Enjoy Toronto - Dining, Traveling and Hotel

Yang's Fine Chinese Cuisine

2009-07-03T12:58:00.005-04:00

Yang's Fine Chinese Cuisine is our #1 choice for Chinese fine dining in Toronto. Address: Unit 30, 9665 Bayview avenue, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9V4. Phone: 905-884-3388. The Peking duck was awesome, very crispy! It's fatty but not too fatty. There were not enough wraps though, and there was an extra charge of $5 for additional wraps of 10. The scallops were huge and fresh! The crispy nest was not as tasty as what we had before but it still looked good. The AAA Angus beef was extremely tender. The sauce was teriyaki based. We just have to order those big fat oysters again and again! (LP, Watermelon Baby likes the Peking duck tart :D)

Moxies

2009-05-31T17:29:00.004-04:00

That was a wonderful time at Moxies. Let's do it again in the coming few weeks. Address: 159 York Boulevard, Richmond Hill. Tel: 905-764-9500.

Mandarin at Boxgrove

2009-05-26T22:39:00.004-04:00

There is a newly open Mandarin at Box Grove (Markham East). The food and services were better than lots of sit down restaurants. For those who are new to the Box Grove neighborhood, be sure to pre-visit the Medical Arts Center in the same plaza for the medical emergency center, dentists, physiotherapists, and etc. Address: 88 Copper Creek Dr (East of 9th Line & Box Grove Bypass and South of Hwy 407). Tel: 905-471-5000. (LP, we should do this more often!) It's Chinese food buffet, but the decor is Japanese. The food was really good. I liked the roast beef and deep fried scallops most. I can still remember once my friend thought deep fried scallops are made of real scallops. LOL! I don't have all soy sauce fry noodles, Shanghai noodles, Sing Chow fry noodles, and fried rice in a plate often :D. That was so satisfying!!! In addition to our favorite creme caramel and mango pudding, they also have a section for the traditional Chinese dessert, which is hard to find anywhere else. Don't forget to try out their lai -chee and green tea swirl ice-cream.

Essence of Unionville

2009-05-18T18:58:00.005-04:00

Essence of Unionville is a fine dining restaurant in Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham Conference Centre & Spa. That was a quiet romantic Friday evening. It's like we reserved the whole restaurant. (LP, we could take WatermelonBB there next time ;D) The wine, bread, and biscuit were very good starter. The lamb chops were fatty, juicy, and tasty. The beef tenderloin was really tender.

Cafe Peninsula at FMP

2009-05-18T18:56:00.002-04:00

Cafe Peninsula is quite an interesting lunch place. It's a fusion restaurant of Japanese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong style food. To remain competitive in First Markham Place (especially locating right next to FireFly), it needs to restructure it's combo and price though. Address: NW corner of First Markham Place. Tel: 905-604-2679. There's lots of interesting dishes on the menu. I am not paying $2.75+tax for the mediocre milk tea, unless it comes with the combo.

Yang's Fine Chinese Cuisine

2009-04-19T20:51:00.012-04:00

Yang's Fine Chinese Cuisine, a premium Chinese fine dining restaurant in North Toronto. It's a cozy restaurant, but the food, decor, and services are comparable to 國金軒- 高級中菜 Grand Chinese Cuisine in Doubletree Toronto. Address: Unit 30, 9665 Bayview avenue, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9V4. Phone: 905-884-3388.

The golden "Lazy Susan" and red eggs is a symbol of a prosperity and healthy future for the host and the family. (Congratulations, WaterMelonBB!)

The crab claws were deep fried to it's golden perfection, stuffed with fresh crab meat and shrimps. The BBQ baby pig was fatty and crispy. I am not a big fan of shark fin soup personally. Surprisingly, both of the shark fin and the soup totally exceeded my expectation. The sliced abalone was the real dried ones too, not one of those abalone in a can.

The crispy chicken was crispy, tender, and juicy.

The steamed double fishes were extremely fresh. The heart-sharped jelly dessert forms a golden path to a bright beautiful future!

