but they were closed during the Christmas holidays.  So we waited until 2 weeks ago to go.  Actually it was a friend who suggested to go, because of his black hole of a stomach, he wanted a second dinner.

Fresh burger is small with few options available.  They offer two types of burger patties, Fresh burger (sirloin) and Prime (USDA Prime).  All burgers served as cheese burgers.  We didn't ask, but I'm sure you can request no cheese if you don't like cheese. We arrived at 8:30pm, and were told they only had the 5 Prime patties left.  The prime burger was VERY good, a no frills burger.  Exactly how a burger should be.  Sizing wise, larger than The Burgers Priest.  The meat patty, cooked to a perfect medium, had a crunchy crust from the flat top grill, juicy and moist.  The meat didn't have to be cooked well done because they grind their own meat.  The bun was soft but enough to hold up to the large burger patty.  My friends were saying, it's just missing the portobello mushroom cap.  I disagree.  I prefer it without.

Prime Burger











Their poutine can be passed on.  They call it a poutine but cheese curds were not used, it looked more like mozzarella chunks.  I guess they really should be called disco fries.
Poutine














I'm so excited that there's a good burger place in York Region now!!!

Fresh Burger
9206 Leslie St, Unit#4
Richmond Hill, ON
L4B 2N8
905-597-7224

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11am - 9pm
            Sunday Closed

http://www.fresh-burger.com

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Rose and Sons

I'm always on the look out for good breakfast/brunch places.  And now that I've decided that in order to be able to fit in some running time, I have to wake up at 7am on either Saturday or Sunday.  Perfect for trying new places for my favourite meal of the day!

The hubby had a request for a heavier meal, even though it was brunch, and I wanted a normal brunch meal.  We arrived at Rose and Sons at the perfect time, at 11am.  We were seated right away.  The people that arrived after us had to wait.  One thing to note, there isn't much seating there, and what they do have of seating is mostly communal.  So if you're not comfortable with communal seating, then you don't need to come here, although you would be missing out on some delicious food.  I ordered the all day breakfast which came with 3 eggs, bacon, schmaltz hash (I just found out schmaltz = chicken fat), and toast (the bread was made in house!  Soooooo good!).  The bacon was thick sliced, which made it seem like I wasn't actually eating bacon because it was melt in your mouth, flavour was also very good.  I wonder if they smoke it themselves.  The schmaltz hash was seasoned well, but a little too greasy for my liking, and it needed to be crispier.
All Day Breakfast











Hubby was contemplating between the duck confit or the fried chicken, and couldn't make up his mind.  So we consulted with our waitress and she said her favourite is the duck confit, so duck confit it was!  The duck confit dish, to our surprise, arrived as a whole duck leg topped with an egg, hollandaise sauce, potato hash, and an arugula and walnut salad.  Never seen a duck leg for breakfast/brunch.  The duck confit was melt in your mouth good!  I think thats the theme for the restaurant, melt in your mouth good!
Duck Confit











As we were leaving, our waitress told us that they have a BBQ smoke house right behind them which serves BBQ brunch!  So I guess they most likely smoke the bacon themselves.  Name of the restaurant is Big Crow.  Thats next on my hit list!

Rose and Sons
176 Dupont St.
Toronto, ON
M5R 2E6

647-748-3287

Hours:  Monday - Friday 9am till the joint closes
             Saturday - Sunday 9am - 3pm, 5pm till the joint closes

http://roseandsons.ca

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Rahier Patisserie

I paid Rahier a visit the day after I came back from Vancouver, where the coffee is amazing, and there's an abundance of great pastries, including croissants.  I can't even count how many I had over there.  I still have to blog about the eateries in Vancouver, but I have to find time to put together some of the pictures so the post won't be so super blog heavy.

