All the news outlet reported that from Thursday night onward, Toronto was going to be in a deep freeze (the likes of which we haven't experienced in years). Friday morning, I wanted to visit the College and Spadina area. Given the wreck gazing back from the mirror last night, I decided to walk there from the guest house near Church St for a bit of exercise. It was definitely a cold trek, made barely bearable by several layers of outerwear and the bright sunshine (in those areas that weren't in shadow from 30-story condos).
Despite the cold, Fresca Pizzeria was cheek-to-jowl with teens (from the schools nearby) and a smattering of construction workers. Though kids will be kids, my geezer-hood wasn't up for loud adolescent rambunctiousness. So after few minutes I left to make my way through Kensington Market to Jumbo Empanada. The chicken empanada was $6.75 from $3.99 two decades ago, the cheese mini-empanada was a relatively cheap $2.50, and they now charge $0.50 for the salsa. Still, it was a tasty and filling lunch from an old-school eatery as some other first-time diners discovered. I wonder what they'd think if they knew about the old prices?
I spent about 20 minutes at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the public library. There used to always be a few homeless people sitting quietly at the back of the stacks or in the personal cubicles. So I was surprised to find none despite the blistering cold outside. Have they been cracking down on vagrancy? That would be cruel.
I finally made my way back to Fresca after the lunch rush. It was still steadily busy but now with college-age students, middle-age folks, and even a white-haired doyen. That gave me a chance to catch up with the owners. They had taken a 3-week trip back to Vietnam around Christmas. When I asked them about retirement plans so I can prepare myself for the loss of Toronto-style pizza, the wife said any day now would be fine. The husband, on the other hand, joked that he'll work until he's eighty. The kids weren't taking over but maybe somebody might buy the business. I wanted a Margherita slice ($5) but they made me a small pizza for the same price. I took most of it back to the hotel via street-car. The wind was now bitingly ferocious so it was simply too cold to walk.
I ventured out again at dinner time. There were several dining options on Yonge, but I chose Monga with its Taiwanese-style fried chicken. This was a bad decision. Back in my room, I opened my Okinawa Seaweed chicken ($11.99). Its size was a bit of a turn-off; there were probably entire families in other parts of the world that shared a smaller portion. Instead of dry flour, Monga used a wet batter as coating. It crisped up reasonably well but didn't seem to stick to the chicken. So the outer shell kept separating from the chicken fillet. With the latter being your typical lean and tasteless white chicken breast, it was a bland protein. Not that the outside was much better. I couldn't taste the seaweed and, not something I'd usually say about restaurant food, it needed more salt. I ate about a third with some leftover rice. The latter was the best part of the dinner. I'll bring the rest back to Ottawa and see if the chicken improves after a few days.
Maybe the kitchen staff was inexperienced. In fact, I noticed that none of them were Chinese/Taiwanese. Otherwise, I don't know how this chain could have dozens of stores around the world selling a poor product.
11/02/2023: The fried chicken was better as leftovers for some rice and pasta. I still wouldn't pick Monga as my first choice but the entree wasn't terrible with some of the excess oil gone. There was some herb flavouring on the fillet and the sweet potato used in the batter came through as a slight sweetness. With its chewiness, the batter reminded me a bit of Korean hot dogs. Maybe they also use sticky rice as a base?
No comments:
Post a Comment