High Tea at Casa Loma

Event: High Tea presented by Winterlicious Culinary Events & Liberty Group
Location: Casa Loma
Time & Date: 11AM-4PM on Saturday Feb 8, 2014
Price: $30 (+$7 Ticketmaster fees) for admission to Casa loma, assorted pastries, finger sandwiches, gourmet teas, & gift bag.

When I saw that Winterlicious had an event for High Tea at Casa Loma, I immediately messaged my girlfriends from high school to make sure they were all down for going. We had previously talked about visiting Casa Loma as most of us had never been to this historic Toronto castle before and I couldn't think of a more fun experience to have there than high tea! The event looked like it would have great food (Winterlicious event) and it wasn't too pricey either considering admission to the castle was included. 

We all took the subway together to Dupont station as the castle was only a short walk from there. It was a cold but clear day and we could see the castle up on a hill in the distance during our walk over. We had a large set of stairs to climb to get to the grounds but it had an amazing distant view of the Toronto skyline from there. We entered to a short line scanning tickets but it became a bit chaotic in the foyer after that. I think most people aimed to be there early like us so there was quite a line to do a coat check so we just decided to hold on to them instead. They had many workers trying to move traffic and one told us to try to get a table in the Billiard room as it was less busy. 

We decided to look around the Great Hall for a bit and admire the world record setting cake stand with all its delicious pastries on it. We saw some people grabbing the tea so we decided to get in line behind them. The tea they were offering was by David's Tea and they had two kinds, Earl's Garden (a flavoured black tea) & Jessie's Tea( a rooibos). I started with the Earl's Garden. As soon as we got our tea though, they closed the section off and I don't believe people were allowed to grab tea to walk around with anymore. 

We got in line for a table in the Billiard's room which had a much smaller line than the crowd on the other side of the hall. It seemed very unorganized as many people were asking us where we got tea and how they could get some. The one lady seating people let us know that we could also give our phone number to the reservation booth and they'd text us when they had a table ready. We decided to wait since we weren't allowed to walk around with our teas past the area we were in and there was only two groups in front of us anyways. They luckily had a table for 4 about 20 minutes later and we got to pass the groups of 2 in front. We ended being sat in the Oak Room which only had about 4 tables on the border of the room. 
A server said she'd come to us soon and after a while, our teas were re-filled. We waited almost half an hour for food and no one had said anything to us! There were servers (with fancy costumes) coming around with trays of desserts but we were wondering if that was the only food they had. We finally asked the lady serving who got us tea if we got food and she was surprised that we hadn't yet. A few moments later, she came by with our trays of finger foods. I was shocked as the food was just right in the room next to us but they didn't know we weren't served yet. 

The finger foods were all bite sized and very warm. My friends and I had 2 variations on 1 or 2 of the foods but the rest were the same. It came with Cucumber Sandwich, Egg Salad Croissant, Quiche, Smoked Salmon on Corn Bread, Mango-y Tart, and a Scone. The foods were actually all quite good, I gave away my salmon one though because I don't like smoked salmon. The rest were great and a good amount of food! A waitress also finally came around with desserts for us. I choose a Raspberry Tarte and a Raspberry Macaroon the first time around. I also got to try a Chocolate Eclair like thing and a Chocolate Cheesecake Pop which was so delicious! Once we were satisfied with our meals, we decided to explore the castle! 

After walking around, we weren't quite ready to leave yet so I grabbed some more tea. I tried Jessie's Tea this time and it was very lovely, I think I preferred that one to Earl's Garden. While standing near the dessert tree, they always were coming around with new plates of treats for the onlookers to try! We finally decided to try to get another meal in the Observatory. We asked for a table and I couldn't believe that we were immediately seated, maybe because it was like 2PM that they were less busy now. So we had another high tea! The food was a bit colder this time but the surroundings were much more beautiful and fitting for the occasion. The castle is quite beautiful and we learned so much about the Pellatt family throughout the day!

Finally we headed home, but not without our gift bags! Each bag had a postcard, Lindor Chocolates, a tea bag sample of David's Tea, a free cup of David's tea, and a coupon for the Liberty Group restaurants. 

I think Winterlicious put on a unique event for everyone who attended the High Tea. I wish they worked out some of the kinks prior as they added earlier dates for this sold out occasion. It didn't ruin our time though because my friends and I had a fantastic time exploring Casa Loma and enjoying delicious treats throughout the day!

Mambo Lounge

Date Visited: Summerlicious Dinner on Monday Jul 16, 2013

Company: Reservation for 4 ladies to enjoy some Cuban food on a hot day

Currently, this is my last planned Summerlicious meal of 2013 and this season has been the most meals I've had in one round! I've had such a great experience trying new restaurants in unfamiliar parts of town, I'm really glad that Toronto has something like this twice a year :)

Anyways, the girls and I made a reservation at Mambo Lounge in the Danforth for our second Summerlicious meal together. Mambo Lounge is an authentic Cuban tapas restaurant that has live music on the weekends. We were excited for something different and hoped we'd get a flavour of Cuban culture as well. 

It was a sweltering day in Toronto and I was a bit nervous when +Clare told me we got a table on the patio. As +Stephanie and I left Broadview subway station, Mambo Lounge was only a few steps away on Danforth. There was no patio in the front, but an open wall with tables lined-up leading to the bar, and then the patio was at the very back. The patio has a backyard feeling, as you see neighbours of the old 3-storey houses BBQ-ing on their balconies. It was very spacious and shaded, with little decorations all around.

