Shine Kitchen occupies a location that’s been a bit of a dead zone. Past tenants include Kenny’s Noodle, which lasted a while but after it has been a host of restaurants that opened and shuttered in quick succession. Shine Kitchen goes back to a similar rice and noodles menu to Kenny’s but also focuses on other Cantonese style dishes.

During our weekend lunch visit, tables were ordering an array of items from congee to clay pots and even steamed fish thanks to their lunch specials. Their house super bowl congee ($18.99) was chocked full of fish, shrimp, scallop, and imitation crab captured in a soup that was thick and silky but not overly heavy. It was salted just enough for flavour while still allowing the seafoods’ sweetness to permeate.

It’s not that different from the seafood super bowl congee ($18.99), just with squid instead of imitation crab. That said, on our second visit, the salmon tasted less than fresh. Nothing serious and thankfully didn’t lead to any stomach issues.

From reading reviews, some diners feel dishes aren’t seasoned enough. And while it is tamer than Congee Queen, I found it’s enough. The beef and vegetable chow mein ($14.99) incorporated a decent portion of the savoury brown sauce without saturating the noodles so they remained crunchy and hot from the wok. The dish also had enough meat and vegetables to go around.

Their fried vermicelli with shrimp and BBQ pork in Singapore style ($14.99) uses a healthy dose of curry powder for flavour and colour. The dish is fragrant with a nice balance of moisture.

Shine Kitchen’s shrimp wontons ($11.99) are generously portioned and well-stuffed with shrimp. My aunt appreciated that they weren’t overly tenderized, allowing the natural texture and flavour of the crustacean to come through. While that’s usually my preference as well, I found them a bit bland and in need of a generous spoonful of chili oil to add flavour.

If you’re dining solo, their weekday lunch combos are a great option. With a rotating selection each day, we visited on a Wednesday and chose the house seafood and mixed vegetable fried Taiwanese vermicelli ($15.98 for the combo). It arrives with a half portion of noodles that boast great wok hay and an ideal dry, chewy texture. Surprisingly, the dish also included a generous amount of shrimp and bay scallops.

The combo is rounded out with a bowl of minced beef and egg white soup (better seasoned than their congee), a freshly fried crispy chicken wing, a decent portion of boiled yu choy, and a couple of orange slices for dessert. It’s more than enough for one person and could even stretch to two with an extra dish.

If you’re used to Congee Queen’s astronomical portion sizes, you’ll find Shine Kitchen’s dishes smaller. Yet, it’s really stems from them using less carbs, the accompanying ingredients are similar. Since prices are couple of dollars less than Congee Queen, it balances out and is better for smaller tables where you can order more dishes for variety.

Since Shine Kitchen inherited the furniture from the previous hot pot restaurant, they have a lot of large circular tables and fewer small booths. Consequently, it’s a good option for large tables as they seemed to be seated with little difficulty.

It’s a place that’s finding their groove. For everyone’s sake, I hope the dead zone is done and Shine Kitchen is here to stay.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10