Banu

Date Visited: Dinner on Monday Feb 10, 2014
Company: Winterlicious Reservation for 3

One of the things that my friends and I try to do during the '-licious' time is to pick at least one restaurant that we usually wouldn't go to to try new foods. This was once instance where we decided to try an Iranian dinner at Banu located at Queen West. It was a cold, snowy night in Toronto but we drove from Oshawa to the shopping district to eat here and found parking on the street close by. The restaurant is very tiny, very much like the other shops in the area. 

Upon entering, there were only a few tables lined up on the side of the narrow restaurant and a group of 4 tables in the back. This isn't the place to go with a large group. The decor wasn't very lively but had an eccentric feel with pillows on the seats, white walls, bright blue tables, and minimal decor. There were only two servers for the whole restaurant, both who were very relaxed and probably not Iranian. 
We looked at the menu and had a not-so-fun time deciding what to try. The server also had additional appetizers on the menu which were available. I almost got the Kashk o Bademjan, roasted eggplant, turmeric, caramelized onion, fried mint, and whey paste but I got a different version with Creamed Eggplant instead (from what I remember). The portion was pretty small with a chunk of sauce in the middle with 4 pieces of sesame bread to pair. The dip was very creamy with lots of flavour which I can't even know the words to describe. it was a bit smokey with lots of spices in the mushy eggplant, an interesting dish for sure. They asked if I wanted more bread, but I turned it down. It wasn't the most vibrant of flavours to be having a lot of. 
For the mains, two of us got the Koobideh, two skewers of ground angus sirloin with roasted tomato, basil, mint, and tarragon, and lawash bread, and +Joslynn got the Morgh, which was the chicken breast with saffron citrus glaze version. We got everything on one huge plate. We were kind of confused at first when we all got smaller plates before the meal came out, we thought that they had other plates to place on top of ours or something. But all the kabobs came on a huge plate with naan on the side and beneath, and the sides. Our waiter told us to basically take a bit of the meat, mint, tomato, the yogurt-y sauce, and spices and wrap it in a bit of the flat bread. The combination of those flavours were actually very delicious together and every aspect played a huge part of the bite you take. The hard part though was trying to ration everything evenly for each time you took a bite. The beef was very flavourful but there was so much of it, not sure how we could possibly finish it all, we were eating the bottom bread at the end of it. I also got to try to the chicken which was surprisingly juicy. The sauces we got were also very delicious but we ran out of them, along with the tomatoes which were very well seasoned. They were a bit stingy with everything but I know that some of the spices are extremely expensive (ie. saffron). We were joking that we had no idea if we were doing this right or not and the employees here must have a blast making fun of all the newbies that try the food.
Finally, for dessert, I got the Saffron, Rose Pistachio Ice Cream which came in a bowl with one scoop. It was a nice, sweet ending to our filling meal and wasn't too sugary. It had subtle flavour with bit of pistachio in it and very light.

Overall, I think everyone should try out Banu at least once! It was a fun experience for everyone and the food was extremely satisfying. I wouldn't want to eat there everyday but the kabobs were really good. When we got in the car though, we realized the beef kabobs we took to go home smelled like farts. :/

Food: 3.5/5 - Enjoyed the main and dessert, great quality of food.
Decor: 2/5 - Minimalist, extremely chill atmosphere (almost too chill).
Service: 4/5 - Pretty good service but not surprised because its so tiny. Fair waiting times for food
Willingness to go back: 1/5 - One of those 'been there, done that' restaurants.
Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://www.banu.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/