Norling

There are very few foods I would qualify as crack — but one particular dish at Norling belongs in my personal crack category.
We arrived on a Friday evening around 6:30 PM, and the place was filling up. Starving, we ordered right away: a) the beef momos pan fried, b) the beef chilly, c) the tsey khatsa, and d) one butter tea, to try.
The beef momos were quite delicious, moist, yet crispy. The beef chilly was decent, with a nice kick to it. The butter tea was a little too oily for my liking — literally, it was like drinking a cup of melted butter. But… the highlight of the meal, the dish that made me sit up and think — whoa, ding ding ding!, yes, I’m coming back here. Imagine deep fried, crispy vegetable pakoras perfectly cooked and drenched in the most delicious sweet and spicy sauce — my friends, I present the Tsey Khatsa. A vegetarian dish worth swooning over; you’re doing yourself a disservice by not ordering it when visiting this restaurant. This stuff is magical — a must-​try.
Overall, we really enjoyed our time here. It looked like they were very short-​staffed (one server, and a couple of cooks), so it took almost 40 minutes to even get our bill. But nonetheless, very patient and friendly staff, and an overall delicious meal. We will definitely be back.
For two people, with tax, and tip, we paid around $ 37.00, approximately. Note that street parking in front of the restaurant was around $ 2.00 an hour.

Great service and great food. We will come back for sure. Prices were quite affordable. I am sure it will become a favorite of our family.

**Adding an extra star because my friends overall were satisfied with the food, and the restaurant followed up with me and apologized for the service. Though I was not impressed, I feel it’s important to always note how my party felt (though they should be writing their own reviews and sharing their perspective!)
I am not going to sit here and pretend to know about Tibetan and Indian Hakka cuisine, but being a lover of food in general, I was game to try Norling when a friend suggested it on Halloween night 2015. Specifically, Norling is a small restaurant located in Parkdale, and their menu consists of Tibetan and Indian Hakka cuisine. Most dishes are under $ 10 (items with seafood cost around $ 13), and the menu is pretty broad and split into the following sections:
Appetizers
Soup
Beef
Chicken
Pork
Seafood
Vegetable
Rice & Noodles
Tibetan Specialties
Momo
Lunch Specialties
Thukpa
There were several dishes on the menu that I knew about absolutely nothing about, so let me tell you a bit about them (according to my trusted friend Wiki).
Momo — is a type of dumpling native to Tibet, traditionally filled with yak meat (long-​haired animal found in the Himalaya region of southern Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia) and eaten with a variety of sauces. It is similar to Chinese bao and jiaozi (dumpling), Mongolian buuz, Japanese gyoza, Turkic mantu and Korean mandu. In Nepal and bordering regions of India, momos are typically filled with ground and seasoned water buffalo meat. Momos are served hot with tomato and sesame sauce usually seasoned with ground peanut, Sichuan pepper (timur), and cilantro.
Thukpa — is a Tibetan noodle soup. It originated in the eastern part of Tibet.
Gyuma — is a blood sausage made with yak or sheep’s blood in Tibetan cuisine. Rice or roasted barley flour can be added as a filler. The sausage uses natural yak or sheep casing (intestine).
Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you about my experience…
My friends and I arrived at around 6PM and there were several tables available. We sat down and were given menus. We browsed the menu and had questions about several items, but staff seemed too busy to come by and check-​in with us. The restaurant was not full so we did not understand why we had to wait so long. Once someone finally came over to take our orders (my friend had to waive down a waitress), I found it difficult to get answers to our questions. So I played it safe and ordered the chili chicken without the sauce (as you know, I hate onions and the sauce was inundated with them). The other items that we ordered were:
Momo (beef)
Gyuma
Chili Chicken w/​Sauce
Hot & Sour Soup
Langsha Shamo (beef with mushrooms)
Verdict…
I was not impressed.
Chili Chicken — My dish came with rice — period. I did like the spice on the chicken, but other than that, there was nothing special about it. I tried a piece of chicken with the sauce, and it did not help the dish to me — I preferred it dry because this way the spices were not hidden or overshadowed by the sauce. I really wanted to try the tingmo (steamed bread) but after trying to get our waitress’ attention for 10 minutes, I scrapped that plan.
Momo — one friend used to eat momos in India on a regular basis and was excited to try the momos here, and was sadly disappointed. After receiving the momos she was patiently waiting for them to bring out the sauce that one is generally supposed to have with momos, and after 10 minutes of radio silence, she called our waitress and she admitted to having forgotten the sauce. Once she brought out the sauce my friend told me not to even bother trying it since it was all wrong. I was not planning on trying a momo anyway because as everyone points out, I am the only person they know that hates onions with a passion — and the stuffing in momos has onions. The friend that was trying momos for the first time enjoyed them — but he had no terms of reference to use for comparison.
Langsha Shamo — We all tried the langsha shamo, and again, nothing special. I only had a couple of bites and found it bland, chewy, and boring.
Gyuma — the blood sausage was a hit among my friends. Who knew?! They found it to be full of flavor and not dry as it looked.
Hot & Sour Soup — just confirmed with my friend and he described it as, «quite flavorful.»
In Sum…
To be perfectly honest, writing this review was difficult for me because I had a hard time remembering the meal. All that kept crossing my mind as I thought back to that evening were the words «boring» and «average.» And that is an unusual feeling for a cuisine I have never tried before. Generally with cuisine that I don’t indulge in often, I either love it or hate it. Almost never falls in the middle. Sad to say that I have no plans on ever going back to Norling. Though this experience was not ideal, I do plan to give Tibetan and Indian Hakka cuisine another shot sometime soon.

