Toronto Trip Highlings
Oct 10th, 2006, 07:22 AM
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Toronto Trip Highlings
We just spent 4 days in Toronto and had a great time. We got a great room at the Downtown Sheraton, very comfortable room with 2 beds. We enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool and hot tub. We found the breakfast pretty pricy ($22 for the buffet), so ate other places for mornings after the first.
Dinner the first evening was at the Monsoon,
www.monsoonrestaurant.ca, located at 100 Simcoe St. What a beautiful restaurant! Monsoon is "Asian Fusion" which means they pick and choose from all Asian cuisines. We started with an appetiser platter -- two cocktail size lamb chops, oysters in a panko crust, salmon sashimi, veggie dumplings, kim chee, sesami noodles, beef satay, shrimp satay, sea weed salad. Also served Taro chips. This sounds like a lot, but it really wasn't. My dining companion had the organic pork tenderloin that was in a miso glaze served with mixed asian greens and a soy purse filled with minced veggies. I had the taro gnocci(wonderful!), mixed greens, fingerling potatoes in curry and the purse thingy. For desert we had the desert assortment. This was three lovely deserts -- molten chocolate cake with rasberry sauces, deconstructed s'mores with homemade marshmallows (oh, THAT'S what marshmallows are supposed to taste like!) and a kind of white egg white puffy pudding with chopped fruits and a whisper thin sugar and sesame brittle. It was an expensive dinner ($152 CN for 2 including a cocktail each) but worth every dreamy bite.
The next night we ate at Le Papillon http://www.lepapillon.ca/menu.html located at 16 Church Street. This was a pretty ho-hum restaurant. I wouldn't go back. Last night was at Mediterra Sea Food restaurant,
www.mediterrarestaurant.ca, located at
133 Richmond St West. This was also a homerun, although it got off to a rather rocky start. The maitre d' was on the phone when we walked in. He just turned his shoulder to us and continued what seemed to be a rather intense phone call. A waiter came up and said, "Do you have reservations?" I assured him I did, and he said, "You will have to wait for him," nodding to the maitre d'. Finally the Maitre d' got off the phone and lambasted the nearest waiter for not seating us. He then walked us thru the restaurant, pointing at the murky lobster tank and the various fresh fishes as we zoomed by.
The food was terrific tho -- and more than made up for the seating by the King Crab as we named him. Companion had a green greek salad that came with a generous chunk of feta cheese and multiple olives. Give companion an olive and she is a happy girl. I had calamari, fried, and it was divine! Very tender and tasty. She had the Sea Bass, grilled, and it was lovely. I had Salmon, also grilled, but coated in a rather salty spice mixture that I had to scrape off. I wish I had the sea bass. We also had some grilled veggies (including the sweetest eggplan I ever had) and rappini. For desert, Companion had the creme carmel and I had some glorious stewed figs with walnuts on the nices vanilla ice cream ever. Delish!
The only lunch of note was at the Dumpling house at 328 Spadina in Chinatown. There are several references to this tiny place already, so I won't wax too poetic. But I will say that I never met a dumpling I didn't like and these will forever live in my memory as among the very best. They were terrific!
Dinner the first evening was at the Monsoon,
www.monsoonrestaurant.ca, located at 100 Simcoe St. What a beautiful restaurant! Monsoon is "Asian Fusion" which means they pick and choose from all Asian cuisines. We started with an appetiser platter -- two cocktail size lamb chops, oysters in a panko crust, salmon sashimi, veggie dumplings, kim chee, sesami noodles, beef satay, shrimp satay, sea weed salad. Also served Taro chips. This sounds like a lot, but it really wasn't. My dining companion had the organic pork tenderloin that was in a miso glaze served with mixed asian greens and a soy purse filled with minced veggies. I had the taro gnocci(wonderful!), mixed greens, fingerling potatoes in curry and the purse thingy. For desert we had the desert assortment. This was three lovely deserts -- molten chocolate cake with rasberry sauces, deconstructed s'mores with homemade marshmallows (oh, THAT'S what marshmallows are supposed to taste like!) and a kind of white egg white puffy pudding with chopped fruits and a whisper thin sugar and sesame brittle. It was an expensive dinner ($152 CN for 2 including a cocktail each) but worth every dreamy bite.
The next night we ate at Le Papillon http://www.lepapillon.ca/menu.html located at 16 Church Street. This was a pretty ho-hum restaurant. I wouldn't go back. Last night was at Mediterra Sea Food restaurant,
www.mediterrarestaurant.ca, located at
133 Richmond St West. This was also a homerun, although it got off to a rather rocky start. The maitre d' was on the phone when we walked in. He just turned his shoulder to us and continued what seemed to be a rather intense phone call. A waiter came up and said, "Do you have reservations?" I assured him I did, and he said, "You will have to wait for him," nodding to the maitre d'. Finally the Maitre d' got off the phone and lambasted the nearest waiter for not seating us. He then walked us thru the restaurant, pointing at the murky lobster tank and the various fresh fishes as we zoomed by.
The food was terrific tho -- and more than made up for the seating by the King Crab as we named him. Companion had a green greek salad that came with a generous chunk of feta cheese and multiple olives. Give companion an olive and she is a happy girl. I had calamari, fried, and it was divine! Very tender and tasty. She had the Sea Bass, grilled, and it was lovely. I had Salmon, also grilled, but coated in a rather salty spice mixture that I had to scrape off. I wish I had the sea bass. We also had some grilled veggies (including the sweetest eggplan I ever had) and rappini. For desert, Companion had the creme carmel and I had some glorious stewed figs with walnuts on the nices vanilla ice cream ever. Delish!
The only lunch of note was at the Dumpling house at 328 Spadina in Chinatown. There are several references to this tiny place already, so I won't wax too poetic. But I will say that I never met a dumpling I didn't like and these will forever live in my memory as among the very best. They were terrific!
Oct 14th, 2006, 12:18 PM
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LucyP, We love Toronto -- it is a wonderful, with so many things to see and do. I only wish the exchange rate was more favorable for Americans! (It is almost even right now.) We also had a 2 hour wait coming over the Lewiston Bridge to re-enter the US and that was pretty long. But we will be back to visit next spring, for sure!
Oct 15th, 2006, 09:00 AM
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Jen108, as a Canadian who had to deal with an exchange rate that was 'favourable' to Americans for many years, I'm quite happy that our dollar has improved and it's more favourable to Canadians now ....
But I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!
But I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!
Oct 24th, 2006, 09:34 AM
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Just spent 2 weeks visiting our daughter in Toronto. We're from England and we enjoyed the experience very much. Lunch up the CN Tower was great fun especially watching the dark clouds approaching and then seeing a swirling blizzard outside!
Great city- very buzzy and easy to get around. Preferred it to Montreal.
Great city- very buzzy and easy to get around. Preferred it to Montreal.
Oct 25th, 2006, 12:00 PM
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It's hard to put a finger on but, of the two, I could imagine myself living in Toronto. Also the harbour front is far more developed in Toronto, making the most of the lakeside setting. I liked the different neighbourhoods in T. too- Cabbagetown, China town, Kensington Market and Queens Park.
