Mr. Congee Chinese Cuisine

Feb 8, 2021

M21. House Special Chicken ($14.95 for two portions) and Z6.Roasted Pork ($15.59 for two) BOGO

The house special chicken was a juicy chicken with a nice crispy skin on the outside and it also came with a portion of shrimp chips - pretty good value! 

The roasted pork was on the saltier side, but the flavour was good and the sauce on the side complimented the pork really well. 

We also got B.19 Sliced Beef Congee ($8.78 for two) and H22. Chicken with Vegetable Chow Mein ($14.89 for two) but they're not pictured. 

The chicken with vegetable chow mein was great value, super big portion and lots of sauce that was savoury and tasty (not too salty). 

The congee was good too, but it didn't have a lot of beef slices. I preferred the other things we got. 

Jan 3, 2021

First Ubereats BOGO adventure of the year (all prices below are for two portions which aren't pictured)

From top: Fried Chili Turnip Patties $11.69, Soy Sauce Chicken $13.33, Sweet and Sour Pork $16.84 (not pictured Shredded pork and preserved egg congee $8.78). 

The prices were super reasonable for two portions of each and they gave us a lot of food with all the orders (like the soy sauce chicken was a full chicken split into two boxes). 

The turnip patties could have used more spice/seasoning since the flavour seemed a little light and turnips are pretty bland vegetables. The texture and firmness of the turnips was pretty good though. 

The soy sauce chicken had good flavour and it was super tasty (would get this again!)

The sweet and sour pork was good, but the portion seemed a little small considering this was the most expensive item in our order. 

The congee was also pretty good. 

Overall: Everything was pretty good and tasty and with the Ubereats promotion, it's a great deal! 

Website: https://mrcongee.com/

Golden Bubbles

Golden Bubbles won an award for Hong Kong Style Milk Tea a while ago, but I was more interested in their bubble waffles - especially in my favourite flavour taro! 

Taro egg waffle $7 

10% off with cash payment = $5.10

Super crispy when they first came out, but there wasn't a lot of taro flavour and instead had more of a batter flavour. Once the egg waffles sat for a bit, I found them rather gummy, but they had a stronger taro flavour. 

Website: https://goldenbubbles.ca/

Pacific Mall Heritage Town Food Court

It's been quite a long time since I've been to Pacific Mall, but I came to do some cheap phone-related stuff and decided to pick up food from a few different places upstairs at the Heritage Town Food Court. 

Sun's Kitchen 

It was pretty busy especially since they make their noodles from scratch in front of you

Dan Dan Mian

Very peanuty with the sauce, but less heavy on the peanut flavour than the jajangmian at the other place we ordered from (below). It did taste better with the hot chili oil and the fresh noodle difference was really obvious - the noodles had more of a bite and tension to them and weren't as soft/soggy as other noodles. 

sun noodles - dan dan mian - very peanuty as well - less than the jajangmian - better with the hot chili oil =much more tasty and the noodles were really good - freshly made in front of us - slight bite, less chewy than potato noodle and not as soft - good tension

Potato Noodle Soup of Bai

Making noodles sounds like an interesting use of potato

A2 Potato noodle with short rib $8.99

Clear chewy potato noodles were a lot gummier and chewier than the noodles from Sun's kitchen due to the potato texture. The broth had a strong seaweed flavour and wasn't really that great. The short ribs were braised well and very tasty, but it didn't quite work all together with the broth, noodles and short ribs. 

QQ Noodle King

QQ Cold Noodle (top box) $5.99 and Jajiangmian
The QQ cold noodle had a good contrast of spicy and sour and the cucumbers helped make the dish rather refreshing. The flat noodles were pretty good, but the dish had too much vinegar at the end which made it rather overwhelmingly sour. The jajangmian was a large portion with okay noodles, but the flavour was really peanut heavy (which I wasn't as big a fan of).

Prairie Lamb Kabob

Yummy! Lamb skewers - I haven't had those in a long time. 

7 for $15 including 3 lamb, 2 chicken and 2 beef

All of the skewers had the same lamb seasoning spices (cumin being the most prominent taste) - so the chicken and beef skewers were a little mismatched. The lamb was delicious with the seasoning though and the lamb meat was done well. 

Yummie Egg Waffle

There was a long line waiting for the egg waffles at Yummie, which is a candy/bulk food store with a small section for egg waffles. 

