Hongxing Kitchen

Nov 29, 2020

Hongxing is on Ubereats with a BOGO promotion!

Noodles with Beef Balls and Tofu and soup

The beef balls were made with a lot of work since the tofu skin was a super thin layer on top of the densely packed beef. Very yummy and the noodles were great too - especially all the toppings like seaweed and green onions on top. 

Noodles with scallions and oil

It seems like a simple dish, but it was really good with lots of flavour and it was really filling. 

September 13, 2020

Shanghai fried noodles and pan fried dumplings

The take out version is as good as the eat-in version (even though the dumplings aren't as crisp - they're still super tasty and delicious with hot soup inside).

Beef noodle soup with the noodles, choy and egg packaged separately from the beef and beef broth

It was a nice DIY package for take-out since the noodles and soup wouldn't get soggy on the journey home. Everything was really good and super affordable! If you haven't tried Hongxing Kitchen, definitely check it out for yummy Shanghainese food!

May 16, 2020

Hongxing Kitchen Menu

Shanghai Chives and Pork Dumplings

Since the food court hasn't been open for eating in, we had to grab the dumplings to go (and they prepare the dumplings separate from the soup - so you have to cook the dumplings again). The dumplings are so worth it though! There's so much meat inside and they're so tasty with the clear broth.

Apr 11, 2020

Hongxing is open for take-out and now they're also on Uber Eats!

Fish-flavoured shredded pork with vegetables and rice and Shanghai Fried Noodles

I love the strong flavour of the fish-flavoured shredded pork, but it's not for everyone since it has a strong smell. It's one of my favourite dishes at Hongxing and I've really been craving it!

Pan fried dumplings

Since the stay-at-home orders started, I really miss fried food - so this meal hit the spot! Tasty fried noodles with vegetables and dumplings with a slightly crispy layer on the bottom. Yummy!

Mar 5, 2020

Steamed Shanghai Vegetarian Dumplings (with egg)

We saw someone at the food court eating these and it seemed really good. There's a lot of delicious ingredients inside the dumplings like glass noodles, assorted vegetables, egg and more. 

Inside

Mapo tofu on rice and Fish-flavoured shredded pork with vegetables and rice

Delicious! Really Flavourful and huge portions of tofu and fish-flavoured shredded pork (even though it looks small in the box). Both of these dishes taste amazing with white rice since they have such strong flavours. The fish-flavoured shredded pork is one of my favourite dishes here! 

Mar 2, 2019

Shanghai dumplings with noodle soup

6 huge dumplings and noodles with soup. 

Chicken cutlet, soup and Shanghai fried noodles

The Shanghai fried noodles are really good, I think they worked out their recipe and now it tastes much better. Hongxing Kitchen has now become my go-to place for Shanghai fried noodles! 

April 29, 2018

Pork belly in noodle soup

Yummy as usual!

June 17, 2017

Summer menu!

 Cold dumplings with peanut sauce

The wontons were pretty good and it was a different experience eating them cold rather than in hot or in a bowl of soup. The peanut sauce was pretty good too! 

Shanghai Seaweed salad, potato salad with ham and cold noodles 

The seaweed salad was really good since it was cool and refreshing. The cold noodles had the same peanut sauce as the cold dumplings and it was pretty good too. 

 

Braised Beef Noodle Soup

A really hearty bowl of tender satisfying beef with soy sauce egg and choy on top of Shanghai noodles in dark beef broth. It was really yummy, but I prefer the Taiwanese spicy version. 

February 23, 2017 

The chef had a Thursday special: Shanghai Style Salty Soy Milk

Shanghai Pork and Chives Wonton and Shanghai Style Salty Soy Milk

The wontons come in pork and vegetable or pork and chives. Personally, I prefer the pork and chives version - it has great flavour! The broth is also really good with seaweed, egg, green onions, cilantro and chicken broth. It's so good that when I finish my wontons, I will drink the entire bowl of broth. I'm used to sweet soy milk so this took me a while to get used to. Overall, I would say the salty soy milk was different in a good way since there was so much going on in the soy milk with fried dough, cilantro, green onions and other salty ingredients. Unfortunately, I kept thinking that it needed something like noodles to absorb some of the liquid and to dilute the strong salty flavour. This might be an acquired taste or I have to shatter my conventional belief that soy milk is always sweet.

