Chinese – Michael Eats

Tasty Buns at Blooming Garden Dessert House

Published on July 1, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: None

Look, I’m a simple man with simple pleasures. Put a red bean bun in front of me, and I’m going to eat and enjoy that bun. I’ve had a lot of red bean buns of varying levels of quality, but I’ve never had one I’ve outright disliked.

I also enjoy desserts that are on the less sweet side of things, so when I saw that Blooming Garden Dessert House serves something that they call a “less sugar red bean pineapple bun,” I was all over that.

I know that I just said that I’d enjoy literally any red bean bun that you put in front of me, so maybe that kills my credibility a bit, but this was a particularly good one. I really, really enjoyed it.

I thought it might be barely sweet at all, but while the sugar level is definitely on the more restrained side of things, it’s plenty sweet. The sweetness level is about on par with the better red bean buns that I’ve had, so advertising this as “less sugar” is probably overkill.

Everything here is just right, from the satisfying chunkiness of the filling, to the ultra fresh and chewy bread, to the perfectly crispy topping. It’s legitimately one of the better versions of this that I’ve had in a while.

Extremely Chewy Noodles at Miss Xu Potato Fans

Published on June 28, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.instagram.com/miss_xupotatofans/

As you might guess from the name, Miss Xu Potato Fans specializes in potatoes. Specifically: potato noodles, which are basically a much, much chewier version of normal noodles.

They actually have a pretty deep menu; I went with the Braised Pork Mashed Potato Mix Noodles, which comes with mashed potato, braised pork, veggies, and potato noodles. You have the choice of three different preparations for the mashed potato: hot pot, curry, or tomato. I went with hot pot.

It’s a really interesting dish. I’ve never even heard of eating noodles with mashed potatoes, which certainly seems like an odd combo. It works, however; the mashed potatoes do a great job of clinging to the noodles, and they have the vibrant flavour that you associate with Sichuan-style hot pot. But instead of hot pot, it’s… mashed potatoes. Again, odd but tasty.

About half of the noodles are covered with a very generous amount of mashed potatoes, and the other half is coated in a savoury, slightly sweet sauce that kinda reminded me of Korean black bean noodles. The dish also features a generous amount of braised pork belly, which was tasty, if not particularly mind-blowing.

As for the potato noodles, they are very, very chewy. To make another Korean comparison, they reminded me a lot of the noodles you’ll find in naengmyeon — but even chewier, somehow? I think it’s because they’re relatively thick, which makes the chewiness feel more pronounced. It’s a fun novelty, though ultimately, I would have rather just been eating normal noodles (which is also an option here).

Quick Bites: Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle, Loga’s Corner, Cafe KenKaKu

Published on June 1, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Mogouyan classic beef noodles from Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle

Mogouyan Hand Pulled Noodle is a rapidly expanding chain that specializes in, as you might expect, hand-pulled noodles. Shocker, I know! I kept it simple with their namesake dish, which features a generous amount of noodles and sliced beef in a very basic chicken broth, with a decent amount of chili oil for additional flavour and spice. The noodles, sadly, were overcooked and a bit mushy, which is a shame since the chewy noodles are really the whole reason to eat this dish. Otherwise, this was totally fine — nothing about it jumped out at me, but it’s all solidly executed (aside from the aforementioned overcooked noodles) and tasty enough.

Momos from Loga’s Corner

I wanted to visit Loga’s Corner mostly because I had heard good things about their hot sauce. I actually got two, so I’m not sure which one is the one that people love (or maybe it’s both?), but both were nicely flavourful and had a nice kick. As for the momos themselves, I tried three: steamed lamb, steamed veg, and fried potato. The potato was probably the best of the three, with a satisfyingly crispy exterior and nicely creamy potato interior. The lamb was mostly quite good, but had more gristly bits than I would have liked (they were in pretty much every momo). All three definitely needed both of those sauces, particularly the veg, and had a much more muted flavour than you’d expect.

Tori Katsu Omurice from Cafe KenKaKu

Cafe KenKaKu is a delightful little Japanese place that serves a variety of sandwiches, udon, and omurice. I went with the omurice that comes with a side of katsu. I quite enjoyed it — in particular, the omelette was creamy and perfectly cooked, and the katsu was nice and crisp on its exterior and tender within. The omelette and the rice were both a bit underseasoned and bland, which was a shame (even pouring the curry sauce on top didn’t quite add as much flavour was you’d like), but it was all so well prepared that this is a minor complaint.

Satisfying Chinese Food at Bao Goubuli

Published on May 29, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1177 Central Parkway West, Mississauga
Website: https://goubuli.ca/

If their website is to be believed, Bao Goubuli is a Chinese chain that opened their first location in 1858. No, not 1958 (which would still be very impressive). 1858.

Assuming that’s true, you can’t argue with that kind of history. Clearly, they’re doing something right.

They’ve got about a million things to choose from, but the first item on the menu (and the specialty, I assume?) is the pork bao: “Traditional Steamed Pork Bao stuffed with
Ground Pork and Green Onion.”

It’s a tasty bao, with the ultra-fluffy bun encasing tasty, juicy pork. Nothing too mind-blowing here, but it’s quite satisfying.

I also tried the pan-fried pancake stuffed with beef, which features a flaky flatbread rolled up with beef, lettuce, and a sweet sauce. Again: quite satisfying.

Last but not least, I tried the Tianjin-style savoury crepes (a.k.a. jian bing), which was a really solid version of this dish. Eggy, crispy, and tasty.

Tasty Eats at Lamb Soup Noodle House

Published on May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4750 Yonge Street, Toronto (inside Emerald Park food court)
Website: none

The lamb soup at Lamb Soup Noodle House is pretty tasty, with a very clean lamby flavour. I got the spicy version, which also had a very noticeable fiery kick. Nothing about it blew my mind — but I’m a fan of lamb, and I’m never going to dislike anything that packed with lamb flavour.

(The chunks of lamb are a bit tough and the fat noodles are overcooked, but I think the broth is the real reason to order this.)

I think the better thing to order here, oddly, isn’t the lamb soup — it’s the jian bing, an eggy Chinese crepe.

I actually tried the jian bing here several years ago and quite enjoyed it. It was called Gao’s Crepe back then, so I’m not sure if it’s the same place or another jian bing spot in the same location, but either way, it’s thoroughly delicious.

Rather than going with the standard jian bing, I went with the one that comes stuffed with spicy noodles and cheese (!), and wow it was good. The wrap itself was chewy and satisfying, it has a nice crunch, and the zippy noodles and melty processed cheese work surprisingly well together. There’s also some kind of sausage in there, and yeah, that’s tasty too. It’s all quite junky, but in a really satisfying way.