Recently, we've been going to this restaurant, called Cora, that opens during breakfast and lunch only. It serves pretty much a choice of healthy meal which stands out among the other restaurants. Another thing that interest me is the presentation of the meal. The fruits are arranged in a more appetizing way that attracts customers compared to just serving it regularly. It gives a sense of appeal to an old traditional meals. I've compiled pictures of some of the food they serve from the times we've been going, as seen below.  As a note: breakfast meal are available to be served during lunch. Menu can be found here. Breakfast

Spécial Cora - 2 eggs, ham, baco, sausage, pancake and roasted potatoes served with choice of bread. I got rye bread which I didn't take a picture of.

This meal was very filling. The pancake was hidden behind the ham. It was a well worth meal.

Unagi-Don - cream teriyaki and shimeji mushrooms with Japanese barbecued eel. Garnished with nori and shiso -$17

This pasta dish was very creamy. My friend called it a "very heavy meal" due to its creamy texture. It's what made it my favorite dish. If you like something creamy I would recommend this. I've tasted four pasta dishes, as we all shared a portion of our dishes to each of us in addition to our own dish. We asked for small plates so that we could easily distribute the Japanese poutine and share it. After we finished the Japanese poutine we used the same plate, filled it with a portion of our own dish as we passed the small plates around in a circle. That way when each of our small plates reach us we have three other pasta dishes to eat. It was a good way to taste the other dishes without having to go buy them. So far out of the  four pasta dishes I've tried I liked the Unagi-Don, despite the fact that I do not like eating eel. For the record, I never tried the eel so I cannot say how it tasted. Moreover, my friend had no complaints in regards to that particular dish, so it's safe to say that it is quite good. I probably would buy this next time I come back to this restaurant.

Shrimp Okonomiyaki - Spaghetti sauteed with bacon, onions and garlic, dressed with shrimp, homemade steak sauce, Japanese mayo and bonito fish flakes - $14

This dish is one of my least favourite. It's not so bad but compared to the other 3 pasta dishes it's quite on the dry side. I like my pasta to be creamy. Other than that I think it's still quite delicious.

Napolitan - Japanese tomato sauce with sausage, bacon, onions, nori and shiso -$10

This pasta dish tasted like the Filipino spaghetti. It is sweet rather than sour, and the tomato sauce was also palatable.

Shiso Clam Vongole - White wine, olive oil, garlic, bacon, fresh Manila clams and shiso -$15

I ordered this dish. The shiso taste on this dish was very strong. This dish was very dry for me. It did have a lot of clams in it. So if you like clams, I recommend this dish. I chose this dish simply for the clams. However, it was my least favourite.

Japanese Poutine Fries - poutine garnished with nori and shiso.

This was my first time having Japanese poutine fries. Apparently, there are other places where you can get one. As per my friend, this was more creamy and very similar to a regular poutine but has an additional touch of shiso and nori. To me it was not salty and very creamy. It was very delicious. I would recommend for poutine lovers to try it out.

Overall I would go back to this place for many reasons. Firstly, it's located at J-town. Secondly, you can go dine at this cafe after shopping around the area in J-town, which is a fairly small plaza. Finally, the food was delicious.

It's summerlicious time in Toronto. It is a summer event featuring a variety of restaurants of different culture, located all over Toronto, offering a three-course lunch and dinner menu at a discounted/exceptional price points. This year's event started on July 3rd and will end on July 26th.

A few days ago, we had a craving for Korean food. There are a lot of Korean restaurants within the GTA but we decided to go to somewhere that requires less traveling. One of the restaurants we usually go to is Gabin, located at Steeles Ave and Silver Star Blvd (within the boundaries of Scarborough and Markham). It's a small restaurant with a nice atmosphere. It offers wide choices of food including hotpot, stone pot foods, appetizers, lunch combos, bento, and mini Korean grill (it's nothing like the round Korean grills you normally see in a Korean grill house). The food is quite decent. I notice that when you go during busy hours such as lunch time, the meal portions are less than when non peak hours. The price is decent as well. Below are some of the foods that they offer. I usually get their bibimbap but after trying out Tsuki Izakaya's kalbi bibimbap, I didn't want to eat other bibimbap out there; well, at least for the time being I didn't. In addition, I decided to opt for something a little different.

Tsuki Izakaya is not an authentic Japanese restaurant. It does not have an all-you-can-eat option as well. Despite its name, it is not specifically all Japanese food. In fact, they serve Korean food as well. Their Japanese dishes, has more of a Japanese style mixed with Korean style. I would say that their food is good. In addition, they have a wide variety of alcoholic drinks from both countries. With that being said - yes they do have soju, and they do have plum wine. I have never tried their alcoholic drinks but perhaps when I go back there I will. Now the location. It is located at Leslie and East Beaver Creek in Thornhill/Markham area. I went there for dinner when it was not packed. Overall the atmosphere was nice. It can be romantic for couples and fun for a group of friends wanting to catch up with life. The service was good. The lady that served us was nice, friendly, and helpful.

Below are pictures of some of the food that they serve. From the pictures you can see that they use red/purple rice rather than white rice. I have only seen those used in Korean dishes before and never in Japanese dishes until now.

"Dragon's Den" Combo $18 - half size of Dragon rolls of Tuna, Salmon, and Avocado

Spicy Dragon Roll $13 - tempura shrimp, avocado, pickled pepper, cucumber with spicy tuna on top

Takoyaki

Kalbi Bibimbap - it had the red/purple rice rather than the normal white rice.They have other options of bibimbap such as tofu and beef.

Crispy Chicken

Wasabi Tako - raw octopus, wasabi and nori (seaweed)It's spicy a bit.

grilled fish

Szechuan Chicken Lettuce Wrap for $12.40

Avocado & Lobster Cobb for $26.95 - Lobster meat with crisp bacon, hard boiled egg, crouton, salad, cherry tomato, and a poached shallot dressing.

Chicken Carbonara for $18.75