Magic Wok Restaurant

Last night, my wife and I were invited out to dinner by a good friend of ours.  Our friend suggested we go to Magic Wok, a popular Chinese restaurant downtown St. John’s.  Magic Wok Restaurant has been in business for quite some time and has built up a great reputation in the city.  I remember first going there years ago with my parents for dim sum, at the old Magic Wok, which had burned down in 2001.  It was a great old charming building and a friendly atmosphere.  The new building is larger, more open and bright with modern yet distinctly Chinese décor.  The friendly atmosphere remains as warm as it ever was. 

The Menu

We arrived to the restaurant at 7pm to find the dining room buzzing with activity.  “Is there a special occasion tonight?” I asked the waiter, to which he replied “no, this is a typical Saturday night”.  Our host had called ahead a few days prior and reserved a table, so we were seated immediately.  The waiters came over and took our drink order immediately.  We looked over the menus, which had pictures of the signature dishes and were written in English and Chinese.  Our friend had pre-ordered the Peking Duck, which came as 3 courses (You need to order this dish in advance).  The first course was crispy duck skin with shrimp chips, pancakes, scallions, cucumber, chili sauce and hoisin sauce.  The second course was a duck bone and vegetable soup and the third course was a delicious duck stir-fry.  We also ordered flambé beef, captain chicken, shrimp and broccoli stir-fry, braised beef, a pork rib dish, won ton soup and steamed rice.

At the beginning of the meal, the waiter brought out our roasted duck for our approval before bringing it back into the kitchen to prepare into the 3 courses.  It looked elegant, with silver frills on the feet.  We were so in awe that we forgot to take a photo until the duck was brought back into the kitchen.  The first course that came out was the duck skin course.  This course is a fun dish you make your own duck skin pancake rolls with.  First you take your pancake and place the skin in it, then veggies then sauce, roll it up and enjoy.  It is a social dish best enjoyed with friends. 

Crispy duck skin

The crispy duck skin course

The next course was the soup course, where we enjoyed duck bone soup and won ton soup.  The wonton soup was good, but the duck soup was excellent.  The baby bok choy in the soup complimented the subtle flavor of the duck.  The broth was flavorful, but not too salty or overpowering so it could bring out the duck flavor.

 

duck bone soup

The captain chicken is Magic Wok’s take on sesame chicken, a sweet and tangy but less spicy version of General Tso’s Chicken.  The noodles were crisp and light, and the chicken was crispy yet sweet and tangy.

Captain Chicken

The shrimp and broccoli stir-fry was next to come out, the shrimp were juicy and the broccoli was tender but not too soft.  The sauce had a nice seafood taste to it, but was not too salty.

Shrimp and Broccoli

 

The braised beef was next.  It was so tender that it melted in our mouths.  This is one of my favorite rustic dishes that I enjoyed as a child.  I was not disappointed with this dish.

Braised beef

 

We then tried the pork rib dish.  The pork was very flavorful and the veggies were grilled to perfection.  The onions and choy had started to carmelize, but were still juicy with a hint of sweetness.

pork ribs

 

The last dish to come out was the most impressive; flambé beef.  With this dish, you get a little bit of a show with your tableside service.  The waiter brings out the beef on a sizzling platter, then pours vodka on it and lights it on fire.  After the flame burns off the alcohol and died out, the waiter then adds the sauce.   The beef was delicious, juicy and sweet.



Flambé beef

 

Our last course was dessert, we had coconut balls.  They were unlike standard dessert fare and reminded me of dim sum dessert that we would get in Toronto, sweet but not as sweet as Western desserts.  The homemade treats were coconut, fried in a crisp shell and rolled in powdered sugar.  The waiter told us that they were not ordered often, so they were a sort of best kept secret at Magic Wok.

coconut balls

 

The signature dishes ranged from about $10-$20 each, which is quite good for an upscale Chinese restaurant.  The flambé dish, which would have to be my favorite, was $18.99 plus tax, and worth it, given the little show and tableside service you get.   You also get decent size portions. There were 6 of us in our party, and there was plenty to eat and leftovers to take home.

We were served by multiple servers over the duration of our meal, this proved to be very effective during peak hours; instead of waiting for our section waiter to become available to bring us our food, as soon as the food came off the line, the next available person would bring it out asap.  The servers were also all very friendly and fast. 

I would recommend Magic Wok for anyone wanting to not only have a tasty meal during an evening out, but who would also enjoy the unique dining experience of dim sum and flambé during the same meal.  I definitely recommend the flambé beef, it will not disappoint.

