Kem CoBa

After dinner, my friend took us to Kem CoBa for dessert, specifically ice cream, soft-serve ice cream and sorbets. It’s close to a Fairmount bagel shop so you can technically have bagel with ice cream. Their flavours change biweekly and are all made on location. The week I was there, the flavours showcased included salted butter, vanilla, peanut & honey, 72% chocolate, passion fruit, strawberry, mango and masala chai. The other flavours that they also make include hibiscus, green tea, almond milk, strawberry lychee, lemon, raspberry and coconut. My friend and I both got salted butter with masala chai. It was absolutely delectable. The masala chai tastes exactly like the masala chai I had in Little India in Singapore. I wish there was a location in Toronto. The next time I’m in Montreal, I would definitely satisfy my sweet tooth here.

flavours of the week

Winterlicious: Tabule

My childhood friend and I went to Tabule for lunch ($15 + tax) this past Sunday. It’s quite close to Five Doors North. The lighting was quite dim although my friend thought that the decor is quite nice. We split the combination plate and the kubbeh for the appetizers. My friend had the kefta kebab while I had the beef kebab. For dessert we both had the knaffa ashta.

Combination Plate

The combination plate composes of a basket of 4 pitas, hummus, tabule, babaganoush and falafel. I was slightly surprised at the portions although it may be because the plate was really large.

Kubbeh

Kubbeh is a cracked wheat shell that’s stuffed with ground beef and lamb, pine nuts and onions with a yoghurt sauce and a leaf of lettuce on the side. It was quite tasty.

Kefta Kebab

Kefta kebab is a kebab made from ground beef and ground lamb accompanied by salad and saffron rice. My friend asked for some yoghurt to dip the kebab with since the kefta kebab looked abit dry. My friend enjoyed the dish although she found the portions to be abit large.

Beef Kebab

Beef kebab is veal filet which I had made medium rare that’s accompanied by salad and saffron rice.

Knaffa Ashta

My friend ordered the knaffa ashta immediately while I noticed that Tabule’s online Winterlicious menu lists mango sorbet, blood orange sorbet or vanilla halva gelato as the choices for sorbet/gelato on the lunch menu. When I perused the Winterlicious menu at Tabule the dessert section made no mention of blood orange sorbet or vanilla halva gelato. There was only a choice of mango sorbet or pistachio gelato. At first I asked the server if I could have blood orange sorbet and he replied that they don’t have any left but they had pomegranate, lemon and pistachio. So I decided to try pomegranate. When we finished eating our appetizers and mains; the server informed me that they ran out of pomegranate so I could either choose lemon or pistachio or the baklava or the knaffa ashta. I decided on the knaffa ashta because I can easily get lemon sorbet and pistachio gelato at Food Basics or Metro. Knaffa ashta is angel hair filo on top of custard and drizzled with rose water syrup. The knaffa ashta was delicious.

Overall, I don’t completely recommend Tabule. I wanted to go mainly due to the allure of blood orange sorbet and I was severely disappointed that they didn’t have any. I would have consoled myself with pomegranate but there was none left by 2:30pm on the third day of Winterlicious. The portions of the appetizers were smaller than I expected although the portions of the mains made up for it. While the quality of the food is good; I could get something similar at a nominal price at other Middle Eastern restaurants. My disclaimer is that I got myself too psyched up for the blood orange sorbet but to be unable to eat it when I was there leads me to not be able to completely recommend Tabule.

Summerlicious: Banu

This past Saturday, I went with a friend to eat lunch at Banu. Neither of us had Iranian cuisine before and I felt that their Summerlicious menu priced at $15 would be a good deal. After my experience with Rodeo Brazilian Steakhouse, I was slightly apprehensive about what I would find at Banu. There’s a patio at Banu however it’s tiny. At Banu, the appetizer, main course and dessert each have 3 selections and you can choose one of each.

My friend and I decided to split two appetizers because we both wanted to try the same two dishes. We had Mirza Ghasemi ($13 on their regular dinner menu) and Salad e Hendevaneh. Mirza Ghasemi is smoked eggplant, roasted tomato, garlic, and egg with negella seed barbari bread. Salad e Hendevaneh is watermelon, sheep’s milk cheese, mint, basil, and olive oil. The Salad e Hendevaneh is interesting. The watermelon isn’t as ripe as I would like it and the sheep’s milk cheese is quite salty however overall combination is quite good. My friend and I both prefer the Mirza Ghasemi. It’s very delicious!

