Year of eating excessively- AYCE ethnic buffets
All of this is at lunch. For the most part, I can't bear to pay the much larger dinner price and feel obliged to eat my money's worth. From East to West.
CHINESE. Shung Fa Buffet King, successor to Genesis. Victoria Park and Tempo, above Aladinn's Palace. A n improvement over its predecessor. They seem more interested in doing a good job and aren't into ruing expensive ingredients so much. They have three locations I think.
Between an intolerance of MSG and an aversion to goop and pork I avoid the Chinese (sic) items. Also , the less cooking the better the item. I have a good fress as follows. Steamed fish (often really good), steak on open flame grill (survivour of Genesis) , sushi ( for the carb), tempuresque sweet potato, lettuce, celery sticks, fresh fruit. The terroryukki stuff that they marinade teh ribs I think sent me into MSG soreness and sonambulence. $10.99, $2 more in December.
Try the Chinese items and lets us know.
ARABIC(alleged) . Jerusalem Buffet, Leslie The cooking here has only a little more to do with Arabic cooking than I have to do with the King of Poland. But this is OK. The problem here is that the cooking seems to contrinue to degenerate so that from the 1001 items it is too hard to put together a decent meal. Last trip I just ended up eating too much looking for something good , irritated and fed up. The cooking is getting to be completely unskilled. Check the price , it is cheaper on weekdays, avoid Monday altogether, best day might be Friday, particularly if you go elsewhere. I think $10.99 on weekdays. Don't go any other time than weekdays lunch, disappointment and frustration will only go up with price.
PERSIAN. Tanoor, the sign on Yonge says Patough. Sunday only, $14.99. If this were your first experience with Persian cooking, it might well be your last.
I shoulkd have known better. I came in and saw the salad table. Three big plates of Jello, three plates of potato salad covered with mayo as if the mayo were icing on a cake. A few miserable vegetables.
I stirred the soup and passed. Beef kebab tasted like leftovers reheated, no exposure to charcoal. Chicken kebob was so tender that it was soft, no real taste, I was suspicious; what could hasve been very nice rice with dill and lima beans had too much salt, as did the mince beef square. Unripe fruit and amateurish cookies for dessert. I was surprised that everyone else in the room seemed to be Iranian. Good home made bread though- the tanoor.
THAI. Thai Plate. Bathurst and Ranee, Friday only, Finally a good one and a really good one. Thai owned, operated,and cooks. The second Thai couple who started the place has returned to rejoin their originasl partners. The cooking is good , interesting and generous. Not oily, not sweet. A $25 dollar meal at dinner for $9.99.
MANGIACAKE. Mother Tucker's. The last one I went to is on Mavis Rd. I think the Scarborough one is weaker.
Good ingredients, but the feeling that I get is that they are not cooked, but rather processed. No flavour tops, no bottoms, and have that je ne sais pas d'' institution character. Institutional flavouring, the antithesis of Arabic flavouring. Too much choice, nothing really good. But wholesome and quite OK at the price- $10.99 usual weekday lunch (check) $14.99 "Festive" pricing in December. Would hate to pay the dinner price for just a decent mangiacake feed. You may actually like the cooking, which is OK, chacun a son gout. If you find something you like, such as the non BBQ sauced chicken, stick with it.
Here ,the simpler the things, the better, sorry that they took off the burgers and added other and expensive meats for the Festive seasons
Please add to the list
VVM, Ph.D.(AYCE)
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pinstripeprincess
Dec 15, 2008 08:19 AM
i noticed a sign at mengrai thai advertising lunch buffet for $13 (edit: thursday only). i haven't been but was generally quite impressed with my dinner meal there that i'm bound to give it a try sometime though i imagine others have beat me to it already.
›1 Reply-
re: pinstripeprincess
Leslieville
Dec 15, 2008 12:26 PM
Psp. Surprisingly, the buffet here was not great, I was very disappointed! What is good though is Ivory Thai at Church and Lombard street. Nice variety, dishes nicely done, and they keep the serving dishes constantly replenished. The service is excellent, and I THINK the price is $13.99, not too sure about that. Fridays or mid-month, end of month are very busy with office groups.
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