Axia Restaurant & Bar

Location:

A-5045 Plantation Pl., Mississauga

If it weren't for the "Restaurant & Bar" in the name...you'd think Axia were a club. 

You did, didn't you?

Well, it's not.  I don't know why they named it that, 'cause the inside of it looks like some sort of vacation package hotel....cane chairs upholstered in tropical fabric, hanging plants, palm trees, hanging lanterns and Christmas lights.  

Then again, the outside looks like some sort of Iron Chef set. 

Listen, don't try to figure it out...just enjoy the eats.










You'd be hard pressed to walk in there without a reservation...it's consistantly packed with plenty of wait time...yep, just like a club.

TRAVEL: New Hampshire, Thon Khao

Location:

427 Amherst St., Nashua, NH

Who knew such a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, strip-mall restaurant could rival some of my fave Thai restos in Toronto!



For the  $8.95 Lunch special, the Green curry chicken, salad & pork dumplings and the Chicken with cashews, salad & pork dumplings were special, indeed.

As always, I could have done without the side salad, but the portions were generous and the flavours were authentic.

And who doesn't like their rice shaped into something fancy?

Thai Senses

Location:

www.thaisenses.ca

How apt, we came to our senses and left Compass's Grand Opening to grab some real grub and found Thai Senses.

A wonderful hospitality and creative dishes made for a memorable meal.



The coconut ice-cream was complimentary!

Besides the creepy fish head, the meal was quite tasty and a welcome change in hospitality from Compass Lakeside Grill.

Sukhothai

Location:

274 Parliament Street, Toronto

www.sukhothaifood.com

So it's in a shady location, what does it matter when you can get real, authentic Thai food?

Sukhothai, which sounds wonderful when chanted (su-kho-THAI! su-kho-THAI!) as my friend did in anticipation of our visit, is a tiny Thai resto in Corktown.

We got there at a decent hour when most of the tables were free and we could have our pick (so we picked a table for four for two of us), but soon it filled up and there was a massive line-up.

It must be pointed out, that we weren't ever rushed to leave because of the large line.  It brought to mind the awful Mildred Pierce in Liberty Village where filling seats was more important than food and service.

It should be pointed out also, that we ordered enough food for six and needed that table for all the dishes!

Since I am pointing things out, I could also point out that I don't like soup, and you would already know this if you're a regular reader of this blog, but if not, I'm telling you that I only partake in soup when a) I am sick b) it's home-made FOR me c) it's the dead of Winter and everyone else is going for soup and I don't have a lunch.

That said, the coconut, chicken soup at Sukothai is to die for.  I hate when reviews use words like 'bursting with flavour' but I am at a loss of words to describe it in any other way!

(dish descriptions from Sukhothai website menu)

Tom Kha Gai :
a creamy coconut, chicken soup, overflowing with fresh cut herbs. Galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, coriander, onions and tomatoes.  Served with rice (starter portion also available)

Coconut soup

We had the starter portion and shared it. Even after trying all the other dishes, we still came back to this one, in awe. It's eye-googling good. I'm coining this the word for when you taste something so good that you look at another person with such incredulity on your face with eyes open wide. Eye-googling. That's how good it is.  Something Derek Zoolander would say.  Eye-gog-a-ling.

Spring rolls:
Crispy vegetarian rolls with glass noodles, mushrooms, carrots and beansprouts.  Served with our home-made, sweet and sour, garlic sauce.

Spring Rolls

We pounced on our rolls right away and they were steaming hot.  S o much so that we couldn't really taste much after oohing the hot air out of our mouths.

Spring Rolls

So the last of the three rolls we left to cool down completely before trying again and then realized it tasted a bit funny.  Spoiled or perhaps just a distinct flavour of sourness?  Couldn't tell so we left it at that.  It didn't ruin the rest of the meal for us that's for bloody sure.

Sukhothai Pad Thai: Our “Sukh’ed up”, Northern Thai version of the Pad Thai is a must to try.  You will find a slightly different take on Pad Thai depending on where you are in Thailand.  This is a taste of our Chef’s hometown goodness.  Extras:  made with peanuts, more herbs and a small-town, northern-style, authentic-Thai twist.

Sukhothai Pad Thai

Sukhothai Pad Thai

Nyum nyum....didn't blow us out of the water upon first try.  At home, as leftovers though, incredible!!