February 14, 2017

Shanghai Noodles in soup with preserved vegetables, bamboo shoots and beef
They do an amazing noodle in soup. The soup is really flavourful and the noodles are really tasty.


Chicken Katsu (comes with the noodles in soup above)
Crispy fried chicken breast and there's a spicy mayo dip for the katsu (which makes it even better).

Shanghai Beef and Vegetable Wontons
The wontons are delicious! They're wrapped when you order and then made on the spot while you wait. There's a huge difference between fresh wontons and leftover wontons and you can really taste the difference. The wonton wrappers are thicker and tastier than day-old wonton wrappers.

February 4, 2017 

Shanghai Fried Noodles

The fried noodles reminded me of the best Shanghai Fried Noodles I've ever had. My favourite Shanghai fried noodle place closed down years ago - but it was my favourite food when I was a kid (we went there all the time). This was pretty close, but there was a tad too much vinegar. (Update: you can ask them to put less vinegar in). 

Pan fried dumplings and beef noodle soup

The pan fried dumplings were okay, but they were a little too doughy for me. The beef noodle soup was delightful and more strongly flavoured than the usual preserved vegetable noodle soup. However, I like the regular preserved vegetable and bamboo shoot soup base more. 

January 15, 2017

A new Shanghainese place opened in the food court at 4227 Sheppard Avenue East. It's run by a family from Shanghai: the oldest sister does the majority of the cooking with her younger sister taking orders and their parents helping out. I've been here a few times now and it's become a favourite since their food is consistently really good and reasonably priced. Also, the chef mixes things up every once in a while to keep it interesting (like creating a summer menu or adding in Shanghai specialties on certain days of the week). 

There's a great Chinese food court located in the Midtown Plaza at the corner of Midland and Finch. There's good Chinese BBQ at Lung Tung BBQ, great Cantonese dish food at Shing Kee Kitchen and now a Shanghainese food stall called Hongxing Kitchen. 

Shanghai Noodles with beancurd sheet rolls and meatballs in soup
The Shanghai noodles in soup were REALLY GOOD! The noodles were perfect - not too soggy and they were great at absorbing the flavour from the soup. The soup was this delicious pork, preserved vegetables, green onions, seaweed and bamboo shoots soup. This was some great traditional Shanghainese cooking!

Shanghai Pork and Vegetable Wontons
These were more like the Chinese dumplings than wontons, but instead of the typical Cantonese filling of shrimp, these had pork and vegetable. The wonton skins were pretty papery thin and it was almost amazing that they held together so well. The wontons were fantastic and the soup base had a lot of delectable ingredients including egg strips, green onions, cilantro, seaweed and a yummy chicken stock base. Everything was homemade and it was SO GOOD!

Overall: I would REALLY recommend this Shanghainese place - the food is delicious and super affordable. The family working here speaks Shanghainese, Mandarin, English and Cantonese and they're super nice. Definitely go try it out!

Nam 2 Vietnamese Restaurant

 

Bun Rieu Cua with soft shell crab $15

All together in one bowl now

The noodle soup dish had a good tomato flavoured based and the soft shell crab was fried well. It was pretty interesting, but I might stick with the normal pho.

KFC vs. Popeye vs. Tim Horton's Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Nov 27, 2020

KFC had a Black Friday 50% off their sandwiches promotion with code KFC50

Zinger, Big Crunch Spicy and Original Big Crunch (we got all three of them to try)

Zinger and Original Big Crunch

The Zinger was the spicier than the Big Crunch Spicy and it was also surprisingly crispier too. 

The Big Crunch spicy was a little spicy, but the spicy mayo wasn't that spicy and the spiciness did lightly linger for a bit. 

The Original Big Crunch had a lot of chicken that paired with a nice lighter mayo. 

Not sure if the chicken sandwiches usually just come with mayo, chicken and lettuce, but that's all we got with the sandwiches. 

October 15, 2020

Popeye Louisiana Kitchen @ 1448 Lawrence Ave E

$5.99 Popeye's Spicy Chicken Sandwich

I think it's better than KFC's spicy chicken sandwich since the chicken was crispier, crunchier and had a huge piece of juicy well-seasoned white chicken breast meat and it was paired with a really good spicy mayo (which got spicier as you kept eating) and pickles. The bun was also really soft which was nice. 

