Kaleh Joosh at Sheherzade Dizi & Grill

Technically, every dinner Leo and I have can be considered a ‘date night’, but I specifically requested we do a special night out one November. I was pretty bored with our usual food spots at the time and the idea of having a taco or another pork belly something felt as enticing as eating chalk at that point. Sheherzade Dizi & Grill was a welcomed change for sure! It’s such a cozy little spot, dimly lit, with lots of colourful decorations. I’m pretty sure 90% of the people dining alongside us were on dates as well… Romantic dates, bro dates, and lady dates. No family dates. Also…dates..get it? (The fruit kind. They’re popular in Iranian and Middle Eastern cuisines, no?)

It was actually our second time there. I felt adventurous and got the Kaleh Joosh, which the menu says is a broth of Persian whey, mint, and onions cooked with white beans, chickpeas, potatoes and eggplant. It comes with a side of walnuts, beets and cucumbers, and flatbread. When it arrives at the table, the vegetables are served in a clay pot and the broth strained in a soup bowl. I was told to drink the broth first, then, with a special instrument, to crush the vegetables in the pot and use it as a spread for my flatbread.

When I looked up kaleh joosh on google, it seemed like it was an entirely different thing from what I had. Sheherzade’s kaleh joosh was a vegetarian version of their popular Abgoosht, which is a lamb stew that comes with everything I’ve mentioned above. It’s served and eaten the same way.

The kebabs Leo ordered came with Persian style rice with butter on top, a salad, and a whole roasted tomato. The rice puts most of the other rice I’ve ever eaten to shame.

The meats are halal.

Sheherzade Dizi & Grill
422 College St W | Website | Yelp

Toronto Doughnuts: Venezia Bakery

Our Homer’s Odyssey into Toronto’s doughnuts continues… -BHH

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We’ve heralded Portuguese doughnuts before and we’ll likely do it again before this little round up is done (spoiler alert, we’re fans). With that said, it was pretty surprising that we left the venerable Venezia Bakery unmentioned for so long. On most days the cafe is a one-woman operation serving up breads, pastries, hot sandwiches and even a few grocery essentials to local patrons. To some, Venezia must seem like a defiant holdover on what is fast becoming restaurant-mile on Ossington. To label it an anachronism, however, would be to betray the timeless appeal of their baked goods – the kind that would make Venezia feel right at home in any neighbourhood. Next time you’re in their’s before sundown, we recommend you have yourself one of their giant doughnuts with your morning or afternoon coffee. You’ll probably be tempted to stock up on some of their classic pastéis be nata for later too.

Venezia Bakery
114 Ossington Avenue

More Toronto Doughnuts: Bake Lab, Bonjour Brioche, Caldense Bakery, Mexi-Can Market, Nova Era Bakery

Canon AE-1 | Lomography Film 400

Roncesvalles: Sweetpea’s and Roncy’s Bean

Here are some film photos from a Sunday walk in Roncesvalles, taken all the way back in April! It was after my brunch with Amy at Keriwa. We dropped by a few vintage stores, Sweetpea’s (florist), and then Roncy’s Bean for gelato. Amy has a post on all the chocolate she got from The Mercantile, a quaint little grocer along the strip that sells some hard to find stuff like Kushmi Tea brand from Paris…and Jamie Oliver foodstuff.

Canon AE-1 | Kodak Porta 400

Toronto Doughnuts: Mexi-Can Market

Our Homer’s Odyssey into Toronto’s doughnuts continues… -BHH

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Mexi-Can Market’s two College Street locations are recent additions to Toronto’s limited number of small grocers specializing in authentic Mexican products. Among the pork rinds, salsas, confections and other “hecho en Mexico” products are the obligatory churros – deep fried, rolled in cinnamon sugar and filled with your choice of chocolate or caramel filling. According to BlogTO the fixings are sourced from Pancho’s Bakery in Kensington Market, but at Mexi-Can they’re conveniently made-to-order while you do your bodega-style grocery shopping. $1.50 each, 4 for $5.

Mexi-Can Market
310 & 1232 College Street

More Toronto Doughnuts: Bake Lab, Bonjour Brioche, Caldense Bakery, Nova Era Bakery

canon ae-1 | kodak portra 400nc

Kanto by Tita Flips | Filipino street food

Leo and I were lucky enough to visit Kanto one afternoon when owner Diona Joyce was prepping for a catered event with the help of her mom. Despite being busy getting numerous dishes ready for a party, they were kind enough to let me snap some pictures and even offered us a few samples to taste. How nice are they?! Two awesome ladies, a mother and daughter team working together, making great food? I can’t think of a better post to have up for this Mother’s Day weekend! :) – P

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Kanto is one of the many food stalls rounding the street corner of Bathurst and Dundas by the Scaddington Community Center. Though Diona operates the stall by herself, on the occasion she’s doing double duty cooking for both her catering company and passersby, she employs some motherly help to expedite orders for popular Filipino dishes such as palabok (golden coloured rice/sweet potato noodles), tosilogs (a dish composed of cured meat, rice, and egg), and, to our delight, lechon kawali. The kitchen is small, but both Diona and her mom seem to have found their groove navigating the tight spaces of the shipping containment that makes up their stall.

Last time we spoke, Diona was still working out the kinks of turning plated dishes into easily portable street food, but until we can eat noodles off a stick, we’re more than happy to sit nearby and dig in with our forks.

Eaten:

Lechon
The lechon is by far our favourite and a complete steal. It’s a box full of pork and rice with a light cucumber and sweet cherry tomato salad acting as a much-needed counterbalance to the savoury pieces of meat and crackling. The lechon itself was tender, fatty and moist, and defied expectations by being fresh and light on the stomach. And the crackling, oh the crackling…

Palabok
A noodle dish enriched in a golden shrimp sauce topped with a boiled egg, scallions, and fried crunchy bits. It was hearty and filling, perfect for a chilly day.

For the adventurous:
Balut
Kanto also serves Balut, a boiled fertilized duck egg that was simultaneously horrifying and exciting to peel and then bite into. At first glance, it looks like a regular egg, but once you start eating away, occasionally dipping into some vinegar with broth spilling out of the shell, you hit into the membranes and the tiny, crunchy barely formed bones. Leo ate most of it and I had the egg yolk. It tasted like duck.

Off the menu:
Lumpia Sariwa
Similar to a Vietnamese summer roll, but lumpia uses thin crepes stuffed with lettuce, minced meat with julienned vegetables, and then a healthy pour of a very, very good sweet peanut and garlic sauce. If we weren’t in public, I would have licked the box clean. (On second thought, I’m not even sure if there was meat at all, but it was that good!)

Ukoy
Squash fritters fried until crispy with shrimp. It had great texture and was fun to eat.

Kanto
707 Dundas Street West | Website | Twitter

*Make sure to check her twitter for updates and changes in hours of operation!

Canon AE-1 | Kodak Portra 400, Fuji Pro 400h / Digital