Cambodiana

I think Peaches and Herb said it best with the line of their song "Reunited"... Tonia would probably agree with me that being reunited with more of our adventurers for dinner this week certainly did "feel so good". Although I suppose Peaches and Herb were implying a bit of a different feeling toward each other in that song than my friends and I intend for each other... Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see Samer and Todd at Cambodiana for this week's stop, and, adding to the fun was our friend, Jon.

"We both are so excited 'cause we're reunited hey, hey..."

While this was my first time eating at Cambodiana, my fellow adventurers have visited before - though it has certainly been some time. I was excited to visit as I have heard lots of positive things, and everyone else was happy to return.  Situated on Brock Street, Cambodiana is close to a lot of other downtown destinations, so it certainly isn't out of the way if you are someone who frequents the downtown core. In fact, if you ride the city bus, you'll be happy to know that there is a major bus stop right out front.

Serving "exotic and delightful fine Cambodian and Thai cuisine" to it's patrons, Cambodiana is a small restaurant with 2 eating areas, each with a few small tables. What it lacks in size, however, it definitely makes up for in a lot of other ways. Staff are attentive and timely. The restaurant is clean and tidy. Art on the walls is comprised of beautiful paintings that highlight the culture of the restaurant. Overall, it's a pretty great little spot - and I haven't even started talking about the food!

The menu at Cambodiana is a decent size. A lot of variety without being overwhelming. And for anyone who can't decide what to eat based on the descriptions - have a look at the wall by the door - a poster with pictures of each dish is available for your perusal. I don't know about you, but I am much more drawn to things that not only sound good, but look good. Hmmm... I swear - no matter how that came out, this really is about food. Er... Moving on... You will either see on the poster or on your plate when it arrives that each dish is gorgeous. You can just tell by looking at the bright colours and well plated dishes that things will be delicious. Be sure to pay close attention to ingredients - especially chilies - so that you don't get something too hot or too mild. Staff are happy to  take special requests to make sure that things are enjoyable for you. 

Here's what we were drawn to and ordered:

Carrie: Spring rolls (duh) and #9 - Pineapple Beef: stir fried beef, vegetable, tomato, coriander, green chili with rice (I ordered my dish mild). 

Tonia: Spring rolls and #5 - Stir fried chicken: lemon grass, peanut, onion, green chili, bell pepper with rice. 

Jon: #6 - Golden Chicken: spicy hot and sour chicken, peanut, green bean, lemon grass, green chili with rice.

Todd: Spring rolls and #31 - Devil Chicken: chicken, red curry, coconut milk, sweet potato, bamboo shoots, carrots, with rice.

Samer: Fresh rolls and #17 - Cashew Chicken: stir fried chicken with oyster sauce, bell pepper, julienne carrot and onion with rice.

As I described above, everything arrived looking absolutely delicious, and from the moment our forks hit the food, we were happy. Certainly, this isn't an odd trend for us given how much we enjoy eating, but in all seriousness, kudos are well deserved here. All of that said, I'm not sure if I'm more impressed by the food itself, or by the fact that Todd ate Devil Chicken and barely broke a sweat. If there is ever something worth seeing, it is the rest of us putting a bit of sauce from Todd's plate on our forks and coughing from the heat while Todd happily munches away, barely phased. Impressive, my good friend. Impressive. 

And... without further ado, here are our thoughts overall:

Carrie: 4 forks. The spring rolls weren't my favourite - not very flavourful, but my main dish was pretty darn good. The beef was pounded into thin pieces, and the sauce was made exactly the way I like it - not too spicy. The only thing I wished had been different was the thickness of the sauce (or, as I said in the restaurant, the "viscosity")... it was a bit too watery for my liking.

Tonia: 4.5 forks. Tonia said that everything "smelled good and tasted good". She thought that her dish was spicy, but quickly added that it clearly wasn't as spicy as Todd's. Much like me, she wasn't ecstatic about the spring rolls.

Jon: 4 forks. Jon liked his dish and specifically mentioned that he liked the food here better than Phnom Pehn. His score was lacking one fork only because Jon felt a little "ripped off" of chicken and rice based on what he was seeing on our plates.

Todd: 4 forks. Todd said that had he only ordered an entree, his score would have been a 5 for sure, but sadly, he wasn't a fan of the spring rolls. 

