Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.

The Basics

Clark + Hopkins specializes in artisan hot sauces inspired by global flavours like Laos and Ethiopia and bloody mary mixes with more local influences like Chesapeake Bay. The sauces are designed to encapsulate the seasoning and spices of the region it’s named after, allowing homecooks to easily bring the world to their kitchen. Each bottle of culinary hot sauce is 100% natural, gluten free and vegan (with the exception of Laos). Their Assam flavour was featured on Season 7 of Hot Ones on YouTube and received the 2019 Sofi Award for best new hot sauce.

To learn more about Clark + Hopkins and order a sampler of sauces, visit https://clark-and-hopkins.myshopify.com.

What I liked

We received the World Gift Box of 5 sauces from Clark + Hopkins, which included their Ethiopia, Assam, Virginia, Laos and Kerala flavours. Off the bat, I liked the acidity and heat of all the sauces, Stephen’s brow began to sweat from the first taste. It was also clear just from the texture, scent and colour of each sauce the ingredients were unique and tailored for each variety. You could taste the hint of seafood in Laos from the dried shrimp and the coriander in Ethiopia. Kerala had a distinct tamarind flavour and Virginia was sweet. Assam packed the most heat and the one we decided to feature in this recipe for Coconut Shrimp Curry, although Laos and Kerala would have been equally delicious options.

After cooking with the sauces, I liked how they held up and really seasoned without having to use more than 1-2 tablespoons. In terms of smart packaging, it was a nice touch that each bottle had some recommended pairings listed, key ingredients and spice level. Each label also clearly listed whether the sauce was vegan and/or gluten free.

Inspired

Of course wings spring to mind when working with tasty hot sauces or any kind of deep fried chicken, Virginia and Ethiopia to me felt especially appropriate. All of the sauces would be great in a marinade for BBQ with Laos having an upper hand for seafood. I’m also especially partial to Ethiopia with the coriander, which would be great for tacos or noodles. Mentioned above, Assam and Kerala would both be amazing in a curry and we opted to use Assam in this recipe.

Yum

Coconut Shrimp Curry

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Clark + Hopkin’s Assam Pepper sauce
• 400g shrimp, deshelled and deveined
• 360ml coconut milk
• 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 1/2 cup of water
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 300g noodles (flour or rice noodles)
• 1-2 bok choy
• 1 green onion

Instructions

1. Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Then in an oiled pan, over medium high heat, sear shrimp until just opaque. Set aside.
2. In a large pot, add oil and fry onions and garlic until fragrant and onions are transparent. Add water with dissolved bouillon, coconut milk, Clark + Hopkin’s Assam Pepper Sauce and garam masala spice. Stir and bring pot to a simmer.
3. While the curry cooks, in another pot, bring water to boil, blanch bok choy set aside. Then bring water to boil again and cook noodles as per packaging instructions.
4. Once noodles are cooked, serve immediately in a large bowl with curry broth.
5. Top with cooked shrimp, bok choy and garnish with chopped green onion and more Clark + Hopkin’s Assam Pepper Sauce to taste.

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Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.

The Basics

AR’s Hot Southern Honey produces pepper infused honeys with natural ingredients (honey, peppers, that’s it), no sugar additives or pepper extracts. The spicy honey comes in a 12oz bottle with flavours of mild, hot or wildflower. The Hot Spicy Peanut Butter comes in a 8.5oz jar and all products can be purchased at www.hotsouthernhoney.com

Their website also listed a special Bourbon Barrel Aged Spicy Honey, recommended drizzled on cheeses, and a Honey Peach Hot Sauce that would be delicious on oysters. Both sound like products I also really want to try!

What I liked

With AR’s Hot Southern Honey I liked how sweet and natural the honey tasted, without too much floral flavour, which is my preference for a honey to cook with. I also liked that they didn’t hold back on the spice, it was hot, but it was the sweetness that lingered. Execution wise, I also love the size of the bottle and that it’s squeezable. It makes handling the honey so much easier for measuring and cooking!

As someone who used to eat white bread with hot sauce, AR’s Spicy Honey Peanut Butter is next level. Freshly roasted Virginia peanuts combined with the spice of ghost peppers. This is a 99% smooth peanut butter with just enough peanut specks to add a nice bit of texture. It’s honestly addictive, spicy, sweet and peanuty. As someone with a high tolerance for heat, I found the spiciness perfect. Distinct with a punch, but not completely overwhelming the other flavours of the peanut butter. The peanut butter is natural and does separate, so be sure to stir before using and keep refrigerated once opened.

