Primary Taste Yunnan Rice Noodle

This post is long overdue!  I kinda debated writing this post as my experience here was just average.  But...I figured Yunnan Rice Noodles (過橋米線) is not as common as other Asian noodles and some people might be weary of whether to try it or not, so...here's a little bit of info about this place.

The main dishes here are rice noodle soups and there is a story behind the dish which you can read about here.  The noodles are round like spaghetti or Vietnamese vermicelli (thick) and differ from flat rice noodles used in Cantonese cooking or Vietnamese pho.  I looked up Yunnan noodles and Wiki tells us that the noodles are commonly fermented noodles. Fermented?  Sounds interesting so of course I had to read more...

I found a preview of the book "Asian Noodles: Science, Technology, and Processing" on Google and under the Noodle Processing chapter, they describe the different processing steps for rice noodles, including "fermented rice noodles".  Fermented rice noodles are noodles made from rice soaked for 2-6 days vs 3 hrs for regular rice noodles.  Not sure if the noodles at Primary Taste are actually fermented and I don't know what that would taste like but it was interesting to learn. Anyway, the noodles do have a certain bounce or 'stretchiness' to it; you'll know what I mean if you try to grab some with your chopsticks instead of just dumping the whole bowl into the soup, it will stretch kinda like an elastic band.

The meal comes out with soup in an earthenware bowl to retain the heat, a bowl of warm noodles and a tray of food and condiments.  The food items include several slices of pork (hot pot style), a quail egg, one chicken wing or drum, bean curd sheet, white fungus, black fungus, and corn.  I ordered the soup with meatballs in it which comes with a tomato based broth.  The broth was nothing special, but I thought the meatballs were quite good.  The different meat balls (beef and chicken) were all filled with a seasoned meat (I'm thinking pork) that was quite juicy, not the usual that you buy from the supermarket. They are like Fu Zhou fish balls 福州魚丸 where the fish balls contain minced pork filling.  

Unfortunately there isn't much English available to describe what everything is.

The other unfortunate thing is the tables are small for what you are getting.  A bowl of noodles, a bowl of soup, a tray of items to add to the noodles, your tea cup and utensils.  If you order a side dish or an additional drink there is no space for two people to dine.  They expect you to add the items into your broth pretty quickly and then they take the tray away leaving you with more space.  It's okay for most people, but if you're ordering a side dish, it doesn't work.  And, I wasn't able to take more than one picture as I was trying to juggle space and ensure my toddler didn't grab at anything on the table, especially the hot soup!

Prices are average, the meatball one was just under $10 while the basic is $7.99.  Aside from the small tables, I would say it's worth a try.  They do have a number of spicy broths that could be better than the ones we chose and a number of side dishes.

價錢還好, 我的肉丸米線不超過十塊.  而外桌子小一點, 我覺得可試試看.  他們也有幾個辣味的湯 (可能比我點的好一點) 和小菜.


Primary Taste Yunnan Rice Noodle
109A Ravel Rd
Toronto, ON M2H 1T2
416-499-3836

Why the occasional duplicate sentence written in Chinese?  

One of my goals starting in 2016 is to improve my Chinese language skills so this is one way I'm going about it.  
Please comment if you noticed I've totally messed up!  Thanks!

Little Master - a little bit of a surprise

When the old Cha Me Cha on Yonge Street closed, I noticed the space was being renovated for some time and I was eager to see what it would be.  Finally, Little Master opened.  Little Master appeared to be a noodle place but it was hard to tell what was actually on their menu just by looking at the outside.  We decided to give them a try anyway.

We were surprised that almost all the dishes had a bit of spiciness to it which meant, none for our toddler who can't handle the heat.  However, we spotted some sides like the Chinese hamburger or in Taiwan the 'gua bao' 割 / 刈包 and fried tofu.  But, in the end, they were spicy too!  Not extremely, but had just a hint.

我們發現每個菜差不多有辣味的, 如是我們的孩子不可以吃.  我們想刈包和炸豆腐就沒辣所以點了, 到頭來也是辣的!  沒有太辣, 可是有.

The saute chicken spicy noodle I got was pretty good, the noodles had a good bite to it and the portion size was decent, not huge like you'll have leftovers but just enough.  Soup was spicy and the chicken was okay flavoured but does have bones.  There are potatoes in this dish and to me it seems like a very traditional (Northern Chinese) dish that is executed quite well.  I also liked the 'gua bao' and the fried tofu.  The gua bao here is filled with a spicy minced pork and was flavourful, the buns were decent.  The fried tofu was lightly seasoned with cumin and chili pepper, a nice side (but a little pricey).

