Exploring Shan Shan Bakery

Shan Shan Bakery 

10552 97 Street 

780-974-7788 

Chinatown's Shan Shan Bakery offers a wide variety of both Chinese and western baked goods, including cakes, cookies, tarts, and buns.

I ordered a variety of treats, including a bag of egg cookies, a butter cream chocolate cake roll, two kinds of mini mooncakes (red bean and lotus paste), a fresh fruit tart, a custard egg tart, and one slice of Black Forest cake. The latter is my favourite dessert and I was incredibly curious about how Shan Shan's version would compare.

It was surprising, to say the least. A light, fluffy chocolate cake with a mound of sweet cherry cream on top, garnished with a chocolate wafer and fruit. If you like your cake to cream/icing ratio weighted heavily in favour of the cream/icing, you will love this. It was definitely not a traditional Black Forest cake, but it was memorable (and delicious).

On the other hand, the slice of butter cream chocolate cake roll was exactly what I expected: chocolate cake rolled with a sweet and salty buttercream. The fresh fruit tart was small but delightful, with three pieces of fruit nestled in whipped cream and a dense shell. The custard egg tart was a bit bigger, with a filling that was firm and not too sweet, and a flaky crust.

I haven't had mooncakes in ages. These were small, but densely packed with their respective fillings. The red bean paste had a satisfying, subtle sweetness, while the lotus had a nutty flavour almost reminiscent of marzipan.

The egg cookies - originally ordered as an afterthought - were amazing. The dollar-sized cookies were crispy, buttery, and a perfect accompaniment to my afternoon coffee.

You can go to Shan Shan directly, or order via Uber Eats for delivery like I did.

Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House: Brisket and Chicken Lo Noodles

Cui Hua Gui Lin Noodle House (10626 97 Street) is a Chinatown restaurant specializing in - as its name suggests - noodle dishes. The menu consists of a variety of soups (which include noodles), vermicelli dishes, and house specialty noodles. The proteins in most of the dishes include beef, pork, and chicken, as well as lamb in a few of them.

Since noodles is the Gui Lin speciality, house noodle dishes are what I ordered: a Chicken Lo Noodle and a Brisket Lo Noodle, to be precise. The noodles were flat and almost clear, with a slightly chewy texture. They mixed in well with the protein, peanuts, and bamboo shoots, and parsley that adorned. Each mouthful resonated with notes of sweet, spicy and sour in different levels of intensity. The flavours were balanced, and as someone who has a low spice tolerance threshold, I was not overwhelmed with heat, but felt my taste buds tingling just enough. While the chicken mostly tasted from the hot and sour flavour soundtrack, the brisket was tender and maintained some of its meaty notes, although it also had the same flavour combination underscoring it. The person who ate the rest of the Brisket Lo Noodle raved about the dish's flavour.

I also ordered one of the restaurant's appetizers, the lemongrass chicken. What looked like the equivalent of two thighs were cut up in bite-sized pieces and cooked in the tangy and mildly spicy lemongrass, served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Definitely flavourful and satisfying.

Overall, after finishing my lunch I felt like I had taken a culinary journey, which I hope to explore again.

Brisket Lo Noodle

 

Noodleholic at the Door

Noodleholic is one of my favourite Chinatown restaurants. How can I resist a steaming bowl with my choices of broth, noodles, and toppings? I was thankful to find out the restaurant is on Uber Eats. These bowls of glory were delivered along with iced coffee, green onion cakes, and a Chinese long doughnut. 

The Pho Files: Steak and Brisket at Pho Hoang/King Noodle

A late lunch in Chinatown brought me to Pho Hoang/King Noodle for a large bowl of steak and brisket pho. Large, it certainly was, filled to the brim with noodles and meat. The broth was rich and flavourful. Served up by the moustache man himself, I can see why Pho Hoang is considered one of the best places for pho in the city.

Combination Plate the the New Tan Tan

New Tan Tan #yegfood, a photo by raise my voice on Flickr.

I was at a rally Friday in the bitter cold, so I went for the closest restaurant I could find in which to warm up and get some nourishment. New Tan Tan (10133 97 Street) is quite a popular destination from what I heard, and was glad it was across the street from Canada Place, where I was.

Known for Dim Sum, there is also a regular lunch menu. I had one of the combination plates. The ginger beef was cooked to perfection - not too hard or soft. The veggies came with chicken, not beef as stated on the menu, but I was not disappointed as the vegetables were very fresh and the chicken actually tasted like chicken (I find a lot of meat and veggie dishes have weird tasting meat). And, of course, the chicken fried rice rounded out the plate.

The meal was around $12 and I found it more than ample in terms of portion. Service was very attentive and friendly, and the place was bright and clean (and had nice washrooms). I would definitely head here again for a great lunch.

Dinner for One at Taipan Cafe

Dinner for One, a photo by raise my voice on Flickr.

Taipan Cafe (10627 97 Street) is one of my favourite places for Chinese food. Portions are huge, prices are low, and service is generally fast.

Taipan's dinners for one are only $12.50 and include three or four different selections. My choice of "A" included ginger beef, beef and vegetables, chicken balls, chicken fried rice, and a spring roll. I could not finish it all. In fact, I often share one of these plates with someone else - it makes for a fun and inexpensive supper.

Lemongrass Chicken Vermicelli Bowl

Lemongrass Chicken Vermicelli Bowl, a photo by raise my voice on Flickr.

Pagolac (97 Street and 106 Avenue) is one of the first Chinatown restaurants to which I was introduced. It also remains one of my favourites. I especially like their vermicelli bowls, as I find them loaded with meat and bursting with flavour. This is the lemongrass chicken vermicelli bowl with vegetarian spring rolls that I had for lunch today. The chicken has an incredible taste and the spring rolls were a bit unique in that they were filled with taro or some other kind of root vegetable other than the typical cabbage. Prices ate Pagolac recently went up, but are still competitive for this part of town.