$3.50 for one egg waffle 

Excellent egg waffles! I totally understand why the lineup was so long here (and why it was constant). The egg waffles were a perfect balance of egg flavour and vanilla and they were light and fluffy as opposed to dense inside. 

Tung Tung Dan Quan King

No line up at Tung Tung, it used to be a super big and popular chain that had locations in most of the major Chinese malls around the GTA.

$3.50 for egg waffles

Harder egg waffles than Yummie and not as tasty overall. The flavour was a little off in the egg waffle since it tasted like the batter was old? It was also super dense so that the egg waffles were almost cake like. 

The inside of the egg waffles tells the difference between the two places.

Shing Kee Kitchen

Shing Kee Kitchen Menu

July 20, 2020

Sweet and sour pork, spicy pork chops and braised pork belly with preserved vegetables

We got a dinner for two with the sweet and sour pork and spicy pork chops (and it comes with a rice and soup which aren't pictured here) and a braised pork belly with preserved vegetable with rice. 

Shing Kee Kitchen has one of the best braised pork belly with preserved vegetable dishes in Toronto. The meat is a good combination of fatty (which is great for flavour) and lean (perfect for pork belly lovers). The dish has great flavour, and would have been even better this time with more sauce. 

The sweet and sour pork is delicious as usual and the spicy pork chops are also a favourite here. 

May 31, 2020

Sweet and Sour Pork with pineapples and beef and broccoli

The sweet and sour pork was really tasty with the sweetness from the pineapples and slightly tangy sauce. The chef at Shing Kee Kitchen also does a really delicious thin slices of cooked beef and the sauce is simple and great. 

Braised fish, tofu and vegetables

The fish had a lot of breading, but it was still pretty tasty. There was also a lot of tofu, but not as many vegetables. It feels like it's been a long time since I've had Chinese style fish - so this was really nice. 

May 3, 2020

Beef chow fun (beef hor-fun), sweet and sour pork with pineapples and eggplant, pork and tofu

Delicious Cantonese food! The beef hor-fun noodles are really tasty and they gave us a lot of sauce to mix the noodles with. (And of course, we got our staple sweet and sour pork and eggplant, pork and tofu - in my opinion, they're some of the best and cheapest Chinese dishes you can get in Toronto)

Apr 6, 2020

Our favourite food court is still open for take-out during the COVID-19 pandemic! As a matter of fact, some of these food court stalls (I've seen Hongxing and Rainbow Food) have even started moving onto online platforms like UberEats. 

Eggplant, pork and tofu and sweet and sour pork with pineapples

Dinner for two combo with these two dishes, soup and a box of rice for $15 ($7.50 per dish). We called ahead for pick up and got our food really quickly. It's great that our favourite places are still open and serving us delicious and yummy food especially during these trying times. It's really important to continue to support local businesses!

February 22, 2020

I love this food court because the food is cheap and delicious and the service is fast. All four of the options here are great and they keep their prices low to stay competitive. I've written about Hongxing, but I can't believe I haven't written about Shing Kee Kitchen's Cantonese food. 

It's the corner food court stall and lots of people regularly get food there. They have a lot of dinner specials.

Beef and Kai-Lan Stir Fry Noodles

The beef is always well done and the kai-lan is crisp with a good bite to it. The sauce for the stir fry is really good and its usually poured on last so that the crispy noodles underneath don't get soggy. Personally, I prefer noodles with lots of sauce, so I love soggy noodles, but the way they cook this dish, you can have the best of both worlds if you like crispy noodles too. 

Rainbow Food

Rainbow Food Menu

July 5, 2020

Sweet & Sour Pork and Bitter Melon & Beef

The sweet & sour pork was okay - it was tasty with good flavour, but the pork was mostly breading. The bitter melon and beef was not too bitter and the beef was cooked well. 

Fish and choy sum

The fish was pretty good with a nice flaky texture, but the choy sum was old and not very good. I think they may have had an off-day. 

June 21, 2020

Salty and Spicy Chicken Steak $36 for a small tray

One of our favourite dishes in a bigger tray (that we can portion out and freeze to eat over multiple meals). It's better fresh since the chicken is pretty crispy and especially with the lettuce, but it also holds up okay portioned out over a few days (or frozen and defrosted later).  It's also not really spicy at all, more flavourful.

Curry beef with potatoes and stir-fry broccoli and chicken

Rainbow Food makes a really good curry beef and potato dish (Chinese style). The curry isn't too strong and adds a good flavour to the beef and potatoes. The stir-fry broccoli and chicken was simple and yummy.

