Embrujo Flamenco

My first authentic Spanish tapas experience was great!  I am not familiar to Spanish restaurants in Toronto, so from researching in different blogs, urbanspoon and reviews, we decided to give Embrujo Flamenco a try.  Mr. Yu, his parents and I made a reservation at Embrujo Flamenco on a Saturday night at 6:30pm.  When we arrived, the restaurant was half fulled and started to filled up later in the night.  The atmosphere was romantic and elegant.  We were seated right beside the small stage where there was a 10 minutes dance show in the middle of the evening.

We ordered six tapas to share among the four of us.  There were hits and misses in them but nothing too disappointing afterall.  I will not describe each one of them but one of the highlight for myself was the sausages.

Our main purpose of the night was to try their Paella, which is a Valencian rice dish. We ordered the Arroz Negro served with rice and prawns, squid and fish cooked in squid ink.  It is quite a cool dish since it is just black in colour.  It was very tasty since it was very buttery.  

 There were three dessert options available and we opted for two out of three to share.  However, nothing was special about them at all so I would recommend getting another tapas or getting dessert somewhere else.

La Maquette

Last weekend, we used another one of those voucher for dinner, this time it was a $35 voucher for $80 of food at La Maquette.  I called to make a reservation a few days ahead of time but was told that the only time available on that Saturday night was 5pm or 8:30pm.  I selected the 8:30pm time slot but when we arrived the restaurant was not full at all.  The atmosphere was very romantic and it has a super classy environment. 

For appetizer, we ordered the Flash Fried Calamari ($14.50), it was served with sour cream yogurt and caper dip.  I actually loved this dish because the calamari was only breaded slightly so it seemed like only the outer part of the calamari was deep fried.  This dish is very different from calamaris from pubs and bars for sure since those are usually overly breaded.

My main course was the Mixed Seafood Risotto ($32).  The seafood included lobster, scallops and shrimps, and they were tossed in tarragon cream cause. At first, I thought that the portion was tiny.  However, it was actually very heavy and rich, so I ended up not finishing it up.

Mr. Y ordered the Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast ($38), served with blackberry, apple reduction and sweet potato.  It was very satisfying because it was cooked very differently than how I normally have duck (fried, in a Chinese-style). 

Overall, food was great, not amazing though given the prices.  However, the service was way too slow, we were there for almost 3 hours, considering we only had appetizer and main course. 

Cafe Green Tea

Cafe Green Tea located in the supermarket at JTown is definitely another one of those non-Traditional Japanese dining places in Toronto.  The environment was extremely casual due to its 'food court' style.  The way it works is you order your food by the cashier, she gives you a number and she'll bring you your dish when it's ready. 

I ordered the Curry with Breaded Chicken since I read some positive reviews about it earlier.  When the dish arrived, I thought the curry was too watery, however it seemed to be just right when you mix it with the rice.  The dish is a very 'homemade' style dish, so it felt as if there isn't much you can complain or complainant about it.  I will definitely try something different if I ever go back to Cafe Green Tea in the future.