With the rise of social media and almost every element of travel experiences being shared, travelers are expecting more from their vacations. At times, Air BnB offers the ability to travel like a local, gleaming intelligence from hosts. So, it’s no surprise hotels are also stepping up their game, and now offer unique events for guests (or locals alike).

TOCA, located in the Toronto’s Ritz Carlton, has begun to curate a Tastemaker’s event series where culinary delights await guests. Their May Pio Cesare and Chef Oliver Glowig dinner ($195) has already sold out with just word-of-mouth promotion as diners are treated to a 5-course meal concocted by the Michelin starred chef with rare wine pairings from Pio Cesare’s family cellar.

Having had a glass of the Pio Cesare Barbera D’Alba DOC, I can see how the rich but smooth red can hold up against the acidity of tomatoes. It went wonderfully with TOCA’s signature ravioli capresi, which holds a golf ball sized sphere of soft chewy cacciota cheese in each pasta.

If you’re disappointed about the May dinner, Chef Glowig will be returning for five days at the start of November for TOCA’s alba white truffle week. Diners will have an option between a black and white truffle dinner ($150) or if you want to splurge and sit at the chef’s table in the kitchen, there’s a limited white truffle only menu ($300).

If the menu’s anything like the media preview, expect a bit of whimsy. An hour glass beaker-like apparatus is brought table side for the soup course. As the roasted chicken consommé is heated, it flows through to the top of the glassware to get infused by lemon, ginger, celery, and mushrooms becoming even more aromatic.

Afterwards, the consommé is finished off with plump agnolotti stuffed with ricotta and truffles (wow these were good) and black truffle shavings over top! Oh yes, it’s a fragrant soup that lingers on your tongue.

What really sounds interesting to me is the offsite picnics that TOCA partnered with Culinary Adventure Tours to run.

Every Thursday during the summer, guests will paddle to the Toronto Islands on a huge 18-person canoe ($150 regularly with a special Canada Day edition for $195). The trip from the downtown core to the islands should take 20-minutes and then there will be another 20-minute tour around the islands, including viewing the bird sanctuary.

After working up an appetite, diners head ashore for a locally sourced outside picnic. Think cheese and charcuterie boards, terrines, chicken roll-ups, bread, salad, and more.  Make sure to get a piece of the smoked cooked salmon – it’s such a great combination of a slight candied crust and smokiness.

On October 14^th, you can join the restaurant as they bring guests around the Don Valley to forage their own wild mushrooms and edible plants ($85). Upon returning to TOCA, you’ll learn pick through them and ensure they’re suitable for consumption before the ingredients are transformed into a meal.

Who knows what you’ll find. But, if you happen to get a medley of mushrooms, hopefully the chef will sautée them with butter and combine them with a crisp crostini topped with shaved parmesan. It’s simple but delicious.  

Noodles can satisfy any meal for Chinese individuals. Some may feel like a bowl of carbs is rather heavy and should be restricted to the later meal of the day. But, visit a casual dining spot, cha chan tang, and view their breakfast menu and you’ll find stir fried noodles (often paired with congee), macaroni and ham in soup and instant noodles. With that in mind, it may not seem as strange that Magic Noodle is opened 24 hours a day. Yes, you heard right, a 24 hours a day place serving soupy noodles and other small eats. Luckily, they aren’t by my house or 1am noodles may be a regular occurrence.

At Magic Noodle, they prepare two in-house noodles. The first, hand pulled involves mixing a ball of dough for a long time until it develops an elastic consistency. Then the chef will begin rolling it out, stretching it out arms-length, folding/twisting it over and continuing the stretching and folding process until it gets to the desired thinness. While visiting the restaurant you’ll be able to see the chef prepare it from the open kitchen.

For the first visit, the options seem endless with varying noodle sizes (seven choices) and different protein combinations.  Thinking the house special magic noodle’s ($7.99 for small) picture looked amazing, we order this with the fifth thickness (traditional). Like most food advertising, the actual dish paled in comparison from the menu: the sunny side egg in the picture became an overdone made-ahead-of-time one, while the clear soup base with hints of red chili oil was tinged yellow and tasted of curry instead. But, the bowl was similar sized and had the brisket, beef, turnip, tendon and garnishes pictured.

With fresh pasta it’s hard for it to ever be al dante – after all it has just been made with a ball of soft dough moments from serving. So, it’s natural for the noodles to seem soft and really it’s the delicate silky texture that people enjoy. For me, the noodles were decent but was a tad mushy especially since some sections were stuck together leaving me with spoonfuls of mashed dough. I’d likely go for a thinner size next time as I’d imagine the noodles will cook faster so even if it clumps it wouldn’t be as noticeable.

