Restaurant Review: The Fry

Address: 6012 Yonge, North York, ON M2M 3V9 (North of Cummer)

Hours: Dropped the ball on restaurant hours, will edit in after a return visit

I have been a fan of fried chicken ever since I could remember. I'd be willing to go out on a limb and say you'd be hard pressed to find a child in North America whose eyes wouldn't light up at the sight of the famous Colonel on a greasy paper bag and I was no different. Now I'm not knocking the Colonel (actually scratch that I am) but my fried chicken preferences have since evolved. I've learned to appreciate a good seasoning, a great batter (or lack thereof) and of course a great sauce. So although I am very familiar with KFC, I only recently experienced the Colonel's Asian counterpart, Korean Fried Chicken.

The Fry is one of a growing group of establishments in the GTA that specialize in Korean Fried Chicken and out of the ones I've tried they are definitely my favourite. Located on a strip mall (Man I eat at a lot of strip malls) north of Cummer on Yonge, The Fry is a small establishment, with probably only six or seven 4-seat booths (you already know the takeout option is well exercised). The menu is also small, which is usually a sign that you serve something worth eating (because why order anything else amirite?) so it didn't take us long to pick out things to order.

To start the dinner off we were brought two sets of appetizers. The first can be seen above, a simple plate of pickled radish, lettuce salad and macaroni salad. Definitely selling the East meets West theme with this one, as the first two appetizers are frequently seen in Korean and Japanese restaurants in Toronto while the latter is a fried chicken staple. Although the radish and the carrot-ginger dressed salad were typical (enjoyed them nonetheless) the macaroni was a nice surprise. Maybe it reminded me of the Colonel, for better or worse, but I like it either way.

The second appetizer was oiled hot plate of sweet corn. The corn itself had a sweet almost nutty taste due to the carmelization that was happening on the hot plate. I've never had corn served like this and it was a pleasant surprise to tide us over before the main course.

The first of the fried fowl to reach our table was the green onion fried chicken tenders. This was my favourite dish of the night; the tenders were extremely crisp and crunchy that held up well under the sweet soy-based sauce drizzled over neath. The spring onion strips impressed me by retaining their bite despite being extremely thin. In addition to this they were tossed in the aforementioned sauce which solved the issue of watery tasteless green onion ruining my chicken (an issue I had at Home of Hot Taste). I still can't get over how crispy and crunchy they were, the coating wasn't even overly thick. All in all it was an extremely satisfying dish, something I would order again.

Next up was the Korean fried chicken that we came for. We decided to get the half-half version which meant half of the chicken was smothered with sauce while the other half had the sauce on the side. I am pretty sure we were given the non spicy sauce by accident (we failed to specify and assumed we would get the spicy version) since this was not spicy at all. Like some of the KFC I have tried before the sauce was very sweet although this was less of a problem here than at other places. I would have enjoyed more seasoning in the breading as the lack of seasoning really shines through in the sauce-less basket. The coating was a standard thin Asian breading as opposed to the thicker craggy Western one that is often seen with fried chicken. Although both baskets were juicy on the interior the sauceless basket I would not order again. However I did enjoy the sauced basket and would come back again to try the spicy version.

The last dish of the night was spicy chicken with cheese. I love Korean dishes that feature cheese so prepare for some bias (if you're a return reader you would know that I'm hugely biased anyway :P). The dish contains pieces of chicken marinated in a gochujang based sauce (Korean chili paste) over a bed of cabbage, onions, and a variety of other shredded veggies. The whole thing is then baked with cheese (mozzarella in this case) until everything is goey and melty. The mozzarella was stringy and delicious, offering a rich accent to the spicy and sweet gotchujang. Like a true Asian I felt like this dish would have gone great with rice which is as good of a compliment as you can give to something you taste at a restaurant.

In the end I enjoyed my visit to The Fry. Whether or not you will enjoy yours will hinge on how you feel about sweet and spicy Korean dishes or juicy fried morsels of chicken.

Yea, I thought so.
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Restaurant Review: Gourmet Malaysia

Gourmet Malaysia

Address: 4466 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough ON M1S1V2

Hours: Open from 11 am everyday till 10:30 pm Monday-Thursday, 11:30 pm Friday-Saturday and 11:00 pm on Sundays.

I remember visiting my uncle in Malaysia as a young child, it was probably the earliest step towards my love of spicy foods. Fresh and dried Asian chilis frequently accompanied every meal and sauces that incorporated chilis were everywhere. Although not many memories regarding the food remain, often times I will taste something and a tinge of familiarity will spark in my mind, almost like deja vu. But enough of the nostalgia, we have a review to go through.