Baked chicken steak with spaghetti in cream sauce

I liked their chicken and pork steak with spaghetti in cream sauce, so I thought I'd try their baked version. The baked version was not good, I think they used marble cheese or something to bake the spaghetti and the cream sauce somehow tasted strange mixed with the cheese. It was also pretty salty - I will stick with the non-baked spaghetti in the future.

May 31, 2020

Chicken spaghetti with cream sauce and pork spaghetti with onion sauce

Rainbow Food offers a few different sauces: cream, gravy, onion, black pepper and tomato and of the ones we've tried, we generally like the cream and onion sauces the best for their Chinese style spaghetti dishes. The cream sauce is pretty thick and has a decent flavour to it while the onion sauce is much sweeter and thinner. Their fried meats (pork and chicken) are pretty good and they give you a pretty big portion of spaghetti.

May 16, 2020

Pork chop and Chicken steak with spaghetti and cream sauce $5.99

A large portion of spaghetti and the cream sauce was pretty good (in comparison to their other sauces)! Ordering in advance has advantages like quick pick up, but if you don't time it properly, your food can sometimes get cold and slightly congealed. However, it was still good and there was a lot of meat (especially for that cheap price!). It's definitely worth a try here!

Feb 22, 2020

Singapore Fried Vermicelli

The stir fry vermicelli is done really well! It has curry flavour and yet you can taste all the other ingredients like the barbecue pork, shrimp and vegetables. 

Nov 3, 2019

Beef Steak with onion on a sizzling hot plate

The beef was cut into small tenderized cubes and stir fried with onions in a black pepper sauce. The sauce was on the salty side, but it paired well with the white rice.  

Pork Chop with stir fry onions (and complimentary soup) and rice (below)

Broccoli with beef

The Cantonese style food is pretty good here. One of my favourite dishes here is the curry beef brisket (not pictured). 

Lung Tung BBQ

I've been coming for Chinese BBQ here for years (I'm surprised I haven't posted about Lung Tung BBQ before). Some of our favourite meats to order are Chinese roast pork (siu yuk), soy sauce chicken and Chinese BBQ pork (char siu)

Char Siu, soy sauce chicken and roast pork

The char siu is the best we've had in Toronto! The flavour is fantastic and the sauce isn't too sweet or overpowering. If you get the right piece of pork tenderloin, it's super juicy and tender. 

The soy sauce chicken is also really good and it comes with green onions, ginger and oil as a topping/sauce - which makes it taste even better. 

The roast pork is always perfectly done here with a nice crispy skin and delicious juicy meat. Their roast pork is so popular here that they usually roast more than one pig a day since it sells out so quickly. 

Cuppa Tea

Jul 5, 2019

Chocolate egg waffles

I think this might have sounded better than it actually was. I think something about the chocolate made the egg waffle batter just not as good. It didn't really have the full chocolate flavour and not quite the egg waffle flavour either. 

Sept 12, 2018

A genuine Hong Kong Milk Tea place!

Hot Hong Kong Milk tea (with less sugar) in a very pretty glass bottle

This is definitely the real article - the flavour is on poing! Really good Hong Kong Milk tea, but it does come with a rather hefty price tag (compared to the milk tea you can get in Hong Kong). 

Website: http://cuppa-tea.ca/

Maple Yip Seafood Restaurant

Update: This restaurant has closed. 

June 20, 2019

The whole sticky rice stuffed chicken!

Wintermelon soup

The wintermelon soup was served in the whole wintermelon and you get to eat parts of the wintermelon when you scoop out soup. This is one of those dishes you have to order in advance since it takes a long time to cook the melon and soup. 

Braised fish

Super tender and flavourful fish!

Mar 26, 2019

Steamed sticky rice in chicken

It takes a lot of work to make this perfectly since they cut the chicken open in front of you and you see the sticky rice inside. The chicken wasn't dry at all and the meat had some of the savoury sticky rice flavour. A really delicious dish!

Dec 7, 2018

Shrimp in cream sauce and chicken in tomato sauce on fried rice

Beef Brisket with noodle soup

We didn't get our regular lunch menu items and switched it up today with half-half fried rice with cream sauce and tomato sauce and beef brisket with noodle soup. The food was good (I wasn't really a fan of the tomato sauce unfortunately), but I like our regular items more. 

Oct 7, 2018

Stir fry green beans, sweet and sour pork, Szechuan eggplant and chicken

All of my favourite dishes here!

