JOEY Eaton Centre

Went to JOEY for dinner before TIFF in the park on a lovely Wednesday evening. This was not my first time going to a JOEY restaurant. I previously visited the one at Shops at Don Mills for lunch and just ordered the Ahi Tuna Tacos which I adored. At that time, my friend  (AC, who has yet to make a post!) ordered the Lobster Grill Cheese (highly recommended by the table beside us) that left us very disappointed as it was very oily, so oily that we felt sick after 2 bites. 

To start, my alcoholic company whom denies his alcoholic behaviour picked the MEGALOMANIAC off the WHITE WINE - AROMATIC & OFF DRY list. The description from the menu was "NARCISSIST RIESLING, NIAGARA." I thought the "narcissist" description of the wine was interesting. I'm not much of a wine drinker because I find sipping wine is hard down my throat. I was quiet worried about the wine being "dry" to the palate, but luckily that was not the case. It was fruity and sweet, within my level of wine tolerance. 

 AHI TUNA TACOS seared rare, toasted sesame,ginger coleslaw, wasabi aioli 11.99

I had to order this again because I remember how light and refreshing this dish was the last time I had it. The ahi tuna was lightly seared to perfection on the outside and it was fresh. The crunchiness of the taco shell pair with the coleslaw was perfect match for each other. A touch of the wasabi aioli completed this symphony of texture in your mouth.  

 PESTO SHRIMP FLATBREAD whole milk mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, chipotle aioli & fresh basil 14.49

I enjoyed this flatbread dish aside from the slightly oily crust. The chipotle aioli gave it a nice kick at the end of your bite. Very flavour, a contrast to the ahi tuna taco that was light and refreshing, 

 BLACKENED BASA with tomato pickled ginger salsa, aromatic rice & seasonal vegetables 19.49

This was my least favorite dish of the night. The basa was overly season and I felt the fish was undercooked. The texture of the fish tasted rubbery to me. The bed of rice underneath tasted like something from Uncle Ben, but the sad part was I think in comparison Uncle Ben tasted better. This dish was a big disappointment and left unfinished. 

 MARKET CHICKEN SALAD shaved vegetables, feta, whole almonds, wild rice, avocado, goddess herb vinaigrette 16.99

Yes, that whole big ribbon of orange is carrot. Did I eat it if you asked? No. I don't have much comment on this salad. It was errr... no comment. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either, so I will just leave it at that.
I will take this time to comment on the service. I was impressed by the fact that they actually separated our main for us into two separate plates. That was a first in my dining experiences. However, I do have to comment that it took them FOREVER to bring me my glass of water. In fact, we had to ask TWICE.

 MOLTEN LAVA CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ raspberry coulis & vanilla bean ice cream 7.99

To end of the end, we share the above dessert and it was very delicious dark chocolate lava souffle pair with fresh raspberry and ice cream was just divine. They all complimented each other by having sweet, bitter and sour all in one bite. It was a lovely ending to that night's dinner. 

Final Verdict: Slightly Above Par

I would say this is one of the better franchise restaurants that is currently in market. Good atmosphere, food can be a hit or a miss, overall a good experience minus the water. Haha~ I would like to try P.F. Chang next. 

St. Lawrence Market Roundup

Went to St. Lawrence Market for a group lunch. Forgot to the bring my camera so I'm going to borrow pictures from the St. Lawrence Market website =)

1st Stop: Buster's Sea Cove

Tried the blue fish sandwich and it was quite good. The sandwich came with 3 slices of fried fish along with tomatoes and cucumbers inside a pita like bread. It was also served with coleslaw which was tasteless. The fish was deep fried to perfection. Light and flaky without being overly battered. The cost of the sandwich was $8.03. The portions was big and you will be full.




2nd Stop: St. Lawrence Pizza & Ice Cream

Ordered cheese ravioli with meat sauce. The sauce was very delicious as it tasted homemade due to the natural sweetness of the tomato sauce. The cheese ravioli on the other hand was alright, nothing to write home about.

Red Lobster: Endless Shrimp Festival

For 18.99, decided to try the endless shrimp festival at Red Lobster where you can eat as many as you want of the 5 shrimp dishes they offer. The 5 dishes they offer are; Teriyaki Grilled Shrimp, Baked Garlic Shrimp-and-Cheese, Garlic Shrimp, Shrimp Linguini Alfredo, Hand-Breaded Shrimp. How it works is that you pick your first 2 dishes you want and it will be served with a choice of side; mash potato, baked potato, fries and broccoli. Thereafter if you would like more, they will just bring you the shrimp dish alone in a smaller plate. 

