Ice Cream Sandwiches at Bakerbots

There is a lot of choice in Toronto when it comes to forzen treats. There has always been the old standby Baskin Robbins ( I refuse to acknowledge the existence of Dairy Cream) but now the self-serve yogurt craze has taken over with Menchies and Yogurty's locations popping up like mushrooms. For me however, it is always worth saving yourself for the local gelateria or in this case, a hip bakery that also happens to make mind blowing ice-cream sandwiches:

London Fog Ice-cream in a Cocoa cookie.

Maple Bacon ice-cream in an "Everything" cookie.

Bakerbots is my new favourite place to get ice-cream. The price is right at $4 for a half sandwich (pictured above) and the homemade ice-creams are superb. The selection of flavours will keep you coming back to try all of them. There is a stout flavour that keeps eluding me. Well, it must be good if it's selling out. So far my favourite flavour is the London Fog because you can really taste the black tea and it's a very refreshing flavour.

Bakerbots is located at 205 Delaware Ave next to Ossington Station.

Taro

On May 31st my beautiful, amazing little cat Taro was found dead outside of my apartment building. It's a long story and each time I go through the details I relive the horror of that sunny and seemingly OK May morning. It was the worst thing I have ever seen (and you may laugh because it's not as if I've lived through a roadside bomb in a warzone) and the feeling was like repeated punches to my chest. I couldn't breath but somehow I was able to scream so loud that I had a sore throat for a few days afterwards. My downstairs neighbour helped me because I was a useless screaming wreck in pyjamas with sleep still in her eyes. Thank goodness for my wonderful neighbour I wouldn't have been able to get Taro into a box without her. The rest of that horrible day consisted of my brother and I digging a grave for Taro. We had to break up layers of ancient shale and the afternoon sun beat down on us hard but we got there in the end.

So I haven't updated this blog since then. I have eaten at many great places and taken photos at least half of them but as you can well understand each time I even think about this blog I think about Taro and my heart breaks. However, I am going to continue this blog because I have to. I can't crumble in defeat everytime something bad happens to me.

Review: Bacon Cupcake from Yummystuff

You walk past Yummystuff. You think, "Oh no, I really shouldn't I just had 3 doughnuts from Glory Hole up the road". But then you see the bacon cupcake and it calls your name, it stares right to your very core and you know you have no choice but to succumb.

The chococlate oatmeal cake base is a perfect compliment to the sweet, buttery, creamy and salty flavours on top. At the very bottom of the cupcake you get a little surprise; a crunchy base of chocolate chips.


I give the Bacon Cupccake from Yummystuff 4 out of 4 Taros.

Furama Cake and Desserts Garden

If you have never been to a Chinese Bakery and you live in proximity to down town Toronto I would suggest going to Furama as your first experience. There is a huge selection of savoury and sweet buns and pastries from traditional Chinese to western influenced desserts like the much loved Hong Kong style egg tart.

My companion ordered a selection of savoury buns. the one pictured contains a filling of crispy fried chicken breast and mayonnaise. I am usually hesitant to order items like this (bad experiences with dodgy meat) but the chicken in this bun was very fresh tasting and reminded me of something homemade. His total for the 3 buns after tax was around $3. If you're in a hurry and/or don't have much cash this is a great place to grab lunch or breakfast.

A glazed strawberry sat at the center of this perfect chestnut cream tart. for $2.80 you can't go wrong with this attractive and tasty dessert.

The presentation is very sweet. I love this little printed parchment paper that the tart was sitting on. It is covered in vintage kitchen utensil illustrations and random quotes.

I give Furama Cake and Desserts Garden 4 out of 4 Taros

Review: Peter Pan Bistro

We went to Peter Pan Bistro on a whim since we had some time to kill before a show. I should mention that I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Peter Pan Bistro or at least since I was a kid shopping with my mom on West Queen West. It is undeniably one of the last fixtures of this neighbourhood. A neighbourhood that is sadly fast resembling an outdoor extension of The Eaton Center. It is hard to pass by it and not turn to take a peak inside. The long marble bar, oak floors and tin ceiling are original to the building and are over a hundred years old. The Art Deco booths and light fixtures were added in 1936 when it was taken over by the Woo family who also changed its name from "The Savoy".

We were given some warm cheesy focaccia bread to start which was nice and unexpected.

