Rachael "Miss. Bakeaholic" T.'s Profile

Pizza Libretto has restored my faith in thin crust pizzas....so there is such thing as a thin, soft, and easily cuttable slice of goodness that can be made in a hot stone oven and be at your table side in under two minutes, PL you make some good pizza and have some great people serving it.

I have tried thing crust at two places - one in Vancouver which i will keep anonymous, and Toronto's Terroni which I had such high hopes for. In both cases, the crust was hard and a knife was surely not tough enough to cut through the rubbery crust.

My experience at Libretto is as follows...probably overl excited as I walked into the door and almost ran two ladies over, I gave my name down and the waitress kindly told me that they would give me a ring when a table opened up. We went next door to Salt for a drink, which I must say was very tasty but too short because I got the phone call quickly afterwards..I was very pleased none the less.

although we were offered a table at the bar, I think it worked out to be the best situation because there was a tv with the exciting football game on- how lucky we're we!

The waitress was top knotch from the moment I sat down- Shannon was her name and she was an absolute joy, from taking photos of us, to making sure that the wine we had selected would satisfy our palettes. While searching the the wine list, we noticed a sparkling red that we were very intrigued by..you don't see those often. It tasted like a good red wine, with notes of carbonation and bubbles.., it was wonderful!

Having read so much about the calamari, it was something I had to get, accompanied by red pepper aioli. They came perfectly in a tower which S and I pretended to play Jenga with. I don't know if anyone has ever questioned this but I wonder if the calamari is prepackaged. The way the batter is tied, in my mind seemed artificial, unlike the overly greasy deep fried batters you may find elsewhere. Believe me, these tasted amazing, with the calamari at a good Size, and perfectly cooked, not rubbery and overlooked. The sauce had just a bit of kick that you could taste and leaving you wanting more with every bite.

for the main star, we order the homemade sausage with carmelied onions and chili oil pizza... No tomatoes but I was fine with that. The first bite was by far the biggest relief ever, as the cheese melted and the crust was everything I imagined in a thin crust. we both ate happily and added more chili oil to heat up eat bite of our slice. Even the crust was doughy!

we saved just enough room for dessert and as much as I wanted to try the affogato, we ordered the lemon panna cotta with cranberry sauce. This is the softest pc I have ever tasted, with a burst of lemon in each bite, and the sweet and slightly tart cranberry compote. It was a good size for sharing although I wish I had my own.

There is not one bad thing I can say about this place. I was scared that my expectations would be too high going in and would be miserably disappointed but it was even better than I could have imagined. I can only hope that the next time I come that line ups won't be too long and pizza is just as good... Cant wait!

Everytime I walk by this place, it is always busy - it must be because of the open concept, beautiful interior, large communal tables, and a large assortment of goodies that are waiting to be indulged!

Apparently I just missed the huge lineup that was rounding out the door (thank goodness). I had set my eye on a london fog  but the seasonal cranberry ginger apple cider caught my eye at the counter. I couldn't resist. The barista was super friendly, and seemed to love what he was doing, which made me even more excited about my drink. They were honest that the drink wasn't overly sweet and the flavours were balanced.

At first sip, there was a huge hit of ginger, which I do not mind.... slowly, the cranberry and apple flavours emerge leveling all the tastebuds on your tongue. I was very satisfied with the entire cup and wish they had a larger size for future. I love mulled cider in which you get little pieces of apple and fruit closer to the end of your cup.

I didn't try the latte that S had but it must've been good because he didn't even offer to share :)

The chocolate butter tart looked SOOO good - will have to get it next time.

Solid 3.5 *

It's hard but sometimes, you do judge a restaurant by its exterior - and in this case, I thought that this place was going to be terrible. Not only was the exterior small and unnoticeable, but the interior was even worse, dim lighting, and pretty much a hole in the wall, not knowing who is going to walk into here next.

Since my dad and I could have lunch together, I'll just let him take control and order the rolls he craves - which includes the catepillar roll (he never eats veg so bonus points for the avocado), and I wanted a eel, without shrimp tempura, so I believe the one I got was the golden natural roll, or something of that nature.

When the rolls came out, I was pleasantly surprised at how fresh the ingredients look. The avocado was bright green, very delicately sliced and layered closely together. The pieces were very big, and the rice of good temperature. With every bite I took, the roll did not completely fall apart and the seaweed was was not soggy and broke off willingly.

The spicy tuna that topped the eel roll was not overly hot, but had a nice kick to it. I wish there was a little bit more eel but I really cannot complain.

