Elgin Street Eats: Pizza and Gelato

CL and I were finally able to get together after multiple failed attempts. The wait was definitely worth it.


We met up at Slice & Co. for some pizza on a cold windy autumn evening. I've always wanted to try this place. It was always packed full of customers throughout the NHL playoffs and the summer. Their patio looked really enticing.

The original plan was to check out El Camino. They weren't open that day though.




The pizzas we got were tasty. We both ordered Italian hand-tossed pizzas. They also had Chicago deep dish, California thin crust, and New York pan pizzas on their menu too.

Topped with tomato sauce, capers, red onions, olives, chili pepper, and mozzarella, the puttanesca pizza had a great combination of flavours. The bottoms of the pizza held nicely too.

CL liked her salsiccia pizza pie. There was tomato sauce, sausage, mushrooms, onions, chili pepper, mozzarella, and CL asked for olives. We both liked that the pizzas weren't overloaded with toppings.


We packed up the leftover pizzas and continued our conversation at Pure Gelato, just a block or two away.

I didn't know that they make crêpes, panini, and even hot food items. Good to know.




There were so many flavours to choose! I wanted 80% of them that night but ended up making a fancy peanut butter cup flavour combination of peanut butter and Ferraro (as in Ferraro Rocher). Definitely a winner! CL went with just the lemon which is never a bad choice -- I actually got it last time.




The two flavours that I got would've tasted perfectly fine by themselves. But they were meant for each other. Their friend, the waffle cone, unfortunately wasn't invited that night.

After we left Pure Gelato, I walked over to Lucy's place to chill with Richard, Andrew, and Lucy's fur baby for a bit.


They were actually just pulling into their garage when I got to their apartment. The three of them split a $40-something sushi platter. It sounded like it hit the spot.

The sushi pictured above was actually what was left of the platter. It was that good.

~*~

Addresses:

Seafood Dinner in Taipei, Taiwan

Our flight landed on a dark and wet runway in Taipei, Taiwan. The clouds were quite low and depressing – much different from the sunny weather in Hong Kong.

That night, we had a huge dinner with some family and friends that welcomed us. To be honest, most of the dinner was a blur.

I do remember that this sashimi was super fresh. It was so fresh that the fish was still twitching. Seriously. Can you see the slight blur of the tail?

My favourite dish was the noodle dish. No surprises there.

And here are some of the other dishes we had that evening:

We were all stuffed before the sweet and sour pork arrived. There were a few other dishes that I didn't take photos of. Crazy, huh? I swear two large set meals were ordered. It was so overboard!

Two people got the Taiwanese vegetarian set instead. Taiwanese Buddhist vegetarians cannot eat meat and smelly vegetables like garlic, onions, shallots, and the like. Since there are a lot of people that practice this religion in Taiwan, it’s quite easy to find restaurants that serve vegetarian meals.

These two vegetarian dishes were among the many that were served that evening.

Although I don't remember much of that evening, I do remember that I was happy to be back in Taiwan! What a great welcoming dinner.


<<
Last Meal in Hong Kong: Tsui Wah Restaurant

>>
Stinky Tofu and CoCo Bubble Tea
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More links from the Tea in Asia 2011 trip:

• Arriving in HK: Hello from Hong Kong!
• Day Trip to Macau: Window Shopping in Macau
• Arriving in Guilin, China: Breakfast and Tea Tasting
• Arriving in Taiwan: Seafood Dinner
• Arriving in Shanghai: Muslim Restaurant

Hong Kong Harbour Front and Korean BBQ

A stunning part of the Museum of Art.

We spent a leisurely day in HK the day after we arrived from Guilin. There’s no surprise here, but we had dim sum once again.

I can’t remember what the restaurant was called. It was in a building where each floor had a different restaurant. That doesn’t help much but that’s fine.

We tried the steamed chicken feet with black bean sauce, youtiao cheung fan (aka zhaliang), and the beef cheung fan. There wasn’t anything special about these three dishes, they’re just your standard dim sum fare.

Aunty recommended the steamed sticky rice. She said it was just like the stuff in lo mai gai. Mom thought the dish was really fragrant and seasoned very well. I had some, but as you probably know by now, I don’t typically like rice unless it’s in the form of congee or rice noodles.

I thought these were red bean-filled sesame balls, but, to the delight of everyone at the table (except me), they were actually filled with a sweet taro paste. I shared a quarter of one. To be honest, it wasn’t bad at all. It was quite a nice change.

