Chinese food – Page 7

Delicious Noodle Soup at Wonton Express

Published on December 5, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4040 Creditview Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/wonton_express/

I tried this place a few years ago when it was called Wonton Chai Noodle and liked it a lot. But they’ve got a new name, and I was curious to see if anything had changed. Back when I went, they were serving up some of the best wonton noodle soup in the GTA, and I wondered if that was still the case.

Spoiler alert: yes, it is absolutely still the case. It’s so good.

Those wontons are magical. They’re just as delicious as they were last time, with perfectly cooked shrimp and a flavour that keeps you coming back for more.

On this visit I ordered the bowl that also comes with beef brisket, and while the brisket was perfectly tender and tasty, the wontons are so good that it kind of feels like a waste of time. Just give me more of those wontons. Give me a million of those wontons. Let me drown in a swimming pool filled with those wontons.

I’m not sure if it’s because I ordered the brisket, but the soup was beefy instead of the usual chicken broth you’re expecting. But it was really tasty, so I can’t complain.

And the same fiery chili oil from my first visit is still on the table. This stuff is great; one spoonful is more than enough to give the bowl a serious kick.

Bonus: while it’s a bit pricier than it was when I visited in 2018 (seven bucks for a bowl back then, nine now, and ten for the version with brisket), it’s still delightfully affordable.

This place is kind of out there in Mississauga, but it’s totally worth the drive. It’s really, really good.

Amazing Roast Pork at Luen Hing Barbecue

Published on November 13, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 888 Dundas Street East, Mississauga (inside the Mississauga Chinese Centre)
Website: None

If a restaurant has an enormous slab of tasty-looking roasted pork hanging in the window, you should eat at that restaurant. That’s just a fact. Is that a law? I think that might be the law. If you see a restaurant like that you have to eat there or you’ll go to jail. That sounds fair to me.

Luen Hing also has chicken and duck hanging in the window, and clearly I have to go back, because that pork… wow.

I ordered the roast pork and barbecue pork on rice, which comes with a seriously generous amount of tasty eats for about twelve bucks. It’s a great deal, that’s for sure.

I actually brought this home instead of eating in the food court, and I had resigned myself to the fact that the pork skin probably wouldn’t be particularly crispy. It’s hard to retain your crunch when you’ve been steaming in a sealed take-out box. But oh man, that skin was crisp. It was at delightful, kettle chip levels of crunchiness.

And the pork itself was so good. Super flavourful, nice and tender, fatty but not too fatty, and of course, the aforementioned super crunchy skin. Delightful.

The barbecue pork wasn’t quite on the same level — it was a bit dry — but it was still quite tasty, with a nice balance of sweet and savoury.

The steamed cabbage and the sauce they poured on top were also quite good. It all adds up to a seriously satisfying version of this dish, and a restaurant that I’ll almost certainly be returning to in the near future.

Tasty Sweet Buns at Akko Cake House

Published on October 20, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4040 Creditview Road #1, Mississauga
Website: None

Akko Cake House is a bit oddly named. They do have a handful of cakes at the front, but mostly, this is a fairly standard Chinese bakery with a whole bunch of sweet and savoury buns and tarts.

I tried a few sweet buns: coconut, custard, and walnut.

The pastry itself was quite good — it was fresh, a little bit sweet, and super fluffy.

I was intrigued about the walnut variety; I don’t recall ever seeing a walnut bun before, and I’ve certainly never tried one. It was fairly subtle, however, with a very thin layer of walnut paste and a few walnut chunks. It tasted more like a plain bun with a mild walnut flavour.

The custard was about what you’d expect. It was sweet, creamy, and tasty.

The coconut bun was where it was at. The generous filling was really tasty, with a nice coconut flavour. It also has a surprisingly strong hit of salt that does a great job of rounding out the sweetness. It’s really good. The bakery was packed (the line was to the door when I left), and with buns that good, it’s easy enough to see why.

Decent Noodle Soup at Beefing With 7

Published on October 11, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Unit 9, Mississauga
Website: https://www.facebook.com/BeefingWith7.Mississauga/

Beefing with 7 is a Hong Kong-style restaurant with a few locations throughout the GTA (and an absolutely baffling name — there’s no indication on the menu or the restaurant’s website about what “7” refers to).

I had the signature beef brisket noodle soup, and it’s perfectly tasty, though it’s nothing you need to jump in your car and go out of your way for.

Still, I don’t have any complaints — the broth has a clean beefy flavour, the simply-spiced brisket is tender, and the firm noodles are satisfying. There are also several optional add-ons, which might not be a bad idea; the bowl is tasty, but could probably use some jazzing up.

There is, however, a bowl of tasty chili oil on the table, which is a must. It adds a nice kick and a bit more depth of flavour to the very straightforward bowl of noodle soup.

Cheap Eats at Tsui Xiang Tsuen

Published on October 6, 2022 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 888 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
Website: None

The Mississauga Chinese Centre is a definite hidden gem if you’re looking for cheap eats in Mississauga. You wouldn’t know it from the outside (it basically just looks like a strip mall) but it has a small food court with several vendors serving up a whole bunch of dishes.

There’s a sushi place, a Filipino place, and a few Chinese restaurants with typically enormous food court menus. Tsui Xiang Tsuen falls into the enormous menu category; I was craving wonton noodle soup, so that’s what I ordered.

Was it the best wonton noodle soup I’ve ever had? No, absolutely not. In particular, the wontons were basically complete mush, and the filling wasn’t quite what you’re expecting. Instead of the usual pork/shrimp combo, I think it was all pork, and it had a mildly gamy flavour that I wasn’t crazy about. They were easily the weak point of the dish.

On the other hand, the generous amount of noodles were perfectly cooked with a good amount of texture, and the broth had a nice clean flavour.

Plus, I think I’m burying the lede here, because this thing was a pretty hearty lunch, and the price? Six bucks. You can’t go wrong there.