Nana Restaurant Toronto

Located at 785 Queen Street W. (in the Trinity Bellwoods neighborhood), Nana sparked a lot of excitement when its doors opened almost a year ago. Being the younger sister restaurant of one of my favourite places in the city, Khao San Road, my initial dining experience here felt a lot like meeting my significant other’s …

Taking food recycling to a whole new level

Figured this was a pretty neat piece of news to share with our readers.  Adam Smith is a trained UK chef who has come up with an interesting restaurant known as “The Real Junk Food Project”. He cooks up nutritious meals using volunteers and all food that is deemed “un-sellable” by supermarkets and restaurants. This …

The food of Croatia

To be perfectly honest, while travelling the coast of Croatia from one end to the other, we didn’t really have a chance to experience any real Croatian food because we didn’t find any restaurants offering it. That’s not to say that there weren’t any restaurants, quite the contrary actually, but none that would offer something …

The Bristol Yard, Toronto

After so much hype around this tiny little restaurant, I was very excited to have a meal at the Bristol Yard (146 Christie St.) and after almost 6 months of trying we got in for brunch. The restaurant is only open for a handful of meals in the week (Wednesday evening, Friday dinner, Saturday and Sunday) and …

Gordon Ramsay’s Desserts

“Pastry chefs occupy a very special place in the pecking order of a high flying restaurant kitchen, so…I take my dessert skills as seriously as I do all my cooking” – Gordon Ramsay Desserts by Gordon Ramsay is not a new book by any means, but definitely one that needs to be a part of …

A journey around Toronto’s pastry world (2)

So here we go again, more pastry talk from our epic journey around Toronto. Last post I talked about Frangipane Patisserie, Nadege, Patachou and La Bamboche. This post will bring us to the east side of Yonge and all the delicious treats that can be found around that side of town. Rahier Patisserie (Bayview and …

A journey around Toronto’s pastry world (1)

So it’s Saturday afternoon, the sky is grey and depressing, our stomachs are growling so what are we to do?!?! Well, most people would make lunch, but here at Notes On a Meal, we don’t find that to be enough so we embark on a French pastry shop journey. Equipped with a sneaky camera (well, …

O’noir Restaurant, Toronto

Hello all! After a slight delay we have returned with yet another Toronto restaurant review. This one is courtesy of one of our lovely contributors, Mr. Pyjama Chef. Enjoy… “Have you ever imagined losing one of your senses? Just consider spending 2 hours in a room where you can only hear, smell, touch, and taste …

Mega Quarry Resources.

Here are some resources to learn about the mega quarry and its impact on farming, the environment and the landscape . Get informed. Get involved.   NDACT – North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce  http://www.ndact.com/ Stop The Mega Quarry – http://www.stopthemegaquarry.ca/ Council of Canadians – http://canadians.org/action/2011/mega-quarry.html Citizens Alliance – http://www.citizensalliance.ca/Cause-Home.html          

Sugar, part 3

From a culinary perspective, sugar is a very important ingredient so understanding how it reacts while being heated, melted, dissolved, etc is very crucial. One of the most integral parts of this is an understanding of what happens in a simple sugar and water solution. In this case, the sugar molecules have a tendency to …

Sugar, part 2

There are several different types of sugars, all with various qualities and sweetness levels. Different sugars give different impressions of sweetness with sucrose being the longest to be detected on the tongue and the most lingering of the bunch. By comparison, fructose registers quickly and strongly but it also fades very quickly. But before we …

Yours Truly, Ossington & Dundas, Toronto

Having just opened its doors late last year, Yours Truly Restaurant at Dundas and Ossington has caused quite the stir in the foodie world. The chef, Jeff Claudio is a veteran of fine dining cuisine with an impressive resume that includes Noma in Coppenhagen, Alinea in Chicago and Per Se in New York. Needless to …

Lucky Charms Sifter.

Tired of eating the garbage cereal shapes in a box of Lucky Charms? Tired of picking out the little bits of marshmallow goodness from each bowl by hand? Are you ready to change your life? Enter the Lucky Charms sifter. This handy device was invented by genius Thomas Lombardi and it does one thing really, …

The Fat Map.

Reuters new service has put out a pretty nifty interactive map of the world showing the planets fattest countries.  The added bonus is the FDA research which indicates the projected trillion dollar+ sales of obesity related drugs.  Drugs used to make people thiner.  I guess popping a pill is much easier then making healthy lifestyle …