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| - inheriting the simple menu concept from one of the best noodle places in hk (jim chai kee), wonton chai offers only few things on the board: wonton, sliced beef, fish balls, and beef brisket. they are to be consumed in soup form: by itself, with yellow noodle, flat rice noodle, or thin rice noodle.
on the menu, there are a few more things, which revolve around noodles in one form or another. nice addition for those who want to venture out of their staple items.
my bf and i ordered three dishes (bowls? lol) and a drink:
1. beef brisket w/thin rice noodle in soup--the meat is flavorful and tender, noodles cooked right. i only felt like the soup base, while tasty, could be just a tad stronger, like those we have in hk.
2. signature wonton in soup, on its own (no noodles)--flawless. wonton skin is thin and soft, shrimps inside are fresh (i.e. no super strong white pepper smell to cover bad shrimp taste) and cooked al dente, soup base is flavorful. again, flawless.
3. yellow noodles (w/meat) in chilly tomato sauce, peking style ("jin dao ja jiang mian")--the yellow noodle is cooked perfectly, it's crunchy (al denta crunchy, not deep-fried crunchy!) and each strand just bounces between your teeth like it's on a trampoline! my only complaint is that the sauce--while a bit too "saucy"/watery and has mushroom and all in it, weird--is a bit too heavy on the spice--i know it is supposed to be a little spicy, but i was made to keep sipping my drink, which interfered my enjoyment of the noodle slightly, that's all. but the noodle itself made up for it; each crunchy bite was just too heavenly i couldn't stop eating it one bite after another. even my bf regretted ordering his rice noodle and said should've ordered the yellow noodle instead. which he should have--it's a flagship item!
ordered a cold soy bean milk as drink but it seems they either pre-made those or ordered from a vendor; it came in a take-out cup from their drink fridge. taste and level of sweetness are both ok, but since it may not be made on premise, i wouldn't count points against or towards them.
overall, this is a great place to get quality noodle and wonton. i'm only slightly disturbed that the cashier lady not only used no gloves when handling the raw noodles (it was down time; she was separating the big bunch of noodles into proper serving sizes), she only patted the flour off her hands when she went to take our bill and make changes. not only that, she THEN went straight back to touching the raw noodles, no washing hands in between necessary--gross!!! yeah i know the noodles will be cooked in hot boiling water and all, so i can almost allow the no gloves situation. but touching other things (the counter, the cashier, the bills, the coins, the compartments inside the cashier, etc) then going right back to food?? that's begging for food contamination out loud. methinks they really should pay attention to that.
even though we both felt a little thirsty/dry-mouthed after eating their noodles (MSG alert?), i would not hesitate to go back again. sidenote on Lynda W's comment about the "vegetarian version" of the soup: while just the noodle + soup combo seems vegetarian enough, people who are on a strict no-meat diet may want to make sure that the soup base isn't made with bones and meat as well. i highly doubt that is the case since bones and meat are usually what make the soup base savory, and most chinese places do not hesitate to use them.
last thing, i think they only appreciate cash. but this is a cheap eat place so one should at least be able to get something out of there with just loose change--especially when dollar "bills" actually come in coins in canada!
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