Review: Village Restaurant

Review: Village Restaurant, Toronto
420 Spadina Road (At Lonsdale)
Cuisine: Diner staples - Brunch, Burgers, Sandwiches
Sandwich: Triple Decker ($7.50 + tax) with fries ($1.50)

The Village Restaurant is a popular diner-style restaurant in the heart of Forest Hill Village. Locals flock to this cozy neighbourhood stalwart for reasonably priced brunch, large portions, and the comfortable setting. The Village Restaurant also offers takeaway for those of us who like to enjoy their club sandwich in private.

Inside, the Village Restaurant is decorated in a manner that my grandparents would be proud of. Patterned upholstery, lots of exposed wood, old style lamps, and a very impressive old wooden bar add a real homeliness to what could easily have been quite an unforgiving space. The only things that detracts from this feeling are the four widescreen LCD televisions, positioned at angles so that you can always see one whilst you are eating. Though this clash of cultures is a little awkward, I quite enjoy keeping up with the news while I eat - especially when eating alone - and so I was happy with the distraction.

I ordered the Triple-decker ($7.50) - a take on a turkey club - based on favourable reviews, a side of fries ($1.50 extra) and a vanilla milkshake. Unfortunately they had no ice cream and so I ended up with a tomato juice instead. I mention the lack of ice cream because this was the second time in two visits that the Village Restaurant was without a quite vital ingredient. On a previous visit for brunch, mid-morning on a Saturday, there was no hollandaise sauce - not because it had run out, they just hadn't made any. This, coupled with the missing ice cream makes me wonder if there are some problems with ordering/stocking.

Whilst ordering, I had thought that $7.50 seemed like quite a lot for a club sandwich without fries. Once it arrived, it became clear that I was wrong. In fact, ordering fries was a mistake and one that I regretted immediately. The mountain of a sandwich that I was presented with was as much food as I usually eat in a day. I have a large mouth, capable of conquering towering burgers and fully stuffed Subways but, in attempting to take a bite out of the triple decker, I encountered lip-stretching, jaw-locking pain. That's how big it was.

The sandwich itself was a pleasure to behold. Nice, thick, toasted bread stuffed full of home-cooked turkey, crispy bacon strips, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. The bacon was just crispy enough to add a wonderful crunchy texture, without being overcooked. The toasted bread held together well and was full of flavour and the salad ingredients were fresh and plentiful. 

Only the turkey was a bit disappointing. I appreciated the thick cut, home-cooked slices but it was a little too dry. It also lacked seasoning and so it was quite bland. Turkey is a dry meat at the best of times so the problem wasn't how it was cooked - rather the amount of turkey in the sandwich. The ratio of turkey to other ingredients was probably about 2 or even 3 to 1. There was so much that this dryness became the overriding experience of the sandwich, despite lashings of mayonnaise to counteract it. If the sandwich had been slightly smaller, with a more evenly balanced ratio of ingredients, then it would have been easier to eat, moister overall, and more flavoursome.

As far as mistakes go, being too generous with meat is not one worth complaining too strongly about. The ideology and the intention behind the sandwich was perfect - a more considered approach to the construction is the only thing that could have made it better.

My only real complaint is that, for somewhere with reputation as a friendly, family restaurant, I didn't feel as welcome as I expected to. The service was polite but a little distant and I wasn't offered refills of my glass of water nor any condiments (beyond ketchup that was already on the table) with my meal. It was this that disappointed me and tarnished an otherwise positive experience.

Pros

- Portion size
- Fresh, in house ingredients
- Comfortable, diner setting.

Cons

- Sandwich construction
- Dry/bland
- Service could have been better.

Review: Subway Flatbread

On the most recent of my thrice-weekly visits to Subway I was very excited to see a new product being advertised - the flatbread sandwich (left). Any fundamental change to the Subway menu, as opposed to a limited edition sandwich like the recent Buffalo chicken, is a cause for celebration as their success record so far has been excellent.

