A taste of Casa Manila

Last night I felt like I took a trip to Manila for one night.  I joined fellow food bloggers once again for a media tasting at Casa Manila on York Mills at Don Mills in North York.  Immediately when you walk in you are greeted the way you might be into someone's home for a family gathering.  The space is larger than you would expect and it is decorated with art brought from Manila and the chairs and some decor are made of bamboo which invokes a real island feel in the space.

We were welcomed by the very animated and excited Mila who is the owner and brainchild of Casa Manila.  She is very passionate about explaining all of the dishes and their origins and the ingredients and the quality of the food.  Her goal in the restaurant was to provide Filipino Food that is authentic for the sorely lacking choice of Filipino food in Toronto.  There have been a few restaurants pop up with Filipino food, one is a modern version on Queen Street and there are some smaller less fancy places around the Bathurst and Wilson Area but this space is designed to make you feel like you are celebrating a special occasion with your Filipino relatives back home as they say.

We were invited to participate in Kamayan style dinner.  It translates into "eat with your hands".  The food is served on a bamboo leaf covered table and the food is placed on the table.  No utensils except for wooden spoons to grab the rice and the items placed at the centre of the table.  Only dishes of various dipping sauces and of course carved out coconuts for drinking were the only dish and glassware provided.  Imagine a Filipino Luau and that's what it's like to dine this way.

Mila invited a group of food bloggers to sample this feast because she is launching their own brand of dipping sauces and cooking sauces.  She wanted us to experience the whole dinner as an event and try the sauces in context. She has plans to expand her business by looking to wholesale her products and get them into people's home kitchens and also commercial kitchens.  The sauce flavours include a Savoury Peanut Sauce, Creamy Coconut Ginger and Adobo Sauces.  You can pick them up in their restaurant but Mila is looked for grocery store placement.

We ate and drank a whole lot of very authentic and beautifully flavoured food.  The drinks available to us were a really refreshing Calamansi (a Filipino lime) Mojito, Sansi a root beer, Royal an orange drink and San Miguel Beer.

The food included Sinigang Baka (Beef Tamarind Soup) which was so delicious with an array of vegetables it had a balance of sweet, sour and spicy.  I loved this soup.

The appetizer was a Chicharon Manok and Atchara, instead of pork they deep fried chicken skin and served it with a pickled green papaya and garlic aoili.   Crunchy goood.

The Kamayan included:

1. Rice
2. Tinuhog na Manok which are chicken skewers and dipping sauces.
3. Inihaw Baka, thinly slices beef ribs with Coconut ginger sauce.
4. Lechon Kawali, Crispy Pork Belly
5. Flying Talapia, a deep fried whole fish.
6. Hilaw Manga Insalada, a green mango salad with jicamas, tomato, red and green onions, served with shrimp paste.

For Dessert Mila brought out a huge trifle bowl filled with Halo Halo (Mix Mix). This is a shaved ice that has over a dozen different things that are mixed in including: sweet beans, custard, purple yam, puffed rice and assorted fruits.

There were a lot of very stuffed food bloggers that rolled out of Casa Manila last night.  I am sure the other patrons must of thought we were all nuts because we all Foodarazzi'd every dish that came out by pouncing on them with our cameras and smart phones all the while Mila was explaining everything.

This is what the blogger aftermath looked like.  We were fully entertained and stuffed and I am sure a lot of us will go back and take our friends for special occasions for this feast again soon.  

You don't have to go there for a feast only,  the have lovely regular family meals and they deliver within the Toronto area and willing to deliver as far as Barrie with an extra delivery charge.

If you ever dreamed about visiting the Phillipines but couldn't afford to then visit
Casa Manila at 879 York Mills Road, Unit 1, Toronto, ON M3B 1Y5
P: 416-443-9654
E. info@casamanila.ca
W. casamanila.ca
F Casa Manila Restaurant
T/I @casaManilaTO
P Casa ManilaTO

Chef Lynn Crawford dives into the Frozen Shrimp biz

Chef Lynn Crawford seems to be everywhere and a part of everything these days.  Not only does the popular Food Network Chef have her own show called "Pitchin In" but she is also one of the judges on  "Chopped Canada" and is currently working on a new show where she travels around Canada looking for the best cookbook recipes from people across Canada.

She is also the owner of the well rated Leslieville restaurant RubyWatchco.   And if that's not busy enough she is also a Brand Ambassador for KitchenAid and Hellman's and probably a whole lot more that I don't even know about.  She is always involved in charitable events and has participated in the Culinary Showdown for Breast Cancer as well as many other events.   I have seen Lynn at many consumer and professional trade shows doing the most hilarious food demos.  She is one of the most entertaining and skilled chefs in Canada.