I’ve come here twice now, and had a great experience both times. While I’ve had Tibetian food before, this is the first place I’ve eaten that also has Hakka cuisine.
The staff are very friendly, the service is fast and they are happy to answer any questions a person unfamiliar with the region’s food may have about the menu.
The first time I was here, my partner and I shared two appetizers: steamed beef momos (dumplings) and the shabaley (fried beef patties in pastry). These are not your typical small, single-​person-​sized starters — the portions are large and suitable for sharing. Watch out for the hot sauce that comes on the side of the shabaley: it is very spicy!
The second time I was here, I chose one of the lunch specials which consisted of soup, an amdo momo, rice, a small coleslaw-​like side salad, a bowl of phingstey (beef stew) and a huge tingmo (steamed bun) all for only $ 7.49. It was actually more food than I could finish just for lunch.
Apparently this restaurant also makes their own hand-​pulled noodles, Manchurian specialties, Tibetian sausages and hearty curries, so I will definately be back to try some more of the dishes.

Food was amazing. My group made reservations through Unilocal’s Seat Me for a party of 8. Confirmation was a bit confusing with SMS and then a call to confirm the booking. The place is not fancy but the owner let his food speak for themselves.
We focused on Tibetan cuisine even though they offer a variety of Hakka dishes. The number of people we had perfectly fit the portions. The steamed momos were served with 8 dumplings each and the appetizer salad called Lhangsha Changsha which is beef with some tomatoes /​onions. I recommend the steamed chicken momo which was the favorite of the night.
We ordered tripe and sausage which were well received as well. To top off the night, we ordered some soup noodles with shrimp called Thukpa Thenthuk. Sharing is highly encouraged to get a full variety of the Tibetan food. Owner was super nice by recommended dishes and we were not rushed at all despite the restaurant being quite full by 7:30 pm. Although it is out of the way for most of the group, we will definitely try to make another trip to try out the favourites and other treats we missed.

We’ve been twice now to Norling, and both experiences were great! The place is very clean, the atmosphere is pleasant. The service is friendly and attentive, and the food is excellent. I particularly ejoyed the Gyuma and the Beef Tripe. Momos are also delicious. Their lunch special combos are an excellent and economical option, as well. Really, no complaints here. Highly recommended! I’ll be back!

Delicious food and super friendly staff. Since I am not familiar with this type of food, the server took her time to explain to me some of the items on the menu.
I ordered the chicken manchurian combo. It came with momo (Loooved it!!), steamed bun, rice, salad and soup (I chose seeet corn — it was ok). The chicken was flavourful, very spicy (I wanted really spicy).
Definitely coming back for more momo!!!

