Fritter King

I have found it!  Far, but I have found it!  Ever since my favourite congee restaurant closed a few years back, I have been on the search for the perfect bowl of congee, steamed rice noodle, and fritter. Many have suggested Sam's Congee Delight, would be the go to.  However, I was disappointed.  Not only is it super busy, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.  But now my go to spot has been found.  Fritter King in Mississauga.  Yes it is far from home, but close to work.

While Fritter King is no fancy place, you may not necessarily want this to be a date night restaurant, it's great for when you want comfort in a bowl.  We ordered chicken congee, fritter, plain steamed rice noodle, and rice noodle with beef and enoki mushrooms.  The congee is the real deal, slow cooked, homey rice flavour, like your mom made it on the stove.  Good amount of chicken.

Chicken Congee

The fritter, one of the main reasons why I wanted to come.  There are few restaurants that make their own fritters.  Most just order from a factory that makes these fritters, and just  refries when ordered.  Their fritters are so fresh, and greaseless!  As i'm eating, I see people come in and to buy bags of them to take home.  I did the same a few days later, and my mom couldn't stop raving about them.

Dough Fritter

Of course we ordered steamed rice noodles.  It's the perfect meal companion to congee!  My favourite is the plain steamed rice noodle where you would douse with sweetened soy sauce, sesame sauce, hot sauce and sesame seeds.  So thin, soft and silky. They also make these fresh to order here as well.  You can watch them make them, as they make them in their open kitchen near the entrance.  As you eat it's like a mini show (they make the dough fritter and steamed rice noodle at the front of the restaurant, stir fried dishes are made in the back kitchen).  I have to say I didn't like the beef enoki rice noodle as much, the rice noodle was thicker.  I guess to hold up to the filling?

Plain Steamed Rice Noodle

Steamed Beef Enoki Rice Noodle

Fritter King
1177 Central Parkway W. Suite 9,
Mississauga, ON
L5C 4P3

Phone: (905) 268-0938

Hours: Monday - Thursday 800a - 900p
Friday - Saturday 800a - 1000p
Sunday 800a - 900p

Sam's Congee Delight

Sam's Congee Delight located in Market Village has been around for as long as I can remember.  As a kid, while my mom did her grocery shopping at the Chinese supermarket next door, I loved watching the cooks roll rice noodles.  There's not that many Chinese restaurants that survive that long.  Most places close within a few years, change names, and re-open again.  The reason my friends and I decided to check out Sam's Congee Delight was because our favourite congee restaurant, My Kitchen, closed.  I have lost my source for fragrant plain congee without anything mixed in.  I know you can order plain congee at any restaurant that serves congee, but they either mix in msg, dried scallops, or they blend their congee to make it thicker (speed up the cooking process).  It's just not the homestyle cooked plain congee that I love.

Sam's Congee was packed as usual.  And unless you have enough people for a full table, you will be asked to share your table with others.  We were 4+baby, and we had to share a round table with a single diner.  I prefer not to share tables usually, it's just kind of awkward especially since i'm eating with friends to catch up with them.  But it seems you pretty much don't have a choice at Sam's.

The prices are low here, but that's because the dishes are small as well.  So be ready to order lots of dishes.  Our first round we ordered a beef and persevered egg congee, beef and fish congee, chow mien, beef and enoki rice roll, dough fritter and beef brisket on plain rice noodle (not in picture).  The food definitely arrives fast.  I guess it's not difficult to bring out the congee when they have a giant vat of congee cooking and they just ladle in whatever ingredients you want into a bowl and pour some boiling hot congee into that bowl.  We were quite hungry from waiting for the table, so we dug in before I remembered to take a picture.  Congee topping wise, there was a good amount of beef and preserved egg.  But the congee itself, just didn't hit the spot for me.  There were extra 'flavours' added in.  I was looking forward to rice noodle.  They make those in house.  Again, quite a bit of filling, but the rice noodle was too soft.  It couldn't hold up against the filling.  Same thing occurred with the brisket rice noodle.  It was super hard to pick up with chopsticks.  It was almost like mush.  At this point, I was losing hope.  So I didn't have much in terms of expectations for the chow mien or the dough fritter.  The dough fritter I don't know for sure if they make it in house, but for some reason I'm thinking they do.  It was so disappointing.  It should be crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside.  It was soft inside and out.  At least it was warm?  The chow mien, nothing to write about, its just soy sauce noodles.  We did place another order for rice noodles (because we were still hungry), but same as the first round, soft and mushy.

Sam's Congee Delight

The combination of less than satisfying congee, and the fact that they make you share tables, I think I need to keep looking for a congee restaurant.

Sam's Congee Delight
4390 Steeles Ave. E.,
Markham, ON
L3R 9V7

Phone:  (905) 479-1074

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 10a - 8p