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