The Royal Teahouse 君皇茶坊

The Royal Teahouse 君皇茶坊
Date: July 26, 2007
Address: 10 Applecreek Blvd., Building B, Unit 3, Markham (16th & Woodbine)
Phone: (905) 946-1898

i love having tea here.. their dim sum always tasted good.. but i never tried their dinner until now.. which turned out to be a very pleasant experience.. especially with my 3 girlfriends..

we ordered 三和菜 + a dish.. & it included an appetizer dish in the 三和菜, for which the size was big enough to be a main course..



they gave us dessert at the end too.. i couldn't remember what that was, but i remembered it tasted good too..

i think this restaurant is very suitable for people who doesn't want to cook after whole-day work.. the food tasted good & big in portion.. & the prices were reasonable..

Sushi Train

Sushi Train
Date: July 14, 2007 (Saturday)
Address: 750 Yonge Street, Toronto (Bloor & Yonge)
Phone: (416) 928-9423

LG & i always miss 元氣壽司 in Hong Kong.. & when we found out this restaurant while shopping @ Bloor, we decided to give it a try..

coz we were late for lunch that day, there weren't much choices on the "train".. we picked up some & ordered some more from the menu.. we tried salmon, tuna, ika, scallop, etc..

well.. it won't be comparable to 元氣, as the food were quite expensive & the quality was just so-so.. however, by stacking up the plates made us feel like we were back in HK..

Toronto Night Market 2007

Toronto Night Market 2007
Date: July 6, 2007 (Friday)
Location: Metro Square Plaza & New Century Plaza, 3636 Steeles Ave. East.

i know about this event for many years but always missed it!! this year, we finally could make it!!



the most surprising was.. Diana's Seafood was there, with oysters!! very fresh.. & it's $1 each..

Aki Da Japanese Seafood House 秋田

Aki Da Japanese Seafood House 秋田
Date: July 1, 2007 (Sunday)
Address: 1911 Queen Street East, Toronto (Queen & Woodbine)
Phone: (416) 691-2788

LG's colleague recommended this restaurant to us.. said that they have a very good Crab Fried Rice..

we first had the Conch Soup.. it had a very strong flavor, a bit too condensed.. not as good as the one we had in Hisui..

we had the Spicy Salmon Sashimi.. it's raw salmon, seaweed, quail egg & green onion w/ spicy sauce.. it's not very spicy, but very salty..

we ordered some sushi & rolls as well.. Uni, Mirugai (Giant Clam), Ika, Spicy Scallop.. but the seaweed was not cripsy at all..


Crystal Salmon Roll.. Fresh Salmon, avocado, onion, flying fish roe, tempura bit w/ home made sauce.. it didn't have rice in it.. quite special..



& for sure we tried their "Famous" Crab Fried Rice.. HOWEVER, we were VERY disappointed at it.. it's like the Hong Kong style Friend Rice, just simply put the crab over the rice.. there was no Crab taste in the rice..

while we were having dinner, there was a man walking into the restaurant, trying to sell flowers to the customers.. we saw him walking from one restaurant to another one, seems like it's very normal in this neighborhood as the waiters didn't stop him.. hmm..
anyway, i highly doubt that we'll ever revisit this restaurant again..

Houston Steaks & Ribs

Houston Steaks & Ribs
Address: 1 Bass Pro Mills Drive, Unit R1, Vaughan (Rutherford & Jane)
Phone: (905) 760-8412

we were here for their Prime Rib.. as Z&A recommended to us..
so, LG & MM tried their Regular Houston Prime Rib au Jus..
it's $23 for the Prime Rib, + soup of the day, or a house or Caesar salad..

also it came with your choice of: baked or mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, vegetables, rice pilaf; or two of the following: fries, coleslaw or hot cinnamon apples..

both MM & LG said when they first ate the Prime Rib, they felt that it's very salty.. & later on, they said the Prime Rib 沒有了牛肉的鮮味..
& the vegetables on the side which should be cooked, but now raw..

i tried their Famour Houston Baby Back Ribs.. which also served with baked/mashed potatoes/creamed spinach/vegetables/rice pilaf; or two of fries/coleslaw/hot cinnamon apples..

the Baby Back Ribs was very tender.. the meat would fall off the bone easily.. but the fries.. it seemed like it's not "fresh", have been "re-fry".. which made them so "hard".. it broke into 2 pieces easily when i tried to pick it up with my fork..

MM said maybe coz we went there on sunday night which not many customers were there.. that's why the food was not fresh.. hmm..

