Best Bites of the Week - 1st Edition

It’s probably no surprise that I love eating and love trying new and tasty dishes consistently. If I eat something particularly tasty, I’ll think about it for days, weeks, months and sometimes even years after! Instead of keeping all these tasty bites in my head, I thought I’d start a series to share my top bites of the week with all of you. I hope to inspire you to try making some of these dishes at home or go to the restaurants mentioned. 

This past week, I was on a staycation in Toronto and got to eat out more than usual. I tried a few restaurants that had been on my list for a while and a few of them really blew me away.

With that said, here are my favorite bites of the week: 

Pommes Dauphines at Dreyfus: Dreyfus is an intimate French restaurant on Harbord St. They change the menu daily but one dish that’s always available is the pommes dauphines - fried potato puffs. They’re made with potatoes and choux pastry and are perfectly fried, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They were served with homemade gravlax, sour cream, onion and dill. Truly phenomenal.

Maguru at Mhel: Mhel is a Korean/Japanese restaurant with lots of small plates and sake. It’s a cozy spot, perfect for an intimate dinner. Their menu changes daily and features local seasonal ingredients. Everything was excellent here. My favorite dish was the maguru which was bluefin tuna (supplied by Oroshi, one of the best sushi takeout spots in the city) wrapped around hanaho and iburigakko and served with nori. The tuna melted in my mouth. It was equivalent in quality to the fish I’ve had in Japan. 

Roasted Betengan Sandwich from Maha’s Cafe: Maha’s Cafe is a collaboration between KOTN (the clothing store) and Maha’s (the Egyptian breakfast spot in the East end). We stumbled across this café while walking around Leslieville and we got to try their sandwiches on their outside patio. The roasted Betengan sandwich had eggplant, beets, green peppers, hummus, coriander and tahini sauce. It was perfect! So well-balanced and the bread was so fluffy and delicious.  

Chocolate, peanut butter, date bites at home: I saw these all over my Instagram and TikTok feeds and I eventually convinced myself to try them and I’m so glad I did. These are dates, filled with peanut butter and crushed walnuts that are frozen and then covered with melted chocolate and flakey sea salt and then frozen again. I’ve been making these almost daily because I just can’t get enough - they taste just like a snickers bar!  

Butternut squash agnolotti at home: When we went to Dreyfus we had the most delicious squash agnolotti. I love making fresh pasta so I thought I’d try making agnolotti for the first time. I made fresh pasta with eggs and flour and then filled the agnolotti with a baked puréed butternut squash, nutmeg and salt. I then made a butter and parmigiano reggiano sauce. What’s different about these compared to previous times I’ve made squash agnolotti is that I didn’t use any sage. I loved how sweet the filling was and how buttery and sharp the sauce was without any sage distracting.  

Eggplant cilantro gyoza at home: These gyoza were filled with baked eggplant, cilantro, ginger, green onion, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar. It was my first time making them and they were amazing. I’ve typically used ground chicken but the eggplant was an excellent substitute.

Let me know if you’ve tried any of these and what your top bites of the week were!