Dining Out: Corny Croquette, Creamy Kurobuta Miso Udon, Premium Steak Donburi, Katsu Sando, and Caramel Biscoff Soufflé Pancakes at Cafe Kenkaku

Another reunion dinner! Well, I use the term "reunion" lightly here because it's really only been, like, a month and a half, but my friends Minji and Daniel have finally returned from their Seoul trip and this is the longest we've gone without seeing each other in two years. So in honour of this, we decided to check out a Japanese eatery that everyone's been talking about on TikTok (according to Minji, because I refuse to use TikTok) called Cafe Kenkaku:

Corny Croquette: A handmade golden croquette filled with a creamy blend of sweet corn and imitation crab meat, lightly breaded and fried
We decided to share everything so we could try more menu items — the key to dining out at a new restaurant — and all of our dishes were incredible. Started off with the corny croquette. I was definitely expecting more corn (because it's a CORNY croquette, not a cream sauce croquette, thus corn is expected to be the main feature), though the texture and flavour were perfect — honestly just like the croquettes I've had in Japan. Could easily eat, like, three of these just for a snack. 

Creamy Kurobuta Miso Udon: Udon noodles in a rich miso butter sauce with Berkshire pork, mushrooms, and an onsen egg, topped with basil, green onions, and grated parmesan

Premium Steak Donburi: A rice bowl topped with 6oz. of AAA steak cooked sous vide, drizzled with house-made teriyaki sauce, topped with crispy garlic slices and a raw egg

The udon was creamy and savoury and intensely flavourful, though I do think it could've had more pork rather than mushrooms. (I mean, I know we're in a tough economy here, but I think each of us had like, three tiny pieces of pork each?) The steak donburi was actually perfectly cooked to a seared rare and was super soft and tender — I didn't read the description because it was Minji's choice, but it makes sense now that it was cooked sous vide. I don't think it would've come out nearly as perfect when sliced that thinly. 

Katsu Sando: Premium milk bread toast with deep-fried pork cutlet, tomato cabbage slaw, lettuce, and tonkatsu sauce, served with spring mix salad and French fries

I think the standout for me was surprisingly the katsu sando, maybe because I didn't have particularly high expectations for it. The pork with juicy with an excellent crispy shell and the milk bread was amazing — the bread was soft and fluffy but the exterior was just perfectly toasted and if I was the type of person to bring a mic with me in public, I could've done some impressive toast eating ASMR. 

Caramel Biscoff Soufflé Pancakes: Airy soufflé pancakes topped with smooth soufflé cream cheese, house made caramel sauce, and Biscoff biscuit crumble

The soufflé pancakes were delicious and had that textbook airy, jiggly texture that we know and love, but we agreed that the Caramel Biscoff version (which is new) was a little too sweet — great for sharing as dessert, but definitely too much for one person at breakfast. (Unless you are the type of person who likes dessert for breakfast. Then never mind.) Worth ordering if you like soufflé pancakes in general, but I think I'd go with the original or maybe matcha next time. Presentation was on point for all the dishes, and our server was fantastic, too. Highly recommend Cafe Kenkaku for all your Japanese cafe cravings, but definitely visit at non-peak meal hours. We got there around 5:30PM and managed to snag a booth table, but the entire restaurant was packed to the brim within 30 minutes.

Cafe Kenkaku

SmartCentres Richmond Hill

1070 Major Mackenzie Dr. E., Unit F108

Richmond Hill, ON L4S 1P3

(905) 737-3083

Dining Out: Famous Nachos and Shredded Beef Enchiladas at 3 Mariachis

I haven't been eating out for the last month or so for both health and financial reasons (I was hospitalized for a few days in March, but that's a story for another time), but when my friend Vivian suggested meeting up with me and our friend Amanda for a reunion dinner after two years (!!!) — the longest we haven't seen each other in 12 years — I couldn't say no. We all agreed on Mexican food so we decided to go to 3 Mariachis:

Famous nachos

Shredded beef enchiladas

We shared the nachos, of course (still my favourite iteration of nachos that I've ever had, even without meat, sour cream, or guac), and all three of us ended up getting the beef enchiladas. They were delicious and flavourful, meat-packed and cheesy AF, but I personally prefer the variety that their tacos offer. The enchiladas come with beans, rice, and a cabbage salad with picked onions on the side, but none of them are seasoned or dressed, so it relies heavily on the enchiladas for flavour. (I was expecting the salad to at least have some sort of dressing or vinegar or something, but it was just... plain cabbage. I guess the pickled onions do add some flavour...) Not sure if I was eating them properly — I had them on their own as sides but really wanted to stuff them into the enchiladas because they tasted so plain. Still, those who love enchiladas won't be disappointed with the ones here — but I would definitely recommend the extra condiments on the side (it must be noted, however, that sour cream, guacamole, and habanera salsa cost extra).

