As we still haven’t found a great Benny yet here in Hogtown and we are now on day 5 it’s about high time to get that issue resolved.

Ma Maison is trying to do what Cluny did in creating a little slice of Paris in TO, just not quite as well. Props for trying though. It is a lovely little café.

The latté was lovely. I really think Starbucks needs to start properly training their Baristas and demanding consistent quality. Great foam and proper tasting espresso. Nicely done.

The Eggs Benedict was very good as well. The peameal bacon works so much better than your traditional slice of ham, the eggs were poached perfectly and it was on a croissant. Not the usual English muffin but excellent.

I also decided to give the pistachio cake a go even though it was 10am.

I probably should have skipped it. Not due to the early hour, due to its freshness. Had it not been in the display case for a few days it would have been great. Unfortunately it was quite dried out. You win some you lose some.

So if your on Bloor near Jane and your hankering for a pretty good Benny and latté check out Ma Maison.

Food 8/10

I’m not counting the cake….

Latté 8/10

Ambiance 7/10

Overall 8/10

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Trying One Bites best pizza in Toronto again just to make sure it’s as good as Dave says.

Pepperoni this time though.

It was delivery at about 11pm. So we will go with maybe not quite as good as if it was fresh at the Pizzeria, but still excellent as it’s 11 at night.

Such a good pizza. I would never complain about more pepperoni on pizza. Check out The 100 at Finatti’s. Nevertheless a great pie.

Great under carriage and good tasty pepperoni.

I think if your a pizza lover North of Brooklyn should be a stop when you’re in Toronto.

One Bite review 8.3

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It was on our doughnut tour that this “Best in Toronto” Dim Sum house was recommended to us. Since Dim Sum has been on our to-do list we decided to hit it up.

Typically Dim Sum is served only at lunchtime, but apparently here in Toronto it’s becoming an all day affair. Even into the wee hours. I have to see if that’s happening here in Vancouver as well.

We arrived at 530 expecting a line up but fortunately it wasn’t long. The place was packed though. Squished in like sardines we were.

The great thing about Dim Sum is the Tapas like experience. The opportunity to try a large variety of small plates is an ideal eating experience for me.

So check off what you want on the list and sit back and enjoy.

First up, deep fried pumpkin with yolk and sweet potato.

That’s a pistachio sticking out the top.

Should have had these last honestly. They were surprisingly very sweet. The shell was crispy and the middle gooey and delicious. I think the shell was fortune cookie dough. Had that distinct flavour.

Next out of the kitchen was the short ribs with black bean sauce.

If you like fat you will like these. The black pepper sauce was very tasty but the texture really isn’t my thing. Way too fatty and grisly.

Next came pork dumplings with shrimp. Give me more of these please. The flavour from the pork and shrimp with pleasant popping of the Tobiko made for a wonderful combination.

The wonton (chicken and chive) soup was pretty standard fair. Just as good, but no better, than any of the wonton soups I’ve had hundreds of times before.

Finally came the sticky rice and pork in a lotus leaf

The lotus leaf imparts a mild tea flavour into the rice which is really nice. Lotus leaf is edible but I found it like chewing on tea leaves so skipped that part. Does anyone actually eat that much lotus leaf? Regardless I finished the stuffing completely. Probably my favorite dish of the night.

Food 8/10

Ambiance 7/10

Service 7/10

Overall 7/10

Dim Sum for dinner! Great idea! Come on Vancouver…..

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As we did some research into what food we wanted to partake while in the city one thing that repeatedly came up was the Peameal Bacon sandwich, specifically from the Carousel Bakery in St Lawrence Market.

It’s funny though. When we landed and talked to one or two of the locals the had never really heard of it

I began to suspect this is not in the same league as going to Schwartz’s in Montreal. Now that is a must do everytime you are in La Belle Province’s largest city.

Regardless we trundled off to St Lawrence Market in search of Toronto’s most famous sandwich.

St Lawrence Market seems to be your standard permanently fixed farmers market. If you need baked goods or seafood you will find a choice of 6 or 7 different shops of each kind. There is a selection of cheese shops, counter service restaurants and florists, plus a smattering of other services.

We found the sandwich spot. Emeril has been here as evidenced by the signed poster out front. Bam!

As for the sandwich? Ya it was good. Was it worth all the effort getting here? Not entirely sure. I’m not the biggest sandwich guy to start with so maybe that’s not entirely fair. So I asked Merilynn. Same answer.

The bacon was good, but too much mustard for me. Nice bun though. Very fresh and crispy.

The butter tart though…..

This is everything a butter tart should be.

