Nice pho restaurant…read more Like many Vietnamese places in the GTA, you'll find your classic Vietnamese dishes--with an emphasis on pho. It's not super busy here--usually only around half full. Service is quick with no frills, just your standard water - order - serve - water refill. They have a lot of pho offerings, granted it's just different mixes of the ingredients/toppings. I got the rice noodle soup with raw beef and tendon. The broth has that nice sweetness to it and the noodles aren't mushy. The beef is also nice and tender--no complaints about this pho.

It was dreary and wet and grey and chilly and ... wait a minute, we're not in VanCity and it's Late…read moreMay. Can we skip spring altogether, as it never arrived, and get to summer already? Sorry, I digress...typical Toronto weather rant. Let's get in to Pho Nobu. I'm a Pho-nomenal Nut. I luv Pho, especially on off weather days. Nothing cuts through the chill and gets you warm inside than some great soup and noodles. My usual order for first time Pho places is Rare Beef Pho and Fried Spring/Egg Rolls. A little variation today, I ordered the large bowl of Rare and Well Done Beef. Variety is the slice of life right? I'm living on the edge baby! :D The rolls were pretty good, except for the large pool of oil that was forming on the wax paper and making the underside soggy and not that appetizing. I would suggest they figure out another way to serve these yummy rolls. The pho was off a bit. Another review said the broth was salty. Mine was bland - like watered down bland. I had to add twice the normal amount of Hoisin and Sriracha sauces, and I actually added the chilly mixture too. The large serving was a decent size and a medium would be my recommendation. The restaurant itself is nice. It's larger than you think with nice lights and good seating throughout. Parking up front and in the back of the building. Decent restaurants in this area are slim pickings. I would give this place another try, but I'm not rushing to it anytime soon. There is another Pho place nearby that I will try and let's see how they compare. Cheers.

Amazing pho pop up restaurant in behind Drom in Queen west is serving up their signature noodles…read moresoup from Northern Vietnam. This looks like a family event with people coming from far and wide after following the event on ig. I just happen to live on Augusta and saw the lineup and joined in on the fun. Also i was hungry. Drom dining is always a festive homey event with all that Eastern European kitsch. I had the medium beef with beef brisket fat which was amazing. The cocktail was also good tasting like iced tea and only $11 a real bargain. I will be back if it happens again. Hot sauce was the bomb along with the marinated garlic. Omg so good. I dined with a Vietnamese woman and had great conversation which added to the whole experience. Authentic too.

Picked up a rice dish for lunch and enjoyed the flavours, especially the lemongrass pork chop…read more Great option in the area. Really nice staff.

I honestly did not know of this restaurant's existence until I erroneously drove into the parking…read morewhere it resides (I was actually planning to have some Korean jjamppong, but realized the place I had in mind is closed on Tuesdays). The restaurant is located in a strip plaza tucked in a sea of commercial/industrial buildings near the corner of Steeles and Keele. On the inside, it feels like you've been warped into some exotic location. I really didn't expect that based on the exterior of the restaurant. And cooking and serving you are servers (I assume the owners and family) who could be your grandparents and great grand parents' age. A special item that was written on the chalk board, called Bun Mam really caught my eye. The grandma asked me, "have you had it before?". I shook my head and she said it is going to be fishy. I responded with an alright. So what it is exactly is a bowl of rice vermicelli in a fermented fish soup filled with seafood and pork. I've never had this noodle before, but I think I've eaten enough Asian dishes from different Asian countries to have a bearing on what it should be like. I'd say A+ for attempt since I've never seen places in Toronto make it. But, I have the feeling that what I've tried is far from what it should taste like in Vietnam, partially because of the limitations in ingredients and partially due to an attempt by the cook to tone down the pungent nature of the dish. Here's my general take: They used frozen fish, clearly they've attempted to steer away from the cheapest fish possible, which is a good thing. Nonetheless the fish still would not give the soup the natural sweetness that it requires. The shrimp was also of the frozen variety. Nothing special. The eggplant I thought was an odd topping, but I checked online and it seemed to be a normal ingredient for this dish.. I didn't like the eggplant since it was a bit too chewy, especially the skin portion. I think the eggplant can definitely be prepared a lot better. The star of the show was actually the pork. It was marinated with some sort of fermented sauce. However, I don't think it's what it should be. From what I know, the pork should be like a roasted pork with crunchy skin. As for the soup, it smelled a bit fishy upon initial inspection. When it came to the taste, I personally thought it was a bit on the sweeter end. I think it could use a bit more sourness and fermented taste. It's not great, but it's not bad. I would not order it again, nor recommend it. But I think there's enough here where I would come back to try something that is a bit more typical.

Gou Bu Li traces its history back to 1858 in Tianjin (a major coastal metropolis in Northern…read moreChina), the place where one of China's most famous baozi (steamed buns) brands originated. The brand since then has expanded into restaurants across mainland China and now globally. This downtown location is right beside Dragon City Mall. The entrance has its own storefront on Spadina Avenue (not from inside the mall) - just a few steps away from the Spadina streetcar stop and there is a Green P parking across the street. The interior is more upscale and has a bit of a luxurious feel and decor compared to the other Chinese restaurants in Chinatown area. Although the inside is not as big as most other Chinese restaurants in the suburbs, their food quality and taste are comparable to the good Chinese restaurants found in uptown and the suburbs (including Richmond Hill, Markham, and Scarborough), at more affordable price. In fact, I think the food quality and dishes that you get at Gou Bu Li are level steps above those in nearby Chinese restaurants (in downtown and Chinatown). They're best known for their baozi (steamed buns), and I could see why! I tried the one with eggs, chives, and vermicelli filling (only one of two vegetarian / non-meat bao options in the menu). The filling was tasty, and it had a decent amount of filling-to-dough ratio. Much better than the baos you get at T&T or elsewhere. The dough had a nice, soft, and pillowy texture. You can order sets of 4 or 8 baos. In addition to the steamed baos, they also offer xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and various Northeastern Chinese specialties such as jianbin (savoury crepes). In addition to the pretty good baozi, I also found their other main dishes to be excellent - especially the live / seasonal fish and seafood. We had a whole fish (either grouper or sea bass) and lobster - both were pretty massive. The steamed fish was done very nicely with subtle soy sauce flavour and some scallions. Steamed lobster with garlic came with heaps of toasted garlic and a bed of vermicelli, garnished with little bits of bell peppers and green onion. The lobster came out already de-shelled and cut up nicely (but still served on the shell for nice presentation), making it very easy to eat (no need to use hands at all - the lobster meat came off the shells easily). They even took out the tomalley and served it nicely on the cut up shells. Snow pea leaves with garlic was a classic and our go-to green vegetable dish in most Chinese restaurants, and this was no different. It was as expected. House Special Fried Rice with Flying Fish Roe came in a big portion with a good amount of big shrimps, peas, carrots, corn, and topped with a generous amount of flying fish roe. We got complimentary dessert of Donkey Rolls ("Rice Rolls with Red Bean Paste" on the menu). Donkey Roll (known in Chinese as Lüdagun or "Rolling Donkey") is a traditional Northern Chinese dessert made of steamed, sticky glutinous rice dough, rolled around a sweet red bean paste filling, and dusted with roasted soybean or sesame flour, resembling a donkey rolling in the dust. I like this dessert because it's not too sweet and makes a good snack, especially when paired with tea.

Their service is straight up ridiculous. we arrived at 5:30 pm and there r tons of seats empty,…read morethey said they don't take reservations for party of 4, but the yelp and google map show their phone number of the nortH York location so it's so misleading because that location do take any reservation. We got seated right next to the entrance and I pointed at an table in the back because entrance can be chilly and the waiter told me we can't go there because someone booked it. Sure so we sat down, then the people right behind us told the waiter no reservations but they gOt seated at the table NOT AVAILABLE TO US? IM Asian they aren't, I can't even imagine if that's the real reason we have to stuck in the cold seat. Also when we ordereed their dessert, the other waiter told us there is one left and he will keep it for us. Then 5 minutes later, the same person who seated us, came back to us and told us "dessert sold out", I told him we were promised to have the last one this is ridiculous, he told me "I don't know but it's sold out". Not apology, straight up rude. TBH I was going to show my friends Chinese food but when they have to witness those bad service this is just sad. Their food is okay, u can find it everywhere. BUt who has the mood to taste the food after being treated like that? Never ever will go back. If u r the owner of the restaurant and u r reading this, please hire someone who actually treats everyone equally and who keeps their promises. Otherwise good luckk keeping ur restaurant in business with that not so exceptional flavors and extremely bad service.

This place has the familiar feels - I worked on Wilson Avenue for a long time and this was the…read morego-to spot for lunch for my colleagues and I. It hits the spot, is scrupulously clean and of good value.

They were very accommodating to my nut allergies and ensured there was no cross contamination…read morebetween foods as I was able to eat my food and did not have an allergic reaction. I'm not deathly allergic which is why I sometimes play Russian roulette with my life however I'm happy at how comfortable they made me feel when taking my order. Also, my meal was very tasty. I got a chicken and pork chop with rice and a spring roll and it tasted authentic. Will be back!

It took a while, but Hunan Fine Food finally opened the past two weeks at First Markham Place,…read morereplacing Van's BBQ which closed down around the middle of last year. As a little background of Hunan-style food, Hunan is a province in around the south-central area of China. They're known for their spicy kick to everyday Chinese food, and it shows with the selection of foods they have available on their menu. This food stall had a lamb skewer special which attracted me. I forgot the price cost but I know it was cheaper than the Kashmiri BBQ stall across the other end of the food court (something like 7 for $10). The skewers had the traditional Hunan spice attached to it, although it didn't really feel spicy at all. The skewers were also good, but of course nothing compared to Kashmiri (you get what you paid for). The lamb is thicker here, but drier. I haven't tried the other items yet, but seeing it's a new place there's lots of time to see how this place would pan out.

I was excited to see the interesting menu items of Hunan Fine Food. The owners are smart to show…read moremany items in big, pretty pictures. I like mildly spicy food, and I am definitely a fan of the sour and spicy combination, which is offered by Hunan Fine Food. I was intrigued by the picture, so I ordered the Spicy Leek Dumplings ($5) and added an order of noodle for $1, making it a dumpling soup noodle. The real thing looked worse than the picture. It reflected a home style cooking. The dumplings seemed store bought. The filling was pork and leek alright. The broth was the star of this item. It was spicy and had heat (to me). It was tasty as well. I think I could take a notch more heat, but this level worked just fine for summer. The portion of the noodle was good. It was not al dente, but this was the natural characteristics of the type of the noodle Hunan uses. There are some really interesting menu items as shown in the pictures, such as Hunan beer duck, spicy and sour noodle, etc. I think I will return to try out more.

Overall, I was hoping that the buns at this place would be above average especially given the…read moreratings and reviews however, I was really disappointed. I tried out types of buns. Specifically I tried the specialty and seafood bun. I found them to be quite average tasting. The bun wasn't really the soft texture I was looking for and the filling tasted pretty bland. As this place specialized in their steamed buns, I had much higher expectations for their flavours. Especially located in the core Chinatown area, you can find better buns at other places such as the bakeries nearby. Unfortunately, I would not revisit again.

Tough dough on the buns, will help keep you (young healthy hard working lads) full until the next…read moreday. Simple spices. Curry bun has curry taste, spicy beef bun is spicy. Overall addition of salt seems about as grand as they get. Large space.

Vietnamese Sub just opened up recently and they're already doing great things with their banh mi…read moreand rice bowls. The crispy pork lives up to its name; it's actually crispy, which is always a relief when ordering takeout. Portions are generous too, so you definitely get your money's worth. The flavours are on point and everything tastes fresh. Solid spot for Vietnamese food if you're in the area and craving a good banh mi or rice bowl.

When you walk in, you can see the owners' parents watching TV at the back…read more I came in for the fried egg banh mi. Two fresh eggs. Unfortunately, it was on day old bread. The veggies weren't very fresh either.