shrimp – Michael Eats

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 Filipino Food at Bella’s Inasal

Published on December 26, 2025December 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 848 Burnhamthorpe Road West, Mississauga
Website: https://www.bellaslechon.ca/

I don’t go to Filipino restaurants all that often, but whenever I do, I’m like, why is this not a regular thing in my life? Bella’s Inasal definitely gave me those thoughts.

They have a pretty huge menu, but considering they serve a dish called “chicken inasal,” I figured that was probably the thing to order.

The first thing that comes is a small bowl of a garlicky shrimp soup, and wow this was good — it’s got a really great shrimpy flavour, and the toasted garlic complements it perfectly.

As for the chicken inasal, it consists of a perfectly grilled piece of chicken, a generous amount of garlic rice, and a small dish of a zippy papaya slaw called atsara. It’s very, very good; the chicken is super flavourful and perfectly cooked, with a good amount of char from the grill. The rice is nice and garlicky, and the atsara helps cut through the richness. It’s a great dish.

I also tried the pork sisig (“Crispy Pork with Onion, Chili and Calamansi”), which I think I might have liked even better than the chicken? It comes on a sizzling hot plate, and it is absolutely crammed with porky flavour and crispy bits from the hot plate. It’s enormously satisfying.

Tasty Noodle Soup at Wonton Hut Noodle Bar

Published on January 26, 2025 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 671 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://wontonhut.ca/

There are a bunch of great wonton noodle soup restaurants in the GTA — at least in places like Markham and Mississauga. In Toronto itself, it’s a bit harder to find. Enter: Wonton Hut Noodle Bar, which is on Queen Street and serves a very tasty bowl of the stuff.

They actually have a decent variety on the menu (including a handful of Vietnamese dishes, oddly enough) but of course, the place has “wonton” and “noodle” in its name, so you’ve gotta get the wonton noodle soup.

It’s good. The wontons themselves are seriously tasty, with big chunks of perfectly cooked shrimp and a very satisfying flavour. And the noodles are satisfyingly springy.

The flavour of the soup itself is a bit on the subtle side, but is nicely amped up by a couple of spoonfuls of the legitimately fiery chili oil they have on the table.

Tasty Hand Rolls at Hello Nori

Published on December 29, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 648 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.hellonori.com/

Hello Nori specializes in hand rolls — basically loosely constructed , uncut maki rolls –that they make in front of you and serve immediately. You wouldn’t think that would make that much of a difference, but the fact that the nori is still crispy when they give it to you is actually quite delightful.

It kind of reminds me of the onigiri they serve at variety stores in Japan, where the nori is wrapped on both sides to prevent contact with the rice until you eat it. Crispy nori and fluffy sushi rice turns out to be a great combo.

You can either order the rolls on their own (most of them are between six and nine dollars) or as a combo. I went with the four roll combo, which costs $23 and comes with negitoro (minced tuna and green onion), ora king salmon, snow crab, and spicy shrimp.

The negitoro was a bit oniony for me (raw onions are for jerks), but otherwise these were all thoroughly enjoyable. The rice was underseasoned, but then they do have soy sauce right in front of you at the bar; I think the expectation is that you’ll be dipping the rolls.

The salmon — which features big chunks of tasty fish — was probably my favourite of the bunch, but I liked them all.

I was worried four rolls might not be enough, but it was actually a pretty decent portion, at least for lunch.

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.