I know I am soooo behind in my blogs but I just realized how behind I was. Well, we went Mak’s in January and it is until now I got down to blogging about it. Frankly, I find so little time to do the things I enjoy these days. But anyway, I only have this entry and tomorrow’s to go before I get started on the Seattle Spring Break series.
For today, it’s about Mak’s Noodle Restaurant. We only got to know about Mak’s when Erick commented that they have one of the best wonton noodles in Richmond. Erick is from Seattle and he comes over to Richmond every now and then just for food! So, I guess being a true-blue foodie, he knows where the great food is.
We would not have found Mak’s on our own. It is sort of tucked deep in a strip mall along Alexandra Rd, the “eat street” of Richmond. The address if you are interested is 1200-8580 Alexandra Road. It is a Cantonese restaurant and their specialty is wonton noodles.
Table condiments are the all important chili oil (or oil chili?) for wonton noodles. As important as the wonton and noodle, the chili oil is just as indispensable.
There are vinegar too but I had never understood the use of vinegar here. I mean, what do you use that with?
Nanzaro insisted in making his own order. As long as he does not order Fried Rice again, we just let him decide on his own and stay out of commenting on his poor choice. He ordered the Lo-Mein with Shredded Pork in Spicy Brown Sauce. Six bucks … hmmm … and it does not really looked tasty. After some cajoling, he let us taste a bit … it was too oily and salty.
Arkensen ordered the Supreme Wonton Noodle Soup. I am kind of glad he ordered this because, well, it is what Mak is known for. It is just $4.25. It was not bad but do think that the wonton is a bit too salty for our liking. Otherwise, it is great.
When Suanne finds her pants a bit too tight, she orders something like the ones above. LOL! She even ordered the Mixed Seafood Congee and not the one with pork meat. It was pretty good for $5.
I would have ordered ones with pork liver and intestines with lots of sliced ginger, soya sauce and white pepper powder.
The Chinese Donut were extras to go with the congee. $1.50 … in Asia you could get this for 30 cents but you can’t compare right? But this one is great — freshly made and very crunchy.
Me, I had the Braised Beef Brisket/Tendon and Dumpling Noodle Soup. I like everything about it … the broth, the stringy noodles and lots of meat. Just $6.00.
In all it was an excellent recommendation from Erick. The service here is fast but understandably the servings are small … for some reason, I had never seen really good wonton noodles served in humungous bowls like the Vietnamese Pho.
The total tab came up to $26 including tax and tips. Be warned that they accept cash only, no Interac or credit cards accepted (for American readers, Canadians does NOT accept cheques).
Anyway, we felt rather thirsty after meal … they must used a lot of MSG here. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
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vinegar’s for the dumplings.
“There are vinegar too but I had never understood the use of vinegar here. I mean, what do you use that with?”
Vinegar is also often used directly on the wonton noodles, as the wonton wrappers traditionally are made with lye water. Hence when being eaten in the noodle soup, vinegar can be added to re-balance the soup’s pH (or at least the taste of it).
Talking about “no comparison”. We pay 9 euro’s for a bowl of congee.. And that’s not even the seafood one, that will probably come up to 12 euro’s.. which is 19 dollars.. So I make my own congee :), but still have to buy the yaotiao (yaw char gwai) from Chinatown.
MSG should be (quote-unquote) “OK.”
After all, as one writer put it, “if MSG is so bad for you, why doesn’t everyone in Asia have a headache?”
LOL.
We posted a couple of articles about MSG (and the debate) before:
from The Observer ~ http://eatingclubvancouver.blogspot.com/2008/01/observer-article-if-msg-is-so-bad-for.html
from the NY Times ~
http://eatingclubvancouver.blogspot.com/2008/03/nytimescom-yes-msg-secret-behind-savor.html
MSG is a bad thing.. just an additive to improve the taste of yr food but has high amount of sodium.. so it makes u thirsty.
I find it ironic that given the bountifulness, emphasis on freshness and variety of Asian (particularly Chinese) cuisines that MSG is deemed necessary to “enhance” flavours.
I’m mildly allergic to MSG (yes I do get resulting headaches and extreme dry mouth), so I ask for no MSG whenever possible. Restaurant foods are already high in sodium as is, so MSG is pretty much a double-whammy.
Hey Ben,
Glad you liked the food. Your pictures are making my mouth water! Sorry about the MSG attack. I don’t recall having the same reaction the times we’ve been there and I would have warned you as my tolerance for MSG is getting lower.
As far as the portions, it’s similar to what we’ve experienced in HK at Mak’s Noodle there. I love their “crispy” soup noodles and broth and their jook is the best around. Next time, I have to compare it to Congee Noodle King.
When I was in Hong Kong earlier this year, I was told that there is a Mak’s in Hong Kong as well and it is owned by the same people. Although I have never tried either the HK or Vancouver restaurants, I have heard they’re quite tasty. Too bad about your MSG attack though! :(
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