Khao Soi:
Yellow noodles in curry gravy with green onions, coriander and a light, crispy noodle topping.  Choice of chicken or beef.  A specialty from Northern Thailand, it’s got a lot of texture and even more flavour.

They suggested this would be better with beef, but I don't do beef too much, so chicken it was.  We both agreed it was good, but the overpowering curry taste did us in.  The crispy noodles on top were perfect with the soft noodles below.  I don't like anything to be too gravy-ied so the gravy was  a bit much for me.   Good with rice as a curry dish, and definitely quite heavy.  Great for sharing and as left-overs!

Khao Soi

Crispy noodles, Khao Soi

Gaeng Panang:
Panang curry with kaffir lime leaves, basil leaves, red and green pepers and coconut milk. Choice of chicken, beef or tofu and served with rice.  Richer than the others and more about the meat.

Gaeng Panang: All about the meat, indeed

Gaeng Panang

This was a lovely dish, really fresh ingredients.  The kaffir lime leaves - goodness!! Absolutely delightful with rice.  I can see this one being a hit with my Moms.

They gave us our dessert on the house.  <3!!!

Tapioca with coconut milk:
Tapioca doused in sweet coconut milk.


Tapioca with coconut milk

Neither of us are fans of tapioca....especially when it's in bubble tea, but this...was insanely good!

Exceptional service and the dishes are just outstanding!!!  If I were to flip a coin between  Sukhothai and Flip, Toss and Thai...well, it would have to be a toss-up between these two.  Sukhothai might have a bit of a lead because of the actual dining space and ambiance which FTT lacks.

But yes, Sukhothai also has a chili scale..just let 'em know how hot you like it.

Can't wait to go back and take everyone I know with me.  Who's in?

Grand Opening: Compass Lakeside Grill & Lounge

Location:

2340 Ontario Street, Oakville

So I was invited to attend the VIP Grand Opening of the latest waterfront resto in Bronte's Harbour:  Compass Lakeside Grill & Lounge.



When we arrived just after 8pm, Compass was out of food so I can't make any judgments on that however I can comment on the drinks and service.

At the bar, after waiting for quite some time, I requested a glass of Cookoothama wine and was told that it wasn't being served that night but two seconds later it was served to someone else! Awesome.



Then we asked for a regular coke and a rye & coke. What we received was a watered down coke (so much so that it didn't taste like coke at all) and a scotch and coke. They served us Grant's Whisky (scotch) instead of Canadian Club (rye) which was the brand of rye we specifically asked for. Thanks.

The view from the restaurant is amazing, overlooking the Bronte Harbour.



Likewise, the patio is quite nice with the large windows giving a clear view of the interior of the restaurant from outside.



So much so that we witnessed the martini guy conjuring up the martinis by dipping his bare hands into the jar of olives. Classy.



After a few perfunctory photographs of the dull blue and brown interior we were out of there.



Time?

8:20pm.

Where did we go eat after?

Thai Senses.

Where we got some actual food and attentive service.

TRAVEL: Montreal: Chu Chai

Location:

4088 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal, QC

Cost: approx $90 for two (incl. glasses of wine)

www.chuchai.com/

Mock duck, you say?

I never thought I'd actively scope out a vegetarian Thai restaurant...but that's what we did when we were in Montreal. Coming highly recommended from more than a few friends, Chu Chai is a trendy zen-like Thai resto boasting authentic thai dishes made from completely veg/vegan friendlyproducts (ie. soya, tofu, seitan).

In Toronto I've only tried a handful of veg restaurants, such as Fresh, Cafe 668 and Le Commensal, that too mostly under the persuasion of my mock-meat eating friends, so I'm no expert on the best veg restaurants in Toronto. I've heard Vegetarian Haven, Urban Herbivore and Hibiscus are good but haven't gotten around to trying those out, yet. [By the way, a great site for you veg eaters is the Toronto Vegetarian Association: www.veg.ca]

Now back to Chuchai! With no reservations, we took a cab out to St. Denis around 9pm on Saturday night, and found the place to be pretty packed. We were assured that we'd be seated as soon as they could get us a table leaving us to wonder about the one vacant table to our left. We were then told that the table had been reserved but the patrons were now more than 1/2 an hour late. I guess that table had our name on it, afterall.

Eyeing the dishes on the tables made us realize how famished we really were but a quick glance at the menu proved we'd be taking a while longer to decide what to eat!

Finally, after much deliberation and chats with our friendly and helpful server, we decided on won ton soup and dumplings in peanut sauce to start.