Garden salad to start with balsamic vinaigrette. Standard salad, nothing to write home about. 

Buttery biscuits, warm and fluffy.

This plate had the breaded shrimp, shrimp linguini with broccoli. The shrimp linguini was quite good where the pasta was al dente. Breaded shrimp was "nah" standard, decent, can't provide anymore comments.

 Garlic shrimp, breaded shrimp and fries. Garlic shrimp was on the salty side and was every oily cause it's soaked in butter. Fries was not hard and too starchy.

Teriyaki shrimp on a bed of rice. The shrimp itself was good, but the rice was HARD!! It was almost like it wasn't cooked at all.

Overall, I like the shrimp linguini and teriyaki shrimp the best. Everything else was just standard franchise food, neither good or bad.

Final Verdict: Par.

Loui's Kouzina

 Heard about this place through other bloggers. It's suppose to be the better greek restaurant in Markham. I been to this plaza before but have NEVER notice this place.

Small Chicken Souvlaki Plate 10.95

They had option of large or small plate, difference is the number of sides you get. Please refer to above picture of a section of the menu for your reference. 

The chicken souvlaki was well season, not dry, quiet tasty. The Greek salad was like any other Greek salad, nothing too fancy. I found the potato was a little too salty for my taste buds. The meal came with bread but we did not get any until we asked the server. The only reason I know there is bread is that I read it on people's blog and see other tables getting it and not us. 

Overall, the food was decent but service was lacking. Will visit again if I ever want Greek food.

Final Verdict: Slightly Above Par.

Beer Bistro

The Beer Bistro have always been just steps away from my workplace but I never had the opportunity to try it out. I always see this place buzzing during lunch time as business men and women sit in the patio with their cone of frites.

As the name states, Beer Bistro is a place where they incorporate beer in the dishes. This place has a huge selection of beer, with my close to none knowledge in beer, the beer list was just a jumble of words to me.  

Fruli Strawberry (Belgium; 4.1% alc.)

The beer was very fruity, though I was not able to taste the strawberry, I thought it was still pretty good.

 Salmon Belly Cakes $12.95

This cake was my least favorite out of all the dishes we tried. The outside had a light crispy coating, however, when you cut into it, everything just fell out. It had a very prominent salmon fishy taste. The dill sauce was a nice touch to the dish.

Belgian Frites $6

The ever so infamous Belgian Frites that everyone orders and heard many good reviews on this finger food was disappointing in my standards. I felt the top stash of these frites are slight under-cooked as I bit into a raw potato and the skins was not as crispy as I like them to be.The salt on these was very unevenly distributed as they turned quite salty near the end. It was served with homemade mayonnaise & smoked tomato ketchup. I somehow ended up dipping in the ketchup most of the times.One thing that puzzled me was how the bottom stash of these frites were overcooked/slightly burnt while the top was slightly under-cooked if they were being made in the same batch... These frites did not blow me away and left me quite disappointed.

Hog Wild Pizza $16.50

The topping for this pizza included "berkshire pulled pork, smoked sausage, beer-cured bacon, oregano, mozzarella, garlic confit." This was a decent pizza, very barbecue-y tasting. I somehow tasted pineapple like things when it contained no citrus-y ingredients. Overall, it was good but average tasting to me. 

Belgian White Mussel Bowl $18.50

The mussel bowl was my favorite of the night. I had previously tried the mussel bowl at Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill and I like the one at Beer Bistro much better as the one at Starfish was very sandy as I kept on eating  sand in the mussel and was just not able to enjoy the dish while spitting out sand. The flavour was Belgian White was just right for my taste bud, not too overwhelming to cover the natural sweetness of the mussels. Two complaint, the mussels was VERY SMALL and slightly overcooked that the texture of the mussels became a little chewy/rubbery. 

The service was very nice and the server was attentive and kept out water glass full. Though near the end when we all finished and just wanted to chat, it seem like the server was rushing us to go when they were not exactly fully packed. The bill was given to us without us asking for it. Overall, it was a decent/okay meal. Will I go back? Probably not. 

Rating System:

Sub-Par: save your money and time

Par: not missing out anything special

Slightly Above Par: give it try on your next outing

Above-Par: stop what you are doing and go NOW!!!

Final Verdict: Par