Dessert Trends
154 Harbord Street, Toronto
416-916-8155
http://www.desserttrends.ca

While entertaining a guest from overseas, I chose Dessert Trends to go to for dinner. While I hadn’t gone there in a long time, and in hindsight had never gone there for dinner as I was originally accustomed to going there for lunch or dessert, I was eager to finally try out their dinner menu.

Out of luck, they were having a fixed price menu where $25 or $35 gave you a three course meal, which included coffee or tea, and a choice of one of their popular desserts. It was a deal and as one of the waitresses put it, was probably one of the best deals in town. And at that price and for what you get, I have to agree.

Going on a Wednesday evening, they were unusually busy. Even with a reservation that went amok, the waitress was quick to her feet to assemble us another table. Service was quick, efficient, and always with a smile that it made our table feel warm and welcome.

The pre-appetizer bread that came with a selection of creamy humus and house tomato and bean salad was a subtle indication of things to come. With four people at our table, we were fortunate enough to try out a myriad of choices from their menu. Appetizers ranged from shrimp bruschetta (my favourite of the four) to wild mushroom and goat’s cheese on phyllo tart to seafood springrolls. Each with their own flavour profile, was not over powering one or the other. My favourite, came with a rather generous portion of shrimp mixed with tomato sauce, sun-dried tomatoes tucked inside, smothered in olive oil and garnished with a sprout. My only comment with the mushroom in phyllo tart was that I wished for a more substantial flavouring from the goat’s cheese. The combination of taste and texture of the mushrooms, cheese, and phyllo was impressive.

For the main, I had ordered the orange roughy on vegetables and wild rice from the $35 menu. The roughy was wrapped in prosciutto, which made it a little too salty to my liking, and the skin on the bottom of the fish was too tough to bite through. Despite it, I did enjoy the flavouring of the actual fish, along with the medley of vegetables on the rice. The rest of the table ordered crab and cheese cannelloni (great combination), lobster chorizo with mushroom pappardelle (probably my next favourite with yet another generous portion of seafood mixed with perfectly al dente noodles), and wild mushroom pappardelle (with just enough mushrooms so as not to be too overbearing).

Desserts were accompanied by tea or coffee, which when drank black (which is how I always take mine), was very bitter. However, with the sweetness of the desserts, it matched quite well, and I couldn’t help but ask for a second cup. Taking recommendations from one of the staff members, we opted for the tiramisu with figs on top, raspberry cheesecake, the berry box (chocolate mousse with blueberries, raspberries, and wild berries on top), and the flourless chocolate cake. Our table’s favourite was the berry box. The light and airy chocolate mousse with equally light cream and berries accompanied by the white chocolate was a perfect combination. The tiramisu with its thin wrapping of chocolate and a rather dominant flavour of rum came a second along with the raspberry cheesecake (with a little too crunchy of a crust) and flourless chocolate cake rounding the top four.

I can easily say that I have never been disappointed coming here so far. With a wide variety of dishes to choose from, coming here for brunch, dinner, or just tea and dessert, you will never have a shortage of things to order from. With its simple decor and scattered and seemingly random decorations on the walls, it’s a place where you can come to relax and take the time to appreciate what’s in front of you.

Chef Don Duong was even kind enough to drop by our table to make sure everything was ok. Once you experience Dessert Trends for yourself, you’ll wonder why you’ve never come here before.

Guu Izakaya
398 Church Street (just south of Carlton)
Toronto, ON
416-977-0999
www.guu-izakaya.com

I had the fortune of experiencing Guu first hand at its “soft” opening today, just a mere couple days before its official grand opening.

The izakaya chain hailing from Vancouver made its way to the eastern part of the country where a budding Korean entrepreneur decided to make his mark. And that he did. Importing two of the main chefs from Vancouver, this Guu has all right stuff in making a mark of its own in the ever-so competitive Toronto restaurant market.

As soon as I entered the thick, wooden, door, I was taken aback at how busy the place was. With waiters running about filling orders, customers in the aisles waiting, talking amongst themselves, and mingling, it was as if the place had been open for months. The front line at the kitchen was bustling with chefs pouring out small appetizer portioned dishes all the while exercising their vocal chords by confirming menu orders and welcoming customers as they enter the door.

It is by far the liveliest Japanese restaurant in Toronto.

I quickly seated myself with the rest of my party at the communal table that’s no longer than about 15ft. Taking a look at their menu, ordered in perfect square sections, the dishes were well explained in english, along with their Japanese titles. So many to choose from, I didn’t know where to start!

I noticed their selection of sake was quite extensive ranging from a couple dollars per glass, all the way up to $11 per glass. Their cocktails were also something of interest with some traditional Japanese flavourings like Calpico, and even melon juice. Just for kicks, we had to order the Guu original Ramune (Japanese soda, at $3), which turned out to be slightly less sweeter than the other brand. Note to self, must get one of the cocktails the next visit.

Our table of five ordered so many things it was too much to write down. There were still a lot of things that we had to wait to try out on our next visit. Small dishes ranging from gindara (miso-flavoured cod, at $9.50), agedashi (deep fried tofu), oysters with spinach and cheese, kimchi udon, bibimbap, beef carpaccio, karaage (deep fried chicken with mustard-mayo sauce), okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), takoyaki (bite-sized octopus balls), amaebi (sweet shrimp), black sesame ice cream, banana tempura (lightly battered deep fried bananas), and so much more, were ordered, savored, and devoured by all.

