While pho uses beef bones for their stock and ramen uses pork or
chicken, Deer Garden Signatures offers their noodles with fish. First opened in
Vancouver, there’s now two outposts in the GTA serving quick but satisfying
meals. Although they have a variety of other rice and noodle dishes on their
menu, what people come for is the no msg fish soup.
The broth is creamy and rich but has a lighter quality to it
since there’s not an ounce of grease in sight. It’s the type of soup that you
want to continue drinking even after the noodles are done and won’t leave you
feeling parched an hour later. For those who don’t enjoy seafood, rest
assured it’s not fishy; plus there’s always white pepper at the table that
helps to mellow out the flavour.
Their noodle combos are the way to go – just pick up a slip
of paper and check off the soup base, noodle type, toppings and drink you’d
want. It’s a satisfying portion of food for only $8.75. With five fish
soups, for my first taste the plain original option seemed to be the way to
go. My mom had the tomatoes and pumpkin one, which completely changes the
flavour profile with the freshness of the vegetables: it’s good but I find the
tomatoes really drowns out the seafood essence.
For those who aren’t into seafood, other choices include
chicken broth, tom yum, laksa, Szechuan and peanut sauce with chili. Sure, they
all sound delicious but somehow I know they will remain a mystery to me as I’d
much rather go to a Japanese, Thai or Malaysian restaurant to have these. If
you’re going to visit a restaurant always order what they’re known for!
Next is a choice of 32 toppings (two are included with the
combo and extras are $1.50). Mine incorporated the sliced cuttlefish and fish
tofu to maintain the seafood theme. But, there’s also meat and
vegetarian options available. Deer Garden certainly didn’t skimp on the
cuttlefish, it seemed like every bite of noodles had a piece in it. The fish tofu is worth a try and has such a great salty flavour.
They also throw in cabbage, mushrooms (button and prince), beancurd sticks, parsley
and green onion so it ends up being a very hearty bowl.
The thick rice noodles ended up being a poor choice
as they were much too soft for my liking. The Korean style sweet potatoes
crystal noodle would have been better as they maintain their springy texture
much better.
Ordering a couple side orders is a great way to
start for the table. For only $1.95 they’re inexpensive and there’s just enough
to share amongst a table of 2-3 people. The pan fried pork chop in maggi sauce
was tender and flavourful. While the desert wings with ginger wasn't nearly as
exotic as the menu describes, they were still decent crispy hot chicken wings.
Overall mark - 9 out of 10
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 633 Silverstar Blvd
Address: 633 Silverstar Blvd
Website: http://deergarden.ca/
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