Inspired

Tasting the Hot Southern Honey, my mind immediately went to Korean Fried Chicken. This honey would be perfect for the gochujang sauce. I can’t wait to serve it with a chunk of manchego on our next cheese platter or in the glaze for broiled salmon with a bit of dijon mustard. The honey would also be a delicious topping drizzled on vanilla ice cream of yogurt.

With AR’s Spicy Honey Peanut Butter, I instantly thought of noodles. For a quick dinner, spicy peanut noodles were always my got to, topped with tofu or kimchi, a fried egg, slice of spam or whatever was in my fridge. This recipe for Sichuan Peanut Noodles takes full advantage of AR’s Hot Southern Honey Spicy Peanut Butter complimenting the smokey flavour with a hint of numbing Sichuan peppercorns. We used a thick somen because it was what we had, but any kind of noodle would do, egg, rice or even shirataki.

Yum

Sichuan Peanut Noodles

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp AR’s Hot Southern Honey Spicy Honey Peanut Butter
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn, ground
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1 tbsp of canola oil
• 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine
• 1/2 tsp five spice powder
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
• 300g flour noodle (somen)
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 green onion
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. In a small mixing bowl, stir together AR's Hot Southern Honey Spicy Honey Peanut Butter, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, ground Sichuan peppercorn, water and cornstarch.
2. In a medium bowl, season the ground pork with cooking wine, white pepper and five spice powder. Mix together and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. In a large pan, add oil and heat until the oil begins to smoke. Add in ground pork and garlic, saute until the liquid evaporates and the pork is browned. Add in the sauce mixture and stir until it thickens. Set aside. Chop cilantro and green onion.
4. Cook noodles as per instructions on packaging, drain and place in a large bowl. Top with meat sauce, plenty of minced green onion, cilantro and more ground Sichuan peppercorns.

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Atmosphere: Zen Sanuki Udon is the new restaurant from Chef Seiichi Kashiwabara, of Zen sushi bar in Markham, one of the best loved omakase spots in the GTA. Walking into the noodle shop, the decor was more reminiscent of a sushi restaurant with open kitchen bar seats and modern natural wood decor. I arrived for the first dinner seating on a weeknight, a week after the restaurant opened, and by the time we were leaving, the restaurant was hitting capacity. I would not be surprised if a queue is still common during peak dinner hours today.

Service: I arrived first to the restaurant and was seated by the hostess with a smile. While waiting for my friend, my server brought over water and menus, also with a friendly smile. We both ordered cold noodle dishes, with no appetizers, and our bowls of noodles were ready quickly and concurrently. I noticed that this was not the case for the couple at the table next to us. One bowl of udon was served to the man and the woman looked around furtively for her meal. It was a noticeable gap before her order was ready. A small wrinkle, not unfathomable of a new restaurant, and one that is easily ironed out over time. Based on my own experience alone, the service was great.

Food: The menu at Zen Sanuki was pretty extensive and covered all the varieties of udon dishes I was expecting. There was also a section for donburi, rice bowls, with BBQ eel and sashimi. For the udon dishes, there was also a list of toppings you could add from an onsen egg to sliced week to wakame salad. With the temperature that day being over 30 degrees, my friend and I both decided to go with a cold udon. I opted for the Ikura Oroshi Udon while she had the Niku Bukkake.

My bowl arrived topped with ikura, wakame, tempura bits, slices of fish cake, chopped shiso leaf and green onions. There was a but of cold broth, just enough to keep the noodles moist and add flavour. My friend’s bowl was topped with thin slices of marinated beef, wakame, grated garlic, green onions, two slices of fish cakes and an onsen egg (super soft boiled). The udon texture was chewy and firm and the seasoning mild but delicious. So good and such an authentic bowl. I want to go back and pretty much try ever dish on the menu. Ingredients range from simple and comforting like curry and tempura to decadent and rich like wagyu beef and BBQ eel.

Being a sister restaurant to Zen, there is some sushi on the menu, most noticeably a daily hand roll. On the day of my visit, it was trout and I couldn’t resist adding it to our order. The role was prepared onigiri style, with a plastic wrap separating the rice and seaweed for the diner to assemble just before eating. The quality of the fish was good and for $6, a nice addition.