Buttery, flakey, pecaney goodness. Yes I made up a word there. A truly wonderful example of this Canadian classic.

So go for the sandwich. Or don’t. But go for the butter tart.

Food 8/10

7 for the wich, 9 for the tart.

Ambiance 7/10

Overall 8/10

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Smack dab in the middle of the vibrant Kensington Market is Seven Lives Tacos. I am told this is a must visit for any Taco lover while in the city.

We had literally just finished the doughnut tour available here in town so we weren’t exactly hungry, but we thought we better check it out while we were just 5 or 6 shops away.

We decided just to share one and went with the Gobernado.

Smoked tuna, shrimp, crema, pickled onions and salsa roja. It looked pretty messy and with no where to wash my hands I started to eat it with a fork. And it was ok. Merilynn had decided to pick it up about halfway through though so I did the same and what a difference it made. When all those flavours came together in one bite it went from ok to wow that’s a great taco.

If you’re in the market and hungry this would be a great stop for a quick bite.

Food 8/10

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Toronto ON

Our final stop today, and just down the street from the churro place in Kensington Market.

Eitan recommended the brown butter sea salt donut. And I’m glad he did. It was excellent.

Lovely brown butter glaze and the sea saltiness to contrast. This is one of the better doughnuts I think I’ve had.

Really really nice.

Well that is the end of the doughnut tour. We had a great time. We learned a little more about Toronto. Eitan gave us a couple of Restaurant recommendations. We plan on checking out a dumpling place tomorrow.

If you like doughnuts and you’re here in Toronto you might consider spending a couple hours and take the tour.

Doughnut 9/10

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Toronto ON

Our next stop,after a walk through grafitti alley, was Pancho’s. Famous for their churros.

For me churros are really hit and miss. For instance, the Taco Factory in New West has excellent tacos but terrible churros.

We just had plain but they do have filled ones with chocolate and dulce de leche.

Pancho’s churros were good. Crispy on the outside chewy on the inside. Not too sweet and just the right amount of cinnamon sugar. A good size too. One person could easily try 2 flavours.

I can’t say I’m often on the hunt for a churro, but this would be a good destination for you should you happen to be in the mood.

Doughnut 7/10

Donut stop #4 click here

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Toronto ON

Our guide told us the next stop was a vegan doughnut stop. Great. Maybe you shouldn’t ask me my opinion on vegans. But I don’t want to be rude so off we went.

Here we selected the Pistachio Rose ring donut and a Blueberry Lemon filled Bsimark.

The Rose Pistachio was sickenly sweet. Perhaps a touch too much on the rose, but just way too sweet.

The Blueberry Lemon bismark was interesting. However the curd wasn’t overly lemony and had a weird texture.

But the dough for being vegan was better than expected. It definitely was lighter than I expected.

There are drawbacks when you can’t use eggs or butter and they sure do show in something like a donut.

While it was better than expected I definitely will not be back to a vegan donut shop. Or vegan anything for that matter.

Doughnuts 4/10

Good try though guys.

Doughnut stop #3 click here

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Toronto ON

We are off for a little doughnut tour today. I’m not big on this kind of touristy stuff but I do like my doughnuts. Shout out to Merilynn for finding this.

Our first stop is at Cop’s doughnuts, and the name references exactly what you think it does.

Cop’s specialty is mini donuts.

Pretty much just like the doughnuts at the fair. But they do have one rotating flavour that changes weekly.

Cinnamon sugar and a chocolate glaze.

The cinnamon sugar ones were good, but I found that chocolate one was too doughy. Needed a bit longer in the fryer.

So a decent start to the doughnut tour

Doughnuts 6/10

Stop #2 @ Bloomers click here

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Personally I think you have to be a nutbar to want to drink some sludge pressed out of an oat or an almond, but whatever. You do you. Fortunately the nutbars haven’t completely taken over and they still have some actual milk from a cow at Nutbar.

Sidenote: When you consider the double entendre of “Nutbar” it might have been worthwhile for the individuals who came up with this concept to give more consideration to the name. It’s just way too easy to make fun of.

Anyways we are going on a donut tour in 12 minutes, and what goes well with donuts? Coffee you say?

So here we are at the Nutbar.

A chain of coffee shops that specialize in in house pressed nut “milks” I put milk in quotations as the local cows have lodged a micro aggression complaint against everyone calling it “milk”

As usual I had a vanilla latté and I will say they did it very well.

Great foam and temperature and a nice balance of vanilla.

Very nice, and it went great with our doughnuts.

I suggest they keep carrying regular, good old fashioned moo. And not go too nuts.

Coffee 8/10

Doughnut stop #1 Cops click bere

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