Wok Theory | 新天虹 — Restaurant in Toronto

The service at this location is rather nonexistent. Consistent mistakes and issues. The flow of food is also nonsensical. Appetizers out last while rice dishes out first.

edit: i love how online reputation is so important that a response from the owner was posted in under 24 hours. yet no attempt at communication was provided in person. it seems clear there was no concern for the patron experience or food quality, only the restaurants online reputation, as evidence by the fact that there is still no apology or acceptance of responsibility. also to spar infers you have a leg to stand on. you don't.

let's break this down. on that night an order was placed for a number of items. dishes came out expeditiously and mostly satisfactorily. after 30 or so minutes with 4-5 dishes on the table we noticed the appetizer didn't come out. we asked to cancel only to be rebuffed that it was being made now. very convenient. 15 minutes later we got the appetizer. it was clearly forgotten but the restaurant didn't want to loose the order. upon eating the pickled cucumber and black fungus it was bitter. this is not normal for this dish, upon which the restaurant finally cancelled the order.

we also ordered the buddhas feast, which is a vegetarian dish consisting of stir fried vegetables such as baby corn and straw mushrooms. not in 36 years of my life have i ever eaten mushy baby corn. the dish was so poorly and impressively overcooked, it completely lacked texture.

We also ordered the mapao tofu which was advertised as a special item on the first page for $10. The bill comes and it is $18. when asked we were told the $10 item was a half size portion. there was no mention of this on the menu itself. This is incredibly duplicitous to pull the old switcheroo as we were not made aware of different sized portions of the same item from either the menu of the wait staff.

There was a previous instance of visit to this restaurant where the elder red hair female wait staff provided subpar service. She was curt and abrasive. It was frustrating how not only english but chinese was difficult for her to comprehend. It was unpleasant to have to repeat myself multiple time to be heard and understood while getting spoken to like i...

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I've always been spoiled by the quality of dim sum in Markham, so I was pleasantly surprised by this new spot downtown! The classics like Ha Gow and Siu Mai are expertly made and with fresh ingredients, and their noodle/rice roll dishes are also full of savoury, smoky wok hei flavour that's quite difficult to find in Toronto.

Siu Mai - Juicy, shrimp is crisp and had a tender texture, and the wrapper wasn't too thick at all. Pork flavour was full of umami.

Ha Gow - Shrimp was fresh and bouncy with a distinct crisp, seasoned beautifully as well. The wrapper has a slight savory taste as well and wasn't overly thick, but was slightly too soft.

Beef Tripe - Tripe was crisp and not overly chewy, salted well but ginger/scallion flavour was slightly muted but compliments the tripe well.

Five Spice Squid Tentacles - Battered lightly and deep fried, colour is more pale than Markham places and is salted well, but a bit weaker on five spice. It was also really oily, and not the most tender.

Curry Cuttlefish - Cuttlefish was tender with the tentacles being crisp, but the curry sauce was too thin and didn't really cling onto the cuttlefish, and needed more umami/salt.

XO Sauce Rice Rolls on Sizzling Plate - Thick, smooth and soft pieces of rice rolls that will fill the hole in your heart. The smooth texture makes it easily slide down the throat, but also has a satisfying slight chewy texture that's contrasted with the crisp of the bean sprouts. On the oily side, but wok hei is super strong, charred nicely for that smoky flavour, plus the umami of the XO sauce, but wish there was a little more.

Sizzling Plate Chinese Style Beef Tenderloin - Sweet and savory sauce that isn't as oily as other restos, with onions that are cooked to retain their crispness and soak up the sauce.

Beef was quite tough though, cut against the grain yet still kind of chewy, and also bland without the sauce.

乾炒牛河 - Good amount of wok hei, noodles aren't overly oily and feel dry, beef is tender and has a moderate beefy aroma, cooked nicely to still retain a satsifying chew with crisp bean sprouts...

Authentic Cantonese Cusine #新天红 #粵菜

Late night dinner with my friend also a Chef like myself and we are both Chinese

~Eggplant Chili Sauce in Hot Pot #素魚香茄子煲

Without a doubt this is the best I have ever had in my life. I have eaten this dish all over the world and if you were to tell me this was a from Michelin Star restaurant, I wouldn't question it. It was seasoned perfect cooked to perfection, it's not too oily not too salty not too mushy the eggolant still has a bite to it. We are both chefs and this is a dish we ate growing up and have eaten it throughout the world, after the first bite, we starred at each other with the look, then we decide to order rice , so we can eat the sauce (we almost never order rice, but it was so good !)

~XO Seafood Fried Rice Noodle #海皇XO醬炒河

This was equally delicious and tasty it has great #wokhei #鑊氣 was also great , done to perfection ,

~Half Golden Skin crispy chicken #金牌脆皮燒雞 半隻

It was tasty seasoned perfectly, this is a very tasty chicken again done right.

this is Cantonese cuisine at its best!

We also ordered xia long bao Pork Soup Dumpling, ( this isn't the place to order this dish as this is a Cantonese cuisine and Xlb is a northern chinese cusines dish) I am however curious about their dim sum now that I know their main dish are one of the best I have ever had and not just in Toronto/GTA but all over the world

So about tonight , Chef Betty and I decide to try out wok theory which had only opened for 2 weeks , because we couldn't figure out where to eat at it's close to 10pm between the both of us , we have probably eaten at every place Chinatown has to offered and we are both chefs , Chinese ethnic, we were impressed and glad we did came tonight .

The place is elegant and done beautifully, you don't get to see places like this in downtown, you see these type of interior more in Markham or GTA , Richmond Hill etc ..

Highly Recommended, the pricing is fair and won't break the bank. actually this type of quality usually only found in high end restaurants or even hotels restaurant in Asia.

As a chef myself I highly recommend this place to anyone including...