Goodfood Recap #29

And we are here with a slightly late Goodfood recap! But its a nice change in pace from the overload of movie reviews that I’ve been writing up!

No fancy picture today since the program I use is having some issues it seems. Either way, this box had some interesting recipes and one repeat recipe that I (of course) forgot to take a picture of. Let’s check it out!

Haddock
with homemade Romesco sauce & roasted fingerling potatoes

There’s this love we have for eating haddock which we only have when we make it in these boxes since the recipes are always so unique. This one is definitely outside of what we would usually cook at home. I had no idea what Romesco sauce is but it was really good especially when matched with the fish. Its nice also because everything were so nicely flavored but also nothing too strongly flavored also. We’ve been going for more normal flavors so this really did fit into our meals quite well.

Hoisin-Glazed Chicken Breasts
with spicy pickled vegetables, sticky rice & garlic peanuts

As usual, I’m always into the more Asian cuisine sort of meals. However, there is this fascination that Goodfood has with pickled vegetables. Its not a bad thing since its the alternative I have for eating raw vegetables. Although, I’ve built back the tolerance slightly to eating raw veggies here and there, I still prefer my vegetables cooked. However, other than the pickled vegetables, the chicken was pretty nice. Sometimes with hoisin glazed, it can get a little salty but this recipe worked pretty well.

Roasted Chicken Thighs
with root vegetables and fennel slaw

This is the repeat recipe and since I was so busy with the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, I had my husband do the cooking for this one. He did a fantastic job and gave it 5 stars simply for the cooking experience and how the house smelled. Plus, the recipe itself was a good one as well. You can see my first impressions of it back in this recap HERE.

Toulouse Sausage, White Bean & Cherry Tomato Cassoulet
with Salanova Salad

Finally, the first cassoulet in Goodfood that I think I’ve seen. I’ve never had one before so this recipe was the filler for the previous box but we knew that we needed it due to the busy week that I had anticipated. With that said, this one turned out pretty good. The meal is very tasty. The toulouse sausage in particular was the highlight of the meal. I’m not a big fan of white beans to begin with. Lentils and that sort of stuff is never my favorite food to eat but the spices and flavors worked well together so it was a pleasant surprise.

That’s it for this Goodfood recap! 
Some nice discoveries! I can’t say that anything in particular stood out as one that we would repeat other than the one that we did choose to repeat. 
The haddock however might be the choice for one I’d try again though. 

Dinner: Restaurant Le Fagotin

We’re back to Groupon season! Its been a while since we’ve had a fun little friends gathering with my good friend Starry Traveler and her family.  Luckily, Groupon had a neat little offer for a place we’ve never heard of called Restaurant Le Fagotin, so we both decided to buy, reserve and give it a go this past weekend.  Le Fagotin is a bring your own wine French fusion restaurant.

Restaurant Le Fagotin

Decor

Right when you look at Le Fagotin to the outside to walking into the main dining room, its extremely homey. Its comfortable and ambient with some light-hearted jazzy music playing softly in the background. Its tidy and has a decent amount of natural light from the outside.  My favorite was looking across onto the fireplace in the wall with a mantel with a sign saying “Bon Appetit”. Part of eating is the atmosphere and Le Fagotin does a great job at setting it right.

Appetizers

Bread

Spring Salad (with the Table d’Hote menu)

Soup of the day: Potage au Broccoli (with Table d’Hote)

To start our meals, we got a delicious baguette.  It was warm and soft.  We loved it.  Everyone took the Table d’Hote Menu at our table except me.  The main reason being my health restrictions.  Potage au Broccoli usually isn’t a problem but at Le Fagotin, they told me that they add a bit of cream in there so it was off the table for me. Another issue I have is with eating raw vegetables so I couldn’t eat the salad also. With that said, I ended up getting a main dish in the menu.  However, without knowing my inability to eat raw vegetables, they were really generous and gave me a spring salad.  I think its a nice gesture which my husband benefited from. The general liking was towards the spring salad which I could agree with since I dipped my baguette in some of the vinaigrette and it was tasty.