Gourmet Malaysia is a Malaysian/Indonesian restaurant located near the corner of Sheppard and McCowan. The restaurant resembles a large dining hall, with rectangular tables setup in row by row fashion and booths lining the windows. The menu is large and although I usually have my misgivings regarding large menus, in South East Asian restaurants this seems like common place. As I begin to peruse the menu something catches my eye. "Roti with beef curry". Roti canai (the South East Asian roti) is one of my earliest food memories. During a family trip to Thailand I remember coming home late with my mom and aunt after a long day of shopping (much to the dismay of my poor little feet). With the shopping spree over it was finally time to eat and we stopped at the only place open late on our way back to the hotel; a street vendor selling roti with curry. We took our new found meals up to our room and while my parents struggled with the lack of utensils I dove right in with my hands. The roti was chewy and buttery, almost flaky. Accompanying it was an aromatic yellow curry that was bursting with flavour, needless to say my young self mopped it all up. Ever since then I've been a huge fan of roti and I order it whenever I can.

Gourmet Malaysia's Roti with Curry Beef didn't disappoint, the roti itself was chewy and rich, a great accompaniment for the complex and flavourful Malaysian curry. Our group lamented that we should have all just gotten individual portions of roti, I wholeheartedly agreed.

Next we had the Crispy Boxing Chicken (due to one of my friends finding the name amusing). The chicken was prepped "lollipop style", which means the drumettes were cut near their smaller end and the meat was scraped with a knife towards the larger end (incidentally I've been told you can do these with the wing itself once you take out the smaller of the two bones). The dish is accompanied by generic sweet chili sauce and like the sauce the dish itself is not very memorable. I like fried things and the chicken was good, but you wouldn't be missing much by skipping this dish.

Next up on the docket was Soto Ayam, an Indonesian chicken soup accompanied with noodles. My friends enjoyed the soup while personally I found the taste of hard boiled eggs too pervasive. The chicken itself would have had a better texture if it was cut thinner or if it was shredded before being added to the soup. Decent nonetheless.

 

The next appetizer was Deep Fried Prawns with Chili and Garlic. With shrimp I have always struggled with whether I preferred them cooked shell on or off. In this case I would have definitely preferred it cooked without the shells despite it traditionally being done otherwise since the flavourful coating on the outside ended up being lost when you peeled the shrimp. Ways around this include eating the prawns shell and all (I tried this with a couple shrimp and found it a little unpleasant) or sucking the shell for flavour before removing it and eating the shrimp (the best compromise I could come up with). Overall this appetizer was good, though like all fried things you need to eat while hot!

Next we tried Nasi Goreng with Seafood in Belacan Sauce (pictured above). Now that I'm at home I was able to find out that nasi goreng simply means fried rice in Indonesian and belacan sauce was another name for shrimp paste. We ended up ordering Indonesian fried rice with shrimp paste, which was unfortunate because we also ordered another dish... the Indonesian fried rice -_-. I bet the chefs in the back had a great laugh about that. Overall I the fried rice was decent, the flavour of the shrimp paste was strong, acting as a backdrop to other familiar Indonesian flavours of chili, garlic and shallots.  I have almost become numb to the presence of frozen vegetables in Asian fried rice, but  the rice here also had morsels of shrimp, squid and other seafood nestled within.

For dessert we had Ice Kacang, otherwise known as ais kacang or Malaysian shaved ice. Asian shaved ice always seem overloaded with toppings in a comical kind of way and honestly thats just the way I like it. The shaved ice at Gourmet Malaysia had agar agar, grass jelly, what I think is cendol (correct me if I'm wrong), red beans, sweet corn and condensed milk plus a single scoop of vanilla ice cream. To me the ice kacang was the perfect ending to a meal, especially since good Asian shaved ice is limited in the city. Keep in mind I'm a sucker for dessert though =D

Although I barely scratched the surface of Gourmet Malaysia's behemoth menu, what I was able to try has been promising. Sure there were some average at best dishes, but there were some gems of delectable proportions to be had as well and with a menu this big, who knows what other treasures lie hidden at Gourmet Malaysia.

Recommended

Tidbits: featuring Hogtown Smoke, Smith Brothers, Pho Vietnam and The Burger's Priest

I haven't had the chance to do a full review of a restaurant in a while but I still want to share with you guys some of the things I've had the pleasure (or displeasure) of eating recently. Therefore I've decided to introduce a new series of posts called Tidbits. These posts will showcase specific dishes from several restaurants I've visited within the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this will allow me to create more content when times get busy and I can't take the time to do a proper review. Sorry for the bad pictures, I've been making due with my crappy camera phone for now until I get an upgrade.