The dumplings in peanut sauce was not only lip-smacking good, it was
plate-scraped-with-fork-many-times-over-because-you-can't-literally-lick-the-plate good. Damn. Just remembering it now makes my mouth water.



And the won ton soup was a perfect complement to the sauciness of the dumplings. Yum!

Next we got a mock beef and duck dish.

The mock duck curry was amazing with pineapples, green peppers and tomatoes.  The beef dish suggested to us came with bamboo shoots and was also a curry (I was expecting more of a dry/fried dish - should have gone with the beef with chili and basil afterall!)  Still, they were both really good.





Both had amazingly accurate meaty textures from the seitan (wheat-gluten) in highly flavourful curries; however, the mock duck beat out the beef dish that was recommended to us.

My only gripe is the miniature portion of the serving of rice...argh! Seriously? The sticky rice we ordered (not included with the dishes) arrived in a fancy basket which I thought was at least the depth of the basket...only to discover that the rice was sitting in an even shallower basket within!



There was barely enough rice for one person in there! We had to order a second, plain rice, which came in a white ceramic bowl; still a small size but more of the standard side-of-rice bowl. Combined it was barely enough to finish the curries (which didn't stop us from finishing the curries, mind you - they were so tasty).  Besides the ridiculousness of the rice portions, Chuchai is a winner in taste, presentation, and service....a delicious place for both veg and non-veg eaters.

We're already planning to bring my sister and family of vegetarians out to Chuchai; and I have to admit, I can hardly wait to go back (even though we both felt slightly ill afterwards...perhaps from all the soy/gluten or peanut sauce?  Not sure).

Also, Chuch the restaurant next door, under the same ownership, is more of a casual (and cheaper), take-out place which allows you to BYOB but perhaps instead, I can Bring My Own Rice?

Salad King

For this review of Salad King, I've invited one part of the wonderful couple (and fellow bloggers) I dined with at SK, to contribute her take on this restaurant which will be up soon.

~~

A couple of the neon lights in the "Salad King" sign were out when we went - so it read "SAD KING" ...which is absolutely APT for this dump of a restaurant that 275 of you on Urbanspoon claim is the best Thai resto in Toronto.

Are you kidding me?  Where else are you people eating that this has become the place to go for Thai??!

To start, we ordered the Papaya Salad (which boasted "dried shrimps"...the salad that came to our table had non-existent dried shrimp (must have been so dry that it shriveled away?) and a garnish that had black spots on it.  Good start, right?







 

Our "medium" heat Shrimp Delight ($8.95 - Shrimps, bell peppers, onions, yellow bean sauce, chilli sauce, lime juice, steamed rice) arrived with neither heat NOR shrimp (nor delight for that matter!) and plenty of accompanying liquid "spicy" water. We weren't aware we'd ordered soups?





 

The Spicy Fish dish ($8.95 - Red cod fillet, lime leaf, carrots, onions, bell peppers chilli, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, steamed rice) came with hardly any fish although what was there certainly was still swimming..in a pool of oily liquid!

 





 

 

And the Evil Jungle Prince ($6.75 - Egg plant, baby corn, peas, carrots, onions, chilli sauce, lemon grass, bamboo shoots and steam rice) which was supposed to contain eggplant and veggies came with one tiny piece of eggplant, plenty of frozen peas and a generous portion of WATER!



How disgusting.

I asked the server whether the dishes were always that watery - to which she replied 'yes that's how they are made'.  I told her it was a disappointing meal to which she shrugged and moved along to serve the next table of assembly line patrons.

Salad King will forever be SAD KING to me - it's the worst thai food I've ever had and I'm really sorry that so many of you think that that's what Thai is supposed to taste like!  I'd really love to see where else the 275 of you are eating and stay the hell away from those places!

Flip, Toss & Thai Kitchen

Location:

141 Harbord St. (at Brunswick Ave.)

Cost: Approx $15 each for a soup & entree

www.fliptossthai.com

When I called to make reservations, the lady on the phone was so polite, hesitating only when I asked for a table for six, but then graciously took down my name and confirmed the reservation. Later, on my way there, a friend of mine called asking if she'd found the right place, as she was seeing only a counter with a few stools and a table with six chairs around it. I told her those six chairs were for us! I guess we were all surprised by the ambiance; which is minimalist to the max (read: no washrooms); only a few seats, an order counter, a cola box and a blackboard with most of the menu listed.