Overall, dinner at Zen Sanuki Udon was a treat. Excellent quality ingredients and amazing fresh noodles made in house daily.

If I see Dan Dan Mian on a menu, I’m guaranteed to order it. The simple bowl of noodles topped with minced pork and sweet Sichaun sauce is one of all time favourite dishes. At home, I’ve tried making the noodles using store bought seasoning packages, which come close in flavour, but doesn’t quite replicate the taste of dan dan noodles from my favourite restaurants. After our succesfull attempt at La Zhi Ji Ding, The Hubby was confident he could cook the dish from scratch and tweak the recipe to appeal to my taste buds. I’m a lucky woman. For the most part, we followed this recipe from “The Woks of Life” but made a couple of adjustments based on what we had in our cupboards. The recipe turned out fairly easy, and very delicious. We now also have a jar of homemade chilli oil, that adds a drizzle of goodness to any dish.

Dan Dan Mian

2016-11-06 23:02:28

Serves 2

Quick and easy take on an essential Sichuan dish

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

45 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

45 min

Ingredients

1. 2 tbsps crushed Sichuan peppercorns
2. 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
3. 1 stick of Chinese cinnamon
4. 2 whole star anise
5. 1/4 cup crushed red pepper flakes
6. 1 cup of oil
7. 1 lb ground pork
8. 2 tsps hoisin sauce
9. 2 tsps Chinese cooking wine
10. 1 tsp dark soy sauce
11. 1 tsp five spice powder
12. 2 tbsps of peanut butter
13. 3 tbsps of soy sauce
14. 2 tsps sugar
15. 2 cloves of minced garlic
16. 1 lb somen noodles
17. 2-3 baby bok choy
18. chopped green onion to garnish

Instructions

1. For the chilli oil, in a small pot add the oil, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon and star anise. Over low to medium heat, heat the oil until it reaches 160 degrees Celsius and remove from the stove. Let the oil sit for 5-6 minutes and then take out the star anise and cinnamon stick. Add in the crushed red pepper flakes while the oil is still hot, which will release a strong fragrant aroma. The oil can be set aside and will be ready to use once cool.
2. In a oiled pan, heat until the oil begins to smoke and add in the ground pork, hoisin sauce, cooking wine, dark soy sauce and 1/2 tsp of five spice powder. Sautee until all of the liquid has evaporated and the pork is brown. Set aside.
3. Cook the somen according to the instructions on the package and drain.
4. Using the water from the cooked noodles, blanche the bok choy leaves.
5. In a large bowl, assemble the sauce for the noodles using 1/2 cup of the chilli oil, peanut butter, 3 tbsps of soy sauce, sugar, 1/2 tsp five spice powder, 1/2 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns and minced garlic.
6. To serve, portion out the cooked, drained noodles, add in a ladle or two of sauce (and more chilli oil if needed), top with bok choy, cooked ground pork and garnish with chopped green onions.

Notes

1. Tip: If you're worried about the level of spiciness, start with using less chilli oil to the sauce. You can always add more directly to the noodles.
2. Tip: We substituted peanut butter for tahini sauce, both will work
3. Note: While heating up the oil for the chilli oil, we actually went higher than 162 degrees Celsius, which made the crushed pepper flakes quite dark.

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Heat the oil and spices to 160 degrees celsius

After letting the oil sit for 5-6mins, remove the cinnamon stick and star anise, add in the crushed red pepper flakes

Assemble ingredients for cooking the ground pork topping

Cook the ground pork until dry

Assemble ingredients for sauce


Put it all together in a bowl with the cooked somen and vegetables

One evening, The Hubs and I found ourselves in Markham looking for a casual place to grab dinner with friends. We narrowed down our choices to a few restaurants in Peachtree Plaza and decided to make a call once we were there. This led us to Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles, a small mom and pop shop, specializing in their namesake. Being a weekday evening, the restaurant was quiet with only a few tables occupied. A single server took care of all the tables, who was efficient and got the job done. There was a large TV playing a Chinese talk show, the soundtrack of the evening.