I get excited when a new place opens in the Yonge-Finch/Sheppard area, but it usually ends up being just average.  This time, I liked the place and would have loved to come back regularly, but unfortunately their menu is a bit limited for our needs.

Service  was pretty laid back, no complaints.

Little Master

5369 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M2N 5R6

T: 647-640-5369

Why the occasional duplicate sentence written in Chinese?  

One of my goals starting in 2016 is to improve my Chinese language skills so this is one way I'm going about it.  
Please comment if you noticed I've totally messed up!  Thanks!

Peking Duck at NCE BBQ (Northern China Eatery) - One of the Best in the City!

When I saw NCE a few weeks ago and then read a review on Zomato, I was really eager to try it out.  So about 2 weeks ago we did...just the two of us plus toddler.  The Peking duck was very good and luckily it was just us or we'd probably have to order another one if we there was another couple with us!

兩個星期前我們...兩個加一個小童...試試看 NCE BBQ.  北京烤鴨非常好吃! 好財沒有第三第四位詪我們一起吃飯,否則要點多一隻鴨子!

The duck skin was crispy and flavourful and the duck meat was tender and moist.  I've had duck at various places across the GTA and this one is the best I've eaten in recent memory!  I would definitely give this place a 5/5 if I was just eating Peking duck.  What makes this meal a cut above others are two other things, the wrappers and condiments.  The wrappers are very thin, sometimes we would pick up one, but it would actually be two thin ones.  They still held up and did not break.  The condiments are the usual but they give you a good amount.

However, for those that are used to having 2 or 3 courses of duck, example lettuce wrap as the second course, they don't offer that here.  Most of the duck is cut up and can be eaten with the wrapper or as is.  The second course is what they do with the bones, either in a soup, fried with salt and pepper or fried with cumin and chili pepper.  We chose the cumin.  It was very spicy!  I'd say it's good as a snack to accompany a few drinks.



They started us off with some banchan...

And here are the other dishes we tried.  Unfortunately they weren't the best choices as they weren't typical Northern Chinese dishes, but we needed noodles and non-spicy items for our toddler...so we ordered Shanghai noodles and garlic stir-fried broccoli.  Both were average.

Service was pretty quick and courteous but we went on a weeknight just before 6pm so it was pretty empty.   Glad they have lots of tables though, especially if this place gets very popular!

NCE BBQ
180 Steeles Avenue W
Unit 20A
Vaughan, ON L4J 2L1
T: (905) 597-1885

Why the occasional duplicate sentence written in Chinese?  

One of my goals starting in 2016 is to improve my Chinese language skills so this is one way I'm going about it.  
Please comment if you noticed I've totally messed up!  Thanks!

Dayali - Spinach and Peanuts, Stir fried Tea Tree Mushrooms, and Yes, Peking Duck

Dayali Beijing Roast Duck
20 Gibson Dr.
Markham, ON L3R 0M7
T: 905-604-8680

About a month ago I was craving Peking duck, so I invited some friends to come try it out with me. We have ordered Peking duck for just 2 of us but I thought it would be good to try some other dishes and looking at the menu, I wanted to try a lot of other dishes!

We ordered the signature duck which was pricier, but unfortunately it wasn't the star of the show that afternoon. It was good but not "you have to eat this HERE!" type reaction.

The signature duck I believe comes with the extra slices of skin that I are around the chest area, fattier than other parts. It also comes with a warmer for the wrappers and extra sides which actually weren't that interesting after all. Overall, this was an average tasting bird. The special pieces were crisp but also because of the fattieness, the fat was somewhat "spongy" as my partner put it.

We ordered a number of sides to go with our duck...

From top L (counter clockwise): meat jelly, glutinous rice stuffed lotus root, spinach and peanuts, jelly fish, marinated duck wings

The best was the spinach and peanuts but it is a spicy dish.

Here are the other items we ordered...

 

Beef noodle soup

Fried rice

Tea tree mushroom stirfry (You can buy these at Chinese supermarkets...they don't taste like tea though, or at least I don't think so since it was stir fried with soy sauce and chilis)

Braised pork with glutinous rice

Spicy clams

 

Dishes that I'd order again based on taste:

Spinach and peanut salad
Spicy clams
Stir-fried tea tree mushrooms (although the picture in the menu was quite different, showing a mix of different types of mushrooms which would have been more ideal): these mushrooms are chewy and the dish is spicy so if might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Average:

Beef noodle soup
Lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice (sweet tasting)
Braised pork with glutinous rice (very little glutinous rice)
Fried rice (can't remember the exact name but I believe it was seafood)

Lacking flavour and wouldn't order again:

Meat jelly
Marinated duck wings

A number of the dishes seemed quite oily but I know that this is often the case.


