Asian Kitchen

After visiting the Cellphone
Hospital in Toronto, aka Pacific Mall, to get my phone repaired, I was given the task
of choosing where to eat. Sigh...so many options to choose from, so little time. I totally forgot there
was a plaza nearby on Silver Star Blvd , with a massive
food court.

Craving Chinese
Food, we ventured
our way over to the plaza and to be honest we all took awhile to
decide on what to eat. The glowing green sign from Asian Kitchen caught my eye. With a large menu    
consisting of rice, noodle and set meals to choose from we all decided to get something different to share.

For $4, the Sweet & Sour Pork on Rice (3.5/5) was pretty decent with a generous amount of rice topped with saucy, but still crispy Sweet & Sour Pork. The sauce was a bit too sour for my liking but the crisp veggies made up for it.        

My favourite had to be the Soya Sauce Chicken on Rice (4/5), which was topped with again, a generous amount of tender and juicy chicken. Each piece had a nice rendered skin, that was very flavourful and not overly salty. The accompanying Veggies were a tad chewy but I was fine with that. Unfortunately, they did not have the Ginger and Onion Sauce to dip the Chicken in, which would've made the chicken stand out.

We couldn't be without a noodle dish, so we went with the Fried Rice Noodle with Beef (2.5/5). The first thing I noticed about this, was how incredibly greasy it was. Not a good first impression, as many Chinese Restaurants can master this dish without leaving this much grease behind. Just looking at it gave me a little tummy ache. The beef was tender and the noodles were soft. Although the flavour was great without being too salty, sadly we really couldn't finish this due to how greasy it was.

Our visit to Asian Kitchen was okay, especially it being a fast food joint.
The prices were great and all
the dishes we had came with a Soup
or Soya Milk.  

Dimsum at Health Gourmet

Before I start this post off, I'd like to wish 

everyone a Happy New Year! Hope all of you

have a healthy and safe year with your family and loved

ones and most importantly eat lots of food! 

~ Tiffany.  

Saturday Afternoon Dim Sum in my family can never be missed even when there is an hour long wait for a table. When we found out our go to Dim Sum spot was renovating for the week, we quickly thought of a new place we could try. My mom suggested Health Gourmet, located in a Strip Mall by Midland and Finch. Health Gourmet prides themselves for serving food with 'NO MSG'. I guess we had to see for ourselves!

I don't often talk about the decor of the restaurants I visit in my blog posts, but man I was really questioning whether or not I was in Restaurant when I walked in. I don't even know how to describe it...mint
green walls, white curtains, odd
paintings.....Maybe I was too used to the typical Chinese Restaurant look.

The Dim Sum menu here is quite confusing as there are two set prices for let's say, the Steamed Chicken Feet. Apparently one is the regular price while the other is the price for
'VIP Club Members'. Really?!?! I guess that's one way they could get customers coming back.

We ordered the Durian Custard Pastry (3.5/5) ,which was recommended to us by our server. The pastry was very flaky as you
can see from the picture. It was a tad too oily, but nonetheless the durian custard was nice and creamy. Thankfully the Durian flavour was strong and didn't taste artificial at all.


The Deep Fried Squid Tentacles (2.5/5), arrived piping hot. These looked like they were well seasoned, but boy was I wrong. Oh yeah these were well seasoned....with a whole ton of SALT! At least they had a nice bouncy texture which was a tiny bit enjoyable.


 
The Beef Rice Noodle Roll (Cheung Fun) (1.5/5), is an item that is a must for my family at any Dim Sum restaurant. To be honest, I've never had Beef Rice Noodle Roll that tasted like this...the taste was just unusual. The Rice Noodle Roll was too thick, while the beef had this very unpleasant beefy, somewhat gamey taste. Yes there was garlic and onions but oh man not even the soy sauce could hinder
 the strong gamey taste.

I was glad the Deep Fried Spring Rolls (3/5), made the appearance next as they were fried beautifully golden brown. As expected, these were very crispy and piping hot. The filling consisted of the typical ground
beef and taro which was a tad too salty,
but overall it was a dish I enjoyed.

Next up, the Steamed Beef Tendon with Garlic Sauce (2.5/5), arrived lukewarm to the touch. Ordering from a Dim Sum menu and not from Push Carts I expected everything to arrive HOT, not Warm. Sigh, at least these were nice and tender. The garlic sauce didn't really provide much flavour which was pretty disappointing.

As soon as these arrived, I was praying that they didn't use the same beef mixture to make these as they did for the Beef Rice Noodle Roll. Welp, these tasted exactly, if not worse than the ones in the Rice Noodle Roll. These Steamed Beef Balls (1/5), were massive, but I mean not matter what size you make them, the taste is all that really matters. These had the same gamey
taste except with no Rice Noodle
Roll to somewhat mask the flavour. They put bamboo shoots in the mixture for the crunch, but ultimately these were not enjoyable for me. I guess there are some people who enjoy the gamey taste, but I for one do not.