Between the four of us, we decided to share four types of noodles. The menu consisted of appetizers, stir fried noodles and soup based bowls. With each dish, there were option to customize the width of the noodle and hand pulled vs. shaved. We chose one stir fried option and 3 soupy ones. My favourite bowl was the Original Lanzhou beef with a clear, savoury broth garnished with cilantro. The Noodles had a good chew and the bowl was very satisfying. I found the lamb fried thin noodles ok, but not amazing. The dish did not have strong wok air.

The most disappointing bowl was the hot and sour soup, my choice, which was underseasoned. With a bright orange colour and good thickness, the soup had all the earmarks of being delicious, but fell short when it came to flavour. The noodles of this bowl were also thinner, and a touch overcooked to my liking. Our last bowl was a Red Braised Pork broth that was solid with large chunks of meat and a soy seasoned broth. Compared to the hot and sour soup, the noodles were much better and there was more depth of flavour (fat) in the broth.

Overall, not bad but not great. A safe bet to try would be the Original Lanzhou Beef Noodles.

I like to believe a growing new Toronto food trend is Chinese hand-pulled noodles, one of my all-time favourite comfort foods. With the success of restaurants like Magic Noodle (despite recent rumblings of a decline in quality and consistency) and Artisan Noodle, I was happy to hear about a fresh China import specializing in Northern Chinese cuisine, Qin Tang Taste.

Atmosphere: Qin Tang Taste is a popular chain of restaurants in Northern China and the Scarborough location is their first North American venture. Even late on a Saturday (9pm), the restaurant had a queue of diners waiting and it took us 30 minutes to get seated at bar seats. The majority of tables were booths for large groups, occupied with families, or small tables for two. Like most busy Chinese restaurants, servers hustled through the dining area and there was a sense of hurriedness. Customers were there to eat, not linger over their meal chatting.

Service: After sitting down, a server came by with tea, cups, utensils and an ordering sheet. Unfortunately, the English translations on the ordering sheet were abysmal (noodles with meat or noodles with meat). I even turned to Instagram attempting to track down the Chinese characters that corresponded to the dishes I wanted to order. In the end, I ordered verbally in Mandarin, which was good because none of the dishes I had marked on the sheet were what I thought they were. Food arrived quickly and with the servers running around, it wasn’t too hard to get someone’s attention. At one point, I watched the servers pour a giant bowl of noodles into a pot someone had brought from home to transport his take-out order.

Food: Between the two of us, The Hubby and I split an order of grilled lamb skewers, bowl of Biang Biang Noodles and grilled mantou with condensed milk. I am a big fan of lamb skewers and the ones at Qin Tang Taste had the perfect seasoning. The meat was lightly charred and tender. Another special menu item was lamb skewers cooked on wooden sticks instead of metal ones; a dish I’m interested to try next time.

The true reason I was there though was to satisfy my craving for Biang Biang Noodles. Normally, I prefer my noodles soupy vs. dry, but the combination of tomatoes, egg, minced pork, Sichuan peppers and chili oil may convert me. At Qin Tang Taste, the thick belt noodles were chewy and satisfying. I did find the pepper and chili oil at Artisan noodle more fragrant but this bowl still hit the spot. When ordering noodles, most bowls come in small or large size, with the large bowls being giant. One large bowl could easily feed 4-5 people.

For dessert, the grilled mantou with condensed milk was a little greasy, but delicious. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and who can resist condensed milk? I also liked seeing a dessert item on the menu at a Chinese restaurant.

MeNami is a new restaurant near Yonge and Finch from the owners of another popular North York restaurant, Han Ba Tang. The restaurant specializes in traditional udon, made fresh in-house. Chae, the owner, sent one of her chefs, Chef Kevin Shin, to Japan for 6 months to learn the technique for making udon and imported a Japanese udon machine from Kagawa in order to create the most authentic udon experience possible for her customers. I had the pleasure of checking out the new restaurant at their media launch.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

My dinner at MeNami was a real treat and much more than just noodles, although udon was the highlight. Similar to Han Ba Tang, the decor was industrial chic with use of reclaimed wood and an old truck fender hanging over the neon lit bar. With plentiful food, the bar menu was equally impressive. Cocktails ranged in price from $8 to $12 and featured Asian flavours such as yuzu and shochu (plum wine). On top of that, MeNami offered a wide selection of sakes, beers and Korean liquors. MeNami proved that they knew how to host a fun night.