By starting to toast their sandwiches, Subway added a missing (and much needed) element to their menu - crunch. I remember bemoaning the fact that all Subway sandwiches would devolve into a squishy mess during the course of eating, or even in the bag on the way home. This was because the bread is quite flimsy to start with and the addition of those much-needed sauces twould quickly turn flimsy into soggy. By changing the texture of the bread through the toaster, a consumer's whole experience of eating a Subway could be altered into something more robust. This alteration to the foundation of the sandwich, i.e. the bread, effected the whole Subway menu without changing any of the ingredients - a master stroke.

I had similarly high hopes for the flatbread as it addresses another fundamental problem with Subway sandwiches - bread variety. Yes Subway does have six types of bread, but they are really two types of dough (white and brown) with four different toppings. Therefore, the bread itself is always the same in taste texture (aside from toasting) and so the consumer's experience is somewhat limited.

Subway does offer wraps but when I worked there I always wondered why anyone would buy them, unless they had to due to a dietary requirement. Subway wraps are more expensive than the bread and you get much less sandwich filling due to the size contraints (this is not the case everywhere. Some stores charge no extra but the amount of filling - particularly salad - is much lower). So essentially you pay more for less which makes no sense to me and I don't consider them as a viable alternative.

Enter the flatbread. It is sold at the same price as a 6-inch sandwich (for now at least) and it holds just as much filling as a traditional bread. The flatbreads are a uniform size and so your sandwich will always be the same length, as opposed to the short end of a poorly-risen dough that you can sometimes end up with. I seized the opportunity asked for turkey and ham with cheese on a flatbread. I had it toasted, at the recommendation of the staff, with all salad, mustard and BBQ sauce (delicious combination I assure you). So far so good. 

However, the flatbread is not exactly what I expected. The image (above) advertised gives the impression of a bread that is sliced down the middle with a hinge cut, much like the traditional Subway bread but flatter. This is not the case. It is actually a large rectangle, much like a naan bread with corners, that is folded over the top of the fillings. The result of this is that, if the sandwich is fully unwrapped, it has a tendency to flop open.It is also very soft and doughy and remains so despite being toasted, which can lead to the sandwich falling over unless held tightly. The open ends, open side and limp consistency are not designed for holding a sandwich together. This problem is further compounded by the silly paper sleeve that it arrived in, rather than the traditional Subway wrapping. This paper sleeve is open on one side and so taking the sandwich anywhere in its bag is risky at best.

So at any moment the sandwich could fall open, slump over, or lose all of its fillings in a mass exodus of a scale that has not been witnessed since...well...Exodus. Functionally speaking, the flatbread is a flop in more ways that one.

Fortunately there are redeeming features. First amongst those is the fact that it is delicious. It's soft, fluffy and warm with a slightly charred taste after toasting. It is much like eating a cross between a potato cake (or potato farl as they are called in Ireland) and a naan bread, in both flavour and texture. Very pleasant indeed.

It is also considerably different to the rest of the bread selection and this is variety that I welcome. I find that the Subway breads can get a little tiresome (perhaps less frequent visits would eliminate this problem) and so this change to the fundamental element of the sandwich makes the whole experience seem new and interesting again, whilst lending a lightness to the sandwich experience. And this lightness comes despite the actual serving size being more (by weight) than the traditional bread.

Pros:

- Tastes good
- Adds variety
- Uniform size

Cons:

- Functionally terrible
- Higher calorific value (still less than herbs and cheese)
- Paper sleeve

Verdict:

Whilst the Subway flatbread might not be designed to hold your meatball sub together, it makes a pleasant change from the bread that I've become tired of. It may not be practical for day-to-day sandwich consumption but, as an interesting and tasty diversion, it certainly has a place on the menu and in my lunch rotation.

6.5/10

Neo-Indian Cuisine: A Definition

Indian food for square, white plates (and square, white consumers?)

Review: Ackee Tree

Review: Ackee Tree, Toronto
170 Spadina Avenue (at Queen)

Cuisine: Jamaican - roti, sandwiches, curries, stews and jerk dishes with rice.

Sandwich: Jerk Chicken Sandwich ($6.99 + tax)


I made my way to Ackee Tree after finding this list of the 'best sandwiches in Toronto' and reading the sparkling review of Ackee Tree's jerk chicken sandwich (left). I made it as far as "assertively spiced and remarkably juicy" before hopping on the subway to find out for myself.