Anyway, hopefully we won't have to wait another two years for another reunion...

3 Mariachis

Headford Place

16 Vogell Rd., Unit L

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3K4

(905) 237-6006

Hot Ones: Sean Evans Interviews BTS

Jin: "It's my first time hearing that question, so it's a little intense right now…"

V: "These questions! They're amazing!"

RM: "Crazy questions. So good."

Love that everyone is sweating and crying and quite literally screaming, and then we have Jimin and Jungkook just having a casual meal, calmly discussing the spice levels, taking more bites even after getting through to the last wing, and commenting on how delicious the vanilla ice cream is as if it's just dessert and not an aid to calm their burning mouths and esophaguses. I have been waiting for BTS to show up on Hot Ones for YEARS and this was everything I expected and more. Sean Evans proves once again what a phenomenal interviewer he is and how much research and thought goes into his questions. So, so, so happy we finally got this. 

BTS — "Hooligan" Official MV

Okay, I was not expecting another music video so soon after "2.0" was released — but I'm not complaining because after a nearly four-year starvation, WE ARE FEASTING. I didn't think we'd get "Hooligan" as their next single, though — I was fully convinced it was going to be "Body to Body" for some reason — and while I still find the repetitive laughter in this song somewhat jarring after many listens (I'm pretty sure it's meant to mimic shooting bullets?), there is still something very addictive about this song. It's certainly the most viral of all the songs off Arirang.

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

We pop out, actin' a fool again

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

Why this bassline slappin' so rude?

Drop it lower than chopped and screwed

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

Man, I'm 'bout to blow a fuse

Can't be tamed, my head be bangin'

Jumpin' wild like a madman

Me everywhere, 얼쑤

Somebody move, somebody move

Everyone gather here, one by one

I can never ever choose

Every one o' you a muse

Crowd lookin' like a campus

Beat drop, we still dancin'

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

We pop out, actin' a fool again

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

Why this bassline slappin' so rude?

Drop it lower than chopped and screwed

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

I go cuckoo, crazy, loco, save me

Like El Cucuy, I don't need to explain, you already know

Hooligan, like hooligan

Smash it up like hooligan

It's time now, get out of my way

All clear, no issues here

Take you out

Take you out

What's the future?

Where's the now?

This is international

Make it unforgettable

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

We pop out, actin' a fool again

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

Yeah, we the mess, gonna get a bigger mop here

This that K, gotta get a better pop here

you gon' hear this one playin' round the clock, yeah

Round the clock, clock, clock, clock

Why this bassline slappin' so rude?

Drop it lower than chopped and screwed

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

Why this bassline slappin' so rude?

Drop it lower than chopped and screwed

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hooligan

Watch this, watch this beat goin' hooligan

This is giving "Not Today" vibes, but like, gothic. I didn't know I needed BTS as leather-clad anime ninja villains (hooligans?), but here we are, because I find them ATROCIOUSLY ATTRACTIVE.

Run BTS! 2.0 Brainstorming Session

So, basically, all we know about Run BTS! 2.0 is that Yoongi's gonna start a band.

BTS — "2.0" Dance Practice

I AM OBSESSED. It's sharp, precise, sexy, badass — pure swag and charisma. It's the type of choreo that needs to be watched at least seven times to focus on each member and also revel in the glory that is their synchronized footsteps. I need more live performances of this ASAP. (But the idea to film this masterpiece with a fisheye lens was terrible. Sorry, but it makes it so much harder for me to focus on the actual choreography because it's so warped.)

BTS — "2.0" MV Behind the Scenes

The most chaotic of shenanigans. I feel like there would've been about 20 takes for every scene. I don't even know how the MV got finished, to be honest.

