FOOD: Shiso Tree Cafe

I first heard of Shiso Tree Cafe about a year ago when I saw photos of some really delicious looking pasta on Facebook. After doing a little research, I discovered that the restaurant serves Japanese-style Italian pasta and immediately added it to my list of must-try places. Since then, I've been there twice and have loved my dining experience both times. I'm glad that I was able to discover this hidden gem in J-Town and, as an avid pasta lover, I will definitely be going again.

What makes Shiso Tree Cafe's menu unique is that their pasta comes in three different styles: Wafu (pasta made with Japanese ingredients), Tomato sauce, and Cream & Rosé sauce. In addition, they have entreé salads, cafe items, and cakes from Bakery Nakamura (the bakery inside J-Town's Supermarket). Set menus and daily sets are also available.

Shiso Tree Cafe
Location: 3160 Steeles Ave. East Unit 1 (905-479-9319)
Price: $$ Moderate
Atmosphere: Very relaxing cafe with comfortable seating
Service: Very good service - waitresses were attentive and polite
Rating: 4/5 drools

Shiso Tree Cafe menu with their three types of pasta!

Each pasta dish is served with a salad. The greens were really fresh and the miso-based vinaigrette had a nice tang to it.

Okonomiyaki fries ($8): Regular fries dressed with homemade steak sauce, Japanese mayo, bonito fish flakes, & green onions. Crispy, delicious and flavourful!

Napolitan pasta ($10): Japanese tomato sauce with sausage, bacon, onions, nori & shiso. A very popular Japanese pasta dish with a very sweet and cheesy taste.

Sukiyaki pasta ($15): Thinly sliced beef rib eye cooked in house made Japanese soya sauce (shoyu) blend & beef jus. Garnished with mushrooms, green onions, nori and shiso. Usually I don't like soup-y pasta but this was really good.

Bolognese pasta ($11): Meat sauce with a combination of beef & pork finished with reduced red wine and beef jus.

Unagi-Don ($17): Cream teriyaki sauce and shimeji mushrooms with Japanese barbecued eel. Garnished with nori & shiso.

Shrimp Okonomiyaki pasta ($14): Spaghetti sautéed with bacon, onions, garlic-dressed shrimp, homemade steak sauce, Japanese mayo & bonito fish flakes. This was my favourite dish because it had such a delicious and unique flavour combination, which I thought really represented Japanese-Italian fusion. The shrimp was also perfectly cooked and there was a generous amount of ingredients.

[Edit 06/05/2013: I went to Shiso Tree Cafe for dinner again last night with a friend and got to try a new dish - tarako spaghetti. Photo and description below!]

Tarako spaghetti ($14): Cod roe spaghetti in a light cream sauce with daikon, nori & shiso. The pasta was cooked al dente and the sauce was really light, creamy and flavourful. This was on the restaurant's special menu.

Overall, I would definitely go to Shiso Tree Cafe again to try their other pastas and dishes. I haven't had any of their desserts yet so I definitely will next time (who wouldn't want black sesame crème brûlée, after all?). I also noticed that the place has a small stage with a drum set, which I assume is for live music performances.

Hope this review helps! Please comment and let me know what you think of Shiso Tree Cafe and any other dishes that you think I should try.

Happy eating!

Cheers~
Victoria

FOOD: Petite Thuet

Hi everyone! I apologize for the lack of posts. I just started work last week and have been trying to adjust to my new schedule (sleeping at 11PM and waking up at 6AM @_@). I've been feeling like such a granny lately and have had no energy to post at all. This will be my first ever food review and I'm really excited to write it =). There are actually a few other restaurants/places that I've gone to before Petite Thuet and want to do reviews on but I want to write this now since it's still fresh in my mind. Here we go!

I'm sure everyone has experienced the macaron craze lately, and it's no wonder because it's such an elusive and delicious French dessert. The macaron is a sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring (versus macaroon, which is a small sweet cake with ground almonds). I'm not a macaron expert myself but I do love eating them and have tried them at a couple of places.

Petite Thuet is a gourmet food shop with goods from Chef Mark Thuet. I actually went to the location near Rosedale station (1162 Yonge Street) on Macaron Day last year. Unfortunately they ran out of macarons by the time I got there so I wasn't able to try any. Since Mother's Day is this Sunday, I decided to buy macarons from the other location near King station (1 King Street West), which was a nice 10 minute walk away from my office.

Petite Thuet
Location: 1 King Street West (416-867-7977)
Price: $1.95/each
Atmosphere: Nice small location with cute interior and seating
Service: Staff was helpful but the guy who helped me was a little rude
Rating: 3/5 drools

Menu

Petite Thuet at 1 King Street West.

Seating on the left once you walk through the doors.

Lots of pastries on the right!

Nice big macarons! There weren't too many left when I got there =(.

6 macarons all packaged and ready to eat!

From top left going clockwise: Hazelnut, Cookies & Cream, Lemon, Black Forest x2, Raspberry

Black Forest: I was told that this was a favourite at the store so I grabbed the last 2. The shell was really soft and crumbly compared to the other macarons. It had a delicious thick layer of chocolate filling/cream with actual cherry bits inside! Definitely a unique flavour =)

Lemon: This macaron was very tart and the flavour really popped out. It reminded me of lemon cream pie and was really refreshing to eat. It also had a nice sugar coating which added to its crunchy texture.

Cookies & Cream: I would say this one was my favourite. It was a little disappointing because it lacked cookie flavour, but the cream was really light and refreshing. The shell was also really nice and crunchy and balanced well with the cream.

Hazelnut: This macaron had a very nutty flavour and a nice crunchy shell. 

Raspberry: I always order fruity flavours whenever I buy macarons. This one had a very nice and sweet raspberry jam filling. You could even taste the seeds inside!

Overall, I didn't like these macarons as much as the ones from Butter Avenue (my current favourite). I didn't get to sit down and eat but I'm hoping that I'll have a chance to go again and also try their Rosedale location. I also felt that the service could've been better, however it might've been because I went during rush hour.

I hope this review helps! Please comment and let me know what you think about Petite Thuet or any other location that you think I should try.

I'll post again soon and happy eating!

Cheers~

Victoria