Dinner began with dishes from the tapas and salad section of the menu.
Smoked Salmon with Parsnip Sauce – thick slices of sweet, sashimi grade salmon that had light smoke flavour.
Oven Roasted Yam Salad – greens with a light vinaigrette and cubes of sweet yam that had a caramelized coating.
Udon Salad with Chicken Breast – our first udon dish with a white sesame dressing, refreshing and a large, filling portion.
Albacore Tuna Tataki – again, high quality tuna, fresh, sweet and perfectly seared exterior.
Deep Fried Ika – I could not believe how soft and tender the squid calamari was, nori was also included in the batter adding a salty, umami flavour to each piece.
Corn Kaki-age – sounds simple (and a bit odd) on paper, but the fresh corn fritters were sweet and crunchy, highly addictive.
Beef Tataki – thin slices of beef with a healthy topping of green onion and sesame, while taste I thought this was the weakest appetizer.

After 7 appetizers, we moved on to udon. MeNami offers 18 udon dishes, some traditional and some with fusion twists. Before getting into each dish, I need to rave about the udon. Each noodle had a chewy, firm texture that was very satisfying to bite into. The noodles also soaked up flavour without changing texture and sauce clung to them.
Tsuke Udon – this was my favourite udon of the night, cold udon dipped in a light, sweet soy sauce with ginger, daikon and ground sesame.
Kitsune Udon – my second favourite dish, this was the most traditional bowl with a clear broth and topped with a slab of marinated deep fried tofu and fish cake.
Spicy Pork Udon – broth was similar to the kitsune but topped with spicy pork, onion and shredded nori.
Mentaiko Cream Sauce Udon – owner Chae’s favourite bowl, the udon was served with a creamy white sauce and a large dollop of mentaiko, marinated fish roe, when mixed together the udon was creamy and flavourful.
Black Sesame Puree Udon with Beef – again, I found the last dish to be the weakest, the udon was coated with a thick, sweet black sesame sauce topped with slices of beef. The flavour reminded me of a sweet bulgogi. Interesting, but I prefered the salty, savoury noodles more.

And that was just the food. I also had the chance to sip sakes (including Mio Sparkling sake, one of my favourites), cocktails and Korean shochu. I enjoyed the sweet, citrus flavours of my Sailor Moon Gone Wild cocktail and the clear taste of the White Samurai.

Overall, MeNami’s menu showcased a wide variety of dishes centred around their traditional, house-made udon noodles, that were amazing. Although MeNami means “little tide”, they’re making a big splash that’s well deserved.

I love hand pulled noodles. A few years ago, there were few options in Toronto for authentic, hand-pulled noodles but times are changing! Similar to Toronto’s ramen craze, I predict the rise in popularity of Chinese noodle shops to continue (Magic Noodle now has 3 locations). Artisan Noodle is one of these noodle shops in North York.

Atmosphere: Located in the first floor of a condo building, Artisan Noodle was compact with only 20 seats. Half of the restaurant space was devoted to the kitchen with a large open window and the other half was filled with wooden chairs and tables. The decor was industrial with a wallpaper reminiscent of wood pallets. Being a small restaurant, I’ve been eager to visit Artisan Noodle but weary of having to wait for a table. To avoid the dinner rush, The Hubby and I headed out right after work and arrived at 6:00pm. Even at the early hour, the two tables for 4 were full and we ended up on bar stools.

Service: I found service to be spotty and unfocused. There was only one server working and he was difficult to flag down. I asked which noodle dishes used fat noodles and his answer was “a bunch”. We sat next to the napkins/utensils and I ended up just grabbing what I needed myself. The bowls of noodles did arrive from the kitchen quickly and hot.

Food: For the two of us, we each choose a bowl of noodles and split an order of the Potato Jia-mo, a soft flatbread (Mo bread) stuffed with slices of potato, marinated tofu, tofu skin and their signature spicy sauce. The pancake was delicious, spicy and sweet, a strong doubanjiang flavour. I liked how the bread was toasted on the outside while soft and flakey within.

My bowl of noodles was the Yo Po Bian Bian Mian, hand pulled ribbon noodles (super thick), served with a topping of stewed beef cubes, sauteed tomato fried egg, mixed vegetable, chopped scallion, ground garlic, ground ginger and chili oil vinaigrette. Phew, lots of ingredients and when mixed together, created a perfect harmony of flavours. The thick oily noodles were wonderful to slurp up.

