Sherman's Food Adventures: Myst Asian Fusion

Myst Asian Fusion

Earlier in the year, a new Taiwanese joint opened up in the former location of Lester's (for those old enough to remember...).  I wasn't able to attend the ChineseBites tasting which yielded mixed reviews, yet I was still intrigued.  Due to the fact, it is open late, it automatically became a late night destination after hockey.  To get a sense of the large menu, this post is an amalgamation of 3 visits.  In fact, I've been here 5 times and I've gotten a clear sense of the place.  One thing is for sure, it gets pretty busy at times since there is a general lack of competition nearby other than The One.

On my first visit with Milhouse and Lionale Hutz, we shared the Fried Basket consisting of chicken nuggets, fish cake and Taiwanese sausage accompanied by fried green beans and shrimp chips.  Surprisingly, the best part of the basket was the green beans.  They were oil blanched just a touch where they retained their firm texture.  Futhermore, they were well-seasoned.  Next best thing was the chicken nuggets as they featured rendered and crispy skin while only lightly seasoned and not overdone with the 5-Spice.  The sausage was pretty typical while the fish cake was not nearly crispy enough.  For my drink, I tried the Lychee Slush 1/3rd sweet.  This was far too icy and chunky for my liking as it was hard to "drink".  It was lightly flavourful due to the sugar level.

For my main, I had the Mini-Lamb Hot Pot which included a bowl of rice, cucumbers and marinated gluten.  I found the broth for the hot pot pretty flavourful, yet salty at the same time.  It had a hint of lamb gaminess while plenty of sweetness as well.  The lamb was fairly tender with gelatinzed skin.  There was also tofu and Napa cabbage in the mix.  Milhouse went for the Stir-Fried Noodles with Beef that did its best impersonation of a "gon chow ngau ho".  Rather than flat rice noodles, we found hand pulled noodles normally used in beef noodle soup.  They were chewy and well-seasoned with dark soy.  The dish was rather wet though and the ample slices of beef were too chewy.

Lionel Hutz had the Stir-Fried Rice Cake with pickled snow cabbage and pork.  This was pretty decent with chewy slices of rice cake and tender slivers of pork.  Although there appeared to be enough flavouring agents, the dish was rather mild-tasting.  He had to resort to soy sauce for impact.  On another visit, I decided to give their Beef, Tendon and Tripe Noodles a shot.  I found the thick and wide noodles to be on point being firmly al dente while cooked through.  Although the broth was flavourful, it was pretty gamy from the tripe.  I personally didn't mind it, but Viv thought it was overpowering.  The tripe itself was tender with a bite while the beef was super tender and melted in my mouth.  The tendon was also on point being soft with some texture.

We also had an other of the Potstickers which were fried up nicely golden brown on the bottom.  It was lightly crispy while the dumpling skin was a chewy medium thickness.  Inside, the meat filling was juicy and flavourful.  It was succulent and tender with just enough greens to compliment the meat.  After hockey once again, Bear, Milhouse, Lionel Hutz and myself hit up Myst for late night eats.  Bear wasn't particularly hungry and went for the Beef Green Onion Pancake Roll.  By looks alone, it looked thick and doughy.  It ate exactly how it appeared with a decent amount of thinly sliced 5-spiced beef in the middle.  It could've used more hoisin though as it was pretty bland.

I had 2 items starting with the Xiao Long Bao.  Okay, before you start throwing fruit and knives at me, I realize that Myst is a Taiwanese restaurant and XLBs would probably not be their specialty (but some Taiwanese spots do a good job).  Well, this was not one of them as the dumpling skin was thick albeit tender.  Inside, there was barely any soup which wasn't a surprise.  The meat filling was good though being tender and plump.  Next was a plate consisting of Beef Tendon, Pork Intestine and Beef Tripe.  This was the second time having this dish and it was more than acceptable.  I found the tendon a bit firm, but not hard to eat.  The intestine was fatty and not too gamy while the tripe was also on the firmer side, but not hard to chew.

For my beverage, I went for the Mango Slush which was missing the usual "eyes".  This type of inconsistency was actually normal since I've had this drink 3 times and it has been different every time.  Smooth and slushy, this was good however, the last 2 times, it was icy and and frankly terrible.  Lastly, Milhouse had the Kimchi Fried Rice that was quite good.  Although the rice was on the softer side, it was subjected to enough wok heat to create caramelization.  There was a noted spiciness balanced with enough sweet and savoury elements.  Overall, after so many visits to Myst, it is clear that there are some decent eats to be found.  However, the consistency is just not there.  My slush drinks have come out differently every time while even the chicken nuggets have ranged from crispy to completely oil-logged.  They really need to work things out.

The Good:
- Lots of choice
- Open late
- If you are lucky, some good eats

The Bad:
- Super inconsistent
- Service can range from good to terrible


2 comments:

LotusRapper said...

Oh .... Lester's. How much I miss thee.

The Kingsway stretch between Willingdon and Edmonds is really stacking up with many Taiwanese restos !

KGB said...

Go next door! 🙂

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