Golden Turtle: Consistently Amazing

After much discussion/argument about where to go last night, Danielle and I settled for Golden Turtle. Golden Turtle is a Vietnamese restaurant on Ossington famous for its pho. It first showed up on my radar with this write-up in The Star, which described how Golden Turtle was Susur Lee's choice for top pho in Toronto:

"The boss of the big restaurant, he knew my restaurant," Hoang Nguyen says on a recent morning. He is sitting in the small dining room at 125 Ossington Ave. before the inevitable lunch rush, trying to explain why his pho – a Vietnamese rice-noodle soup served with rare beef and bean sprouts – has been called the best in the city.
"The food's really good and that's why the customer they sometimes, they saw the boss, Susur Lee," he says.

Ever since this endorsement, Golden Turtle has been my go-to spot for Vietnamese food in a city with many, many options.

For those of you who don't know, pho is a rice noodle soup typically served in rich pork broth with rare beef. It comes to your table with sprouts, fresh lime and basil, which you put in yourself, in addition to hoisin sauce and hot sauce to taste. All this comes together for a deliciously complex flavour.

Danielle typically orders a dish called bun, which is a bowl of rice noodles with grilled pork or fried pork spring rolls  and herbs, covered in fish sauce, with hoisin and sriracha on the side.

Golden Turtle sticks out on the gentrifying strip of Ossington between Queen and Dundas and harks back to a time when this street was not inundated with fine dining like Yours Truly/Libretto/Boehmer etc. What you get is simple, fast, delicious, consistent and cheap. Dinner for two (with a glass of wine ) was $24.

Golden Turtle gets 4 stars.

Toronto Food Link

• Buster's Sea Cove at St. Lawrence Market (thegridto.com)
• Toronto Restaurant Openings (blogto)
• The Top 10 Taiwanese Restaurants in Toronto (blogto)

Electric Mud

Danielle and I tried Electric Mud for the first time last night. Electric Mud is a "barbecue and bourbon" restaurant in Parkdale, owned by the same folks as Grand Electric. It embraces the "_______ and bourbon" + picnic tables + loud music trend that is trying to attract moneyed hipsters across North America. Although I had heard good things and Grand Electric is great pedigree, I wasn't blown away and probably won't be back for a while.

Danielle and I ordered:

• Beef Brisket on a Bun ($5.50): Montreal-style smoked brisket, molasses bbq sauce, chipotle mayo, provolone cheese, onions;
• Pork Side Ribs ($14.50): Heritage pork done Carolina-style;
• Tuna (?): I think this was a special, seared with rare centre covered in spice;
• Coleslaw ($3.50); and
• Banana Cream ($5.00).

I had a beer, Danielle had a couple of cocktails. The bill came to about $70 for the two of us.

The brisket sandwich was definitely the highlight. It was piled high with fried onions and extremely moist. The ribs were good-not-great, and they only have me 4 or 5. The sides and dessert were pretty average.

Electric Mud gets 3 stars. 

My intention is to describe the restaurants I attend in Toronto in order to provide recommendations to my friends and the world. My tastes tend to run on the newer and cheaper side, but sometimes I like to indulge. Enjoy.