noodles – Page 3 – Michael Eats

Cheesy Noodles at Garden Hong Kong Cafe

Published on December 8, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 28 South Unionville Avenue, Markham
Website: None

I’ve mentioned before that I make it a general policy on this blog to not compare dishes to the real deal in whatever country they’re from. I just don’t think it’s particularly useful or fair, for a number of reasons.

But sometimes I’ve gotta do it. In this case, I pretty much fell in love with the cheese noodles I had in Hong Kong, and was very excited when I saw that they had them on the menu at Garden Hong Kong Cafe in Markham.

It’s a really simple dish; it’s basically just instant noodles with cheese sauce. In Hong Kong, it was served with braised pork cheek on the side; here, it was chicken wings.

I will say that the version at Garden Hong Kong Cafe was tasty enough, especially when you top it with a generous spoonful (or two, or three) of the garlicky, sweet chili oil they have on the table. That chili oil is doing about 95 percent of the heavy lifting in making this as good as it is, but hey — tasty is tasty. I’m not complaining.

Sadly, the cheese sauce here is pretty bland, and is applied very sparingly to the noodles (as opposed to Hong Kong, where the sauce completely smothered the dish and had a delightfully sharp cheesy flavour).

Still, that aforementioned chili oil is delicious enough to smooth over any of the dish’s faults, and at $8.50 (!) — which includes a mug of delicious milk tea — it’s hard to deny that it’s an absolute steal.

I should note that this place is very small and very busy (it was already packed and had a waiting list when I showed up a few minutes after they opened on a recent Saturday), so keep that in mind.

Solid Singaporean Food at Kiss My Pans

Published on September 22, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 713 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.kissmypans.com/

I’ve mentioned before that Singaporean cuisine isn’t nearly common enough in the city, so it’s quite delightful that Kiss My Pans — a Singaporean brunch spot in Little Italy — not only exists, but is extremely popular.

They have a pretty extensive menu that basically covers Singapore’s greatest hits; I tried the roasted chicken rice, and the char kway teow.

Chicken rice is a classic dish that features chicken served with chicken-infused rice. It’s traditionally served with either poached (which is my preference) or roasted chicken, which is what they serve here (well, they call it roasted, but I think it’s actually fried, as it has a level of crispiness I don’t think you can get in the oven?).

It’s quite tasty. Both the rice and the chicken are slightly on the dry side, but otherwise the flavours are right where you want them to be, with the soy and chili sauces on the side adding a nice savouriness and zippiness.

I also tried the char kway teow, a stir-fried noodle dish that gets its distinctive dark colour from dark and light soy sauce. Again, it’s not the best version of the dish that I’ve had (the flavours don’t quite pop the way they should, and the wok hei might be a bit too pronounced, with a borderline bitter flavour throughout), but it’s still very tasty. And again, it’s not like we have a million Singaporean restaurants to choose from in the GTA; I’m just happy that this place exists, and is pretty good.

A Meaty Bowl of Noodles at Szechuan Noodle Bowl

Published on September 2, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 526 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://szechuannoodlebowl.ca/

Szechuan Noodle Bowl is definitely about more than just noodles, with an impressively deep, multi-page menu that has a whole bunch of tasty-looking Chinese dishes. Still, it’s called “Szechuan Noodle Bowl,” so clearly, I had to order the first dish on the menu: Noodles, Sichuan style.

You can choose from either chicken or pork (I went with pork), and spicy or non-spicy (I went with spicy, of course).

It’s a solid bowl of noodles. The flavour was a bit more muted than I’d like (this is particularly true of the spice level, which was almost nonexistent — and sadly, the jar of chili oil that you’ll often find on the table at a place like this was absent, so there was no way of amping things up), but otherwise this was a really satisfying bowl of noodles.

The thick noodles were nice and chewy, the garlicky pork was quite tasty, and the peanuts added a good amount of texture. It didn’t exactly rock my world, but I enjoyed it (the affordable $11.99 price tag for a very substantial serving of both noodles and pork definitely helps).

Solid Ramen at Midori Ramen

Published on August 26, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 412 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://midoriramen.com/

Ramen: it’s the best. I’ve said it on this blog before, and I have no doubt I’ll say it again. Even a mid-tier bowl of ramen is better than a great version of most other things.

Case in point: Midori Ramen. Is it the best bowl of ramen in the city? No, absolutely not. Is it tasty? It absolutely is.

Their specialty is tori paitan ramen, which is like the tonkotsu that’s so prevalent in the GTA, but made with chicken instead of pork. The best versions of this have an addictive roasted chicken flavour, and while this one was creamy and nice, it didn’t have much of a flavour outside of a pleasant, rich saltiness.

You can choose between thin, thick, and kale (??) noodles; they recommend thin. Like the broth, the noodles are pleasant, but they lack the toothsome chew that makes the best ramen noodles so special.

The toppings are all great, however. It comes with tasty pork chashu, a ridiculously tender slice of chicken, and a great ramen egg with a perfectly jammy yolk.

Delicious Wonton Noodle Soup at Jim Chai Kee

Published on July 28, 2024 by Michael Nusair1 Comment

Location: 270 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill
Website: https://www.jimchaikee.ca/

It’s been several years since I’ve been to Jim Chai Kee, but my recollection is that they serve some of the best wonton noodle soup in the GTA.

And hey, what do you know — other than the prices (which have, naturally, gone up a bit), they’ve remained remarkably consistent over the years. It’s still a superb bowl of wonton noodle soup and, yeah, probably the best in the city.

Every element is right where it should be. The noodles are at just the right level of chewiness; the chicken-infused broth is light, but also bursting with flavour; and the wontons are really tasty, with perfectly cooked shrimp.

That’s not to mention the chili oil, which is smoky, flavourful, and extremely spicy. They sell jars of this stuff for $20, which seems like a lot, but when it’s this much better than basically any chili oil you’ve had, it’s hard to quibble with the price. It’s also so spicy and packed with flavour that you’ll inevitably need less of it than you would otherwise, so I have to imagine that the small jar — which, yes, I absolutely bought — will last a while.

I ordered the assorted bowl that also comes with beef and fishballs, and while they’re both very tasty, those amazing wontons are where it’s at. I think I’ll just stick with the wontons next time.