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| - My parents, my aunt, and their friends started coming to Swatow even before I was born. It was always highly spoken of in my family, for their amazing fish balls with rice noodles (???), wontons, fried pig intestine (it's delicious, I promise!), braised beef brisket, and other down-to-earth Cantonese dishes, particularly their noodle soups. However, ever since my family moved to Where the Chinese People Go When They Settle in Toronto (aka Markham/Richmond Hill/Scarborough area), we've only been back very occasionally.
Sometime last year, my mom came here when she was in the area with her friends, and she told me that Swatow wasn't good anymore. I can't remember why, but I filed it in the back of my memory and promptly ignored her opinion when I found myself with some free time last weekend, craving food I had in my childhood.
I ordered fish balls and beef brisket over rice noodle soup, a stuffed tofu, and a plate of Chinese vegetables. And, of course, Mom was right. The food was not what it used to be. I mean, the fish balls were still good - I think they might still be house-made - and the brisket was ok. But the rice noodles were really awful. They broke into tiny pieces whenever I tried to grab mouthfuls when my chopsticks, they were thick (which is the WORST!), and they were all different widths. I don't care if they are wide or narrow, but I do like them to be uniform. And you know how much it cost? $8.75 before tax and gratuities! Which isn't exorbitant, but it's quite a lot for a noodle soup.
The vegetables were ok, but they were very thick and fibrous ("old", in Chinese), and most importantly, they weren't cut to be easier to eat. But they weren't too bad.
The stuffed tofu is supposed to be pan-fried, per the Chinese name of the dish, but it was clearly fried. There wasn't much stuffing on it, but it tasted alright. The soy sauce was sweet and not too salty.
I will wait until I'm back north to have something like this again, next time.
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