We took a nice stroll along the Avenue of Stars after lunch. The weather was a tad muggy, but since we were walking along the harbour front there was a nice breeze. I could’ve spent the day along the harbour front.

A stop at a tourist magnet was included. It was in the middle of a tourist area so it makes perfect sense.

We walked a few blocks and ended up on the top of a parking garage. It was a perfect view for taking night shots of the HK skyline. Aunty said that the spot would be a great spot to watch the nightly light show. It was getting close to dinnertime, so she suggested that we go grab some dinner before coming back. But I wanted to be there for the sunset as well. In the end, we rested our tired feet and waited for the sun to set.

Although my legs were screaming for some rest, I couldn’t help but watch a few young hawks through my camera lens.

Roadie to Kingston: Sima Sushi and Arisu

A few days ago, Jimmy, Richard and I went to Kingston for Henry’s convocation. Since the convocation didn’t begin until the afternoon, we had lunch at Sima Sushi. This is Lucy and Jimmy's favourite sushi place in Kingston. You can read about their fondness of the restaurant here.

Each set included some salad and a bowl of miso soup. It wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t meant to be.

I got the sashimi and maki lunch set. It came with yellowtail, tuna, salmon, and butterfish sashimi.

And also included some California rolls. Henry ordered the 1A Sushi lunch set which replaced the sashimi with sushi rolls (not pictured).

Richard got the unagi don. The eel was a bit fishy to me, though it’s normally like that, but it tasted fine with the rice and sauce.

Jimmy got a sashimi dinner set (salmon, tuna, yellowtail, and butterfish sashimi).

Lucy and Jimmy love Sima Sushi – oh, Andrew too! They always talk about the dreamy butterfish. I didn’t think it was that great.

It does look like Sima Sushi has been consistent over the years. Take a look at their two trips here and here about two years ago. Reading the two entries written by Lucy is a breath of fresh air. I know I'm not a great writer. Anyway...

We headed back to Henry’s place to chill after the ceremonies wrapped up. The plan was to go to Grecos for some Greek food, but we weren’t able to grab a table since everyone came in to town for the convocations. Henry suggested that we go to Wooden Head’s, while I suggested that we just grab some burgers from Five Guys (which happened to be a few steps away from Grecos).

We went to Arisu in the end. I really wanted to try Smoke’s Poutinerie, but we went to have Korean instead. You can read about the last time Lucy wrote about Arisu here.

I was surprised that the restaurant wasn’t packed, but I was glad at the same time. We ordered a plate of dukkboki (rice cakes) to share. As soon as I saw the dukkboki, I had a feeling that it the sauce would be a sweet and spicy sauce. You know, it's like the really sweet sauce buffets use for general tsao chicken. Anyway, it tasted exactly like I imagined. I'm sure this wasn't what it's supposed to taste like. Where are the fish cakes and large pieces of green onions? There was a weird (thin) crispy layer on the outside of each rice cake. It was probably from all the sugar.

There was only one waiter for the restaurant. The poor guy was definitely overwhelmed. We didn’t even get the banchan until after the dukkboki.

Anyway, the waiter brought the three small side dishes. The first one was a salad of bean sprouts, cucumbers, carrots, green onions, and daikon with a bit of sesame oil and other seasonings.

This was a plate of a potato salad. Richard and I much rather prefer the sticky potatoes that is usually served.

With just one look, I knew the kimchi wouldn’t be good. I was right. It wasn't very garlicky or stinky (fermented).

Richard and I split had got a plate of chap chae to share with the table. We barely touched it. It tasted fine but nothing that great – plus, it was easier to pack the chap chae up and eat it later.

Richard ordered the kimchi jigae (kimchi soup). Jimmy got the tofu soup (not pictured). I didn’t try Jimmy’s soup, but Richard’s soup was okay. I preferred mine over his.

I got the yuk kae jang (spicy beef with vegetables in soup).

Henry ordered the gamjatang (pork bone soup). We all tried Henry’s soup and immediately wished we ordered the gamjatang instead. The soup was sweeter than mine was. The sweet taste of the pork bones and meat was so good! Oh man, my mouth is watering now. Richard ranked the soups from crappiest to the best: Jimmy’s tofu soup, his own kimchi jigae, my yuk kae jang, and then the gamjatang.

After we paid the bill and left the restaurant with full bellies. We dropped Henry back at his place and then headed back to Ottawa. I sure do miss roadies!

~*~*~

Addresses:

Sima Sushi
66 Princess St.
Kingston, ON
613-542-8040


Arisu
185 Division St.
Kingston, ON
613-531-9265