Ackee Tree is an unmissable restaurant on the west side of Spadina, slightly north of Mcdonalds. There is an enormous, sign above the entrance, advertising the carribean roots of Ackee Tree through the use of bright colours and a palm tree motif. Inside it is a long, narrow restaurant illustrating a typical Torontonian mix of cultures - reggae music on the radio and CP24 on the flatscreen TV's. There is a long counter on the right with a variety of delicious looking dishes, covered and uncovered, being kept warm and on hand for for serving. The menu is a blackboard behind this counter, listing (in a slightly messy way) the specials of the day and the standard menu items.

My jerk chicken sandwich took 5-10 minutes to arrive and I was disappointed to discover that I was to pay $6.99 + tax - the takeaway menu has the 'Ackee Tree Jerk Sandwich' at $5.99 and the review in NOW magazine states $5.95. However, nestled in a corner of the blackboard behind the counter I found 'Jerk Chicken Sandwich - $6.99' and so handed over my money without complaint.

The sandwich itself arrives on coco bread with a generous helping of jerk chicken, a thick slice of both grilled sweet pototo and tomato, and a sauce described as 'jerk mayo' though it tasted more like a chipotle dressing. It is served with a dollop of creamy homemade coleslaw on the side which acts as a cooling diversion from the scotch bonnet-induced heat of the jerk chicken.

I think the word to describe this sandwich is 'hearty'. It is filling, rich, and warming. The sweet potato was a revalation and added considerable, but subtle, flavour to the sandwich. The tomato also provided some cleansing freshness to contrast the creamy sauce.

Unfortunately I found this sandwich rather disappointing for a number of reasons. Firstly, it was not a well balanced sandwich. There was far too much of the dressing which therefore became the overriding flavour, whilst also having the effect of making the sandwich seem rather greasey. Coupled with the sweet potato, it was an extremely rich sandwich with not a lot of flavour. Jerk seasoning is a wonderful, spicy, earthy flavour that I enjoy very much but it was barely discernable amongst so much mayonnaise. The only 'jerk' element that managed to cut through the sauce was the heat of the chillis. I think that the jerk chicken should be the highlight of a jerk chicken sandwich but in this instance it served more as background texture. 

Beyond the compositional issues, there were a couple of other things that had a negative impact on my assessment of this sandwich. There were two quite large (i.e. over 2cm) pieces of bone in my sandwich, and one large piece of gristle. This is a serious sandwich sin and something that implies a lack of care and diligence when building a sandwich.

I also thought that the coco bun was a bad choice of bread for this sandwich. Whilst it was quite tasty, it was thin and extremely spongy which meant that it disintegrated amidst so much sauce. By the time I'd eaten one half, the other half was falling apart in a big, saucy mess. Something thicker or denser would have been a better choice for such a moist filling.

Verdict:

For something that was advertised as 'the best jerk chicken sandwich in Toronto', I found this experience very disappointing. Poor compositional choices, a lack of care and the insignificance of the jerk chicken make for a sandwich that is rich but short on flavour and difficult to eat. I enjoy jerk chicken as a wonderful, fresh experience when coupled with caribbean flavours like mango or pineapple, because I think that this makes the most of the jerk spice flavour. If you want something sticky, rich and filling then certainly Ackee Tree's jerk sandwich is worth a try.

Pros:

- Large portion size
- Sweet potato in sandwich
- A good level of spice

Cons:

- Poor bread choice
- Too much mayo/sauce
- Bones/lack of care
- Muted jerk flavour

Score:

5/10

Recommendation - Sandwich Ingredients

It seems that the variety of ingredients and ingredient combinations used in sandwich making is quite limited. Ham and cheese, chicken salad, BLT - these are all time tested favourites but I encourage questionning the ingredients that go into your sandwiches and coming up with new ways to make them more interesting, new ingredients that just work better, and new combinations that sound disgusting but taste phenomenal.

Salsa - I have no idea why salsa isn't used in sandwiches more often. It turns up at various fast food outlets quite often, most notably in the Chicken Legend, (a poor substitute for the sorely missed Chicken Premiere) but I receive incredulous looks when slathering it on a slice of spongy white. It is the perfect sandwich ingredient because:

• It's cheap
• It lasts forever in the fridge
• It goes well with anything that tastes good with tomato (i.e. everything, particularly chicken, cheese, ham or any mexican flavour combinations)
• It's spreadable (to a degree and depending on the chunk size)
• It doesn't make your bread go soggy like tomatoes do if you leave your sandwich in a fridge overnight/until lunchtime. 

