Around town with Pheleon

For the past two days, my good friend Jess came over to visit and we went around town eating good food. We also discussed our table and cosplay plans for the upcoming Anime North (which is less than 1 month away!!!)

First we went to Santouka Ramen, which is on Dundas street near the bus terminal. They serve authentic Hokkaido style ramen and I heard that it was pretty popular and on the list of the top legit ramen places in Toronto. I've only ever been to Sansotei last year, so I really know next to nothing about ramen...but it was delicious nonetheless--I ordered the shio ramen. I like how it's a different style, but when it comes to the noodles, I preferred the ones from Sansotei. Also along Dundas street we passed by this Japanese curry place called GyuGyu-ya, which I'd read about on BlogTO. I hope it'll still be there the next time Jess visits so we can go there and try it!

Santouka was a lot bigger and had more seating than Sansotei. The two-person tables were a little cramped though. We were walking around in the heart of Ryerson Univeristy, I think. Too bad it was raining pretty hard and it was also quite windy! I saw at least three broken umbrellas on the street this day...

We quickly made our way to Ripley's Aquarium! It's my second visit and honestly I feel like I should have bought a season or discount pass (if there is any). I know some people like to make a big deal about how expensive the admission fee is, but I don't care because honestly I LOVE aquariums, you have no idea! I would gladly visit it again because I find it to be such a magical place. I feel like for every visit, you'll see something different. This time I got to see a diver feeding a hoard of sting rays. It was an amazing sight because the feeder was petting them all like they were dogs, and they were all gently swarming around begging for attention/food. I thought it was really cute :'D I also got to touch a live sting ray as it swam past in the Ray Bay.... it felt like soft velvety rubber omg... >__<

Last time I went with my friends, it was on New Year's Eve and it was super crowded inside. It was still busy on a weekday, but I definitely had a lot more breathing room and took my time going through each exhibit! My favourite will always be the jellyfish!

Next we went to eat at Guu Izakaya! I ordered this blue drink. It was so tasty! It was called "Blue Life" and it had Soho (lychee liqeur), Calpis, and some kind of soda. I usually don't get drinks. I just wanted it cause it was blue...and it turned out to be so delicious.

 We went to the Church/College location... our waiter was very tall and kind of cute. :')

 

We ordered okonomiyaki (savoury pancake)!

 And this eggplant dish with miso that I forgot the proper name of...

We also ordered some shabu shabu beef salad. I thought it was a hot dish because of the shabu shabu name, but it is a cold one because it's a salad and they just place the cooked meat on top. I tried the sashimi salad previously and that was very refreshing. I don't know what they put in them but I love their salads! We also ordered this pulled pork dish that I didn't take a photo of. Overall the meat filled me up really fast and I couldn't eat that much lol. 

It rained today too, and our plans to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario sort of fell apart after we ate and lost track of time... but next time, definitely! Thanks so much for visiting, Jess!! I'm excited to meet up (hopefully with all our shit all pulled together) at AN!! ♥