Kiko Café

3000 Highway 7, Markham

Please do not visit this HK café if you can avoid it. I don’t even know how to put a positive spin on the food and my experience at this restaurant. I have been to this place once before last year when it first opened, but nothing special about it that would make me visit again. 

The (only) reason I went back a couple weeks ago was because I happen to be in the area and they have been advertising themselves extensively lately (didn’t think their food would be that bad).

Normally, when I go to try a new HK café I would start with their afternoon tea menu because if they can’t get that right, then the rest of their menu is just downhill from there. Also, any good HK café should be able to make a decent cup of tea 
(milk-tea 奶茶 or coffee with tea 鴛鴦).

 We ordered a Pork Bun Sandwich. It claims to be a pork cutlet and it is not, but I am ok with that because the original found in Hong Kong or Macau is not. The pork chop was decent where the Ciabatta bread was hard and hollow, the kind of bread you buy in the supermarket lacking any sense of fibre and a lot of leavening agent.

And the fries as expected is re-fried, it shouldn’t be re-fried but I will accepted it in HK cafes knowing only a short time is given for orders. The fries were only lukewarm (meaning temperature of fryer was not turned up) so not acceptable at all. As for the iced lemon tea accompanying the meal was overnight hot tea, so it gives an illusion that it’s strong, but the lemon was starting to rot as a result being frozen too long.

Now, the Pork Cutlet with Nissin Instant Noodles in Cheese Sauce was horrid. It was nothing more than cheap instant noodles (not Nissin) with a soggy piece of breadcrumbs crusted pork chop slapped on with a bland roux-like paste (no cheese flavour whatsoever).

Lastly, my biggest complaint I have with Kiko Café is their “coffee with tea 鴛鴦” because how can you call yourself a HK café when you cannot even make a decent cup of 奶茶 or 鴛鴦. It’s like a coffee shop that can’t brew coffee.

The “coffee with tea” was served warm, not hot (imagine brewing coffee with warm water; it was exactly like that). I was puzzled as to why it tasted so awful then I figured it out, it was because they kept the coffee/tea burners off (I guess to save on the energy bill). 

*I find it very problematic if the owners of a restaurant are frugal with hot water (we should save water, but not like this), then they should not be in the restaurant business. Also, if you take a closer look you will notice none of the servers at Kiko Café smile, which is reflective of how the owners treat their employees.

Paese Ristorante: Inspired in Italy, Made in Canada

Inspired in Italy, Made in Canada

That’s the motto of Paese Ristorante, which in my books is definitely better than Americanized(Canadian)-Italian cuisine because a lot of restaurants claims to be Italian when they don’t know how to classify their food. Furthermore, I can understand that certain ingredients for cuisines such as Chinese, French or Italian are not locally available, but it is not an excuse to produce food of sub-par quality. Especially, as we live in a world of globalization.

An effort should be made ensuring dishes originating from certain regions of world be made as close as possible to the real thing; if you classify and proclaim your restaurant as belonging to the style of a specific region.

So, whenever I am in the mood for Italian food and don’t want to head downtown I head over to Paese on Bathurst St. 
(Other location: King St. W.) Because they follow the farm to table philosophy, where the ingredients they use in most of their dishes are locally sourced from Canada. Most importantly, they understand fancy does not mean perfect.

Paese always starts you off with their house-made focaccia bread accompanied by their tapenade. 
The tapenade depends on what it’s in season and I guess what the Chef felt like making that day.

The appetizer that I always suggest people that they must order at Paese is the Octopus, yes it’s true you can make octopus at home, but something about it you can’t replicate at home. I don’t know if it’s the char on the octopus itself, fried capers with escarole or the aioli, despite being a simple dish if you know what you are doing then it’s perfect.

Slow-Cooked "Melt in your Mouth" Pork Belly

I just Love and Love this recipe because: What are you waiting for? Scroll Down.

