Take Out: Lorelai's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Latte at Nisa's Cakes and Cafe + A Little Gilmore Girls Self-Guided Tour

It is officially fall, which means I have started my annual Gilmore Girls marathon (a tradition I started in 2001 because I had recorded all of Season 1 on VHS to tide me over until Season 2 — of course, there are 7 seasons and a four-part miniseries on Netflix now so it takes a lot longer to marathon, but I AM STILL DEDICATED). My friend Chelsea, who I introduced to Gilmore Girls during COVID and is now similarly obsessed, sent me an IG post about a Gilmore Girls event at Nisa's Cakes and Cafe, where they are serving Gilmore Girls-themed drinks for the month of October. Nisa's is actually located on Main Street Unionville, where they filmed the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls, and since I live 5 minutes from there, Chelsea and I decided to check it out and then do a little Gilmore Girls self-guided tour.

"Stars Hollow at Nisa's" sandwich board menu
"Stars Hollow at Nisa's" chalkboard drink menu
We got to Nisa's around 5:15PM and it was INSANELY BUSY. Like, line-up out the door busy. Granted, it is a very small space so it fills up pretty fast, but I just wasn't expecting that many people to be there. Like, the three small tables were obviously filled, but there were at least 15 people in line with another 10 people waiting for their drinks. Still, we lined up because we're die-hards, took some photos of the cute Gilmore Girls-themed decor (this cafe event had to have been sanctioned by whatever authority handles the Gilmore Girls brand, but I'm surprised that there hasn't been more of these types of events over the years), and after a 20-minute wait, it was finally our turn to order.

"Luke's" drink station signage
"Luke's" classic books signage
Stars Hollow location signs
Lorelai's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Latte
Both Chelsea and I decided to get Lorelai's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Latte — "espresso and milk spiced to match Lorelai's beloved brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts" — inspired by Season 6, Episode 3 ("The UnGraduate"). There's actually no pricing or sizes on any of the menus for the Gilmore Girls drinks, but our lattes were $10 each (plus tax) and the hot versions only come in 12oz. cups. It was another 15-minute wait before we got our actual drinks (and it was so busy that they actually forgot to put "Luke's" stickers on our cups until we asked for them, which is kinda crazy considering they're charging $10 per drink). Still, the latte was, admittedly, very, very good. It had a strong espresso flavour and was surprisingly not too sweet, but had a definite cinnamon aroma to it. $10 is insanely steep for a latte of this size and caliber, but I would still recommend it over any of the Starbucks lattes, which just taste like milk regardless of which one you order.

Lorelai's route in Main Street Unionville
150 Main St. Unionville — Rose Gold Design & Build
We then took our lattes on a little self-guided Gilmore Girls tour, stopping by some of the spots that appeared in the pilot episode. Now, granted, I've walked down Main Street Unionville dozens and dozens of times in the last 39 years (my mom's music store was literally down the street from here, so my parents used to take us around Toogood Pond to feed the ducks and afternoon walks around the park when we were kids and I took art classes at Varley Art Gallery for many summers), but I guess I never took the time to actually stop at the spots that were shown in Gilmore Girls. 

139 Main St. Unionville — Unionville Planing Mill
139 Main St. Unionville — Unionville Planing Mill Gazebo
159 Main St. Unionville — Crock-A-Doodle
So we took Lorelai's route in the opening scene of the pilot. We passed by the church that is now an interior design showroom, and stopped by the Unionville Planing Mill sign which was used as the "Welcome to Stars Hollow" sign, and the little gazebo in front of the planing mill building (home to one of my favourite Markham restaurants, NextDoor) that apparently served as inspiration for the Stars Hollow town gazebo. We also stopped by the building that was used as the original Luke's in the pilot — it was most recently a questionable Chinese med spa — but it's currently vacant and looks really run-down and was frankly not worth taking a picture of (it's also on sale for $1 right now). However, the Crock-A-Doodle across the street — which is always busy — had some Luke's logos painted on their window, so I took a photo of that instead.

And that, friends, was our Gilmore Girls pilgrimage.

Nisa's Cakes and Cafe

209 Main St. Unionville, Unit 4

Unionville, ON L3R 2G8

(647) 928-0684

Take Out: Mango Pomelo Mochi from Mochi Lab

So, this is super random, but when I went to see my optometrist (who is a pretty hardcore foodie) last month, we started talking about restaurants in Koreatown North because I told her about my BTS food pilgrimage, and she highly, highly recommended Mochi Lab. In fact, she recommended it more than any other eatery in the area, and she's eaten almost everywhere along Yonge Street from Finch to Sheppard. I mentioned this to Minji who, as it turns out, is also obsessed with Mochi Lab, so since we were in the area, she insisted to take me there for my first visit.

