viarail snack bar

i went to spend a lovely 3yr anniversary weekend in london with my boyfriend. viarail was having seat sales and i was able to book the train on time to get myself on comfy ride home. the economy/coach folks can purchase drinks and snacks from the snack trolley. since i was on 7:36am train and hardly had time to get ready, i decided to buy a sandwich to fulfill my morning hunger.

i bought a turkey sandwich which came in a square plastic case. it included a turkey sandwich, which was simply, bread-three slices of turkey-bread. how disappointing. not even a piece of lettuce. i did ask for mustard which made it a little, just a little better to swallow the cold and hard bread. the package also contained a block of mild black diamond cheese (i sliced it in half and put it in my sandwich), a bag of baby carrots (kinda dry and very skinny) and the heinz peppercorn ranch sauce. heck, i liked the ranch sauce the best. the complete box was $6.

there was an alternate option, the egg salad sandwich. wonder if that was any better. i was on the business class before and the food they provided was so much better than their cold and dry sandwich. i guess that's why you pay double or more for the business class (since they also give free alcoholic drinks). despite the lack of taste, i was full after. but i really think they can do a little better in prepping sandwiches for their customers.

posted by rin

Kon-ni-chi-wa (こんにち-は )

This week, Mimi couldn't join us,,, so we decided to go somewhere we all have already been to. Rin and I thought Kon-ni-chi-wa(means Hello/Good afternoon!) Japanese restaurant is the perfect place to go for their Ramen (Japanese noodle soup) since the weather was getting chillier these days. 

This restaurant is one of our favourite places located near where our colleges (OCADU and U of T) are, so we often came here every time we craved Japanese Ramen.

For this time, I ordered a Ramen with pork bone (new!) soup base and beef. You can choose different soup base and stuff that goes in with noodles. 

If you want to try Japanese Ramen in Toronto, this is the place you want to be at. It’s the best! The soup was full of flavour too and the noodle was cooked just perfectly.

And Rin ordered Katsu don. Katsu don is usually fried pork served on marinated rice with egg and grilled onion. The pork was tender and rice was full of flavour from their special soya sauce.

The atmosphere is very cozy and calm… can’t wait to be back in the summer for their patio lunch!

*Be aware that they close between lunch and dinner!! (close 2:30pm-5:00pm)

Kon-ni-chi-wa
31 Baldwin Street, Toronto
www.konnichiwa.ca

Posted by Ros 


added note by rin: the ramen comes with lots of toppings, though i wish they had more soup.

starving artist bar

last week, ros and i had a delicious frozen yogurt and drafted outlines for our newest excitement, a food blog. with mimi, the three of us could not think of a better place to discuss in more details on launching the blog than one of our favourite places to eat, starving artist bar.

one of the reasons we love this place, besides the amazing food, is the atmosphere. located on lansdowne just north of bloor west, it is truly a hidden gem. i discovered it by chance couple of years ago when i was walking my dog and became a waffle-addict ever since. there's a photo of the two owners in "starvation mode" which is obviously (and well) photoshopped. nice touch! the walls are decorated with local artists' paintings and artworks, which are for sale. i love coming here to see new artworks every time.

to really enjoy their waffles, i recommend their brunch menu. during summer, even with both of their patios open, the place can be packed with long line-ups, but it is truly worth the wait. the portions are generous and comes with choice of fruit (seasonal) or potato salad and fresh vegi salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

(top image) i ordered western waffle sandwich ($10), (bottom image) ros ordered smoke salmon sandwich ($9) and mimi ordered banana’n’strawberry dessert waffle ($5). as we were waiting for our food, the power suddenly went out and didn't come back on until we left. unfortunately for mimi, the waffles did not get baked in time and we did not get a chance to taste the banana’n’strawberry waffle. we ate in the dark. it was quite romantic, almost like eating in one of those blind-experience restaurants where you are paid to eat in complete darkness. despite the lack of lighting, we managed to snap couple of shots of the food with the help of iphone. yay.

the western waffle sandwich was alright, nothing special, though it said it is topped with secret sauce in the waffle, i didn't taste the secret sauce. smoke salmon sandwich is always good, full of salmon and creamy cream cheese. the dill waffle adds more taste to this savoury and creamy sandwich.

we were handed a hand-written cheque because there was no power to print a real copy. but i like hand-written cheques. they are more heartfelt and has a personal touch to it than a printed receipt.

besides enjoying yummy waffles, we came up with many (of most which are silly but creative) names for our blog. even when you live in the city, we find it difficult to make time to meet up. i don't like the idea of friends growing apart because we are too busy with work or other things. we hope that starting this blog will make the three of us commit to meet regularly, to enjoy food and each other's company.

starving artist bar

584 Lansdowne Avenue

click here to visit the website

with much hope and anticipation, posted by rin

hello

welcome to the three purple plates.
we hope you enjoy our blog :D