This is my second time at the 360 Restaurant. I loved it the first time I ate there, but it was the winter and it was pretty dark. The skies were clear and we could see a lot of pretty lights, but this time the sun was out longer as it was summer and we could eat yummy food whilst watching the sunset. It was beautiful! The CN Tower is a place everyone must experience for themselves. CN Tower is the tallest tower in the world! What better to enjoy good food with a stunning view and the feeling like you’re on top of the world? :)

The beautiful sunset.

Here’s the food!

TRIO OF ATLANTIC SEAFOOD COCKTAIL
Jumbo lump crab, Maritime lobster, cold poached shrimp
Champagne vinaigrette, tarragon aïoli, horseradish cocktail sauce $48

CUMIN SCENTED ROAST RACK OF LAMB
Warm pancetta, potato and mint salad, natural jus $52

PAN ROASTED WILD BLACK COD
Wilted Swiss chard, preserved orange, fennel pollen, black olive vinaigrette $38

ORANGE RISOTTO WITH COINTREAU CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Passion fruit, dark chocolate, pistachios $14

Last Friday evening, Kaori and I went to Le Sélect Bistro for some delicious French cuisine for dinner. I’ve been here once before and I absolutely loved it. It’s hard to find French restaurants at decent prices but I must say that this place is the exception! The service is superb too – so friendly and quick.

We started off with French Onion Soup and Pâté for appetizers, then had salmon and scallops for our mains. Finished it off with creme brulee! Too good!

But not only was the food good, the atmosphere is so lovely. Tucked away on Wellington St and Spadina, it’s a quiet area for a beautiful patio. Kaori said that she felt she was in a Foreign country.

I didn’t take any photos of the patio, but I sure took photos of the food!

Soupe À Loignon Gratinée

Pâté De Capagne

Noix de St-Jacques Aux Poireaux

Saumon Rôti, Salade De Quinoa

Crème brûlée

Misty's Diner Restaurant Review
Food
Atmosphere
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Value

Overall
Awesome French food at decent prices. Total experience was very enjoyable!

Ever since my brother and I visited America, we’ve had a huge craving for good ol’ American burgers. Juicy, fatty, delicious burgers that is. We’ve been lingering for the taste of a good burger til we return to the States. I recently discovered that there is an American owned diner in Prahan, not far from the City of Melbourne, called Misty’s diner! We were so delighted that all the people that worked there still have their American accent! Hehehe.

Here’s the sign welcoming you to go in – Best American Style Burgers, Chili Fries, All Day Breakfast - how can anybody resist?!?!

This is the interior of the diner. Love the booths, the jukebox and the American car plates!

Here’s Peter and Hao patiently waiting for our food.

How good do these burgers look with chili fries!

Here’s Peter with his meal.

Here’s Hao’s burger!

And here’s Hao with his burger!

All of us at the booth! :) Good times. Haha.

Misty's Diner Restaurant Review
Food
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Value

Overall
Good food at decent prices but love the great service. The people were lovely!

Ever since moving to Toronto, I’ve been missing Malaysian food. I miss the home cooked meals by my mother, and the availability of Malaysian restaurants closeby! I must say, I never really appreciated how easy it was to get Malaysian food in Melbourne and the food is pretty good too.

Was recommended to go to Matahari Bar & Grill Restaurant, which is located not far off Chinatown and features a blend Malay, Chinese, Peranakan (nyonya) and Indian cooking. Chinatown is very close to where I live at Harbourfront so it’s very convenient for me if I ever get the desire for Malaysian food!

We decided to try the most classic Malaysian dishes: Char Kuay Teow and Curry Laksa. Then we had a Pandan Crepe for dessert. Photos below. Yum!

Matahari Bar & Grill Restaurant Review
Food
Atmosphere
Service
Value

Overall
The Char Kuay Teow was good and authentic but the Curry Laksa was too sweet and wasn't spicy. The Pandan Crepe was delicious! The menu is a bit on the pricey scale, so might not be back too soon but will consider it when I get a huge craving for Malaysian food!

Location
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While we were still cruising down the East Cost of Tasmania, we stopped by at a vinyard. Because Tasmania has a cooler climate than the rest of Australia, their wines are distinctly different than in the rest of the country and primarily produces Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Riesling with some smaller plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon blanc.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Riesling that they had to offer, and snapped that up quick!

Beautiful photos of the grapes and the vinyard are below.

After arriving at Devonport, Tasmania by the Spirit of Tasmania we set on our journey to Hobart by driving down the East Coast. It really was beautiful to see the ocean crashing onto coast and the soft sand.

Having heard of the beautiful scenery at Coles Bay and Wine Glass Bay, we took a little detour down Freycinet Peninsula. On the way down, there’s a little shop known as Freycinet Marine Farm with fresh oysters, muscles and lobsters. What makes places such as these in Tasmania so special is that they are located where cool clean water is. Their website states:

“We have no other industries in the area except some forests, vineyards and farms, our water is pure and therefore so are our oysters, we need to neither depurate nor scrub our product before it leaves the farm, it comes straight from the leases to your plate. In fact you can taste the clean waters of Tasmania’s east coast with every oyster that passes your palate.”

As we drove in, we saw the most humongous sunflowers we have ever seen! They’re so beautiful, we had to take photos!

Then we ordered some oysters and muscles. Don’t they look exquisite!

In February of this year, I flew back home to Australia for three weeks. I hadn’t been home for one whole year and had accumulated quite a list of things I wanted to see and do. One of them being to visit Pie in the Sky in Mount Dandenongs.

