Showing posts with label braised beef noodle soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label braised beef noodle soup. Show all posts

CLOSED: Beef Noodle Restaurant for Lunch 老李牛肉麵 (Toronto)


You visit Beef Noodle House for their beef noodles, or the stew beef with noodles in brown sauce ($14.95) to be exact. With a choice to order them neutral, a little spicy, or very spicy, the little spicy version adds a mild chili taste that is perfect. And after almost a decade, I’m happy to say the dish is just as stellar. The thick wheat noodles slightly al dante so they resist getting soggy, the broth rich and savoury, and the beef served as large tender chunks. If you want a deal, visit during lunch on Tuesday, and pay with cash to get 15% off.

It’s the same Tuesday discount you’re score on the pan-fried dumplings ($5.50), which are a great add-on with the noodles. At Beef Noodle House, they are so crispy you’d think they’re deep fried, if it weren’t for the uneven toasting that indicates they’re pan-fried.  I did find the filling too bland, but made use of the table-side sauces.

The restaurant offers a special weekday lunch menu with a selection of items ranging from $8.95 to $11.95 (a different lunch menu is available Tuesday). The stir-fried green beans with pork and water flour and vermicelli ($9.95; not available Tuesday) consists of a mixture of two types of noodles, tossed with chunks of lap cheung (Chinese preserved sausage), ground pork, and eggs. While it’s sauceless, the dish was still flavourful and reminded me of the stir-fried glutenous rice dish (sang chow loa miy fan) that’s found during dim sum. For the price, it’s a surprisingly large portion, but the green beans were too dry, adding colour, but not much flavour to the noodles.

The Shanghai style fried noodles ($10.95 on Tuesday; $9.95 the rest of the week) were better, using the same pasta as the beef noodles. There’s a nice wok hay essence but the dish is a tad scant on vegetables, including a decent amount of pork but only a handful of bean sprouts instead of the crunchier cabbage that’s usually paired in the recipe.

If you’re sharing noodles, a rice dish is a great second option to add on. The deep-fried chicken in Hunan style ($11.95 on Tuesday; $10.95 the rest of the week) was fantastic, the nuggets fried until crispy and tossed in an addicting sweet and savoury sauce. It’s garlicky and well balanced in sweetness so you can’t help but keep reaching for another piece. The dish is ideal for sharing as there’s tons of chicken to go around and it’s all protein with not a bell pepper or onion in sight.

A freshly prepared hot lunch doesn’t need to cost a lot when you visit Beef Noodle House. Bring a $20 bill and you’ll even have change to spare. 

In a nutshell... 
  • Must order: stew beef with noodles in brown sauce and deep-fried chicken in Hunan style
  • Just skip: pan-fried dumplings

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 4271 Sheppard Avenue East
 


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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!


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Yunxi Handmade Noodles (Toronto)

If mom and pop restaurants are your jam, Yunxi Handmade Noodles will have you swooning as it’s an intimate establishment. Technically, Yunxi would be considered a mom restaurant as the female owner acts as the Jill of all trades: hostess, chef, server, and cleaner. She’s a sweet lady describing what was freshly prepared for the day (in my case, the noodles) as she rotates between making noodles and preparing dumplings daily.

The broth of the braised beef noodles ($14.99) was salty and strong, as one should expect from a dish that’s essentially beef braised in soy sauce. I liked that Yunxi finishes the freshly made noodles in the soup to allow it to soak in flavours and develop a brownish tint. While there wasn’t a whole lot of beef, the handful of chunks were lean and tender.

Halfway through the meal, the owner returns with a small bowl of extra noodles, asking if we’d like a complementary top-up. Why of course, and into the bowl they go for round two.

My first choice in dumplings (leek, shrimp, and pork) was sold out so we opted for the chicken and mushroom instead ($10.99 for 12). With a choice of preparation - steamed, boiled, or pan fried – I generally order them steamed as I find this leaves the dumplings the most neutral so you can appreciate the filling’s flavours and the consistency of the wrapper.

Unlike the noodles, the dumplings were made previously (at least a couple of days prior) so the wrapper was too hard and chewy. Consequently, I’d recommend asking the owner when things were prepared and if it isn’t fresh, order the dumplings boiled to give the wrapper some extra hydration.

At least the filling was juicy – use a spoon to ensure the juices aren’t lost as they squirt out – and the dumplings were filled with a decent portion of the well seasoned, finely minced chicken and mushrooms.

Yunxi Handmade Noodles is a bit of a hole-in-the-wall: the décor is sparse and the communal steel spoons housed at each table seem unhygienic. Luckily, larger ladles were given after serving the braised noodles so we didn’t need to rely on the dubious spoons. Yet, what Yunxi lacks was more than made up by the friendly owner and the wonderful noodles, a definite highlight to our meal. 

