Cafe Crepe

On Queen Street West, in front of the City TV building.
Enter and get one step ahead, the mood of 50's atmosphere surrounds with big old movie posters on walls and well-polished geometric patterned floor, and appeals to the senses if you tripped to some cafe in Europe. At the same time, the fresh-baked sweet aroma cocoons everybody in floaty bliss -- this is a cafe, "Cafe Crepe."

Some reviews says that "Cafe Crepe had brought everything Parisian from France into Toronto." Mmm, the word "Parisian" itself, sounds very soothing, even though I have never been to France.

You may imagine that their specialty is crepes, but also their espresso is very good. I love espresso-based drink such as cappuccino, mochaccino, or latte, and they use illy coffee beans (Italian coffee brand, uses Arabica beans - "considered to have a richer taste and lower caffeine content than Rubusta beans," Wikipedia).

Look at this cappuccino!!
To get to its liquid part, you have to use a spoon and dig in this huge amount of form milk, which has 5cm thick and 3cm higher than the edge of the cup, tastes even sweet without adding any sugar -- if you want this, order "large size." ;-) You'd better be sure that you are extremely hungry.

This is their mochaccino. The difference between cappuccino and mochaccino is chocolate syrup, and whipping cream on top (you can order with no whipping cream - who would?). My husband loves this mocchachino because it's much sweeter than other mocchachino he has ever had. Oh, the mochaccino in this picture is "regular size," F.Y.I.

My recommendation for the crepe here are the savory crepes. Crepe probably sounds like a sweet dessert for you, but cheese and vegetables (of course meat too - sorry, Leo) make crepe beautiful meal. The crepe dough(?) itself is moist in center part and crispy at its edge. Especially in this picture, I know it may look too simple or boring, but it would blow you away to the heaven.
Try it anyway! You'll thank me.

And here you go, for SWEETS LOVER!



Dark Chocolate & Banana
(whipping cream -$0.50, vanilla ice cream -$1.00)

They also have some sandwiches and grilled sandwiches (Panini). I am not a big fan of big amount of bread and buns usually; however, I accidentally ordered grilled Panini instead of crepe with Swiss cheese, ham, and tomato because all ingredients look alike, only differences are skins, outside. But -- oh, my gosh, it was an amazing mistake. Sooooo good. The cheese was melted nice and hot enough and it was a gorgeous combination with the ham and tomato, pressed between fresh baguette sliced in half with buttered around.
It is reasonable, fills your tummy with happiness!!

Order their outside counter and take it with you. I would be great spice for your explore on Queen Street West Village which has bunch of artistic shops like pop-culture shops, antique shops, furniture shops, and galleries!!

Cafe Crepe (Map)
238 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 1Z7
Tell : 416-260-1611
Sun-Thu 9am-10pm
Fry-Sat 9am - midnight

Affogarto - Cafe Demetre -

Affogarto = "drowned"
As the name of this Italian dessert suggests, Affogart is basically the style to have ice cream (usually vanilla) with some liquid; espresso shot, liqueur, coffee, tea, etc.
The most popular liquid for this dessert is espresso shot. This is called "Affogato al Caffe" and this espresso is for pouring onto the ice cream, not for drinking directly (you can if you want). So you can enjoy hot espresso, frozen ice cream, and cold milky coffee taste all at once.

I love this dessert as much as I love the combination of creme brulee and cappuccino, but I had never seen this in Toronto. It is easy to make as you imagine, so I used to make it for myself whenever I bought nice, rich vanilla ice cream, such as Haagen-Dazs.

Two weeks ago, Luke and I watched a movie "Step Brothers" with his friends Derek and April. (It was hilarious movie!! - you will laugh until your muscle hurt) After the movie, we went to a cafe Demetre in Eglinton area for some coffee and chat.
I used to live the neighbor of this Demetre. My friends loved to come here to have various kinds of desserts, and I used to order one like the picture below, because they did not have any smaller. To eat this, I had to skip breakfast or lunch.


BUT this time, I found the Affogato I love!! Good size, rich taste, deep aroma - maybe too much to say.. :-) Anyway, this made my day gorgeous. Luke said that I was smiling the whole time I was eating my lovely Affogato.

If you love the taste of coffee, try this.
It would be able to melt you!!

Demetre (Uptown)
188 Eglinton Ave., East
Toronto, ON M4P 2X7
Tel : 416-485-4610
Open for 14:00 - 23:30
(Fri & Sat 14:00 - 1:30)

BBQ in Ajax

sunflowers @ Ralph & Beth's

I don't know why my blog always becomes like a food diary. I think writing about food does not harm much people and also can make some people happy by bringing them to their imaginary restaurant.

