Grand Noodle

Grand Noodle has opened in that doomed corner of Commerce Gate.  Nothing really survives in that corner for some reason.  When I was on Yelp reading up on what to order at Grand Noodle, the general consensus was their submarines.  And no, their submarines are not like submarine sandwiches that we are all so used to.  These submarines are loaves of bread hollowed out and filled with rice and toppings.  So ridiculous sounding that I knew I wanted to try it.  Our order for the night was tomato sauce pork chop submarine, sake chicken with rice, and sweet potato noodle in fish broth.  All dishes come with a drink, hot milk tea, hot coffee etc.  Cold drinks theres an additional cost.  

The sweet potato noodle in fish broth was forgettable, as in don’t order it if you’re coming to eat.  If you want to eat fish broth noodle soup, go across the street to Times Square and eat at Deer Garden instead.  The broth itself was very bland.  It had the milky fish broth colour, but no sweet fish flavour, there was a bit of fishiness too.

Sweet Potato Noodle in Fish Broth

The sake chicken had no sake taste, but other than that was done quite well.  The chicken was cooked through, and very smooth.  Smooth is a very strange word to describe a chicken, but that’s a term Chinese people do use.  I guess it would be the opposite of overcooked and dry.  The dish is very similar to Hainanese Chicken Rice.

Sake Chicken & Rice

The thing I have been waiting for, the pork chop with tomato sauce submarine was MASSIVE!  The bread part was a whole Italian loaf that was hollowed out.  The bread was then filled with fried rice, topped with fried pork chop, tomato sauce, and a bit of grated cheese.  The entire thing was quickly baked/broiled.  How is this healthy?  I hope people don’t eat this often……  Taste wise, was pretty good, tasted like any other tomato pork chop baked rice really.  It was just interesting that it was all in a bread bowl.  For any normal sized appetite adult, the submarine could feed probably 3 people.  I wish I had put something next to it for size reference.

Tomato Pork Chop Submarine

I went another night with some other friends because I told them about the submarine rice.  We of course ordered a submarine rice, this time was the curry chicken one, and we also ordered the mustard beef, and black bean beef rice noodle.  The dish I liked least was the mustard beef.  It’s literally beef and some peppers cooked in mustard and served on top of rice.  The black bean beef rice noodle wasn’t very good either.  It was supposed to be a fried noodle, but it was too wet (saucy), no ‘wok hay’ at all.  The curry chicken submarine was just ok as well.  The submarine again was a hollowed out Italian loaf, this time, half of the bread bowl was filled with fried rice, the other was filled with curry sauce and chicken (bone on), and then topped with more curry sauce and chicken.  The curry sauce was the typical curry sauce that Chinese restaurants use.  Doesn’t really have that much flavour like Thai, Malay, or Indian curries.

Worth a visit just to try the submarine rice.

*** Update  I have been called out on the fact that I'm not a real foodie, I never really claimed I was, since I got some of my facts wrong.  I admit that i'm quite behind on my blog posts so yes I do make mistakes here or there.  So the soup noodle dish was with shiritaki noodles instead of sweet potato.  The broth was indeed fishy, which makes it worse because apparently they don't have fish soup, so it was the pork broth.  Fishy pork broth, need I say more?  They also mention that the menu doesn't offer black bean rice noodle.  Menus change.  I wish I took a picture as proof.  I just never thought I needed to do that.  My original opinion of Grand Noodle still stands unchanged.  Not worth a visit except of the novelty of the submarine rice.

As for the comment that I have removed from this post because of it's nasty nature, I believe it must be from one of the owners of Grand Noodles since they appear to know the menu quite well, and decided to post with a name of "Unknown".

