Café Propaganda (Rome, Italy)

The restaurant was opened approximately six months ago and they are already in the Michelin guide, so I had to check it out.

I have to confess that I love the Parisian style decoration. White subway tiles, crystal chandeliers, wooden tables and fresh tulips.

The service was friendly but somewhat without personality, I even felt I was in Paris (oops, sorry dear Parisian friends, you guys rock, I think you can relate to what I am trying to convey in here). They dressed casually, which is something that somehow I appreciate. I always felt a bit uncomfortable when going to restaurants where the staff has an uniform on. Too posh for me I guess.

The menu was located in two places, the main menu on a newspaper like format and a daily menu on the blackboard.

I knew exactly what I wanted to get as I browsed their online menu and I was happy with what I had.

My wine (La Randa) was fruity and delicious, I loved it!

I had a shrimp, artichoke, green apple, and crispy lettuce salad. The salad was very tasty and the shrimp fresh.

For dessert, I had a pistachio crème brûlée and it was soo good! It reminded me of the one from Marben in Toronto.

All said, the food was very good but I was not trilled. Quite honestly, I don't know how they ended up in the Michelin guide.

Would I return there? Why not? But I have plenty if places to visit in Rome before returning to Cafe Propaganda.

I wanted to note here that most of the clientele was Italian even though two of the tables were taken by tourists. This was quite shocking to me taken that they are located near the coliseum and I was having lunch after 2PM... I guess they work for the Italian government.

Ciao!

Da Felice a Testaccio (Rome, Italy)

When my Italian cooking teacher told me that Da Felice a Testaccio had the best food in Rome, I took his advice with a grain of salt but gave it a try.

I showed up at the restaurant on a Monday night without a reservation and was quickly turned down. My Italian isn't that good and because the place was very nice and full of Italians, I had to switch to English and start the "begging" process which I have became pretty good at, and 40 minutes later I was happily seated.

I don't have any regrets in walking on the empty streets of Testaccio for 40 minutes in a chilly night. After the food was served, I was in heaven.

Our server was kind, fun, and knowledgeable. He was fluent in English and could speak French, and probably Spanish as well, not to say Italian.

The restaurant had a very nice contemporary decor and plenty of brick walls. White tablecloths were mixed with modern looking light fixtures.

The food was fantastic! I loved every single thing I ate. We had a 2.5h dinner and it felt so right. No rush whatsoever. Slow food, great experience! That was the first time in my life I left a restaurant at midnight.

In Rome a restaurant can be easily critiqued by the quality of their cacio e pepe, a very simple dish (spaghetti, pecorino, and pepper). Theirs was exquisite! The beauty of roman cuisine is that they use (simple and what it used to be or still is) affordable ingredients to create fantastic dishes.

The ravioli with ricotta and spinach was excellent and so were the grilled veggies.

The desserts were to die for. I had a ricotta & pear- whipped ricotta with pear, and an almond and amaretto crust. Perfecto!

The tiramissu... Well, I had a short but intense relationship with mine. It was magical, just what I needed to sweeten my night and stop my tears. If you ever feel like crying, come to Rome. You will find a tiramissu to pick you up.

Please note that Da Felice a Testaccio was far away from the centro and therefore, we were the only tourists there tonight. Great food made for picky Roman eaters. This is the place to eat if you want to have a true Italian experience. Chef Andrea was right, this is so far the best food I ever had in Rome.

Roma, ti amo!

San Marco (Rome, Italy)

After walking around Rome for hours, we were hungry and motivated to go to L'arcangelo, an Italian restaurant that I had lined up for this trip. When we finally arrived at the location we were shocked to see that the restaurant was closed for Sunday dinner. We were about to give up in finding a restaurant when we found San Marco, a nicely decorated restaurant that happened to be opened for business. It is needless to say that there were only tourists in the restaurant and the food and service was mediocre. The only good dish I had was the freshly made gnocchi with mushroom. It was heavenly good!

The suffi and the mushroom, egg, and grana salad were very average.
BTW, the house wine was extremely affordable for 7£ per 1/2 liter.

Would I ever come back there? No way, but I'm thankful that they were opened and I was able to eat before going to bed after a long day. Jet leg? Oh, yeah, it is kicking in.

La Fiorentina (Rome, Italy)

I was strolling around Rome when I stumbled upon this pastry shop. La Fiorentina was packed with Italians on Sunday afternoon so I decided to enter and see what they had. I found a large selection of sweets and canapés. I grabbed a tiny square of mousse al limone. It was very good! I am so used to spot artificial flavors in pastries in North America that I felt in heaven to taste the real deal.

Pizzarium (Rome, Italy)

Today is Sunday, but for most of us in North America that does not change anything in our lives. The issue is that I'm in Rome and Domenica (Sunday in Italian), translates into a gazzilion things including finding a Restaurant opened during dinner time. Sounds weird to you? Well, It did it to me but I guess it is related to the slow movement. I have to admit that Italians are a pretty good at it.