It was the lightly curried flavour soup that bothered me the most. With past Chinese hand-pulled noodle experiences I’ve become accustomed to beef broth or the hong siu soy sauce version. Both naturally paired better with the beef and doesn’t detract from the noodles as much.    

The second version they serve is the Shanxi knife-sliced noodle. The chef holds a large ball of cold dough, in an angle he uses a sharp knife to directly slice slivers into boiling water. It’s impressive that Magic’s slices are so long it still resembles a noodle. Silky and smooth they were good. But, with the rapid slicing, it’s inevitable that some will be thicker than others, which does lead to uneven cooking consistencies. For this, we went with the simpler sliced beef with noodles ($7.99) which I found is a better choice.

Magic Noodle’s portion sizes are huge (it’s difficult to even finish a small). But, if you have extra room the fried pancake with leek ($2.99) is definitely worth ordering. There’s a great crust that’s not oily, the dough is thin and filled with a substantial portion of what I believe to be chives (although the menu notes leeks), scrambled egg and bean curd thread noodles.

 So after a night of clubbing or if you wake up at 6am with a craving for comfort food, look no further Magic Noodle has you covered. Just bring an appetite as you’ll be satisfied for days.

A herbed bite of dough topped with rehydrated salted cod and salmon roe.

For the vegetarians a phyllo tart topped with bruschetta and beautiful baby basil. Or bundles of salad tossed in a vinaigrette and tied with chives.

But my favourite was the lobster roll. Filled to the brim with succulent lobster and stuffed into a savoury choux pastry which held it's shape and added an airy crispy texture to the creamy lobster mixture.

But, the event wasn't all about the food. There was plenty to sip on as well. In fact, based on all the laughter permeating the room, it seemed that people were sipping on plenty. I tried the Copperface made with Absolut Elyx, a copper distilled luxury vodka. Mixed with apple and apricot brandy then rubbed with orange rind it really helped to balance out the strong drink.

Plenty of wine was also being poured. I struck up the most interesting conversation with, Mikel, a representative from WBG Wines Basurato & Garcia that was showcasing delicious Spanish offerings. Sadly my picture didn't turn out very well (guess I may have sampled a few too many). But, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bellori Joven 2013 which was an easy drinking wine - dry but still have hints of fruit to it.


It was a delightful night with any wineries in attendance where we had the ability to sample items that may not be found in the LCBO.

The night ended on a sweet but somewhat hazy note with A La Carte's dessert station. 

The raspberry tarts went well with my remaining pinot with its crisp tarte, creamy filling and plump sweet raspberries. 

Both Gardiner Museum and A La Carte Kitchen helped portray what an event could be like at their venue. Everyone was having a blast and didn't want to leave - it was supposed to end at 8pm but by 10pm people were still mingling around. That's what makes a successful night, throwing an event that's so lovely and relaxing that individuals want to hang around like its as comforting as their homes.

Let’s put it out there – I’m not a food snob. If something tastes good, happens to be inexpensive and doesn’t require waiting for then life is good. That’s somewhat how I feel about ramen restaurants - many are delicious but requires too much effort to wait around for. Yes, I’d love a bowl of satisfyingly hot noodles, but I don’t want to stand around in the cold for half an hour first.

Which is why when the Kinton Ramen line gets too long in North York, I go to Ajisen Ramen instead. Personally, I find them just as satisfying and the numerous menu options a plus as well. Some may find Ajisen’s soup milder than other chains. For me, it’s flavourful enough without being overly oily & salty and as a bonus arrives piping hot. Ajisen’s soup base is what they call “white soup”, developed in southern Japan made from boiling pork bone with other ingredients and results in a lighter milkier colour. It’s not as oily so may lack that rich fatty essence people enjoy about chicken based soups.

My husband ordered the tender rib ramen ($9.50) which actually became my favourite one. There is an ample amount of meat which has sticky pieces of tendon attached to it. As a warning, tendon is an acquired taste – some will find the gummy soft texture gross. It took me a few years to develop a liking to it and now I love the contrast between the chewy tendon and soft meat.

The protein quantity in my corn and BBQ pork ramen ($8.99) paled in comparison, with a mere three slices of the smallest and thinnest pork I’ve ever seen. Instead there was a generous handful of frozen corn and half a hard-boiled egg. Which is what I miss most about other ramen restaurants – their lovely onsen soft-boiled eggs with the vibrant yellow yolks. Sadly, you won't find it here. 