Mango Pomelo mochi with butter crunch crumbs

Mochi Lab is a tiny take out-only shop that has just enough room for a little kitchen area, a counter partition, and a very narrow front area that has just enough room for a kiosk to order from and maybe four to five people to stand in. We got there around 4:00PM and there was a constant line-up at the kiosk, though this must've been a "slow" period because some reviews have said that the wait is over 30 minutes, but both Minji and I got ours within five minutes. Now, they recommend eating their mochi within 24 hours, but it's obviously ideal to eat them right away to get maximum freshness. However, there's no room in the store to eat these, so you have to go elsewhere. Luckily, there are a lot of random parks and playgrounds in this area, so there's actually plenty of choice for benches and cement blocks to sit on. Thus, we took headed over to an empty playground so Daniel could play with Lillian and Minji and I could devour our mochi. 

Mango Pomelo mochi with butter crunch crumbs

I decided to get the Mango Pomelo Mochi ($13.99 + tax), which consists of fresh mango and pomelo layered in cream cheese, all wrapped in mochi and then coated in butter crunch crumbs. Apparently, they used to just wrap their mochi up in parchment paper so they got messy real fast, but they put them in wax paper-lined bowls with lids now and provide forks, so it's much easier to eat (and store, if you aren't eating it right away). Now, I will be the first to admit that these are not photogenic. But for what they lack in looks, they totally make up for in UTTER DELICIOUSNESS. 

The mochi itself is super soft, super pillowy, and super stretchy with just the perfect amount of chew. It is wrapped tightly around a very generous mound of filling — I counted no less than six giant chunks of mango. Mine actually didn't have a lot of pomelo in it, so it was definitely more mango-forward, but I'm not mad about it because, frankly, I got this more for the mango than the pomelo. The cream cheese filling is mild and fluffy, and I think the slight salty tang tempers the ultra-sweet fruit really well. It is expensive for what it is, but in a city where we pay $8 for bubble tea now, I actually think $15 is fair for what I got — especially since the mochi is bigger than my palm. That having been said, I'm glad I don't live near here because my diabetic ass would be tempted to get one every damn day...

Mochi Lab

10 Northtown Way, Unit 112

North York, ON M2N 7L4

(416) 225-8885

Take Out: Margherita and Custom Pizzas from Piazza Italian Eatery & Mercato

Pizza and game night at Chelsea's!

Got some delicious pizzas from Piazza Italian Eatery & Mercato: two Margheritas (this was my vote, which I admit is safe and can be boring, but it's CLASSIC and I find is the best pie to see how authentic the place is), two mushroom and pepperoni pizzas (also pretty safe), and a Make Your Own Pizza that Brayden chose that had way too much stuff on it (but honestly ended up being pretty damn tasty). Chelsea also got a gluten-free Hawaiian pizza for herself because she's allergic to basically everything. We didn't touch this one, but she insists it was amazing. 

Margherita: Tomato sauce, fior di latte, parmigiano, fresh basil, olive oil, and balsamic glaze
Pepperoni and mushroom pizza
Make Your Own Pizza: Tomato sauce, mozzarella, prosciutto cotto, sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, and caramelized onions

We then played 11 rounds of Five Crowns, took their dogs for a long walk around the neighbourhood, and then indulged in pistachio and raspberry gelato while watching Gilmore Girls re-runs. Indeed, it was a pretty perfect Saturday night in.

Piazza Italian Eatery & Mercato

15198 Yonge St.

Aurora, ON L4G 1L9

(905) 727-9911

Take Out: Classic Banh Mi and Iced Vietnamese Coffee at Banh Mi Queen

Classic banh mi
Okay, I am apparently not a good sandwich ripper but do not let that take away from the fact that the classic banh mi at the newly-opened Banh Mi Queen is truly excellent. I'd been wanting to try this place since it opened, honestly (it's inside the food court at New Kennedy Square, where my mom's go-to Chinese restaurant is, so we pass by it all the time), and the chance finally came today when I had some time to kill while I got my winter tires changed. Minji and Daniel picked me up for lunch, so I asked if they wanted to try this new banh mi place and they replied with an immediate yes. 

We all got the classic banh mi — no cilantro and no spice for me, no cilantro but with spice for Minji, and lots of cilantro and no spice for Daniel — with iced Vietnamese coffees for $10 a person. I don't even need to tell you what a fucking steal that is in this economy. I was actually surprised at the size of the sandwich because I'm used to places serving banh mi at half this size for the same price. Each sandwich was absolutely stuffed with pork sausage, ham, pork belly, pickled veggies, and, most importantly, pâté. The bread had a good amount of crunch on the outside but was still soft on the inside so it didn't hurt my mouth like most baguettes. All three of us were genuinely impressed with our respective sandwiches. The coffee was intense and strong, but sweet and creamy as one would expect. Would absolutely not hesitate to get the same combo again.

