Shiso Tree Cafe

Shiso Tree Cafe has been on my list of places to visit for the longest time ever. Since I am always out downtown, I rarely have a chance to eat at a non-Chinese restaurant when I am up town...until now! And the food here did not disappoint!

Wrapping Up 2015

Who is ready for this year to end?! Not me!

(Ps. The title of this post was definitely pun intended... Hehe)

Carmen's Steak House

Romantic, candlelit dinner on a Friday night...
What a great way to wind down a stressful work week!

Zen Japanese Restaurant

My omakase experience at Zen was out of this world!! 

Read on to see what I had (well, you can see the collage above, but...still).

#TaittingerTime at the iYellow Wine Cave

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a couple bottles of bubbly with Taittinger?

I had the pleasure of going to the cave for some champagne, cheese, oysters, and great company.

Maman Toronto

Drinking delicious cocktails like a Parisian from cinq à sept? Oui oui, s'il vous plait!!

Windsor Arms Hotel Brunch

Is there anything better than going for brunch on a lovely Sunday afternoon?
(The answer is no.)

GIVEAWAY [Closed]: Hoppy Holidays!

What better way to kick off this holiday season (I hope you've already put up your Christmas tree and started on some Christmas shopping!) than to have a night out in town drinking craft beer?

I've partnered up with Drink Inc. to host a giveaway for a pair of tickets so you can also attend this hoppy event! With many craft beers to choose from, you will be able to try them all at the 2nd annual Hoppy Holidays!...A Craftmas Beer Experience on December 8th.

These breweries will be showcasing their popular beers as well as some seasonal and one-off beers, like the Wild Peppermint Stout or the Pumpkin Ale. Interesting pours to say the least, and you'll need to attend this event to be able to try all of them! This is a pay as you go event, where each 4oz sample is only $1. So let's get together and drink :)

Event Info:
Who: Craft Beer + You + 100 others = Goin' up on a Tuesday

Where: Berkeley Church

When: December 8th, 6 to 11 pm

What: You can win a pair of tickets just by entering in below!

I am hosting my giveaway on Instagram,

But to gain extra entries, you may enter below as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK, & see you there!!

- - -
Update:
Thank you to everyone who entered into this giveaway to Hoppy Holidays, A Craftmas Beer Experience! Further to the 400 entries, the winner is...

Congratulations Sharon Kong (@ganyio)!

Hub Sushi

O.m.g. So. Much. Salmon. Sushi. <3_<3

Hub Sushi has become one of my main hubs for having delicious sushi ;)

Cacao 70

I visited Cacao 70 last Saturday and got chocolate wasted.

Want to get chocolate wasted too? Keep reading.

Byblos

I've never gone for strictly 'Mediterranean' food before, so this was definitely something different. I've heard many good things about Byblos and their tapa-styled dishes, & now I can say I've tried it! 

Byblos is located on Duncan Street, right off of King Street West. Serving Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, the dishes from Byblos holds both a traditional and modern ways of cooking to present many of the items served here.

O&B Canteen

Owned by O&B, Canteen is one of their more casual sit down spots in Toronto.

Before heading to see Kinky Boots at Ed Mirvish, we stopped by Canteen for a quick lunch.

Paint Nite!

A fun activity to do in the winter (or anytime really - but since it is indoors, and winter is cold, I say winter) is Paint Nite. Hosted by local bars and restaurants around town, Paint Nite organizes and provides all material for you and your friends to get together to drink, eat, and paint on a canvas. 

Different from Paint Lounge, where you get to paint whatever you feel like painting, you choose your location / time based on the specific painting you want to be taught to paint. 

There is an instructor that helps turn your canvas from this...

...to this! (See below.)

Kintaro Izakaya

On a Thursday, I attended the Kintaro Tasting at Kintaro Izayaka. Kintaro is known for their skewers, and look at how they make them! So many different kinds on their grill getting ready for dinner service - yum yum.

This tasting was filled with so many dishes of Japanese eats!

So let's get started and let's see what I had :)

Lucky Red

As I write up my blog posts, I've noticed that I've been going to a lot of fusion restaurants lately. They're everywhere in Toronto now! I've been wanting to try Lucky Red for a while, so here we are.

Review: Chef's Plate

I love eating out - everyone knows that. Everyone also knows that I don't really like cooking (it's mainly because I'm not that good at it :( I'm slowly learning though hehe). But Chef's Plate makes it easy! Pre-packaged ingredients with an easy to follow recipe is my kind of cooking.

Taste of Iceland: Nov 12-15, 2015

As I'm in the midst of planning my mini getaway to Iceland in the new year, I got the opportunity to get a taste of what Iceland has to offer in the best way possible (see what I did there?). 

Coincidence? I think not!

I know, that dish looks stunning. This is Icelandic Lamb, for all those wondering, and it is only available this weekend during Taste of Iceland!

Ninki Japanese Cuisine

Sushi lunches are the best kinds of lunches!

Han Ba Tang

Tasting great food and delicious cocktails with other foodies = a lovely Sunday evening

Adidas #RunMore10K

On November 1st, D & I completed a 10k run in an hour and 4 minutes! Can I get a woot woot?!

Hiro Sushi

How often do you get to eat sushi prepared freshly from the Chef himself at an authentic Japanese sushi bar during work hours? Not too often, in my books. :) 

I had the opportunity to celebrate a birthday at Hiro at the sushi bar. We had so many pieces of sushi and they were all so delicious that I really didn't have time to keep track of all the kinds of fish I had a chance of trying. But they do say that pictures are worth a thousand words, so enjoy and I hope it makes you drool!!

Event: Eat To The Beat 2015

On October 27th, I got the chance to attend Eat To The Beat with a fellow foodie, @xiaoeats. With 60 stations of food and 20 stations of beverages, it was something I was glad I did not miss! 