Salsa often turns up in wraps but never sandwiches, which has always mystified me. I suppose it must be because of the Latin-American roots of the ingredient but I think that it could be considered as a full time alternative to fresh tomato in sandwiches, at least for your day to day needs. Fresh tomato, whilst delicious, is often troublesome in sandwiches - especially because of the above moisture factor. And so it should probably only be used if eating immediately, if toasting your sandwich, or if you are going for a particular cuisine style in your sandwich (e.g. greek). In terms of convenience, price and flavour, salsa is fantastic and shouldn't be reserved just for that occasional fajita, or to dip tortilla chips in.

Ham, cheese and pineapple - Or, more broadly, pizza toppings. Again, these probably work better if you intend to toast your sandwich (I'll address toasted vs non-toasted at a later date) but there is no reason to limit these flavour combinations to pizza. The classic hawaiian sandwich works well with either BBQ sauce, ketchup, or salsa acting as your pizza sauce (or canned pizza sauce also works very well), a couple of slices of ham, a pineapple ring (rather than chunks) and a generous helping of your choice of cheese. Put this all together and stick it under your grill/in your toasted sandwich maker and you'll be delighted with the results. Crunchy, sweet, cheesy and extremely satisfying. I suppose it is something similar to a calzone, but much easier to eat.

Once you get into the realms of mushrooms, peppers, bacon etc. a little more preparation is required as these ingredients require cooking before being added to your sandwich. It is certainly worth the effort. Imagine a sauted mushroom, crispy bacon and blue cheese toasted pizza-sandwich. Sounds good?

Fish fingers (fish sticks) and peanut butter - I spent a lot of time eating fish finger sandwiches at university. They were cheap, filling, and easy to make interesting with the addition a couple of condiments. I'm not sure if this is a practise that only takes place in England though I suspect that it may be. Only a society that puts hash browns in sandwiches would encourage such a practise.

Peanut butter and fish fingers sounds disgusting I know - I was dubious myself at first. These are two ingredients from entirely different realms of cuisine. One is a cheap, easy dinner solution, healthier and cheaper than 'real' fish and without any thought involved in preparation. The other is something that you put on your toast in the morning. If you think about it though, it's not that far from a fish satay...of sorts. I think it has to be crunchy peanut butter, rather than smooth, but I'm not a smooth peanut butter fan at the best of times. If you're in England, HP Fruity makes the perfect accompaniment, and cheese is (always) an option. I haven't found a suitable alternative here in Canada but my search continues. Try it, love it, thank me later.

More ingredient ideas another time. If you have any of your own, please share them with me and I will definitely try them out.

Review: Eastern Twist

Review:

Eastern Twist, Toronto

505 St.Clair Avenue West (at Bathurst)

(Also at Passmore Ave and Markham)

Cuisine: Paratha Wraps (pic left), rice dishes and noodles in milk

Sandwich: Chicken and potato curry paratha wrap ($7.95 + tax)

I had walked past Eastern Twist a number of times on my way home before I finally decided to venture inside. It is a small place, right next door to a Subway, with a neon sign next to the door advertising 'Butter Chicken, wraps, noodles'. It is cosy inside, with a few tables to sit-in and eat should you desire, a counter that runs the full width of the shop and thereby splits the space, and a reasonable sized kitchen beyond which can be viewed through a window. The menu is diplayed above the counter, with handwritten signs showing addtions to the menu diplayed on the glass screen that covers the salad portion of the counter.

A short conversation with the friendly girl behind the counter reveals that it has been open for quite some time, and has received some excellent reviews (displayed on the website and on the walls of the shop). Apparently business has been slow until a recent and inexplicable surge as people have started to take notice and wander in, just like I did.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with parathas, it is basically a chapati (indian flatbread) that has been spread with butter (or ghee), folded up and then rolled out flat again. This process is repeated a couple of times, resulting in a rich, flaky, multi-layered flatbread, often served as a decadent (i.e. fatty) alternative to chapatis. Recipe can be found here. I've never come across the idea of using them instead of tortillas to create a wrap so found idea an intriguing take on fusion fast-food.