Oh, and the service was phenomenal. Everyone that worked there was just so damn personable. While the lady at the front was making our sandwiches, the chef at the back asked if we liked pho, and we were like, "Duh, of course we do." So he came back with little paper cups of his house-made pho broth for us to try and it was truly delicious — rich and flavourful and super beefy — so we will have to come back for the pho next time. But just the fact that he offered it to us was so genuinely welcoming and wholly unnecessary and it's these gestures that really make me want to visit again and again. And so I will.

Banh Mi Queen

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd.

Markham, ON L3R 9W4

(416) 456-0298

Take Out: Original Takoyaki at Master Tako

Master Tako takoyaki box
Original takoyaki

FINALLY!!! A place that specializes in freshly made, authentic takoyaki in the Greater Toronto Area! That actually taste like the ones in Osaka!!! Crispy on the outside, lava hot and gooey on the inside, with big chunks of octopus on the inside and generous amounts of sauce and bonito flakes on top. The original ones are $9.99 which is two times more expensive than the ones in Japan, but IT'S TOTALLY WORTH IT BECAUSE THEY'RE FREAKING DELICIOUS. Plus, they come in the cutest graphic box with matching toothpicks, chopsticks, and carrier bag — by far the fanciest packaging I have ever seen for takeout takoyaki. I will be back ASAP; they have eight other flavours that I have to try.

Master Tako

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit 52

Markham, ON L3R 9W4

(905) 305-9998

Take Out: Key Lime Pie Ice Cream at Kawartha Dairy

The weather is finally warming up, so what's the perfect way to celebrate actual spring weather? Ice cream. (Obviously.) With my new favourite flavour, too: Key Lime Pie at Kawartha Dairy. It tastes exactly like its namesake. It's the perfect mix of sweet and tart; it's creamy but citrusy without veering into sorbet territory, and there's bits of graham cracker in there to give it a nice chew. And if you actually go to a Kawartha Dairy store, the "baby" size is like a large at Baskin Robbins so it's a pretty incredible value for $6. (No, really, this cup is huge. It can feed two people. Or one ice cream fiend, a.k.a. me.) Yes, I know that I can go to my local supermarket and get a tub of Kawartha Dairy ice cream to eat at home, but it's never the same as going out for ice cream, is it?

Kawartha Dairy

5 Alexander Rd.

Newmarket, ON L3Y 3J2

(905) 953-2881

Take Out: Cappuccino Cake from Paris Baguette

Cappuccino Cake

Okay, so Minji bought the Cappuccino Cake (mocha cake filled with mocha buttercream, coated in chocolate, and topped with buttercream and caramel) from Paris Baguette to celebrate Daniel's birthday today at work and dare I say, it might just be my new favourite cake...? Now that they've finally come to Canada and are opening more locations, I will need to look into more desserts from Paris Baguette... You know, for research.

A Friend's Baby Shower: 3:15 Cake from Daan Go Cake Lab

My friend Minji's baby shower was today!

3:15 Cake from Daan Go Cake Lab

We hosted it in the party room in my building because it was the most central location for everyone invited, but between liaising with concierge, decorating, and meeting and socializing with over 20 new people, I kinda forgot to take photos. But there was a tasty spread of Korean food (two kinds of japchae, bulgogi and rice, gimbap, Korean-style potato salad, etc.), baby games (don't say the word "baby," guess what's in the baby food, etc.), a whole lot of mingling, and the incredible 3:15 cake from Daan Go Cake Lab (which contains Hong Kong milk tea mousse, Vietnamese coffee and evaporated milk crémeux, and the most incredible Ovaltine "pineapple bun" crumb crunch) which was as delicious as it looks.

Loot bag goodies

We even got little loot bags to take home that included the most adorable towel shaped like a bear, a bag of caramel popcorn, and a little trinket box filled with Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Hi-Chew candies. SO FREAKING CUTE.

Congratulations to my very good friends, Minji and Daniel. You're going to be amazing parents!

Take Out: Apple Cider, Tanghulu, and Churros at Holiday Fair in the Square

After our downtown adventure, Minji, Daniel, and I went to check out the Holiday Fair in the Square.

Tanghulu
Churros
Custard bungeoppang

It was... disappointing. We dropped by to see what kind of sweet treats we could get, and though Minji picked up a couple boxes of baklava and Turkish delight to bring home, we only got some apple cider, a skewer of tanghulu, and a couple of churros. There were no funnel cakes, no cookies, no crazy holiday-themed hot chocolates. Maybe it's because we went on a Friday, but there were only about 10 food stalls in total, so I'm guessing they open way more stalls on Saturday and Sunday. Either way, we ended up having to make up for the lack of food variety by getting some custard bungeoppang up the street. 