Service was sub-par...there weren't many servers to attend to the tables, a friend had to get up and get little things like extra napkins himself!

Paradise Fine Chinese Dining - Not Worth the Price

House Cold Appetizer: Spicy pickled cloud ear fungus

A month ago we had gone to Paradise Fine Dining for dinner as we were in the mood for something fancier in terms of Chinese cuisine and it was close to home.  When it comes to eating Chinese food, I can be quite picky...especially if they are charging a premium price.  I'm definitely more lenient towards HK Cafes as they are what they claim to be; quick service value restaurants.  So I expect higher end restaurants to serve food and provide service according to their claim that they are "fine dining" and "higher end".

Although the food tasted okay and I was happy to have tried out this restaurant, I don't think the portions, tastes, or service match up with the price they charge. I really had a hard time writing this as I hate spending time on negative things, but I have to tell it like it is.  I did like the cold appetizer they provided free of charge, the spicy pickled cloud ear fungus but, had the prices been more aligned with the taste, I would think more highly of this restaurant. Maybe we didn't choose the "right" dishes or dim sum is much better, but all three dishes we tried just didn't justify the price. 

Steamed fish...ended up being almost $50 for an okay tasting steamed fish.  Nothing wrong with it but it wasn't the best I've had in the city.



Diced Garlic Beef Tenderloin...$22 for beef that tasted good but not spectacular.  The accompaning zucchini pieces were undercooked and lacked flavour as I assume they thought the beef would add flavour to these pieces.  The portion size could have been better.



Braised Tofu and Vegetables...$16 for blocks of tofu and shitake mushrooms that were pretty standard. 

Anyway, if you have deep pockets and want to give them a try, the decor is nice, service was more attentive when we were paying the bill, and food was okay.  They do have a set meal for just over $100 containing lobster and roasted duck (by the way, roast duck alone was $50) that might entice me to return, but right now if I want some high end Chinese food, I'll be looking elsewhere.


Paradise Fine Chinese Dining
5505 Leslie St
Toronto, ON M2H 3B6
(416) 490-8828
http://www.paradisenorthyork.com/

 

 

Chef Papa Tea and Noodle Bar

 

Chef Papa Tea and Noodle Bar recently took over the Congee Wong space in the Kennedy and Hwy 7 (Peach Tree) Plaza and it follows the same format as Deer Garden; you customize your meal by selecting your soup base, noodles, and toppings.  But, it seems like they offer a few more soup bases and less variety of toppings.  They also have rice dishes as well which I was tempted to get but wanted to try the noodles as it seemed to be their speciality.  Comes with a drink, Presotea drinks are an extra $2.50 with your noodle or rice combo.

 

They also have side orders and surprisingly the side of grilled lemongrass chicken was quite tasty!  The noodle soups were pretty good too but the chicken was done better than expected.  Don't get me wrong, I would definitely get the noodles again, but the chicken (albeit a bit small) was tender and very flavourful! 

 

I ordered a Chiu Chow style broth with fresh udon, Japanese chashu, and soft egg.  My partner got the hokkaido pork bone ramen (comes with the soft egg) with egg noodles and fish puff.  The udon noodles were definitely chewy and tasted fresh, this was probably the best part of my bowl!  The soup was flavourful but I think I prefer Deer Garden's Chiu Chow broth more (sorry, it's hard not to compare!).  The Japanese chashu was slices of pork belly (good portion size) which was decent, but not as tender as Japanese ramen houses.  Opted for a cold milk tea instead of Presotea which was okay, but they put in quite a bit of evaporated milk, seemed like condensed milk was added.

 



Overall, a decent meal with quite a number of options.  Especially great if a group of people want to eat differing types of noodles/rice, this place offers Japanese, Vietnamese, and Chinese noodles and rice dishes to satisfy a variety of cravings.

Chef Papa Tea and Noodle Bar
8390 Kennedy Road, Unit B1-3
Markham, ON L3R 0W4
T: (905) 604-1588

Sichuan Ren - Numbing Spiciness

Sichuan Ren

5195 Yonge Street

Toronto, ON M2N 5P7

Omgoodness!  Numbing spiciness...a quick way to feel very, very warm during these cool nights.  Sichuan Ren is the new spicy restaurant to hit the Yonge and Sheppard/Finch area.  We went on opening day (which was actually over a week ago) and the service was quick and pretty decent.  Sichuan peppercorns are used in abundance and almost all the dishes contain them so if you don't like spicy or you're not a fan of the numbing spiciness that come with eating Sichuan peppercorns, you're only left with a few options.  So, in other words, don't go if you don't like spicy!

