Toronto Blogger Meetups

When I was in Toronto, I did a meet up with some bloggers.

First Meet-Up: La Mexicana II

• Make-Up Guru: Arianne from Glitter Geek
• Personal Finance Blogger: Asian Pear from The Asian Pear
• Personal Finance Blogger: Ginger from Ginger Won’t Snap

We had a grand ol’ time eating Mexican fare at La Mexicana II

La Mexicana II

838 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4W 2H1

(416) 934-0712‎

Google Map here

And because I hate it when people don’t ever post hours:

• Mon-Thurs & Sun: 11:00am – 10:00pm
  Fri-Sat: 11:00am – 11:00pm

Here’s what we chowed down:

First, we each ordered hibiscus drinks.

It tastes like nectar from a flower, but isn’t sweet. It’s more flowery, like drinking a rose-water drink or something similar.

Slightly tangy, with a hint of perfume. Personally, I prefer rose-water drinks.

Arianne ordered this seafood dish with rice, beans and a salad…

And the rest of us ordered burritos (all chicken burritos if I remember correctly)

This was my plate, and it just wasn’t enough food!

So I ordered a shrimp ceviche, which I forgot to take a picture of, but did the trick of filling me up.

And then the girls ordered fried ice cream and churros (which I am not a fan of, having first tried them in Portugal; I found them too crunchy and greasy)..

Since I didn’t want anyone to waste their desserts, when they were finished, I er.. polished the plates 😛

We all left full and happy.

Second Meet-Up: Yamato & Moroco (Later)

• (Again) Personal Finance Blogger: Ginger from Ginger Won’t Snap
• Jaka Merriman of Jaka’s Tea Party
• Fashion Illustrator Danielle Meder of Final Fashion

We ate at the fancy Yamato in Yorkville, where the chefs put on a show like at Benihana (but for a slightly cheaper price).

Yamato Steak House

18 Bellair Street
Toronto, ON M5R 2C7
(416) 927-0077

Google Map here

HOURS:

• LUNCH: Mon-Fri 11:30am-3pm; Sat-Sun 12pm-3:30pm
• DINNER: Mon-Thu 5pm-11pm; Fri-Sat 4pm-12am; Sun 4pm-10pm

Here’s what we chowed down on:

Onion soup with mushrooms (quite tasty)

I learned my lesson from the last blogger meet-up, so I ordered what I thought was a 10 piece appetizer for $10.. which turned out to only be 8 pieces, which was a bit of a rip off in my opinion.

At least the sashimi was uber fresh and the pieces weren’t so thin, they were transparent.

Then for those of us who ordered Teppanyaki, the chef put on a show for us, which is the whole point of this restaurant.

He did one Benihana trick — building an onion pyramid.

Then he added some alcohol inside of it

Close-up of the future flambee victim:

And set it on fire.

All I could think for the rest of the show was: when is this food getting into my mouth?

I really want one of these grills in my future kitchen, if I ever buy a home.

How cool would it be to have one?

And this is my plate of what I ordered:

Chicken, Beef, Shrimp (3 pieces) and an assortment of veggies.

Overall, it’s great for a one-time experience, but I am not sure I’d come back again for the price of the dishes.

Call me cheap, but you can get just as good for 40% less.

You just don’t get the show.

NEXT STOP: MOROCO FOR A LITTLE FANCY COFFEE & TREATS

Moroco Chocolat

99 Yorkville Avenue
Toronto, ON M5R 3K5
(416) 961-2202

HOURS:

Monday Closed
Tuesday-Wed 11am – 10pm
Thursday to Saturday 11am – Close
Sunday 11am – 6pm

Afternoon Tea
Tuesday to Sunday 2:30pm – 5pm

Brunch
Saturday and Sunday 11am – 3pm

Summer Patio Hours
Sunday 11am – 10pm

After the lunch, we all decided to find a cafe, and settled on Moroco, which is a beautiful, very chic cafe where they charge you $2.50 for the most delicious candy-like macaroons.

Note: I also happened to spot the Anthropologie store in Toronto (my first sighting!), and was horribly tempted to go inside and break my ban, but Jaka helped me keep my resolve.

Inside the cafe, there’s a little shop that is just so gorgeous..

Rows and rows of macaroons!

And the main dining area is just stunning.

Very sexy and dark.

Like Tim Burton meets Paris.

The $2.50 macaroons

Left: Lavendar

Right: Raspberry (they ran out of the Salted Caramels I wanted to try)

Ginger and I bit the bullet and ordered the “large” (hah!) pot of melted milk chocolate with chai for $19 *whimpers*

It was good, creamy and delicious, but as always with me, there just wasn’t enough.

I was imagining this massive bucket-sized pot of hot chocolate, but seeing as the ambience was too Sex and the City-chic, I should’ve clued in earlier.

I must also say in full disclosure, it came with a rather inconvenient glass filled with unflavoured and not-very-sweet whipped cream.

I mean, really!

How do they expect us to lick the glass clean if we can’t even get our spoons to the bottom of it?

The hot chocolate went wonderfully with my (single) raspberry macaroon however!

Those are a MUST-HAVE.

Go there and spend $10 eating one of each, you won’t regret it.

It’s the best of both worlds: Crispy and like a toffee-textured candy jam on the inside.

The cups were really awesome with the curved handle.

(My goodness my fingers are wrinkly.

No wonder people think I’m 60 when I take pictures holding things.)

Jaka was the fanciest, ordering a trio of beautiful creme brulees.

On the left to the right:

• Natural, Vanilla Creme Brulee
• Ginger Creme Brulee (a bit spicy on the tongue)
• Chocolate Chili Creme Brulee

They were delicious!

She was kind and generous enough to let us each have more than a small teaspoon of each.

Then we spent most of the time snacking on rock sugar that came “free” with the drinks and whatnot.

With a subtle swoop, the waitress handed us our bills and I got the distinct feeling that we were being politely asked to get the hell out :)… or buy more things to munch on.

To give you an idea of how gorgeous the place was down to the T, just check out their themed bathrooms!

This was the men’s bathroom.

(Jaka made me do it. I swear.)

Very dark, masculine…

And this was one of the two Ladies bathrooms.

Did you catch the naked women & men drawings in the shot? Yeah. Badass.

Lest you think I am some sort of bathroom-snapping weirdo who likes to go around posting shots of bathrooms… I assure you I am not!

They were just too beautiful NOT to take a picture of.

That was lots of fun 🙂

And thus ended a successful two rounds of blogger meetups.

I feel like every time I go back to Toronto, I ought to ask Toronto-based bloggers (and perhaps, readers?) to meet up and chat 😀