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| - I was here at the Pickering location of the chain yesterday cause I was eating with my MIL who lives at the very border of Scarborough and Pickering, and she loves hosting her 2 granddaughters at her local Mandarin Buffet. Not all restaurants in this chain are alike in their offerings you know; they do tend to cater to local tastes. This eastern GTA location is far more likely to have non-Asian items such as scrambled eggs, bacon & sausages on the brunch menu than say, Yonge and Eglinton, reflecting the different local tastes of the more "whitebread" population here. It's also less likely to experiment with the more unusual Chinese offerings for their buffet.
I like both kinds of diversity in my buffet, enjoying both the more exotic Chinese choices AND the traditional Canadian brunch and dinner choices, so I'm happy, whichever way the particular Mandarin location in question scews--I am a true Foodie LOL. As long as they prepare the dishes well, and for the most part, the various Mandarin restaurants do, that's all I ask. Mandarin truly reflects our multicultural GTA spectrum.
Personally I have two things I look for at every Mandarin location though: at the carving table, a good roast beef or flank steak (brunch/lunch choice) THINLY SLICED, something it took the Mandarin carvery staff some time to master, but give them credit, now they've all mastered the slicing/carving technique, and secondly, I hope desperately they are not out of crème brûlée at the dessert table.
There's nothing I love more than that satisfying burnt sugar crunchy topping over custard. When I didn't see it there and there were some wait staff present behind the dessert counter serving cotton candy to the kids, I asked them if they had any crème brûlée. Two of them didn't know what I meant. The third lady looked like she had a lightbulb go off in her head when she informed me regretfully, "Only at dinner time, not brunch, not lunch." Then, trying to be helpful, she steered me to the other dessert table, where she showed me the crème caramel. "It's not the same thing," I told her. "I know," she replied, again regretfully. Well, she tried. She was doing her best to be helpful and I can't fault her earnest intentions.
A few moments later, I bumped into a Mr. Lam whose name tag proclaimed him to be Assistant Manager. I thought I'd take the opportunity to make a suggestion that crème brûlée be added to the lunch menu. Mr. Lam was very happy not only to carefully write my suggestion down in a notebook he carried with him, he did better than that. MUCH better! He offered to have as many crème brûlées as I liked delivered to my group's table, even though it wasn't on the lunch regular menu. I was ecstatic. Then he and another female manager told me I could always approach Mandarin management staff with a special request like this. Good to know! I learned something new today.
There's one more new thing all Yelpers should be aware of: there is now a calorie count sign with every regular item on the menu! I know, we're still gonna pig out, but now you can make an informed choice and pick the steamed fish over the baked salmon and save 10 or 20 calories. Those all mount up and choosing wisely makes a surprising difference if you're watching your calories, your carbs and your sugars as I am. I usually feel a little bloated the next day after a buffet binge, but not this time! My BG reading was within the normal range this morning, and I credit those calorie signs that helped me navigate the menu.
You can credit Premier Wynne for that one, Yelpers. All Ontario restaurants have to post their calorie counts for their regular meal choices now and it's being phased in. Mandarin has taken a really good approach to this by having big plastic coloured signs under each dish with the name of the item with its calorie count underneath. A sincere thank you to Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario government for passing that regulation, which will help us make healthier food choices when we eat out in the years to come. On that happy note, I wish all of you happy noshing in the GTA and oh yeah, Happy #Canada150! The Big Day for Canada is now only a little over a week away. There's lots of places to celebrate so get out there!
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