It's hard to say that this place is amazing because you can never judge a sushi place until you can taste the freshness of the sashimi. But for what ti's worth, I think the rolls definitely were very tasty. Considering this is the yonge and bloor area, the prices are pretty standard, and specialty rolls are at $8 - 9 each. But if you'd like to cheap out for a low budget lunch, they have a few options that would not disappoint.

Happy hour also applies so beer and drink lovers should stop in for an afternoon break.

To avoid all the turkey dinners over Christmas (which I totally would not mind!), our families decided to have our christmas gathering at a Thai restaurant. Searching for a place that would not be too loud, have good food, and a mandatory - A ROUND TABLE for good conversation, I decided to book Mengrai because if good reviews, a unique menu, in addition to your traditional ones, and good location for everyone to get to.

When making my reservation, the staff was very generous to give me the round table (that I've seen from the photos), and prior to the evening, they called to let me know that I would only be allowed for a 2 hours seating due to another party. It was totally understandable and courteous for the heads up.

There are 6 free parking spots outside their restaurant and we were lucky enough to park in the last one. At 6 - the place had a few tables filled, but the emptiness did not last long. Between seven people, we pretty much ordered a wide selection of dishes -

1. street style pad thai which had a bit of sweetness, although I felt there wasn't as much shrimp as I had expected. the flavours were bold and delicious, and the noodles were not soggy, giving it good textures with all the different ingredients

2. Their special mengrai SASI pad thai - the restaurant's own pad thai - this is not sweet at all, so that's a whole different set of flavours. I have to say that because it wasn't sweet, it was not my favourite, although very very good. It was extremely saucy (which I like), and there were flavours of dried preserved shrimp which was very potent but added to the overall taste and texture. Between the whole table, most preferred this over the traditional sweeter pad thai.

3. Pineapple fried rice with beef. There was definitely a lot of beef and pineapple, served in the half shell, but I thought it was a little too oily. Maybe thai fried rice is made this way, or it could have been the beef. Still good, but could have lightened on the oil.

4 - 6: THREE CURRIES - their specialty included chicken and lychee, and two additional - one with lamb, and one with shrimp....... I cannot remember all the details of it, but I do remember that I could taste the difference in them all. The sauces all had a different character, whether, sweet, mild, or spicy. I especially like the one with the lychee because it had large pieces of fruit that added a nice sweetness to the whole dish.

All the dishes were eaten completely, not complaints and everyone agreed that it was delicious. At around 8m, the waitress politely told me that the next party would be arriving shortly so we finished our dessert (ice cream that was nothing out of the ordinary) and happily left with smiles on our faces.

Another late night at the office and my hubby agreed to pick me up something for dinner..... so another salad it was.. but where?

Blog TO recommended this place and I love seared tuna so that's what I got.
S brought it to me in a lovely Utopia cafe paper bag, and inside was a takeout box, biodegradable utensils, and a plastic container with marker drawn happy face containing my balsamic mushrooms (part of the dressing).

I opened the salad box to find probably the largest salad I've seen in my life. Honestly, it was as large as the boxed salad you buy in a grocery store. It looked fresh with lots of tomatoes inside, in addition to several slices of lemon for the tuna. Because the salad looked so big, the chunk of salad looked pretty small, but it was actually a pretty decent size of tuna steak. Slightly raw in the middle, I would have preferred the salad to be less seared.

The mushrooms were so incredibly large... i was very very happy because I don't get to eat mushes very often (s doesn't like them so it's not in our kitchen!). But they were still delicious.

I was told by S that when he arrived at the cafe, the people were extremely nice, offered him a drink as he waited for the take out order.

My coworker also says this place is often and it will be good to come back for a sit down meal.

I'm a pretty big salad eater, and this is one of the very few times I didn't finish my greens. shocking isn't it.?

One of the places on King that opens until 10pm at night,so it's a good option to order take out when working late, or if you just want to sit in for a casual eat.

They have a good selection of fish - from salmon, to pickerel, halabit, scallops, calamari, shrimp and baramundi - which I got. You also have the option of having your fish with chips, as a sandwich, wrap, or salad which I think is a good way to cater to everyone's tastes.

Being a salad junkie, I got the baramundi with my salad, which was supposed to come with dressing and mango salsa. with my dressing on the side, the fish was put in a separate take out container so the salad would not get soggy. Confirming whether or not I would get mango salsa, I was a little disappointed that they were "out of season" so they were offering beets instead, which I was okay with.

However, I wanted a side of manhattan clam chowder, and they were sold out of that... and the seafood chowder too... so that was a double downer.

