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| - Disappointing...
Went to Linda for a very late lunch a few days ago. Until now, we have always enjoyed our meals at Linda and were very pleased to see their new menus with greater variety.
What we ordered:
Drinks - Lemon basil martinis - these are always excellent at Linda, and we enjoyed them very much.
Crispy Beef Bites (from the dinner appetizer menu) - to share - a fairly small portion, but crispy and tender. Dip sauces are all sweet; the mango yogurt dip tastes too much like dessert - one savoury dip would be a good idea, perhaps a spicy (curry?) aoli. Chili orange was the best of the three sauces.
Tom Yum Goong - we invariably order Tom Yum at Thai restaurants; this was a tad overpriced, but nice flavour.
Crispy Duck Leg with Steamed Dumplings - "steamed dumplings" is a real misnomer; they are actually a won ton wrapper or a "duck pastry" as sold in Chinese supermarkets (10/$1.99); our server called them "pancakes". We ordered 2 legs (1 is $18, 2 are $21, so it's foolish to order just one, especially when sharing). The duck legs are battered and deep fried. The batter is nice and crispy, and our server deboned the legs at the table and shredded the duck into bite size pieces suitable for the wrappers.
Whether you order one duck leg or two, the quantity of condiments is the same. Five of the above-mentioned wrappers were served (this is for 2 people and 2 duck legs, remember), along with four of the tiniest condiment dishes you can imagine, containing small amounts of cucumber, celery, shredded scallion (green onion), and hoisin sauce. If you have eaten Peking duck in pancakes/wrappers, you know that the usual additions are scallions and hoisin sauce. We felt the cucumber and celery were superfluous, but ok. The amount of scallion, however, was utterly laughable, not more than 1/3 of one small scallion (white part only). Has the scallion market suddenly skyrocketed? I purchased 3 bunches for $1 the next day at T&T when we went in search of Chinese roast duck and wrappers to satisfy ourselves after the disappointment at Linda.
As you might imagine, we had to request more wrappers and more scallions. Along came 5 more wrappers, with, again, four tiny dishes containing scallion, celery, cucumber (we had not finished the celery and cucumber from the first round, and wanted only scallions), and hoisin. For this tiny serving, we discovered when our bill arrived that we were charged $6! We honestly felt like running up to McEwan, purchasing a bunch of green onions, and bringing them back to donate to Linda, where there is apparently a serious shortage (of both scallions and hospitality).
The total lack of "generosity" with the accompaniments for the duck legs pretty much ruined the experience for us, in spite of the fact that we enjoyed the food. My husband was so put off that at this moment, even three days later, he says he has no interest whatsoever in returning to Linda, and quite honestly, I don't either. It will be a long time, if ever, that we bother to dine at Linda again.
There is a lesson to be learned here for the restaurant - for the cost of a few wrappers and a couple of scallions, you may have permanently lost a pair of long-time customers. Hope it was worth it for you.
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