Restaurant Sai Gwan

This restaurant doesn’t fool around when it comes to noodles. The wonton noodle soup is serious business here and tastes great every time. The wontons are full-​bodied bundles of goodness (and shrimp), the fish balls with curry taste like curry, and their dumplings and dim sum taste made-​to-​order. I’m looking forward to trying the rice hot pot (20 minutes wait minimum) next time I go for lunch.
Discovered after finding out that this is one of Jason’s, of Shut Up and Eat fame, favourite places in Chinatown.
By the way, cash only.

Very friendly! Their egg noodle tasted really fresh. I tried there veggies and dumplings as well, and they were very good too!

We ordered three dishes:
1. Spicy noodle with pork mince
Very tasty! They are known for their noodles, which are likely made in-​house. This was quite spicy, too.
2. House wonton noodle soup.
Delicious. This is a house specialty. Everything is homemade and the flavours are excellent.
3. Rice hot pot with chicken on the bone and Chinese sausage
So yummy. The rice from the edges is crunchy. All the flavours of the chicken bones and sausage cook into the rice.
If you know what to order, here, you’re in for a treat. It’s not a big or busy restaurant, and is a bit off the beaten path of Chinatown.

The fact that they say they make their own noodle attracts me to try this place out.
I ordered a dumpling noodle soup (水餃湯蛋面) and prawn wonton soup (淨蝦云吞). The egg noodle is quite nice and not soggy. It might be true that they made the noodle themselves but I can’t really prove that. The dumpling is just okay, can taste a bit of pork and lots of black fungus. The prawn wonton is made with prawn and a bit of pork.
Considering the reasonable price on the menu, the place is okay. I’ll definitely come back with my #heart to let him try it.

The noodles themselves are unique as they differ from the others around. The noodles at Sai Gwan are egg flour noodles and are not the wheat-​flour «pulled» noodles as some noodle-​heads are used too. I ordered the wonton «lo mien», which means «mixed noodle». The soup comes on the side and you can spoon it over each bite as you make your way through the dish, or sip it on its own. The noodles sit in a puddle of a soy sauce and oil mixture with sugar and white pepper with scallions (mixing is necessary). Coincidently, you’ve just been witness to the shattering of a world record of how many times the word «noodle» can be used in a paragraph.
There are certain things you order at different restaurants if you have any clue what you’re doing there. You’re not going to a truck stop to order their version of Boeuf Bourguignon. To give this place a bad rap based on your own ignorance is unfair. Have their specialties, everything else is just filler.

Literally not much more than a hole in the wall located in a neglected corner of Chinatown this restaurant isn’t a place to bring business partners, dates, or anybody you are hoping to impress. It’s a dingy restaurant that’s clearly seen better days and my iron stomach gets a little uneasy every time I step into the place.
While the décor doesn’t shine, the food does thanks to the thick sheen of oil on just about everything that comes out of the kitchen. It’s typical Canadian style Chinese food and not a good version.
The one and only thing that is reasonably decent and even worth going back and risking food poisoning for is their selection of rice hot pots. It’s a dangerously hot earthenware bowl of cooked rice that has a nice crispy crust on top, then they top it with a juicy stir fry, the sauces flow into and get absorbed by the rice. It’s the perfect choice for a wintry Montréal lunch and is one of the few Chinese dishes where I bypass the chopsticks and head straight for the spoon. Be warned, they take about 15 minutes to cook, but I’ve never seen them sold anywhere else in Montréal.

I got some vegetables and chow mein to go for supper. Both were swimming in goopy white sauce and were not awesome. Also, the shrimp was definitely not cooked all the way, to the point where I stopped eating it because I figured I didn’t want to risk food poisoning over a mediocre supper. I will definitely not order the shrimp chow mein again and won’t be getting take out from there again any time soon.
I’ll give this restaurant one more chance, since I liked it the first time. To be continued…