o & b canteen || simple & fresh

330 King St West, Toronto, ON
http://www.oliverbonacini.com/Canteen.aspx%20

Courtesy of O & B gallery

Tired of eating that sad, piece of toast every morning? Come to O&B's (Oliver & Bonacini) Canteen. They offer light, fresh and simple lunch menus. Unlike the regular Oliver & Bonacini, you will find mini pastries and sweet goodies at their canteen. I am personally a HUGE HUGE fan of French Onion soup, so when I first saw that on the menu, I HAD TO try one (I do that for every restaurant that offers this soup lol).  I was not disappointed at all. Firstly, the presentation of the soup is so so cute. The soup itself was placed inside a mini orange pot - I wanted to take it home with me!!! Second of all, when it comes to french onion soup, it is utmost important that the soup has to be really HOT. I drank french onion soup from other restaurants and what is a major turn off to my taste buds is when the cheese inside is NOT MELTED. O & B's french onion soup was done to perfection. I had no complaints all. Two thumbs up. 

My caesar salad was okay, nothing special because it did not tickle my tongue. My boyfriend ordered a beef burger, the cheese/mushrooms/onions inside smelled reallllly good but it really needed sauce. My boyfriend's verdict: "The bun and the burger was a bit crummy and dry". I cannot give my verdict because as some of my friends may know it, I have skin allergies with red meat (most of the time). However, I really like the fries, it tasted different (a pinch of sweetness), I am guessing they might have cooked it with a different type of oil? Je ne sais pas =D.   

service || good, nothing special

food || for canteen food, O & B went beyond that

price || $15-20 per person

decor || nothing close to looking like a bland & dirty school canteen. LOVE the white/brown theme going on in there. Looks very welcoming, clean and cozy.

what I ordered || french canadian onion soup, beef burger, caesar salad (this can all be found on O&B's canteen's "All Day Dine-In Menu"

nadège patisserie || looks can be deceiving

780 Queen St W, Toronto, On
http://www.nadege-patisserie.com/

So this is my first food review ever. I have been discussing this idea of reviewing food for almost 1 or 2 years with my boyfriend but it never happened. We've been eating everywhere from Toronto to Montreal to even, the United States and I have been missing out the opportunity to review some of the best restaurants we have ever been to. I will be travelling to Asia soon so, it only makes sense if I start it NOW.

My first review is on nadège patisserie, a sit-in bakery with varieties of sandwiches and decent-looking desserts. Once I walked in, I felt the place was very clean and organized - sandwiches and baked goods were on the right side of the display and desserts were on the very left. Even though there was a line-up, the wait was not too long. Quite frankly, the daily sandwich I ordered was to DIE FOR. It was DELICIOUS. The combination of salami, lettuce, tomato and black olive is a brilliant idea, it didn't need any salad dressing or special sauce to make it taste good. I really wanted to order another one. Here comes the "BUT" part: BUT the desserts were disappointing, they looked terribly good on the display but once I ordered my "raspberry tart", I knew "looks can be deceiving" could be applied to nadège's desserts. The tart was ROCK HARD. I'm no pastry expert but this tart did not meet my expectations. At $8 a piece, I was hoping for something extraordinary.

It is always important to also comment on the service. When my boyfriend and I decided to get up and order desserts right after our lovely sandwiches, we told one of the waitresses there to keep our drinks on the table because we weren't finish with them and she noted. Right after we finished making our orders, we went back to the table and our drinks were GONE. My boyfriend glanced at the manager and he could tell that she was going to be in trouble because she was the one who took our drinks away. With knowing that, she acted so unprofessional and did not even bother to come to our table and ask if she could help us replace our drinks. I did not even consider asking for any replacements because the drinks were not that good anyways. The manager was indeed unprofressional and clumsy. I guess with services, it's always a hit and miss. =T

P.S. I still have problems pronouncing "sandwiches" as "sangwiches". LOL.

service || friendly but clumsy

food || excellent sandwiches, desserts were average

price || $10-20 per person

decor || clean and modern design

what I ordered || daily sandwich + raspberry tart + cranberry/orange soda