I was asked to test out a new delivery service earlier this summer called Favour. They gave me the option to order a meal from any restaurant in the Toronto downtown core. Naturally, I chose Flock, as I've heard a lot of good things about their food when they first opened. Flock Rotisserie + Greens offers rotisserie chicken, and greens, which are available for both casual dine-in or to-go in the Entertainment District. The restaurant opened its door earlier this summer, and the man behind the restaurant concept is The Harbord Room's Cory Vitiello. Since, Favour is a delivery service, I didn't get the chance to experience the take-out procedure to comment on it.

Clearly stated in their name so it shouldn't come as a shock; the restaurant menu is limited to rotisserie chicken, and green (salads). I opted for the classic chicken (halved) ($9.50) - naturally raised without hormones or antibiotics, and served with house Caribbean pepper sauce. I also got a side order of Rotisseries roasted sweet potatoes with chilli and lime salt ($4.50). The chicken was very well-portioned, and I thought that it was reasonably priced considering the location. However, I thought that the roasted sweet potatoes side was a tad pricy considering that you don't get that much. 

The chicken was marinated with a house blend of spices, and then roasted for a little over an hour. It looked a little dark on the outside, but the meat was moist and juicy. The chicken skin from Flock differs from other places that also serve rotisserie chicken, as it's not crispy, but that's intentional. Overall, what I liked most was that Flock uses fresh ingredients, and that the chicken they use are not raised with hormones, so they are not unnatural huge looking. They have a few salad options for those who are more healthy eaters, but you do have the option to add chicken to the dish as well.

Address: 330 Adelaide St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1R4

 I've mentioned this in an earlier post before, but there is a serious lack of options in Mississauga other than tons of chains. I was craving for some fried chicken one night, and my options were either Popeyes, or K-Pocha. Of course, I chose K-Pocha, as I wanted to try a new place. K-Pocha is a late night Korean restaurant & pub in Mississauga that specializes in Korean style chicken. I have been a fan of Korean fried chicken since I first had it at The Fry. The menu was of course heavily concentrated on fried chicken, but they do offer some standard Korean dishes like bulgogi, rice cakes, pork belly, etc ... In regards to the prices, I would say that their food was fairly priced, as it was definitely cheaper than both The Fry, and Home of Hot Taste.



 

In order to ensure the crispiness of the skin, Korean fried chicken are deep fried twice. This way of deep frying also creates a lot less grease all over the chicken. Looking through the menu, we decided to order the half spicy, half fried option ($21), and an order of crispy french fries ($5). The chicken took a bit of time to come out, but that was understandable as they are made fresh to order. In terms of presentation, both chicken were plated together with a few pieces of crispy fries. Nothing too special, but it was piping hot (just the way I like it). The fried chicken at K-Pocha had a nice crispy skin, and the meat itself was juicy. It wasn't heavy, or greasy at all, which was a great alternative to the greasiness of western chicken. I preferred the fried chicken over their spicy chicken, which I didn't think was spicy enough. I liked the taste of the sweet glaze, but I wished that it had provided a little more kick.

The overall atmosphere was good for large groups, and they also had a few private booths on the side for a more intimate dining experience. The one thing that surprised me most was that they don't refill the kimchi at all. I have never been to a Korean establishment where they don't refill the bachan, or this case ... just a tiny bowl of kimchi. I just thought that was super stingy of K-Pocha, cause it was something that was unheard of. However, this doesn't deter me from returning to K-Pocha, as I did liked their fried chicken, and they are one of the few options in Mississauga that offers it.

The Fry is one of the newest restaurants in the Yonge and Sheppard area. I am not sure why they would open up to two locations within walking distance from one another, but there's a second location on Yonge/Finch. The Fry specializes in Korean-style fried chicken, which is basically a fried chicken dish prepared in a Korean style.

After we ordered our food, our server brought us a plate of side dishes of green salad, white radish, and macaroni salad. We were also given a hot plate of seared corn. Just a note that the side dishes are refillable, but sadly the corn are not.

We ordered the special half & half chicken ($27.99) - fried chicken, and fried chicken in spicy sauce, as our main dish. I'd say that this dish was more than enough for two people, as we left with a few leftover pieces. 

The fried chicken in spicy sauce was true to its name, as it was rather spicy and flavorful. Additionally, I liked that the chicken pieces were evenly coated in the sauce.

The second chicken dish that came with the combo was the fried chicken, which was a generous portion of pieces. Korean Fried Chicken is fried twice, and this results in the skin being crispier. The chicken skin was indeed crispy and perfectly spiced, and the meat was juicy on the inside. This way of deep drying also creates a lot less grease all over the chicken. 

Overall, The Fry was a great introduction to Korean Fried Chicken for me, as I have never tried it before. I enjoyed our meal, and left pretty stuffed until the next morning.

Address: 4864 Yonge St North York, ON, M2N 5N2 

All Star Wings and Ribs is a casual chain restaurant offering more than 100 flavors of chicken wings. In addition to the wings, they also serve a variety of other food items such as burgers, fries, sandwiches, salads, steaks, ribs, etc ... This was my third visit to this particular location up in Vaughan. I was here about less than a month ago for an old high school's friend's birthday dinner. We were a small group of seven people so reservation wasn't really needed since it was a weeknight.

We were seated at one of the larger tables, and were given menus to browse through. As mentioned earlier, they have a lot of different wing flavor, and some were pretty creative. We decided to order two different rounds of wings along with a pitcher of beer, and some pop drinks. To start off the night, we got two batches of their beer battered fries. I absolutely loved the fries here, as it's so crispy and delicious. Definitely up there along with the fries from St. Louis as my favorite. 

 As for the chicken, customers have a choice between non-breaded or breaded wings for each order.  All of their wings are served with celery and dip, and anything additional costs $1 each.

The prices are as followed:

Single ($10.95) - no splitting
Double ($20.95) - 1 flavor
30 wings ($29.95) - 1 flavor
50 wings ($48.95) - 3 flavors
100 wings ($89.95) - 4 flavors

The wings were rather delicious and the pieces weren't small at all. I would say that the sizes were relatively comparable to other wings joints that I have been to. The flavors were definitely there, and I did enjoy most of the ones that we selected. I liked that the wings weren't dripping in excess oil, so that's always a plus in my books. Overall, it's a good place to relax and enjoy some wings with friends, family etc ...

Address: 3130 Rutherford Rd Vaughan, ON, L4K 0B1