     1)It is the best pork belly you will ever have 2)So easy to make 3)Saves on your Energy Bill

All you need to make this "Melt in your Mouth" recipe is a nice piece of pork belly & a rice cooker (yes,you read correctly: a Rice Cooker). Well, more specifically you need a rice cooker with an automatic steam function. 
I have been using my Panasonic Rice Cooker for the past 15 years as a steamer for all things as well as a rice cooker (of course...hehe). Ok, let's get back to our easy peasy recipe of making a tender yet velvety in fat pork belly, you will need:

Ingredients
-A piece of 5 layered Pork Belly (it refers to equal distribution of fat & meat, because you can clearly count 5 layers)
-About a tsp of Coarse Sea Salt
-1/4 cup of Shaoxing wine (found in Chinese supermarkets, but ones we can buy here are salted so wonderful for cooking attributed to the fragrant smokiness of the salt penetrating the meat-not for drinking), Sherry or White wine
-A green onion

It's Spot Prawn Season Again!!!

It's Spot Prawn season already, but this year it's only a short 6 week season. And we are in week 3 already so if you want fresh & large Spot Prawns get them while you can. For those who have begin eating them (as I have) or have watched the news recently, you will have noticed the prawns have gotten a lot more expensive this year (avg. $17-$20/lb). The 2 pounds I bought here cost me $27 from a local seafood market.

The way to tell if the prawns are fresh is very simple, obviously if they still alive & kicking then you are good. But on top of that, ensure the eyes and the shell are shiny & glimmering then see if the flesh are crystal clear. As it gets closer to the end of the season, the quality of the spot prawns will not be as good and smaller in size. And most importantly they are predicting the price to go up, so enjoy them as much as you can while you can. As the majority of Spot Prawns as Canadian delicacy nowadays are exported to Japan & China.

The best way to eat them is simply raw as sashimi (don't forget the roe in the heads)

Or quick boil them for 1 minute to fully enjoy its sweetness (best accompanied by chilli soy sauce or garlic butter). Enjoy!

Home Cured Duck Prosciutto

Prosciutto in contemporary is most often found in the trendy bars and restaurants scene since it became "trendy" in the last two decades, despite its long heritage as one of the oldest methods of preparing and preserving food. In fact, the use of salt as a curing agent has long existed across various cultures and peoples since ancient times. What I am trying to get at, is what makes a food product trendy or high end?

Is it the novelty or popularization as a luxury good? For example, in the instance of Prosciutto (especially Prosciutto di Parma or Jamón ibérico) most consumers enjoy it without fully appreciating the time and effort and it takes to produce it and simply consumes it as a expensive food commodity. So, if a food item is expensive attributed to the cost, time & effort it takes a farmer, chef or producer to make then I think we as consumers should pay the expensive price, but most luxury foods we consume in trendy or high end restaurants are expensive, because they are price so without just cause. And the bulk of the cost is not shared with the maker of a food item so where does it end up, in addition the consumption of luxury foods is perceived by some as a way to show off through social media.

Hence, in the following I will show you how to cure your own Duck Prosciutto at home in 3 steps. Because if you notice Duck Prosciutto has become quite popular as a Charcuterie platter, but it is quite expensive to order in a restaurant for a single breast. On average it will set you back $20 apiece, where a single fresh duck breast costs about $3.50-$5 & a whole duck only around $16-$20, so why not make it at home yourself.

Perfectly Poached Salmon

It has been awhile since I last posted an entry, so let's start with something easy and simple today. There are more professional methods of poaching salmon, but the method I will show you is so easy and yields the same results.

Start by butterflying a small fillet or (what I did was) purchase those small fridge packs of salmon. And lay a thin layer of salmon on a piece of (heat resistant not regular) plastic wrap on your cutting board, then sprinkle it with salt & pepper and place a couple of fresh parsley leaves (or any herbs you like, such as dill). Then, simply roll up the fillet like a cylinder and tie off the ends with kitchen thread.

 Bring a pot of water to simmer (when bubbles begin to form at the bottom) and not boiling, then turn off the heat and drop your wrapped salmon into the simmering water for 7 minutes uncovered. After 7 minutes, take the bundles of cooked salmon out and let them rest for 1 minute until the center reach an internal temp. of 50°C to be cooked through yet still soft. Lastly, throw the bundles into ice (cold) water to stop them from cooking and cut open the bundles.

 Voila, Enjoy!