If you’re an indecisive person, don’t go to Arisu. Their menu will start giving you heart palpitations as you realize you may never make it to the halfway point. Korean barbeque, Korean dishes of many kinds, sushi, and even more are displayed in full glory. Move over Pickle Barrel, this menu has you beat.

Let me try to help you out here. With cooking stations at every table, Korean barbeque is a natural choice. Go for the porky and piggy set for two ($59.99) that offers three cuts: pork belly, shoulder blade, and honeycomb (like pork belly but more tender). Grill up the pork and tuck slices into the lettuce wraps along with sauces and a bit of the scallion soy.

The set even comes with a host of sides: a puffy egg custard that needs to be eaten quickly; corn smothered in cheese and butter; a host of traditional banchan, steamed rice, and even fresh vegetables for grilling. You’ll have all the bases covered.

You’ll want to start off with a set before adding on extras like chicken ($18.99) to Korean barbeque. There’s not much that arrives with it, just a piece of marinated chicken leg. After all, to miss out on the steamed egg custard is a shame.

If you’re dining as one or don’t like the idea of having to cook for yourself, order Arisu’s porterhouse steak ($41.99 special price; regular is $46.99). Obviously, it wouldn’t rival a steakhouse, but I found it was prepared better than HK café places – the steak was a thick cut and cooked to a rare / medium rare. And it’s a hefty portion complete with mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, and a bowl of spicy tofu soup.

For those dining as a group, getting a bunch of dishes to share is ideal. The seafood pancake ($35.99 for large) was one of the better ones I’ve had - the batter airy and pan-fried forming tons of crispy edges. Large chunks of seafood, scallions, and vegetables are strewn throughout so there’s a great ratio of pancake to filling.

The cheese tteokbokki ($31.99 for large) consists of soft chewy rice sticks and fish balls tossed in a mild spicy sauce (Arisu also offers a spicier version). The rice cakes are surprisingly delicate (perhaps they use the frozen versus dried variety) and being covered in cheese gives the dish an almost creamy finish.

Only the fried chicken breast ($33.99 for large) was a bit disappointing. I liked that it was freshly prepared to the point it was burn-your-mouth hot. But it also wasn’t overly exciting… a simple salt and pepper seasoning with the breading almost too light so it wasn’t very crunchy.

Unlike other Korean barbeque places along Bloor, Arisu also wasn’t too busy, which is surprising because their food was decent and the service great. Perhaps it’s because they’re further away from the bar area, but our Friday visit was relatively quiet, and they could even take walk-in clients.

The separators used in the dining room, provided some privacy to allow our group to get boisterous without becoming disruptive. After all, it takes time to order, so you can get through a bottle of soju before a lick of food arrives. Who knows, two bottles in and you may just be ordering the full menu.

Friday Burger Company isn’t named to indicate your Friday cheat meal should be a meaty handheld creation, rather is christened after Chef Joe Friday, the owner of the restaurant. Dedicated to one of his favourite meals, he ate a lot of burgers before developing his namesake recipe.

I like the thickness of the Friday Burger ($14) patty: it’s not overly thin for a smashed burger so there’s still a meaty feel. It just needs to be pressed more evenly as the thin outer ring became awfully crunchy… to the point I was afraid I’d chip a tooth on some bits.

The rich but not overly greasy patty started the burger in the right direction but could use more flavour. Mine didn’t have much sauce and the dusting of signature spices wasn’t prominent either. And while I enjoyed the traditional lettuce and tomato combination, the burger would benefit from more pickles (there was maybe one that became lost in the sandwich) and adding onions to give it some crunch and freshness.

I read that what makes Friday's vegetarian burger unique is it's made from mushrooms that's dried and then rehydrated for a meatier chewier texture. Expecting it to be in a patty form, it was a bit surprising when the mushroom burger ($15) ended up being strips of portobello stuffed into the same bun, lettuce, and tomato combo. It's simple and works, but the texture no different from a grilled portobello mushroom cap. 

Share the fries ($4.50) as the portion is huge. Being a crinkle cut, the spud incorporated a lot of crispy crust. Sprinkled with a bit of the Sunday seasoning, it gave the fries enough flavour without becoming too salty. If you’re feeling very indulgent, amp up the fries for an extra $1 to become “Friday” fries where it’ll be topped with the mayo-based burger sauce and green onions.

All in all, Fridays served a respectable burger and fries… although not tasty enough to warrant waiting for in a line-up. Located at the Table Fare and Social in CIBC Square, I was luckily there for an early lunch as by 11:45 a queue started forming. Even though it wasn’t a Friday, people were certainly coming in droves for a cheat meal.  

It was a sad day when I tucked into my last bowl of the namesake dish from Beef Noodle Soup Restaurant. But, in its place Pho Thanh Cong has sprung up and offers their version of satisfying beef noodle soup. Gone is the dark 80s décor, the dining room now bright and airy with comfortable hug-your-bum chairs.

You’ll find a lot of filling and little wrapper in their deep-fried spring rolls ($6 for two). With the delicate skin and ample filling, the spring rolls have a light juicy quality that makes you want to have a second. Maybe I can’t share these anymore.

Hulking beef bones are now the rage at Vietnamese restaurants. Pho Thanh Cong’s beef rib pho ($22) arrives with two decently sized bones as well as a handful of shaved beef. There’s a lot of toppings so you won’t be left with a bowl filled with noodles.

