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| - It's hard to describe what this restaurant means to me. It's like a pair of long, forgotten, but great-at-that shoes; When in season I would wear it everyday, but once the hype had passed, the shoes are stored away collecting dust, with a once-in-a-while-pull-out.
Well, Peking man is that pair of shoes. I used to come here often in my younger years (like single digit age) and the dumplings and Shanghai noodles were THE BEST. It was really the only acceptable restaurant where you could eat dumplings and white bread with condensed milk. Now, with Ding Tai Fung, Asian Legends and the variety of restaurants serving dumplings at First Markham, Peking Man has almost been forgotten. For those who have frequented here often, the dark, pink wallpaper still exists, as well as the cloth curtains collecting dust, faux plants and Christmas lights decorating the ceiling, and yes, that one Arcade machine with the motorcylce priced at an 1980's inflation rate of 25 cents. It really hasn't caught up with the times, but to its credit, it is still standing.
Food is still as good as I remember. Some of my family members came here for dinner last night and I had a craving for meat dumplings and Shanghai noodles with crunchy vegetables. However, that is the lunch menu. Dinner options are much more extensive and we had an extra large bowl of Hot and Sour Soup. Now, I normally don't like that soup, but at this place it was SO TASTY. I had 5 bowls of this jolt-in-your place liquid and the flavouring was delish.
Then, we had an assortment of dishes including fried pork cutlets, fried green beans, tofu, beef and onion, Chicken with sprinkled garlic and for me, vegetarian dumplings (but no meat). All good.
Reservations aren't really needed, although as soon as we came in, 3 big families came in and turned our quiet area into a zoo.
I will always love this restaurant as a place of my childhood, but the food is great too. It's not fine dining and the service is off and on, but I hope Peking Man will stick around for my children to enjoy as well.
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