Formosa Tea House

Last week, a friend and I visited the Formosa Tea House on Lemarchant Road.  Opened by Taiwanese tea merchants in 2011, after 10 years in PEI, Formosa Tea House is one of St. John's best kept secrets.  Part cafe, part tea wholesaler, the tea house is a welcome change from big chain places like Starbucks and Treats and also from the expensive cafe's downtown.

The space is small but welcoming.  The walls are decorated in Chinese decorations, in a minimalist design.  They have tea products prominently displayed, as well as authentic Chinese tea sets you may purchase.

My friend and I sat down and ordered our drinks.  I ordered an almond milk tea and my friend ordered a mocha ice coffee.  The prices were fantastic.  $2.21 for the almond milk tea and $2.65 for the mocha ice coffee.  The almond tea was sweet and creamy and reminded me of the Chinese tea shops I used to visit in Toronto, except for the prices are much better at Formosa.  The mocha ice coffee was sweet and refreshing, perfect for a summer's afternoon.

Formosa Cafe is unique in that they have all vegetarian options for their traditional Taiwanese snacks.  We ordered BBQ buns, veggie sushi, spring rolls, bamboo rice, dumplings, stuffed buns, sticky rice, sweet bean buns and kim chi.  At an average price of $2-$2.50 per dish, we couldn't pass up trying many dishes.

The flavours were amazing.  If you did not know the snacks were vegetarian, you would swear they had meat in them, especially in the spring rolls and BBQ buns.  Even if you were a meat lover and did not like eating vegetables, the textures and flavours of the snacks would make you reconsider, as they have made the snacks so well.  It is worth it for everyone to try out this little gem.

Pho Vietnam Restaurant

Corner Brook is a city on the West Coast of Newfoundland which is home to the Krueger paper mill, Memorial University's Grenfell Campus and close by to the Marble Mountain Ski Resort.  It is also a very special place to me, because it is where I was born and spent my early childhood years.

Corner Brook is also home to some great restaurants, some that you wouldn't expect to find in a smaller city in Newfoundland, but would see in larger centre like Vancouver or Toronto.   One such restaurant is the Pho Vietnam Restaurant, a charming little Vietnamese restaurant next to Coleman's Grocery store.  The space is small, but warm and welcoming with some Chinese and Vietnamese decorations adorning the walls.  The restaurant is always busy and full, but the owner always makes sure to welcome and seat the customers as soon as possible.

One evening we decided to try Pho Vietnam and ordered Vietnamese style crispy spring rolls and vegetarian cold noodle rolls for appetizers.  The vegetarian cold rolls were one of the freshest and tastiest I have had in a long time, especially in Newfoundland.  The taste was delicate with the sweet cool cucumber as the main flavour.  The peanut sauce dip was very tasty, but not too overpowering.  The crispy spring rolls were very flavourful with a savoury sweet sauce. 

Vegetarian Cold rolls with a peanut sauce

Crispy Spring Rolls

For the main, we ordered seafood hotpot and beef ball pho.  Pho (pronounced like "fuuuh") is one of the most popular dishes from Vietnam, consisting of flat noodles, meat and a light broth.  The pho was savoury but not salty.  Since I am a fan of spicy food, I added some sriracha sauce and some other spicy condiments to the soup, it was delicious.  This however was not needed because it was flavourful on its own. 

Beef ball Pho

The hotpot was very interesting.  The owner brought out a pot of hot soup broth laid on a portable burner which used a gel sterno.  She also brought out a plate of cold rice noodles, a plate with an array of seafood and a plate loaded with vegetables.  The hotpot was a little different than the hotpot we have at home because we were given a ladle instead of the individual scoops.  We tossed all the ingredients in the pot and ate it in our bowls like a soup.  It is not quite like hotpot at home, but it worked well for us, and was very tasty.  It was also very filling, as there were 3 of us and it serves 4-6.

Seafood Hotpot

The price is very reasonable, at about $20-25 per diner for appetizer and main (depending on the item)

The owner, Cathy Nguyen is very personable and makes sure her customers have a great dining experience.  She has become friends with all of her customers who instantly become regulars.  She chatted with us after our meal and told us about her native country, Vietnam.   I will definitely visit Cathy and Pho Vietnam Restaurant when I return to Corner Brook.

Happy Pi Day

  Happy Pi Day!