The Steamed Chiu Chow Style Dumplings (Fun Gor) (2.5/5), were a huge disappointment as well. The dumpling skin was very thick, as you can from the picture. Normally these are supposed to be transparent where you can see the filling inside.
The filling consisted of ground pork,
onions, bamboo shoots, and onions
 and once again was too salty.


The Steamed Chicken Feet (3/5),
was very flavourful and fall off the bone tender. There was no gamey taste at all, surprisingly... Thankfully these were enjoyable.

The Sui Mai (2.5/5), looked rather unappealing. I mean the tobiko on top could've been taken off if you were to use such a tiny amount. Anyways, these were quite substantial as the pork and shrimp were nice and tender and it wasn't too salty for my tastes. The Shrimp had a nice bouncy texture.

We were still quite hungry after so we ordered the Shredded Pork and Vegetable Chow Mein (2.5/5). I loved how they seperated the noodles from the sauce to ensure
that the noodles wouldn't get soogy
and would stay crispy. The sauce
was rather thin, which ended up to
be very watery at the end which we did not enjoy. The bean sprouts and carrots added a nice crunch while the pork was tender.



Claiming to have absolutely 'NO MSG' in their food, I really question
that as most of the items we tried were rather salty. Maybe their substitute for the MSG is a whole ton of salt!

Based on the items we tried, our
trip to Health Gourmet was pretty
disappointing and I definitely won't be coming back again. Not to mention, the small tea pot we had was dirty with food and sauce stains on it. The cups also had a funky dish wash/toilet smell to it as well. I know....YUCK! I really hope they step up their game ASAP as their food lacks in quality, especially if they are charging more than the average dim sum spot and charging
'VIP Club Members' a monthly amount.

The Good:

• Lots of Parking Spots

The Bad:

• Based on the items we tried, Food lacks Quality
• Pricey
• Dirty Tea Pot and Cups

Oishii Ramen

Located in the Plaza on SilverStar and Midland, Oishii Ramen is a new relatively new Ramen spot that opened a few months ago back in December. With a limited amount of items on the menu, we ordered based on the server's recommendations.
                                                                                   

First up, we had the Deep Fried Chicken Wings. (4/5). Served hot, these were very crispy and large. The batter was a tad too thick in my opinion but it still retained all the juices inside. You could taste the chicken was brined prior to frying as a hint of wine was evident . These were a pretty good start to our meal.













Next we had the Char Siu Ramen $6.99 (3/5) + $0.50 for a miso based soup. The good thing about this place is their large portions of Ramen. The texture of the noodles were okay, not being too mushy and too dense. The flavour of the soup was there but you can tell it wasn't authentic type of Ramen you would eat at Japanese owned spots. The Char-Siu was flavourful and tender, but I wish there was more of it, as you can see from the picture. The beansprouts and garnish added some crunch and was pretty fresh. I would have to say this was pretty mediocre, as nothing really stood out.

We ordered another bowl to try some of their other offerings. We got the Tenderous Ribs Ramen $8.50 (3/5). Again, another generous portion of Ramen. Still would've liked some more meat, as the tenderous ribs were quite....tender :) . The ribs were flavourful and added a nice balance to the soup and the ramen. Like the previous bowl of Ramen, this was pretty standard, nothing really special. The soup was the typical miso base, (MSG was quite evident)  don't know why i had to add an extra $0.50 for miso base soup for the other bowl of Ramen..


Oishii Ramen is a great place for a large bowl of Ramen, especially on cold nights. Great place for late eats as well and if you're craving some Ramen. The
wait for our dishes took quite sometime. There were only 4 tables of two, and two servers during the time I went. Their menu is quite small and standard for a Ramen joint,
 but offerings many toppings you can add to your Ramen for a
 decent amount such as extra meat, extra noodles and Char Siu.

The Good:

• Generous Portion of Ramen
• Big Bowls
• Friendly Service
• Decent Price

The Bad:

• More Meat would'be been nice
• The Wait can be quite long (Depends on what time you go)
• Pretty Average Ramen

Best Pho in Markham?

I recently went to First Markham Place, having not been there for quite a while for some Curry Fish Balls at Yan's Wok. Sadly the day I went, they were closed so I had to choose something else to fill my growling stomach! Many people have told me great things about Ling's Pho, and I was craving some pho at the time as well, so it was an easy choice. The menu was simple, items you would find at any Vietnamese restaurant such as Lemongrass chicken and Satay.

I ordered the Regular House Special ($5.00) , 4/5

which had Rare Beef, tendons, tripe and beef tendon balls. 

Now as a foodie, the first thing I do when I order Pho is to try the soup. This was definitely one of the best Pho I've ever tasted. To be fair, it is my first time ordering pho here and there are many other hidden gems 

that potentially serve good pho, but this is one of the most delicious Pho I've ever tried. The soup base wasn't too sweet with just the right amount of flavour from the beef bones and spices they use. The rice noodles were tender and the rare beef they used was very fresh. The soup base had very little MSG because usually when I eat pho at other restaurants it tends to leave me very thirsty and this one did not.