The place this time I'll take you to is a BBQ, a representative of summer!!
While many of my classmates were in Niagara Falls (probably in the rain), Me and my husband Luke were having juicy, well-spiced stake and chicken breast with marinated salad, baked potatoes and beans, in a beautiful house with an air conditioner. Mmmm. (great meal + great temperature = heaven)

The hosts who invited us are Ralph, Luke's ex-coworker and has been a good friend, and Beth, his wife. They got married in 2005 and moved to Ajax in 2006. They used to live in Toronto until then and we had seen once a while, so Luke was very sad when he heard that they were moving.
There were also a couple invited to this BBQ, Rob and his wife Michelle. Rob is also Luke's ex-coworker and has been a good friend. They also used to live close to us, so it also seemed to hit Luke strong when they moved out. However, we all have been keeping in touch and have great meetings once a while.


On the way to Ajax
Ajax is a little far from Toronto so Rob and Michelle always offer us a ride, very nice of them. We went their house in North part of Toronto by TTC subway. Soon as we got on highway 401 east, rain started to hit us strongly. I guess I was very hungry at that time (Rafael always tells me that I always am), so I started to be afraid if we will be told there will be no BBQ, because I thought BBQ must be held outside like people's backyard, beach or park mainly, from my experience in my country. But I could not see those feeling in any of their face. I was going to learn that BBQ does not mean outside always.

The style of entertaining guests is different as Japanese way, I meant, it is great! Basically, amount of food is amazing. At the beginning you get a drink and healthy vegetables with dips and have nice and fun chatting to catch up with everyone.. I like this part. Although I always realize suddenly that I ate too much of them, next moment my hand is reaching more for corn chips and fresh veges. I know I should reduce the amount of appetizers to have beautiful main dinner after, but they are too good to resist.
Beth made three kinds of dips and my favorite was hummus (which I can not pronounce well), made of chickpeas, sesame paste, garlic and lemon juice, mainly. (In this picture, the right one on the bottom.)
I should make those sometimes.. this is the sentence I always comment and never going to perform. Having something nice which somebody made for me is always happier than making by myself.

While we were chatting with drinks, Ralph was grilling BBQ foods for us on the deck of his backyard. Having my own barbecue would be nicer if we had place to set up in summer or to put away when we don't use; however, we probably will never own one: I would be too lazy to clean up after we use. My husband? Well, he says he is also too lazy ;-)
Anyway, I took a photo of my dish. After this dish, I had another one with chicken, of course.

And you know what? You can also hear from me about the gorgeous dessert that I had AFTER all these nice meals - Chocolate Berry Cake!!!

Amaizing!! The presentation of this cake was so beautiful, I admired Beth a lot! Berries are sweet and fresh, so good with chocolate pudding and cinnamon tart underneath of them. Ralph cut them for us and gave me a big piece so it filled me up with the coffee he made. Why sweets and strong black coffee are so nice to be together - such a fantastic combination. Sweet-n'-coffee-holic me!


Not only gorgeous dinner, they are very good friends of us even though we all are spread to different ages (Luke is the youngest one) and different areas to live. The conversation with them teaches me lot of things, even if the topics are sometimes "men" things. They gave me a big, warm welcome three years ago when I moved to Canada and had no friends here. I felt bad that I was very nervous at that time by not be able to understand most of things they were talking about, and I pulled the bottom of Luke's shirt to ask him to explain to me. Now I am very happy that I can feel more comfortable to listen and talk to them in English, and see myself having fun for it. Someday I will invite them to our place and make dinner for them, just like they always do to us, at that time I will be more confident to entertain them.

Summerlicious - Jaaadu

Second time for the Summerlicious 2008! Like I said, I LOVE FOOD.

This time was an East Indian Restaurant, "Jaaadu Restaurant." Sounds a little strange, but I forgot to ask if it has any meanings - oh well, I will next time. Actually their location was in our neighborhood, just a little south east of us. However, the restaurant itself looks very expensive to me - tables are covered by white well-ironed clothes and napkins, glasses and cutleries are all set up nicely; therefore, I had never tried this restaurant before.

When we got the restaurant, nobody else was there. I was a bit afraid if their meals would not be good or they were not so popular. However, servers were very nice and polite and the restaurant was designed with a black motif and was sophisticated, which made its atmosphere very welcoming and calm.

The alcohol suggestion of the server was the special Indian cocktail, which I don't remember its name, contained at least rum, vodka, pomegranate, orange juice.. tasted little bit like martini which I don't drink much (I like gin though). My friend suggested to me to have more with her, but I guess one short strong cocktail was enough for me as a student who had lots of homework..

As you learned from my former posting, restaurants have special menu for Summerlicious. In Jaaadu, you can choose one of three each - starter, main, and dessert. This is the most exciting part at the any restaurant to imagine what each meals look and their tastes are.

Starter : Curried Squash Soup

Mmmm, very nice creamy soup, not so hot but had enough temperature that people do not have to wait to bring spoon to your mouth as often as they want. You still can feel smooth squashy taste with some kind of ethnic spices, and it is not persistent at all. Some people seem to dislike squash, but I love it.

Main : Curried Lamb Shank

"New Zealand Lamb Shank amazingly slowly braised and cooked with tomato, fresh herbs, cumin, coriander, ginger and poppy seed, accompanied with Long Grain Saffron Scented Basmati Pilaf Rice" (Jaaadu)

Soft!! Tender!! You don't even have to use knife, it would come off so smoothly when your fork touches its body.

