Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Il Fornello [Richmond Hill]




Il Fornello
Type: Italian
Address: 8851 Yonge St., Richmond Hill (Yonge & N of Highway 7) Map
Phone: (905) 530-1153
E-mail richmondhill@ilfornello.com
Hours: Mon-Sun: Open at 11:30am, weekday buffet lunch, 11:30-3:00pm [$11.95 + taxes], weekend buffet brunch: 11:30am-3:00pm [$14.95 + taxes] Menu
Payment: Cash, debit, credit
Price: Casual dinning [$15-25/person excluding drinks]
Tasty gauge: 7.6/10
Service rating: 7.2/10 [叉﹑麵包﹑olive oil/bread vinegar都要叫先拿來﹐d flatbread 硬o左咬唔開又無compensate or say sorry]
Environment rating: 7.9/10 [舒適﹐不過有d嘈]





餐店內觀



Il Fornello環境算不錯的﹐不過始終是 causal dinning restaurant﹐有點嘈吵﹐但座位總算舒適。



麵包﹑小吃



坐下良久﹐冰水來了﹐麵包卻沒來。到小吃來了之後﹐麵包還是沒來﹐也沒有叉子。結果我們要召侍應拿麵包和叉子來。麵包和叉子來時﹐竟然又沒有 olive oil 和 vinegar﹐暈倒。結果她又要再走一轉。好了﹐這次可以吃了。

小吃我們點了 Smoked salmon and chèvre plate [With warm multigrain flatbread, capers, and marinated red onions]. 煙三文魚很大片﹐chèvre 也很香濃﹐capers, marinated red onions 都合格了﹐但為什麼。。。這個 multigrain flatbread。。。 咬不下去? 再次昏倒。叫了侍應過來﹐告訴她flatbread不新鮮﹐她竟然還說是剛做好的﹐又昏倒。我只好叫她拿回去﹐請師傅嘗嘗。盤子拿回去後﹐便再沒有回來了。



沙拉﹐意大利麵



沙拉點了 Pear, arugula, and gorgonzola [Organic arugula, endive walnuts, pears and castello gorgonzola with a champagne vinaigrette]. 意大利麵則點了穩穩陣陣的 Penne capri [Grilled chicken, wood-fire roasted mushrooms, spinach, tomato, finished with lemon garlic olive oil, shaved grana padano]. 沙拉很好吃﹐arugula很新鮮﹐配上champagne vinaigrett吃起來感覺便更清新。Castello gorgonzola也是上好的芝士﹐而這次麵包也合格了。意大利麵有很多shaved grana padano﹐不喜歡芝士的朋友要小心。木炭燒雞跟蘑菇都很有炭燒感﹐lemon garlic olive oil也夠香。好吃!



最後﹐感謝上天可能知道我難過﹐竟然神奇地讓我今天晚上用 Sony 積分訂到一副自 boxing day 以來便完全斷市的 W series wearable mp3 walkman﹐而且還是白色的。神奇之處在於﹐它由25日晚上起五種顏色都完全斷市﹐我一直回來看都依然是沒有貨。27號後我也開始放棄了便沒有再回來看。今天晚上悶悶不樂﹐無聊之間便進去看看﹐我唯一會考慮的粉紅色和白色竟然有貨﹐二話不說我便立刻訂購。當我再次回看網頁時﹐兩種顏色 add to cart 的按鈕竟然瞬間又已變回 out of stock。由於我是 Sony Style 的 registered member﹐所以訂購時除了 log on 之外其他資料都不用再填寫﹐前後應該不超過三分鍾的時間﹐確實很神奇啊。謝主隆恩。







以後. [+]


Inakaya 田舎家




Inakaya 田舎家
Type: Japanese
Address: 126 Willowdale Avenue, North York (N of Sheppard) Map
Phone: (416) 224-8881
Hours: Closes at 11pm
Payment: Cash, debit, credit
Price: Feeling generous [$35-70/person excluding drinks]
Tasty gauge: 8.3/10
Service rating: 7.2/10 [只有兩個waitresses﹐雖然招呼很好﹐卻長久等待]
Environment rating: 7.4/10 [座位很窄﹐小心樓底下的四人桌﹐夏天時空調吹不進去]





