I know..I know….I’ve posted three restaurant reviews in a row. I promise next week there will be NO restaurant reviews K? However bear with me for my last restaurant review K? I attended a media event for Portland Variety and they really nailed it with some spectacular presentation and flavours. Not to mention…they serve coffee that is WICKED.

Ok let’s start from the beginning.

The front of the restaurant serves breakfast (coffee and pastries etc) …take out lunches (sandwiches etc) and after work there is this INCREDIBLE spread of  tapas.  I mean INCREDIBLE…with incredible prices too. There’s also dinner!!

Now let’s talk about the food that is served during dinner. Top Left:  Chickpeas in a creamy sauce, Top Right: Smoked Octopus, Iberico Chorizo, Smoked Tomato, Olive Oil, Lemon. Bottom Left: Crispy Pork Rinds that I wrapped up and put in my purse (no joke).  Bottom RIght: House Made Ricotta with Honey, Hazelnuts and Pear

I’m in love with all the sauces. I could marry them!

I didn’t taste any of these cocktails but I sure did want to take a photo of them. One drink was prettier than the next drink!

Naturally I didn’t have any battery left to take photos of the desserts but I beg of you to try to beignets. (I haven’t begged before but seriously – Im begging you this time).

As for the coffee. It’s not to be missed. Milton (one of the co-owners) made me a spectacular Americano. It was so good that I had one at the beginning of my meal and one at the end of my meal. This is NOT something I do on a usual basis – especially at night.

ps..Notice how gorgeous the machine is? Well, there’s only 2 in Toronto and he spent a week in Delaware learning how use it!

Congratulations to Portland Variety. I can’t wait to return.

For more information:

Porland Variety  587 King St. W, Toronto (416) 368 5151

Twitter: @PortlandVariety

A few weeks ago I received an invitation to a media event at Mata Petisco Bar and I have to be honest…I didn’t reply in a timely fashion as I wasn’t sure if I was going to like South American Cuisine. At the last minute, I quickly replied “Can you please squeeze me in?”. I’m ever so grateful that I changed my mind.

The restaurant is located at 1690 Queen St. West and just opened recently. (errr…in time for the World Cup).

Here’s what I inhaled!

Top photo: Cheese Bread and Lobster Pastel; Bottom Right: Corvina Ceviche with Maple Candied Sweet Potato, Celery & Lime Marinate & Fresh Cilantro.  Bottom Left: Smoky Crispy Chicken Hearts w/Cauliflower Puree & Ancho Chili Oil.

The meal continued….

Top left photo: Grilled Octopus w/Hearts of Palm Puree, Raspberry & Balsamic Reduction & Taro Root Crisps, Bottom Left: Beef Cheek Poutine w/Casava Frites, Fresh Curds & Scallions. Right Photo: Picanha Sliders w/ Cachaca Carmelized Onions, House Made Catupiry Cheese & Malagueta Pepper Aioli.

I was enamoured by these small jars of HOT sauce which I put on everything…ok not everything but close to it.

If you asked me to nail down my fav dishes…here ya go: a) the crispy chicken hearts, the grilled octopus and the beef cheek poutine. Yum..Yum..and more Yum.

Hope you get a chance to check out this restaurant soon.

For more information.

Mata Petisco Bar….1690 Queen St. West, Toronto (647) 691 0234

Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 5 pm to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 5 pm to 11 pm

Twitter: @MatabarTO

 

 

 

I swear it’s been 15 years since I’ve visited a Mandarin Restaurant. So when I received an invitation to check out their “Celebrate Canada Menu” …I quickly replied that indeed I was interested.  Not only did I want to visit their buffet again but I was also interested  in helping them celebrate their 35th Anniversary!

I chose a location that’s close to where I live and decided that it would be IDEAL to bike over there to help eliminate some of the calories I was about to consume. What a smart move!!

The buffet is much larger than I remember and there truly is something for EVERYONE. I can see why this is a popular restaurant for families with kids and for large group celebrations. I bet it would be hard to find a 10 year old that DIDN’T like going to celebrate their birthday at the Mandarin!

The service was efficient and we both noticed how polite our waiters were (shout out to Richard and Tom).

Round #2 to the buffet look liked this.

Round #3 to the buffet looked like this.

I swear I ate everything except for one vegetable side dish that didn’t agree with my palate.