We ordered a cucumber cold appetizer and 2 noodle soup bowls, one beef and one pork.  The wood ears cold dish we also selected was sold out so they are still probably gauging how much to prepare.  The cucumbers were really good, spicy yet cooling.

The noodles were okay.  The beef was tender but I wish there was more beef, for the $11 price tag, I was expecting more.  Noodles are okay too, nothing to complain about.  I've never been to Sichuan China so I'm not sure if it's authentic or not but I couldn't drink the soup.  Lots of oil and just too spicy.  Maybe it's only there to flavour the noodles?





The pork was less tender and again portions of meat were small.

They also have these sharing hot pots that others got but we thought it would be something we'd try if we come back.  Overall, I'd give them another go if I was in the mood for Sichuan food and wanted to stay close to home.

Keung's in Markham - The Salted Pork Bone Congee, a Must Get!

Keung's Restuarant
8390 Kennedy Rd, Unit C1& C3
(Peachtree plaza/New Kennedy Square)
Markham, ON L3R 0W4
905-940-0488

Hong Kong style cafes are very popular for a weekend breakfast and if you show up after 10, you'll be waiting in line...yes, lineups out the door for very popular places.  This happened to us a couple of weeks ago.  So, we ended up at Keung's Restaurant by default as they had just opened and I'm glad we did.  I haven't been to Keung's in a while, especially for dinner so I haven't seen their regular menu in a while.  They don't offer a breakfast menu so we only had the regular menu to look at and my partner decided on this special congee:  salted pork bone congee.  It was such a great pick, we all loved it!

What is salted pork bone congee?  It's a congee made from pork bones that have been salted and left to marinate for 8 hours before water, rice, and other ingredients are added.  The website explains here.

The congee was nicely salted because of the prep to the bones and I liked the combination of conpoy (dried scallop), mustard greens, and thousand year old egg.  The congee was seasoned with just the right amount of white pepper. 

Not sure if it was the unique bowl it comes in that caught their eye or others were in-the-know way before us, but the next few tables coming in all the got the same congee.  They mention there is limited daily supply so get there early!

Copper looking bowl with woven basket is a nice touch to highlight this special congee.

The fried dough fritters were also quite tasty but I could have just eaten the congee alone, it was that good!

 

I ordered a pork chop noodle soup dish which was okay; pork chop was fried well and there were quite a bit of noodles.  But, the congee stole the show - it really is a must get!

 

 

 

 

New Northern Dumpling - Go for the Lamb Skewers

Lamb skewers: there were 5 to start but I forgot to take my camera out!

New Northern Dumpling
633 Silver Star Boulevard Unit 120
Toronto, ON M1V 5N1
(416) 321-2289

As the summer begins, I think about the Asian night markets that open for a weekend in July.  Mainly because of the huge variety of snack foods and I always get lamb skewers.  But, the line ups and crowds definitely make it hard when you're toting a baby along.  So in comes New Northern Dumpling.  Their lamb skewers are yummy and so worth the price ($5.99 for 5)!  I know that it's supposed to be a dumpling place but the lamb skewers out shone the dumplings in my opinion.  Light cumin flavour and more spicy than other Northern Chinese restaurants.  Although the restaurant name highlights dumplings, they actually have a huge menu that includes many items that are not dumplings.

We ordered a pork and fennel (dill actually) dumpling that came 15 per basket. A definite value and the taste was pretty good. The filling was nicely seasoned and you can taste the dill. But, the wrapper was a bit too thick and hardened too quickly. That would be where I took points off.

We also got the soup filled ones but they were too small that there wasn't much soup, came 8 per basket. I think whatever amount of soup there was, it got absorbed by the skin.

Pork and fennel (dill) steamed dumplings

Juicy!

Soup dumplings: Too small

We also ordered a vegetable noodle dish which turned out to be a very big bowl of noodles.  It was different since there was cucumbers in the soup which I didn't expect to see.  The noodles had a nice chew to it and we quite enjoyed it.

 

Vegetables Noodles

Service was nice, nothing to complain about but English is limited.  For those that don't speak Mandarin, the menu contains pictures for most of their items and as you can see above, ordering is done by marking the menu.

We quite enjoyed our meal and I think we would return for the lamb skewers and to try some of their other dishes.  Based on the pork and fennel dumpling I would say this place is decent for dumplings, but Northern Dumpling Kitchen is still my favourite dumpling restaurant in the GTA.