We started off with drinks and I ordered a Pina Colada. Every drink on the menu was at least $9 which was quite steep in our opinion, especially for 1-2oz of alcohol. Apparently they have authentic Mojitos here but I tried it and thought it had too much mint. I'm not a mojito fan anyway, but +Clare said she's had better and that it needed more sugar. +Stephanie ordered the Mambo Cocktail which was a crazy concoction of every type of liquor with some grenadine and lime... she didn't enjoy it. The Pina Colada though was very tasty and flavourful with a fresh piece of pineapple on the side. There was quite a bit of foam at the top unfortunately which didn't exactly make it worth $9.

To start, I ordered the Tropical Salad that consisted of mixed greens, tomatoes, avocados, and mango topping with a mango balsamic dressing. I found that some of the mixed greens were a bit wilted but the other toppings were very fresh and ripe. The mango balsamic added a kick of flavour to a somewhat simple salad.

For my main dish, I ordered the Bistec con Yuca, medium-well. I was pleasantly surprised when the steak arrived, the yuca fries formed a little hut that the steak was placed on which made the dish very appealing. We all noted how large our portions were, especially compared to some other Summerlicious restaurants we had visited. Everyone wanted to try my yuca fries, they smelt so delicious! They were seasoned with spices and very tasty, thick like taro but more stringy. There was a 'jus' at the bottom for the steak with what seemed like mushroom and onions sautéed, but it was hard to tell. The sauce was very mild, I was expecting a lot of 'Cuban' flavour and spices but it didn't live up to my expectations. The steak was also quite tough, it was more well-done than medium. But overall, it was a splendid dish as the fries and steak with jus went perfect together. This dish is usually $25 alone, so I definitely got my money's worth on it.

As for my dessert, I had to order the Torta la Chocolate (I can never say no to chocolate mousse). It was such a gorgeous plate when it arrive, with the Piroline on top and accented with whipped cream and strawberry with caramel. It was very rich and creamy, I loved every bite. Apparently Costco sells this cake, as +Stephanie has seen it before. It's a bit disappointing knowing that they don't make their own but I'm a bit happy knowing where I can get this now :)

Food: 3/5 - Great portions but average food.
Service: 2.5/5 - Very friendly, but had to ask a few times for water.
Decor: 2/5 - A bit tight on space in the main area, but patio was nice. Kind of tacky.
Willingness to come back: 4.5/5 - I would definitely come here for a tapas meal or Licious again! Not for drinks though.
Overall: 3/5

Website: http://mambocubano.ca

Calabria

Visited: Dinner on Wednesday Mar 13, 2013
Company: Meeting up with +Will Ives after work at Fairview Mall

If you're someone who knows me, you'd know that I like to plan ahead like no tomorrow. So knowing that I was going to be in the 404/Sheppard area, I had to look up all the surrounding restaurants and find websites/pictures to see how legit they were. I can't stand being situations where I get somewhere and realize that it's super sketchy or that it's been closed and they hadn't updated their website. Calabria was literally one of the only legit restaurants I found that wasn't Asian (wasn't feeling it); not surprising though as it's the North York/Scarborough area.

Their website had a 20% dinner coupon and their Facebook page advertised cheap pints and half price apps until 3PM-6PM. They also had a picture of the place on the website which showed it to be pretty big and not in a sketchy strip plaza. Good enough reason for me to go...

It was quite busy once we arrived, just around 6PM so I assumed people trying to catch the cheap apps. Seems like a nice neighbourhood place with a wholesome crowd. They had a nice warm fireplace near the entrance and there was an open kitchen with the pizza open in the back which was nice to see. We got a comfy booth for two although I felt that all the table placements were really awkward. 

We started off with Bacon Wrapped Scallops as the appetizer, a compromise  between Will and I. Most of the apps were seafood and Will isn't a fan and only wanted buchetta or the chicken wings. We went for this as it was sort of a combination of both. I'm not really a fan of bacon, only because I think the flavour is too overpowering when I eat it with things and that it's overrated. These were quite enjoyable though, cooked perfectly, the bacon was crispy and the scallops were soft and not overcooked. It came with a small salad which I thought was a nice touch of flavour and the tomato complemented well. There was a side of seafood sauce which I found was odd, I've never had seafood sauce with scallops but it wasn't bad, could have used a hint of lemon juice to make it less sweet.

I ordered the Stone Baked Asiago Pizza and Will went for the Lasagna as per usual. The pizza was pretty big when it came out, you could probably share it with two people and be decently full. I really enjoyed the crust and dough of the pizza, it had a distinct flavour and not too thin crust. I think I probably would've been happy if it was just a cheese pizza. I really enjoyed the tomato sauce but wish there was more of it. The chicken wan't too flavourful and I forgot that I'm not the biggest fan of sun-dried tomatoes haha.

I obviously also tried Will's lasagna and and it was surprisingly delicious! Extremely meaty and the pasta was really soft. The tomato sauce was so good and had a nice sweet flavour, I assume it was the same one they used on the pizza. Good amount of cheese and nice portion size. I think I would opt for a pasta next time. "Lasagna was the obvious choice" according to Will.

Ended the meal with the Chocolate Truffle Cake, they only had a few items for dessert but enough variety. The cake was extremely delectable, I basically ate the whole thing and Will had 3 bites. I really enjoyed the vanilla and chocolate mousse combo paired with the chocolate cake, so good. Pretty light but rich with chocolatey goodness flavour. 

With our coupon, we paid $40 everything included which I thought was a good deal for the amount of food we got. Very good pricing for some decent Italian food, especially if you're in the neighbourhood. We also got 4 coupons which were basically the same deals I found on the website.

Food: 3/5 - There were plus and minuses but overall good, fair-priced food.

Decor: 2.5/5 - Spacious and classic but there was something about the layout.

Service: 3/5 - Good wait times between each dish

Likeliness to come back: 3/5 - Wouldn't go out of my way, but if I was in the area... also got those coupons.

Overall: 3/5

Website: http://calabriarestaurant.ca