Chompin' The Suburbs

Preaching the gospel of Toronto's suburban resto scene. The digs ain't always fancy. Or easy to find. But your tongue will literally thank you for foregoing the pretentious, the boring and the overpriced places that dominate downtown. With more and more of the city's ethnic communities settling in the 'burbs, it just makes sense.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Jim Chai Kee Noodles (Chinese)

Anyone thinking of opening a Chinese restaurant would be well advised to stay the hell away from the 270 West Beaver Creek in Richmond Hill. The competition in this stripmall is positively fierce.

The plaza is already home the Ambassador Restaurant with its Cantonese and Szechuan dinner delights, the Golden Court with its exceptional dim sum, not to mention a whole slew of smaller restaurants, Chinese bakeries and prepared-food shops. And that’s not to mention the half-dozen or so other stripmalls nearby, each with their own collection of gastronomic delights from China.

Still, Jim Chai Kee Noodles has something the others don’t. It’s called speed. A popular stop with the Richmond Hill office-worker set, Jim Chai Kee gets most customers in and out the door in under 15 minutes. Indeed, the door hasn’t so much as closed behind us when our server starts frantically motioning us toward a table, and then to the machine at the back of the restaurant where customers are expected to get their own tea. He later boasts that when customers tell him their in a hurry, he’s capable of ushering them in and out the door in under five minutes.

But the food here is hardly what one typically associates with fast food. Rather, Jim Chai Kee ensures its speedy service by keeping the menu simple. Diners have a choice of two dishes (soup or lo mein), three meats (fish ball, sliced beef, or shrimp wontons), and three kinds of noodles (egg, rice, or vermicelli). The soups are particularly good, with broth that’s subtle instead of salty, and meats that are flavourful without overwhelming. The ginormous shrimp wontons are particularly good. Finally, for diners looking for something green in their meal, Jim Chai Kee also offers a line-up of vegetable dishes. In keeping with the theme of simplicity, however, this part of the menu consists of just one item – sauteed chinese broccoli served as it should be, with tangy oyster sauce.

Admittedly, some diners may find a bowl of soup and a small side of greens less than filling. But therein lies the other great thing about Jim Chai Kee: we get to the register and discover our meal was dirt cheap, leaving us with more than enough money in our wallets to march over to one of the other wonderful restaurants located at 270 West Beaver Creek for a bit of dim sum, and to finish the job of satiating ourselves.

Lunch for 2 ($11.50)

Jim Chai Kee Noodles
270 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit #18
Richmond Hill, ON
L4B 3Y9
905-881-8778

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