Dessert : Gulap Jamun

"Dried milk and Flour cooked and dipped in Honey Syrup with Bay Leaf, Cardamom & Cinnamon. Strained milk froth & sprinkled with crushed Pistachio." (Jaaadu)

The deep fried balls soaked in Honey were very, very sweet themselves, and I could not have eaten without form milk on top. It'd be much better if more strawberries were there.

In addition, there was another choice: Rice Pudding (Rosewater scented carnation milk based Rice Pudding. Traditionally called "Kheer" - Jaaadu) which one of my friends chose. I've had rice puddings at Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Tibetan restaurants and did not like them at all. Warm sweet sweet sticky rice with something creamy like custard was not my taste, but this one changed my ground about rice pudding totally (recipes can be different depend on culture)
- it was very very good. I would love to come back anytime for this rice pudding if this restaurant was more wallet-friendly..


Their summerlicious dinner course was $25 (lunch was $15, before tax, tip and any additional order like drinks). According to their original menu, it can be around $50 or more per person for ordinary dinner like ordering appetizer, main, and drinks.
I love delicious, fancy Indian dinner of course, but the special lunch of the day "Butter Chicken" at the Indian restaurant in York Lane (@ York University) also makes me enough happy and satisfied, just by paying $6.50.


Jaadu Restaurant (Map)

1415 Yonge Street, Toronto,
ON M4T 1Y7
Tel : 416-944-8885
Email : info@jaaadu.com
closed Sundays

Summerlicious - Bloom

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, Summerlicious!!!
I can not miss this. I LOVE food.

Summerlicious has been started July 4, 2008. According to the City of Toronto's website, over 130 restaurants are participating and providing their special course menu for this event, you can have them by reasonable price such as $15-$20 for lunch and $25-$35 for dinner.


The restaurant we chose this time, Bloom, is located between Jane station and Runnymede station on Bloor Street West. Although I made our reservation few hours ago, luckily we could get a table for four people for Saturday lunch. I walked into at the head as exactly as I was proud of myself since I failed making reservations last year for Winterlicious, and I told the server about my reservation. He asked me what my phone number was, with full smiley face. I explained him that nobody asked over the phone. Then suddenly, his face got frozen.

"What? No number? What a beautiful!!"

I pretended that I did not hear it, but his voice was high enough to hear. I could not understand whether he got upset or it was not a big deal. Maybe he was having a bad day? I don't know. To me, if the customer who has right name with right number of people arrived at the restaurant right on time, missing the phone number should not be a problem. It also didn't sound like joking at all.

Anywayyyyyyy. Let's talk about FOOD. That must make me feel much better.

For Summerlicious, basically you choose each one you like from appetizer, entree, and dessert. By the way, has any of you had an experience that looking at the menu confused you? I had, when I came to Canada first time in my life. Why? Because menu here doesn't have any pictures; names of meal are gergons to me, it takes a while to imagine what you are reading about items. I came from a big service country (which has good and bad though), Japan, which has pictures of items at most of restaurants so there was no need to imagine and no need to ask.

Oops, let's go back to food AGAIN. In most cases, I get lost easily when I am really excited to talk about my favorlite things.

Items I had;

"Mixed seafood ceviche, melon salad"

- The seafood on this plate were shrimp, squid, and scallop. Presentation on this dish amazed me and made me wondered where I should start. I felt that didn't want to make any mess on this colourful, beautiful plate. Of course I finished in 5-7 min. though - too hungry to FEEL food.

# Ceviche : (South America, Peru) Flesh seafood, mixed with onion and chili pepper, marinated by lemon zest.

"Marinated salmon filet, mango salsa, seafood risotto"

- Seafood again. I love them, as much as rice. This usually is the moment I recognize that I am Japanese. I don't like spicy food like chili something, but this meal had good spices which lead risotto as boring taste usually, to wonderful delicious meal.

"White chocolate, Vanilla, Creme Brulee"

- I LOVE CREME BRULEE!!!! When I hear or see this word, I just can not resist. Have you seen the movie "Ameri"? Like her, I always get so excited about breaking this caramel top gently and calmly with my little spoon. This is the one which has never betrayed me. So I went for it. Tasted beautiful, as always.

These below are plates others chose;





Now.

Are you done with your imagination for this topic? Then I have some addition for you.

Their washroom might be able to be one of topics you can make, during the conversation. The washrooms have mirrors at three dimensions on the four walls. If you are female, you would not care so much, because the wall you are looking at does not have any mirror. But if you are male - you have to face to your face when you are having a small business.

A husband of my friend found it first and immiedately made rest of us feel excited to see. Of course, my husband was the only one another person who reacted and agreed so much with his discovery.

After all, it was a very wonderful lunch at the nice, sober and sophisticated restaurant, even though the server left us a little question and mirrors were wierd.

The event continues until July 20.

Try summerlicious as many as possible, if you are FOOD lover!!

* find participated restaurants and their menu for Summerlicious 2008


Bloom Restaurant

2315 Bloor Street West,
Toronto, ON (MAP)
Tel : 416-767-1315