Earlier this year, Dynasty on Bloor St. closed. It’s being remade into a bistro. The good news is they found a new location – the “cursed” upper floor of 69 Yorkville. I say it’s cursed because restaurants have come and go from that location many times in the past few years. However, I predict that the owners of Dynasty will have a successful run out of it. It opens December 18, 2010.

I love T&T Supermarkets, the Chinese/Asian grocer that started appearing in the GTA just a few years ago. Their latest store on Cherry St. is a weekly stop for me. Filled with all sorts of asian specialty goods and fantastic prices I think it has been a huge success here as it has been in their home market in Vancouver.

This success was noticed and today Loblaws announced they are buying T&T for $225 million dollars. This gives me mixed feelings. As an investor of Loblaws, I think this can only be good for the company. Expanding into ethnic markets is a sure avenue for growth and buying a chain is definitely the best strategy rather than building their own brand.

However, one of the joys of T&T was that it wasn’t Loblaws. They were the first in the city to introduce those new rolley baskets, they have great fresh food and a sit-down area to eat the prepared foods. They have products offered from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds – most recently I noticed their Korean food offerings being expanded.

Let’s hope Loblaws doesn’t tinker with the formula – and try to increase profitability by sacrificing the uniqueness of this market. If the aisles prominently display President’s Choice Soy Sauce front-and-center on the shelves, it will be time to shop somewhere else.

Rasa Malaysia is a food blog that my Dad mentioned to me. It features great recipes from lots of different Asian cultures and LOTS of great food photography.

It features sections for Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Filipino and Nyona cuisine. One absent member are Korean recipes but given the breadth that they cover it’s a forgiveable oversight. Especially since I’ve already discovered Maangchi.

Both the recipes and photography on the site are top notch. I definitely need to start working on my own cookbook!