Sigh. This is what we get for not wanting to pay the admission fee for the Winter Village.

Holiday Fair in the Square

Mel Lastman Square

5100 Yonge St.

North York, ON M2N 5V7

(416) 338-3343

Take Out: Snow Skin Mooncake Set 2024 from Daan Go Cake Lab

For Mid-Autumn Festival this year, I decided to go to Daan Go Cake Lab for their Snow Skin Mooncakes again because, frankly, they are tastier, prettier, and more unique than those plebe lotus seed paste mooncakes. (I had said last year that I hoped these would be released again this year, so I'm glad they were popular enough for a comeback!)

Snow Skin Mooncake Set Box — Artwork by Kimiko Nogomi

Snow Skin Mooncake Set Box

Snow Skin Mooncake Set

Snow Skin Mooncake Set

This year, we have two returning flavours and two new ones:

• Pistachio Raspberry (new): Pistachio pastry cream with a raspberry gel centre and raspberry pistachio croquantine
• Salted Duck Egg: Salted duck egg pastry cream with a salted duck egg lava centre and white chocolate coconut crisp
• Passion Fruit Cheesecake (new): Cheesecake filling with a passion fruit gel centre and white chocolate graham crumble
• Jamocha Nut: Chocolate pastry filling with an almond lava centre and milk chocolate almond crumble (a.k.a. the GOAT of mooncakes)

Snow Skin Mooncake — Pistachio Raspberry

Snow Skin Mooncake — Pistachio Raspberry (Inside)

Snow Skin Mooncake — Salted Duck Egg

Snow Skin Mooncake — Salted Duck Egg (Inside)

Snow Skin Mooncake — Passion Fruit Cheesecake

Snow Skin Mooncake — Passion Fruit Cheesecake (Inside)

Snow Skin Mooncake — Jamocha Nut

Snow Skin Mooncake — Jamocha Nut (Inside)

Regardless of where your mooncakes are from, I hope everyone has a delightfully food-filled Mid-Autumn Festival!

Daan Go Cake Lab

Times Square Richmond Hill

550 Highway 7, Building C, Unit 70

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Z4

(905) 707-9098

Canadian National Exhibition: Summer 2024

Over the course of nine hours at the CNE (by far the longest I have ever spent there), Minji, Daniel, and I managed to go through all the exhibitions, play roulette at the casino, buy some air plants (me) and an Italian squeegee kit (them), and eat all the extraordinarily overpriced junk food we wanted to try this year:

Dilly Ranch Twisted Pickle

Tanghulu Mochi Doughnut

Wasabi Soft Serve Ice Cream

Fruity Pebbles Fried Chicken with Lime Dipping Sauce

Ruffles All Dressed Fried Chicken with Dill Pickle Dipping Sauce

Fried Soft Shell Crab "Kaarage" with Sriracha Mayo

Crème Brûlée Soft Serve Chimney Cone

Deep-Fried Pickle Oreos

Ube Sesame Corn

Deep-Fried Pickles

Deep-Fried Hickory Corn Ribs

Deep-Fried Cheese Curds and Curly Fries

Winners for me were the twisted pickle (so good, we almost got two), the Fruity Pebbles fried chicken (especially with the lime dip — a perfect combination of sweet, salty, and tangy), the soft shell crab (amazing texture and flavour — if it wasn't $20 each, we would've gotten another one), and the Tiny Tom's doughnuts (a classic for a reason; and did you really go to the CNE if you didn't get some Tiny Tom's doughnuts?). The most disappointing was the tanghulu mochi doughnut (sickly sweet, and I thought the fruit would be more incorporated into the doughnut somehow rather than just a skewer sitting on top), the Ruffles All Dressed fried chicken (the fried chicken was decent enough, but we could barely taste the All Dressed chips), the crème brûlée soft serve Chimney Cone (the burnt sugar and custard were just sitting on top so once you get past that top layer, it's just vanilla soft serve), and the deep-fried pickle Oreos (even the thick layer of sweet deep-fried dough could not hide the fact that pickles and Oreos just do not go together). 

And in case you're wondering, all of this cost $90.34 per person (not including entry tickets and parking). I wasn't kidding when I said "extraordinarily overpriced," because we could each have had a pretty lavish steak dinner for the cost of all this junk food. I guess we really made up for not going during the pandemic years. On another note, thank you to the guy at "Fool the Guesser" who thought I was still 27. At least Minji's $10 didn't go to waste and she got a stuffed frog plushie out of it. 

Canadian National Exhibition

Exhibition Place

210 Princes' Blvd.

Toronto, ON M6K 3C3

(416) 263-3330