You may also find Ajisen’s noodles thinner than others. But, they were still springy and didn’t get mushy in the soup. And what I enjoy most is sprinkling the flavourful chili powder over everything. Indeed, for a true ramen connoisseur this is likely akin to pouring HP1 sauce on steak, but for a non-ramen snob it’s delicious!

Their pan fried gyoza ($4.50) was where the quality faltered dramatically. As a plus they arrive searing hot with a nice crust on the bottom. But, the wrapper is also hard and sticks together so any chance of enjoying the juices in the dumplings is gone.

In the end, Ajisen’s not the best ramen you’ll ever have. But, for the price and the table availability they’re not bad either. So, next time there’s a long wait at a competing place, give them a try. It’s certainly not the finest, but sometimes satisfying a craving earlier makes things so much better. 

My husband and I had an amazing dinner at Monk Kitchen last Valentine’s Day and wanted to experience it again. Alas, Chef Fracchioni has since left its helm, hence our visit to Flor de Sal instead. Sadly, there’s no more kitchen table, but admittedly the dining room is so beautiful you would probably want to sit there anyways.

Situated in the redone Corner House the dining room is elegant and beautiful washed in white, silver and floral. The chairs are so comfortable that even after two hours we didn’t want to leave – this is quite impressive for my normally antsy husband.

Even before we ordered an inviting spread of crusty dense bread, rich olive oil and fresh olives were laid across the table. 

I couldn’t help but sprinkle some of the flor de sal (sea salt) left on the table into the oil to add a nice saltiness to the soft bread.

There was such a deep lovely crust on the scallops ($21). With the vibrant colours coming from the watercress puree and lemon cream, there was a refreshing hint of spring right in the middle of the cold winter. We swiped up the sauce, an interesting mix of saffron broth and cream with a bit of freshness from the watercress, edible flowers and lemon.

Flor de Sal’s whole roasted grouper ($39) is a generous portion and delicious as I finished every bite. The skin is crispy (albeit could use another scraping as there were a few remaining scales on mine) and encapsulated the tender neutral meaty fish. Just lightly seasoned, most of the flavours came from the fresh fish itself, the finely diced caponata or spicy romesco sauce on the side. As a warning, it does have a lot of smaller bones so eaters should be careful.

The lamb rack ($49) was even better. Cooked to a nice medium rare it was juicy and tender. All the accompanying sides were earthy and warming from the lentil rice, fried artichoke and chestnuts. But, it was the spaghetti squash that impressed me most, it had such a great texture and freshness to it (not resembling the soft mushier squash as mine normally turns out like).

For dessert, we ordered the cheese plate ($18) to continue enjoying the bottle of wine remaining. I loved that our waitress asked us what type of cheeses we liked to make a platter suited to our tastes. On ours, were four non-stinky cheeses ranging from a softer Spanish cheese to a hard parmesan. Plenty of crackers, grapes, strawberries, fig compote and a great date & nut “sausage” rounded everything off.   

The service was friendly and unhurried with the dishes paced in a well time succession. I really felt like we were welcomed and could feel free and sit there for hours and relax. With the cozy fire place and tranquil spa like environment around us, I certainly could have stayed longer. If you’re looking for a place for a romantic date, look no further than Flor de Sal.

For me the BBQ burger ($12) felt like a safe choice. After all, with quinoa onion rings, garlic mayo, chillies and a slaw on everything it’d be hard to not be delicious. Wanting to get some fries on the side, I even ordered it “salad” style where it arrives bun less and sits on spring mix with tomatoes instead.

As I thought, it was well flavoured from the thick smoky BBQ sauce, spicy banana chillis and the creamy garlic mayo slaw. The crispy onion rings on top were also delicious, arriving piping hot and very crispy from the quinoa added to the batter. We even got an order of them for the table ($6.50).

But, the patty in the burger, made from almond and grain, was too mushy for my liking. The areas around the crust were fine, but the middle of the patty was so soft so it felt like I was eating raw meat. Perhaps adding a heartier grain like barley into it would give the patty a better consistency.

The burger also came with a small kale salad on the side which was delicious.

The French fries ($6) were nice and fresh. I liked the addition of the sprinkling of thyme and sea salt on top.

Meanwhile, the sweet potato fries ($7.50) almost felt like eating hash browns as many of the pieces on the bottom were so small. Additionally, they were lukewarm and needed more salt. Alas, not as good as the potato fries.

I definitely won’t be becoming a vegetarian anytime soon. But, if I had to eat a vegetarian meal Fresh wouldn’t be a bad choice. There were highlights (the onion rings) and flops (the sweet potato fries and burger patty) but I admittedly left satisfied and loved the copious amounts of vegetables consumed.