Sherman's Food Adventures: McNoodle House

McNoodle House

It's hockey pool season again and a whole bunch of us were off to Chill M's house for some drafting action. It is here where we can all be Brian Burkes and make asses of ourselves. Being environmentally more conscious, I picked up DB Hypno, Vandelay, Costanza and Rock Guy along the way. I also brought my son with me and I swear that all he ate for lunch were 5 chocolate chip cookies. I'm sure Viv would not be impressed, I hope she's not reading this blog post! Although there were many goodies to snack on while we were there, Costanza wondered if we were going to grab some eats after the draft. Being one to never say no to food, I convinced everyone to go. Well, they really had no choice, I drove them all! My sinister plan to "force" people to eat with me!

Since we were in Tsawwassen, it was only logical to eat at a place along the way home. And guess where that "place" might be??? Yes, Richmond once again. I never seem to be able to avoid it - eating in Richmond! We were actually looking for Mak's Noodle House; but we got a bit confused when it read "McNoodle House". After a relatively long wait at 2:30pm, we got a table. You know there is good food to be found when there is a lineup in the middle of an afternoon. Upon settling into our seats, I noticed that the menu and the chopstick wrappers all read "Mak's". So I guess they changed their official name; but didn't change the other things yet? It appears they still have the same Chinese name.
With a name like "McNoodle", I can smell a lawsuit from McDonald's already.

Naturally, I decided to get the Wonton Noodle Soup, which is their signature dish. I gotta say that this is one of the best bowls of wonton noodle soup I've ever had. The noodles are perfectly al dente, which is no easy feat. It's a perfect combination of elasticity and softness. The broth itself is flavourful not in a salty way; rather it has depth. The shrimp wontons are a bit small which actually makes them easy to eat. They are full of crunchy, well-seasoned shrimp. However, the bowl is quite small, so you'll need to order something else. That something else was the Salted Pork & Century Egg Congee. Arriving in another small bowl, the steaming hot bowl of congee was not as thick as I would have liked. It became quite watery after a few spoonfuls. There was a good amount of egg and adequately salted pork. I still prefer the congee from Congee Noodle King or Congee Noodle House instead.

Vandelay decided to get something different so I could blog about it. Honestly, he really does take one for the team when I eat with him. He got the Brisket Rice Noodle Soup. As expected, the noodles were cooked perfectly while the brisket was meaty and tender. He thought the soup was not all that flavourful; but the brisket helped make up for that. Just like me, he wished that the bowl of noodles was bigger. Costanza also went for something different and settled for the Dry Noodles with Sui Gow. The sui gow were packed tightly and were good according to Costanza. However, he thought the noodles were a bit too dry, it could've used a bit more sesame oil. Again, the noodles were perfectly al dente. The 3 of us ended up sharing an appetizer platter consisting of sliced beef shank and marinated jellyfish. This was good with tender slices of meat and jellyfish that exhibited the "snap" texture when bitten into.

When I first mentioned that we were going to a wonton noodle house, I sold the idea to Rock Guy and DB Hypno that there would be non-shrimp options. Little did I know that there weren't many. You see, they don't like shrimp (in fact DB Hypno is allergic to it). Therefore, they were stuck with either getting brisket or gai lan noodles. Rock Guy went vegetarian. He also got the spring rolls on the side. They looked quite crispy and not too oily. Next time I take Rock Guy to a wonton noodle house, I'll make sure it's a crappy one, cuz they won't have any shrimp in it. LOL...

I'm not sure if I'd want to lineup for wonton noodles again since I hate lineups. The service was quite basic while still being friendly. The small portions here were almost perfect for us since we didn't want anything that heavy since dinner was only 3 hours away. However, I can see how this may not look like a good value to some. It's definitely quality over quantity here. Not everything was excellent; but the wonton noodles were indeed very good. Just make sure that you order 2 bowls if you're hungry.

The Good:
- Perfectly executed noodles
- Delicately flavoured food
- Excellent wontons (albeit small)

The Bad:
- Portions only fit for a snack
- Small restaurant and tightly packed
- Lineup

McNoodle House on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

holly said...

So you finally made it to Maks or McNoodles as they are now called I agree the portions are on the small side but if you're not starving, a bowl of wonton and sui gow do the job. Also, I usually order a side dish of vegetables and I leave very satisfied. I haven't tried anything else here.

When you're here, you totally feel like you're in a typical HK wonton style cafe. Not that I've ever been to the real thing. LOL

KimHo said...

Hahahahahaha!

That reminds me of Eddie Murphy's movie Coming to America, you know, McDowell's and the golden arcs! But, come to think about it, I guess they aren't the only exploiting that fact. McFalafel, anybody?

As for the food, wait, wasn't there any curry or chicken??? Regardless, if they managed to make you order wonton, I think that is accomplishment.

Sherman Chan said...

Holly, yah I was not too offended by the portions because I wasn't really hungry. It's definitely quality over quantity. I've heard that's it's quite an authentic HK experience. But much like you, I wouldn't know any better!

Kim, believe it or not, nothing really but wontons, sui gow and brisket. Not much selection.

Follow Me Foodie said...

What the...?? I have NEVER heard of McNoodle House and I am in Richmond all the time..always on the look out for new restaurant on Alexandra too! How did I miss this? I'm really curious now!!

Sherman Chan said...

Hi Mijune, it was Mak's before, so probably that's why you didn't realize it was there? Too bad you couldn't make it to the Irish Heather, join us next time?

TimeToChow said...

Great post Sherman.
Mak's does make one of the best wonton and sui kau noodle in the city. Their brisket, while not as tender to my preference, has very nice aromatics. Good use of dried orange/tangerine peel.
The milk tea and squid side dish is also good here. Very HK style for sure.
The side dish of beef and jellyfish looks interesting. Will try it next time.
Were you here on a weekday or weekend? Just curious. Never had to wait for a table here. Except on the weekends. But you have to wait for tables at lotsa places esp in Richmond on the weekends.

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