飲啖茶先



Inakaya特別的是它的茶具和sake杯子。若你點的是熱sake﹐老闆娘會端上盤子﹐載著各款其式的sake杯子給你選擇。若然你點茶﹐也有各款不同的茶壺﹐放在手造的陶器上保溫﹐相當別緻。如果桌子大一點﹐就很不錯。




小吃



吃飯前﹐我們點了小吃。有 Maguro Yamakake﹐Salmon Tataki﹐和 Beef robatayaki [爐端燒牛肉]. Salmon Tataki是出奇的讚吃﹐台長覺得這該是全晚最好吃的。從肉質﹐溫度﹐口感﹐到醬汁也做得很好。醬汁是帶一點酸味的﹐沾上三文魚有點像沾了檸檬汁的作用。三文魚片的邊燒得剛剛好﹐是很出色的tataki!



素吃



之後我們點了一些素吃﹐有 Agedashi tofu 和兩款素食卷。



壽司



如果你常來讀blog﹐那麼你一定知道每次來到日本餐店﹐台長是絕對不會錯過點甜蝦﹑蛋﹑和帶子壽司的。Inakaya的蛋做得比較實﹐比起Tokyo Kitchen的半糖心蛋口感是完全不一樣﹐做法也不一樣。Inakaya的飯是夾在蛋的中央。喜歡那樣則是見人見致。蝦和帶子卻都比較小只﹐蝦還要打雙上才勉強可以"見人"。


熱火山卷 [Volcano roll]




既然是Inakaya﹐怎樣也沒可能只serve那樣的壽司。台長決定多給它一個機會﹐追加了熱火山卷。


熱火山卷果然名不虛傳。Presentation相當不錯。至於好不好吃﹐就要看看你愛不愛牛油。熱火山卷的牛肉帶有燒香了的牛油味﹐愛吃肥的台長當然喜歡﹐台長的朋友卻稍嫌味濃。



鲑魚茶泡飯 Salmon Ochazuke



臨走前的台長還是有點餓﹐所以加點了鲑魚茶泡飯。湯淡淡的﹐保留著飯和三文魚的香﹐算是臨走前的一個驚喜。






31. [+]


Tuesday, December 29, 2009

G.E.M. in Toronto

今天晚上﹐去了看G.E.M.的演唱會。
去看﹐是因為對她的live有信心。
果然沒有失望。
她的live﹐真的很有energy。
唱的歌不多﹐不能說交足貨﹐但卻足夠showcase了她的實力。
唯一失望的是唱18無彈住琴唱﹐但唱了Whitney Houston 的 I'll always love you是個驚喜。掂!
想聽的 A.I.N.Y.﹐Where did you go 也有唱。Mascara 唱了國語版﹐自彈自唱﹐正。

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Web usability joke: Bestbuy online boxing day sale

Type: Reads 邊食邊讀

Online shopping 都要等?

Name: Best Buy



I must say, bestbuy.ca has just started my boxing day shopping with the most halirious experience. I was in the middle of blogging Inakaya while I realize it's 8pm and bestbuy.ca Christmas online sale event has just started. Had something in mind that I wanted to buy, I quickly switched to the bestbuy.ca site thinking it's going to be a 5 minutes process. This, turned out to be something that took me more than half an hour, because...



I was waiting in line in an online checkout waiting room!

Not only that, with it's flicky script, it actually also returned a blank page to me after it asked me to log on to my account after the wait. Being caught by a blank page, I had no choice but to click on checkout again. And of course, this forced me to wait "in line" for a second time. Sigh.

As an usability analyst, I was just shocked to see something like this being built while me and my team struggle everyday at work analyzing data and building logistics and scripts sometimes just to save a few milliseconds or so to make a web application load faster. Instead, bestbuy.ca took the effort to build an online waiting room to force their shoppers to compulsorily wait 5-15e minutes before they can even proceed with an order. This gives their shoppers more than enough time to change their mind or to compare prices on other websites. Not only that they now have to be that confident with their offering prices, the reality is, they could have saved every shopper from this wait simply by hosting a few more servers or spending the effort on making their inventory checking logistic more efficient.

If sales rate is high at bestbuy.ca for this online boxing day sale event, maybe it's time for us to reconsider the impact of slowing loading applications versus online shoppers retention. Haha.

