Father's Day Brunch: Four Seasons, Avenue Lounge

Restaurant:  Avenue Lounge, Four Seasons Hotel

Where:  21 Avenue Rd., Toronto, ON  416.964.0411

The day for the other parent, Father's day.  Another breakfast brunch at a different hotel.  I had another idea but I will save that for another year when the babies are older.  It fun and interest of it would be lost on them and us because they are so young.

This day, we went to the Four Seasons, Avenue Lounge.  It was a nice spread but the consensus was, we enjoyed the brunch at Intercontinental Hotel's Azure Restaurant more.  Don't get us wrong, the spread was nice but due to our taste, we thought the selection at Azure was more to our liking.  (Plus, it was more inexpensive.)  A change of scenery was good as well. The thing was, Avenue has a larger anit-pasti selection which we didn't care for as much.  I found the dessert selection wasn't as good either.  The decor was nice but it was much too cramped.  Oh ya, and they threw in 1 golf ball for the fathers.

- mussels, lamb, mini burger, French toast, smoked salmon/bagel -

- orange juice & some tabletop arrangement -

- dessert:  tirimusu, creme brulee, lemon tart, fruit/cake with chocolate, fruit tart -

- cold shrimp -

- view from our table of the bar (elevated section) -

- antipasti bar -

- bowl of shrimp -

- dessert selection -

One Restaurant: Don't believe the hype.

Restaurant:  One Restaurant

Where:  116 Yorkville Ave, Toronto, ON.  416.961.9600

Given the ratio of price to food satisfaction, I would say that this was the worse meal I have ever had.  For what we shelled out in cash for this meal, the quality of food, workmanship and service was not worth it at all.  Yes, One is what people may consider a swanky restaurant but I would never step foot in it again.  I've had much better meals for a fraction of the price.

If you want to show off your newly purchased painted on dress, too tight t-shirts, designer wares and yourself, then this is the place to go.  If you're there for a good meal for your money, this isn't the place to go.  I too can go out and buy an expensive cut of beef and slap it on my fry pan, cut angled slices with my sharp $20 knife and serve it on a metal platter from Little India to my hubby on our balcony.  I too can serve oysters on the half shell without knowing where they're from along with condiments and a dirty sticky spoon.  I too can fry onion rings in old oil that makes my batter all brown and low temperature oil so that it's dripping with grease, serve it to my hubby and call it tempura onion rings.  The less expensive sushi establishments that dot Queen St. W and this whole city can give a lesson to their kitchen staff on how to fry a light tempura - not day old oil that oozes greases when bitten into.  I too can serve a concoction of juices in a martini glass and tell my guest it's very special without letting know what's in it.

Might I just add, I don't want to go to a restaurant of "supposedly" this calibre and be told by the wait staff that at least 6 items listed is not available.  If such items are difficult to source, just don't include it as a regular item on the menu.  If you happen to have it, then add it as a special insert.

What we ordered:  1/2 dozen oysters, terrine of foie gras, kampachi, 12oz strip steak, tempura onion rings & medley of mushrooms (special of the day - this was to rook you in the buy a more expensive version of the morels that they didn't have).

The olive bread was good though, that was probably outsourced.

Art Square Gallery Cafe

This is definitely not another Tim Horton's coffee shop.  The Art Square Gallery Cafe is located on 334 Dundas St. W, directly across from the Art Gallery of Ontario.  The cafe situated in the back of this little gallery.  There used to be sofa chairs in the gallery itself where you could sit but those are no longer there.  The art is (in my opinion) "so so - ehh"...  The menu is good though.  We once went there for breakfast.  If you are looking for a hearty breakfast, I wouldn't suggest eating here.  There is a wide selection of crepes, both sweet and savoury.  Good Illy coffee and good teas.  We would go more often if it were not for the babies.  The gallery and cafe are not wheelchair accessible so, we had to carry the stroller up the steps.

Aji Sai

Restaurant:  Aji Sai

Where:  467 Queen St. W, Toronto, ON.   416.603.3366

We have finally found a casual sushi resto that we can go to with the whole family.  They have a high chair for baby1 and roomy enough for baby2's stroller.  Their delivery service is what we usually order from in the evenings.  Pretty good quality for the price.  Today though, we went to the restaurant for the 1st time.  They have an all-you-can-eat option and that's what we opted for.  The selection on the AYCE menu is quite extensive but some items on their a la carte menu, you will not find.  The staff is friendly too.  I hope this restaurant finds more success than the two that were there before it, one offering Chinese food (it probably went out of business because it was old) and a Thai restaurant.

A MODERN REFURBISHED INTERIOR

SOME OF OUR FOOD WE ORDERED.  (BABY1 LOVES HER TOFU.)

