Brick Toast at Phoenix

I have food cravings a lot. Angela is very easily convinced.

This makes for a very dangerous combination. 

So I was craving "brick toast" or "toast box" or "honey toast" for a very long time. It's a Taiwanese dessert that's essentially a cube-shaped toast that's hollowed out and filled with ice cream, whip cream, fruits and other yummy deliciousness.

In other words, it's a brick of sugar, carbs and calories

Whatevs, YOLO! (Note to self: I can never be a nutritionist...)

One of the few places that serve these brick toasts is Phoenix Restaurant, a chain "cha chaan teng" or 茶餐廳 - Hong Kong style cafés.

Location:

There are 2 Phoenixes, one north of HWY7 and one closer to Scarborough. We went to the one on Woodbine and Steeles, on Woodbine, about 2 intersections north of Steeles - very convenient being on the border of Scarborough and Markham. It's in a kinda obscure industrial-looking plaza but you can't miss it with its bright green sign!

Decor:

Typical Chinese restaurant decor, nothing special. Fairly clean with large booth seats as well as round tables.

Food: 

We ordered a brick toast with black sesame ice cream and a Napoleon puff pastry with green tea ice cream. The toast was what dreams were made of; warm and crispy from being toasted and lined with melty butter and stuffed to the brim with ice cream, whip cream and fruits (banana and strawberry). The puff pastry was good too but it kinda toppled over before we even touched it. Although both were good, I have to say I prefer the brick toast more, probably because the sesame ice cream was absolutely divine.

Service:

Phoenix closes at 10pm and we arrived a little past 9 and was told they'd be closing soon. We felt kind of rushed while ordering because the waiter basically stood over our shoulders (he probably wanted to get off work) and we were also asked to pay the bill halfway through our meal so they can calculate the day's bills or something. Tip: probably go a little earlier next time if you don't wanna be rushed!

Price:

Both items were around $8 or so and the total with tax came to around $17 something. We dropped a twenty.

Verdict:

We will definitely be back for more brick toasts. They're rather addictive and are probably suicidal in terms of health but they taste so good! We were also told that if we bring our receipt back within 10 days, we'll get 10% off our next bill! :) Score!

-M.