The Friendly Thaï

Hello everybody,

First day in Toronto and my friend's brother living there suggested us a Thai restaurant called The Friendly Thai. He said a lot of good thing about it, so we simply said «Why not?». It is food and we never tried it, so let's go!

Appetizers : Friendly Thai Appetizer Plate (hot and cold spring rolls, calamari, shrimp satay and mango salad served with plum and peanut sauce) (15.99$)

Appetizers plate

The spring rolls hot and cold were vegetarian and bland taste. The shrimp were good, but did they taste satay sauce? not sure...The calamari were well fried : crispy outside. Mango salad was super yummy : the mangoes were crunchy under the teeth and well marinated.

Sauces (left to right) : Plum, peanut and sweet/spicy/vinegar sauce.

Avocado Spring Rolls

I didn't have a chance to taste them, but the person who ordered it loves avocado and definitively loved those spring rolls :)

Main plates :

Marinated Grilled Chicken (10.99$)

Was the chicken really marinated? Bland taste! Fortunately, the fish sauce mixed with sugar (top right of the picture) saved the plate. On the good side, the chicken was very tender, not dry at all. The salad underneath the chicken added freshness to it. How I like to eat it : slice of salad, chicken and dip it in the sauce. Hmmmmm 

Shrimp Curry Pad Thaï (12.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles (10.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles is stir-fried noodles with marinated chicken, mixed with broccoli, bok choï, red bell peppers, tofu and bean sprouts, garnished with green onions, and parsley, lemon and orange. It is served with a bowl of peanut sauce. The noodles were well cooked, the sauce thick and a bit sweet. One of our friend told us to mix the noodles with the peanut sauce, verdict : it made the sauce thicker, add richness to the plate but I found it a bit on the heavy side. 

Note : The plate looks small, but they are really filling. Proof : we couldn't finish them.
Disappointment might have come with the fact that I didn't feel the authentic Thai flavor in the cuisine. I found it very americanized, but overall good. 


Rate :
Food : 3.5/5
Service : 4/5
Price/quality : 3.5/5
Overall : 11/15

The Friendly Thai
678, Yonge St
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2A6
(416) 924-5804
http://www.thefriendlythai.com/index.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~

El Trompo - Taco Bar & Cactus Grill

Hello everybody,

My friend and I just arrived in Toronto downtown with Megabus (if you want to travel Montreal-Toronto, I would highly suggest it to you, because it is cheap ~15$+tx and it is pretty comfortable, the bus only stops once at Kingston). We walked towards Kensington market and it is already late afternoon, we didn't have lunch yet. We were starving to death from the bus ride and the walk. What's best to do when you don't know where to eat but want to eat something good? Let's ask people :)

Actually, we get lucky and a Mexican Restaurant was recommended. Frankly speaking, we were skeptical about the choice, but still wanted to give a try as we were tired and hungry with no idea where to eat - brains were not working at this time. 

There you go : 

First, 2 sauces were brought to our table : the red one (left) is a basic salsa with tomato and the green one (right) is made with green tomatoes and chipotle (so a little bit spicy). Both sauce enhance the taste of the tacos we ordered. They brought something *humph a little tanginess but not overwhelming the flavor of the tacos. So it was a plus.

We ordered 2 different taquitos : 1) Spicy tangy chicken (chicken cooked in a sauce made from tomato and chipotle - 9.75$); 2) Chorizo (we choose this one because we were told the sausages were homemade, it was served with coriander, onion and lime - 9.75$). Please, try them with the sauce, they were both DELICIOUS. What's special about them is the soft tortilla (what I have not seen in Montreal). 

                                                                        

We completed the meal with 2 beverages which were really refreshing : on the left, it is the Tamarind (sweet and sour, but for the texture, it is thicker than water which doesn't please everyone - 1.50$). On the right, it is the Jamaica (Iced tea made from a tropical flower called Jamaica or Hibiscus - 1.50$), it is a very flavorful drink and not too sweet.

Note : Don't be fool with the size of their tacos, they seem small but you will be full at the end.

Rate :
Food : 4.5/5
Service : 3.5/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 13/15

Restaurant El Trompo
277, Augusta ave. (corner Oxford)
Toronto, ON
M5T 2M1
(416) 260-0097
http://www.eltrompo.ca/index1.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~