Beerbistro

Date Visited: Dinner on Tuesday Dec 30, 2014

Company: Reservation for 4 turned into a party for 2.

Amidst the holiday buzz, +Stanley tried to plan a get-together dinner, but after a few last-minute cancellations, I was the only one who was able to make it. Either way, we met up at Beerbistro downtown Toronto to grab a nice dinner with some drinks. Staying true to their name, Beerbistro does have a wide range of beers from various parts of the world. Many of them are limited to either bottles or draught but they have a good variety from what you would normally find. I opted for a Weihenstephan, a light and fruity German beer to start off an easy night. 

I had read on some blog that Beerbistro has one of the best 'cheap' steaks in Toronto so I had to try it since I was there. They also had a variety of mussel and pizza options that looked really good too but in the end I got a steak. +Stanley got some mussels and we ordered some fries to start (Stanley forgot I had fries with my steak already). Our waitress took a while to get to us because she wasn't sure if our 2 extra seats were going to be filled or not. After a while we just called her over to take our orders.


From what I recall, it didn't take very long for our appetizer to arrive. The Belgian Frites were described as blanched in beef and duck fat, served with house made mayo and smoked tomato ketchup. I was surprised at the portion size when it arrived, it was served in a large cone napkin with handy condiment holders on either side. The fries were amazing! They were lightly salted and were crisp on the outside but perfectly tender in the middle. The mayo and ketchup were good but hardly even needed as they tasted fine just alone, very addicting.

The New England Style Mussels had beer bacon, leeks, potatoes, smoked cheddar, parsley, shallots, la fin du monde, a touch of cream and came with sourdough bread. The bowl it came in was pretty large, we weren't sure what to expect but it was a hefty amount of food. We did notice that the mussels were pretty small but the overall flavour was good, especially with the bread to dip.

The Steak Fries was a grilled flat iron steak topped with caramelized onion jus and pommery stout aoli. We weren't even done our fries appetizer and I was getting more fries added to my plate! Even with the excess of fries, I could not stop myself from eating them. The steak was cooked a bit more well-done then I would have preferred for medium-well but there was a still a hint of pink there. The onions added some flavour to the otherwise plain steak. It was a good piece of meat but a bit tough and not much seasoning, slightly disappointed in it.

Food: 3.5/5 Could have been beer but still decent food I enjoyed.
Decor: 4/5 - Very classy and interesting layout, not too loud either.
Service: 3.5/5 - Pretty good until it took forever to get our bill.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Great spot for a fancy dinner with good ambiance.
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.beerbistro.com/ 

Pho Real

Date Visited: Late dinner on Saturday Dec 20, 2014

Company: Post-Secret Santa get together dinner with +Kelvin, +Stanley, and Vanessa

After our Annual Secret Santa gift exchange in Woodbridge, some of us were leftover and decided to go for a small, late dinner. We looked up some Pho places and found Pho Real in the area which had some decent reviews. It was a little hard to find the location in the dark at the back corner of a plaza with small signage. The restaurant was medium-sized like a typical Vietnamese restaurant with tons of windows but very interesting decor in the corners. 

We got a table for four easily, it surprisingly wasn't empty on a late Friday night. I did notice that the prices were a bit higher than you would usually pay for pho. I ordered Grilled Chicken Vermicelli which ended to be around $14 after tax/tip. There was 4 of us so it took a bit longer than usual to get our dishes. +Stanley and +Kelvin ordered Pho while Vanessa and I ordered Vermicelli. In the end, the Pho was really the way to go. I had a small bowl to taste and thought the broth flavour was wonderful, some of the best I've had. The Vermicelli dishes on the other hand were a totally different story. I found my Vermicelli extremely spicy, nothing in my bowl seemed like it was spicy but I would get random bursts of it every so often so it was probably the sauce... bad idea to pour it all in? I found it a bit difficult to finish but managed to survive. But mine didn't even compare to the level spiciness of Vanessa's Beef Vermicelli had, her and +Kelvin had to order a drink in order to even be able to eat it. Other than that, the chicken its self wasn't the greatest, it was a fatty piece of chicken and just covered with spices of all sorts. The spring roll was also shaped oddly and very oily. Despite the fact that the Vermicelli wasn't very good, I still have faith from the few bites of the Pho I had that this place is worth checking out if you don't mind spending a bit more and they also have an interesting 7 course beef meal.

Food: 2.5/5 - Authentic pho, wasn't a fan of the vermicelli.

Decor: 2.5/5 - OK, pretty clean, your average pho spot.

Service: 3/5 - Pretty on top of things.

Willingness to go Back: 3/5 - Definitely would recommend it if I was in the area.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: none

Memphis BBQ & Wicked Wings

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Dec 20, 2014

Company: Take-out for 8

For our Annual University Secret Santa gift exchange this year, we decided to hold it at +Kelvin's parents new house rather than our typical restaurant only outing. I still needed to find a place for lunch in the Woodbridge area though as a potluck wasn't happening with our group. I happened to find Memphis BBQ which is practically in Kelvin's backyard on a BlogTO list for one of the Best BBQ Restaurants in Toronto, lucky us! We decided to do take-out there since the photos didn't show it was very large and may have been a hassle to find a seating for 7.

When we arrived, the place was very dive-y, located just beside a convenient store with nothing else around. The place was hustling when we entered with the cooks just a few feet away and tons of steam coming from the meat, it smelled heavenly. It was a bit crowded when we were all standing there looking at what to order on their take-out menu, but we just decided to get one of their Party Packs listed on the wall. Split between 8 of us, it came out to be $12 each. There was quite a bit of seating as well in the next week if we really wanted to eat here, it wasn't too busy in the late lunch hours on the Saturday. The Party Pack we ordered came with 3 racks of Ribs, 2 lbs of Wings (Honey Garlic & Spicy BBQ), 2 lbs of Pulled Pork, Beans, Coleslaw, Cornbread and Fries. We waited outside for about 15-20 minutes and they called us in to grab our food to go.

When we arrived back at Kelvin's, we had a table for all the food to be laid out and where we could fill up our plates. It was a bit of chaos at first but we all divided the food evenly and sat down to enjoy the meal together. The main part of the meal was were the Ribs since we had 3 racks and the most leftovers of that. The meat was very tender and fell off the bone with a smoky, sweet flavour. I really wish I could have had some more of that but knew I needed room for the rest! We all had 1 wing of each flavour and I preferred the Spicy BBQ as it had a nice kick to it. The Honey Garlic was a bit plain and bland. The Pulled Pork was also very delicious, full of tangy flavour and easy to eat. Some people complained that they had large chunks of un-pulled pork in theirs though. The Beans and Coleslaw were a nice addition, the beans had a ton of flavour and the coleslaw added some vegetables and acidity to the meaty meal. The Fries were nothing special, as with the Cornbread, it didn't taste like much.

The amount of food was perfect for our group size, we had a bit leftover but everyone was happily full. Memphis BBQ did a great job on their meats and definitely worth a visit here if you're in the area.

Food: 4/5 - Great authentic BBQ!

Decor: 2/5 - Pretty sketchy but roomier than I thought it would be on the inside.

Service: 4/5 - Very friendly and decent wait time for the amount of food.

Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Worth it!

Overall: 3.5/5 

Website: http://www.bigbonebbq.ca/woodbridge/