Samer: 4.75 forks. Samer said, and I feel it is necessary to quote directly here, "Everything was pretty damn good. The fresh rolls were the best in town so far". That final statement is HUGE from Samer. Seriously - huge. 

Overall score: 4.25 forks. 

So... in the end, Peaches and Herb really were right... being reunited at Cambodiana did feel good. Oh - and if you want a blast from the past, check out this video. Pay close attention to how Herb is standing behind Peaches and holding his microphone at the start of the video. Nice moves, Herb. Nice moves.

Next week, my fellow adventurers and I are off to The Iron Duke on Wellington. 

Red House

Well, readers, it has been a little while. It seems that contrary to my hopes, I was not immune to the sicknesses that have been plaguing so many of my friends over the course of the late Winter... Add to that the challenge of getting schedules with my 40-in-40 adventure friends to sync in perfect harmony, and the result is a week away from the adventure all together, and another week to get my butt in gear and write about where we did finally venture. Here's hoping you're still with me. If you're reading - I guess you are... and if not... well, I guess I'll never know. In that case, ignorance is bliss. 

This edition of the adventure brought Tonia and I to Red House - a pub on King Street in downtown Kingston. Now, you may be wondering why I just said "Tonia and I"... This week was just one of those weeks where people had lots going on, so the two of us ventured on our own. As former residents of downtown, it was nice to wander and hit the "pub scene" again. Red House is certainly one of the newer places in the downtown core, but it seems to be making a good name for itself. Just a few weeks ago, we walked by on a Friday night to see that they had a line forming outside. Not something that happens frequently for pubs in my opinion - and certainly not a bad sign. 

Founded by 3 brothers who all have a history of working in local establishments, Red House (find their website here) is a bit of a "classier" pub (inside and out) that has done some things differently from most pubs in town. Certainly, like many other places, they are blessed with a location that has exposed limestone as a feature (Kingston didn't get its nickname by chance)... but what's different  begins with another aspect of the atmosphere - space. So many places downtown feel crowded and slightly cramped based on set-up alone. Red House, though, has set itself apart. High ceilings highlighted by exposed wood beams and a very well planned out floor plan including a bar along one side, booths on another, and large pub-height tables in the centre optimize flow so that when you walk in, you immediately think "social". And then, you realize that there is even more seating in the back. Certainly, a crowd could be very happy here (just ask the people who line up outside!). Building the social atmosphere at Red House is the fact that, while they are a pub, there isn't a single TV in sight. If you're looking to catch the game of the night, this isn't the place to go - but don't worry - they won't be offended since I'm sure they won't have any trouble filling the seat you would have taken.


The last aspect that really sets Red House apart from other pubs is their use of local ingredients. Certainly, a number of restaurants try to do this, but it isn't as often that you hear of a pub trying to accomplish it, and Red House not only does it - they pride themselves on it.

The menu at Red House is short - a handful of appetizers, sandwiches, salads and mains. A one-pager, in fact - the front consisting of food, and the back consisting of drinks. And what did Tonia and I have?

We each started with a small caesar salad (no shock there), and then we opted to split two sandwiches - the Chicken Club (with smoked bacon, tomato relish, basil aioli and iceberg lettuce), which I ordered with poutine; and the Pulled Pork sandwich (pulled pork topped with creamy coleslaw on Navajo bread), which Tonia ordered with fries.

The restaurant wasn't overly busy, but certainly wasn't empty when we visited - and service was in good time from a very polite, friendly and attentive server. Basically, they gave us what we always want and expect in the service department. When plates arrived, I was impressed by the presentation - plates were clean and simple white, letting the food speak for itself... nice to look at, but as always, the goal was to eat. And we sure don't ever turn away from that.

What did we think? Well, since there were only 2 of us, I think I'll break from the usual writing format a little bit and just tell you like it is... er... was. Ultimately, we both decided to give the food a score of 3 forks (which, is an average overall score of 3 forks, just in case you can't follow the math ;). Our reasoning? Ultimately, the food was quite good - but in our opinion, everything was missing something... The salad didn't have as much garlic as we would have liked; the poutine had very little gravy that was spooned only over the centre of the fries, which meant that the edge of the bowl consisted of warm fries covered in cold cheese curds without gravy; the club sandwich didn't have as much aioli as we would have liked and was dry in some bites; and the pulled pork sandwich was missing "tang". 