That's the drilled down for my no so successful culinary experience for today. To start, we headed for late lunch at Pizzarium, a well known Roman pizza place that sell pizza by the weight. I actually did good by asking for a small slice of my favorite pizza in the world (potato pizza) :) if pizza was not a crime by itself, right?

The pizza was very good and juicy! I enjoyed every bite. It was not the best pizza ever but pretty solid. I still don't know why it was listed in the Rome's layover but, very good.

They offer 1 glass of wine for £1.5. Not bad eh!!

Anatolia Restaurant (Toronto, ON)

It was Friday night and I was wrapping up a gazzilion things at work before I headed to my so deserved vacation. After running some errands I found myself hungry and too lazy to drive much. That's when I stumbled upon Anatolia Restaurant. A Turkish restaurant at the far end of Dundas West.

We had fresh pide bread with homemade hummus as an appetizer.

I had a Beyti- which I don't know if it is the name of a Turkish dish or just a reference to one of the most famous restaurants in Istanbul. My dish consisted of kebab like spicy ground beef and lamb, wrapped in hand made “yufka” pastry, all topped with a savory, light tomato sauce and drizzled with warm butter and a sprinkled with ground pistachios. Heavenly!

I also tried the Gozleme, which is made of fresh “Yufka”, a Turkish style crepe filled with spinach, onions and feta cheese. Also fantastic!

For dessert we shared a kuneffe (a traditional turkish dessert), a very thin and shredded pastry with cheese and pistachios. I have to admit that it was a bit more sweet that I can handle but it was delicious.

I'm so in love with Turkish food that I could eat every day.

Oh, I cannot forget to mention that we had live Turkish music. I could not have had a better prelude for my trip to Turkey.

The Guild (Toronto, ON)

As you probably know, I completely screwed up this on this dinner by going to the wrong restaurant. I will provide details about The Guild later on. All that I can tell is that I had a gnocchi with wild boar ragu and it was pretty good.

The beignets were simple but so tasty. Love it!

This Side Up Restaurant (Toronto, ON)

I will totally blame this 'episode' at my inability of looking at numbers or maybe just because I was drained after having a very long and intense day at work. I had dinner plans at 7PM with my group at The Guild (one of the newest restaurant in Toronto, we went there for their second dinner) but I ended up going and spending one hour at This side up (two doors down from The Guild because.... I did not pay attention at the sign). After waiting for 40 minutes by myself and no one had showed up, I realized that something was really wrong,  so I asked the waiter to confirm in which restaurant I was in, and that's when I had the #Isoscreweduponthisone feeling. The silly thing is that the folks at This side up thought that they screwed up with my reservation and kindle gave me a table without mentioning to me that I was not in their reservation system, while what happened was that I just entered the wrong restaurant :)

This side up is a snack/cocktail bar at Dundas West. While glancing at the menu, I felt that I was looking at staples from a myriad of cultures. From Mexican Baja Fish Tacos, passing by Southern Fish Po'Boy to Korean inspired "Chicken Wings".

The decor is very Dundas West/Ossington like. The reclaimed church seats, candle lights, wooden tables, funky light fixtures, and a brand new large brick wall. The music was from the 80s and some from the 90s so I guess they were aiming at my generation. The staff was young, polite and relaxed.

They had a larger selection of beers, wines, and cocktails than food. I noticed that a lot of the patrons were getting take out.

I had the Basa Fish Po'Boy Sandwich to go and had it for breakfast on the next day after I realized that I was at the wrong restaurant.


What an experience.

Pulcinella Ristorante Italiano (Toronto, ON)

After finishing my last Italian class for the season and in preparation for my trip to Rome, I decided to have some good Italian food. The issue is that the weather was crappy and I was not willing to drive much and go to my favourite Italian places so I decided to go to Pulcinella.

Pulcinella is located on Lake Shore West and it is surrounded by some run down businesses, a pain centre, and a convenience store. It is not the prettiest part of Lake Shore but if you walk a bit more to the west you will find Woody's Burger and Burrito Boyz. Not that will get prettier, but it will get tastier.

The decor was nice and on the contemporary side. Wooden tables, white table cloths, pictures of italian landscape and stone on the walls. The list goes on...

The service was attentive and extremely polite.

The bread was delicious! I had the papperdelle ortolana, a pasta dish with sweet sausage, peas, asparagus, and leek, tossed in a wine creamy sauce. The food was tasty and good, not exceptionally good.

Will I return to Pulcinella? Of course I will! The have reliable comfort food.

Electric Mud BBQ (Toronto, ON)

Good BBQ food, hipster decor, loud music, and friendly service. That's the Electric Mud BBQ in a nutshell. Parkdale keeps getting better and better.

I was very happy with my choices. The shrimp & grits dish was delicious! I loved the truffled BBQ sauce, and the potato and cheddar grits. The collard greens were good as well but very different than what I was expecting. I also had the porch crawler cocktail and it was very refreshing. Perfect for summer time!

Just beware that they are a cash only establishment and they don't take reservations. They open on Sundays at 5:00PM and they were full at 5:45PM.

I would be happy to come back when it gets warmer.

