Cafe Bon Bon
Cafe Bon Bon is one of the prettiest Asian fusion places around. Found behind Time Square Mall in Richmond Hill, it's outfitted with yellow-gold accents and plenty of contemporary wall art.
You won't run out of Instagram ideas for your food and lifestyle shots here.
The kitchen churns out elevated takes on Asian fusion dishes. A prime example are The Deviled Tea Eggs ($7) which fuse the creaminess of this classic dish with the tea and soy-marinated eggs that normally come with ramen.
The Arancini Takoyaki ($11) are stuffed seasoned rice balls much like traditional Italian arancini, but imparted with a sweet-savoury flavour and topped with Japanese bonito flakes.
The Drunken Fried Chicken ($11) are chicken thighs brined in Chinese wine and breaded with light puffed rice. Get them in Sweet & Sour or Spicy varieties.
The 48-hr Short Rib Donburi ($21) it totally worth it for how tender and well-marinated the organic ribs are. They're topped with scallions, short rib jus, and enoki, with a light drizzle of sweet sauce on a bed of rice.
The Crab Cake Tostada ($21) features Thai crab cake with avocado crema, Asian pear, and pickled red onions among other ingredients. It's tasty and packs a lot of crab meat, but might be a tad too dense for some.
To drink, there's a selection of cold-brewed teas (starting at $8 per bottle) that are crisp and refreshing.
There's also the Sea Salt Cream Iced Coffee ($8), which is sweetened cold-brewed coffee with a thick layer of lightly-salted creamy milk foam.
Don't miss the Espresso Rock with Milk ($8). Pouring warm milk over a perfect sphere of iced espresso is a sight to behold.
Or indulge in the Japanese souffle pancakes ($14) which passed my jiggle test. They're extremely fluffy with a velvety smooth chocolate cream.
Finally, there's the Dark Chocolate Lava Cake which is a super-rich way to cap a meal with a molten chocolatey fudge centre. It's a chocoholic's delight.
Hector Vasquez