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| - I probably wouldn't even have knew this place is here if I wasn't brought here by someone who knew where it was. It's tucked behind First Markham Place in what kinda looks like an office complex.
This place (regardless of it's deceiving name) serves Szechuan chinese food. So you're talking about dumplings, hot and sour soup, and spicy chunky beef noodle soup. I ordered exactly that. They also have this lunch combo at 28 dollars that includes, soup, an app, and 2 entree plates. We also got one of those.
The hot and sour soup was not terrible, but it did taste watered down. It seemed like every other table had ordered one (cause it comes in the same ikea looking bowl). It didn't really have any body in it so I wasn't really a big fan of it.
The fried pork dumplings were actually not too bad. My only disappointment is that they only had red vinegar on the table, which is kinda odd for a Szechuan place. it's usually the opposite. The dumplings were actually pretty juicy inside and the dough was a nice consistency. A pretty safe order.
The spicy chunky beef noodle was not terrible... but not exactly good either. The beef was pretty tender which was nice, but it was weird that they used thick Szechuan noodles instead of their thinner counterparts. Otherwise, there wasn't anything special about the soup base.
We also had the minced pork with fried beans (not sure if this is what it's called). The flavour was great, but the beans were kinda soggy and not crunchy.
All in all, I think the best way to describe Ala Kitchen is chinese fast food in a food court, but in a fancy renovated restaurant. In an area that is flooded by chinese restaurants, you can probably do better.
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