Mississauga – Page 11

Unique Fried Chicken at Rick’s Good Eats

Published on December 23, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 6660 Kennedy Road, Mississauga
Website: https://www.ricksgoodeats.ca/

Tucked away in an industrial area of Mississauga, Rick’s Good Eats is a delightful hidden gem serving tasty Indian fusion dishes. I had the burger there a few years ago and quite enjoyed it, and I just tried the fried chicken sandwich and liked it even better.

Rick’s Fried Chicken Sandwich, as per the menu: “Battered, double-fried Tandoori Chicken dressed with signature Ting Tang sauce, Achari Mayo, lettuce, chopped tomato and onion, pickles and cilantro.”

The woman behind the counter also asked if I wanted to add bacon, and of course I said yes. I’m not gonna say no to bacon; what am I, a maniac?

(Though as it turns out I safely could have said no to the bacon — there are so many bold flavours and textures here that the bacon is pretty much completely lost.)

It’s a phenomenal fried chicken sandwich. In particular, the idea of crossing tandoori chicken and fried chicken is actually kind of genius. The very tender chicken has a pronounced marinated tandoori flavour and an intensely satisfying exterior crunch. It’s very, very good.

Everything else is just as good, with a great contrast between the zippy Ting Tang sauce and the creamy mayo, additional crunch and freshness from the veggies, and a fluffy bun that does a good job of holding it all together. It’s easily one of the better fried chicken sandwiches I’ve had in a while.

Unique Chinese Food at Tangritah Kabab House

Published on December 17, 2023December 17, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 900 Rathburn Road West, Mississauga
Website: None

One of the things I like about living in Toronto is that not only is pretty much every country’s cuisine available to try (which I explore in another blog, 196 Plates — I think it might be about time to bring that one back), you can actually get so much more specific than that.

This place — which specializes in Uyghur cuisine — is a great example of this. “Chinese food” tends to be put under one enormous umbrella, but China is a huge country, and its food is wildly different from region to region.

I tried a few things here, and it was all extremely delicious. First up: a dish the menu only refers to as “fried meat.” I think it was beef, though it might have been lamb (if it was, it didn’t have much of a lamby flavour). Either way, it was super tasty, with a bunch of tender meat, nicely cooked onions, and a very cumin-tinged flavour that was extremely addictive.

Next up was the Tangritah Special Langmen, which is an Uyghur dish in which hand-pulled noodles are topped with stir-fried veggies and meat. The flavour here was a bit less distinctive than the fried meat, but the noodles had a really satisfying chewiness, and the veggies and meat were perfectly cooked (again, I’m not sure what the meat was, but I’m gonna say beef).

Finally, I tried the samsa, a bun filled with a mix of lamb and onions. This looks like it might have initially been crispy on its exterior, which would have been nice, but it was either steamed or microwaved to reheat and was soft throughout. Regardless, it was quite tasty.

A Delicious Sandwich at Falafel Plus

Published on December 7, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1065 Canadian Place, Mississauga
Website: https://falafelplus.ca/

I’ve had the falafel at Falafel Plus a few times now, and it’s consistently delicious — some of the best falafel in the GTA. I figured it was probably about time to try something different; despite the name, this place actually serves a whole bunch of Middle Eastern standbys.

I went with the magaly, which is a fried eggplant and cauliflower sandwich. You can get this topped as you’d like, but by default it comes with creamy garlic sauce, zingy cucumber salad, hot pepper, and (I think) a different garlicky sauce.

It’s really good. The eggplant has a great flavour and is luxuriously creamy, and the cauliflower adds a meaty bite. Combined with the tasty toppings, it’s a top-notch sandwich.

Given how good the falafel is, I was expecting this to be tasty, but I was actually pretty blown away by how much I enjoyed it.

Decent Noodles at Lion City

Published on April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

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

It’s odd — Singapore’s cuisine is incredibly delicious, and yet there’s maybe like half a dozen Singaporean restaurants in the entire GTA? If that? I feel like there should be one in every neighbourhood, but at least we’ve got a few of them.

One of those few restaurants is Lion City in Mississauga, which serves a diverse menu of Singaporean classics that, alas, were mostly unavailable when I visited. I guess they were having kitchen issues?

The laksa was one of the few dishes that was available, and hey, I’m never going to be mad about having to order laksa.

The style of laksa they serve here features a really tasty, curry-and-seafood-infused broth that’s made luxuriously creamy thanks to coconut milk, and that comes with a generous amount of thick rice noodles.

It was far from the best laksa I’ve ever had, with a flavour that was a bit too muted, and with slightly overcooked noodles, but it was still tasty. The various toppings — shrimp, fish cakes, chicken, tofu — were all well prepared and complemented the soup quite well.

This is going to make me sound like a maniac, but there’s a type of instant laksa you can find at Asian supermarkets from a Singaporean company called Prima Taste, and… I honestly think it’s a little bit better than the version they’re serving here, with a more vibrant flavour and a better texture on the noodles.

I know that recommending instant noodles, of all things, over a restaurant dish sounds like a food crime, but trust me: try those noodles. They’re so much better than any other instant noodles you’ve ever had.

Tasty Buns at Bao Mama

Published on April 4, 2023April 4, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga
Website: https://baomama.ca/

Bao Mama currently has a temporary pop-up in the Food District at Square One (until April 16th), but if you miss them there, you can check out their permanent location in Scarborough. And you might want to do that, because their Filipino-inspired buns are thoroughly tasty.

The first one I tried was the hip hipon crispy shrimp bao, which features crispy fried shrimp topped with a zingy sauce and “Asian house slaw.” The shrimp was a bit overcooked, but this was otherwise quite satisfying, with a nice contrast between the fluffy bao and the crispy fried shrimp, not to mention the tasty slaw and the slightly sweet sauce.

I also tried the triple B braised beef asado bao, which is stuffed with a generous amount of tender braised beef, and topped with the house slaw and crispy onions. This was easily my favourite of the two; that ultra-tender, very flavourful beef is something special.

They have a tangy, sweet chili sauce you can get on the side, and this stuff is a must — it complements both baos perfectly, and does a great job of amping up the flavours and adding a mild kick.