Korea - Food in Pictures

e11even

I have to deeply apologize that I have been neglecting this blog. Things just got busy in life. Finally went to e11even a couple weeks back. Read so much about their burger, the fancy iPad cocktail drinks menu and their toilets. Yes, their toilets. The atmosphere is really niceand the patio looks awesome if it wasn't so sunny. Thus, opted to sit inside. 

Complementary bread. It was warm and soft. The bread was on the sweet side like those Asian bakery bread.

Not an alcoholic drinker so I got the blueberry lemonade. You can really taste the blueberry in the beginning but not so much after, probably washed down by the ice.

The "seared tuna salad" $25 with avocado and ginger dressing was light and tasty. The tuna was fresh and seared perfectly. The salad was crisp and the portion was large.

Up next is the "maple burger" $25 with guiness cheddar, double smoked bacon and garlic aioli. Coming from a non burger fan, this burger was really good! It was juicy and the maple bacon really came through in taste and texture. I would definitely order this burger for myself next time. Forgot to the mention the bun. The bun was still toasty upon bite and it was delicious. Hate soggy buns, but this bun was wonderful! YUM!

The bill was presented in a very creative manner.

Final Verdict: Above Par

Market 707 - Gushi, Kim's A La Cart, Kanto

Market 707 is where international street food are presented out of retrofitted shipping containers. 

First stall I tried was Gushi, serving up Japanese rice bowls and deep fried skewers. Opted to try the skewers since I was going to be ordering from other stalls as well.

3 skewers for $5, I got the quail egg, sweet potato and pork. The breading of the skewer was light and crunchy. Pretty sure they used panko bread crumbs. I like the pork skewer the least of the three. The sweet potato was perfectly fried, crunchy on the outside and sweet in the inside. The quail egg was just egg with a crunchy coating.

 Next up is Kim's a La cart, I have visited their Yonge and Finch location a long long time ago for the sweet fish cake desserts.

Got the rice cake, chicken curry demplings, gim-mari and Korean vegetable pancake. The pancake was not tasty because it was really grainy inside with no taste. My favorite was the pan fried rice cake since I have an obsession with chewy things. The gim-mari was a deep fried seaweed with Korean starch noodles inside. It was alright. The curry chicken dumpling wasn't that great either. The filling was minced chicken and starch noodles.

Kanto is last of the food stall I tried and they serve up Filipino food. I never had Filipino food and wasn't sure what to expect.

I ended up ordering the palabok. Word of advice, don't stand near the window too long or else you will end up smelling like oil and kitchen afterwards, hahaha. The taste of palabok was interesting. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's worth a try next time you are in the area.

Craft Dogs - Home of Handmade Hot Dogs

Gourmet hot dog joints are opening left and right. I really wanted to try JAPADOG from Vancouver after seeing it on Eat St. Craft Dogs is a recent addition to King St E and has been opened for less than one month. The website is currently under construction. Menu is very limited with the prices of hot dogs ranging from $7-$13, quiet pricey I have to say. Please note, they do not come with any sides. 

I ordered the Philly Cheese Steak Dog for $8.95 hoping it would taste like a Philly cheese steak butI wrong. The visual aspect of the hot dog was not appetizing and it was tiny! I was honestly not full after. The hot dog itself was too salty, I actually prefer the hot dog carts better after eating this. Everything barely fit into the bun and it bun started falling apart when it sauces started soaking into the bun. I did not enjoy this gourmet hot dog and definitely not worth the price tag of $8.95+tax. Will not be back, overall big disappointment. Please note, it also took forever long to get the order when it wasn't even busy.

Final Verdict: Below Par

Taiwan - Hello Kitty Sweets in Pictures

Everything was surprisingly really good except for dessert.

P.S. Not a Hello Kitty fan but dear friend was.

Hey MEATBALL

For those who follow Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, you know that Guy Fieri visited a couple spots in Toronto for the show and Hey Meatball was one of them. Located in Little Italy, lots of interesting restaurants in this area. Don't be surprised here, but this was my first time in Little Italy having lived in Toronto for soooooo long.

The menu is on the chalk board in the back. You place your order at the counter and they will call your name once it is ready. You find your own table and water is self served on the side. 

The chicken balls were featured on the show so of course I had to order it. It was chicken balls with mashed potato and mushroom gravy for around $12. You get THREE chicken balls on top of mashed potato covered with mushroom gravy. Nothing blew me away. It was alright.

The second item ordered was meatball (pork and beef) spaghetti for about $12 as well. Now this was below average. The meatballs were kind of tough, had a really strong pork taste. The noodles were more like an egg noodle instead of your normal white pasta. Not to my likings. The sauce was bland, not enough flavour. Overall, very disappointed and most definitely not worth $12!

Quite disappointed at this recommendation from Guy. Most people didn't finish their noodles around us either so that must be a sign... Will not be returning nor will I be recommending this place. 

Final Verdict: Par

Korea - Palsaek Samgyeopsal (8 Flavour Pork Belly BBQ)

As you can tell by the entrance, this restaurant has received a lot of media coverage for its famous 8 different flavours of pork belly.

Each table is setup like the below minus the meat where it was brought out upon ordering.

These are the condiments to go along with your pork belly. They offered three types of leaves for you to wrap your pork belly with. Perilla leaf, romaine lettuce and ???

Complimentary seafood tofu soup. Looks like it's not spicy right? No, once it starts boiling... it's get red and very spicy. It's a light but spicy seafood tofu soup.

The server will help you cook all the pork belly. All you need to do is eat.

My favorite flavour out of the 8 was the hot one. The hot flavour wasn't spicy at all, it was sweet and that's why I liked it. The second best one I liked was herb. It was something I never really tasted before. Overall, everything was alright, nothing really stood out. You definitely cannot eat the pork belly alone, or else you will get sick of it quickly. Having it wrapped with lettuce makes it not as heavy. Honestly, this was more gimmicky than anything else. The cost was 30,000WON enough to feed 2ppl which is less than $15CDN per person. Still worth a try when you are in Korea.