I have to say, it’s a very refreshing restaurant that is a great welcome to Toronto. With tonnes of tapas, dim sum, and wine bars in Toronto, I often wondered why it took so long for a Japanese izakaya to come here. I suspected it was because of the usual: not enough demand. Although this may have been the case before, I believe the Toronto restaurant landscape is slowly changing, and is becoming more welcoming to new and creative places. With more people willing to try new types of food, and with all the hype of healthy eating, this place has definitely made its mark, even before the grand opening.

You can bet I’ll be coming back here plenty of times. And knowing that they hope to expand their menu in the future to include more traditional izakaya fare, I can see myself liking this place a lot.

If you ever want to try a Japanese restaurant that doesn’t serve the typical westernized sushi rolls, pizzas, and chicken teriyaki bentos, Guu is definitely worth your visit.

Moderately priced, excellent flavouring, and with some of the most attentive waiters around, Guu is easily one of the most exciting Japanese restaurants to come to Toronto. Highly recommended.

After Rain
Fusion Thai Restaurant
Located in the parking lot of the T&T grocery store in Mississauga

Dubbing itself as a Fusion Thai restaurant, I walked inside to a modern – classical decor restaurant. Looking around I notice large parties scattered within. A staff walks closer to me and greets me, “anyung haseyo.” Noticing that this isn’t quite the greeting Thailanders use (that means hello in Korean), I smile and say, table for three please.

She walks us through the restaurant, past the bar with a brick backing to it, past a table of 10, turning a corner that bends away from the private closed rooms, and onto a platform that overlooks another large party. We finally get to a table, beside a party of 8 Koreans.

I sit down sunken in my seat, noticing the table is much higher than it should be. I open the menu and find a plethora of options to tempt my taste buds. As I was fairly hungry by this time, I wasn’t too picky as to what to order. I did, however, have a craving for something hearty.

I chose the Thai red curry, which had the two chili pepper rating beside it. With an appetizer of chicken and vegetable spring rolls, I was all set. We place our orders:

2 spring rolls, $4.95
Red Thai curry with beef, $10.95
Tom Yom seafood noodle soup, $11.95
Kalbi (beef ribs), $13.95
Tom Yom soup, small portion, $3.95

It wasn’t long after they took our order that the first plate came to our table. Interestingly enough, this was edamame beans, which were typically Japanese styled. Salted to the right amount, but slightly over-boiled, this was still a good beginning.

I look around the room to see that the entire place reminded me somewhat of room in a royalty’s house. The plush couches that lined the booths were velvety red, the chairs, a deep brown sturdy structure. The private “rooms” each had their own chandeliers, while the golden wallpapered walls matched nicely to the dark chocolate brown wood of the bottom half of the walls. Besides the chandeliers, sunken pot lights lined the ceilings all around.

After my brief observation, a man came to our table and served us a plate of what looked like a round pancake of fish roe. We asked what this was as it was evident none of us had ordered it. He quietly says, “it’s service” and leaves as quickly as he had come. After further inspection, it turned out to be sushi pizza. Something I did not see on the menu, and something we were not at all expecting. The pizza consisted of a fairly thick layer of rice in pancake form, deep fried to golden perfection. On top were various thinly sliced raw fish (salmon most likely) smothered in some kind of mayonnaise-based sauce, and covering those was a generous layer of tobiko (flying fish roe). A great appetizer – free at that – but one that would easily fill you up with that thick layer of rice.

Shortly thereafter, our salads came. The vinaigrette dressing was slightly on the mild side and I wished for something more substantial a taste. However, the cold and crisp iceberg lettuce, mixed with tomatoes and cucumbers was refreshing after the sushi pizza. Alongside these sides also came a side order of kimchi and takuan. All these are typical complimentary side dishes in a Korean restaurant, and therefore we felt this no different than one.

The Thai Red curry, in its steamy hot bowl, was deserving of its two chili pepper rating as I found it almost too spicy to my liking. While I can withstand a relatively high amount of spiciness, this one got to me… at the beginning. With the dish being so hot to start off with, it accentuates the spiciness. However, once I let the dish cool down a little, I found it more bearable and was able to eat it without any fuss. The large portion of rice was more than enough for me, and the delicately cut full length sliced carrot was a nice garnish to the dish. Overall, the taste was very creamy, rich, with large chunks of vegetables. While some may complain that it was too sweet, I thought otherwise, thinking back to my visit to Spoon and Fork, where their dishes seemed overly sugared.

The Tom Yom soup with noodles was also a pleasant one with its equally large chunks of vegetables in a spiced soup with a hint of sweetness to it.

And finally, the kalbi. Ever so tender, medium thickness, and a tad on the sweet side. Nonetheless, the BBQ hint was there and it was well marinated to my likings.

At the very end, while most places would serve you a portion of an orange to refresh your mouth, this place generously gave us three thick sections of an orange, which was a great way to end off all the sweetness we had in our meals.

Overall, I found each dish to be plentiful. Almost too much at times. I felt the portions could have been slightly smaller and at the same time, lowering the prices accordingly wouldn’t hurt either.

Nonetheless, it was a good experience in my book, and I certainly wouldn’t mind going there again to try out their other dishes. I missed out on their great looking desserts like fried peach and ice cream, since I was too full by the time I finished my dinner.

One last note about their service. Definitely nothing to complain about here as our waitor was super friendly always attending to our needs. Water was always filled before even having to ask for a refill, and the other waiters and waitresses were equally helpful and willing to help. Note, all of the waiters and waitresses were Korean!

Looking forward to a next visit!