And while the beef ribs don’t have a lot of flavours on its own, the restaurant offers a lot of condiments including three types of hot sauce and garlic slivers. After creating a sauce of hoisin, garlic chili, and garlic slivers and slathering it onto the ribs, they were delicious.

The rare beef and brisket rice noodle soup ($17 for medium) also has a hefty portion of protein. Although the rare beef was very lean so some diners may find it tough. Still, the broth was full of flavour and perfectly seasoned, so much so that I could enjoy the pho without any condiments. Sometimes it’s nice to just savour the beef broth and herbs sprinkled throughout.

Weekday lunches are never busy at the restaurant, so service was attentive and quick. Customers are given a choice of having the bean sprouts raw or boiled and if the first plate isn’t enough, they note to just ask for more.

Pho Thanh Cong’s soon becoming one of my favourite places for inexpensive pho. And to save even more, bring cash with you for a 10% discount. Bone-in appetit. 

Vegetarians rejoice, you’re no longer restricted to Monday and Tuesdays for eating at Fat Choi, the plant-based menu run within Soos restaurant. So go ahead, make a weekend plan to dig into some flavourful Asian creations.

They even started offering a six-course tasting menu ($55 per person) allowing the table to sample 60% of their offerings. It started with some scrumptious cakes ($14; normally 4 to an order), a soft steamed rice cake topped with finely chopped preserved radish. Much silkier than radish cake, it’s a cross between that and silken tofu. And while the sweet and salty radish relish was a good start, the dish needed something else (maybe scallions or fried shallots) and more of their famous sambal as I couldn’t taste a lick of heat.

One dish that stood the test of time is the dhal and roti ($14), a deeply flavoured yellow lentil curry topped with onion chili oil. Yet, it’s the flaky Malay roti that really makes the dish – piping hot and well toasted with crispy edges. I could eat this with a dip, as a wrap, or stuffed.

If dining a la carte, it may be wise to order some of the roti with the satay veg ($19), to dip into the thick savoury peanut sauce but also to counteract the saltiness of the dish. Served without a side, the vegetables didn’t need so much seasoning, especially the rapini which almost seemed like it was marinated in salt water. It’d be wise for Fat Choi to serve this with rice.

Plenty of slices of “barbeque pork” seitan are tucked into a fluffy steamed bun to create the char siu bao ($19). It’s tasty, sandwiched with a large slice of pickled daikon, leaf lettuce, and scallion mayo.

We all agreed something has changed with the prosperity tossed slaw ($24). It’s still made with twenty ingredients that create a cacophony of textures, but the ratio of the ingredients has changed – more cabbage and radish and less herbs? Perhaps it just wasn’t dressed with enough of the yuzu plum dressing and way too many peanuts, but the salad just didn’t pack that punch of flavour of the past.

The same can’t be said about the cumin noods ($26). If you’re a fan of Northern Chinese dishes like dan dan noodles, grilled lamb skewers and hand-pulled noodles, the dish is the baby born from the trio. But you must like cumin as there’s tons of it!

Crumbled tofu was flavoured with the spice, a light helping of numbing Szechuan pepper (thank you!), chili oil, and Chinese vinegar to create a spicy and savoury concoction. The flat ribbons of noodles had a lovely springy texture and could hold up against the sauce. Make sure to get a bite with the crunchy celery, scallions, and micro greens as they help balance out the cumin.

While I’m happy to hear Fat Choi’s menu is available all the time, I can’t help but feel it’s not as good as before. Maybe it’s from the kitchen juggling between two menus or that I couldn’t end the meal with a bowl of laksa, my favourite dish from Fat Choi and Soos. Still, at $55 their tasting menu is reasonably priced and satisfying, a win for veggies for sure.

Never did I think I’d be having Indian food in Halifax. Yet, while walking around the Brewery Market, waiting for the Alexander Keith’s tour to start, we stumbled upon the intoxicating aromas of Tawa Grill and eyed the pans of delicious food laid out across the tables.

Tawa is a Nepalese Indian restaurant with an extensive menu of Indian and Hakka specialities. And since it’s located in Halifax, many traditional dishes include seafood such as the chili fish ($16.50). Flakey tender pieces of cod were tossed in a sauce that had just enough heat to salivate the tongue without scorching. Arriving piping hot, the fragrant ginger, garlic, green onions, bell pepper, and chilis combine into a wonderful sauce covering the still crispy fish. You’ll need an order of plain basmati rice ($5) to balance off the dish’s saltiness.

For diners who love saucy dishes, the creamy tomato-based curry in the kaida chicken ($16.50) is lovely for slathering on rice or dipping naan into. Of all the dishes, it held the least heat but still incorporated enough spices for flavour. There were generous chunks of chicken steeped in the gravy, but I would have liked dark meat better as the chicken breast was a little tough.

Tawa’s shrimp biryani ($17.99) was huge and while the shrimp were overcooked the rice was moist and flavourful. I couldn’t get enough of the dish and had bowl after bowl despite being stuffed.

You will not leave hungry. Even their naan ($3; two orders in picture) was sizeable and seemed like it was coming from a never-ending basket. Do yourself a favour and start with one then add on as needed.

Perhaps what ultimately convinced us to go into Tawa Grill was the number of south Asian diners. Couples, groups, and families alike were at tables diving into shared dishes. All hot, fresh, and teeming with flavours. Halifax does Indian great.