Monsoon is a Japanese restaurant located in Toronto.  However, their menu is a little bit different as it combines the great Oriental cuisine that we’ve all come to know and love with North American influences in order to create a final taste sensation that is wholly unique.

Location

Monsoon is located at 100 Simcoe Street, which places it very close to the intersection of Adelaide Street West and University Avenue (MAP).  It is also just southwest of the Osgoode Subway Station located on the University line at Queen Street West and University Avenue.  If you’re traveling there by subway, simply get off at Osgoode Station, walk west along Queen Street until you get to Simcoe and then walk south on Simcoe until you get to number 100.

Interior

The interior of Monsoon is one of the coolest experiences that you can get in the city.  The overall restaurant seats 150 people in a subterranean setting with a dark ambiance that is partly the effect of the lighting and partly the effect of the colours used in decoration.  If you want to get an up close and personal tour of the restaurant’s interior, simply visit Monsoon’s website and take a look through their gallery of pictures, conveniently presented to you in slide show format.

Food and Drink

The main reason to go to Monsoon is ultimately the quality of the food that they have.  They have menus for lunch, dinner, corporate events and weddings.  Their lunch menu features such excellent dishes as Asian Salmon Tartar and Indochine Spiced Sirloin Beef, while for dinner you can get entrees like Kobe Beef and Organic Vietnamese Pork Tenderloin.  The menu also has wonderful selections for the vegetarian-minded, with vegetarian dishes such as the Butternut Squash Gnocchi clearly marked on the menu.  Monsoon also offers a large assortment of wines for you to choose from, allowing you to get the perfect wine to go with your meal.

Other Useful Information

Reservations can be booked online through the Monsoon Restaurant Website, with reservations for normal parties and large groups required.  More information on Monsoon Restaurant can be discerned through a visit to their website or alternatively through phoning them at 416-979-7172. 

The Monsoon Restaurant, like the recently blogged about Mink Nightclub in Toronto, is one of Toronto’s happening hotspots.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

Hot Dog Stands and Meal Trucks are all over the place in downtown Toronto and many of them are around working more than 12 hours during the day.  This ensures that whether you are going to a sporting event, visiting a museum or just taking in some of the sights and sounds of Toronto, you’ll definitely have no problem grabbing something to eat from one of those stands should you choose to do so.  At the University where I am on a frequent basis there’s a hot dog stand on each corner and meal trucks between them!  And there are few places in downtown where you can stand outside on the street without seeing one in your immediate vision (believe me, I’ve tried).

The typical fare on a hot dog stand is usually limited to beef hot dogs, chicken hot dogs, Polish sausages, Italian sausages, German sausages, veggie hot dogs and various drinks from pop to juice with water thrown into the mix as well.  Beef and chicken hot dogs usually go for $2.00 to $2.50; sausages go from $3.00 to $3.50; veggie hot dogs usually go for $2.50 to $3.00 and drinks are around $1.00 to $1.50 depending on what you want.  With many toppings that you can put on your dog and nice thick sausages, you can get a filling meal and a drink for under $5.00 from a hot dog vendor in just a few minutes, which is far better than you could do at any fast food restaurant in the area.

Meal Trucks have more choice in terms of their offerings and will frequently offer both hot dogs and burgers in both meat and veggie formats however you’d like them done.  You can also usually get fries from a meal truck and therefore grab a meal of a burger, fries and a drink for a little bit more than you would spend at a hot dog stand.  Meal trucks are regulated for the city and required to maintain safety and health standards high in order to operate and all of the food is cooked extremely thoroughly as well, meaning that it is all safe to eat.

I’m not necessarily saying that hot dogs and meal trucks represent gourmet cuisine in the City of Toronto, but I would make the point that if you’re in a hurry, they might be better than fast food restaurants.  They’re definitely faster and cheaper however, two things which are usually looked for by someone that is in a hurry to get somewhere else.

Also, perhaps as a testament to the multicultural nature of the City of Toronto, many of the different hot dog stands have actually started carrying products that fit various dietary restrictions.  The best example of this is the fact that the city has a number of different Halal hot dog stands with food that follows Muslim dietary law.

Photo Credits: Flickr, Flickr, Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler

You’ll meet people of all kinds at the Mink Nightclub and whether you are looking for a fun night of drinking and dancing or are actually interested in meeting people, the Mink Nightclub is definitely a place where you can make it happen.  They bill themselves are being “The Hottest Nightclub and Lounge in Toronto” and don’t hesitate to snatch an opportunity to call themselves “Very Hot, Very Stylish and Very, Very Sexy!”

Location

One thing about the Mink Nightclub that people tend to love is the fact that it is located right in the heart of downtown Toronto’s entertainment district.  Its exact location is 150 Pearl Street, with the closest major intersection to that point being Adelaide Street West and University Avenue.  Mink’s location on Pearl Street actually puts it a block and a half west and one block north of the St. Andrew Subway Station, allowing you not only easy access to it through the main transit vein of the city, but also placing it in close proximity to many of the other excellent attractions that the City of Toronto has to offer.

Inside the Mink

The inside of the Mink Nightclub is decorated extremely well, with a sleek and elegant design that is conducive to dancing or simply hanging out with friends.  The nightclub is divided into the main lounge area where most of the action takes place as well as a roof top patio with VIP booths that seat 12 people.  It was actually voted as being the best patio in Toronto by the Toronto Nightclub Awards for each of the last four years.  There is also a heated area within the patio where smoking is allowed.

Weekly Events

There are many weekly events that take place at the Mink Nightclub, with Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays being the three major days of the week when most of the special events happen.  There is also a dress code on both Fridays and Saturdays so if you want to visit on one of those days, you need to make sure you follow it if you want to get into the club.

The Mink is definitely indicative of the entertainment district in Toronto, which features entertainment that can definitely cater to the needs of singles while at the same time remaining elegant and tasteful.  If you enjoy partying on your vacations and want to see what Toronto has to offer in this area, then the Mink Nightclub would definitely be a good place to start.  I’ll be adding a link to the Mink Nightclub in the blogroll so that you’ll always be able to access their main website from The Toronto Traveler.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Post from: The Toronto Traveler