I just wanted a simple breakfast of croissant and latte.  I googled best Croissant, and looked for the one that was in closest proximity of my appointment for the day.  And it turned out to be Rahier.  I think I should have walked out as soon as I stepped my foot in the door.  I didn't smell any fresh bread or pastries, even though behind the counter, it was full.  I got a pain au chocolat (because my husband prefers those) and latte, the husband got a roast beef sandwich on baguette and a regular coffee and sat down.

Presentation wise, the latte was really bad.  I don't know if it was because there was such beautiful latte art at all coffee shops in Vancouver that I got used to it.  The pain au chocolat was gorgeous.  But that ends there.  Hardly any butter flavour and was more bready than anything.  So disappointed. Rahier was listed as #8 back in 2010.  Did I come here too late?  The baguette was horrible.  The bread was chewy, and they didn't warm it up.  Coffee was just so-so.  So far the best croissant in Toronto in my opinion is Jules.  I should have gone there instead.

Pain au Chocolat, Latte, Coffee, and Baguette Sandwich











Rahier Patisserie
1586 Bayview Avenue,
Toronto, ON
M4G 3B7
416-482-0917

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 7am - 5pm

http://www.rahierpatisserie.com/index.html

Monday, February 3, 2014

Paramount Fine Foods

Cute not so little Middle Eastern Restaurant.  I visited the Yonge St. location in Thornhill.  I didn't realize it was so big inside!  Ordering here is a bit odd, just not what I was expecting.  You walk up to the order desk and place your order.  Then you find a table and sit wherever you would like.  Your ordered food then gets brought out to you.  After you are done eating then you walk to the cashier to pay.

Food was good.  We all loved the warm fluffy pitas that were brought out to us.  They look like giant puffy balls.  We ordered 2 pizzas, spinach & cheese, and beef pepperoni, falafels, mixed grill plate dinner and a chicken schwarma dinner.

The pizzas were just so-so.  Instead of pizza crust it was essentially pizza toppings on a pita.  It wasn't bad, just different.
Spinach & Cheese Pizza

Beef Pepperoni Pizza



















Falafels were really good.  Pipping hot when brought out and the outsides were super crunchy.  A sign that they're made to order and weren't sitting in a hot tray waiting to be gathered for an order.  Surprisingly, the size of the falafels were much bigger than we thought.  I loved the pickles that accompanied the dishes.  I could eat them forever.
Falafels











Mixed Grill Dinner, I can't really remember what was in there.  There was just many different kinds of beef prepared in different ways, and a skewer of chicken.  The rice I remember being very good, had very nice subtle flavouring to it.  I can only guess that there was cardamom in there somewhere.  I love their garlic sauce.  So flavourful.  Make sure that your dinner guests eat with you, so they can't smell your stinky garlic breath :).
Mixed Grill Dinner











The chicken schwarma was passable.  It wasn't flavoured as nice as it could be.  The meat had too much gristle in there for me.  And when eating chicken schwarma, I look for the crispy bits, but I didn't find any.  I'm not sure if it's because I don't eat fries very often, but they seemed to have tasted very good.  But when I look back at the picture, they just look like store bought fries.  So I guess I was just craving fries....
Chicken Shwarma Dinner











Overal, a decent place for Middle Eastern food.  I would come back, but wouldn't necessarily rush back either.

Paramount Fine Foods
7315 Yonge St.
Thornhill, ON
L3T 2B2

905-886-4600

Hours: Sunday - Thursday 8am - 10pm
            Friday - Saturday 8am - 11pm

http://www.paramountfinefoods.com/index.html


Sunday, February 2, 2014

Chinese Braised Beef Brisket, Tendon, and White Radish

My aunt makes the best beef brisket.  I always looked forward to when my aunt would visit when I was a kid, because I would hope that she would bring this dish for me.  Her version used to burn my lips and tongue because she made it SO SPICY!  The sauce was more red than brown.  To this day I still occasionally crave it.  My mom makes it every so often as well for my husband, because she knows that he loves it, but it's still not the same as my aunt's version.  Even my mom admits her's is inferior to my aunt's.  But now that my aunt has become a vegetarian, she can no longer taste the sauce as she cooks.  As with most Asians, she does not cook with a recipe, she goes by look and taste.  So my aunt now says, by looking only, she can only guess, and that makes her less consistent than before.  So for the last few weeks, I have been on the hunt for the perfect recipe.  in the end, I have combined what my aunt told me, what my friend told me, and 3 other recipes I have found online, and mashed together my own recipe.