Beef and kai-lan and ma po tofu

Everything was delicious as usual. :)

February 3, 2013

Tofu with salty fish and chicken

One of my favourite dishes here at Maple Yip; they cook this one so well. Not only does the tofu absorb most of the pungent aroma of the salty fish and dilute it a bit, it's also super soft which adds a nice contrast to the chicken and fish chunks. A must try dish if you're a tofu-lover. 

Moo Goo Beef

Moo Goo (or button mushrooms) stir fried with beef, snow peas and onions is a pretty standard Chinese dish. It's simple and delicious with thin tender beef slices, soft mushrooms, crispy snow peas and sauteed onions. Yum!

Szechuan Eggplant

Usually when you hear "Szechuan", most people think "uh oh - spicy hot". In this case, it's not spicy hot at all, instead it's more flavourful with a mix of spices in the sauce. It has a great blend of fragrant spices with the sweetness of the eggplant and ground pork. Really good and not Szechuan spicy at all!

Pan fried pork chops with spicy salt

If the Szechuan eggplant above wasn't spicy, this dish makes up for that. 

The spicy salt is a combination of a chilli, green onions, five spice powder and pepper salt powder. If you accidentally bite into a chilli, it burns a bit (in my case it's a lot). The pan fried pork chops are really good - crispy on the outside and meaty on the inside and the salt just brings out the flavour. 

Pickled cabbage with squid in black bean sauce

I find this dish really interesting since it has such different flavours and textures: there's the sweetness of the crisp stir-fried red & green peppers and onions, then the salty and sour taste of the pickled cabbage and the chewy and gummy squid. The black bean sauce does tie the dish together, but at the end of the day, I think the thing that makes this dish so good is that it has such a strange combination of everything and somehow it works. (By the way, try it with rice...it's phenomenal)

Eight Treasure Duck

When they served the duck, it was still all in one piece and beautifully presented. The waiter cut up the duck at our table so that we could serve ourselves (as you can tell - this is an after picture). 

It's a braised duck marinated, fried and stuffed with 8 different ingredients. The meat is very tender and so good and the 8 ingredients each added something different to each bite of duck. I saw lotus seeds, egg yolk, sticky rice, red dates, dried scallops and mushrooms, but the other ingredients escaped me. 

February 20, 2012

This is probably my favourite Chinese restaurant in Toronto - they serve amazing Cantonese style food, charge decent prices, and have super fast service.  It's always super busy at lunch and dinner (even on weekdays), so you either have to make a reservation or get there super early or late - but it's definitely worth it.

Fish sauce chicken

Yummy! Not a lot of meat but the meat was still tender and juicy. 

Pork belly braised with pickled vegetables

This is one of my favourite dishes! It's just like what my mom makes - real Cantonese food. I remember watching my mom cook this dish over a span of 2 days to let the pork belly stew to get the ideal tenderness of the meat and soak in the flavour of the pickled vegetables. Maple Yip makes it perfectly! The pork belly was half fat & half meat and totally succulent. They also have the perfect amount of sauce from the meat and pickled vegetables so that you can drench your bowl of rice in sauce - I tried to lick the bowl clean the first time I had this.

Delicious! And it brings back good childhood memories - which is always the best type of food. 

Clams in black bean sauce

There was good flavour in this dish and a little spicy kick in the sauce. I liked the red peppers and onions were a nice touch to mellow out the black bean sauce.

Stir fried lobster on a bed of vermicelli 

I loved that the vermicelli soaked in the lobster flavour (from the lobster). No faking the flavours in Chinese cooking. The lobster was delicious too; no need for garlic butter as it stayed true to the flavour.

Stir fried Green beans with ground pork

My entire family loves this dish and Maple Yip makes one of the best versions of this dish in Toronto & GTA. It's slightly dry (in a good way) with little bits of meat and it works out to make the dish very appetizing. The spice combination in this dish works wonders - I have no idea what they use, but this is usually the first dish cleared out when we eat here.

Braised grouper with tofu and vegetables

This dish had to be ordered a day in advance. This is a HUGE fish considering we only ate the tail! There was also some bok choy, mushrooms, crispy roast pork (siew yuk) and tofu underneath the grouper. And the fish was smooth and buttery - it totally melted in your mouth!

Steamed tofu with ground shrimp in Egg white sauce

In comparison to everything else, this was probably the most bland dish of the night. The egg white sauce probably took away from the shrimp cooked into the tofu and it just wasn't on the same level as everything else.