Hilton Suites Markham Conference Centre & Spa - Family Day 2009

2009-02-22T11:05:00.007-05:00

Hilton Suites Markham Conference Centre & Spa is one of our favorite hotel in Toronto uptown. The hotel charged us for $89 per night for the family day long weekend. Be sure to check out my Travelocity Good Buy Hotels post and select the Top Hotel Deals in Toronto link to browse for the off-season rate. Being Gold VIP they offered us the following:

Free upgrade to 1 King 1 Bedroom Deluxe Suite, ~$40 value.
Essence of Unionville HHonor Continental deluxe breakfast for two. Note: The executive lounge was closed as usual. They offered a continental breakfast which doesn't include hot items, $24 value
Self-Parking, $8 value
2 in-room bottled water and cookies
Wireless high speed internet is now complementary to everyone
Access to Markham club is now complementary to everyone

The room was their famous atrium corner suite overlooking the atrium lobby and the Markham center. The deluxe marble bathroom was beautiful although the tub was a bit small. Can anyone tell me what does the thing next to the toilet do?

Sagano

2009-02-21T18:23:00.008-05:00

Sagano, fine Japanese cuisine at the rooftop of Delta hotel Toronto-Scarborough. The Initiation Sushi includes 6 pieces of sushi with california rolls. That is the main purpose for going to Sagano v.s. other Japanese restaurants. Not just the sushi, even the california rolls were good! The Osaka course includes MISO SOUP, SALAD, SASHIMI or CHICKEN, AGEMONO（天婦羅）, YAKIMONO（焼物）, and ICE CREAM. The meal started with an appetite opening orange salad. I could hardly found any chicken inside the crispy chicken, but the crisp was very tasty. The chicken yakimon was normal, no surprise. As for the sweet ginger ice-cream, just the look worths the value! (LP, let's focus on sushi and sashimi next time!)

Hilton Homewood suites Toronto-Markham - Valentines Day 2009

2009-02-21T15:04:00.010-05:00

Hilton Homewood Suites Toronto-Markham, a brand new hotel with all model amenities. Be sure to check out my Travelocity Good Buy Hotels post and select the Top Hotel Deals in Toronto link to browse for the off-season rate. We didn't receive any free room upgrade for being Gold VIP . I asked the front desk staff if the hotel offers any free upgrade. She said they do but they are sold out; however, the lobby area was completely empty and I could actually book the next category room online. Inventory error, maybe? Even the studio room was really good - full kitchen with GE appliances, LG flat screen TV, comfortable King bed, and nice couch paired with a trendy leather coffee table. (LP said, it's like a cozy romantic condo.) The bathroom was beautiful. However, that was the first time I've seen hotel room without a bathtub though. Hilton Homewood Suites offers complimentary full buffet breakfast - crepe, eggs, hams, fruit, juices and hot coffee! The server was very attentive.

Boston pizza

2009-02-21T14:33:00.003-05:00

Boston Pizza, a sit down pizza restaurant for sport fans and family. Address: 157 York Blvd, Thornhill, ON L4J‎ - (905) 707-9300.

TenRen Tea Time (Revisit)

2009-01-18T10:36:00.002-05:00

The $8.99 lunch combo of TenRen tea time 喫茶新饌 was terrible. We have decided to offer this restaurant a second chance. We tried the $14.99 regular combo again and it didn't disappoint us - great drink and great food!

Moxies

2009-01-18T10:33:00.001-05:00

Moxies is a restaurant that amazes us time and again - beautiful lounge, excellent servers, big burgers and interesting appetizers. Address: 159 York Boulevard, Richmond Hill. Tel: 905-764-9500. The steak was good, but the skew of shrimps surprised us. It's bursty and bouncy. I suspect that the shrimps were massaged with oil before grilled. The burger was juicy and huge. I wanted to finish it all, but I just couldn't. The white chocolate brownie is as good as before. Great job as usual guys! There was a little hiccup when we left the restaurant. The waitress said that we took both the merchant and customer copies of the credit card receipt, but we couldn't find the merchant's copy anywhere... We ended up re-doing the transaction. Just one single weird instance, I guess?

New Year Party at C & A's

2009-01-04T15:26:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year!

TenRen Tea Time

2009-01-01T20:54:00.003-05:00

We went to TenRen tea time 喫茶新饌 for the new lunch combo at $8.99. We didn't taste any tea in our milk tea. The pork chop fillet was ultra thin. LoPo's crispy chicken was fine though.

