Sunday, 10 August 2008
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King's Noodle Restaurant review
King's Noodle Restaurant
296 Spadina Ave
Toronto, ON
416.598.1817there have been numerous debates on the best wonton noodles on spadina, and the conversation usually points to king's noodle, dumpling house, or goldstone. relatively busy past 9pm on a thursday night, we figured that the crowd would be a good indicator.
seeming to have taken a cue from asian legend, they have modernized their interior decor, and there's a general feeling of cleanliness now (as compared to other aging chinatown haunts).
i normally use the wonton noodles ($3.99) as a yardstick to judge a cantonese noodle house. served with 5-6 wontons, and enough noodles for 4 small bowls, the quantity certainly was not lacking. the wonton filling was just a little bit on the doughy side, but the flavour was fine. the wrappers, however, felt closer to dumping wrappers; they weren't the traditional thin, slippery wonton wrappers. the noodles themselves were overcooked or simply weren't fresh; a little bit soft, instead of al dente ~ elastic texture.
the bbq pork and roasted duck noodles ($6.50) came with a reasonable amount of meat, as well as a few stalks of bok choy. the bbq pork, while passable, had a few end pieces that were dry and stringy. the roast duck would have been great on its own, since it was very light on five-spice and soy sauce seasoning.
the fried doughstick in rice noodle [cantonese: ja leung] ($3.50) came along after we had finished most of our noodles. it came sitting in a mildly sweet soy sauce (the sauce normally served with rice noodle dished at dimsum), without the traditional peanut and sweet bean sauces for dipping. the doughstick were densely doughy and lacked the crunch and crispiness that normally makes this dish a unique contrast in textures. while plentiful, the apring onions and dried shrimp were very much clumped together.
in the end, King's Noodle Restaurant was all show and no go -- nowhere as good or reliable as Goldstone.
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Comments (13)
thanks for reviewing this place. i usually go to ghetto goldstone for noodles and congee, and i've always wondered about this one.
and wait, you were relatively in my area and didn't call me out. surprise. surprise! pshh.
@fresh_81 - dude, you moved! again! where the F are you now? what, you expect me to check every alley i find for cardboard boxes w/ u and your man spooning underneath?
I totally agree with you on this one - I gave this place 2 chances and both times, they didn't live up to my expectations.
dude, i live at king/spadina more or less!!!
btw i went to King's last night. and the dough fritter was among the worst i've ever had! :T
@fresh_81 - yep. why the heck possessed you to go there, despite the unfavourable review? ai yah, my work has been in vain .. u can just give me the $15 you spend there for dinner enxt time .. and i'll get u something cheaper adn tastier and kepe the profit :D
I noticed you kept pics 3 and 4 blurry so as to hide the poor quality for this restaurant :)
@chrispycrunch - haha no, that's just the macro autofocus deciding to pick up on the edge of the bowl against the pitch black background. i blame it on the camera, not the photographer. :P
I love the Goldenstone; it's where my husband and I had our first date. I HAVE TO have the beef with boy choy every time we go there.
Hey Moocow. You're back with your reviews. Funny I haven't been to King's noodles for probably 10+ years and I just went back there 2 weeks ago cuz I watched that chinese food review series with "Choi Lan"; he was tasting wonton noodles in HK and China and I developed a craving for it. Tried it at King's and noodles was 'al dente' for me that time (early afternoon) but the wontons disappoint a bit, too much pork and hardly any shrimps :( ...surprisingly I wouldn't think Goldstone was good for that, maybe I'll try next time. Those cakes at the Korean bakery looks good btw.
Wow, I can't believe they renovated the interior! Is Chinatown gentrifying?!