A personal blog detailing dining and eating experiences
A friend took me to this speakeasy in King West Toronto. He said they have the best espresso martini, and he was not wrong (I didn’t even ask for it without sweetener).
To get to it, you need to go to Cafe Renee, and go through the unmarked black door on the second floor.
A friend booked this speakeasy for his birthday (they had two separate reservations to fit our group of 12).
To get in, there’s a telephone booth inside the Crif Dogs restaurant. At the telephone booth, dial 1 and you’re good to go.
The place had great drinks. Not entirely sure which drinks I got, but of course it was whiskey or vodka based.
They also had food (got one of the hotdogs. Would get it again, but without the mustard next time).
Tried this place for after work drinks. I like the loungey type vibe, but will say I would try and get another drink than the one I ordered. I ordered an espresso martini without the sweetener (and it was not that good). There were other cocktails that seemed interesting for next time.
This is an indoor rooftop / restaurant.
We stopped by this place after work for drinks and a quick / light dinner. Got a version of an Aperol spritz, except it was also strawberry infused. I liked it.
For food for their ribs and pork bao bun. Both were great.
Only thing I’d change for next time is for us to try and sit in the outside rooftop portion, and not in the dining area (they ran out of space in the outside portion).
So went to this place twice since it was so good.
First, there are two Ayada restaurants in Chelsea Market (both have the same menu). Tried both. One is more fast food atmosphere, while the other is more lounge-ish. I’d go back to the latter one again (but don’t mind the former).
They have a full bar. First time I got an espresso martini without any sweetener. Second time got toki on the rocks. No complains for either.
For food, both times got the pad seeew with beef. So good. Easily best pad seeew ever. Also got the green curry the first time. Very spicey (next time choose mild!). Then got the carb filled wontons and the pork belly apps (didn’t hate them, but don’t love them, so would try something new next time).
Next time would want to try the crab fried rice.
First place I’ve been to in Chelsea Market.
I gotta say, even though they only had cold lobster rolls (I really like the hot ones better), this cold one was really good (the best one so far). Also their New England clam chowder was great (no food poisoning from any of the food!).
Would come back here again.
Found this place on yelp. It is a highly rated place with four dollar signs.
Food here was great for the most part. Started off with Macallan 12, then got the crispy shrimp to start, as well as the beef tar tar. For mains, got the Wagyu beef kofta (very good), and the fried chicken (probably would get something else next time). Also had a side of their sweet jeweled rice, which was really good.
So this rooftop was on top of the hotel I was staying at (The Bisha Hotel). Got breakfast and dinner (plus drinks).
For breakfast (which $60 per day was covered by the hotel since I booked through Amex), got their breakfast special. I will say the scrambled eggs were a bit more runny than I wanted, so I would get it again, but tell them to make it less runny.
For dinner + drinks, got an expresso martini which was great (asked them to put no sweetener / simple syrup). Also got macallan 12 (actually got a bunch of them because at the time, the LCBO was on strike!). For dinner just got the bread plate and tacos (tried both the beef and chicken). Will say that I would probably try something else instead of the tacos next time.
Also, as you can see from below the rooftop view was great. So will be coming back.
This is apparently the oldest cocktail bar in Edinburgh.
Got the Whisky Away drink. It seemed like it would have been an old fashion with a banana twist, but it was not as sweet as expected, which I was kind of disappointed.
My friend got the Ka Pao Tao (or something like that) drink, which I thought was great.
Also tried their cheese plate. The Scottish brie was pretty terrible, but I did like the Scottish Gouda.
We went on a Tuesday night so vibe was pretty dead. So maybe would go back on a Thursday or Friday night.
We ate here for our last night at Edinburgh. Would come back here in a heart beat.
First started off with an espresso martini. Not the greatest but would still get it again (told them to remove their custom sugar syrup from the drink, which probably affected the taste). Then got a Cragganmore 12. Slightly peaty, but nit more than an Oban.
For appetizers, got the asparagus with crab meat, and the scallops. Hands down would get all of them again.
For the main, we got the see food platter (warm version). Would get it again as well (but you need a friends to be able to eat the oysters and mussels first you). It came with clams, mussels, crab, lobster, a baby lobster, razor blade clams (which are amazing).
Ended off with a cheesecake. Also really great.