Wow. My husband and I went here on a whim because we needed somewhere close to take some visiting family members before they left town. Singularly the best whim I’ve ever had.
We’d tried momos before but that was the extent of our familiarity with Tibetan food so ordering was an adventure. We started with Gyuma, which was a moderately spicy, intensely seasoned Tibetan sausage dish. We were picking stray bits of onions off the dish when the actual sausage had all been eaten just to get more of that ridiculously delicious sauce. At $ 6.49 it was very reasonably priced and made a nice teaser for the four of us.
We then ordered four dishes to share (Please do this! You’re cheating yourself if you only try one dish!). We ordered beef momos ($ 7.99) because we knew we’d like those. The seasoning was much more complex than others we’d tried. They were moist without being excessively greasy and generally a pleasure to eat. That said, they were the least memorable bit of the meal.
The Phing-​sha (8.99) — oh what fun we had trying to pronounce these dishes, fortunately our server was a great sport — managed to feel familiar and brand new all at once. A beef stew with large chunks of potatoes, on the surface it’s not far from the meat and potatoes I grew up on, but the black fungus, glass noodles and intense sesame flavour was a far cry from anything I had as a child in Atlantic Canada. Who knew a brand new dish could be a comfort food? This is not spicy, just richly flavorful. If you’re fond of Chinese dishes that are heavy on the sesame you’ll probably enjoy this as well. We all loved it.
The Chilly Beef (I can’t find this on the takeout menu I snagged, but it was in the Tibetan section under mains if you want to try it) was an adventure. Tender pieces of beef in a rich and moderately spicy sauce — I’m tempted to call it a gravy — that was loaded with hot, hot, hot green chillis. Our server warned us that the chillis were hot and he was right to do so. It’s a great dish because they’re easily avoided for the less heat inclined members of your party, but if you like it spicy they’re there for the taking. Again, at 8.99 this was a steal and worth every penny.
Finally, my favorite dish. Tsey Khatsa (8.99). Honestly, we had no idea what we were ordering. Described as ‘Spicy fried vegetables in chef’s special sauce’ this was mainly us trying to be adults and eat our vegetables. I’ve never been so pleased to be responsible. This can best be described as vegetable fritters in a thick, lightly spicy sauce. I’ve never had a vegetable dish that was so incredibly rich and flavorful, every bite was a treat. I’m already looking for an excuse to go back and eat this again and again.
We stuck to the Tibetan portion of the menu, but if I have my way I’ll worth through every dish there. The food was impeccable from start to finish, and fussy, fussy girl that I am, I don’t say that very often. The only part of the evening that wasn’t perfect was a very long wait for our food, but we received an unprompted explanation, an apology, and a discount. I have no reason to think a long wait is typical or that it will happen again, and honestly, the food was so good it wouldn’t stop me from returning.

This place has veggie momos! What’s more, they’re delicious! My husband and I went for dinner around 6PM and were seated immediately. The hostess was very gracious. They serve a complimentary poppadum-​like fried dish, which is great especially if you’re hungry. I ordered the vegetarian manchurian and my husband ordered the Norling chilli chicken. My dish was excellent and my husband said his chicken was great, though be wished it was spicier! Both main courses were substantial in quantity and came with steamed rice. The momos had about 8 pieces and I am going to eat it as a main course next time. For one starter and 2 main courses, we paid 31 $ only. Great service, good food, decent ambience! We will be back!

A small joint which serves tasty food at a reasonable price. I came here with a friend and we ordered the veg momos, chilly fish and a vegetable gravy dish. The portions were generous and the service was delightful. The food tasted authentic and did not have copious amounts of oil or spices to deal with. A real gem of a place!

This may be the best Tibetan food in Parkdale! I discovered this place when another Tibetan restaurant in the area recommended that I go here to try the deep-​fried momos. Yay, Tibetan camaraderie!
The deep fried momos were OK, but I think I liked the steamed ones better. The spicy cauliflower appetizer and spicy potato fries were AMAZING! The fries were like Tibetan poutine, in the best sauce you can imagine. The cauliflower was just lightly fried and the perfect texture, with fantastic spices. Oh my GOD, this food.
The Norling chicken, my main, was good but out-​shined by the apps.
I will be back!
The total came to $ 60 for three apps, one shared main, and four glasses of wine, including tax and a decent tip. There were leftovers that I brought home to a fellow momo lover.

My friends and I stumbled across this majestic hidden gem one tired evening after an escapade at Caribana. We were hesitant upon entering the quiet restaurant but a customer entering told us that it was a good place so we decided to take a risk. To our great surprise, that risk resulted in a fantastic return. The food and hospitality exceeded all of our expectations. The owners were extremely patient and took the time to answer all of our questions about Tibetan food and offer his recommendations. We will definitely be back! ¹⁰⁄₁₀.