First on the docket is the brisket infused burger at Hogtown Smoke. Hogtown Smoke originated as one of the first food trucks in the Toronto area and they opened up their first physical location around the end of last year in The Beach area. The burger itself is Angus ground, topped with pulled pork, BBQ sauce, caramelized onions, red peppers, three cheeses and bacon. First impressions, this thing is massive. I've always held that the best sandwiches were the messiest ones but I feel like this burger takes it a little too far as the pulled pork falls off, which in and of itself wouldn't be a bad thing if the cheese wasn't melted onto it. Once the cheesey pork fell off it was hard to put it back onto the burger which was disappointing since the flavour from the cheese was very good. The pulled pork/onion/pepper topping was too sweet for my taste, I feel like the sweet BBQ sauce and the sweetness of the onions kind of overpowered everything. Despite this the burger patty itself was very flavourful, but it was not without its flaws. Personally I like two different types of burgers, ones with thick meaty patties that are cooked almost medium/medium rare like a steak and thin patties with great crust (the only reason I separate them into these categories is that I feel its hard to get the best of both worlds). The Hogtown burger was thick but it was very dry in the middle, which made it kind of tough. Overall not the best effort, considering how good the BBQ from this joint is.

Next up is the New York strip from Smith Brothers. Accompanied by Smith's signature shoestring fries this New York strip is a thing of beauty. I am a vehement meat eater, so nights like these have me smiling like a little kid on Christmas. This was the first time I've ever had shoestring fries and I admit I was a little disappointed. I love fries (jeez what the hell do I not love) and I expected shoestring fries to be super crispy delicious morsels of carbs. Sadly that was not the case as the fries did not have the expected crispy nor crunch. The sauce that I ordered was the Mushroom Cabernet, the flavour of the wine definitely comes through but the earthiness of the mushrooms seems lost in the sauce. The steak itself is cooked to a beautiful medium rare and its flavour is pretty good. Not the most flavourful steak I've ever had but definitely juicy and cooked well. I do wish there could have been a better crust on it, but in the end it was a valiant effort.

Third up is pho from Pho Vietnam. This was probably the most disappointing dish of the post. Good pho has deep complex flavour and tons of body which the broth at Pho Vietnam lacked on both fronts. The broth felt like it wasn't given enough time to develop proper flavour as the depth normally seen in pho was missing, this was probably due to the onions and ginger not being charred enough during the cooking process before they were added to the soup. In addition to this the broth was very thin and didn't have the usual coat your mouth texture that good pho broths have. Overall disappointing since there are numerous good pho places in and around the city.

Nearing the end of the week I felt a little lost, so I decided to drop by The Burger's Priest for a little 1on1 with his Holiness. I ordered the Priest which is a traditional cheeseburger with an added cheese stuffed portobello mushroom patty. The portobello and cheese patty is coated with panko breadcrumbs (the superior breadcrumb, hue) before being fried up and served hot. The patty itself is fantastic, intensely flavourful with a nice light crust on the outside but the star of the show was definitely the portobello patty. The secret cheese blend oozes out of the crunchy exterior of the mushroom patty when you bite into it, smothering the rest of the burger in its delectable flavour. The burger is a messy one, but not overly so, and every bite is as delicious as the last. Definitely one of the best burgers I've ever had.

Thanks for reading! You can find more information on the restaurants featured here below:


Hogtown Smoke: @hogtownsmoke

Smith Brothers Steakhouse: @smithbrossteak

Pho Vietnam: Yelp Page

The Burger's Priest: @burgerspriest

Restaurant Review: Aoyama Sushi

Aoyama Sushi 

Address: 2766 Victoria Park Ave Toronto, ON M2J4A8 416-494-7373416-494-7373 

Hours: 5:30 pm to 10:00pm Monday to Friday and 5:00pm to 10:00 on Weekends

(skip the first paragraph rant on sushi if you just care about the review)
I have been meaning to try Aoyama for a long time in the hopes of finding a quality sushi establishment uptown. Japanese cuisine in Toronto is dominated by AYCE sushi restaurants and although I do enjoy the occasional binge with friends I've never been much of a fan. Sushi may seem like a simple food to create but like any good dish there are many intricacies that lead to a quality end product. The thinness of the fish, the acidity of the vinegar, the rate at which the sushi rice is cooled during the mixing process and the way each piece is molded all influence its taste (not to mention the variety of condiments and/or toppings a chef decides to add to each piece). These things are all but lost in the AYCE culture which is a shame because once you have a quality piece of sushi you almost never want to go back. In the end the most important factor in making good sushi is the freshness of the fish and good chefs will make sure that the fish is the star of each bite and not overpowered by any of the other ingredients. But enough with the banter, on with the review!

