rice noodles – Michael Eats

Tasty Noodles at Wu Ji Xi’an Foods

Published on August 1, 2026August 1, 2026 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 117B North Service Road East, Oakville
Website: None

Wu Ji Xi’an Foods is probably the hole-in-the-walliest hole in the wall I’ve visited in quite a while. It’s take-out only, with the extremely no-frills interior being about the size of a walk-in closet.

I actually wasn’t even able to get a photo of the interior, because as soon as you walk in, you’re face-to-face with the proprietor. Taking out my phone and trying to snap a photo felt like it would have been awkward overload, especially since the woman behind the counter seemed to speak minimal English (their card machine was down, and she had to tell me they were cash only via hand gestures).

They have a few things on the menu, but their specialty seems to be a cold noodle dish called liangpi, so that’s what I went with. It’s $7.50 for a pretty hearty serving, so it’s a great deal.

The dish comes with rice noodles, some sliced cucumber, a few chunks of seitan, and four sauce packets: sesame paste, soy sauce / vinegar (I think), garlic water, and chili oil.

It’s really good. The broad noodles are nice and chewy, the seitan has a satisfyingly meaty bite, and it’s seriously flavourful. This is definitely not a dish that’s subtle in the taste department; it’s savoury, tangy, garlicky, and a little bit spicy, with all the flavours working really well together.

My only real complaint is that with the generous amount of chili oil, I figured this was going to be spicier than it was, and it was surprisingly mild. A bit more kick would have been nice, but everything else was so satisfying that I can’t really complain.

A Tasty Breakfast at Ying Ji Chang Fen

Published on July 7, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 4040 Creditview Road, Mississauga
Website: https://yinjicanada.com/

Ying Ji Chang Fen does well. I showed up at around 10:00 on a Saturday morning and it was already starting to fill up; by the time I left, it was basically packed. That’s not to mention the constant stream of take-out orders. Clearly, people know a good thing when they find it.

Their menu consists mostly of various congee dishes and rice noodle rolls, and I tried one of each.

First up: Marinated Beef & Shrimp with Chives Rice Noodle Roll. No, it’s not the most photogenic dish you’ll ever see (neither were), but it was thoroughly tasty, with a generous amount of perfectly cooked shrimp and tender beef, a perfectly chewy rice noodle wrapper, and a delicious sweetened soy sauce on top.

Bonus: the extremely tasty chili oil on the table, which enhances everything you put it on.

I also tried the Preserved Egg and Minced beef congee, and yeah, that was just as good. The congee itself was hearty and satisfying, and all the toppings — from the crunch of the peanuts to the chewiness of the preserved egg — worked really well together.

I got a side order of the dough stick, and that was quite good too — slightly oily, but nice and fresh, and a really great complement to the congee.

Tasty Noodle Soup at Paddler Thai Boat Noodles

Published on February 8, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1710 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.paddlerthai.ca/

I’m pretty sure this is my first time trying boat noodles, but if this place is anything to go by? Boat noodles need to be a regular part of my life. They’re seriously, seriously tasty.

Here’s how Paddler describes the dish: “‘Kuaytiaw – Rua’ was originated in Thai floating market back in the old days. A dark brown flavorful soup contains Thai herbs, dark soy sauce, coconut milk. Comes with Chinese broccoli, bean sprouts garnished with fresh basil, culantro, fried garlic and pork rinds.”

You can pick from small rice noodles, medium rice noodles, flat rice noodles, or egg noodles (I went with small rice noodles). You can also pick either beef or pork (I went with pork).

Everything here is so good. The soup itself is intensely savoury, with a satisfying tangy brightness and a bunch of depth (sometimes you’re kinda sick of the broth at the end of a bowl of noodle soup, but that definitely wasn’t the case here).

The bowl is absolutely crammed with tasty stuff, from the tender pork, to the pleasantly springy meatballs, to the flavourful herbs and fried garlic. It’s a definite flavour bomb, but in a way that feels very finely tuned. I’d probably go with the medium noodles next time (the small noodles were slightly too thin), but otherwise this was a superlative bowl of noodle soup.

Lee’s Stonemill Rice Roll is a Food Court Gem

Published on December 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1000 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga (inside Yuan Ming Supermarket)
Website: https://www.leesriceroll.com/

Lee’s Stonemill Rice Roll is a great food court eatery that specializes in — you guessed it — rice rolls. The rice roll plates here mostly cost seven or eight bucks, which made me think they were going to be way smaller than they were. It’s a great deal.

I tried the house minced pork and egg rice roll, the beef brisket rice roll, and an order of the scallion pancakes.

Both rice rolls were really tasty, particularly with some chili oil drizzled on top. The dish features thick rice noodles topped with various meats, with the noodles having a nice chewiness that complements the meaty toppings quite well (both the minced pork and the ultra-tender brisket were great).

The scallion pancakes were a bit dense, but still quite enjoyable — and at $4.25 for a decent amount, a solid deal.

Great Noodles at Gun Gun Rice Noodle

Published on September 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 565 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/gungun.noodle/

Gun Gun Rice Noodle is a seriously delightful restaurant near Yonge and Bloor that specializes in noodle soups made with, of course, rice noodles. I heard the crispy pork spicy pickle rice noodle is the thing to order, so that’s what I did.

The menu doesn’t say what the dish is, though it does mention that all the soups come with “tofu skin, tofu puff, kelp, quail egg, chives, bok choy.”

I really enjoyed this. The broth is vibrant and flavour-packed, with a noticeable spicy kick; it’s actually quite addictive. The noodles were maybe a touch on the soft side, but everything else was so tasty that it really didn’t matter.

In particular, the crispy pork that comes on top of the soup is thoroughly delicious, with a perfectly seasoned crispy exterior and nicely tender pork within. The exterior is crispy enough to hold up to the soup for quite a while, but even once it starts to sog up a bit, it absorbs that delicious broth and becomes tastier.