Desiam Thai Restaurant

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Mar 7, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 2.

Anith and I were planning to meet up for lunch to catch-up after his recent trip to California. We decided on Desiam in the Whitby Plaza per his suggestion. I had previously gone there once, a long time ago with my sister. I didn't remember much from the meal at the time but my sister said that the Pad Thai was amazing. I'm in the particular area a lot and have always been meaning to return so I was glad when it was suggested. 

There's a lot of construction going on in the complex but all the shops are still open. We entered to a fairly large, empty restaurant with lots of colourful decor. There is seating on either side of the main entrance and we were lead to the right side closer to the kitchen. Their menu was very large with tons of options so it took us a while to look through everything. Our waitress kept on coming back to us to see if we were ready but never were :(. I finally just decided to get the Veggie Pad Thai after a lot of deliberation and Anith got Bangkok Spicy Noodles. I also ordered a Thai Iced Tea, not really know what it is but thought it might be good. Anith ordered a Mango drink and when we first got the drinks, I thought mine was his. It was opaque and orange coloured which I wasn't expecting. I thought it would be a transparent liquid but turns out there is some milk in there. It was rather sweet and I'm not really sure what flavour it consisted of. I wasn't sure how authentic is was, it kind of tasted like powdered bubble tea drink... it didn't taste bad though considering I had no idea what I was getting.

We started with a Kanuck Roll as an appetizer. It was really hot upon arrival and stuff with ground chicken and various vegetables inside. I really enjoyed the filling, it had a good mix of ingredients inside almost like Sheppard's pie. The plum sauce gave it a sweet touch. It was an unique, delicious, and crispy spring roll.

Finally comes our main dishes... Anith didn't think his looked very appetizing at first but actually tasted really good. I found my Veggie Pad Thai very saucy and sweet. The vegetables were fresh and noodles cooked perfectly but just the flavour was very overpowering. It was a lot of food and finally I had to give up on finishing it. I didn't take it home just because of all the sauce, I wish they just went a bit lighter it and I might have felt better about eating it.

All-in-all, it was a very filling meal all for less than $20. Not my favourite Pad Thai but if you like your noodles on the saucy, sweet side then you should definitely check it out.

Food: 2/5 - OK meal but not spectacular Thai food.
Decor: 3/5 - Really cute restaurant with lots of Thai trinkets.

Service: 2/5 - Our waitress was pretty annoying and not very friendly.

Willingness to go back: 1/5 - Wouldn't want to go back unless I was in the plaza and wanted Thai.

Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.desiamthairestaurant.com/ 

Milagro Cantinas

Date Visited: Winterlicious dinner on Tuesday Feb 3, 2015
Company: Annual Licious meal with the high school girls.

Again this year, the girls were down for a Winterlicious meal in Toronto to enjoy one of the many great restaurants in the city. +Krystal was the one who picked out Milagro, a Mexican restaurant on Queen from looking at their enticing Winterlicious menu. Unfortunately, she herself was not able to make it to the dinner but we gladly still took her up on her suggestion and booked a table for 5. Our reservation was at 6:30 but unfortunately, 4 of us were 40 minutes late coming from Oshawa and left +Clare to fend for herself at the restaurant.

When we finally arrived, our waitress was quick to ask us if we wanted anything to drink. Even though it was Margarita night, none of us took her up on the offer and went straight for the water already on the table. We also got 2 plates of Chips and Salsa for the table shortly after. The tortilla chips were very crispy but also greasy, the napkin at the bottom was covered in oil. You couldn't really tell when you were eating them though, very delicious still. The salsa was also mild, light, and refreshing, very different from what you would get the store.

For my appetizer, I choose the Ensalada Cesar as I heard good things about it here. It was served with a ton of Parmesan on top, whole Romaine lettuce leaves, and a large crouton in the middle... a little different from what you would normally see but I loved how different it was. I think my salad could have used a bit more dressing, it would have made the cheese easier to stick on. The leaves weren't that fresh either, needed a bit more crisp to the bite.

For the main dish, I ordered the Filete Poblano, grilled rib eye steak in a creamy poblano and white wine sauce with diablo potatoes. I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the steak and overall heftiness of the meal, there was a lot of food on the plate. The steak was very tender and cooked with perfect grill marks on the side. I had no idea what Poblano was but the sauce was a light but still creamy. The potatoes were in a sauce that was a bit oily but mixed well with everything else. It was topped with a bit of fried onions which added even more flavour and complexity to the dish. There was a lot going on with all the spices which gave me the indication that it was authentically Mexican. When I was finished, I just had no idea what I had just eaten was there were so many new flavours introduced to me .

For dessert, they ran out of the one I wanted, so I went with the Mousse de Mango instead since everyone else was getting the Flan. The small bowl looked to cute when I got it, filled to the brim with a thick yellow paste. The mango flavour was amazing and very prominent. It was almost like a yogurt dessert and topped with some chili spices to give it a kick.

Food: 3.5/5 - Awesome authentic Mexican food at the price we paid, salad wasn't great though.
Decor: 3.5/5 - Very traditional looking, the lady 2 tables away was talking so loudly though.
Service: 3.5/5 - Really happy with the service except it took forever to find our waitress for the bill.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - For sure!! They have a few locations too.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://milagrorestaurant.com/

Hunter's Landing

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Oct 17, 2914
Company: +Will

+Will and I were heading to +Ishraque's new place for the night and decided to have dinner at a restaurant nearby. Luckily for us, Hunter's Landing is just down the street and it was a restaurant which I had either heard of before or read reviews on because the name sounded familiar. I later realized that it's the location where they have the epic Caesar, "The Cure". Unfortunately for me, they're only served during brunch on Sundays... but the rest of their food still looked good too.