The Red Tomato

I absolutely love peking duck (being Asian and all) and who doesn't like pizza?

When I heard that The Red Tomato combined two of my favorite things...I was super happy to be invited to go try them out!

&Company Resto Bar

Steak, mash potatoes, asparagus, and shrimp - what a beautiful dish!

This is my first (and will probably be one of very few) post of a place in Mississauga.

WVRST

What kind of sausage would you like to have today? 

I've heard WVRST has a pretty nice selection ;)

G for Gelato

The day I decided to go make my own Gelato instead of going to the Gym,

because G stands for Gelato.

Salad King

I had a period of time where all I craved was pad thai and thai iced tea. Having been to Thailand, nothing here is the same. But I've committed to at least trying to find somewhere that is comparable in Toronto.

Beef Noodle King

Rice and soupy noodles, my favorite Asian food combination :)

Mean Bao (via Hurrier)

On lazy lazy days (or any day), don't you just wish someone would deliver you food? The answer is always yes. At least for me. So, hello Hurrier!

Oh, and this post is also in excitement for Bun Month :)

Millie Creperie

I never understood why everyone was raving about these crepe cakes until I had one.

Mi•Ne Sushi (Toronto)

If you need to know one thing about me, you should know that I will always crave sushi.

Home of the Brave

I have been hearing more and more about Home of the Brave in the past couple months. So when I had dinner at WVRST next door, it seemed like a sweet idea to come visit for dessert after.

R&D Spadina

R&D (@RDspadina), is a restaurant located on Spadina in Chinatown opened by Eric Chong and Alvin Leung. They both were engineers prior to following their calling to be become chefs, and I think a lot of people are glad they did. Alvin is a Michelin-star chef, while Eric was the first person to take the Masterchef Canada title last year in 2014. Safe to say I was really excited to visit R&D to give their menu a try.

Olive Garden

I can't say no to wine and pasta...ever.

La Carnita

Visiting La Carnita on #TacoTuesday seemed like a pretty obvious choice in terms of a birthday celebration! (This is a pretty belated post - I came here early May when the second La Carnita recently opened.) We made reservations and we're so glad we did! It was already pretty packed when we got there, and even busier when we left.

Nota Bene

If someone tells you they don't want to go grab some delicious food after work, don't be their friend. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

Happy September!

Happy September, beautiful people!

I can't believe fall is just around the corner. 

I'm not ready to give up my gelato-patio eating days!

I've been really busy these past couple of weeks, so there hasn't been much action here.

My Instagram is definitely getting more of my attention lately,

but I hope to be back with some posts super soon.

Stay tuned, xo

Thoroughbred Food & Drink

*Pow pow* goes Thoroughbred's Kung Pao Cauliflower



Watch it, these little guys pack a mean punch, especially with that spicy kick after.

This is a belated post, as I made my way to Thoroughbred for summerlicious back in July.

GIVEAWAY [Closed]: Tickets to the 2015 Toronto Food & Wine Festival

Do you like food? Do you like wine?

(I'm assuming that since you're one of my readers, you like both.)

Well, you're in luck!!

I've partnered up with the Toronto Food & Wine Festival 

to give away a pair of tickets to this delicious sounding event.

These tickets not only include general admission to the festival, but you will also gain access to the Grand Tasting Pavilion and some celeb chef events.

Click here to see what events will be going on!

What: Toronto Food & Wine Festival

When: September 18 - 20, 2015

Where: Evergreen Brick Works

& Why? Here are 5 Reasons You Need to Visit Toronto FOOD & WINE Festival 2015:

1. Curtis Stone, Tyler Florence, Gail Simmons, Chuck Hughes, Roger Mooking, Mark McEwan, Antonio Park and many more will be taking to the stages for demos, talks and workshops throughout the three-day event.

2. You’ll be able to sample, sip and savour all the flavours from 130 purveyors of premium products, fine foods and beverages from Ontario, Canada and around the world in the Grand Tasting Pavilion – presented by PC Black Label.

3. For the first time ever, Cochon 555 is bringing its flavour-packed marquee events series to Canada allowing guests to sink their teeth into over 1400 pounds of expertly prepared pork dishes by the hottest chefs including Chuck Hughes, Matty Matheson and more.

4. Expert-level educational workshops welcome legendary masters like Kevin Kent (Knifewear), Tetsuya "Ted" Iizuka (Soba Canada), and Antonio Park (Park Restaurant) to share their knowledge regarding time-held traditions like knife skills and soba noodle making.

5. Canada’s Best New Student Chef will be crowned after an exciting and unique cooking competition called Taste Canada Cooks the Books. Some of the brightest up-and-coming culinary talents from schools across Canada will gather in front of a live audience in the Miele Kitchen to make a dish from a well-known Canadian cookbook, with the author on stage!

TLDR; I'm doing a giveaway to a food and wine festival
& it's going to be awesome.

sincerelyKNxTFW15

I will also be running this giveaway on Instagram,

so be sure to head over to @sincerelykn to get more entries!

Good luck, xx
- - -
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed!
Out of the 199 entries on my blog + Instagram for this giveaway, I'm happy to announce that the winner is @p.is.for.phoebe!
Thank you to everyone that entered! If you want tickets, please head on over to Toronto Food & Wine Festival's website to purchase tickets. I hope to see you there!

Seven Lives

It's honestly nacho problem that I'm obsessed with taco joints, okay?
And no, I'm not going to taco 'bout it.
But I will talk about the tacos at Seven Lives...

Pearl Diver

Who else is on a seefood diet? Me!!!

Join in on the fun :)

I found Pearl Diver when searching up good seafood near my office.

Pearl Diver used to be Starfish, before they renovated and redesigned the place.