Grand Noodle 

505 Highway 7 East, Unit 50-53

Markham, ON

L3T 7T1

Phone:  (905) 597-7782

Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00am - 10:00 pm

            Friday - Saturday 11:00am - 12:00am

            Sunday 11:00am - 10:00pm

http://grandnoodle.ca 

Magic Noodle

Why do Chinese restaurants have such strange names?  Whats in their noodles that make them magical?  Anyways, it was not the name of the restaurant that made me want to try them, but it was because of the great reviews I read.  My mistake was going on a Saturday at dinner time, around 6pm.  The wait was almost out the door!  And if that wasn't enough, the wait was made horrible because of the people around me.  The restaurant is located in Scarborough, and the stereotype of the "kind of people" that live around there stays true.  I won't mention what it is, but i'm sure you can surely guess.  The lady in line ahead of was waiting for a table of 2.  She kept making big stink about how long she's waited.  She didn't wait much longer than we did because she literally squeezed in front of me as I was walking through the door.  Anyways.  When a table of 4 clears up, the tables were split into 2 tables of 2, meaning they would get a table, and we would get a table.  Instead, she makes a big stink about how she waited for so long that now the table for 2, has become a table for 4. The confused waitresses, didn't want to argue and let her take those 2 tables.  So we had to wait longer.  We finally get a table a few minutes later, and sit down.  We look over, and that crazy lady still only had 2 people at her "table of 4".  By the end of dinner, they leave still being 2 people.  That lady is insane...unless she had some friends I couldn't see.....

Food wise, waiting for so long, gave me a chance to see what the people who were already seated were eating.  Everything looked really good.  Before I forget to mention, all their noodles are made in house.  The kitchen is open so you can actually watch them make the noodles.  Free show during dinner.  Occasionally you hear the bang of the dough hitting the counter, which may make you jump.  Noodle options:  hand made lai mien, and hand cut shaved noodles.  We ordered one kind of each, I've never hand the hand cut ones before.  For appetizers (yes we ordered way too much food for 2 people), we ordered the Chinese "hamburger", and beef short ribs.

The lai mien was topped with pork chop, lamb chop, beef and a fried egg.  The broth was very light and clear.  The noodles were cooked perfectly with a bit of chewiness.

Lai Mien

The hand cut noodle was topped off with beef brisket.  The brisket was ok, could have had more flavour.  The texture of the hand cut noodle was very interesting.  Because each piece of noodle had different thickness, some of it was softer than others.  I still can't figure out if I like it like that or not.

Beef Brisket Hand Cut Noodle

Strange enough, the appetizers came out after the noodles.  My fave dish of the night was the Chinese "hamburger".  The bread was a pan fried bread that was soft on the inside, mantou like, but crispy on the outside.  The hamburger meat was similar to a pulled beef brisket, Chinese style.  The beef short ribs weren't very good, didn't have much char, or crispness to it.  The hubby finished the rest.

Chinese Hamburger

Beef Short Ribs

Aside from the crazy lady that had imaginary friends join her for dinner, I think I will come back for their handmade noodles.  Probably best if I come either earlier or later for dinner though.

Magic Noodle

2190 McNicoll Ave,

Toronto, ON

M1V 5M2

416- 293-6696

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 9am - 8:30pm

Macey's

I remember growing up and hating eating at Chinese restaurants.  My mom cooked Chinese food at home every day, why do we need to eat at Chinese restaurants when we eat out?  I'm not sure if it's because I realize the complexity in cooking Chinese food, even the simplest of dishes, or if it's because I no longer eat Chinese food every night for dinner.  Occasionally I get cravings for fried noodles, fried rice etc.

My coworker introduced me to Macey's.  The restaurant itself is nothing special, in fact, it looks as if it needs a makeover.  But I was told, that usually it's regulars that come to eat here.  Thats a sign of a good restaurant.  We ordered beef and wonton soup rice noodle, baked Portuguese chicken on rice and boiled choy sum.

Beef and wonton soup rice noodle was pretty good.  The beef was very tender, and not fatty.  The wontons were a good size, and made only with shrimp, no pork as filler.  It was very 'crunchy'.

Beef& Wonton Rice Noodle

Boiled choy sum, you can't really screw that up.  In case anyone is wondering why it looks so 'dull', I asked for no oil.

Boiled Choy Sum

Baked Portuguese chicken on rice.  This was my favourite. I find that most restaurants that do this dish put too much coconut milk into it, and it ends up tasting like coconut curry sauce.  Also, the rice was fried rice underneath with plenty of 'wok hay'.  I thought we would have food left over for lunch the next day.....but it was so good that I kept picking at it, and we finished it all.

