mindless ramblings

I love my wonton noodles (not wanton… as Venitha has noticed), as do my parents, so once they got off the plane last week, one of the first meals we had was at Mak’s (Google Map). Unlike other restaurants here that serve noodles like Hon’s (ugh), they focus on just noodles and congee. No jack-of-all-trades cooking here.

They have the usual menu items such as wonton, shui gao, beef brisket/tendon for noodles, and century eggs, fish slices or random pig parts for congee. I usually get the shui gao lo mein (dry noodle) but the soup ones are equally good.

When the food arrives, you might be struck by how small the servings appear. This is true to a certain extent, it’s definitely smaller than the regular servings you get in Canada. It’s more of an Asian-sized serving. So if they don’t have quanitity, how is the quality? On the many times I have been here, their noodles are always perfectly cooked, it’s like the Chinese version of al dente; firm, with a slight crunch but not tasting undercooked. The wonton and shui gao are consistently delicious too, with strong flavours and fresh ingredients being the order of the day. Finishing it off is the soup, which doesn’t taste MSG-laden for once.

The congee (sorry no pictures!) is good too. It’s quite watery but the broth is is full of flavour and the fish tastes fresh. No overpowering fish smell here! A side order of you tiao (油条) makes it even better! Since the servings here are small, a bowl of congee to share between 2-3 people is a great idea.

A good side dish to get when you are here are the vegetables. The kai-lan is cooked until tender, but not so soft that it becomes mushy. The accompanying oyster sauce is a little on the salty side though. Thankfully it is left to the side so you can add an appropriate amount for yourself.

After eating here for a couple of months, I finally had a eureka moment and figured out why I enjoyed the food here so much. The answer? The copious amounts of LARD! Now that might sound awfully gross and unhealthy to you, but it turns out that lard actually has LESS saturated fat content than butter! Maybe I’m just kidding myself, but healthy or not, it’s not going to stop me from going back there to eat!