The Hubby was looking for a lighter dinner and ordered the Lamb Shui Pen, sweet potato starch noodles with wood ear fungus and cilantro in a lamb broth with Mo bread bun on the side. The strength of the dish was the broth, rich and flavourful. However there wasn’t much else to it. The glass noodles were cooked well but I found the portion lacking. Even with the Mo bread, The Hubby was not full.

Overall, I’m looking forward to trying out other dishes on the menu. Having a shop that serves up hand-pulled noodles within walking distance of home is pretty amazing.

Offal may not be for the faint of heart but it is considered a delicacy in most Asian cuisines. For me, I love the different textures of each organ and their savoury flavour. In Hong Kong, Beef Offal noodles is a classic street dish. Whenever The Hubby visited his grandparents in Hong Kong, they brought him to eat at Hop Hing Noodle Ka in Kwun Tong.

Since The Hubby’s last visit, Hop Hing Noodle Ka had moved from their original street location to a larger, cleaner space. The original hole-in-the-wall restaurant spilled out into the street and diners slurped up hot noodles in the Hong Kong heat. The new space was still cramped with tables and mismatched stools but there was air conditioning, a major upgrade.

The Hubby and I both ordered the beef offal noodles while his parents ordered a bowl of just the offal. Our bowls came with lung, tripe, spleen, and miscellaneous other organs (o_o), in a savoury beef broth with fat rice noodles. Each piece of meat was savoury, unique and a great chewy but soft consistency. I was also amazed with the portions. Usually in Toronto, an order of offal at dim sum was a small bowl, with no guarantee of what would be scooped up. Hop Hing Noodle Ka layered on the pieces. For those less adventurous, Hop Hing Noodle Ka also offers up beef brisket, wonton and fish ball noodles. I would still highly recommend trying offal, or at least splitting a bowl, paired with a plate of Ong Choy (Kong Xin Cai, 空心菜 or water spinach) covered in a sauce of fermented tofu.

After my visit to Chef Papa, a few people asked how the restaurant compared to Deer Garden, a more established and popular customize-your-own-noodle-bar with multiple locations. I couldn’t answer because I hadn’t been yet. This obviously had to be rectified, so The Hubby and I stopped by the Richmond Hill location for dinner one cold weekday night.

Atmosphere: I was not expecting a line at Deer Garden on a Thursday night at 8pm. We didn’t have to wait long, but that was only because the larger party ahead of us didn’t want to split up. The restaurant was clean, modern and well-lit.

Service: Although Deer Garden was sit-down restaurant, the service was minimal, similar to a Hong Kong style cafe. We were brought to our table and left with laminated menus and an order sheet. One of the sheets advertised a special offer for one free topping but I wanted to verify before ordering. When the server came by to collect our order sheets, she answered my questions brusquely and seemed impatient. Service efficiency was clearly a priority over friendliness. Our noodles did arrive quickly from the kitchen.

Food: Two cups of hot Hong Kong style milk tea in cute, insulated tin mugs. These mugs kept the drinks cool throughout our entire meal. The Hubby was feeling under the weather and stuck to light flavours. His bowl was made up of fish broth with rice noodles and topped with tofu fish, lamb slices and fish balls. The broth was milky and had a rich taste without a hint of fishiness. This was a great, comforting bowl, perfect for a cold night.

My bowl wasn’t as great. I chose poorly. My bowl had Peanut Sauce and Chili broth with Flat Rice Noodles, topped with blood, fish balls and enoki mushrooms. The main mistake was the peanut broth, which was thick like glue. Add in the rice noodles, which expanded and soaked up all the soup made the bowl impossible to finish. While the broth did have a strong peanut aroma and taste, it overpowered every other ingredient.The enoki mushrooms were hard to distinguish and the soup continued to thicken as it cooled. There was little to no chili flavour or heat. I should have stuck to the classic Fish broth. Half of my noodles ended up coming home with us.

We added a side order of fried pork chop to split. The chop was breaded and served with a mayo dipping sauce. I liked how crispy the batter was, but The Hubby was expecting a pan-fried version.

Overall, dinner at Deer Garden was fine but didn’t meet my expectations. Part of that being my own fault, but the experience was still disappointing. I will take another chance on them, being less adventurous.