The second time I’ve gone downtown since I came back from Asia. There’re several places that are our all-time favourites: Yummy Bar-B-Q Korean Food, Sushi Sky, Salad King. All of them are on Yonge St., offering good Asian food at a reasonable price.
Average price per person for filling up our stomachs: Yummy, $10; Sushi sky, $15-20; Salad King, $15. These prices include a main dish plus something to drink, e.g. softdrink/greentea + tax + gratuity. If you go to the old Yummy Bar-B-Q (597 Yonge St.; Tel. 416-920-1874), you don’t need to pay 10% gratuity.
This evening around 5-6p.m. Erix and I went to the new Yummy Bar-B-Q, which is on the opposite side and a bit south of the old one. I always wondered if this new location is profitable. If you’ve been to the old location, you should know that it’s always so busy… lots of take-outs and lots of people waiting for their food/seats. Why? If you order a main dish, e.g. fish/chicken cutlet, it costs only around $6.5. The dish is sooo filling: lots of cutlets, tasty macaroni salad, vegetable, rice and of course two Korean side dishes, Kimchi and preserved stuffs. The cutlets, especially the chicken cutlets are so juicy even though they are fried. But I think the sauce also played an important role here. It really enhances the taste of the cutlets.
The new Yummy is not as noticible as the old one. It’s nicely renovated, with all the pictures of the dishes posted on the wall (just like the old one). However, the big difference is that this is a full-service version Yummy. There’re more tables and you’ll pay at the end of the meal, unlike the old fast-food version Yummy. This time we also ordered a fried tofu, but it was a bit too salty. At first there weren’t a lot of customers, but later, there’re more and more people coming in. We’ve noticed that more non-Asian people prefer the new Yummy. That’s good coz it means Yummy has made the right decision, opening up a new one there. But I think if they open one uptown, it should be very profitable.
Sushi Sky 天彩, another pretty good restaurant on Yonge. It’s just a bit south of the new Yummy. I’ve tried many Japanese restaurants in Toronto. Most of them aren’t cheap… You know, when it comes to raw stuffs, you’d like to get some kind of assurance. I mean if it’s very low-priced, then you’d doubt the freshness of it. There’re are some pretty expensive ones (compared to the size and the taste of the food), such as Akasaka at Empress Walk/on West Beaver Creek. You’ll decide whether they worth it or not. I always like Sushi Sky’s sushi pizza and dragon maki. The taste and size are good, plus the stuffs seem fresh. I’ve tried other places’ sushi pizzas, but I still like Sushi Sky’s the most. Hooraiya 蓬萊屋‘s isn’t bad either. Sushi Sky’s pork cutlet don is good too. It’s reasonable price is a plus.
I’ve heard of Salad King long time ago. When I was doing my second workterm (2002), my colleagues told me about it, but I didn’t have a chance to go there. Then during the third workterm, my colleagues wanted to go there with me, but we didn’t go because it was closed for renovation. Then I forgot about it until one day my friend Tommy forwarded his new website job to me. It was SALAD KING again. Oh my god. I know this time I really have to try it.
Salad King has a good location. It’s near the Eaton’s Centre and Ryerson University. I have been there several time. Although I didn’t try all of the dishes, the one I’ve tried are pretty good. I especially like its home-made green curry, phud thai and its spring roll. Its environment is very warm and inviting. It isn’t like most of the other restaurants. There’re two floors. Most of the time I went to the lower one. On the ground floor, there’re some long tables where different groups of customers sit at (there’re a few small tables too). Maybe the non-Asian groups aren’t too used to having some strangers sitting besides them while they’re having their meal, the turnover rate is quite high, which is a good thing from the restaurant’s view point. The food is good and reasonable-priced. That’s why people keep coming back. The upper floor is much nicer. The atmosphere is totally different. So, give it a try if you feel hungry after shopping at the Eaton’s Centre.