El Pulgarcito - El Salvadorean eats at a low price

We've driven by this place on Kennedy Road of Lawrence many times but only recently went in. The exterior isn't very enticing, as it looks a little bit like a low end suburban pancake diner from the outside. Intact construction - not falling apart like so many cool Queen Street restaurants - but uninspiring. On the inside, it's merely functional, but it's clean and in good repair, and the tables are spaced well apart. The big rear projection TV in the corner playing spanish hip hop videos from mun2 was not my cup of tea but some of the younger clientele in the restaurant seem to enjoy it.

But the food... I am so happy we stopped by. For $2, the pupusas were a nice change from what we usually get in Toronto. These stuffed corn flour flat-breads come with your choice of various fillings. The pork ones were tasty albeit a little heavy, but the excellent refried bean pupusas were quite light. A couple of these, along with their complementary mayonnaise-less coleslaw, matched up with their $3 chicken tamale made for a perfect light dinner, all for a grand total of 7 bucks.

My dining parter had the chicken tacos. These hearty corn flour tortillas rolled into sort of open Salvadorian spring rolls around a light chicken filling were very good too.

I can't claim to know much about Salvadorian food and I wouldn't know how authentic all their dishes are, but the rest of the clientele were Hispanic with a few Filipinos thrown in so they must be doing something right.

So, don't be put off by its blah exterior. Go for the food and you won't be disappointed.

El Pulgarcito Restaurant
1210 Kennedy Road (between Lawrence and Ellesmere)
M1P 2L1
416-916-7274

Tsukishima Japanese Kitchen

Newly opened Tsukishima Japanese Kitchen is a little takeout restaurant diamond in the Kingston Road rough. This unassuming Japanese-run restaurant just east of Warden Avenue replaces the unfortunately off-target Hit The Spot Eatery that closed several months before.

Tsukishima is not complex Japanese food. It is just good take out for a good price. There are side dishes one can choose from which aren't on the menu. Just point and choose, as I did, for the delightful rice vermicelli with egg and vegetables, and the nicely seasoned eggplant with tofu and ground beef dish. On the menu board is more expected Japanese fare, such as various types of sushi and maki rolls, as well as donburi and udon meals. The sushi is simple and well-prepared, and fresher and better presented than most of the Queen Street sit down Japanese restaurants that target movie goers and patrons of Richmond Street dance clubs. There is a counter at which one can sit at Tsukishima, but this shop is really geared toward the quick lunch and take home dinner crowd, with prices to reflect that. I'm okay with that: Better food for a cheaper price? For that I'd be happy to take my food home to eat.

There are a few oddities on the menu, such as fresh cut french fries and gravy, and even poutine, listed right above the miso soup. I can't fault them for that though, as I happen to love poutine. Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend their version of poutine as the gravy is rather bland.

If you're ever in a rush and have a hankering for Japanese food, you should check this place out. Just avoid the poutine.

Tsukishima Japanese Kitchen
1466 Kingston Road (at Warden)
Tel: 647-346-6443

Mon-Fri 11 am - 9 pm
Saturday 1 pm - 9 pm
Sunday - Closed

Makkal Chon - A taste of Koreatown

There used to be a restaurant called Afghan Taste at Lawrence and Warden that made these great Afghani dumplings. Unfortunately it closed, but luckily there is another restaurant in that same strip mall that will keep me coming to the area.

That restaurant is Makkal Chon, a very good spot for a quick Korean meal. If you like the restaurants in the Koreatowns in Toronto, you'll like this one too. I had an excellent pork bone soup, otherwise known as Gamjatang, heartily overflowing with pork vertebrae, potatoes, and of course chili powder, all in a stoneware bowl to keep things hot. The chili flavour here enhanced the meal, without overwhelming us mere North American mortals. This meal under $10 also came with rice and no less than six appetizers, including of course some kim-chi.

This restaurant definitely goes on my recommended list for inexpensive yet delicious Scarborough Eats.

Who has the best pho?

Pho is a simple but classic inexpensive soup and rice noodle dish, with a choice of different toppings. I decided to try the exact same tendon and rare beef pho at three different Scarborough restaurants.

Pho Dai Nam - 462 Birchmount at Danforth Road. 416-694-8808
Pho Vietnam - 1280 Kennedy north of Lawrence. 416-755-0909
Pho Saigon - 1921 Eglinton Ave E. at Warden. 416-759-5999.

For appetizers, at Pho Dai Nam I had their shrimp wrapped in bean curd paper. Normally I don't like deep fried appetizers such as this one, but it was light enough and so full of flavour. It is pretty filling for a one person appetizer however, so consider yourself forewarned. At Pho Vietnam, I enjoyed their lettuce wrapped beef dish. They provide the ingredients, and the customer does the work of wrapping them in lettuce. It's fun, tasty, and not on the menu of the other two restaurants. At Pho Saigon, I had the more conventional fresh rolls, but these were delicious and quite a bit larger than one finds at many pho restaurants.

All three had flavourful salty broths to match their non-sticky rice noodles. However, all three also had somewhat chewy and fully cooked "rare" beef. I'm used to pinkness that was conspicuously missing in their rare beef slices. For the tendon, Pho Dai Nam and Pho Vietnam tended to the chewy side, with only Pho Saigon providing the soft melt-in-your-mouth tendon I've come to expect.