The Grotto Noodle House 山窿粉

The Grotto Noodle House 山窿粉 (Closed!)
Date: June 8, 2007 (Friday)
Address: 398 Ferrier Street #60-63, Markham (New Century Plaza)
Phone: (905) 470-8772

it's a big seafood meal.. thx EC for bringing us for dinner.. we didn't know that 山窿粉 did 私房菜 & it's very good.. EC pre-ordered the food for us already..

first came the very rich soup.. 蟹肉冬茸鮑翅..
then we had 上湯溫哥華蟹伊麵.. 十分鮮味..

方魚芥蘭.. 好爽, 好嫩
乳鴿 .. 肉質好嫩, not too salty, 味道適中..
.. 老板娘說, 乳鴿有 16 両, 有一隻雞那般大.. 是本地農場養的, 不是急凍的..

Stir Fried Crab with Chilli Paste 香椒膏炒蟹..
.. it's a bit spicy but with a hint of sweet taste..
.. 粉好好味, 是用越南檬粉.. 非常濃味, 尤其是檬粉吸收了香椒膏那味道.. 特別好味!
芝士炒龍蝦
.. 老板娘說, 炒龍蝦時, 芡汁滲入龍蝦內, 所以好鮮, 汁可以保存到.. 而且炒得好乾身, 汁並沒有流出來..

帶子雲吞麵

Dessert is 黑糯米芝麻芋頭.. 內有 "鴨答子".. they said it's Viet. food, & it tasted like jelly..

老板 (即大廚) is Vietnamese.. & they are very nice..

they put up a poster on the wall stating their「 私房菜宣言」--「有住家風味, 不設固定菜單, 隨時節或材料而轉換茶式. 要預訂以便控制材料新鮮及食物品質, 收費以每位計算.」

unfortunately, we heard that they just sold their business as they will be moving back to Hong Kong soon.. we are glad that we had the chance to eat here before they leave..

Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill (Revisit)

Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill
Address: 100 Adelaide Street East, Toronto
Phone: 416-366-STAR (7827)
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 12-3pm, 5-11pm / Sat 5-11pm / Sundays Closed

we were targeting at the $100 for 100 oysters when we decided to come here this time.. 7 of us went there & we made a reseravation for 8pm (we could only choose either 6pm or 8pm)..

b4 having oysters, each of us tried their soup of the day.. it's Manhattan soup with crab & bacon.. very good for starter.. we actually found "crab shell" in the soup..
we ordered some appetizers too..
Pan fried soft shell crab on crostino of preserved lemon & arugula aioli with a fresh fava bean & spinach salad (pic above), & Grilled calamari on a spicy chorizo panzanella salad, spiced tomato vinaigrette (pics below)..

the calamari was just so-so, but the soft shell crab tasted good! actually when we was about to order it, the waiter told us that there were only 4 left & if we wanted it, he would hold 2 for us.. seems like people like this a lot..

the gents would like to have some wine to accompany the oysters.. & the waiter suggested them having the White Wine, Reisling Reserve 2006 - Henry of Pelham, Niagara.. after they tried it, they said it's a perfect match with the oysters..

& for the $100 for 100 Oysterlicious Plate, we could choose two kinds of oysters (Malpeque, Fanny Bay) & 1 kind of scallop.. since we like Fanny Bay more, we ordered 50 of them & then 25 Malpeque & 25 Sea Scallops.. in additional to the 100 Oysters/Scallops, we ordered a dozen of Razor Clams..



the Clams were a bit salty.. but everybody loved the Scallops.. very fresh.. Fanny Bay Oysters were very yummy..as usual.. hee hee..


according to the waiter, their oysters were from PEI.. & he told us that, the Scallops came from Nova Scotia.. & near that place, there's a place called Oak Island & there is a myth.. about some treasure buried under the tunnel.. but when ppl wanted to dig into the tunnel in order to get the treasure, the tunnel collapsed.. it's interesting to know some background about the food we ate..

ZT happened to have the "scallop" snack with her & we took a pic of that together with the fresh scallops.. =P

we were worried that the gents would not be full enough if we just had oysters; therefore, we ordered two main courses as well..
Crisp skinned wild Copper River sockeye salmon on sauteed escarole, wild rice, leek & double smoked bacon spring roll, french beans with a mushroom accented red wine jus

Seared Atlantic halibut fillet on a dungeness crab cake, organic aspiration, purple sunrise carrots, runner beans & a lobster reduction

we all think that the Halibut tasted better than the Salmon..

finally it came to desserts.. they had 3 choices & we ordered one each.. we love all 3 of them!!

Flourless Chocolate Cake with chocolate ganache, Creme Brulee with almond biscotti, & Lemon Tart with a citrus sabayon.. all 3 of them tasted very good.. & the waiter told us that his favorite is the Lemon Tart..

it was a great dinner.. the food was great, the waiter was friendly & very attentive during our meal.. everybody was very happy with it.. (except that it took us 2.5 hrs to finish everything..)

talking about oysters, i suddenly miss my dear "oysters-saving" buddy, CT, very much!!