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 4002 Sheppard Ave East
 


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
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!


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CLOSED: Beef Noodle Restaurant 老李牛肉麵 (Toronto)



Tucked in the far corner of a small Scarborough plaza, Beef Noodle House isn’t the easiest place to find. The only tell-tale sign of the business is their stand-up sign out front. It will lead you into a dark corner where you’ll enter a place that’s not much brighter. The dining room looks dated, but is larger than what you’d expect from a place serving noodles. Moreover, you won’t feel like you’re in a Chinese restaurant … just go with it.

What comes out of the kitchen is truly Asian. Given their name, you can’t visit and not try their braised beef noodles with brown sauce ($9.95). A sizeable bowl arrives filled with thick doughy noodles and generously sliced pieces of tender beef. While the noodles don’t appear to be the hand pulled variety, I like their firmer texture and the broth is strongly flavoured – salty and with a hit of heat – to hold up against it.


Add on a “one-person” combo and a plate of vegetables and it’s more than enough food for three people. The combo is an amazing deal, for $9.95 there a variety of dishes to choose from, each arriving with a bowl of steamed rice and a large bowl of diced vegetable, tofu, and mushroom soup (it could use more salt).


The three cup chicken in casserole pot arrives with that signature caramelized ginger and onion aroma. Well braised, the chicken has a stronger rice wine taste than expected: after all, the sauce made from equal amounts of soy sauce, sesame oil, and the rice wine. Indeed, the generous portion of sesame oil does mean the sauce gets a little greasy, but also makes for a fragrant dish, especially when combined with the ginger, garlic, and Thai basil.


Similarly, the General Tao chicken is a heaping plate of lightly battered diced chicken that’s barely coated with a sweet and savoury sauce – despite looking bare, the flavours were rich enough. Using the darker leg meat, instead of chicken breast, helped deepen the dish and keep the chicken moist.


On most visits, a plate of garlic stir fried A choy ($8.95) completes our meal. The stir fried greens look rather limp and lifeless but has a nice crispy texture and smells of wok hay.



The menu also offers a variety of Shanghai style dim sum. The onion pancake roll with sliced pork ($6.95) is what I like to think of as a Chinese sandwich. A well toasted chewy pancake flecked with green onion gets a smear of sweet hoisin glaze before being wrapped around hot lean pork. It’s a sandwich you’d like to eat in the winter. It’s not fancy, but it hits the spot.


Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 4271 Sheppard Ave East


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
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!


Is That It? I Want More!

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Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (Markham)

Ding Tai Fung

It’s a fake … I know, and it’s time to get over it. Sure, you can say Ding Tai Fung is deceptive by adding a “g” in their title, which allows them to sound like the Taiwanese conglomerate without using their actual name. But, if the massive soup filled dumpling powerhouse doesn’t care about this little known Markham outpost, why should we?

Especially since the restaurant does make a mean xiao long bao ($6.25); you can see the men standing around the table filling and pinching these pillows of joy. Interestingly, upon closer inspection, they actually look larger before being steamed.


How the ultra-thin wrappers holds all the broth and can withstand being pinched by chopsticks is still a small miracle. As soon as the lid is lifted I can’t wait to get my hands on these succulent pork dumplings.


Why we’ve never ordered the Shanghai wonton with spicy sauce ($7.49) until this visit is beyond me. There’s nothing fancy about the bite-sized pork wontons but the salty soy laced with chili oil and tart vinegar pairs so nicely.


The pan fried pork dumplings ($6.49) continues to impress with its crisp bottom and equally juicy filling. I could happily go through an order of these myself.


And I’m glad Ding Tai Fung doesn’t skimp on the scallions used in their green onion pancake ($3.99) – pan fried slowly (rather than deep fried) following the traditional recipe.


Grab a helping hand if you plan on sharing the braised beef noodles in soup ($8.99), the chewy doughy noodles impossibly long to land into a smaller bowl without some splashing. The soy sauce and beef stock broth is decent and there were plenty of pieces of not overly fatty meat to go around.


There were two passable dishes: the wrap used in the stewed beef pancake ($6.99) way too thick, giving the dish an overly doughy consistency detracting from the beef. Also, the sticky rice and pork siu mai ($6.49), pretty to look at but lacking any real flavours.


After a satisfying meal, do you still feel a little bad about Ding Tai Fung not paying its fair share of royalties? I can get over it. After all, they do have that “g” in their name … and for me it stands for great.

Overall mark - 8 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 3235 Highway 7 (First Markham Place)


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
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!


Is That It? I Want More!

Other Gastro World posts similar to this:



Ding Tai Fung Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato