200 Toronto Things: (16) Eating meze at Mezzetta

On Jan 23rd (Monday), for my mom's birthday, I suggested going to Mezzetta. I'd seen it in the summer, the menu looked interesting, and I love the whole meze-style eating.

Off we went (Mom, Dad, Madhav and I) and wow, did we ever eat. They suggested getting 5 dishes per person. There were 4 of us, we got 22 dishes. And 4 baskets of pita. 5 per person was a pretty generous estimate - we were groaning under the weight of the food. (Of course, we still ate most of it. We like food.)

I would have taken photos of the food, but Madhav was having none of it. Instead, this is a photo of the interior.

Once that was done, we came back home and Mummy cut cake. (Is any birthday complete without cake?)

Good times.

200 Toronto Things: (14) A baking class and (15) a Filipino grocery store

One Saturday morning in January (Jan 21), I woke up bright and early, and headed off to a bread-making class at Nella Cucina.

During the course of this 4-hour class, we baked a honey-brown bread, cheddar-cheese biscuits, pita bread and cinnamon buns. Seriously drool worthy. (I refrained from taking photos in class, mostly because I was baking, and my hands were covered in flour.)

I don't often take classes, but this one was a real treat. Now, I should really get going on the bread making, no?

On the way back from Nella, which was at Bloor and Bathurst, I decided to stop off at Hakim Optical, and pick up my contact lenses. That was a quick errand, of course, they were ready, and all I needed to do was pay - I noticed a Filipino grocery store across the street. I've seen this store plenty of times before - it is on Eglinton, and it's on the route the parents take to get to the freeway, but I've never stopped to explore.

This time, I did. It was interesting. There were groceries, and then there was a cafeteria-type place for takeout. Ah, but every single thing in the takeout had some kind of meat/fish in it. I guess the Philippines would be a difficult place to travel as a vegetarian. (There were vegetarian groceries, of course, but I didn't buy anything - I'm trying to finish eating the contents of my pantry/frig/freezer first.)

200 Toronto Things: (13) Good beer and jazz at Queen at Dominion

So much catching up to do! Argh.

Ok, almost a month ago (Jan 20), my trivia buddies suggested dinner and jazz at the Queen at Dominion. I was super-interested, mostly because the Queen at Dominion is a place the beer meetup goes to a lot, but one I've personally never been to. I assumed the beer list would be pretty stellar.

And it was. I can't remember what I had, I do remember liking it a lot. The food was ok (standard bar food), and the jazz played in the background. Still, a fun evening to pass a Friday evening.

200 Toronto Things - Vietnamese food

I have a ton of Toronto Things to catch up on, so I've no idea what number this is. Hopefully, once I get caught up, I will know...

Friday evening (Feb 10), I headed to the ROM with a friend. We were there to see the Embellished Reality: Indian Painted Photographs exhibit. (Very interesting, and I do wonder why more people don't paint over photos.)

Once that was done, my friend suggested Pho Huang, right across the street.

I must confess - I was skeptical. First - about the availability of anything vegetarian. Also, because it was in this abandoned-looking building, with a super-sketchy entrance sign.

However, all my doubts were quickly dispelled when we made our way up - the place was bustling, and there were 2 pages of vegetarian offerings. I got the fried lemongrass and tofu in a curry sauce - it was pretty delicious. (This photo was taken once I was done eating, which tells you how big the portion was. Enough to feed a family of 4.)

Our dinner (two large mains, one mango milkshake, and one plate of spring rolls) was about $30? Perfect. It wasn't quite cheap eats, but wasn't pretentious-pricey either. Love it.