Main Course

The Chef’s Platter: Pork Chops with Homemade BBQ sauce ($28)

My dish was the Chef’s Platter.  This evening, it was pork chops with homemade BBQ sauce. It had some (what I presume is) scalloped potatoes because it was made with some cream.  The waitress forgot about my lactose-intolerance along with a few veggies. This plate smells delicious.  I don’t know what they used in the sauce or cooking it but it smelled wonderful. It was a little on the salty side and maybe the pork chop had some dry bits but it was overall acceptable.

Table d’Hote: Pork Fillet with Apple and Brandy Sauce

Next up was my husband’s plate, the pork fillet with Apple and Brandy Sauce. I had a little taste of it also. So, my main issue with this dish is that the sauce is like eating applesauce and the brandy is not really apparent so doesn’t elevate the taste buds. The pork itself was done well. I just wish the sauce could’ve been done a little bit more flavorful.

Grilled Chicken with Apricot Glaze

My friend’s husband took this Grilled Chicken and Apricot Glaze which would have been my choice if the appetizers worked out. I didn’t get a taste of this one but he didn’t say much other than the glaze didn’t really taste of apricot much. However, the presentation does look nice.

Rainbow Trout Fillet with Tarragon Aioli

Last dish is my friend’s.  Hers is the Rainbow Trout Fillet with Tarragon Aioli. So, she’s not a fan of aioli so she had asked for it to be put on the side which probably forgotten. I’m not opposed to aioli but since it seemed that Le Fagotin added cream to a lot of dishes that doesn’t normally have, I just tasted the fish.  It had a rather fishy taste.  I can imagine that the tarragon aioli would have masked it and elevated the whole dish but, just the fish was a little lacking.  My friend didn’t like the aioli much so she put it aside and just ate the fish.

Dessert

Lime & Coconut Sorbet

My only choice is their sorbet which had various flavors. The choices given was a citrus and pomegrenate or blueberry & basil.  I love sorbets with blueberry and basil however it was sold out right when I ordered so they offered me this choice here: lime and coconut sorbet. Let me tell you, I had doubts about this working but they were able to balance the sour/tart flavor of the lime and combine it with the coconut except they also included coconut shreds which is a pretty nice touch since it added texture to it.

Chocolate Pot with Homemade Crumble

My friend had originally the panna cotta (that is coming up) but proceeded to swap with her husband who had the chocolate pot with homemade crumble. This looks delicious and I think for the most part, they enjoyed this one quite a bit. I think the crumble is made out of shortbread but I think the men were arguing that it was graham crackers.  I still disagree with it even if I didn’t taste it.

Creme Brulee

My husband had the Creme Brulee, which probably is the show stopper here.  The nice crack of the sugar glaze and the texture looked good. He thought it was the best part of the entire meal.

Lemon Panna Cotta

Last up is the lemon panna cotta that I mentioned before. It seems that this might be the lackluster choice of the four. There wasn’t much talk or discussion and it was bounced around. Not a lot of comments on it.

Overall…

While it seems like I was picky about Le Fagotin, it has its pros, plus my meal was pretty good.  I really love the atmosphere they set and the plating looks great. The desserts are for the most part outstanding and there’s still a lot on the menu to explore that peaks my interest. If I were to go back a second time, it’d be for the Honey and Five Spices Duck Breast and Flank Steak with french shallots and cognac sauce. The concept of Le Fagotin for putting together different flavors is a good one, it just needs to be executed a little better. Obviously, tastes are subjective and you can’t please everyone but there lacks a bit of complexity that I would’ve hoped for.

Putting that point aside, if anyone at Le Fagotin was to read this: an even bigger point would be to find a way to make sure that there are always alternatives for sides or appetizers that can accommodate a rather decent amount of people like myself with food intolerance/allergies. I always feel that service is elevated at any restaurant when I know some restaurants have put that extra thought in making sure their food can appeal to a wide variety of public, something I’ve learned even more after I’ve had to deal with all these allergies and can rarely find restaurants that have selections I can eat. That isn’t to say that the service at Le Fagotin in bad because our waitress was very pleasant, maybe a little forgetful in our little details like food allergies or putting our requests of sauces aside, but she was still very nice to talk to.

Point is, I want to go back to Le Fagotin.  There are aspects of it that truly appealed to me.  Just you know, little tweaks, right? Or else I wouldn’t have bothered to write all of this.

Toronto: Ripley’s Aquarium

Following last week’s Toronto Comicon recap, on Sunday, we headed over to Ripley’s Aquarium before heading home.