I ordered the chicken and potato curry wrap, and was given the option of white or wholewheat. The paratha was freshly made in the kitchen behind, resulting in a waiting time of 5 minutes or so but the delicious, hot flatbread was worth the wait. It came out with a generous helping of chicken and potato curry down the middle and I was asked what salad and sauces I would like. The selection was very standard - onions, lettuce etc - apart from one item which is a curried carrot and cauliflower salad. This salad absolutely makes the sandwich - I think it is flavoured with cumin and coriander, possibly with a little fennel as well. I took the servers recommendation and ended up with tamarind sauce and hot sauce.

 

The resulting wrap is about 8 inches in length and 3-4 inches diameter. For $7.95, this is an enormous amount of food and was enough to feed me for dinner. The chicken and potato curry is hearty but a little bland, but this was made up for by the excellent carrot and cauliflower salad and the tasty sauces, all of which added considerable flavour and interest to the wrap. The paratha is buttery and tasty, holding together well under the weight of so much food and moisture from the curry and sauces. The freshness and spice of the salad counteracts the butter of the wrap, resulting in a sandwich that tastes well balanced, each part having a distinctive flavour that compliments the other. The curry filling acts more as texture than anything else, taking on and holding together the flavours that surround it and adding a thick, saucy element.

 

 

Verdict:

 

I think that on my first visit I got the best that Eastern Twist has to offer. A fresh paratha, excellent portion size and well balanced accompaniments. Having visited a few times since I have fIound that the quality varies a little depending on the time of day/who is working in the kitchen. If every visit to Eastern Twist was as good as my first, I would not be able to recommend it enough, but due to some inconsistency I can only say that it is good rather than excellent. I will certainly be revisiting Eastern twist for a more in depth investigation of the menu, and to find out which of my experiences illustrates the true quality of their product.

Summary:

Pros:

- Large portion/good price

- Good range of menu options

- Inspired fusion of Indian food in an easy-to-eat format - paratha tasty and holds together well

- Carrot and cauliflower salad

- Tamarind and hot sauce - both delicious

Cons:

- Inconsistency in quality/size across menu

- Only works as a whole - richness of paratha a little overwhelming if not balanced by salad

- Slightly bland curry filling - made up for somewhat by the excellence around it.

Inbloguration

Like so many people, I have recently been inspired by the film 'Julie & Julia'. Whilst I wasn't sure quite what I wanted to write about, I knew that I wanted to write and I knew that it was going to involve food. And so I came to the Internet, armed only with the desire to be inspired, rather than inspiration itself.

I've spent the following two days arranging this blog, changing the name, the colours, the web-address etc but without settling on a topic about which to write. I think that having a topic is important as I don't want this to become a meandering, mindless unloading of my various whims and thoughts (as I'm sure this would be incredibly dull). Instead, writing consistently about something that I'm interested in seems much more worthwhile.

So, whilst searching for a topic that I would encounter often enough to write consistently about without too much effort, and could expand on greatly with only a little effort, I opened my backpack and took out my lunch. Today's lunch: two sandwiches in individual plastic bags, made yesterday during a typical late-night sandwich making session. And so inspiration arrived in my lap (and later, in my mouth).

I should explain my relationship with sandwiches, my sandwich philosophy and the origin of this fascination.

Sandwiches at Large:

I love sandwiches. I think that they might be the most versatile form of food, precisely because sandwiches are not limited by style, cuisine, or ingredients. Instead they are a way to arrange food rather than a way to create food. The sandwich is not a style, but rather a convenient way of holding something (whatever that may be) together and experiencing a number of flavours at once.

That is not to say that they are to be looked down on as a culinary afterthought. I often feel that sandwiches are a last resort, inspiring memories of dry, disgusting lunchtime experiences during school or hastily compiled arrangements of last night's leftovers lumped together in odd combinations on a lazy Sunday. Sandwiches are worth effort - just because something is arranged between bread for convenience, that doesn't mean it should afford any less care than any other meal. You are going to eat it after all - what excuse is there for eating a single piece of low quality ham with a dab of margarine? You wouldn't do it if there was no bread would you?