As many of you know, March 14^th is Pi day, the celebration of the mathematical constant , or 3.14.  In honor of this day, I made a blueberry and mascarpone pie and I am writing a review on a local gourmet pizzeria, Pi.

Pi is a fairly new trendy restaurant on Kings Rd, just up from Duckworth Street.  I went with two buddies on a Saturday afternoon.  For appetizers, we ordered garlic cheese bread, sweet potato and roasted red pepper soup.  The prices were reasonable, $7 for a ½ loaf of homemade bread with garlic seasoning and tons of cheese, $5 for a bowl of soup, which was smokey, creamy and rich. 

For mains, we ordered a Carnivore pizza, Fettuccine Alfredo pasta and Sir Issac Salmon pizza.  The carnivore pizza is a black olive tomato base topped with pepperoni, bacon, shaved steak, chicken and red onion, $27 for a medium.  The fettuccine alfredo served is linguine with a parmesan cream sauce with vegetables and chicken for $21.  The Sir Issac Salmon is a sun-dried tomato and avocado cream cheese base topped with smoked salmon, sweet potatoes, red onion, fresh tomatoes and feta and Italian cheeses, $21 for a small.

The carnivore pizza was loaded with toppings with a thin crust, given the thinness of the crust, it didn’t hold up well with the abundance of toppings, we needed to cut the pizza with a fork and knife in order to keep the toppings from coming off the crust.  This worked well, as in my opinion, the toppings are the best part of the pizza.  The fettuccine was very cheesy, the waitress came to our table and grated fresh parmesan cheese onto our pasta.  The noodles were overcooked, but the sauce was rich, creamy and the garlic was tasty, but not overpowering.  The Sir Issac Salmon had less toppings than the carnivore, but was bold and savory in flavor. The thinly sliced sweet potato pieces were a delicious complement.

Overall, the experience and flavors were great, and we will definitely return to Pi.  The prices are a bit high for a typical pizzeria, however this is not a typical pizzeria, it is a gourmet pizzeria and well worth the money.

3.5 out of 5

Kenmount Restaurant, Retro style

This evening my family and I stepped into the past, well, not really because I still can’t get the flux capacitor for my time machine…but I digress.

Tonight, we went to the Kenmount Restaurant in St. John’s, a Chinese restaurant that has been well established in the city for years.  The outside looks quite traditional with dragons and Chinese characters adorning the storefront. 

Kenmount Restaurant, St. John's, NL

Inside, the restaurant looks exactly the same as it did in the 60’s, but in a well kept non-broken down way.  The chairs, table cloths, wall and ceiling décor reminds me of Chinese restaurants I used to go to as a child while my parents and grandparents would come to visit their friends.  Traditional and very retro.  It was amazing to me because usually retro means either dated and broken down, or recreated, to which this was neither. 

Hmm, I wonder what I'll order?

The menu, and the items on the menu were quite retro as well, (the prices weren’t, however they were pretty standard for Chinese restaurant prices in the city).  Keeping in the retro feel, we ordered the Pu Pu Platter, a novelty appetizer platter which was most popular in the 1950’s.  The platter has a wooden lazy susan with eggrolls, wings, beef kabobs, won tons, tempura shrimp and spare ribs, with a mini hibachi grill and skewers in the center in which to grill the already cooked appetizers.

There really isn’t much point to grilling the pre-cooked apps, as it only burns them and since the items were already cooked.  It is really mostly for amusement, but I must admit, it was kind of fun putting wings on a tiny BBQ with a stick.

 The Chinese American version differs from the original Pu Pu platter from Hawaii, as the Hawaiian version has raw ingredients, in which the diners can cook on the grill. 

We also had hot and sour soup, which was also prepared in the traditional way, with egg, tofu, Shiitake mushrooms, chicken, green onion, dried chili peppers, rice wine vinegar, and thickened with corn starch.  It was tasty and filling, and was the right balance of vinegar and spiciness.

All in all we really enjoyed our visit, and will go again in the future.  F.Y.I. the outside porch is a mess, but the inside is well kept, so if you can, ignore the porch and go right in.

3 out of 5

Our visit got me thinking about Chinese restaurants of the past and the different menu items which are not as common today.  My mother in law remarked to me that when she was younger, she used to love going to Chinese restaurants for a piece of Chinese style coconut cream pie, but most of the modern restaurants only serve pre-frozen western style (ie. McCain) coconut cream pies.  So, here is the recipe to “retro” Chinese coconut cream pie.  Enjoy!