Taking the salad back to the office, and wanting to get into the salad before it gets cold, I was extremely surprised to see the portion size of the salad... it was incredibly small like a SIDE salad that didn't even fill half of the small takeout box. I have to say that they grilled the fish very nicely. It was flaky and had very good flavours, but for $11, it was definitely not worth the price.

Knowing all this, stick to the fish and chips because I'm sure you would get a larger portion of fries cheaper.

............. the day after I got this salad, I got takeout from Utopia Cafe and the salad, no joke, was 3 - 4 times larger than the greens I got here. and I consider college still the main area of downtown so there is no reason the portion sizes should change this drastically,

Sometimes you ask yourself - what makes a good latte? Whether it is a coffee based, or tea... what elements would satisfy your morning palette?
Is it the tea or espresso bean? temperature of the milk? the foam etc......  I feel like I have gotten more picky with having worked at Starbucks, learning about microfoams, coffee art and all those other words that people have gotten all fancy with when it comes to the art of coffee.

Walking into La Merceria, I felt like I had this high expectation (which can be such a bad thing) to get a great drink... maybe it was because of the atmosphere it had - both retail and coffee shop, the place was very chi-chi, I thought anyway. The trinkets and other things on sale were very unique and looked expensive!

On the menu were some decadent selections: condensed milk, dulce de leche... I thought about changing my mind and getting a coffee but I was set on getting a london fog this morning so that was that. The guys at the counter were so nice and friendly, I wish I had more time to chat it up with them. Their teas are from tealish, which I absolutely have come to fall in love with after tasting them at the One of a Kind Show.

They don't put that much water into the cup (1/3), so I get a good serving of calcium haha.. I hate it when they rip me off on the milk.. and yes they have skiim!  I don't usually like foam, but this was delicious. It was silky smooth and the vanilla syrup they used just absorbed into the whole drink altogether. I like their earl grey because it is not too strong like Starbucks (the bergemont ) and the tea does not become overpowering after being steeped in the cup for an extended period of time.

Now, that review wasn't too picky was it :S

Running by this coffee shop every time I go for a must-need run, I always tell myself that I need to try this place.... and knowing that they have Yelp Check in deals (1 free coffee for every 10 check ins), it seemed like a no brainer.

This place also does not have skim milk (i'm starting to find a trend), so I opted for a misto with vanilla bean syrup instead of a latte. They use real vanilla beans so I thought that was definitely a bonus. S got a full latte..... and I have to say that his latte delivered. It was creamy, aromatic, and I wanted his drink more than mine. While mine was not as "milky" it was still good, and full of real vanilla flavour.

Although I didn't get anything to eat - they have artisan donuts for eats. they were featuring lemon meringue and apple pie - IN DONUT FORM. they looked soooo tasty and beautifully presented too.

This place is definitely a new-tech coffee shop - with orders being place through the ipad and a sexy coffee machine. I think in the summer, it will be a great place to just sit out front and people watch.

My coworker swears by this place... and he's a 4-cup coffee a day kinda person. Whenever he wants coffee, he talks about Jimmy's like it's his best friend, yet it's too far of a walk so he settles for Country Style across the street.

I decided to take a brisk walk to jimmy's before my walk to work just to see what the hype was all about. At about 8:30 on a workday, this place is bustling. the place is not very big, so even if you cannot decide what to get, jump in line because it gets long quickly, but the service is speedy.

the lady was extremely polite, attentive, but still moving quickly to get orders out with one person steaming milk and making lattes.I decided to treat myself and got a banana chocolate chip muffin with my latte. Unfortunately, they did not have skim milk (which i really prefer), so settled for 1% instead.

The latte was good, i think the coffee beans were more acidic than I would prefer but to each person's own right? The muffin was soft and definitely hit the spot on a busy work day. The interior is rustic and home-like and I'll be back in for other deliciousness!

You would never know that there was a downstairs to this place unless you paid attention walking along king street to see the downstairs from the outside.
The top floor looks pretty dark and plain with simple floors, high tops and a bar, but then you wander downstairs to a completely different atmosphere. It is more lively, with bright red velour banquettes all around the room, spacious with TVs on the corners to catch different sports games.
There is a great selection of beer and their cocktails aren't bad either. My caesar was on par and saw some other drinks come out with some craft and flare.
The place does get a little loud, but still allows a group to carry on a conversation.
I didn't try the food, but for a pub, they have a large assortment and seemed pretty upscale.
I looked on their website and it said that the firkins were serving GRANVILLE ISLAND BEER! That's pending location of course, and this location didn't have it :(
Just gotta keep on searching.