In any case, Merry Christmas everyone! 台長平安夜在家裡與1Q84平安約會﹐祝大家聖誕快樂﹐珍惜眼前人。

11:00pm: It's now 3 hours past their 8pm online sale opening and sales rate is still very very low. Everything has large quantities left, so maybe I can still keep my UA job. LoL. I gotta look up who's the IT manager behind this 'checkout waiting room' idea. Heh.




24. [+]


Saturday, December 19, 2009

T&T [大統華] 新貨上架

明治巧克力, Sapporo玉米泡夫﹐珍珍薯片 [Meiji Chocolates, Sapporo Corn Puffs, Jack'n Jill Potato Chips]
Type: Snacks 雜食
Price: 看圖識字

新貨上架




















1Q84. [+]


Sunday, December 13, 2009

出o左事o既竹橋拉麵屋




竹橋拉麵屋
Type: Japanese

Address: 505 Highway 7 East, Unit 65-66, Thornhill (Commerce Gate) Map

Phone: (905) 707-0288

Price: Casual saver [$10-15/person]

Tasty gauge: 4.7/10

Service rating: 7.1/10



小樽牛油麵豉拉麵





台長平時都好仁慈o下。。。估唔到今次要對自己一向食o左好多年o既竹橋拉麵屋開刀。但係為o左要客觀忠實﹐都真係無辦法。竹橋拉麵屋近年實在係每況越下﹐麵質越來越差不特只﹐今次真係嚇親台長。

無蛋?

事源台長每次o黎都係食小樽牛油麵豉拉麵。今日侍應竟然夠膽死話無蛋﹐要後上。本來都無乜所謂o既台長話ok﹐點知﹐蛋上o既時候。。。




竟然係。。。o甘樣?


結果﹐台長連再叫炸雪糕o既心情都無埋﹐食完拉麵就唯有去o左第度食甜品。


希望有一日舊時o既竹橋會翻生啦!






100. [+]


Thursday, December 10, 2009

真東北餃子館 [全新分店@Commerce Gate]




真東北餃子館 Chinese Dumpling House
Type: Chinese

Address: 505 Highway 7 East, Unit 89-90, Thornhill (Commerce Gate) Map

Phone: (905) 881-1238

Price: Casual saver [$10-15/person]

Tasty gauge: 8.1/10

Service rating: 8.4/10 [Served by 阿凡]



餐店內觀




真東北餃子館終於在城北開了分店! 新店當然是比舊寬趟舒適。燈光充足還有卡位﹐少了舊店那種懷舊風情。



餃子




來到這裡當然少不了點餃子。這晚我們點了香菇雞肉蒸餃﹐十五只才$4.99。新點的餃子還是即叫即做。老闆說是從舊店調了兩位師傅過來﹐所以質量是一樣的。台長卻覺得新點的香菇比較大只一點點﹐可能是新店開張﹐所以質量也較好。




鍋仔和小吃




除了餃子﹐台長也愛這裡的鍋仔﹐點了酸菜蠣皇羊肉鍋[$10.99]。鍋仔也是跟舊店的一模一樣。唯一不同的是這裡的鍋太新﹐所以在爐頭上有一點滑。味道還是一樣。也點了小吃﹐韭菜合子。一碟六小件﹐$3.99。韭菜混合了冬粉﹐小乾蝦米和碎蛋﹐很正宗的韭菜合子﹐唯獨是皮有點不夠鬆化﹐但還可以接受。


城北的朋友﹐以後要吃價廉物美的餃子﹐不用跑那麼遠了!




97. [+]


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

One of a Kind Christmas Show 2009

Type: Toys/Reads 邊食邊玩/邊食邊讀


Date: Nov 26-Dec 6
Venue: Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes Blvd., Toronto
Hours: Weekdays 11am-10pm, Saturdays 10am-9pm, Sundays 10am-6pm

今次真係blog遲o左﹐One of a Kind Christmas Show 2009 已經正式完結。當晚台長因工作延誤無法逛畢整個會場﹐在此分享一下一些有趣的所見所聞﹐大家至少可以翻查網頁。


台長至愛包括下列參展者:






















其他有趣參展者:














































OneofaK. [+]