Niwatei

My friends and I had lunch at Niwatei afew weeks ago. Niwatei is the ramen restaurant at J-town. It shares the same space as Green Tea Lounge and Silk Kitchenware. The owners of Green Tea Lounge and Niwatei are siblings. Two of my friends got the miso ramen ($7.80+tax & tip). Another friend got the tonkatsu ramen ($8.80+tax & tip). I got the miso tonkatsu ramen ($13.33+tip).

The miso ramen consists of corn, beansprouts, half of a boiled egg,  kamaboko fish cake, BBQ pork and ramen noodles in miso based soup.

The tonkatsu ramen consists of BBQ pork, kamaboko fish cake, half of a boiled egg and ramen noodles in a pork bone based soup. My friend added corn to it for an extra $0.50.

The miso tonkatsu ramen consists of BBQ pork, kamaboko fish cake, half of a boiled egg, bean sprouts, corn and ramen noodles in miso based soup.

Xiao Long Bao

My friend and I decided to eat here 18 days ago. The owners of Ding Tai Fung opened another location in Scarborough and named it Xiao Long Bao. This restaurant is more spacious compared to Ding Tai Fung and the decor is very modern and minimalist while the lighting is bright. The menu at Xiao Long Bao is the exact same menu at Ding Tai Fung. We ordered the requisite xiao long bao and wor tip again. We also got the spicy wontons, stewed beef in pancake, black sesame dumplings in soup and souffle balls stuffed with red bean paste.

This time around we got the dried conpoy and pork xiao long bao ($7.99). It was delicious and I was able to distinguish between the pork and dried conpoy unlike the pork and crab meat xiao long bao from Ding Tai Fung.

The spicy wontons ($5.99) weren’t as good as the ones I had at Ding Tai Fung last year.

The pork wor tip ($5.99) was just as good as the ones at Ding Tai Fung.

The stewed beef in pancake ($5.99) is not the best that I’ve had. It’s comprised of a starchy Chinese pancake wrapped in green onions and beef. The beef had an interesting smell to it.

The black sesame dumplings in soup ($5.99) is just as good as the one at Ding Tai Fung.

The souffle balls stuffed with red bean paste ($7.49) is just as good as the ones at Ding Tai Fung.

Overall, if you don’t want to drive all the way to Markham for Ding Tai Fung and you don’t want to fight for parking, Xiao Long Bao is an alternative.

The Rolling Pin

The Rolling Pin is a tiny bakery&cafe near the Loblaws between York Mills and Lawrence on Yonge. They sell cakes, pies, gourmet donuts, macarons and other baked goods. I had pre-ordered the Pecan Caramel Pumpkin Pie ($22). It comprises of a Graham crust, salted caramel, caramel drizzle, pumpkin filling, pecans and lots of whipped cream.

On the whole, the pie is good however I didn’t like the fact that the pumpkin filling is very minimal and there’s a large layer of whipped cream.

Initially when I first read pecan caramel pumpkin pie on their website I imagined combining pumpkin pie and pecan pie together. I didn’t think there would be so much whipped cream and the pecans would just be sprinkled on top of the whipped cream around the edges of the pie. I also didn’t think that the pumpkin filling would be a thin layer as opposed to the thick layer of pumpkin filling I am accustomed to for a regular pumpkin pie. Overall, I had different expectations of what the pie was suppose to be as opposed to how it actually turned out.

Ding Tai Fung Part II

My friend and I decided to have dinner at Ding Tai Fung again last month. We ordered the requisite xiao long bao and wor tip along with the minced pork and vegetable wonton noodles, sesame dumplings in soup and souffle balls stuffed with sesame paste.

We got the steamed crab meat and pork xiao long bao ($7.99). It was good however at times I couldn’t distinguish the crab meat from the pork. The wor tip or pan fried pork dumplings ($5.99) were just as good as last time. Ding Tai Fung definitely makes wor tip better than the xiao long bao.

The minced pork and vegetable wonton noodles ($7.99) was ok. It’s comprised of wontons, bok choi, black fungus, some minced pork, noodles in soup with abit of green onions and omelette strips.

The sesame dumplings in soup ($5.99) was quite delicious. The sweet soup was very nice while the black sesame dumplings (tong yeun) were a nice compliment to it. The souffle balls stuffed with black sesame paste ($7.49) are good but I think I prefer the souffle balls stuffed with red bean paste more.

Overall, if you don’t mind the wait and you don’t want to walk over to A La Kitchen, I recommend ordering the Shanghainese dim sum and the desserts rather than the main dishes.