Baked Portuguese Chicken Rice

Macey's
780 Burnhamthorpe Rd. W,
Mississauga, ON
L5C 3X3
905-306-0080

Wonton Chai Noodle

Soupy noodles is the ultimate comfort food.  Somewhat light on the stomach, and just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I have grown to be a somewhat picky eater as my parents and friends say.  I don't eat fish, and I don't eat pork most of the time.  Pork always has this 'porky' taste.  I also hate fat.  The texture of fat in the mouth grosses me out.  Usually I do a good enough job of scraping off all sorts of fat, before the meat enters my mouth.  But in the rare case that some fat does enter my mouth I usually end up spitting out the food.  This makes finding a good wonton hard.  Most restaurants put shrimp, pork AND lard into their wontons/dumplings.  I can't eat it, it's just too gross.  I know Jim Chae Kee makes awesome, gianormous shrimp only wontons and yes they're very good.  Near work, I found Wonton Chai Noodle.  Their wontons are not as big as Jim Chae Kee, which I prefer anyways, makes it easier to pop into the mouth.  Wonton Chai Noodle wontons are also made with shrimp only, which makes them edible for me.  Broth, no where as good as the two infamous wonton restaurants in Hong Kong, but I personally don't think it's possible to find anything that would compare anyways.

Wontons & Rice Noodles in Broth

Wonton Chai Noodle
4040 Creditview Rd.
Mississauga, ON
L5C 3Y8
905-232-1103

Chinese Food: A Lost Art

While I was cooking dinner tonight, I looked down at the mess of E-Fu noodles I was making.  My Chinese cooking never turns out the same as my moms.  I partly blame it on the fact that I have a crappy electric stove, and not a gas stove.  My moms Chinese food is always better than mine.  I can watch her cook to learn, but there's never any recipes to take with me to recreate.  That is because real Chinese food doesn't have any recipes.  Chinese chefs cook by taste.  My mom and grandma cook by taste.  I tried to cook Chinese food by taste, and it doesn't work out as well as me cooking Western style food by taste.

Sometimes I worry that my generation has lost a lot of the Chinese heritage, not only in cooking, but speaking, reading and traditions.  I hate using the word "Fusion"  I see that too often at those Western style restaurants who are trying to attract a Chinese customer base.  But I would have to classify my versions of Chinese dishes as "Fusion" or the "new" Chinese.  My dishes are a lot simpler, less salty, less greasy, some may just say bland.  My stomach cannot handle the grease, and my face gets swollen after eating salty foods.  As i'm getting older, i'm more conscious of what I put in my mouth.  My mom has said i'm getting pickier.  Maybe thats why my Chinese food doesn't taste the way my mom makes it.

 I need to somehow figure the lost art of Chinese cooking and soup making with the hopes that I can somehow pass it on to the future generations.

Non-Chinese Vegetarian E-Fu Noodles

Dumpling Restaurant

I find dumplings so comforting to eat.  Reminds me of the days when I was a kid and would help my mom wrap dumplings for dinner.  Mom's dumplings are always the best.  I try and make them at home now, but they never taste the same.  Every so often I will buy frozen dumplings from the supermarket because they're convenient.  They don't necessarily taste very good, but they will do when you're hungry and need something to put in your instant noodles.

Whenever I pass by Peachtree Plaza, I see this very plainly named restaurant, named Dumpling Restaurant.  We went on a Saturday night for dinner, restaurant was quite empty.  Which usually isn't a good sign, but there's so much competition in Richmond Hill/Markham for Chinese food, that I just ignored it.  I was just expecting to see dumplings and noodles on the menu.  Strange enough, there's a Korean food section.  I guess it may have something to do with competition with the Korean restaurant right next door?

I have to apologize, I didn't take pictures of all the dishes we ordered.  And because it has been a while since we ate there, I may not remember all the dishes we ordered either!  From what I remember, we ordered a cold Korean noodle, bibimbap, steamed dumpling, pan fried dumpling, and deep fried dumpling.

This was the very first time i've tried the Korean cold noodle.  My cousin has told me many times before how good it is.  But it's kind of strange to see a piece of fruit floating in a savoury broth.  I'm not a fan of the salty sweet combo, so I just avoided the shredded Asian pear.  It was so delicious and refreshing.  There was also kimchi, cucumber, boiled egg and some sort of meat in there.  The noodles were the sweet potato noodles, so it had a good chewy texture.

