Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of family, friends, laughs, and of course good food!!

If you are looking for a cool new spot to try, check out Rhum Corner. Located on Dundas between Bathurst and Ossington, this Haitian restaurant is brought to us by the owner of The Black Hoof. The casual, dimly lit vibe made for a cozy evening when the weather outside was anything but. I almost felt like I was vacationing ian the Caribbean…

The menu is small, but offers something for everyone, and is very reasonably priced.

The wall behind the bar is filled with over 100 different kinds of rum. Their cocktail list is quite unique and intriguing, while also keeping up with old classics. The pina colada caught my eye, and tasted like I was at some island resort basking in the sun (if only!). It was frozen, sweet, and creamy, just like a pina colada should be. Careful not to drink it all in one sip though! It is really THAT good!

For starters my brother, father and I ordered the Accra, which are deep fried fritters made out of malenga, which is a root vegetable similar to taro. I had never had malenga before but the mild flavour and deep fried crispiness made for a delicious start. They were served alongside a house made mayo and their homemade coleslaw made from cabbage, onion and scotch bonnet hot peppers.

Next was the Macaroni Au Gratin, which was penne pasta coated in a creamy, cheesy mornay sauce, which is a béchamel sauce with shredded or grated cheese. Toasted breadcrumbs were sprinkled on top for added crunch. I am usually not a fan of overly cheesy or creamy things but O-M-G was this good. I was scraping the bowl when it was finished.

For the main course, we ordered cashew chicken, and pork ribs (if you follow along you know I don’t eat pork due to preference, but my dad and brother enjoyed them!).

The thought of cashew chicken sounds boring and ordinary. However, not this dish. The chicken and cashews were coated in a sweet sauce, and the rice with black beans and kidney beans had a nice flavour to them as well. The entree came with “bananes frites” which were basically fried plantains, which were sweet, salty and perfectly crispy.

We also ordered the oxtail with bean sauce which was bursting with flavour as well. I was already pretty full by this point but I still managed to have a taste.

We ended off the meal on a sweet note with something called Pen Patat, which means “potato bread” in Creole. It is basically a sweet potato pudding. The variation at Rhum Corner consisted of sweet potato, yam, banana, and condensed milk and topped with rum, raisins and whipped cream. It was dense, sweet and very interesting combination of flavours.

The staff are all extremely friendly and knowledgeable and the place is pretty hip and trendy. I would definitely recommend you pay Rhum Corner a visit if you are looking for simple, yet unique food.

Toronto is a great city to give into your taco and all things Mexican cravings. One of the most popular Mexican restaurants in the city is La Carnita. Reservations are only accepted for groups of eight or more, so for parties less than eight, prepare for a usually lengthy wait.

After finally being seated, I took a look at the menu. It was actually a smaller menu than I had imagined, but after eating, I realized it was all I needed.

To get started, I ordered a cocktail by the name of “So Fresh and So Clean”. It was a combination of gin, jalapeño syrup, pineapple, cucumber, mint, and lime juice. The name says it all, as it was fresh and had the perfect amount of sweetness.

I was with a large group so we ordered quite a lot of food. It is barely a Mexican experience without guacamole, so we tried all three dips including guacamole, corn salsa, and serrano & cashew bean dip. The tortilla chips were crispy and perfectly salted and the dips were bursting with flavour.

Another appetizer was the Mexican Street Corn which came with 2 cobs smothered in Mexican crema (basically sour cream), queso anejo (Mexican cheese similar to parmesan), and dusted with arbol and ancho chili powder. The sweet corn paired well with the tangy sauce and chili powder, and made for a wonderful, yet filling appetizer.

As if we hadn’t had enough corn, my group decided to try the Rice & Corn Frituras which are fried balls combining brown rice, sweet corn, queso cotija (another Mexican cheese similar to parmesan) and topped with habanero sauce and creme micro slaw. The brown rice added a great texture and more nutty flavour, which complemented the sweet corn and fried batter. Beware though, the habanero sauce is quite spicy!

This evening La Carnita was featuring chicken wings which were sweet, crispy, and extremely spicy!!!!

As it became time for tacos I was already on the verge of being stuffed, but I made some room. I tried three different tacos, “In Cod We Trust”, “Pollo Fritto”, and “Beef Cheek”. The cod taco was your typical fish taco, consisting of deep fried cod drizzled with voltron sauce (their secret soy sauce based sauce), lime crema, pickled red cabbage, green apple, and cilantro. The crunchy red cabbage and sweetness from the green apple added an interesting sweet tang to the taco which was a pleasant surprise.

The “Pollo Fritto” was my favourite, which I actually least expected. The corn tortilla is stuffed with multiple pieces of fried chicken, topped with a peanut mole sauce, pickled green cabbage, and salsa fresca. I am a huge fan of peanut anything, so naturally I looooved the peanut mole sauce, and the chicken was perfectly crispy and tender.

The beef cheek taco was also quite a hit, topped with green cabbage, pickled jalapeño, crispy shallots, and a piece of avocado.

Although I was quite full, the dessert menu was too tempting. We ordered two paletas (Mexican ice cream popsicles), as well as the seasonal tres leche cake. The flavours of paletas that we chose were peanut butter chocolate, which was delicious other than the overly saltiness, and the cookies and cream which was quite a delight!! The tres leche cake was served with apples, walnuts and cinnamon, which was literally to die for. It was creamy and cinnamony and appley and was the perfect dessert!!!

If you are looking for a true Mexican experience, check out La Carnita. Do beware that many dishes are quite spicy, so look out, and ask for less spice when possible.