Again - overall good food, but just not amazing for us. Would we go again? Definitely. We would certainly like to go and have a drink on a night that is busy - especially if we can beat the line.











Next week, we are off to Cambodiana - and luckily for us, more than 2 people can make it.  

Tom's Place

Do you ever find yourself thinking "I'd love to have appetizers that I don't need to make myself beside a fire that I'm not in charge of stoking"? Or perhaps, "If only I could eat dinner in a comfortable arm chair surrounded by taxidermy..."? 

Okay... maybe you've never had such thoughts come to mind, but just in case you have, or in case I now have you intrigued, then you need to check out Tom's Place. I'm not sure when I learned that Tom's Place existed... To those who know it, it is well known and definitely a favourite - for a snack or meal, for a drink, for TGIFs or an end of work-day drink with co-workers and friends. To others, it's a place they've heard of before, but while driving back and forth on Princess Street they wonder if their GPS is wrong since it's location is not well marked... And still others don't even know it exists. Competing for a table isn't my favourite thing in the world, but certainly, I don't mind spreading the word about Tom's Place and risking it. 


Tom's Place is located in the Best Western on Princess Street between Sir John A MacDonald Boulevard and Portsmouth Avenue. Also located here is the perhaps more well known (and certainly much better identified through road-side signage) Bistro Stefan. I will be completely honest as always and let you know that not only have I been to Tom's before, but I have been there a large number of times - and, working nearby, this is sometimes where I "land" at the end of a week. Certainly, it has become the "where we want to go when we want to go somewhere" place - in fact, I visited Tom's 2 nights in a row this week (please believe me when I say that this doesn't happen... I'm not completely obsessed!). With my fellow adventurers for the blog, and the night before with my friends Jen and Kendra (another Kendra... one of three - gotta keep readers on their toes somehow!) over some delicious nachos.

The opening of this blog entry eluded to the decor of Tom's, but perhaps I should paint a better picture. Certainly, it is one of the things that sets Tom's apart from any other restaurant in the city - at least that I know of - so certainly, it deserves to be part of the forefront of my writing. Picture a hunting lodge. I truly don't mean this in jest - I mean this as an honest-to-goodness real picture of what I think of when I'm there. The restaurant is split into two sections - a front area with a bar and seating on two levels, and a back area with two levels of seating. In the back area, the lower seating includes couches, chairs and coffee tables and the upper area includes large booths and bar height tables. In both areas, the upper seating includes tables with 4 cozy arm chairs. Imagine the most comfortable chair in your Grandparent's living room. Now move it to a restaurant. You're at Tom's. Of course, while the chairs pretty much rock and are kind of the best part, there is so much more that adds to the appeal. "Log cabin" walls adorned with old shot guns, taxidermy, vintage signage... Okay - maybe you're reading that and thinking "she did say 'appeal', right?"... But even if you're like me and you aren't an avid hunter or even a fan of hunting, it's really not a bad thing. It's just part of the experience... Besides - the lights (cool on their own - each beautifully crafted) are dim, so if you think you may be bothered, don't skip out completely - you can just keep your eyes on the prize (the menu, the food) and not think about it too much.  Or, just sit close to the fireplace and quiz your friends with the Trivial Pursuit cards provided at each table - that will do nothing but keep you cozy. 

So... How's the menu? For one thing, it's brief, which is quite nice. It seems that Tom's has picked a number of items that they feel they can do really well, and is sticking to them. Not such a bad idea in my opinion. It's pub food - starters, salads, burgers, sandwiches, and - while I didn't have them during this visit for ratings - what just may be some of the best nachos in town. There is certainly something for everyone - no matter how hungry you may or may not be. 

And what did we order? 

Carrie: Split a caesar salad with Tonia, Tom's Burger with cheese and bacon, side of poutine (Can hear my arteries crying? They do that from time to time...)

Tonia: Club sandwich (looking for a good club experience after Stooley's!) on light rye bread, side of fries.

Todd: Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich on rye bread served with french fries and gravy

Samer: Blackened chicken sandwich on focaccia with a side house salad served with raspberry vinaigrette

Jordan: Tom's burger with a side of fries

Kendra: Chicken wings with 2 sauces on the side for dipping - honey garlic and sweet hot sauce (Kendra loves her sauces!) served with a side of fries

The best thing about ordering food was how accommodating our server and the kitchen was. Poutine isn't even on the menu, and they made it for me. Wanting 2 sauces for wings - also not on the menu. Tonia said "no tomato" for her sandwich, and they said "sure" instead of what we sometimes hear - which is "sorry - the sandwich is pre-made". Oh - and, our server was nice enough to change the channel on the TV for me so that I could get my March Madness fix and watch Louisville barely survive Wichita State and make it to the championship. That in itself makes for a great experience in my books. Our glasses were constantly tended to, and the server continued to check in from time to time even after we had our food in order to ensure we had all that we needed.