So perhaps that's the problem - sandwiches are seen as a way to make bread interesting, a quick fix or a way to use up leftover food.

My Sandwich Philosophy:

My sandwich philosophy revolves around the idea of layers. Because of the traditional (i.e. 2 slices of standard bread) composition of sandwiches, the ingredients of a sandwich exist in a vertical relationship with each other, with each ingredient touching at least one other ingredient, but not necessarily with all ingredients touching each other. Therefore there are two types of relationship in a sandwich - touching vertical relationships (TVR - ingredients touching each other within a sandwich) and overall sandwich relationship (OSR - all ingredients, touching and non-touching) I think that a perfect sandwich is created when each TVR is approached with as much consideration as the composition of the sandwich as a whole. Any ingredient in a sandwich should exist in perfect harmony with any TVRs, whilst also complimenting (but to a lesser extent) all flavours within the OSR .

An example: Today's lunch was constructed as follows

Bread (brown)

Mayonnaise (Hellmans Olive Oil)

 

Black Pepper

Sliced tomato

Salt

Deli sliced tandoori chicken (by deli sliced I mean similar to sandwich ham slices)

Roasted garlic humous

Bread

Consider the TVR's in this sandwich:

Mayonnaise/pepper/Tomato

Tomato/salt/chicken

Chicken/humous

These are very good flavour combinations and so they are experienced together as you bite into a sandwich. Tomato and humous go ok together, humous and mayonnaise don't really make a difference to each other but every ingredient fits into a tasty whole whilst contributing heavily to a number of TVR's - the basis for a good sandwich.

Origin of Philosophy:

This fascination with sandwiches is something that has developed considerably over the last 5 years. It began with my dad, a man who is forever putting odd combinations of food between slices of bread. When I was younger I would often ask what he was eating and wrinkle my nose up in disgust at the list of ingredients that he gave me (Worcester Sauce, Piccalilli and sausage for example) and yet they always smelled delicious. My dad is of the school of using up leftovers by wrapping them in bread, but will add as many condiments as it takes to make it something more than the dull experience of last night's meal eaten cold.

Later in life I had a variety of jobs at fast food establishments to make money before and during university. The last of these was a job as a Sandwich Artist at Subway (I agree that the name is pretentious nonsense). One of Subway's mottos is that you should be able to 'taste every ingredient in every bite' of a sandwich. This is an idea that appeals to me - each ingredient should be arranged in such away that every taste is the same as the last and (hopefully) delicious. They also encouraged trying different combinations of meats and sauces so that you could suggest something to a mystified customer, or encourage someone not to just have mayonnaise with everything. After sampling every, my favourite sandwich to have as a staff meal was, as I called it, a chicken tikka pizza. This was a simple combination of the pizza sub (pepperoni, marinara sauce, cheese on top and toasted) and chicken tikka pieces (only available in the UK as far as I'm aware), topped with pizza-like veg (i.e. no lettuce) and topped off with BBQ sauce and (a now extinct) deli mustard/horseradish sauce.

This combination of 3 different sauces may sound odd but I assure you it was delicious. The sweetness of the BBQ sauce with the sinusy-heat of the deli mustard was fantastic. I encourage experimenting with Subway sauces in this way - after all it is the sauce that becomes the overriding flavour within a sandwich and so can completely change your sandwich experience.

With these philosophies to build on, I've gradually become more and more involved in the sandwich making process to the point that my sister once came into the kitchen (where I was making sandwiches for the two of us) to tell me that I had been gone for an hour and ask if there was going to be a sandwich any time soon.

This is not to say that I think all sandwiches should be masterpieces. I recognise that sometimes you just want to slap some ham on a piece of bread, fold it in half and cram it into your face. I myself am rather partial to the odd ketchup sandwich - hastily constructed just to have something to chew on. Instead I think that the sandwich can be so much more and I want to share my exploration of this food format with others.

Mission:

This blog therefore will be a collection of sandwich thoughts, my own recipes, recommendations, reviews and other sandwich related nonsense as I pursue my interest and hopefully find others who share it. Enjoy and make sandwiches matter!