Last Saturday's Eating Adventure

Peter's friend, Rizvan, visited from the United Arab Emirates last week. On Saturday Peter posted in our WhatsApp group seeing who was interested in grabbing a Donair for lunch. For those of you who don't know, I supposed they can be best described as an East Coast variation of a Greek Gyros.

Even though there are restaurants that have them here in Toronto, Peter, wanted to try a place called Halifax Donair. One of his co-workers from the Maritimes said they're the best there. When we checked on-line we found they had two locations - one in Burlington and one in Milton. Neither of them close. To make matters worse, Environment Canada had issued a tornado warning for the GTA. So it would be an effort to get out there to say the least.

We decided on going to the Burlington location. Just because we thought it would be less boring than going to Milton (sorry, Milton). According to Waze it was supposed to take about an hour. From Peter's place we took the 401 to the 427 to the QEW. Along the way we did encounter bouts of heavy rain which slowed things down.

As we neared our destination Waze suggested getting off the highway which was clogged up. We took a few local streets and arrived at the restaurant a bit before 2:30. Unfortunately when we pulled up in front we discovered they were closed for three weeks for summer vacation. Really?

There wasn't much we could do except check Peter's smart phone for an alternative. Eventually we ended up just down the street at a local fish and chips shop named, Thistle Fish & Chips. We each had halibut and chips at $15.25. Peter also ordered a small bowl of mushy peas for $2.75.

After that we had a hankering for sweets. So we headed back east into Oakville to the Danish Pastry House. Peter had gone there before. We shared three pastries and ordered three coffees to wash it down.

Now what? After having lunch and dessert, what to do? How about dinner? This was actually pre-planned. Earlier Peter had arranged to meet Roger and Patsy and Paul for Malaysian food at Restoran Malaysia at Major Mackenzie and Bayview in Richmond Hill. So we headed up there.

Dinner was good. We ordered quite a bit of food. From sea bass and lamb skewers to mango salad and friend rice. It was pretty filling. But not filling enough I guess. Because we decided to go to Maxims just down the street for more dessert. Coffee and cake for everyone. Enough already!

Dinner with Gabe and Keith

Top: Nak Won (where's my head?); Bottom: Sugar Marmalade

I met up with Keith and Gabe for dinner on Saturday. We went to a Korean restaurant called Nak Won on Yonge south of Finch. It's not new, but it was our first time there.

I picked Gabe up on the way up from my place. We met Keith there. He was a bit late because traffic was slow because of the fair amount of snow we received that day.

While we were waiting, Gabe and I ordered first. He had some sort of soup with tuna. I ordered a tasty beef dish served on a hot plate with a bowl of rice. I can't remember what it was called. When Keith arrived he had pork bone soup which he said had a bit too much pepper. Besides that it was quite good.

Afterwards we met the girls down the street at Sugar Marmalade for dessert. Emily and Janice had had dinner beforehand at Cluny in the Distillery District for Winterlicious. Fiona came on her own. One last meet up before heading to Vancouver for a spell for work.

It was nice to see everyone again. We don't do as many activities in the winter, only gathering to eat every now and then.

Dinner with the Foodies

We went to dinner at Owl of Minerva on Yonge south of Finch last Thursday. The Foodies were celebrating Fiona's birthday (which was actually on the weekend).

There was quite a good turn out - Emily and Gabe arrived first to secure a table. I came next after work. Janice and Heidi were next followed by Edna, Roger and Pasty. Then came Fiona (I believe) with Casey showing up shortly after. Keith was last. He had to come from work out in Etobicoke. Most of the gang lives along Yonge in between Sheppard and Finch.

I'm not too adventurous when it comes to Korean food. I know some of it can be rather spicy. Normally I just order the bibimbap and only add just a bit of the hot sauce. I did try a bit more kimchi than usual this time. Probably too much for my own good. I learned my lesson.

After dinner we decided on dessert. There was a place up the street, but it was packed. We then thought about going to Maxims on Finch in between Bayview and Leslie. But, being a Thursday night we found it closed at 10:30 which would have only given us half an hour there. So we decided on Demitres up on 7 and East Beaver Creek. They have one near me too, but everyone agreed it would be difficult to find parking around there.

When we got up to Demitres we found it was packed too. Seems like everyone was out because unofficially it was the weekend (because the next day was a stat holiday it being Good Friday). With no other options we decided to wait. And wait. And wait.

We had to wait longer than normal because our group was large and we all wanted to sit together. We finally got a table near 11:00 p.m. only to find that they officially closed at 11:30 (which would have given us the same amount of time to eat as if we had gone to Maxims).

Thankfully they didn't kick everyone out at 11:30. They recognized there were a lot of patrons still enjoying their desserts and did the right thing.

Most of our gang had waffles or crepes with ice cream and assorted toppings. I decided on a fruit filled crepe with white chocolate sauce sans ice cream. It was pretty tasty. I got to sample some of the others desserts too. The portions they couldn't finish anyway. Yum.