How'd it all taste? Here's the run-down of scores:

Carrie: 4 forks. I really like the food here. There isn't anything overly special about the food, but the caesar salad was yummy and the burger I quite enjoyed. It was juicy and cooked well. The only drawback for me was that the gravy used for the poutine was a little watery - almost like it's the "au jus" for other dishes - and I like it thicker. Pretty darn happy that they gave me what they wanted, though.

Tonia: 3.9 forks. Tonia really enjoyed the club sandwich (phew!) - especially on light rye. She thought that the french fries were underwhelming, though, as they were tough as thought they had been sitting a while. The salad was "okay".

Todd: 4 forks. Everything was tasty to Todd, but the last reuben he had was better because it has more sauerkraut and sauce. The light rye toast was a good bread choice.

Samer: 3.75 forks. Samer just thought that 3.5 was too low, but 4 would be too high based on his experience. The not-so-positive part of his meal was that the blackened chicken wasn't blackened, sadly - more "rotated in stuff to make it look blackened"...

Kendra: 3.75 forks. Kendra really enjoyed the chicken wings. She was disappointed with the amount of fries, but thought that they were enjoyable. Kendra just wasn't "blown out of the water" on this night.

Jordan: 3 forks. For a burger, Jordan wasn't as impressed as he was at a burger joint like "The Works" - he felt he could have had a really awesome burger somewhere like that for about the same price and this one wasn't spectacular. While Jordan enjoyed the fries, there weren't as many as he'd like - he pointed out that serving the burger with the bun open meant that there is less room on the plate for a side. Jordan loved the atmosphere.

Overall score: 3.73 forks. 

So - should you go to Tom's Place? Hands down, yes. It can get quite busy there - so, especially if you are with a large group, be sure to make a reservation. Ultimately, whether you want just a drink or food to go along with it, you will sit more comfortably than perhaps anywhere else in town - maybe even your own living room. I don't know who Tom is - but I picture him sitting in an armchair in front of the fire place of a log cabin, dressed in flannel pyjamas under a cozy thick robe, holding a glass of scotch, pondering what book to read next from his expansive library. Now that's the life. Go on - join him.

Wok-In Restaurant

This week, our adventure was a little different from previous weeks. We decided to venture to Wok-In Restaurant on Montreal Street, and like many of our destinations thus far, it is in the "heart of it all" - downtown and close to many hot-spots. The difference with this restaurant, though, isn't location - it's size. Wok-In is a pretty small space. It does have some seating, but since we had a big group, we opted to "grab and go". Samer is our resident "Wok-In" expert, so he took care of picking up our order, and then we all headed to Todd's place to enjoy. 

Now, some of you may be thinking "But why take-out? How will you tell us about what it looks like inside, or what your service experience was like?". Never fear, friends. Never fear. I took care of that, too... Or... I should say that Samer did... When he went to get the food, I asked him to take some pictures and make a mental note of service, too - so a big thank you to Samer for all of his efforts this week, and thanks to Todd for hosting, too!

Our lovely table :)

Wok-In Restaurant offers "fine Cambodian, Vietnamese and Thai food" for its patrons. While I couldn't find a website, I did find a number of reviews online (everyone always has an opinion!) and all of the reviews were very positive. So positive, in fact, that I wasn't surprised to find out that Wok-In is typically quite busy. Seriously. REALLY busy. Wok-In is so popular that in order to guarantee we could eat our large order at the time we wanted it, we all explored the menu online and Samer called it in at noon for pick up at 6pm. It certainly isn't rare for people to have to wait a little while for food here - but in this case, it's actually a good thing. Not only does it speak volumes to how popular the restaurant is, but it also goes to prove that the staff at Wok-In take their time to create fresh, delicious dishes for every customer. Nothing is "pre-made-and-ready-to-fry-or-cook" here. Everything is started when it's ordered (unless, of course, you order at noon for dinner... in which case, they are just really good at time-management!). 

