I'm so excited to share about Chung King Garden Restaurant, also known as Chung King, because it is my favourite Chinese restaurant in the GTA, and arguably, my favourite restaurant. I can name a million reasons why this restaurant excites me, but in the end, the most important factors are the flavour, texture, and aroma of the food. After many years of going to this restaurant, I can declare with certitude that it is THE BEST Chinese restaurant in the Greater Toronto Area.
(Photo courtesy of yelp.ca) Though the exterior looks unimpressive and modest, it reinforces the trite adage "don't judge a book by its cover", as the bland outside of the restaurant sharply contrasts the fantastic food served inside.
The tablecloths used to be old, worn down, and scratched up white tablecloths that a child could use in Hallowe'en to dress up as a ghost, but the Chung King management recently updated them to these clean, new ones.
Orange Chicken. Today was the first time I've ever ordered this from Chung King; I did not regret it at all. Though the orange flavours were too subtle to be tasted, the chicken was tender and delicious nonetheless.
The three pictures above show Peking Duck served two different ways. The top picture shows the traditional sliced, roasted duck with flour wrappers, whereas the bottom two photos show minced duck wrapped with lettuce.
The Szechuan Beef is a MUST HAVE. If you only order one dish in the restaurant, let it be this one. The beef's texture is crispy yet not chewy, and the flavour is sweet, slightly salty and spicy, yet not overwhelming. This is one of my favourite dishes ever.
Yang Chow Fried Rice. Doesn't look too impressive but the rice is super flavourful and fluffy. I don't normally like shrimp, but the shrimp in the rice is plump and juicy, unlike most Chinese restaurants, which tend to overcook and dry the shrimp.
Hot and Sour Soup. Slightly disappointing, since I feel that the aforementioned dishes are nothing short of amazing. It's not bad, I'm just not particularly intrigued by it.
Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy in Garlic Sauce. It is what it is, it's a bunch of stir fried vegetables, nothing too fascinating. I felt that some of them were too bitter, but overall, the dish wasn't bad.
To end the meal, we were served with a sweet and warm red bean soup. With such filling main dishes, it would have been nice to end with something cold and light. However, the red bean soup was surprisingly sweet and not too overwhelming, so it was great to end the meal with this dessert. :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chung King's Urbanspoon Page:
No comments:
Post a Comment