So this post really is for me, more than anyone else.  I feel that I still need to perfect this recipe, so i'm essentially documenting my steps by blogging.  With the listed ingredients below, my only comment is that it turned out a tad sweeter than I remember my aunt's being.  Just a warning, this is not a quick recipe by any means.  I have found slow cooker and pressure cooker recipes, but since I don't own one, I didn't use those recipes.

Ingredients:
4lb Beef Brisket, trim excess fat
2lb Beef Tendon
1 Medium sized White Radish
1 Piece of Ginger (amount depends on how much ginger flavour you like)
6 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Shallot, chopped
4 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
Oil for browning Brisket

Braising Liquid
4 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
4 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
50g Rock Sugar (next time I will try 45g since i found this a tad sweet)
4 Star Anise Pods
1 Piece Dried Tangerine Peel
8 cups Water

"Magic" Sauce
3 tbsp Ground Bean Sauce (friend said to use Whole Bean Sauce, but I couldn't find it)
1.5 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1.5 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Garlic Minced
1 tbsp Ginger Minced
1 tbsp Shallot Minced
2 tbsp Oil

Method:
The day before, wash tendon, and blanche it in boiling water for about 5 minutes.  Rinse under cold water.   Put it in water (enough to cover the tendon), and boil for about 10 minutes.  Put it into a vacuum pot.  A few hours later, bring the tendon up to a boil again for a few minutes, and put it back into the vacuum pot.  The next morning, cut the tendon into 1" pieces and bring liquid and tendon back to a boil again and place inside the vacuum pot again.

In the meanwhile, wash the beef brisket and cut into 1" to 2" pieces.  Blanche it in boiling water for about 5 minutes to get rid of any impurities.  Rinse under cold water.  Take 1 piece of ginger, 6 cloves of chopped garlic, and 1 chopped shallot, add to oil and brown the brisket pieces.  This should take a few minutes.  When brisket is browned, splash the beef with the Chinese cooking wine.  Cook for an additional few minutes.  Remove from pan/wok and set aside.

Time to start the "Magic" sauce. Heat up a pan/wok and brown the garlic, ginger and shallot.  Add the   ground bean sauce, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar to the pan.  Cook for a few minutes, and do not burn!  Add the brisket to the pan and toss.  Strain the beef tendon and add to the pan.  Coat everything evenly.

Add all the ingredients for the braising liquid to the meat and tendons.  Bring everything to a boil for about 10 minutes.  Take everything and put it into vacuum pot.  30 minutes later, take it out of the vacuum pot, and bring it up to a boil again for about 10 minutes.  Place back into the vacuum pot.  Repeat again 2 more times.  After the last time, add in the white radish pieces, bring everything to a boil again, and place back into the vacuum pot.  Again, 30 minutes later, take it out of the vacuum pot, bring to a boil on the stove for about 10 minutes.

Some recipes call for the addition of cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but I prefer to keep the sauce thinner so I can use the sauce as a broth to put my noodles into.

Chinese Braised Beef Brisket, Tendon and White Radish on Thick Wonton Noodles











Recipe References:
http://eddyskitchen.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/braised-beef-brisket-and-tendon-炆牛筋腩/
http://www.chow.com/recipes/30261-chinese-brisket-and-turnip-stew
http://www.nosetotailathome.com/offal-guides/offal-beef-tendon/
and of course my friend and lovely aunt :)
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