We were seated at the top level of the restaurant and I noticed walking though that the place was very large with ample seating throughout. The decor was very modern and chic, catered to the yuppy downtown crowd. The menu was decently priced for a gastopub and a variety of dishes to choose from. For drinks, I wanted to try one of their Beer Cocktails and ordered the Creem of Dublin (Creemore + Guinness). It took a while to get our drinks, maybe because of our location, they were coming from downstairs? But mine was very interesting since the Guinness was clearly sitting on top so it was like drinking one then the other.

I ordered the Signature Fish Tacos with Grilled Pineapple & Jicama Slaw, Avacado, Cheddar, and Smoked Chilli Sauce. It was an appetizer so I wasn't sure how large it would be but I thought three was enough (you could add another taco for $4). Luckily, I was right as the tacos were quite large and stuffed to the max! The flavour of the slaw was very bold and perfect amount of acidity to sweetness. I actually thought the Jicama were radishes while eating them but now looking it up, they're actually Mexican radish. They were very overpowering in the overall taco and took away from the rest of the flavours, by the 3rd taco I was a bit tired of the flavour. It helped cleanse the pallet but I think they went a bit overboard with it. The texture of the fish was flaky and soft, great contrast to the crunchy slaw. I didn't have much of the chilli sauce on site because I wasn't quite sure how to add it in, but it tasted pretty good.

I also had a bite of +Will's Pulled Pork Pizza and the BBQ sauce tasted really good. Overall, the place has a great atmosphere and decent food, nice gem in the neighbourhood.

Food: 4/5 - Impressed with the food!
Decor: 4.5/5 - Loved the different levels and perfect noise level and lighting.
Service: 2/5- Service was nothing special, didn't really check on us.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Ummm I need to try The Cure!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://hunterslanding.ca/

Tangerine Asian Cuisine

Date Visited: Dinner on Friday Jan 3, 2014

Company: Early CNY dinner with +Stanley, +Kelvin, and company

Tangerine was recommended to me by my Tamil friend who said it was an awesome Hakka restaurant in the Whitby/Oshawa area. For those who don't know, Hakka is a style of cuisine from China that the Hakka people cook. They have traditional dishes but they're popular for their Indian style Hakka food which combines Chinese dishes with Indian spices. My dad is Hakka so I've had my share of the traditional dishes but don't get to try the Indian style ones very much unless we go to a restaurant. Some Asian friends of mine were going to be in town/convinced to come and wanted to go for some Chinese so I thought it was a great opportunity to try it. I actually don't know any good primarily Chinese restaurants near me so I really had high hopes for this place!

+Stanley and I arrived first and got a table for five. It was pretty full and we just waited a few minutes as they cleared a table for us. The restaurant is about small-medium sized with a hall upon entering that spans the length of the dining area taking you to to the waiters in the back with a small waiting area there. There weren't any Asian customers but I guess that isn't very surprising as it is in the Durham Region. As we waited, we checked out the menu and saw that a pot of Chinese Tea was $2, which usually should be free. +Stanley also wasn't impressed that they didn't have chopsticks on the table, only forks and knives but I expected that. They had a lengthy and wide-range of Asian cuisine from Thai to Indian and dishes were reasonably priced as if they would be in a typical restaurant in Scarborough/Markham.


After everyone arrived, we ordered a soup and four dishes from the waiter that took our order. He also assumed that we wanted White Rice and we weren't sure if he was going to charge us but it was actually free! We started off with a Large Seafood Hot & Sour Soup for the five of us. We served ourselves and waited a bit for the soup to cool down! I was impressed on how much seafood they actually packed in this soup. It included the regular items you would see in hot and sour soup like tofu, bamboo, and wood ear, but also had shrimp, imitation crab, scallops etc. (ie. the seafood part) It was a great addition the soup and added nicely to the flavour. The hot part was spot on but I thought it could have been a bit more sour.


To pick what dishes to order, I actually looked on Foursquare recommendations and literally everyone said to order the Mango Chicken or the Bombay Chicken (both which were also on the Chef Recommendations part of the menu). We of course, got both. The Mango Chicken ended up being my favourite dish of the night and I'm actually still craving for some now. The sauce was sweet and packed with flavour but it wasn't overbearing and thick. The chicken was crispy and the mango was ripe. I couldn't get enough of it! The Bombay Chicken was a dry dish and had a lot of spices added to the chicken. It was also tossed with some onions which were cooked perfectly. This dish had more Indian spices and flavours to it but I didn't find it spicy at all.

We also wanted to order calamari and were debating between the appetizer dish and a main, but we ended up getting the Spicy Deep Fried Calamari main dish. I found this one pretty greasy (deep fried of course) but the calamari itself wasn't bad. I found that certain pieces were saltier than others but the overall flavour with the onions, pepper, and garlic was great. 

Our last dish was a Seafood Hakka Noodle which was in a huge bowl and was the only one we were too full to finish and had to take home. The noodles were cooked nicely though and there was a nice mix of vegetables and seafood in the dish. I thought the flavour was a bit bland and probably could have done without this one.

I was very impressed with Tangerine overall, the food came timely after we ordered and being in a group, our food was pretty cheap after we split everything. It's probably the best you'll get in the Durham Region hands down. Usually you see many small, sketchy take-out Chinese restaurants but this place is actually legitimate and presentable.

Food: 4.5/5 - Delicious flavour, huge portions and reasonably priced.
Decor: 3/5 - Clean but very standard and simple.
Service: 3/5 - Nothing spectacular but servers were attentive.
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Yes, totally taking anyone who wants to go for Chinese in the area there!
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.tangerineasiancuisine.com/