Chambar's Mussels Congolaise

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

2 teaspoons ground fennel seed

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

½ tablespoon minced garlic

1½ pounds mussels, cleaned

2 cups coconut milk

1 cup fresh chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon chipotle purée

¼ cup lemon juice

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add red onions and sauté for 2 minutes or until softened. Add fennel seed, coriander, cumin seeds and black pepper, and stir to release flavour of spices. Add garlic and mussels and stir.

Add coconut milk, tomatoes, chipotle purée and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil.

Cook mussels until they have opened, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro leaves and serve immediately, discarding any unopened mussels

** good as a stew base

** I added tomato paste and more lemon juice than called for

Schwartz's Smoked Meat in Montréal

Bookchan Soon Dubu

Bookchan Soon Dubu is unanimously the best place to get soft-tofu stew (Soon Dubu) in Toronto. And maaaan it is so good. There's always a line to get in to the restaurant, but it's so worth it. Two days after Miwako and I went for the first time, we were already craving it again!



The banchan they provide: Not a lot, but it's all good, especially the kimchi - sweet, fresh and not sour, but not too fresh - just perfect.
This is the second time we went - I ordered the vegetable soondubu (ab0ve), and Miwako got the kimchi, beef and pork soondubu again.


They give you rice in stonebowls, then they take the rice out of the bowl for you, and fill the stonebowl with water, which you can mix up with the rice left in the pot and eat afterwards if you like.


This was Miwako's bowl by the time she was done.


This was my bowl by the time I was done. Dry as a bone. Miwako now aspires to learn how to eat soondubu like I do. Every time we go, we're gonna keep a tally of how much dryer her bowl is at the end of the meal...

The Bloor Street Diner

We went here to celebrate Allison's birthday - I got the tortellini at near the bottom and it was good : ). I also forced everyone to le tme snap shots of their food before they started eating. Miwako and I shared the "Chocolate explosion" at the bottom of the page - you can't tell from the picture, but there are chunks of cheesecake mixed into the cake.






I thought that food wasn't bad, although Miwako didn't like her fish very much. A downpoint - our waitress was clearly in a bad mood.

Messis

Dad came to Toronto today, and took me out for dinner - we went to Messis, a restaurant that's very close to where I'm staying on Harbord Street.

For appetizers we had:



A goat cheese and walnut phyllo bundle, with cranberries and a raspberry viniagrette. I liked it, although I think I prefer my goat cheese more simply prepared.

Grilled soya-orange marinated calamari. I don't usually eat calamari, but I did try a piece, since Dad said it was very good. I don't know, I just can't properly appreciate calamari.



For an entre I had roasted chicken breast stuffed with pancetta, with mushrooms, zucchini, onions, sweet potatoes and sun-dried tomatoes in a gorgonzola sauce. I thought it was very good - the chicken was moist and the vegetables were tender. I thought I couldn't really taste the gorgonzola in the sauce, but then I dipped some bread into it and ate it that way. Mmmm, gorgonzola.

Dad had a grilled veal chop with market vegetables and a roasted garlic potato gratin. The veal was very good (so said Dad, although I prefer my meat, you know, with either bacon or pancetta in the vicinity) but he said he found the gratin too rich. I'm not that big a fan of potatoes, so I couldn't say.

Dessert, pictured at the very top, was a nectarine tart with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was really good - sweet, rich and creamy, with flecks of vanilla and caramelized sugar. The tart was also good - not too sweet, and the nectarines still had a fresh fruit taste (because sometimes with fruit tarts, the fruit is cooked so much that it mostly just tastes like sugar - that wasn't the case here. I could clearly taste the nectarine.) If you look at the picture above, you'll notice my weakness with dessert: this was the only dish that I started mauling with my fork before I remembered to snap a picture. Although I hadn't yet taken a bite when I took the picture though. Clearly I am improving in my willpower.

Overall I enjoyed the dinner quite a bit, and thought the service was good too (although it wasn't that busy). Would I go back? Probably, if it weren't for the fact that there are about a million other restaurants in Toronto I'm dying to try first : )

Muhahhahhaha

So I went for Korean last night with my Palo Alto friends and it was pretty good. We went to the Royal Seoul House that is on Broadway..... their BBQ is only ok.. but their other dishes were pretty good. They made a different kind of rice cake with just kimchee and pork.... pretty good!

Ok... that's all I wanted to say....

The Canyon Creek Chophouse in Toronto

For the first post, I'll talk about our dining experience at the Canyon Creek Chophouse on Front Street in downtown Toronto [1]! We were there on 2007-08-23 [2].

First came the appetizers - the garlic bread and bacon-wrapped scallops. The garlic bread was so good - it was soft and warm, while still being crusty on the outside, and there were 3/4 cuts all along the top of the bread. The slits were filled with a lovely, gooey, melty cheese and the whole thing was topped off with nice garlic-y bruschetta.
I don't know how good the scallops were, since I don't eat seafood - but Mom and Michael seemed to enjoy them.


We really enjoyed the entrées too. Notice I didn't manage to get a picture of our entrées before they were gobbled up. The descriptions from the menu will have to do : ) Between four of us we ordered:

i) the Double-bone Pork Chop (with side vegetables and rice pilaf)

"Lightly spiced, slow roasted and grilled to order. Served with lingonberry sauce."

ii) the Filet-mignon (with side vegetables and a baked potato), and

" Centre-cut filet wrapped in Applewood-smoked bacon, grilled to order and brushed with butter."

iii) the Broiled Lamb Chops (with rice pilaf and mashed potatoes - Michael likes his carbs)

"3 thick double-boned chops marinated in herb oil and served with fresh mint jus."

[attempt at taking picture of entrées: failed!]

I was a bit more successful with the desserts: pecan pie and cheesecake - although I only managed to snap a picture half-way through the dessert. The pecan pie was delicious - smooth, buttery and sweet, and topped with whipped cream. Gah, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The cheesecake was just your average cheesecake [3] - it was also covered in a seasonal-berry icewine compote.

[attempt at taking picture of dessert: good effort]

All in all, a very satisfying dining experience. I think we would definitely go back.
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[1] Because I already have pictures, since I had planned to torture Kristal and Dad with the pictures...
[2] "We" being me, Mom, Kim and Michael.
[3] i.e. Kim's homemade blueberry cheesecake, and Kristal's homemade eggnog cheesecake are better...