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| - QinTang Taste is a Beijing-based chain, and with their first international location they bring Shaanxi (Northwestern) Chinese cuisine to Toronto (or at least a Scarborough condo). If all you associate with Chinese food is rice-this and rice-that, the complete lack of rice on the menu will be the first thing to kick you in the ass. Dishes of the region skew towards wheat, and with that, noodles and lots of it. Also, spices, which will be the next thing to kick your ass.
It is gluttonous nonetheless when you start piling on noodle orders and whatnot. Many of the food here are quite spicy, which will disappoint chili weaklings, but on an extreme cold-as-fuck winter day it comes as a relief--request extra napkins for all the sweatin' to be had! The menu was a bit perplexing and amusing to read, as many of the noodles were listed as either traditionally hand-pulled, or shamelessly "robot-made." The difference in quality between the two is probably in the chewiness.
The grilled meats come with plenty of wow factor. The lamb skewers coated in a liberal dosing of cumin seeds were great with blast of gamey and spicy flavours. Even crazier were the barbeque bullfrog legs, which does literally taste like chicken (not to be cliche or anything) with an extreme chili kick. Sweet and floral, garnished with osmanthus petals, the rice balls in osmanthus soup was a great surprise from all this gluttonous and spicy eats we've been having.
Qin Tang Taste is relatively cheap and crazy-spicy, and with the amount of food you get, you feel you own the world. Service is generally good, and one can get by with basic English communication with the Mandarin-centric staff. Just don't get the pineapple beer, it is novel nothing in a can. If you're hungry at Pacific Mall, you're better off in my opinion heading south a short bit to check this place out.
{TTC: take either the 42 or 43A to McNicoll at Kennedy Road.}
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