Play Cabana Cantina (Toronto, ON)

Warning! this is not a food review. This is pure venting after going to Play Cabana Cantina and having feeling completely neglected from the beginning to the end.

To start, we entered the place (half empty) and there was no one around to seat us. After waiting by the door for approximately 2 long minutes (already frustrated- it felt like forever), I walked in and asked waitress #1 if I could pick any table. She asked me to give her a minute (and looked at me as if I was bothering her). Then waitress #2 finally came, checked our reservation on the iPad, and showed us our table.

We did not have a drink menu on our table and that created another set of delays during the time we were in there as waitress #2 was too busy to come back and ask for our drink order.

We shared the corn dish (elotes a la parrilla) as appetizer. It was tasty but it could have been better if it was warmer and if we had received our drinks by then.

I had a Cuban mojito and wow, it took 10 minutes for them to deliver the drink but it was outstanding! Their margarita was equality tasty. It may took too long because it seemed that the bartender had to remake a pitcher for another table or maybe because waitress #2 took too long to get our drinks from the bar. Who knows?

For my main I had the burrito de mariscos, and the catch of the day was the tilapia. It was delicious but it felt more like an enchilada than a burrito (not a complaint just a remark- good food is good food even when they serve fish when I order pork). I tried the Poblano chillies with cheese, rice and beans and it was to die for. It was great to know that you can have a great vegetarian dish in their menu. Kudos for the chef!

I felt that the service was super slow and did not care about us and it ruined our dining experience. After waiting so much for our drinks I decided to time how long would take us to get our main (acceptable 12:34 minutes).

Oh, I almost forgot to mention what a struggle was to pay for the bill....the money could be on the table forever waiting for her to give us the change.

If I could provide a feedback to the owners of Playa Cabana Cantina, I would say, keep the chef, the cooks and the bartender. Get ride of your waitresses. They suck! They clearly don't care about your patrons. 

As I am able to provide a tip to 1000+ foodies in Toronto, I will say, get takeout from Play Cabana Cantina if you don't want to have poor service because the food is really good.

Now is out! Feels so much better :)

Brockton General (Toronto, ON)

I have to admit that I found this tiny restaurant on Dundas West by online stalking Toronto chefs on twitter and I was very happy with my finding.

Unlike most of the places on the Ossington strip, this restaurant decor was very homey. Not that I am complaining about the decor of the hipster places on Ossington where you can clearly see the work of interior designs and architects. At the Brockton General, I had the impression that this place was there forever, and it felt comfortable dining in there because we had plenty of space for our food on the table and because we did not have to overhear conversations from the nearby tables. The only drawback, and I have to mention it not because it bothered me, but two of my friends were complaining a lot about the fact that the place was getting really cold every time someone opened the door.

The service was good and it felt like they were running a family business. My friends were very happy with their cocktails and after letting my wine to breathe, I was also happy with my choice. Love Spanish wines!

The food... well, I have to admit that we were all very pleased with everything that came to our table. We shared mussels on a wine,  cilantro, and jalapeño broth with fries and garlic mayo. The fries were outstanding and I am not a fan of french fries. I cannot describe what made those fries so good but there was something about the cut, the seasoning, the amount of oil... just guessing...

For the main, I had the ricotta cavatelli, Italian sausage, fennel, kale, and basil dish. It was rustic and delicious. The flavors were perfectly put together and the cavatelli was divine. I tried their gnocchi and it was perfect.

For desert I had the layered lemon curd pie, blueberries, whipped cream, graham crust. I have to admit that their interpretation of a lemon pie is different than mine but the dessert was good (not outstanding though). I tried the chocolate peach bread pudding with espresso ice cream and it was excellent.

It was great to end a Saturday night among good friends and having some great Italian homey food!

It is needles to say that I would go back to Brockton General. They are doing a fantastic job.

Casa Imperial (Toronto, ON)

After having not much luck with my dining options during the entire week, I hit jackpot at Casa Imperial on Saturday for lunch. Casa Imperial is a fine Hong Kong style Dim Sum restaurant in Scarborough. The decor is traditional and you will find large chandeliers, lots of mirrors, large round tables and beautiful table cloths. It is a beautiful house and is frequented mostly by Chinese families. The service was attentive and they speak English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

We ordered 7 dishes for 3 people and I think we ordered too much food. It was a feast! The quality of their dumplings is stellar. I was eating and feeling grateful for that experience. It was not my first time at Casa Imperial but it was another fantastic experience. I would recommend anyone to try this restaurant.

We ordered seafood dumplings with spinach, veggie dumplings with thread moss, meat dumpling with crab meat Shanghai style, snowpea leaf and king mushroom dumpling, cuttlefish tentacle with salted spicy,  fried tofu, steamed noodle roll with snowpea leaf and preserved pickle, and fish noodles with mushrooms. My favorite dishes were the seafood dumplings with spinach and the fish noodles with mushrooms. Mind you that the fish noodles were not in their menu. It was a special on that day.

They currently have an anniversary menu for 10 people for 490$. I think is worth the try!

Anyway, I cannot say enough thanks to Casa Imperial for providing the best Dim Sum experience in GTA!