Victoria Day Lunch at Grazie, Vaughan

My friend and I needed to look for a gift for one of our friend's wedding shower and since Vaughan Mills is one of the few malls that are open on Victoria Day, we decided to go to Grazie just outside the mall for lunch.  I figured that Grazie would beat having lunch at Pickle Barrel any day.  We had the sandwich special which was a calamari sandwich with cherry tomatoes and homemade mayo on sour dough.  It was a yummy lunch!

All cheesed-out at Obika Mozzarella Bar

Obika Mozzarella Bar opened up at Brookfield Place right in the centre of the Financial district this Monday, so I was very excited to try out this place since I'm such a fan of fresh mozzarella.  This place specializes in Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, made fresh with buffalo milk and imported directly from Italy.

We ordered the Bufala Classica with Prosciutto Crudo San Daniele DOP to start.  This tasted absolutely amazing.  The cheese was so creamy and fluffy yet a tiny bit chewy.  Complemented with the super thin slices of prosciutto, this was the perfect combination of flavours.  I enjoyed this as compared to the bufala affumicata (smoked mozzarella) sampler that they offered us at the beginning of the meal.

We also ordered a pizza, but the mozzarella platter at the beginning was quite filling.  The pizza turned out more to be a flat bread than a real pizza.  There was no tomato sauce or cheese except for the scattered bits of mozzarella.  This was not what I had expected, but I found the crust to be quite tasty despite the fact that it was more of a flat bread.

I think I would only return to this place for the mozzarella bar items, but at the price of $19.50, it is not an everyday choice for me, so we'll see how long this place can last amongst the business crowd. 

There's no such thing as a free lunch at Al Dente Italian Restaurant, Markham

There was a promotion from Regus (the office space company from which we are currently renting our office area) for a discount card at Al Dente Italian Restaurant in Main St., Markham earlier last month.  Being the foodie that I am, I wasn't going to miss out on a great deal and a chance of trying a different restaurant.  This is how the discount card works.
For $20 you get the following (worth over $250):

• A one-time 50% off the entire meal for up to a $75 saving
• 4 buy one, get one free dinner entrees
• 4 buy one, get one free lunch entrees
• 2 free appetizers
• A one-time 10% off a gift card purchase

 This seemed too good to be true to me, and it was...OK, I was tricked into buying this discount card.

We finally managed to go to the restaurant last Sunday night and it was a total disappointment.  This is what we ordered.

Pappardelle with shrimp, scallops and spinach in a lobster cream sauce - this actually tasted ok, but it was not cooked al dente...

Tiger shrimp with capellini pasta - this was an average choice, nothing special about it

Red snapper with mango salsa and capellini pasta - this was the worst dish of all.  The fish was flaky and clearly not fresh

In the end, this was a total waste of money and we will never go back again.  I feel totally jipped...