Chocolate Cranberry Blondies

Not really a cake and not really a cookie, that's what's so rustic about bar bake goods.  I find the subtle taste of a blondie much more satisfying than a brownie.  To me, brownies are always much too dense for my liking.  Plus, you can insert other flavours into and blondie and not have it get drowned out by the heavy buttery chocolate flavour.  Not that I don't love chocolate, I do but the intenseness of the butter and eggs just makes me want to put down a brownie after just one bite.

It is an easy one bowl recipe, fast and easy.  The original recipe came from the baking bites web site.  I tend to like my sweets much less sweet than prescribed in most recipes and I try to use whole wheat pastry flour wherever possible as well as substituting in some oil for butter.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup grape seed oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup each semi-sweet choc chips, white choc chips, cranberries

Mix sugar and butter/oils.  Add eggs one at a time and vanilla.  Stir in half of the flour.  Stir in remainder of the flour with the chocolate chips and cranberries.

Bake in 350F oven for 30 minutes in a 9x9 pan.  Let cool in pan and cut into desired portions.

Whole Wheat Bagels

Lately we've been having toast once in awhile with Philadelphia Strawberry cream cheese (the light version).  It's a nice alternative to an overly sweet and fat ladened dessert.  Instead of the store bought breads, I thought I'd try and make my own type of bread - much healthier, without the unknown ingredients.  I saw this bagel recipe/article on Chow's website weeks ago.  Before I could start, I was in search of malt syrup - found it at whole foods.  A little expensive but I didn't want to wait any longer.  Don't have the time.  There's something satisfying about creating your own baked good - especially bread.

The process was actually pretty simple.  I would definitely do this again.  Plus, bagels freeze very well.  I did modify the recipe with some whole wheat flour and with less salt as some of the comments suggest.  A pastry whole wheat flour must be used - the plain old whole wheat flour would just make it too heavy and dry.  Pastry whole wheat flour is great for a lot of other baked goods.  I like the one that Whole Foods sells under their brand - again, a bit pricey so I'll have to research some more on where I can get some cheaper pastry wwf.

My Mother's Day Meal: Intercontinental Hotel, Azure Restaurant

My mother's day feast took place at the Intercontinental Hotel's restaurnat Azure. We had been there for breakfast once before and that meal was decent. It is convenient for us because it is a short distance from our home. The restaurant is spacious, especially on the weekends. It is probably busier during the weekdays with business people wheeling and dealing. Oh, it also has good high chairs. I didn't expect many people there because when we went there a few weeks back, the restaurant was practically empty. We might have been the only people there. Anyway, I thought we'd be ordering off the same brunch a la carte menu but....no! Azure was offering a mother's day brunch buffet. On this visit, the restaurant had people in it - mommies and their families.

There was a lot of food and a great selection. There were breakfast foods, eggs benedict, sausages, waffles, made to order omellettes; hot foods - vegetables, fish, chicken, potatoes, roast lamb; antipasto platter; fruit platter; cheese platters; variety of breads; soup; seafood table - mussels, shrimps, oysters & clams; sushi; and a separate dessert area. I have probably left something out and don't remember some of the special names of the food items. I concentrated mostly on the seafood and didn't stuff myself with anything ordinary.

Here are the mouth watering visuals of most of plates...

Weekend in Review

This was an extended weekend for us, not just Saturday & Sunday, it included Thursday, Friday and Monday. We inevitably go out on weekends because I hardly get out much during the week. The babies are a difficult bunch by myself (they are so young right now). A tag team effort eases the pain. While out in the city, we always eat.

Here is a weekend review of my food life...

Asian Legend, Chinatown: Northern Chinese

What we ordered: Chinese Silver Bun (fried), Xiao Long Bao (steamed soup filled pork/scallop dumplings), Rolled Onion Pancake with Sliced Beef, Hot & Sour Soup and Pork Chop Fried Noodle

Over Easy: A breakfast place (There's non-breakfast items on the menu too.)

What we ordered: I ordered the complete healthy breakfast which included egg whites, oatmeal, multi-grain toast & a bowl of fruit. I forget what the other order across the table was. Something with cheese, egg and bacon mixed together and baked (can see the small casserole dish) plus, hash brown. Also, an order of extra toast for baby1. ...coffee & grapefruit juice too.

John's Italian Cafe, on Baldwin St. (Lots of restaurants on this stretch of the street.)

A little rest and drink after a long walk. Our original destination was an organic farmer's market on John St., but it was nowhere to be found. So we kept on walking and ended up here. We only wanted a bowl of latte and a decaf cappuccino. The cafe has a full menu as well.

The mother's day meal will be posted after this. It deserving of its own entry.

Manpuku, Village on the Grange

What we ordered: kake udon, curry don & takosen

This is a new discovery from the Chowhound. Not the usual Japanese place that everyone is accustomed to around here, no sushi. Will have to go again to try some of the other items, particularly the onigiri and yakionigiri. I really enjoyed the takosen. It's not something I've had before so I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be but I loved it anyway. It's this orb of goodness all wrapped into one - fried outside and chewy & soft on the inside, with just the right amount of mayo on top. yummmm...