Top: Mirza Ghasemi
Bottom: Salad e Hendevaneh

Mirza Ghasemi

For the main course, my friend and I both ordered the same thing, Kabob e Koobideh ($19 on their regular dinner menu). Kabob e Koobideh is grilled organic Angus sirloin kabob, roasted tomato, fresh herbs, lavash flat bread with yoghurt. You would take a piece of the flat bread, cut a piece of the kabob and roasted tomato and put it on the flat bread and put abit of herbs, yoghurt and spices on it, wrap it up and eat it almost like a roll or mini-wrap. It’s delectable!

Kabob e Koobideh

For dessert, my friend ordered Bastani ($7 on their regular dessert menu) while I ordered Paloud-e  ($7 on their regular dessert menu). Bastani is saffron, rose water and pistachio ice cream. The ice cream itself had pistachio nuts in it rather than it being pistachio flavoured. Paloud-e is rose water and rice noodle sorbet with a slice of lime. Both the Bastani and Paloud-e were very interesting. I barely tasted the saffron and rose water when I tried abit of my friend’s ice cream. The Paloud-e is good except that at times the sorbet was frozen so I would have to chip away at it with my spoon. I was slightly apprehensive about rose water since I had Bandung in Sinagpore and Malaysia and I didn’t like it. Bandung is rose water. However I enjoyed the Paloud-e. The rice noodle was an integral part of the rose water sorbet and it was interesting since I never had anything like it before. Squeezing the lime all over the sorbet added a nice dimention to it.

Bastani

Paloud-e

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Banu. The food is delicious, for the most part, and it was definitely interesting. The service was good. They give you a fairly high quality napkin to use. The decor was nice. I liked that the table was tiled, it’s unique. The bill was $15+tax. I liked that I was able to choose the amount of tip I could give. One thing you should note is that their credit card machine automatically gives tip at 20% and you can’t change the percentage and you can’t even adjust the amount. My friend and I both paid in cash so it wasn’t a problem. I would recommend this restaurant if you want to try Iranian cuisine.

Taco Farm

My friend and I went to Taco Farm this past Friday. Taco Farm opened this past Tuesday. Each table gets a bowl of chips, salsa, chipolte sauce and jalapeno sauce. They also serve water in a wine bottle!

Top Left: Water in Wine Bottle
Top Right: Carnitas and Grilled Cheese & Smoked Mushroom Tacos
Bottom Left: Smoked Pork Belly and Grilled Cheese & Smoked Mushroom Tacos
Bottom Right: Chips with Salsa, Jalapeno Sauce and Chipolte Sauce

My friend got the pineapple and guajilo chile margarita ($10), the carnitas taco ($4) and the grilled cheese and smoked mushroom taco ($4). The pineapple and guajilo chile margarita consists of grilled pineapple purée, lime juice, tequila blanco, guajilo chile drizzle and a guajilo chile rim. It is kind of salty and the pineapple flavour is weak. The carnitas taco is delicious. The carnitas taco comprises of spiced pork shoulder, pico de gallo and guacamole on a tortilla. It has a lot of spiced pork shoulder in it. The pico de gallo and guacamole adds more flavour and texture to the taco. The grilled cheese and smoked mushroom taco consists of smoked mushrooms, Oaxaca cheese, pickled jalapeno salad, cocoa-mole on a tortilla folded in half.

Pineapple and Guajilo Chile Margarita

I got the flor de jamaica margarita ($10), the grilled cheese and smoked mushroom taco, the smoked pork belly taco and the carnitas taco. The flor de jamaica margarita consists of hibiscus flower infused tequila blanco, hibiscus tea, farm citrus and a hibiscus rim. I really like it since its sweet and tasty. The smoked pork belly taco comprises of Maple Habanero smoked belly, red beet crudito, farm sauce and lime.

Flor de Jamaica Margarita

Overall, I recommend the flor de jamaica margarita and the carnitas taco if you’re eating at Taco Farm.