Believe it or not I made room for dessert. I could not resist my favorite desserts…a nanaimo bar, creme brulee and a rocky road square.

Needless to say we left the Mandarin and happily got on our bikes in an effort to burn some of the calories we consumed.!!

For more information:

Mandarin Restaurant – to find a location near you please click here.

Twitter: @ Eatmandarin

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/mandarinrestaurant

 

Sometimes I’ll have a salad or a great kale stir fry and even though I’m full…I will be craving something “extra”. Do you know what I  mean?

Here’s my list of how I satisfy those cravings:

-grab a bowl of cereal (I generally have 6 boxes in my kitchen even though I live in an apartment with my daughter part time). These days Multi-Grain Cheerios + Ancient Grains with 5 Whole Grains has my attention seeing as there’s the bonus of ancient grains (Kamut, Spelt and Wheat).

 

-grab a packet of seaweed

-grab a frozen choc chip cookie from my freezer

-find a piece of chocolate and dip it into peanut butter

However the other day, I was happily clicking my way thru Pinterest and discovered a recipe with Cheerios that only requires 4 ingredients to make. I love these types of recipes …especially in the summer when I rarely turn on the oven.

I grabbed the Cheerios and within no time at all – I had a sweet, crunchy snack to add to my list when Im craving something “extra”.

RECIPE FOR 4 INGREDIENT  CHEERIO SNACK BARS (taken from My Little Celebration)

INGREDIENTS

2-3 cups of Cheerios….try using the new Multi-Grain Cheerios + Ancient Grains

1/4 cup peanut butter (I used Kraft Natural..Crunchy)

1/4 cup sugar (Im going to try and reduce this next time)

1/4 cup honey (I used agave)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small saucepan, melt the sugar and the honey – over medium heat.

2. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and continue to stir

3. Add the cheerios

4. I had these cute little pans to put it in….but you could put it in a small loaf pan, a small dish…anything really.

5. Pop it into the fridge for an hour and then cut up into squares!

I have no doubt that I can add these snacks into my freezer so that they are handy!!

Before you start making these amazing snacks, I’d love to talk more about Ancient Grains. I’d love to know….

A) How do you incorporate ancient grains into your lifestyle? (cereal, in your bread, muffins, etc)

B)  What’s your favourite ancient grain? (spelt, whole wheat, kamut,)

Look forward to hearing from you….

PS This is a sponsored post, however all opinions are my own.

I drove into Ottawa on Saturday at 7 pm and left on Monday at 8 am. This means that I had a lot to do in a short period of time. Guess what? Mission Accomplished. I checked out 4 new places. Here’s what I discovered:

a) Bread by Us…this new bakery is only 6 months old and is already a hit in the neighbourhood.  I had a lovely chat with the owners and enjoyed my coffee with a white chocolate strawberry scone . Next time, I really need to buy a loaf of bread.  Kind of kicking myself that I walked away empty handed.

b) La Trappe a Fromage: I have NO idea why I’ve never been to this store before. It’s only a 15 min drive from downtown Ottawa and WELL WORTH THE DRIVE. There’s a massive variety of Quebec beer and a massive variety of Quebec cheese too. This is now going to be a store that I’m going to visit on a more regular basis.

c) Beyond the Pale Brewing Company:  I drove by this place in the morning but it was closed and then returned in the afternoon. I’m so glad that I did. What a discovery. I had 3 samples and then chose one to bring back to Toronto. This little brewery is soon to be expanding as there’s a HUGE demand for their beer. Very happy for them.

c) Salt.…this restaurant only opened 2 weeks ago! I’m not sure what I should write about first…the space or the food. Both are outstanding. In fact I can’t think of a restaurant in Ottawa that has paid this much attention to the space! The owners wanted to create a restaurant that is open late at night (i.e the kitchen is open till 2am) and where live music is played. As for the food – everything is made in house (the jam, the mustard, etc) and both dishes that we had were well executed and plated to perfection.

For more information

Bread By Us: 1065 Wellington St. W, Ottawa (613) 422 5300 Twitter: @BreadByUs

Beyond the Pale Brewing Company: 5 Hamilton Ave. N, Ottawa, (613) 695 2991 Twitter: @BeyondThePale

La Trappe a Fromage: several locations…I went to 114 Blvd Saint-Raymond, Gatineau Quebec

Salt 345 Preston St. Ottawa  (613) 695 5755. Twitter: @SaltOttawa