I’ve heard many people speak highly of this place and while I live quite close by, I had never been! I’d grown up on the great Aussie meat pie. I especially remember after my weekly netball game, my parents would buy me a good ol’ Four-N-Twenty Meat Pie. There was indeed also those days where I was allowed to buy canteen food at school for lunch and I would get either a meat pie or a sausage roll – a typical Aussie school lunch.

So why was Pie in the Sky such a priority in my list of things to do in Australia? Well, Pie in the Sky is known to be awarded 11 Gold Medals for their famous meat pies and being number 1 in all of Victoria. The pies are presented as main courses, accompanied by salad or vegetables and chips. Or you can also opt for traditional peas and mashed potato. You can also take home some of their pies (as seen above) if you just couldn’t get enough (like I did, haha).

I just love chips so I went for a Beef Burgundy pie with salad and chips. Yum!

Here’s what a Curry pie looks like with mashed potatoes, peas and tomato sauce.. Nom nom.

The place is quite large and seats a number of people, but it sure gets packed during lunch time! Make sure you head there early. The service is so lovely, typical friendly small town Aussie service.

While Pie in the Sky had some amazing pies, they serve the best scones ever! If you want a good Devonshire Tea (a cream tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted or whipped cream, and jam),  make sure you make it to Pie in the Sky :)

Pie in the Sky Restaurant Review
Food
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Value

Overall
The meal certainly fills your sweet spot. I'm sure to be back to try the rest of the menu!

In the winter, I absolutley crave desserts. There’s nothing better than devouring sweets on a cold winter night, especially cheesecake. I’m such a sucker for cheesecake.

One night we decided to hit up Pickle Barrel at Yonge/Dundas for their Decadent Cheesecake Sampler and it tasted as good as it looks! My favourite was the berry cheesecake. THE MOST DELICIOUS. 

I love that you can watch the NFL games at Pickle Barrel and I recall watching Philly in their shiny shorts that make their asses look so damnnnnnnn good. I was like OH MY and I had my eyes glued to the screen the whole time. Hahahaha.

Pickle Barrel also has decent atmosphere. Apart from the fact that we waited about 20-30 minutes just to get desserts, I was pretty pleased with the place.

Pickle Barrel Restaurant Review
Food
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Value

Overall
I can say for sure that I will be back for more!

Stockyards is a small joint located on St Clair Ave W. It was so small that we had trouble finding the place – we walked up and down St Clair probably about 8-10 times trying to locate it, and even asking locals. It was a dark, cold and windy night and after about 15 minutes of trying to find it, I was ready to give up.. but there it was – tucked between two already closed stores, we had found burger heaven.

We walked in, mesmerized the staff busily working away to fulfil constant orders. I was a little bit put off by the prices, but I sat by the bar, watching them cook away. I just love watching food cooked right in front of me and handed right to me hot off the stove. All the ingredients were fresh and it was soooo delicious. I normally am hesitant to go up north just for food, but it was completely worth all the trouble.

I ordered the Classic Burger. With two hands, I picked it up and it just melted in my mouth. It really was just heaven in my mouth. This may sound like a huge call, but this was no doubt the best burger I’ve EVER had.

I had a taste of the buttermilk chicken, and it was some mighty fried chicken. Forget KFC, this is THE stuff that goodness is made of. I am also not doubtful that the rest of the menu was of the same quality.

Porchetta Sandwich
Fennel and garlic scented pork loin, belly, and cracklings served on a baguette, with garlic aioli $9

Combo Classic Burger with Fries
6 oz. custom ground beef w/ lettuce, Stockyards mayo, ketchup, pickles, tomato and onion $9

Stockyards Fried Chicken Combo
Buttermilk marinated fried chicken, with fries and side coleslaw $13.50

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The Stockyards
699 Saint Clair Avenue West
Toronto, ON M6C 1B2
http://www.thestockyards.ca/

Stockyards Restaurant Review
Food
Atmosphere
Service
Value

Overall
Fresh and delicious. Worth the drive and every penny!

One weekend I had the pleasure to have dinner at the 360 Restaurant at CN Tower which offers some of the best views of Toronto.  The restaurant revolves around so you can see a 360 view of Toronto while you’re having some magnificent food. Also at 351 metres (1151 ft.) high it is known to have highest wine cellar in the world. Very cool!

As I live down at Harbourfront, I am so closeby to the CN tower and see it everyday so was really excited about going up there! Actually, my bedroom looks out on the CN Tower so I see it lighted up every night before I go to bed.

In the month of December, the CN Tower has green & red lights. Very cute! I tried to capture its cuteness but it just isn’t the same as it is in person. It really lights up the whole city, I love the CN Tower!

This is what we had:

Appetiser

Smoked Fish Tasting Plate
Atlantic Waters Salmon, Quebec Rainbow Trout, Peppered Mackerel, herb crème fraîche, Belgium endive slaw $24

Mains

Slow Roasted, Aged, Canadian AAA Prime Rib of Beef
Rosemary bread pudding, honey glazed roasted root vegetables, natural jus 10oz $ 43 16oz $55

Alberta AAA Peppered Striploin Steak
Yukon gold mashed potato, wilted spinach, Cognac, green peppercorn sauce 10oz $46

Dessert

Norwegian Ricotta Pancakes with Vanilla Creme Fraiche
Orange honey, strawberry conserve $14

Balkan Pressed Yogurt with Wild Blueberries
Chocolate walnut baklava, lavender honey $14

Not only the food was amazing, so were the views.

The views

View of my condo

360 Restaurant Review
Food
Atmosphere
Service
Value

Overall
Expensive, but the exquisite food and gorgeous views are worth it! A lovely experience that is a must for everyone!