Let's get right to the nitty-gritty, shall we?

Here's what we ordered:

Spring rolls for all. 

Todd, Samer, Jordan and Kendra chose 4 dishes to share: 

A) "The Samer Special": Samer goes to Wok-In enough that they have a dish named after him. It's not listed on the menu, but you can ask for it by name (impressive!). It's a #1 and #16 combined... Asian style chicken with red curry, basil, coconut and rice + Curry shrimp with coconut milk and rice.

B) #2 - Chicken, pineapple, tomato, coriander, red and green chilli pepper and rice

C) #11 - Thai style shrimp, chicken, vegetables, chilli paste, "holy" basil leaves and rice

D) #18, ordered spicy - Pad Thai, chicken, shrimp, bean sprout, peanut and green onions

Tonia: #18 as well, ordered with regular heat.

Carrie: #11, ordered mild.

First of all, I have to talk about how huge the spring rolls were. I have had a lot of spring rolls in my life. It's kinda my thing. If I'm eating Asian food and there are spring rolls on the menu, you'd better believe there will be some coming my way... and I have never - and I mean NEVER - seen rolls this big. Certainly, a typical order has 2 or 3 rolls at other restaurants... but this isn't your average restaurant. Not only are the spring rolls really big, but they are a great price. At $1.75 each, you could order 2 or 3 for the price of one order at other restaurants and be WAY more stuffed. If that's your thing. I certainly wouldn't say no. In fact, all of this talk of the spring rolls and I just might have to have a spring roll dinner some night. No need to order anything else.  The trick with these rolls (as reported from our good friend, Samer), is to eat them while they are fresh and hot. Now, this may seem like an obvious point, but apparently, the longer you wait, the more prone they are to getting limp. I'd say that's just a life lesson.

The rest of the dishes were absolutely deliciously fragrant and gorgeous. And then, we got to eat... and let me say, the satisfaction just kept coming. 

I finally get it. I now understand why Samer insisted that we have Wok-In on the list. I understand why Samer goes to Wok-In more than any other restaurant in town, and why he ordered meals in bulk to freeze when he moved to BC. And all of that leads me to understand why they have a meal called The Samer Special... Call it an obsession, perhaps, but it's not such a bad idea. In no time at all, we were filling our faces with the yummy dishes with quotes like "you start to crave the flavour and eventually it becomes a medical condition" floating around. Samer said "In California, I went to 16 places and only found 1 place that was somewhat close"... must have been heart-breaking for him! Other quotes from the evening included "It's my favourite #1 in the city", "I can smell the cilantro in this and I'm stuffed up! That's really good!!", and, my personal favourite - compliments of Kendra: "You know it's hot when my nose is damp. Not wet or snotty. Damp."

With that, here are our ratings:

Todd: 5 forks. Todd enjoyed all 4 of the entrees. Todd said that to date, Wok-In is is favourite Asian experience. 

Tonia: 4.82 forks. For Tonia, the food was good. Tasty, flavourful and hefty portions. Tonia said that she would recommend that people go, but that all in all, it wasn't her favourite, so she just couldn't give it a 5. She did wonder if perhaps it is because she doesn't have "a meal" there yet. Only time will tell!

Jordan: 5 forks. Jordan said three things that summed up his experience. Really fresh. Good flavour. Right amount of spice.

Kendra: 5 forks. Delicious. Kendra said "same as what Jordan said", and "it made me sweaty." Take from that what you will.

Samer: 5 forks. Samer was relieved that the pressure was off this week since he's been talking up the Wok-In for so long. Of course, he was just as impressed as he has always been.

Carrie: 4 forks. Pretty darn delicious. Like Tonia, it isn't my favourite Asian restaurant to date, but I was still pretty impressed. Mostly, I think I was wishing there had been a greater variety of veggies - on this night, I ate a lot of celery.

Overall score: 4.8 forks.

Certainly a well-deserved score. And after eating so much food, it was really nice to already be at Todd's and so close to a couch... Which, created inspiration for our next stop - Tom's Place. If you haven't been there, the description I give in the next blog will make this point make much more sense. In the meantime, I will leave you guessing and on the edge of your seat. Or couch.

Notice the fresh produce on the counter? Awesome.

If you take any notes from this blog entry, remember 3 things: 1. Be sure to visit. 2. It's busy - give yourself time. 3. Order a giant spring roll.