Tim Horton's @ 1244 Lawrence Ave E

$3.99 Crispy Chicken Sandwich

The crispy chicken sandwich was on a focaccia bun and I asked for spicy mayo, but it didn't have the right kick to it. The chicken was okay, but it was more breaded than fried. The price point was great, but it wasn't a memorable or great chicken sandwich. 

September 16, 2020 - KFC @ Leaside

KFC was running a $2 Famous Chicken Sandwich promotion! I placed my order online and went to pick up in store. However, online orders for the $2 sandwich promo had to have a minimum of $10 (and it was only one per order). So I ordered a $10 meal for 2 with 4 pieces of chicken, 2 chicken popcorns, 2 fries and a large gravy (also a really good deal). There was a bit of a lineup even for pickup orders (and the phone didn't go through), so I stood in line and ordered another sandwich (since I was there anyways)

The Famous chicken sandwich was pretty good with a huge chunk of white chicken breast meat and a nice garlic mayo. The spicy version was better with a spicy mayo and pickles. There was a lot of crispy breading in the sandwich

$10 meal for 2

The best part of this meal deal was the large gravy - I love their chicken gravy! It goes so well with everything and it's so tasty - I slathered my popcorn chicken and fries in the gravy. The chicken was good, but I still prefer Popeye's (since it has more spice). 

Website: https://www.kfc.ca/menu/overview

Monkey Sushi

 I had another Ubereats 50% off pick-up order promo code, so I tried Monkey Sushi since their bentos seemed like a really good deal with a meat (beef short ribs or chicken teriyaki), a green dragon roll, 6 pieces of nigiri and 3 pieces of sashimi, 2 shrimp tempura, vegetable tempura, gyoza, spring roll, steamed rice, salad and miso soup for $17.95 and in addition to that, they had BOGO - so it was a super cheap deal for a ton of food! 

$17.95 Beef Short Ribs and tempura (top) and $17.95 chicken teriyaki bento box with tempura

The meats first: the chicken was rather bland and flavourless - the teriyaki sauce didn't add a lot of flavour for some reason (or maybe it was too watered down), but the short ribs were better - at least they were seasoned. 

The tempura box was huge: yam, sweet potato, broccoli, zucchini, spring roll, shrimp, two gyoza - I thought the tempura was okay (didn't quite travel well though), but the gyoza's skin was too thick which meant it wasn't that tasty even though they were super crispy. 

In addition to that, there was also assorted nigiri sushi including fake crab, salmon, shrimp, tuna and butterifsh (pretty good) and 3 pieces of yummy salmon sashimi and a green dragon roll (see below)

The green dragon roll was okay - the avocado was a bit mushy though. 

Gold Dragon roll $8.95 for 8 pieces (and part of BOGO - so 16 pieces total)

The red dragon roll was okay too, but the bento boxes were much better value for money. 

Website: https://www.monkeysushi.ca/

Chocolada

 Since I was in the Yonge and Steeles area to pick up lunch at Song Cook's, I did a quick search to see if there were any dessert places nearby to satisfy my sweet tooth and found Chocolada (which had quite a selection of European sweets and treats)

Apricot Marizpan Tart ($5), Mango Mousse Cake ($4) and Pistachio Eclair ($4)

Pretty cheap prices! 

The apricot marizpan tart had sweet almond paste with fruits baked into the tart filling (and on the top to make it look prettier). The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the glaze on top of the tart which made it really sweet. 

The mango mousse cake had a good ataulfo mango flavour that was strong and sweet and it was pretty reasonably priced. 

The pistachio eclair had good pistachio flavour in the cream and on top of the eclair, but I found the eclair rather doughy. 

I might be back to try some of their other desserts later, another good bang for the buck dessert place! 

Website: https://chocolada.com/

Booster Juice

Nov 20, 2020

Back for the second round of BOGO with two different flavours:

Regular size Mango Hurricane (L) and Strawberry Sunshine (R) $6.69 each

Mango Hurricane is also one of my favourite drinks here with mango, strawberry, guava, passionfruit, peach and yogurt. It's sweeter than the Mango Tango I got last time without the tanginess of the oranges and I can taste mango and guava as the main flavours with a hint of sweet strawberry and tart peach. 

Strawberry sunshine is one of the most popular drinks here for a good reason - it's DELICIOUS! It says it's made with strawberries, bananas, passionfruit, guava and yogurt, but I never really taste the banana in the drink and I get more of the strawberry and guava flavours (which are amazing together). 