[It's ironic that we dined there during Earth Hour; it may have been the only place with it's florescent light spilling out into the night...or at least as far across the street to the laundromat with it's own florescent sparkle].

Still, whatever the ambiance lacks in at FT&T, the cuisine more than makes up for and we can thank former Salad King chef, Suzchen Sun, for that.
There's the same chili scale system that Salad King has, but the service and flavours are authentic to FT&T.

= ½ chili

½ chili = ¹/₆ tbsp chilies
1 chili = ¹/₃ tbsp chilies
3 chili = 1 tbsp chilies
And so on

Our host, Wei was extremely patient with us, addressing our vegetarian needs with helpful alternatives and suggestions. The reason we picked this place, we told him, was because it's #3 of the top 10 vegetarian places to eat in Toronto (according to Urbanspoon) and we're so glad we did.

Here's why:

Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup $3.89




We were also able to put in a special request for Hot and Sour VEG Soup for $3.65 (same price as the Chicken Coconut milk soup) which came with tofu instead of shrimp. 'Twas indeed hot and sour! Most of us were coughing because of the heat, but the flavour was great and I was content having more than two shrimps in my soup! The only downside to the soup (for us) was biting into largish chunks of lemongrass and ginger(?); however, the surprise of it was only slightly and temporarily off-putting.

Basil Chicken $7.26, served with rice (and blurred in the background, Spicy Tofu $6.79 [served with rice])



I opted for the 3 chili (medium) heat - and didn't find it too hot at all, but I'd ordered the Thai Basil Fried Rice $7.02, which wasn't already spicy, like the Spicy Eggplant or Spicy Tofu.



Boy, was it ever tasty!! Best fried rice I have ever had...I normally wouldn't have finished a whole plate of rice, but I gobbled this up and even considered ordering another to go!

Spicy Eggplant $7.04 (served with rice but opted for rice noodles). I only tasted this, but again, wow! I wish I'd ordered it!



Pad Thai $7.79. Wonderfully not ketchupy like the one at Spring Rolls.




Thai Bangkok Noodle $7.79. By this time I was too stuffed to try it - but I heard that my fried rice was better than this :)




At Flip, Toss & Thai Kitchen, the service is refreshingly friendly but it's the food, my Goodness, the FOOD which is simply FANTASTIC! So fresh, so quick....as easy as a flip and a toss (har har). They also deliver and do take-out! What more could one ask for? It's evident by the sheer quantity of customers that filtered through (for sit-in, take-out and pick-up) while we were there that this place is doing great!

I'll certainly be back!

Spice Route

Location:

499 King Street West, Toronto

Cost: Summerlicious. $15 for lunch

It used to be an auto dealership. Then Touch lounge. Now, it's a massive Asian bistro/bar called Spice Route. Although there is neither spice nor route to any flavours here. And the service is one of the most pretentious I've ever seen.

Not to take away from how glamorous and exotic the place is, however. It's quite a retreat from your work day.

With its cavernous entryway, giant studded wooden door, encased fire towers and marble fountains, it's as if you've stepped into an episode of Survivor: Laos.



Inside, the vast expanse of open space creates an atmosphere not unlike a museum or Buddhist shrine.



The sleekness of the furniture throughout the space culminates at the bar, situated under four big screen tvs and illuminated by recessed lighting.



Green (albeit fake) grass trims the window ledge behind your (back-less) seat. High wooden fences on the patio shield away the common folk who linger, necks craning, on the sidewalk. Oranges are nestled within intimate cubby holes in the walls.



But, enough of the ambiance!

Our server, Sebastian, took a seat beside us and began to describe their regular menu mentioning that patrons usually order 5-7 items and share tapas-style. My lunch partner politely requested the Summerlicious menu (which I'd already mentioned to them upon making the reservation). His response was classic. A slight nod, grunt and an abrupt exit. Nothing was said about the Summerlicious menu.

But here it is. The appetizer selection was as follows:

Mushroom Noodle Soup
Efu Noodles, Thai Chili and Young Spinach
or
Citrus Salad
Spring Mix Greens, Orange, Asian Pear, Water Chestnuts and Honey Walnut Ginger Vinaigrette
or
Shanghai Eda Mame Salad
Pickled Cucumber and Rice Vinegar
or
Spiced Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Brandied Hoisin Sauce

My friend ordered the Citrus Salad. And I, the Spiced Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

Our appetizers didn't take very long to arrive and were brought to the table by another gentleman.