Embassy Suite Niagara Falls - Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T20:52:00.006-05:00

We had a fantastic Christmas getaway at Niagara Falls. The Embassy Suites Niagara Falls - Fallsview hotel is in a breathtaking location, just 100 yards from the bank of the incredible Niagara Falls. The fallsview suite was incredible. (I could stay in the room with LP for the whole day!) The hotel lobby is like a mini Bellagio! There was complimentary snacks and drinks at the manager reception, atrium lounge area outside the Keg restaurant. The snacks were jelly beans and nachos - all the kids gone crazy! The red wine was crappy that I flushed it down to the toilet. The beer was very reasonable though. Embassy Suites Niagara Falls offers complementary cook-to-order breakfast at the Keg to EVERYONE. We were told that the line-up would take half an hour, and were invited to the T.G.I Friday restaurant. There was water leakage from the ceiling that they needed a bucket to contain the yellowish water. The service was non-existent.

Hilton Niagara Falls - Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T20:35:00.005-05:00

We went to Hilton Fallsview Hotel, Niagara Falls for the Christmas holidays. Good work as usual guys! The Watermark restaurant is the main reason to be there, as if we were on TV!

Favorites at Woodbine Racetrack

2008-12-07T14:45:00.010-05:00

That was one of the most satisfying Christmas dinners. The Favorites is located on the 2nd floor of the building overlooking the track. Favorites dining room is open specifically during live racing only. The dinner buffet was $36.5 plus tax. The prime rib, shrimps with spinach cream sauce, and salmon fillet were all very good. The scent of the house red was fantastic, although I like my own house red better. The cakes were gorgeous. (LoPo, do you want to have one more creme caramel?) Address: 555 Rexald Rd, Toronto. Website: Woodbine Entertainment.

LoneStar Texas Grill

2008-11-30T22:07:00.004-05:00

There is a LoneStar at 16th and Yonge. It's one of the most convenient locations but I recommend a makeover ;D The steak fajitas were very good, but we prefer the one I had at Pickle Barrel. The waiter up-sold us those pan-fried mushrooms and it turned out to be ~$5. This is not for the value oriented person.

Milestones

2008-11-30T22:03:00.006-05:00

Can you believe that we are going to Milestones again? This was our Kobe beef night, Kobe beef meatloaf and Kobe beef burgers. (LoPo, Chu Chai Bau is not going to like it.) The popcorn shrimps tasted good too although it's lower grade of shrimps - a flash back to the college cafe!

Mellow Juice House

2008-11-30T21:59:00.005-05:00

緣汁味 Mellow Juice at Commerce Gate - Great bubble tea with great value. Address: 505 Hwy 7 East, 89-90, Richmond Hill, Ontario. Phone: 905-731-2189.

Chili Secret

2008-11-30T21:53:00.004-05:00

Chili Secret 半畝園 - good dim sum, good decor, and good value, but the services is sub-par. That was quite a good extended family lunch though. (LoPo, hope you liked it ;D) Address: 9021 Leslie Street, Unit 9, Richmond Hill. Phone: (905) 764-9119

Milestones

2008-11-30T21:45:00.005-05:00

We went to Milestones again. Ya, again! This is not the conventional crisp Calamari. It is broiled instead of deep fried. Very tender with a little hint of spicy. The Thai style chicken dumb stick reminded me of some Chinese dish, although it's too salty for us. We told the waitress about it and it's fixed real quick! This is kind of waitress who deserves a big tip ;D The 3 cheeses American burger is a classic.

Senbazuru Sushi Bar

2008-11-30T21:42:00.005-05:00

Senbazuru Sushi Bar 千鶴壽司店 - yet another Japanese restaurant with Chinese chef. The Bendo boxes were very good. The Kobe beef sushi was impressive, although it 's a bit pricey. It's like $5 a piece. It is ok to have Chinese chefs in a Japanese restaurant, but I prefer the chef not to spit in the sushi bar. (LoPo, I want to give you the best ^_^") Address: 9665 Bayview Ave. Phone: 905-508-0049.

Hilton Fallsview Hotel - Thanksgiving 2008

2008-10-18T18:15:00.006-04:00

The Hilton Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel knows how to thank its gold VIP for being a loyal customer. (LP, let's have our favorite hot dog fallsviews dinner with fine wine followed by in-room movie!) The turn down service was so personal. They had a staff brought us the complimentary bottled water for the gold VIP members. Without the "O", the CASIN is powerless, CASINO I mean. It's good time to go get some cash! Hilton offered us full American breakfast at the Watermark fallsview restaurant with the best possible seat as seen on TV!

Pumpernickels at Niagara Fallsview

2008-10-18T17:52:00.005-04:00

What is with this empty spot in the Niagara Fallsview casino food court? It is where Pumpernickels - the deli restaurant that sold us $5.99 for a cold sandwich - used to be. With Tim Hortons, who needs the cold and expensive sandwiches?