Loka, Toronto

If you’ve followed Loka’s story from the beginning, you’d feel quite emotional when walking into their brick and mortar location at 620 Queen Street West. Chef Dave Mottershall began this venture as the infamous @chef_rouge on Instagram posting incredibly appetizing food porn for his many,many followers. His pop-up at Hi-Lo on Queen East was such …

Wedding Cake v.2015

This past weekend, I made a wedding cake for 225 people in my 300 square foot apartment! The challenge became sooo real as I realized that I only have one usable counter space and a dining room table for all of the preparations. However, with a little creative thinking and using all possible surfaces in …

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 …

Brock Sandwich – Toronto

If you like sandwiches (and who doesn’t?!?!), you should check out Brock Sandwich on Bloor. Located in the heart of what I consider the least important part of Bloor (1260 Bloor St W) right across from several unfortunate “gentleman’s clubs” and even more vintage clothing stores, this little restaurant is worth the venture. The prices …

Sea Witch Fish & Chip Toronto

Having a British heritage (not me, but my partner in crime) means that you inherently crave fish and chips on a regular basis and not just any ol’ fried piece of fish will do. There are a few great places around town, located in obscure strip malls in and around the suburbs of Toronto that …

Food Art – Mike McCarey

Mike McCarey is a God among pastry chefs for his innovative abilities to recreate any object from cake. His showpieces are sculpted, airbrushed and generally perfect replicas of what they’re meant to represent. In 1993, he opened his own shop “Mike’s Amazing Cakes” in Washington state and he’s been shaping sugar, butter, batter and chocolate …

Food Art – Jim Victor

Jim Victor creates food art on a whole different scale and using a very temperamental medium – butter. The 63 year old sculptor from Pennsylvania, US, has created a special workshop where the ambient temperature is always 13C. This temperature allows his butter to have the consistency of modelling clay and therefore making work a …

Ma Maison Cakes and Macarons – Spring 2013

Just another series of drool worthy cakes and macarons from Ma Maison…

Soupstock aftermath

Slight delay in the posting of pictures but I’m very happy to say that the Notesonameal crew was part of the 40,000 that attended Soupstock this year. With over 200 chefs and around 85 soup stations, it was very hard to pick and choose where to eat! The event saw the talent of Susur Lee, …

MMM (Ma Maison Macarons) continued

So here’s my monthly update on the macaron flavours available at Ma Maison (4243 Dundas St. West, Etobicoke). I’ve been drooling over the pictures for a few days, hope you guys do too! – Apple Pie = Caramelized apples and Cinnamon ganache – Apricot = White chocolate ganache, apricot puree with Peach Schnapps – After …

The County General, Toronto

Located at the corner of Shaw and Queen West, this little venue is something to be reckoned with. Opened by Victor Barry and Carlo Catallo, the owners of Splendido, the County General offers a variety of greasy spoon classics with a new age twist. The food is delicious and is pretty much always available, even …

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, …

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 …

Banh Mi Boys Sandwich Shop, Toronto

Quick service, low prices and delicious food…what more coulod you want for lunch or a super quick dinner? Located just west of Spadina on Queen st, this little sandwich shop pounds out food like it’s going out of style. A very short menu helps the kitchen work fast on the fly and cook almost everything …