Location:
184 Lakeshore Road East
Oakville, ON L6J
I'm happy to announce that I have found possibly the best apple pie, ever.
It exists at Black Forest Pastry Shop in Oakville and is only $12.99!
After popping it into the oven for a few minutes, it came out flaky yet melted in the mouth. The apples were cooked yet crispy with just the right amount of cinnamon.
The other things on hand at the bakery: Red Velvet Cupcakes amongst other tasty treats.
Tokyo Bay
Location:
125 Kerr Street
Oakville, ON
Since when are you not allowed any substitutions at a Japanese restaurant?
Isn't everything made fresh?
It's not like the sushi is pre-made and stuffed with something else beforehand?
And worse, this wasn't even a sushi substitution but rather a bento box substitution.
Instead of CHICKEN, I requested SALMON.
"No."
"No? But why?
"It doesn't come like that. "
"Can't I get salmon even if I pay extra? "
"No. But you can order salmon terriyaki that comes with soup and salad. "
"Er...Okay...Fine. Does it come with any tempura?"
"NO, JUST SOUP AND SALAD, I SAID"
Ouch.
And for $20 it didn't even come with tempura?
So rigid. And what for?
At least the salad was tasty. We were hopeful.
But alas, the sushi wasn't great.
And then, the salmon wasn't even fresh after all that. The chicken in N's bento box was disgusting. Only the tempura was good. The spring roll you see here, was nasty!
And since when do the Japanese use CELERY in their vegetables? And zucchini?
So weird.
The miso soup was overly seaweedy and fishy smelling. With mushrooms. Is that common? Let me know.
The dessert that came with each of our orders was good, at least. But how to you screw up friend bananas and ice cream?
And we were freezing in our booth. Those curtains don't do anything to ward off the cold from the entrance. Put some heat on, would you? Even the people in the booth next to us were cold.
Tokay. Bay. Never. Again.
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.
Stoney's
Location:
323 Kerr Street, Oakville
Cost: Sunday Brunch approx $9 per entree
After all the hoopla and hype over Stoney's; we finally made it for brunch on Sunday and I have to tell you...I am a little bit disappointed.
Okay, so you stand in line, make your order, get a number, pick up your own drinks, seat yourself and your food is brought to you. I get it guys, I get it. But I have to ask why.
Why must you make your own tea/coffee and gingerly navigate your way to a table through the throngs of seated patrons? Perhaps even spilling some hot tea on the way to the outdoor patio? I feel that if I have to make my own tea standing at the milk/sugar counter in a restaurant on a Sunday morning, I might as well have stayed at home and done the same. Likewise, having to clear dirty utensils from the table shouldn't be on my morning list of things to do...at a restaurant. And if you're already getting the food brought to your table; why don't they just take orders at the table?
Also, running out of soy milk/lactose free-milk is not really acceptable when you're only open from 9am to 3pm on Sunday.
Our meals took a very long time to arrive (and we came after the breakfast crowd) that by the time they did arrive our hot drinks were cold and there were no offers made for refills. And while the service is friendly, we still had to call out for clean utensils to our server as she walked away after plunking our plates down (without even a glance) and also requested salt and pepper which was forgotten until we asked a second time. We also had to return to the front counter to remind them about the forgotten banana bread we'd ordered (more on the taste of the banana bread later).
So, before you get your underpants in a knot, let me just say that I don't consider myself a brunch snob although I am somewhat of a French toast connoisseur having cooked variations of it myself since I was, maybe twelve, and with it usually being my sole order at breakfast/brunch places all over, I can confidently say this:
The French Toast at Stoney's is just...okay.
On the positive (or maybe for some, negative) side, it is massive. The presentation is nice and the price is good for that much French toast. The plate was literally stacked with three huge slabs of bread. I say bread because it was literally too thick for the eggy-ness to fully penetrate the bready centre.
I dislike cutting into French toast only to find dry bread staring back at me. Admittedly the coating of brown sugar and cinnamon was tasty, but it wasn't enough coating and the too few fruits (although I did like the surprise of star fruit) on top of the mountainous "slabic" toast and teeny cup of maple syrup on the side was simply unjustly proportioned to the bread. However, I will happily admit that the side of bacon I got was perfection, although it's hard to screw up strips of fried pork.
The frittata was good...I'm hugely into artichokes so that part was great. Ordering egg whites didn't make it any less greasy...(this coming from someone who ordered bacon on the side, I know) and the mixed greens salad might have been better with the dressing on the side, but I suppose we should have ordered it that way.
Lastly, having to brush away the wasps and flies at our table (even before the food came, likely because the table hadn't been cleaned before we sat down) we had to eat quickly when our food finally did arrive. Argh, certainly not very relaxing the way a Sunday brunch should be.
And that home-made banana bread ($2.50) I told you about earlier? Don't do it. Absolutely no banana taste and oily to the core. No nuts even! Possibly the worst banana bread ever (best banana bread is still the one from the road-side stall in Maui).
There you have it guys...Foodhogger's Stoney's experience.
Undoubtedly some people's favourite joint to brunch, but overall, I'm not a fan of the system they have there...too much work involved for a lazy Sunday morning. Perhaps I'd go again for a sandwich or pizza at lunch where their cafeteria system would work. It's a good thing it's in the 'burbs...a place like Stoney's wouldn't survive in the city on that sort of system. Fusaro's in Toronto also has a cafeteria style system, but it's during the week and for lunch...they know better for brunch on the weekend...it's full table service; just how people want to eat on a Sunday, otherwise what's different than cooking up some french toast at home?