Nestled in a strip mall on Victoria Park, just north of Sheppard sits Aoyama. This unassuming restaurant is small; having only enough room for probably just under 30 people. There is a single sushi chef working behind the counter with two Japanese speaking servers rounding out the front of the house. On my first visit we ordered the tasting menu (forget the exact name since they have multiple, sorry!)

First came a round of appetizers which featured a couple yakitori skewers (chicken thigh and green onions), salmon pate with a ponzu like sauce and some steamed edamame. The skewers were okay, standard teriyaki glaze, ours happened to be cold by the time they made to the table which was a little disappointing. The salmon follow-up was interesting, the sauce had a sour almost tomato-esque undertone while the pate itself was flavourful, its richness accented well by the sauce. The edamame were good, I'm a big fan of edamame when done right and although these weren't perfect they were better then what you usually get in Toronto.

Some of you may have noticed the flat tea pot in the above picture. Despite what it looks like, there was no tea in the pot but instead a delicious seafood broth. It was a pleasant surprise; it appeared to be a simple dashi stock with a variety of seafood added to it but it was so good that it became the highlight of the night (eat that Sports Center).

Following the apps came grilled black cod. Something very commonly seen in Japanese restaurants, often accompanied with a miso glaze, the cod at Aoyama was average, the buttery flesh had great flavour but the fish was a tad overcooked for my taste.

Next came the main event; sushi! From left to right/top to bottom: we have toro (fatty tuna belly), hamachi, salmon, kani (real crab meat), tamago (sweet egg), ika (squid), raw sweet shrimp, uni (sea urchin), bbq eel and some salmon maki. Now I want to preface this part by saying that toro is my favourite type of nigiri of alllllllll time. On my first trip to Japan I was introduced to it and I literally finished the restaurant's entire cut of tuna belly (not a good financial decision in retrospect btw) so I was a little disappointed by the toro here. Some general notes: the sushi in general was very fresh but the rice itself and the way they were put together were very inconsistent. Some rice clumps were irregular in shape and fell apart, while some cuts of fish (namely the toro and salmon) had tears and incomplete cuts that were simply hidden under the sushi and not completely cut off.

There were bright spots though. The salmon and sweet shrimp were great, full of flavour and very fresh. The uni, crab, tamago and hamachi were good as well, while the rest were average. As I alluded to before the toro was a big disappointment, this was exacerbated by the sauce that was brushed onto it before serving which overpowered the sushi with a watery almost sour taste. Overall the first visit left me with mixed feelings and a little underwhelmed, so I decided to go again in the hopes they could redeem themselves.

 

On my second visit we started with sashimi omakase (which means chef's choice) which was a huge step up from sushi. The scallop and sweet shrimp were amazing and we would have been happy with a whole plate of just those two cuts. The rest of the fish was also very fresh, much better then what you would usually find uptown and rivaling those of some great downtown establishments. Good start.

Next came the spicy salmon and shrimp tempura rolls. The rolls once again showed some sloppy craftsmanship that we saw before in the sushi. The rice was uneven, the roll itself fell apart at places and the tempura had an odd thick coating when compared to normal tempura batter. The taste itself wasn't hurt too much by this but it was still resoundingly average.

Next came something different. Labeled on the menu as mountain potato with tuna sashimi, some later research revealed it to be Yamakake (shout outs to Viv for that Japanese hookup), a type of Asian yam. I have actually seen my aunt use slices of these in her soups, they have a bland taste a tad lighter then a regular potato. Once grated the texture can only be described as sticky and viscous, similar to natto (a Japanese fermented bean dish). We were advised to put wasabi and soy sauce straight into the bowl and mix it all together before consuming. Although I found it kind of bland even after the aforementioned additions, I can kind of see what the dish was trying to do. The yam being a light backdrop that helps highlight the flavour of the fish while the soy gives you the umami and the wasabi the kick. Although I didn't enjoy it, it was definitely interesting.

To finish we had beef tataki served with ponzu (yep beef for dessert). For the life of me I could not find online what the red stuff next to the green onions were, which bothered me since when added together to the ponzu it really elevated the dish (a cookie to the first person that can tell me what it is). Shoutouts to Ken for informing me that the red stuff is momiji oroshi a mixture of grated daikon radish and chili peppers. The beef was a little unevenly cut but flavour wise the dish was good, nice smokey notes from the marinade and sear on the beef plus the spicy, sweet and sour ponzu was a perfect accompaniment.

For the price I feel like Aoyama falls short on some fronts, but while my first visit was disappointing the second definitely made up for it. In the end the food can still be considered a cut above other Japanese restaurants in the city; provided you know what to order.

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