Ripley’s Aquarium is in centre of downtown Toronto around the CN Tower and Union Station and that tourist area.  Its hard to imagine that an aquarium of that size would actually be there and honestly, I had no idea what to expect. These are the following areas they had: CANADIAN WATERS, RAINBOW REEF, DANGEROUS LAGOON, DISCOVERY CENTRE, PLANET JELLIES, RAY BAY.

There’s no point in separating the pictures or going into more detail than needed.  Some of the pictures didn’t turn out as good as I expected and honestly, aquarium photo shots is way above my photography skills so I promise to work on that.  These are the better shots from both the DSLR and my phone. Under the gallery, I’ll also have a little video of the Rainbow Reef and the beginning of the Dangerous Lagoon before we reached the sharks unfortunately.

Ripley’s Aquarium is pretty amazing and impressive.  We were able to catch the Ray Bay Dive Show which had the feeding and it was really fun to watch.  The shark tunnel/Dangerous Lagoon was definitely the highlight where there was a slow moving walkway that we got to stand on while it pulled you through the glass tunnel surrounded by a lot of fishes and then all sorts of sharks and rays.  It was breathtaking and something to experience because no picture could capture the beauty of it all.  It was also super nice for kids because there was parts where they could crawl into ships that had glass peeking into the shark tunnel and one that had the tunnel with sharks swimming above.  Then the difference here is that we could touch horseshoe crabs in the Discovery Centre area and then touch two different types of ray at the end of the route.

It was a ton of fun and I’m definitely going back again.

Do you like to go to aquariums? Any cool ones that you’ve visited?

Seattle (Day 1): An Extreme Walking Tour [Part 2]

Continuing on with my vacation adventures, Part 2 of the extreme self-made walking tour to make sure our legs would hurt at the end of the day is all about the Seattle Aquarium.

I love Aquariums and its always a blast to visit. The Seattle Aquarium is pretty big with a lot of walking areas inside and outside there are viewing areas for seals and river otters and sea otters.  We had a lot of time here mostly because I insisted that this place we don’t rush.  If they were going to rush, they could do the next thing without me.  My objective for Seattle was to go to the Seattle Aquarium so that was my one request.  Luckily, they didn’t ditch me because I would have regretted not going to the spot afterwards for the Underground Tour which I talked about HERE for a photo challenge a few weeks ago.

Let’s go check out the Seattle Aquarium!

Windows on Washington Waters

Life on the Edge: Touch Pools, Moon Jellies, Giant Octopus

Touch Pool

Moon Jellies

Giant Octopus

Pacific Coral Reef & Tropical Pacific

Birds

Underwater Dome

The actual Underwater Dome is just that last picture but I’m starting to get a little confused as to why there was more corals and sea creatures between after the Birds area.  I’m a little confused but you get the idea, right?

Marine Mammals: Sea Otters, Harbour Seals, Northern Fur Seals, River Otters

There really are no words for the Seattle Aquarium.  There were a ton of really neat corals and fishes and much much more. I loved it a lot! Its worth every penny.  The Underwater Dome made it hard to take good pictures but standing in it was really nice.  Plus, the seals and otters are really alive and happy.  It shows that they seem happy with the environment they are in since they come off as extremely playful.  You have the above and underwater viewing for those so its really well thought out.

Part 3 will be coming up to wrap up Day 1 of Seattle.  I just didn’t want to overload the posts with too many pictures.  I’m a little surprised Seattle took up that much time and we haven’t even started Alaska which will have a ton of different segments, other than pictures, one special segment that I’m getting stuff together for but I think it’ll be a finale and also my views on my first time cruising. Just a heads on what to expect.  My guess is this travel bit is going to span over the next month.

What do you think of the Seattle Aquarium? Have you ever been?

Hong Kong Restaurant: Sharp Star Restaurant

Eating out a lot on vacation is normal, even if we have a place to stay. In Hong Kong, when you have a big group, its generally better to just go out because the space is so tight in the living quarters.

After the outing at Citygate Outlets, me, my mom and her friends ended up spending the entire day running around town.

At the end of the day, we stopped at Sham Shui Po to check out some technology products and to compare prices.

When my mom’s best friend joined us afterwards for a short while, she took us to a rather popular restaurant located in that area right by the subway exit of Sham Shui Po.  This lovely restaurant is called Sharp Star.

