HOJA mi-sua — Restaurant in Markham

We went to Hoja on a weekday evening and it was quite busy and full in the restaurant. We were lucky that they had two open seats, so we didn’t have to wait. They give you drinks and a menu (where you can write on with a whiteboard marker to fill out what you want).

We had to flag down a waiter because it was so busy. They speak in Mandarin and English from what I heard. We ordered quite a few starters to try. Their portions are decent, but might be small in some people’s eyes if you have a bigger appetite.

For starters we got Pickled cabbage ($1.99) Popcorn chicken ($8.99) Century egg with tofu ($6.99) All were delicious, we loved the popcorn chicken. It was a decent portion and the chicken was still juicy after being fried. The silken tofu was very soft, paired with a creamy century egg. This might not be for everyone if you’re not used to the taste.

For Mains, we got: Mixed mi-sua (intestine & tender meat strip)- small ($9.99) Crispy crunch lo-bah-png with braised egg rice - small ($9.99) These two dishes complimented each other quite well. We loved both the noodles and the rice. The vermicelli with the soup (more like a sauce since it has a thicker texture) was very tasty. If you don’t like intestine, this one was quite different, so maybe give it a try. It didn’t have a strong taste and it didn’t have the rubbery texture. It was actually quite soft. The tender meat in the vermicelli was also delicious. The rice was made with minced meat and a crunchy topping, we liked this combination of texture. It also had a century egg giving it the additional creaminess. Once we finished the noodles, we mixed some of the sauce in the rice, and we really liked this mix!

The staff were very busy and didn’t interact with us too much, understandably. However, they were quick and efficient whenever we asked for anything like extra bowls or more water. We would definitely come back to try more dishes because we loved...

As a Taiwanese person who was excited to finally eat some authentic Taiwanese food in Markham, I was very disappointed.

Firstly, it was very chaotic to try to ask for a table to dine-in. You had to walk straight through the restaurant to the counter to even get someone to pay attention to you and give you a number. None of the staff really paid attention to the people waiting at the front of the door to get seated. We had to ask people in line how to get a number.

While waiting, we noticed multiple empty tables. So we were confused as to why no numbers were being called for people to sit down and eat. We probably waited 20 minutes for them to give us the same empty table we saw when we entered the restaurant. The staff just seemed too busy to call out numbers and just focused on taking orders to tables.

After placing our orders, we noticed that people who were seated after us got their food first. We knew something was wrong when the employee came up to us and asked if we wanted our dessert served now (even though we had ordered food like the noodles?) They didn't even apologize for the confusion and then just served us our food first.

Our portions clearly looked like they were in a rush, as we noticed our fried chicken was comparatively less to some people sitting beside us. The large bowl also looked not even close to being large, just slightly bigger than a small. They definitely skimped on our minced pork; it was mostly rice and the crispy topping. Every dish lacked flavors and felt underwhelming: I had to add so much garlic to my noodles to even taste anything. I liked the dessert though.

Overall, with the messy service and lack of flavor, I wouldn't come back to eat here. It's just too bad for a place that seems authentic, it was a very poor experience. It's just not worth...

A newly opened up Taiwanese at FMP. It was completely packed when it first opened up with a ton of influencers coming to try the place out. I heard many good reviews online and wanted to try it out.

The restaurant itself was pretty small; however, decorated very well. The decor reminds me of the small restaurants in Taiwan so it gave me very authentic feels.

We ordered the Taiwanese Vermicelli, 2 different topping braised pork rice, and 2 appetizers. I was never a fan of Taiwanese Vermicelli as I like my noodles on the firmer side. Aside from the texture of the noodles, I find the taste of it pretty bland. There wasn't too much flavour in my opinion.

We ordered 2 different braised pork rice: taiwanese sausage and popcorn chicken. I was very disappointed with the popcorn chicken as it was not crispy at all. It was also pretty bland unlike other popcorn chicken I had before which had a nice peppery flavour to them. The taiwanese sausage felt super soft and seemed like it was left cooking for too long. The braised pork itself had too much fat and way too little meat for my liking. I felt as if 70% was fat. Didn't feel too well after eating the super fatty meats.

The appetizers were the only decent dishes we got. The century egg and tofu was great as they served it cold and the sauce on it complemented the dish well. The sweet potato with plum powder was decent as well. The plum powder helped with the greasiness of the fries. However, nothing outstanding.

Overall, I was very disappointed with the food as I had high expectations from all the good reviews and recommendations from influencers. They have a sign that stated that if you leave a google review, they will give you a complementary appetizer which made me skeptical about the reviews on google. I probably would not...