Citrus Salad, which my friend seemed to enjoy.



I'm still amazed that they named it "Spiced" Chicken...I'm sorry, but to warrant the term '"spiced", a dish must have some spices in it. Not great, but not terrible, either.

For the mains, our options were:

Wok Steamed Mussels
Red Thai Curry and Kaffir Lime
or
Lemon Glazed Chicken
Crispy Wonton and Thai Citrus Sauce
or
Mandarin Sizzled Fried Rice
BBQ Roast Pork and Sweet Peas
or
Thai Vegetable Curry

My lunch partner opted for the veggie curry and I decided to try the lemon glazed chicken.



Apologies for the blurry photograph. The veggie curry sat well with my friend...I, on the other hand, was not impressed with my 'lemon glazed chicken' which actually was BATTERED and DEEP FRIED chicken with an accompanying lemon sauce that I had to dip my chicken into.



Why was I having to do all the work? First with the lettuce and now with the glazing. We couldn't figure out what the mystery vegetable beside my chicken was, either. Baby bok choy? Overall, not a great dish - which on the regular menu is $19!

For dessert we had two choices:

Chefs Selection of Exotic Sorbets
Fortune Cookie and Sesame Praline
or
Raspberry Chocolate Brownie
Caramelized Mandarins and Tangerine Cream

My friend chose the sorbet and I had to go for the brownie.


The desserts were definitely better than the rest of the meal. The sorbet flavours (we decided) were mango, raspberry and coconut? We weren't too sure about the white one.



The brownie with mandarin oranges paired together really well, with the ice-cream topping it all off - I didn't notice the raspberry flavour in the brownie at all however, or the tangerine in the ice-cream. Overall, it was fairly good although it came with a Pocky stick, which we both thought was weird.

After lunch, while we waited for our change, and having read so much about Spice Route's 'amazing' loos, I thought I'd take a few pictures of them to show you all.



The 'stalls' basically line the length of the hallway at the back of the restaurant; each massive wooden door leading to a separate washroom, with its own floor to ceiling window. The view from the toilet is an alley-way of grass, stone and the same tall water-fountains displayed outside. A strange looking sculpture - Protector of the Alley? - loomed down the way as well.



Weird.

Two things; a) the washrooms are clean, but I think that leads us to b) you are so afraid that someone is going to walk down the alley-way that you don't use the toilet at all. And they don't have any hooks for women to hang their purses!

Back at the table, Sebastian still hadn't returned with our receipt or change. That meant he had assumed all of it was a tip? Well! How...assuming!

He was nowhere to be seen either! We had to ask someone who asked someone else who told us he was coming. We finally saw him and he returned with our change and the receipt. Needless to say, our tip was lower than what he thought he deserved. What a pain!

2 Hours for lunch is a bit long for food which is prix fixe and probably even pre-prepared, don't you think? I'd suggest taking another route when picking a place for lunch. Spice Route definitely isn't worth all the fuss.

Thai Princess is fit for a Queen

Location:

387 King Street West, Toronto

Cost: $10-15 per person

www.thaiprincess.ca

Across from MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op) on King street is a little gem of a restaurant with a giant green and pink sign. Thai Princess.

You can expect a bit of a wait if you get there between noon and 1pm. Sometimes doing take-out is a better option.

After our crazy long wait, we were blessed with the loverly window seat and started off with a couple of drinkies; a pina-colada and a mango something-or-other. Mmm.



They have a special lunch menu and a regular menu, but I don't really know the difference between the two...maybe a couple of bucks off here and there? It doesn't seem to matter to me anyhow; I always order the Thai Kha Nom Jeen (steamed rice noodles) which comes with chicken marinated in lemongrass and grilled, served over a bed of vermicelli ($9.95). I get the combo with the spring roll and minus the bean sprouts (I feel bean sprouts are filler). They can sometimes skimp out on the chicken and the salad if they're busy, so I'd suggest getting there earlier rather than later!



I find it refreshing and light for a lunch time meal and doesn't make me feel ill or sleepy afterwards, which is always a plus!

My lunch partners ordered a variety of different meals. Like, the cashew nut chicken ($9.50).



And Combo A ($6.95) ...



And the green curry chicken ($9.95)....yummy.



The service is always friendly and although it's slow to get your dishes, I feel it's worth the wait. A great place to come for lunch during the work-week.