Pho Vietnam's decor is ultra modern and bright. Pho Saigon has a plain but fairly clean tiled family restaurant feel. Pho Dai Nam's decor is more dated and looks like an old repurposed bar, and unfortunately is located in one of the grungiest malls in the area.

Overall, the pho at all three restaurants was in many ways very similar with no real standout, although Pho Saigon had the best most tender pieces of tendon. What really differentiates the three restaurants is their decor and the other items on the menu.

Bluffer's Restaurant: Gorgeous lake view

Little known to most Torontonians is an urban getaway called Bluffer's Park, located on the waterfront at the bottom of Brimley Road, one kilometre south of Kingston Road. If you stroll through the park you'll see the usual picnickers and BBQers, but with a twist. Because of the enormous mix of cultures here, it's not just hot dogs and steaks, but everything else too. It's a great place to catch a whiff of homemade tandoori chicken, and perhaps Chinese-style souvlaki too.

In the park is also a marina, which happens to house a restaurant with one of the best lake views in town.



Bluffer's Restaurant, along with its downstairs pub Dogfish, is right at the docks, with a patio that that overlooks the marina. Parking is nearby and costs $6, but the restaurant will validate parking so you can get your money back. Parking is good for the entire day, so you can go for a little stroll along the park and the beach after your meal.



Since it's so unknown to Torontonians, when Bluffer's Restaurant opens at 11:00 am there is often nobody on the patio, making for a nice relaxing brunch or lunch. The food isn't haute cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, but it's at least as good and often better than a standard Fisherman's Wharf type tourist family restaurant, without the crowds.

We went there early on a nice clear Sunday to take in the view and sample the menu. The $11.95 crab cakes were very flavourful without being greasy, although the accompanying dipping sauce could use some work. Also $11.95, the calamari appetizer was huge and a meal in itself, with pieces lightly seasoned and cooked to tender perfection, laid over a bed of fresh greens. The $20.95 linguini del mari lunch main dish was again super-sized, with perfectly cooked calamari, mussels, and giant scallops. Its tomato-based sauce was too light on the herbs and spices but was passable, and was not oily at all unlike so many family restaurants. The pasta was cooked appropriately, with just the touch of firmness most prefer. Unfortunately, the chocolate mouse cake I had was quite pedestrian, and tasted like a piece from the $7.99 birthday cake special at the local big box grocery store. The decaf coffee was very good however.

An added bonus of eating on the patio were the begging birdies. The big seagulls stayed away, but once in a while cute little sparrows landed by our feet and sang for little scraps of bread.



Inside, the decor seemed dated, with 1980s style. Similarly, the bathrooms reminded me of any other non-descript family restaurant. Otherwise, much of it is basically a big hall encased in ceiling height windows, and not surprisingly this restaurant is a popular wedding banquet spot.

Overall the food was better than I was expecting, although for the quality it was still too pricey by Toronto standards. However, for many, the view will more than make up for it, as it is one of the most beautiful in the city.

Sauvignon Bistro: OK food for a high price

This restaurant isn't in Scarborough, but Sauvignon Bistro is close, at the east end of The Beach on Queen Street near Woodbine. It's a popular more upscale jaunt in the area, not exactly high end, but a bit higher priced than your usual bistro fare in Toronto.

The selection is eclectic, with a good range of dishes. For appetizers we had a nice pureed jerusalem artichoke soup topped with a bit of duck confit, and glorious grilled sardines. It was a great start.

Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. My Berkshire pork chop was appropriately cooked and very tender, but was imperfectly seasoned. Too much salt took away from its otherwise good mix of flavours. The sable fish stir fry with coconut broth was also quite flavourful but unfortunately was laden with far too much oil.

The ambiance and service were good, and overall the food was not bad, but the prices were not justified for the quality of food. If the main dishes had been under $20, I might have been more forgiving, but at these prices, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

Moxie's - Shopping mall chic

Moxie's Classic Grill is a chain of restaurants in Canada. The one I visited was at the Scarborough Town Centre, and is a popular stop for weary shoppers. The decor is tres chic with bold colours and modern design. Interior decor touches are tasteful, including even the fireplaces in the bathrooms. Consider it stylistically a Ki wannabe, but without the attitude.

The food is reasonable for the price although not spectacular. It's better than average for restaurant chains and often much better presented, like the perfectly-sized $2.99 bite of brownie for dessert. However, it still has that restaurant chain feel to it. For example, while the beef dip had very tender beef, it had average quality bread, and a slightly too salty dipping sauce. On the other hand, other sandwiches and wraps I have sampled there were a little more well balanced, and Moxie's own big rock grasshopper light lager is a pleasant and mild surprise, perfect for lunch. Another factor contributing to the restaurant chain feel is the servers, who although very nice, are still the usual young students you'd find anywhere. The clientele unsurprisingly runs the full gamut of shopping mall customers, which is to say that Moxie's at the Scarborough Town Centre is not really a big night-out destination, but functions more like other shopping mall family restaurants, welcoming all who wish to visit. However, it does so with a bit more flair and nicer surroundings. Shopping mall chic, as it were.

Overall, it's a fine place to visit for a casual atmosphere and reasonable food after shopping.