Phoenix Restaurant (Golden Phoenix 金鳳)

I have been to the 1st location of Phoenix Restaurant (near Markville Mall) since it first open when I use to live closer by... but I notice that the quality have been declining as it rise in popularity (>_<) And this is my 2nd time to this Woodbine location (they have 3 locations, another one on Bayview) just because it's convenient and we were in a rush. I know that there's a lot of good blogger reviews of this place but there's really a lot of better "cha chang tang" (茶餐廳)

Baked Seafood Rice

It was very bland, there was just a very tasteless cream sauce which didn't taste creamy and salt lacking altogether... and way overpriced because there was the extra puff pastry on top (>_<)

Hainanese Chicken Rice 海南雞飯

This was the dish that make them famous at their first location, so I order this to be safe... but what a disappointment. It came with plain steam rice instead of the "Chicken oil" rice that's normally the star of the dish for me.... the rice are normally stronger in flavor and the chicken smooth, moist but more subtle in flavor since it's only cook in stock with minimal to none seasoning.

Iced Lemon Tea

Verdict :

Disappointed once again, I don't see myself going back anytime soon =(

School Girl or Barister?!?

I thought I was going for the School Girl look but Ben though I look like a Starbuck Barister

(^_^)?

Outfit Details: 

  Shirt - F21; Skirt - ZARA; Booties - UO; Bag - Little Burgandy

Cold Tea

The term Cold Tea refers to the practice of serving beer (alcohol) in teapot after legal serving hours in Chinese Restaurant. It's a term / tradition popularize in Toronto Chinatown.... and since I had my fair share of cold tea back in the days, I really wanted to take a look at this place. Since it opened back in Fall of last year, I haven't had the chance until I had a late dinner reservation here on a Thursday night.

Cold Tea is hidden in the Kensington Mall, down pass the hallway

 There's no sign, just a red light ;)

When you peak in, you'll see a Dim Sum station (^_^)

I heard it through the Grapevines

Day 2 was a bit chillier compare to Day 1 here, so I layer a sweater w/ faux fur collar underneath my jacket and added tights.

The hotel that we went to (cheap, $50 a night) didn't have a blow-dryer and we totally forget to bring ours... hence the messy frizzy hair (>_<)

I always have difficulties naming my outfit post, so most of the time it's pretty straight forward and simply... for this post, Ben help and obviously he choose a song that frankly I haven't heard of =P

 Start our day at a nearby AYCE brunch buffet AlMac's Buffet

Heh, you don't get drunk as easily with a full stomach especially an oily one since it coat you stomach so that alcohol don't absorb as easily =P

Taste the Season (Day 2)

After Day 1 here where we visited 11 wineries out of 26... we were well rested and ready to finish all stops on our Taste the Season pass.

12th stop : Pondview Estate Winery

2010 Gewurztraminer Riesling w/ Warm Pulled Pork on freshly baked baguette

Great refreshing crisp white to start the day pair perfectly with the pull pork which was top with choice of 2 wine jelly.

WineWear

What do one wear for wineries tour, 26 wineries in 2 day at that.....

and how to look cute while doing so ?!?

See my Day 1 post here to go with this Day 1 look (^_^)

And that's what I cam up with, since we are staying over for the night, I wanted to pack light and would like to wear the same jacket and shoes on both day. I also need something no overly casual so that I can go directly to dinner without changing (since I wasn't sure if we'll check in to our hotel before dinner or not). So I turn to my trusty faux-leather jacket and riding boots once again... comfy footwear is a must to visit all those wineries.

What do you think? Any tip for traveling light or packing more versatile outfit?!?

What's your Winewear?!?

Taste the Season (Day 1)

As I've previously posted here, I planed a weekend at Niagara-on-the-Lake for Taste the Season back in November. It's a $50 food and wine pairing pass to 26 wineries. Wanted to share with you my experience before I head to another weekend adventure for the Days of Wine & Chocolate in February.

Since it was a 2 day weekend pass, we decided to stay overnight since there's no way we could go to all 26 wineries in one day. We book a cheap $50 room at Super 8 to make it affordable since we won't spend much time in the room and our only requirements was a clean one =P

1st stop : Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery

2009 Black Series Merlot w/ Merlot Braised Shortrib with Fall Vegetables

What a great start to a windy day; flavorful, warm and comforting.... and it's my first time actually liking a Jackson-Triggs wine =P

2nd stop : Stratus Vineyards

2007 Tollgate Red w/ Farm-to-Table Pulled Lamb with yuzu hoisin

The toast was dry, cold and stale (>_<) and the pulled lamb was rather dry.

The station was hidden at the back with very small serving size of both wine and food.  I thought Stratus wine are on the expensive side compare to other wineries in the area.