Cold Korean Noodles

The bibimbap was nothing out of the ordinary.  Just like any other bibimbap you order at a Korean restaurant.

Bibimbap

The dumplings were very good and seemed very fresh.  I think we ordered a pork steamed dumpling and a deep fried seafood dumpling.  The deep fried dumplings were so good!  The skin was nice and crispy.  We also ordered a pork and leek pan fried dumpling but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Steamed Dumplings

Fried Dumplings

For dessert we ordered a caramelized sweet potato dish.  The sweet potato is cooked and covered in a sugar syrup that is cooked to a hard ball stage.  You take a piece of sweet potato and dunk it into a bowl of cold water and the sugar becomes hard and crispy.  I've had it at other restaurants and it's usually pretty good.  But here, there were some pieces that were good, and some that seemed uncooked.  I'm still wondering if it was uncooked or if the sweet potato was bad.  Next time I come i'll probably just stay away from dessert.

Dumping Restaurant
8362 Kennedy Road, Suite A5
Markham, ON L3R9W5
(905) 604-7288

糖醋排骨 (Sweet Vinegar Spare Ribs)

My hubby loves this recipe.  He loves ribs in general.  But as for Chinese style cooked ribs, he says he likes 糖醋排骨 more than black bean steamed spare ribs.  So I tend to make 糖醋排骨 more.  I have tried various recipes that I found online, but none of them taste as good as my mom's!  So I had to ask my mom for the recipe.  And here is it to share with all of you!

Ingredients:
500g Spare Ribs
6 Slices Ginger
2 Green Onions
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
100ml Chi Kang Vinegar
1/2 cup Chicken Stock
1/4 cup Chinese Cooking Wine
30g Sugar

1. Pan fry the ribs until nicely browned and remove from heat.
2. Pan fry the garlic, ginger, onions until lightly browned and add soy sauce, vinegar, chicken stock and cooking wine and sugar.  Bring mixture to boil.
3. Return ribs to sauce and lower heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour.

I made some changes when I made the ribs.  Instead of pan frying the ribs, to stay a bit healthier I boiled the ribs in water instead.  This way can get out the excess fat.  Instead of Chinese cooking wine, I used a dry white wine because thats all I had in the house.  And instead of chicken stock, I used normal water.  I suspect I lost some flavor but seemed ok to me.

糖醋排骨

Joe Yee

I have been meaning to check this place out for the longest time.  But it's hard to convince friends to join me to go and try vegetarian restaurants.  I'm not sure why most people cringe as soon as they hear the word 'vegetarian'.  I love it!  I'm not a full fledged vegetarian as most of you can tell by now, but I do prefer vegetables over meat.

Joe Yee is not just a normal vegetarian restaurant, they also do sushi!  This is NOT a vegetarian restaurant that serves fish as well.  This is what I guess would be called mock sushi.  I was super excited, because for the first time, I can eat all the sushi offered on the menu!  Taste wise, the 'fish' was slightly fishy and had decent texture.  From what I recall from eating toro in Tokyo, the texture of this mock sushi was slightly mushier than fresh fish. 

Sushi Tray

Spicy Salmon Brown Rice Maki

We also ordered BBQ platter which consisted of Chinese BBQ Pork (Char Siu) and Roast Pork (Siu Yuk).  I loved this dish.  So much better than other vegetarian restaurants I've been to.  Usually I find that the BBQ pork has a weird hoisin/ketchup flavor and the worst part is that it's super chewy.  I avoid that particular dish when it's ordered.  But this one was delicious!  It tasted like it was freshly deep fried and made to order.  The outside was crispy and the sauce was very good, like normal char siu sauce.  The roast pork, appearance was very similar to what real roast pork looks like.  It even had a layer of 'fat'.  This fat tasted like it was made with some sort of gelatin.  Again the outside was super crisp.  I think the 'pork' was made with beancurd and taro.

BBQ Platter

Joe Yee's is definitely worth a trip to again.  Prices are more expensive than other Chinese vegetarian restaurants.  But this place definitely seems to take care in both preparation and presentation of their food.

Joe Yee
688 Leslie St
Unit 17-18
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4C4
(905) 884-6882