Dave "Maple Syrup" O.'s Profile

Gotta love the Dim Sum and Rol San makes some really good Dim Sum. I went with a group of 8 and we thoroughly enjoyed the variety and quality at Rol San. The dumplings were all fresh, and large, and were all really delicious.

I'm a huge fan of all Dim Sum with the exception of perhaps tripe, and the selection at Rol San is decent considering they are open until 4am.

I know there are better places to get Dim Sum, even in the GTA, but I haven't been to those places yet. I had real Dim Sum at Canton Dim Sum and Seafood in San Francisco, and the cart ladies totally made that visit, sum of the parts you see.  But it's nice to know I can get good Dim Sum whenever I want here at home too.

Shandra's serves me up the best rotis I've ever had!

The jerk chicken roti is awesome, big peppercorns and a rich, dark jerk sauce. It's jerk heaven; which sounds more contradictory than the explosion of taste in your mouth with every bite that it is.

The goat roti is amazing, the curry chicken roti is stuffed. Try them all, oxtail is a big seller if you dare. These are big meal rotis, be careful people!

The rotis themselves are soft and stretchy and it's really good bread, I'm drooling here just thinking about them.

The hot sauce is hands down the best I've ever had from a restaurant. Scotch bonnet and habanero puree with lime cutting through the extreme heat. So blisteringly good, and not for the faint of heart. I literally drown my roti in it.

The beef and chicken patties are spicy and delicious, and the shell is so perfectly soft. But good luck eating one if you are going to tackle the full roti.

Everyone there is really sweet, and the place is always full at lunch, but it wanes by 1. Bonus points for spotting Rikki Jai, the Chutney Soca Monarch! (notwithstanding the syntactical contradiction of him being a male monarch.)

I...I think I'll have to go get one tomorrow.

I'm here all the time for lunch and it's amazing food for incredibly cheap.  Everyone there is really nice and quick, I'm usually holding my food after the 10 minute drive down there.  

The chicken biryani is really good, spicy and made properly with saffron, peppercorns and whole cloves.  It's absolutely massive, 2 meals on it's own and it's less than $5 with tax.

Their butter chicken is fantastic, not too tomatoey and rich. The eggplant curry is really rich and spicy. The haleem is a standout, slow stewed beef in a thick wheaty gravy. I even like their daal, it's rich and spicy, and the spinach and potato curry is like 3 bucks and really filling. Their naans are gigantic, almost steering-wheel big, and thick and doughy.

Their reshmi kabobs are just sublime, so spicy and delicious. They make shami and bihari kebabs that are fantastic too.  They also offer fried fish, Basa, a river fish from Vietnam that is so tasty when done in a masala batter.

The best part may actually be their desserts, they make a killer kheer, rice pudding with cardamom and a decent gajjar ka halwa.

I keep coming back here all the time, and it's always delicious and fresh. Give it a try if you want great food for great prices.

What a fantastic party!  I had a great time as always, many thanks to Kat for throwing so many wonderful events for us.

I love the Local 4, the food is always surprising and delightful, and last night was no exception. I came hungry straight from work, and was promptly stuffed with fried sweet potato bites that had the chef's really amazing scotch bonnet mayo, followed by minty vegan spring rolls, tofu pockets stuffed with fresh herbs and rice, and a tantalizing beef tart with mashed potato and aged cheddar on top.  And there were pulled pork sliders, beef rolls and  vegetarian pizza bites and so much more.

I forget the rest because I was drinking delicious beer and mingling with all you fine, fun Yelpers! Na zdrowie!

Thanks to everyone for making it such a blast, and I'll see you at the next one!

I had a 2-day old Gryfe's bagel, toasted, with some good cream cheese... I had (swear to GOD!) four orgasms!!

The pho here is decent, but not great, plus, there were no fresh chilies to put in, and no fish sauce or black bean sauce. Methinks there are too many whities in here for it to be really good. They also give you those big plastic chopsticks that grip like PTFE.

The broth was sub-par, and the noodles were a little gummy. The place is clean and spacious, but lacked any sort of character.

Beef balls in general are the lowest grade of centrifugally-separated meat-like substance, but they seemed extra-inedible here.  The soft tendon was nicer than some I've had, but wasn't all melt-in-your-mouth goodness like it should be, the tendon adds a nice hearty flavour to the broth, but at most places, they sit forlorn and forgotten on the bottom when I'm done.

I'm not sure how the whole order-by-number, fill-out-your-own-receipt thing started, but it's lame and should be discontinued. How much of a time-saver is it when no two people fill it out the same way, and the waitress has to double-check the order anyways!

There are better and cheaper places to go in Scarborough.