Sharp Star is hidden in an alley behind stalls located in front of it but welcoming you in the entrance are snippets of newspapers (if I remember correctly) and pictures of popular Hong Kong stars that went there to dine.

We went at a fairly early dinner time so the place was empty.  As we sat down, the waiter was funny and very nice as he helped us make our choices for the meal.  The service was pretty impressive.

First up, we had the chef’s invention on Fried Spare Ribs with the taste of plum and this other Chinese ingredient that I don’t know how to translate.

 

Next up, we have this Soy Sauce Chicken but its with this soy sauce which is supposed to be like the first batch making it more premium or high quality or something like that.

“Premium” Soy Sauce Chicken

I love chicken and one of my fave ways is eating it after its been simmered in soy sauce.  This one was mega delicious 🙂 The chicken was so tender and even the soy sauce wasn’t all that salty.  I wonder what else they put in there 😉

Following that, my mom’s friend had gone out to pick out a lovely fresh fish.  We took the simple option and decided to have steamed fish.

Steamed Fish

Don’t ask me what type of fish because I seriously cannot remember anymore.  I really should jot down notes while I travel at restaurants.

I can’t remember if there was another dish, maybe plain veggies.  I just can’t because I don’t have a picture of it but its rare we eat out without any veggies included.

Moving on, our last one was a little bonus from the waiter with a little fried dessert.

Dessert

I believe they had some taro paste inside but I don’t quite know and didn’t ask because the restaurant was getting busy. It was pretty good also.

I totally recommend Sharp Star Restaurant. It has some creative and delicious meals. The service is fantastic and…its just awesome!

I had really wanted to go again before I left but I never got the chance….

Here’s hoping  next time it will still be there and I can try some more awesome dishes 🙂

Is there a restaurant that you ate at while travelling that gave you an unforgettable dining experience?

Restaurant Review: Bidon Taverne Culinaire

I always enjoy  posting about food and restaurants that I visit!

Here’s the restaurant my friend and I went to try out after our chiropractic treatment.  We’ve been talking about going to check it out for almost a year and finally we decided to go yesterday 🙂

I present to you: Restaurant Bidon Taverne Culinaire!

My 7UP and the logo of the restaurant 🙂

First off, the waiters and the staff are a charming bunch of guys who are very nice. We didn’t have a reservation and the guy took a chance and gave us a seat anyways. That type of flexibility in service is what I’m talking about. Plus, the waiters were friendly.

Now, on for the food.  They don’t have a very long menu but it includes 2 types of soup, a few appetizers, 2 types of foie gras, 2 types of tartare, and 9 selections for the main meal.  They also have a chalkboard on the wall with the day’s extra menu.  On the back of the menu, it had a whole side of wines.

As usual in these types of restaurants, we started with some bread!

Bread

The bread had little crispy pieces on the side and it was so delicious!!

My friend took the tomato soup with roasted peppers, shredded Parmesan and ham.

Tomato Soup

I’m still trying to figure out what that piece of bread had but my friend said the soup was excellent and the bread was awesome! He rarely compliments it to the waiter also but he did this time.  So, I know he loved it 🙂

Next up is our main dishes.

My friend took a Tenderloin Steak with Bordelaise Sauce and Blue Cheese crumble.

Tenderloin Steak

My friend said that it was cooked perfect and the portion was exactly right 🙂

I had Fish and Chips with beer coating, home-style tartar sauce and pickles.

Fish and chips

This is possibly the best Fish and Chips I’ve had in Montreal.  The fish was super tasty and the texture was perfect.  The batter covering it was not doughy and thick and it was also a great portion for me.  The fries were delicious as well. Usually when I eat fish and chips, its all greasy but this one wasn’t heavy at all.

We were so full after the meal, we couldn’t fit dessert in.  Next time! 🙂 The dessert menu had about 5 items ranging from our own Quebec delight Pouding Chomeur to Creme Brulee and some chocolate stuff and even a dairy free choice, Sorbet in 3 flavors 🙂

Definitely worth it to try this place out and I will be coming back to try other dishes!

If you are interested, its located in the Saint-Lambert area on the south shore of Montreal.  Aside from having great service and delicious food, it also has a beautiful atmosphere and in a very nice area. 🙂 Check out the site for more info HERE!