Jim Chai Kee Noodles — Restaurant in Richmond Hill

The foods that I used to miss most after a prolonged absences from Toronto were hotdog cart Italian sausages (spicy, with corn relish!), fishball hor fun (smooth slurpy flat rice noodles in soup with fishballs/fishcakes bursting with umami), and wonton noodles. I’ve been on a search for great wonton noodles in the Greater Toronto Area, but I’ve not found any place that excels at both plump fresh crunchy wontons and al dente-squeaky noodles. My favourite place for noodle texture, Goldstone in Chinatown, has terrible wontons. Everywhere else though, the noodles are too soft and have no resistance.

Quite a few folks suggested Jim Chai Kee in Richmond Hill, in the same plaza as Wasabi Buffet, Walker Hill KBBQ, and the defunct Just Desserts and Paparazzi Nightclub. jim_out

The room is pretty busy, considering it’s Sunday afternoon on a hot late summer day, hardly the weather for a steaming bowl of noodle soup. Warm tea is served, with cold water only available bottled from the refrigerator. jim_in

The menu is very limited, boldly featuring their signature wontons, with your choice of vermicelli, flat rice noodle, or wonton egg noodle. There’s also fishballs, beef (slices?), plain noodles, and a chinese vegetable dish with oyster sauce. bill

The vegetable dish ($) was blanched something, with a dollop of oyster sauce for seasoning. It didnt have the crunchy core associated with gailan, nor the hollow stem of a tongchoi or a-chai. The vegetable was unremarkable, and there was some pooling of water under them. In its defense, it wasn’t oily at all, which can sometimes happen with a simple “oil vegetable” dish.

veggies

The wonton noodles ($7) were a tale of two halves. The wontons were phenomenal. The skin was smooth, cooked just long enough to avoid getting mushy, while keeping the shrimps inside perfectly cooked through. wonton_out

The shrimp filling were fresh, crunchy, clean, and devoid of any filler material. The shrimp was seasoned just enough to lend its salt and umami to balance the noodles. While I’m usually more focused on the noodles (with wontons as an afterthought), these wontons made me think very different. These have set a new standard for all wontons for me. wonton_in

The noodles left me disappointed – decent but not great. They weren’t mushy-soft, but they were far from the elastic, squeaky al dente I hoped for. The soup base wasn’t overly salty, but did not have too much depth either. noodles

I may ask for them to cook the noodles a bit less next time. I’m not sure how well they would take the request, but if they can, it would certainly be an amazing...

I would rate the food alone 4, but I am giving it a 1 rating based on the whole experience.

Oh where do I start..... warning, long post.

First the setup; they have it so that their staff are fully protected behind a blocked off area away from customers, they do not come out whatsoever so you are not going to get any services at all. (Not that you go there for their services anyway, but still..) The main dining area though is a different story, some tables weren't even 6 feets apart and there were no dividers between tables. As soon as you walk in, someone at the back will just tell you to go find any table to sit, then go up and order at the back.

Now their menu; everything has flat-rated to $12. I used to come here and order wonton noodles ($7 pre-pandemic) with extra noodles ($2). This time however, the lady said if you wanted extra noodle it is still $12 but you get 2 less wontons (4 instead of 6), you can't just pay and get extra noodle like before... what's the point of getting more noodles but for less toppings? it makes no sense. Another interesting change was the $3 veggie plate (a plate of yu choi). The lady said I can't order a plate of yu choi anymore, gave some bs reason about public health wouldn't allow sharing food and the only option was for an extra $2 I can add "a few yu choi" into my bowl of wonton noodles; otherwise it's $12 for a really "big" plate which would be too much, she said...(but didn't she say it wasn't safe to share?) blah whatever, drama aside, essentially this just meant the veggie plate is now $12 instead of $3.

Another thing I wanted to mention is the communal condiment station they have at the back. Everyone has to go up there for vinegar and hot chili oil; you cannot take anything to your table to use and bring back (again because of public health, they say), so what you do here is pick up one of these tiny empty containers they stacked out there on the table, and pour the condiments yourself, using the same jars that everyone else has touched... But apparently this isn't a public health concern...

Overall everything was just weird, the way they setup the restaurant for dine-in, the overly complicated menu changes... it felt like they are doing everything they can to protect their staff, but at the same time do not give a f about customers' safety; pair that with their inflated prices ($12 for a bowl of wonton noodles!) it's really hard to recommend this restaurant anymore, nor for myself to...

A very quintessential Hong Kong style cafe that is very well known for their wonton noodle soup. That’s all they do here and it is bomb dot com.

I believe they are cash only but now not so sure (I didn’t end up being the person that paid for the table).

The menu is super slim with about six main things on the menu. I love places that specialize because you know they have the focus to make sure each element is done right.

The food comes out lightening quick so you won’t have to wait long to dig into those juicy shrimp wonton, beef strips, or fishballs along with the firm yet chewy egg noodles and light tasty broth.

All in combination work so so well and it’s just friggin’ slurp-tastic.

A bite of wonton with some soup, slurp of noodles, then some spicy chilli oil, more soup, wontons, and noodles, repeat till bowl is empty.

I got mine with extra egg noodle fearing that the portion was not enough for myself. It was the perfect topper. Don’t feel embarrassed if you wasn’t to order another whole bowl. It’s well worth it and my friend does it all the time.

It’s probably a common thing with the hungrier folks that come in.

I probably won’t ever want to try anything else on the menu other than their signature noodle soup with a little bit of everything. A veggie plate once it a while adds some green to your meal for a balanced diet. Haha.

Lastly, you can order their raw prepared wontons, fishballs, beef, noodles, etc for take-out so you can make it at home yourself too or host a helluva wonton...