Ahh the roti, the curries, the spice!  I can't really pimp this place enough, or better than the plethora of solid reviews it already has. This is a sublime Indian experience, the curries are all made with fresh herbs and the rotis are giant. Watch out for anything beyond medium spice.

What are you waiting for?! Go get a friggin roti!

Taste of Vietnam is a nice clean little lunch spot in a small strip mall on Birchmount. They serve a mean pho, with a decent, hearty broth and lots of beef.

There are a few problems, the rare beef doesn't come out rare enough and the tendon is a little chewy, and they never give out enough sprouts, lime and basil.

The portions are excellent, and the pho is super cheap, $5 for small, $6 for a large and I've never had the extra large. The large is truly enormous, more than enough for a solid lunch, and they have really good pork spring rolls.

Despite a few minor problems, it's the closest/best pho near my work, and for a delicious lunch it's hard to beat Taste of Vietnam's fast and tasty pho.

I've only been to a few Ethiopian restaurants, and this is my first in Toronto. I've always adored the cuisine, spicy dishes all centered around the unique injera bread. The communal aspects of the Ethiopian dining experience bring people together and make the food the center of attention.

I was not disappointed by anything at the Ethiopian House, aside from a lack of tej, which is a legal issue with the LCBO (sigh), so you can't get it anywhere, but there are recipes! :D  Tej is an amazing hopped mead that is the perfect match of sweet and bitter with loads of alcohol that you can't even taste, the ideal compliment to the deep, earthy flavours in the food.

Remodeled from a lovely old house, the tables are a bit tight, but it felt as warm and inviting as the luxurious aromas from the kitchen. I was impressed at how well our waitress was handling the whole restaurant by herself, including mending a skipping CD so we didn't feel like it was a Nobukazu Takemura concert (I like Nobukazu btw ;).

The beef tibs was amazing; spicy and robust, the tartar kitfo was subtle yet sublime.  All of the vegetarian options were delicious, the split red and yellow lentils, the collard greens, a bean dish which I hadn't tried before and lots more. I suggest getting the mixer plates, everything is good and you get the full spectrum of the cuisine. Some may balk at the spicy raw steak tartar, but it's a truly classic Ethiopian dish, and I promise it won't kill you.

The coffee seemed to be taking a while after the meal was done, and they say that it takes 30-45 minutes to properly prepare Ethiopian coffee.  It's a very involved process of roasting and crushing beans by hand and it results in some really nice coffee, which is similar to Armenian and Hungarian coffee traditions but not as strong.

All of this wonderful food, and it was plenty for everyone, was had for $20 a person minus drinks. A fantastic deal for some really quality food. I will certainly try other Ethiopian places in Toronto, but I wouldn't hesitate to come back here anytime.

Local 4 is a delightful little pub just off the beaten path.  They serve top-notch pub fare alongside some quality beers (but needs to be more seasonal, lagers and pale ales just don't satisfy in the dead of winter and they were out of the oatmeal stout. nb: Guinness in a can doesn't count as stout, or a beer for that matter) and just happened to fit my craving for comfort food on a really cold night perfectly.

I had a wonderful meal starting with their delicious butternut squash crab cakes, which were served with a scotch bonnet aioli that had no scotch bonnet in it.  While it was a puzzling omission, it was a lovely starter. For my supremely comfortable entree, I had the beef bourguignon, which was a hearty stew of button mushrooms, thick-cut carrots, cippolini onions and tender chunks of beef with what the chef likes to call "pear mashed potatoes".  This blew me away when it was served, and I thought it was unique, clever and bloody delicious. They take a heaping mound of mashed and shape it like a giant pear, and then quickly deep fry it, and top it with a whole clove as the stem. I had to smile and marvel at its elegant construction before I hungrily devoured my plate. I splurged on some sticky toffee pudding for dessert as the meal was so perfectly hitting all of my gastrogenous zones, and it did not disappoint. It was a large piece and while they were a bit light on the caramel sauce, my waistline didn't need any more abuse on this particular occasion. Everything was perfect, and it was just what I needed on a windy and oh-so-cold night.

The atmosphere and decor are wonderful, it feels really comfortable and homey in there. Also, the music deserves some kudos, they were playing some bad-ass underground hip hop when we got there which transitioned to the entire Led Zeppelin's Early Days album.

Service was fantastic, however, we were one of 2 tables when we arrived, so I would expect fairly undivided attention.  Staff was friendly and knowledgeable and ensured that I will certainly consider Local 4 again in the future.  The prices are reasonable given the high quality of the food, and if my only complaint is a lack of beer menu, that's a forgivable sin and a common gripe of mine.  Check out the Local 4 next time you need a great pub and plant some pears for your heirs!