Byblos - I've been dreaming of you

Byblos Restaurant
11 Duncan St.
Toronto, ON M5V3M2
Telephone:(647) 660-0909
Website
Menu
Ridiculously Extravagant Dinner for 2 - $200
Rating: 5 out of 5

Last year I went to Cocktail Parlor, and was amazed by the food.  Then I found out they closed and so I hunted down the chef to see if he had another restaurant.  Lo and behold, Executive Chef Stuart Cameron was doing his thing in the very same building at Byblos.  I love middle eastern food, so I was so excited to try it, and lucky me after talking about it for a few months my boyfriend surprised me for our 6 month lunaversary last month!

You can either order a large plate and eat a meal, or you can go tapas.  We decided to go tapas so that we can try more dishes.

Our Plates:
Basturma Egg: Get this. Just do it.  It was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten!  My boyfriend said it took him back 20 years to his childhood in the middle east! I asked for the egg a little bit cooked more because I find runny egg repulsive and they were able to accommodate me.  BF wanted to order another one and our server was like.. wait.. you have lots more food coming... and oh boy did we ever!

Duck Kibbeh: The spices in this were like BAM! It was delicious! The texture was perfect, we both just wanted to eat more.

Steak Tar Tar: The STT was very good.  Not mind blowing like the rest of the meal, but very good.  If you like STT then get it.  The Barbari bread on the other hand.. I wanted more!  It was sooo delicious!

Yogurt Baked Fluke: This... I'm not totally in love with fish usually, I can eat it here or there, but our server highly recommended it, so I got it.. I bow down to him.  It was... just wow! Yes.

Dry Aged Ribeye: Very good.  Pales in comparison to the fish, but very good.

Hand Rolled Couscous: I took a bite.  Then I had to stop eating and breath.  The browned butter in this.. OMFG! It was overwhelmingly phenomenal! I was seriously blown away, and I almost cried. I'm not kidding.  It was just the greatest! It made me so happy.  It was like love had been injected into this dish.

Sweet Jeweled Basmati Rice: This is the most beautiful dish you will ever see in your life.  The colours and textures and tastes.  It's a masterpiece!  You must get this.  Don't ask me any questions, just do what I say!

Our Desserts:
Kanafeh: The ice cream on this was awesome!!  The Kanafeh itself we found a little dry.  It was.. fine.

Crispy Qatayef: These were delicious.  Cute little dumpling morsels of goodness.  Yum!

Our Drinks:
Gulab: I'm not much of a drinker but decided to celebrate, and yummy yummy!  What a choice.  This beautiful glass was filled with mostly ice and a pretty flower, but the drink that was inside was delicious, and I nursed the ice for a while since it still had some of the taste of the spices!

Some citrus drink: I forget the name: It was excellent!  I think I may have even liked it better than the Gulab. My server recommended this one since it was light on alcohol flavour and heavy on awesomeness.

Some Ginger Drink: BF says when I asked him just now how he liked it.. he said very excitedly "Oh ya... the drink was great!".

The service was outstanding! The atmosphere was simple, elegant, and beautiful!

We're going back in a few weeks for another celebration and we can't wait!  It's all we've been talking about for a month!

GOOOOOO.

Kanji - Sushi Restaurant & Sake Bar

Kanji - Sushi Restaurant & Sake Bar

1346 Queen St. W.

Toronto ON M6K 1L4.

Telephone:416-536-8448

Website

Menu

Extravagant Dinner for 2 - $60

Rating: 4 out of 5

Since I don't really enjoy working - as a general rule, I tend to do things that will help me save money while still living the lavish (by lavish I mean living in my 1 bedroom flat in Toronto that I don't have to share with anyone while still going out to eat and traveling on credit) lifestyle that I'm accustomed to.  To put it simply, if I lived in the US, I would totally be one of those people on extreme couponing!  That shit is wicked!!  Unfortunately due to our coupon rules here in Canada, we can't really do that here. So I've had to rely on the awesome daily deal websites to help me save money while doing super rad things and eating great food!  So a few months back, I had purchased a voucher for Kanji since the menu on their website looked ridiculously delicious!

My friend and I walked up to the door to Kanji which from the outside is pretty unassuming.  We walked in and down a hallway which looked like it went far down and around a corner.  Later, after we ordered we decided to go for a walk to see what was down the hallway only to see that the hallway didn't exist and there was a mirror on the wall.  I felt tricked!  But it was kind of awesome as it made the place look really huge and spacious. 

The service was awesome!  Even though our server was slammed with a large party in addition to his other tables he was on the ball and really friendly and helpful when we asked for suggestions.  Sometimes I go to restaurants in the city and I feel like I'm being a burden on our server.  Pardon me for going out to eat and making you work!  But not here!  Our server was a cute Asian guy who I might have even considered taking home if I was into Asian guys!  But.. I'm not.  So out of the kindness of my heart I let him finish the rest of his shift instead.  

I'm one of those people who asks for recommendations from servers.  Why?  Because they work there, and if they haven't tried the dish itself, they at least know what's popular. So, Cute Asian Server's number one suggestion was a dish called Treasure Island.  It consisted of assorted fish on avocado, topped with fried leeks, caviar, and miso mustard sauce.  I think the fish was tuna, salmon, and maybe butterfish.  The avocado was half an avocado with the seed taken out and sliced while still sitting together as though it were one half an avocado.  The fried leeks were so unusual and added a great texture, and the sauce.... wtf?!  Seriously, this was probably one of the best dishes I've eaten in a while (at least since the Spiced Ash Hamachi with Bruleed Lime & Coconut Dust from Cocktail Parlor.)! I couldn't get enough of it!  If I didn't think I would've embarrassed my guest I would have licked my plate clean! I even dipped some of the other roles in the sauce because it was just that freaking delicious!  

The other roll that was excellent was the sweet potato roll.  I wanted to just shove the entire thing in my mouth it was so delicious!  I'm pretty certain Kanji puts crack in their food!  I honestly felt like I was super high when I was eating.  

The other item we ordered that was delicious was the Seaweed Salad which I believe they make fresh in house. My friend doesn't like Seaweed Salad but decided to try a bite of it anyway.  She certainly ate more than half of it that's for sure.  Bitch.  It was awesome.  And fresh.  And awesome!

I'm a big fan of mango, so we also ordered the Golden Dragon roll which is shrimp tempura topped 

with spicy tuna, mango,  avocado, black caviar, eel sauce, and mango sauce.  It was good.  Nothing mind blowing or out of this world, but good.  Also, we got the Crunchy Mango Shrimp roll.  Skip it. 

For dessert we decided to share the Yuzu Citrus infused Crème Brûlée. I loved the taste.  There were a few little pieces of rind that I loved chewing on, although my friend didn't like that part at all.  The problem was that it wasn't set properly, which ruined it a bit for me.  

All the dishes were presented beautifully with so much incredible detail.  My friend that I was with doesn't own a cell phone.  I know!!  Weird and a bitch.  I didn't want to be all camera phone annoying in front of someone who just wouldn't get it, so I avoided taking photos of the food, but darned I really wanted to!!!

I would absolutely go back to this place again!  I'm still dreaming of the Treasure Island dish when I close my eyes.  If you are craving good sushi, let this be your next stop!