Mickey's Pizza

I finally made my way to Mississauga for Mickey's Pizza after hearing about their goodness form Food Junkie more than a year ago and immediately after the first bite, I wish I went earlier (^_^)

So many choices given that you can choose your own topping as well.

Each pizza are made to order

The rotating Hickory Pizza Oven which allow to cook the crust (from the bottom) in high temperature for a crispy crust with the "light" on top which toast the surface/cheese

(only the thin crust are made on this open oven)

We ordered 2 of their small deep dish signature pizza : #9 & #10

#9 Philly Cheese Steak

~ Steak, Meatball, Caramelized Onions, Cheese Blend and BBQ sauce

This is my fave out of the 2; just love the combination of flavor, the meat, the gooyee cheese, sweet onion and love the BBQ sauce... a good change to tomato or pesto sauce.

Carpet ?!?

2 items I bought during Boxing week ;)

The soft and fuzzy coat on sale from UO for $15and my wedge from Aldo for less than $50

What do you think? Good Deal?!

Ben keep saying that the coat sort of look like carpet and love it... me, I just find it soft and cozy like a bath robe that looks cute wearing out =P

Beast (2nd time)

I own my girlfriend a belated Birthday dinner and I end up choosing one of my old favorite, Beast Restaurant (see my last post here) since I know it won't be too expensive with yummy food guarantee (haven't seen a bad review yet). It also doesn't hurt that I can now make reservation through Dinning Date Night for 30% off the entire bill (^_^)

They have seasonal menu using local and sustainable ingredients only, so it's totally different from what I had last time, except for a few favorites that's kept on the menu. Beast is more of a tapas style restaurant and since they have a small menu, the 4 of us got to share/try quite a few dishes ♥

I was surprise that they are still serving the same kind of bread given that it's made in house by half owner, Rachelle who is a pastry chef. I would expect some changes from time to time... the loaf was so milky soft good but the mini baguette was a not-that-fresh tough =(

Mushroom on Toast

~ shiitake, lions mane, oyster, challah

The mushroom was fresh and cook just right with a rich sauce... love the toast and mushroom ratio

Dishcrawl - King Street

Heard about Dishcrawl for a while and when it finally came to Toronto, the first 2 events were sold out. So when they finally have new events available, I seize the chance and bought 2 tickets at $60/ea for November King Street Dishcrawl. I was a bit skeptical since they don't list the places and you'll only find out the meet up place a few days ahead. 

When I first got the email saying that the meet up place would be Thor.. Let's just say I wasn't thrill, you can see my previous post here

The crawl was divided into 2 groups, each group lead by one guide.... we were in the 2nd goup and we had to wait outside while the 1st group was inside (good thing it wasn't cold that night)

And it was when we went it that we saw the stops of the night (yeah, the yet to open Cheesewerks)

Everyone got the choice of Espresso or Americano while we were told of how Thor came to be etc.

Saw this and wish I could have one, it's just so pretty.... but I resisted the urge since I know there's a lot of food to come 

Espresso, it a bit too sour to my taste but I know a lot of people who would love it

2nd stop : Wabora

I have heard from some friends saying they didn't really like it, so I still haven't been

Nails ~ Glitter Edition

I don't know if it's the holidays but I have been addicted to glitter nails the past month and still am =P I notice that my friends seems to like it when I post my weekly nail colors picture on facebook, so I decided to so a post here as well.

I have received quite a few bottles of Gold nail polish from my girlfriends for my Bday / Xmas gifts... apparently my girls know me well since I always prefer my gold versus silver for anything from accessories and clothes. It's just a warm but fun and festive color (^_^)

I spend quite a fortune on eating out and clothes as you may have notice, so I never spulge on manicures.... so nothing fancy & no drawing requires, here are my weekly nail color ;)

China glaze in Snow Globe from my Luxe Box (glitter top coat)
&
Sally Hansen Xtremewear #16 (dark blue base)


Btw, if you haven't heard about Luxe Box, you should take a look... at $12 a month you get 4-6 deluxe sample of beauty product including shipping. I got this full size China Glaze nail polish for my first months subscription.

Dearlee #080 - Born Pretty

This is a website that I found recently that I like very much, with a lot of nail polish, stamps and tolls at a very affordable price plus Free Shipping

I call this party confetti, gold with a mix of blue & red... I only apply 2 layers here, should have either apply a third layer or a base color so that no clear nail are visible.

BK Sliver Shimmer - Born Pretty

NYE 's Outfit

This year we spend both Christmas and NYE quietly by ourselves since we didn't feel like partying or clubbing. For NYE, we just went out for dinner and countdown back at home =P

Althoughit was only dinner just the two of us, I still wanted to dress up a bit for the festivity (^_^)