Nov 10, 2020

Booster Juice was running an online BOGO promotion with code BOGO21, so I went to grab two of my favourite smoothie flavours: Mango Tango and Brazillian Thunder for the price of one! I usually get their snack size smoothies since they feel like a meal with all the fruits packed into a thick smoothie, but since it was a BOGO promotion I opted for the regular sizes since it was better value.

 

Regular size Mango Tango $6.99 and Brazillian Thunder $7.39

The mango tango is a bit more sour than the Brazillian Thunder (which is pretty sweet), but it was still pretty sweet and really refreshing with the stronger mango, guava and peach flavours - there was also a hint of pomegrante and orange as well as vanilla and probiotic yogurt to make it thicker. 

The Brazillian Thunder was made with acai, raspberries, bananas, strawberries and yogurt and is SUPER tasty - I think the acai, banana and strawberry are probably the most prominent flavours while the raspberries and yogurt add a bit of tartness. Very sweet and such a nice treat on a nice fall day!

Website: https://www.boosterjuice.com/

First Markham Place Food Court

Nov 19, 2020

Leaf de Tea

Taro Bubble Tea $3

The taro milk tea didn't have a lot of flavour (from the taro or even the tea) and the tapioca was really squishy. I wouldn't get this drink here again. 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Tuk Tuk $8.50

This had the same base as Thai curry coconut noodle soup, but there was straw mushrooms and chicken in the dish.

Fukien Chow Mein $7.99

They looked like Shanghai noodles, but the sauce was spicy and had a strong shrimp paste flavour - very interesting noodles - definitely something different for me, but I didn't quite like them. 

Nov 11, 2020

Fruitti Mix

Taro bubble tea (less sweet)

 Unfortunately, it was not a great day for cheap taro bubble tea (the owner was super busy) - it was super powdery with lots of ice today and really sweet. Not exactly what I wanted - but it was super cheap.

Malay Thai Famous Cuisine

Curry Laksa

It's been a while since I've eaten Malaysian food here, so I got a classic Malaysian dish: curry laksa. It was flavourful with distinct laksa seasoning, but it was really spicy - we forgot to ask them to dial down the spiciness. It was a good mix of noodles and soup (even if the soup was too spicy to drink) and it came with tofu pockets and meat (but no seafood)

October 28, 2020

Tianjin Fine Food

 
Meat Bao with onion $6 and Xiaolongbao $8 (and inside the meat bao)

We found the xiaolongbao skin was a little too thick for our liking and the filling had savoury meat and ginger, but we prefer the xiaolongbao at Shengjian King. The meat bao with onion was okay and there was a good portion of meat inside. 

HoHo Korean Food

Chicken Katsu $11.99

HoHo always serves up huge katsus and it comes with two portion, one on top of the other, and three side dishes of fried mandu, chapchae, kimchi and purple rice. The chicken katsu is pretty crispy (turns out it was crispier than Katsuya Markham when we tried them side by side) and it took much less time to prepare and pick up. The mandu and chapchae are also really good here and the purple rice definitely helps fill you up (in case you're a big eater and can handle all this food). Personally, I can never finish a portion of their katsu by myself here. The only thing I'm not really a fan of is their katsu sauce. 

Mei Nung Noodle House (in FMP plaza)

Beef Noodle Soup $12.40

We saw a lot of reviews about how good the beef noodle soup here, so we tried it out. The broth had a nice strong beef flavour, but I found the noodles and beef were only okay (maybe it's the takeout version?). I'm not sure it's worth the hype here since I feel like I've had better elsewhere.

October 1, 2020

Fruitti Mix

Taro Bubble Tea $2.99 with lychee jelly

Of the bubble tea places in FMP, this is probably the best fruity mix milk tea place (and it has the best taro bubble tea). It's not as powdery as the other places and it has a better mix and taro flavour compared to the others. The lychee jelly was pretty yummy too. 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Bangkok Chicken rice

It was kind of similar to Hainan Chicken rice with boneless chicken and a spicy sauce on the side. It was okay overall, but probably not something I would get again (I'd rather get the Hainan Chicken rice or just nasi lemak instead)

Sept 26, 2020

Yanagi Sushi

Chicken Katsu dinner

The chicken katsu was okay with a slightly sweet sauce and the salad was pretty good.