The food was good and so was the service. It was our first time having Tibetan food so we didn’t really know what to expect. The momo was very good. I love dumplings. I tried the Tibetan butter tea for the first time. It was interesting, but you grow tired of it quickly… maybe it would be better to serve less or in little cups. My bf had some sausage appetizer that he loved and I ordered the beef with mushrooms meal. Everything was good, but nothing to go crazy over. It seems we just weren’t super into this kind of cuisine. However, the service was fantastic and the food tasty.

I came here for my birthday dinner with a group of friends this past weekend. It was really effortless to book my group in (6 of us), and to confirm/​change the reservation by text message.
This was my first time (and actually every single person in my group’s first time) trying Tibetan/​Nepalese cuisine. We were largely impressed!
The man who took our orders (he might have been the owner?) was very patient in describing to us what dishes had in them, and what he recommended. We liked just about everything we ordered. These were the apps we all shared:
1) Vegetable pakoras: soo good! Perfectly fried and not oily at all — a bright shade of red but not spicy, seasoned well.
2) Tripe: this had a curry flavour to it, and a good amount of spice. As a big fan of tripe in dim sum, I liked this a lot.
3) Blood sausage: very unique! It had a deep reddish-​brownish colour and lots of spices and heat. We didn’t quite know what to expect but everyone really liked it.
4) Beef momos: so much like Chinese dumplings! They even came in a dim sum steamer basket. It came with a plate of coleslaw-​like cabbage and two sauces (one kind of like sriracha) for dipping. Really good filling-​to-​wrapper ratio :)
5) Cauliflower: lightly fried and spicy, this was one of my favourite appetizers and something we wouldn’t have ordered if it hadn’t been suggested to us. Restaurants need to make more cauliflower dishes!
And then people ordered individual mains, which ranged from hakka food (e.g. chow mein) to chili chicken + rice, which reminded me of Chinese sweet and sour pork.
We were all pretty happy with our choices and liked trying something so different. The service was really great, too, and they split the bill for us at the end with no problems.

Great service! Nice environment and really love the chicken mono!!! The price is also decent, all main course less than 10 dollars. Haven’t try lunch special but looking forward to it!

Delicious and reasonably priced! Highly recommended for my first time, will definitely return. Ordered the Norling Special Fried Rice and Crispy Beef in Honey Sauce. Was spoiled with water and crispy snacks while I waited for my take out order.

Absolutely yummy food and their pakoras rock! Was a truly delicious experience and look forward to a future visit :).

my first Hakka experience, WoW
Food was flavorful and fresh, service was great and the décor suited the price range and the cuisine (it wasnt bad but this is not a resto that focuses on décor, they focus on food!).
Had the manchurian veg., chili chicken and the cauliflower to start, was impressed with all the dishes, especially the vegetarian dish. Chopped cabbage, carrots and other vegetables formed into deliciously moist balls and sauteed in a wonderful spicy sauce.
food is great, i look forward to coming back, perhaps witha bigger group so we can order a wide variety of dishes to share. this is a great place to get lots to try, have a few beers and talk the night away with great friends.

Absolutely amazing value! Don’t let the low price throw you off, the food here is excellent. The best lunch combo I’ve had in the Parkdale area so far.
I came here with a group of friends on a recommendation and I’ll be back. I had a vegetable lunch combo. It came with a soup (I chose sweet and sour), 1 vegetable momo (Fried dumpling), these fried vegetable balls in a sauce, a side of rice, and a small salad. You can also choose if you want to have steamed buns instead of rice.
The service is fast, and the place is really clean and cute!
Totally recommend this for families and friends.

We were walking along the very Western edge of Queen W, looking for a place to eat a late lunch, when it dawned on us that we were in the middle of a Tibetan area. Hurrah for Tibetan food! We decided to stop in to Norling, just because it looked good. And were we ever glad we did!
The staff working were very friendly, and answered our questions about the menu. We ordered a noodle dish and a beef dish that came with rice, that was a perfect amount of food for two people with good appetites. The portions were generous and tasty, and I would love to come back with a bunch of friends to be able to share lots of dishes. The prices were more than fair.
Bonus points: the bathrooms are pretty nice. Which is a good thing when you’ve been walking around all afternoon.