I ordered a latte and instead was presented wit a metallic tasting filter coffee topped with a weak foam. I have no idea how the drink I received came into being but it was definitely not a latte and it tasted awful. I'm a pretty simple person, give me good coffee and I won't forget. I know that this place isn't a cafe and so one shouldn't have high hopes for decent coffee. I am however one of those strange people that drinks coffee throughout the day and sometimes with meals.

For my main dish I ordered the Caesar salad with jerk chicken. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Caesar dressing was homemade just as it should be. The chicken was not that reconstituted plastic crap that you sometimes get in chain restaurants and the jerk rub appeared to be homemade. It was spicy enough to give a nice tingle in the back of the throat but was not overwhelming. My companion ordered the quesadillas. He was very impressed with them. It tasted as though the tortillas were lightly brushed with oil and then baked with the fillings inside. This is just my theory and I could be totally wrong but the main thing is that texture was different than your average quesadilla and it was nice. My dining companion also remarked that the sweetness of the corn, red peppers and the mild salsa provided a nice contrast to the saltiness of the cheese. He rates it amongst the top thee best quesadillas he has ever had.

My dining companion ordered the Tiramisu for dessert (I tried to warn him that they are seldom good in restaurants). My choice of dessert was simple, I saw a creme brulee so I ordered a creme brulee. The Tiramisu was best described as being flat. It was dry and I could not detect even the merest hint of booze within it. Traditionally it is made with Marsala wine but in a pinch most any fortified wine or liqueur will work too. It reminded me of every single bad store bought or restaurant ordered Tiramisu I have ever had in my life. But the creme brulee....

...made everything better. The creme brulee du jour luckily for me was honey. This was beautiful and poetic.  A classic creme brulee with the subtle and warm  floral notes of honey. My only criticism would be that the sugar crust was slightly too thin for my liking. When I smack a creme brulee with the back of my spoon (Amelie style) I like it to fight back a little. That is just a personal preference though and I would still highly recommend this dessert to everyone planning on dinning here.

Peter Pan bistro seems like a good reliable place to take family for a weekend lunch. The service is  friendly and attentive and the atmosphere in this historic restaurant and building is truly unique. The art deco booths are stunning and I think at night with candles lit this place would also be good for a romantic dinner.

I give Peter Pan Bistro 3 out of 4 Taros.

Review: The Thompson Diner

I am rather partial to diners so I decided to finally try The Thompson Diner. My hesitation at attending a hotel restaurant was defeated by my curiosity over this lovely art deco building. The interior is as you would expect, that of a hotel restaurant meets a diner. This means that there is flocked wallpaper (the expensive kind),velvet brocade upholstery on the booths and the world's ugliest sports bar shoved into the middle. I was unfortunately seated to close for comfort to said sports bar but our waiter was very nice and completely understood my need to move to another table.

Prior to coming I had studied the menu and knew exactly what I wanted. It is my practice when attending a diner for the first time, to sample their most outlandish sounding dish. So for me it was a toss-up between "The Fat American" or "The Brunch Burger". The first dish consists of three mini-pizza sized pancakes stuffed with turkey sausage and bacon then topped with a fried egg and crispy onion strips. The later dish is a bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg sandwiched into a powdered doughnut. Food Network if you're reading I'll consider doing a Woman Versus Food if you're interested.

I decided upon the Fat American:

Unfortunately The pancakes are extremely dry and taste like they were made from a box mix. Thankfully I was given a generous portion of real maple syrup and was not charged when I asked for a second portion. The promised stuffing of turkey sausage and bacon is rather sparse. I found myself excavating through the pancakes to find the little morsels of meat. The turkey sausage was not so great but then I really can't get my head around the concept of turkey as a replacement for pork so maybe that's just me. The bacon, however, was delicious and left me wishing I had a plate of that instead of the pancakes. The topping of the fried egg and crispy onion strings was also exquisite. It was just that the pancakes themselves and the actual concept of this dish are not very good. There is way too much pancake compared to meat and topping. This would work better perhaps with mini pancakes.

My companion ordered the pulled pork burger. When asked how said burger was, he replied "Hmph it's a burger". I'll take that to mean it was adequate though not memorable. I did not taste this burger so I can't add my comments. The presentation, however was very cute:

And last but not least we started with the onion rings. The onion rings are delicious. The downside is that you get only 6. They are very large and at $5 it's pretty good value but they are so delicious and surprisingly not greasy that you will want more than 6 especially if you are sharing:

Again cute presentation. We got so carried away eating these that I forgot t take a picture while there were still onion rings.


I give The Thompson Diner 3 out of 4 Taros