5 pieces assorted sushi

For a little extra money, we got five pieces of sushi - 3 salmon, one butterfish and one shrimp which was okay.

July 17, 2020

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

Thai Curry Coconut Noodle Soup $8.50

The noodle soup is so good with the curry coconut flavour and lots of pork and veggies! The coconut milk flavour was pretty strong (which is great for coconut lovers) 

Red Curry and Green Curry $10.60 each

The red curry was really good! It had a strong savoury and spicy flavour and I liked that it had carrots, peppers and broccoli (like a North American spin on the curry). The green curry, while good - wasn't as great and sweet as Pai's. The chicken was pretty good and it had a lot of bamboo shoots which was good. 

Markham Bakery and Cafe

Lychee Mille Crepe Cake $5

They had some really good crepe cake flavours (blueberry, lychee and taro), I got the lychee since I was also getting taro bubble tea. 

The crepe cake was okay, but it didn't really have a lot of lychee flavour except for one layer of thick lychee jelly in the middle. It had a bit of a sour taste to it from the cream in between the layers, and the crepes were rather distinct layers in the cake - which made it not as soft and easy to eat as some other crepe cake places. 

Tasty House

Taro Bubble Tea with tapioca $2.99 without tax

There are a lot of bubble tea options at First Markham Place all in the food court (A long time ago, I tried all of them but I always forget which one is the best - I usually go to Tan Good Yan since it was the cheapest, their taro bubble tea doesn't taste like all powder and I like their tea, but they have since closed.)

The taro bubble tea was pretty powdery here, but it was mixed well so it wasn't too grainy. The tapioca were super chewy, hard and slightly frozen. I got the drink less sweet, but it was still pretty sweet - maybe next time I should get the unsweetened version. Regardless, I was still pretty happy with my drink for $3.15 with tax.

July 5, 2020

Shengjian King

The xiaolongbao were so good, we came back again. 

Xian jian bao (fried steamed buns) $5.99

 Fried steamed buns were okay, the dough was a lot thicker and the buns were pretty big. The filling was the same as the xiaolongbao (and I prefer the thin skin of the xiaolongbao more). 

 Xiaolongbao $7.99

Excellent with perfectly thin skin and tasty meat and soup inside.

Happy Fine Food

I've been watching way too many Chinese historical dramas and I've been really tempted to eat their desserts (flower cakes and cookies), so when I passed by Happy Fine Food, I couldn't help picking up their almond cookies since they look exactly like the ones I've seen in my dramas!

Almond cookies and Kai Chai Paeng (little chicken cookies)

The almond cookies were super crumbly on the outside, but hard in the middle. They reminded me of super crumbly Persian chickpea cookies, but they had a good nutty almond flavour.

Kai chai paeng are cookies with fermented bean curd (so beware if you don't like the taste). It has a pretty strong flavour that tastes kind of fishy to me. This cookie was pretty hard, sticky and chewy, I wasn't really a fan, but my grandman loves kai chai paeng cookies (so we bought a box for her). 

June 27, 2020

There are so many options in First Markham Place's food court! We picked up a few items for dinner - there's definitely an advantage for food courts during the COVID pandemic since they are rather contactless places to eat (or grab your food and eat at home). 

Wiang Kuk Thai Food

 

Coconut Noodle Soup with pork

Really good curry flavour with good soup and noodles

Pad Thai (medium spicy)

It had good pad thai flavour, but the spiciness overpowered it

Yanagi Sushi 

Chicken Katsu $7.50 

Nice thin katsu with a good crispy outer layer. The katsu sauce was savoury and sweet, but I prefer the katsu sauce from Yummy BBQ or HoHo. The soy sauce rice and salad was nice - I feel like I haven't had salad for a while, so it was quite refreshing.

Shengjian King

A new place selling dumplings and bao

Xiaolongbao $7.90

These xiaolongbao were really good! They were freshly made and had perfectly thin skin. It was also surprising since they managed to hold a lot of delicious meat and soup inside each little morsel. I would highly recommend the xiaolongbao here!

 Magic Fusion

Original eggettes $3.70

The eggettes were really crispy and dry, without much flavour. It was also a little weird that they sparkled? They smelled really good, but were super dry and the batter wasn't very good. I would give this a miss (I couldn't even finish this batch)