ChooSungHoon: Choo Sung Hoon with BTS Jimin and Jungkook

I've been watching all of the BTS promo interviews on various YouTube shows, but this one is just too cute and wholesome not to re-post. A BTS ear cleaning with a 50-year-old Japanese MMA fighter was not on my bingo card this year but it's, like, outrageously adorable?

BTS — "2.0" Official MV

As I said, this one of my Top 5 tracks from ARIRANG. As understated and lo-fi as "SWIM" is, "2.0" is bad-ass and anthemic, a melodramatic play on rhythm and repetition — it's this album's true comeback song in every sense of the word. A middle finger to the haters, the doubters, all those little fuckers that thought BTS wouldn't survive a hiatus and spouted so much shit about them in the last four years, saying their faves have surpassed them, that BTS will never rise again — when they should've shut up and acknowledged that their faves are just riding on BTS' coattails. BTS and ARMY know their power. For context, BTS wrote this song last summer after a four-year hiatus, but they were all over the news just yesterday, making headlines for being the best-selling group in the last DECADE, of having a 7th #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Basically: Bangtan's back, and don't you fucking forget it.

"Yeah, just like BTS," sure sounds easy

We're like a vault, who's gonna jump over us

It's kinda funny, but not really

10 years, man, not even close

Stop, ride

Yuh, yuh, yuh, yuh, yeah

Pull up at your block

We gonna knock, knock, knock, knock, yeah

Had your little fun, fella?

Pop, pop, pop, pop, yeah

Came back for what's mine, we don't

Stop, ride

You know how I do, do, do, do, do, do

You know how I do, do, do, do, do

Set a fire, brand new

On fire, brand new

Yeah, we on that brand new

You know how we do

Ay, ay, ay

Yeah, the feeling's kinda brand new

Spectacular step, no runnin' step two

2, 2.0, when the update's through

Stirrin' things up here and there again

10 out of 10, 10

Now throw out that useless old junk

Go pick it up

Get nice and easy again and kick it up

Stop, ride

Yuh, yuh, yuh, yuh, yeah

Pull up at your block

We gonna knock, knock, knock, knock, yeah

Had your little fun, fella?

Pop, pop, pop, pop, yeah

Came back for what's mine, we don't

Stop, ride

You know how I do, do, do, do, do, do

You know how I do, do, do, do, do

Set a fire, brand new

On fire, brand new

Yeah, we on that brand new

You know how we do

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop

Baby gettin' too lit, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah

Hit 'em up like pop

Hit 'em with the truth like rah

Time to pay your debt

Fear me or fear me not

Let it be

Let it bleed

Hit a lick

In a split

Stop, ride

Yuh, yuh, yuh, yuh, yeah

Pull up at your block

We gonna knock, knock, knock, knock, yeah

Had your little fun, fella?

Pop, pop, pop, pop, yeah

Came back for what's mine, we don't

Stop, ride

You know how I do, do, do, do, do, do

You know how I do, do, do, do, do

Set a fire, brand new

On fire, brand new

Yeah, we on that brand new

You know how we do

You know how I do, do, do, do, do, do

You know how I do, do, do, do, do

Set a fire, brand new

On fire, brand new

Yeah, we on that brand new

You know how we do

Definitely the most random and unhinged MV they've ever released and I'm obsessed with it. Only BTS could make an ode to Oldboy with synchronized choreography. And include an elevator wardrobe change intermission in an official MV. I'm not sure what the hell I just watched, actually. This video explains the parallels of Oldboy to BTS, and it's actually quite genius. I'm impressed. And mildly turned on. And holy shit, this choreography is wild. Like, almost "Run BTS" level wild. I can see why a whole load of gangsters would be intimidated by it. God, I hope they release the dance practice.

BTS — "2.0" Official Teaser

I peep a gangster in an elevator with a backscratcher and an RM in a wig with aviators, so you know shit's about to go down.

(On that note, "2.0" is one of my Top 5 tracks from ARIRANG, so I am VERY EXCITED that this is their second single.)

BTS — "SWIM" Live Clip II. (Swimming Pool ver.)