I don't know how she has the time to do it all but she seems to make it work and do it very well.  If all that isn't enough she has just launched a new line of Frozen Shrimp Products by Waterview Market.

Teriyaki Shrimp

It comes in 6 different flavours currently, including:  Maple Mustard, Teriyaki, Lemon Garlic, Carribean, Honey BBQ and Teriyaki BBQ.   The are currently available in stores like Fortinos but check your local grocery store as they will be expanding to many more stores.   The shrimp is frozen and packed with a sauce packet that is really easy to cook.  You can either defrost the shrimp and packed by running it under cold water or leave it in the refrigerator overnight and drain excess water.  It is sustainable shrimp and the sauces are Gluten Free with no MSG and no Palm Oil.

You can literally cook up the shrimps with the sauce in minutes and add some rice or pasta and you have an easy and quick flavourful meal.  No need to have a million spices in your cupboard so it's perfect for the rushed mom or the space strapped busy single professional or student.

Lemon Garlic & Caribbean flavour shrimp

I sampled 4 of the flavours,  the Teriyaki, the Caribbean, the Maple Mustard and the Lemon Garlic.  My favourite was the Lemon Garlic and I was told that it is their most popular flavour that they can't keep enough in stock even.

If you are clueless in the kitchen but sick of take out try this and I bet you will feel like you can cook like the chefs on Chopped Canada too.  They are great for parties and I taste tested them with my friends at a party I hosted on the weekend.


Disclaimer:  Samples of the frozen shrimp were provided for review by Premiere Marine Canada but the opinions and photos are my own.  Waterview Market Package photos provided by Premiere Marine Canada.

For more info about the products:  www.waterviewmarket.com

Good Food for Good products

I was watching the Marilyn Denis show recently when I saw Richa Gupta promote her Toronto Local sauces GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD which have no preservatives, are vegan and dairy free.  She was on the show to speak with the hosts of MasterChef Canada to get advice about increasing her business.  Since I am in Food Revolution Day event planning I was interested in seeing if her products might fit into something that I could showcase at my event so I contacted Richa and she graciously agreed to do a taste testing with some people that I organized.

I was going to organize a separate blogger tasting but I had already planned to host a TedXManhattan Viewing Party in my home for some Food Revolution Day team members and a few of my friends interested in food and health.  I thought it was a good fit as we were all interested in "Changing the way we Eat" in the world as that was TEDXManhattan's theme for the talks.

photo by Susan Ng

I also got burritos provided by Chipotle thanks to the TedX people but I thought we would do the demo before we ate the burritos.   Well the burritos arrived before Richa did so we had to start eating them because as you might know.... burritos wait for no one.  It worked out because I wanted more people to be there when Richa arrived as everyone was straggling in at various times and Richa had a big charity event the night before so she was quite tired so I told her to take her time.  My party ended up lasting all day and my last friend left at 12:30am so it ended up being an extended 12hr plus drop in party.  I  was glad that I didn't really have to cook.  I had snacks and things I had prepared earlier and just cooked up something quick around dinner time which I will post about later as that was a new product as well.

Anyway..  Richa arrived with her little buggy filled with beautifully marinated chicken skewers to cook up for us to try.  I must note that Richa is a vegetarian so this was a stretch for her as she does not know when chicken is cooked so I helped out to get it cooked to the perfect doneness.  Luckily I had a large grill pan to cook them on but boy did they make a mess on my stovetop.  Use a bbq if you can.   The chicken was coated with her Chili Tomate sauce which is spicy but not overly hot.   She also brought along a packet of a competitors sauce for comparison of what her products taste like without preservatives versus the competitors.   I have to say I am not surprised that there was a noticeable difference.  Her sauces are smooth, creamy and delicous.   The price of the sauce may seem high at about $8.99 for a bottle of it but if you have ever cooked Indian food from scratch you will understand why.  She doesn't take any shortcuts.  All the tomatoes are cooked from scratch and all the layers of spices take time to develop.  In general Indian food uses an array of spices that when layered develop an amazing depth of flavour.


While it may take her hours to make her sauces it will take you minutes to cook up a delicious meal in your home.  Add some vegetables pour over steamed rice and you have an amazing meal that will probably taste a whole lot better than your Indian Take Out.

I really feel happy to support Richa as her story is so interesting.  She worked for General Mills and wasn't happy doing and after trying so called Indian Food in Canada she decided to launch her own brand of sauces from flavours that she had when she lived in Delhi, India where she is from.  You can taste the authenticity in the food.  The best part is that for every bottle of sauce sold she donates .25 cents to serve food programs in India and Africa and that's why it's called Good Food for Good.  Do some good buy some of her sauces at quality Grocery Stores like The Big Carrot and more coming soon.   She is a very lovely woman Entrepreneur with a big heart and I hope that you support her and spread the word.