Okay, this is low-key unhinged (and totally BTS-coded) and now I'm wondering what the brainstorming session for this performance was like…

BTS' "SWIM" Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100

(Image source: Billboard Official X)

(Image source: Billboard Official X)

As per usual, only BTS breaks their own records. ARMY said we'd wait for them and we never renege on our promises. They gave the rest of the music industry a nearly four-year reprieve and now they're back with a vengeance. Congratulations, BTS!

Run BTS! 2.0 Teaser

I had been watching Run BTS! since 2017 (RIP Naver V Live) and for many years, it had been the one thing I looked forward to every single week. When they finally enlisted, I had mourned the end of it in 2023. We didn't know if and when it would ever come back. BUT IT HAS FINALLY BEEN RESURRECTED!!! 

BTS is single-handedly saving 2026, y'all.

BTS — "SWIM" Live Clip I. (Sunhyewon ver.)

I have been listening to nothing but ARIRANG on repeat since its release, both in order and on shuffle, and I don't give a shit what critics or select ARMYs (some of which are whining about how this album doesn't sound like "the old BTS" as if artists can't grow or change — as if experimenting with sound is not the entire fucking point of being a musician) or GP are saying — this album is genuinely fucking spectacular. For me, there's not a skippable song on ARIRANG, with the exception of "No. 29," which is really just the sound of a gong fading into silence, acting as a sort of meditation moment or a small intermission between the first high-energy half of the record and the softer, more understated second half of the record (and is miraculously charting on Spotify regardless of containing no music and no lyrics).

I said this at its release, but I'm so glad they chose "SWIM" to be the title track despite it being a gentler, more low-key song, because even listening to it — and the 7 other remixes (I might be biased because it's so Denise-coded, but Jin's "Alternative Rock" remix is INSANELY GOOD) — constantly, I'm not sick of it. Every single new song they performed during their live comeback on Netflix and all the consequent new live performances we've seen so far (which includes their appearances on Jimmy Fallon and this clip here) sound and look incredible. God, I can't wait to see them in person. 5 months to go!

BTS — "SWIM" Dance Practice

I don't know what the setlist will be on their tour, but "SWIM" is going to be the best transition performance of the show.

Epikase: Epik High with BTS RM and SUGA

Namjoon: "I'm just watching to see how far they'll take this."

Yoongi: "You seriously sound like a grandfather, what do we do?!"

Namjoon: "Your YouTube is seriously…"

Epikase is the one YouTube show that I have watched weekly since its inception (especially since Run BTS and Run Jin ended), and I have been waiting patiently for the day BTS would guest on it. And my god, they did not disappoint. The very best "interviews" are the ones with friends, and only Tablo could ask these kinds of unhinged questions and actually get honest answers. I only wish this was, like, three hours longer.

BTS on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Interview, "SWIM" Live Performance, and "2.0" Live Performance

Jimmy: "I gotta ask you, what was the moment like when the seven of you were together in a room for the first time after all these years?"

Tae: "Wow, finally!"

Other members, nodding: "Finally!"

Namjoon: "In military, time stops… And after, time just flows by. We just can't believe that it's been nine months that we were all discharged."

Jimmy: "Did it get emotional? Did you know what to say? Did it get quiet?"

Jin: "I felt like I had reunited with family."

To see them all together again like this is just… magical. Also, just as Grand Central Station was the perfect place to perform "ON," the spiral structure of the Guggenheim is such a perfect venue to perform "SWIM."

BTS — "SWIM" MV Behind the Scenes

Director: "You cannot help her."

Tae: ☹️

Jimin, pointing at arm: "I've got goosebumps all over. It's freezing."

Jin: "It's too cold!"

Jimin: "Want me to hug you?"

Jin: "No, your clothes will get dirty."

Jimin, hugging Jin: " It's okay."

[Namjoon in a room full of maps]

Namjoon, nodding: "I liked geography when I was younger so I guess that's why I got this role."

Namjoon, waving vigorously: "Mom! I'm off to make money!"

My god, I don't think I realized just how much I missed them.

BTS — "SWIM" Official Performance Video

This choreography is low-key and incredibly simple by all BTS standards, but it will work so perfectly on a 360° stage. I can't fucking wait to see this live on tour. (Also they all look SO DEVASTATINGLY HANDSOME, it's almost upsetting.)

BTS — ARIRANG Album Photoshoot: Behind the Scenes

Goddamn. Like, I know they're Asian, but... they really be aging like fine wine.