A new restaurant recently opened in Burlington and today we thought we would kill two birds with one stone as it were. We would get a chance to try a new restaurant and at the same time offer some support to our Chinese come patriots who are under such stress as a result of the virus.
It is a small restaurant with an extreme minimalist decor. But I loved this wall treatment.
The table tops were so cold that I thought that only a pastry chef could love them.
I am not quite sure how to handle a description of our experience without sounding somehow mean spirited which is not the impression I wish to give
Our server was young and delightful. I believe she was the co-owner. She wanted very much to impress us.
She did bring two steaming cups of tea to the table which somehow did not get photographed. And these
these were quite delightful and obviously freshly made with just a hint of spiciness.
She did her very best to help when Kerry looked for a better understanding of the menu. And when her English finally failed her she dragged a young man in from the back who was apparently the chef and possibly her partner.
She tried her best to discourage us from ordering from the early part of the menu. She said that it was “real” Chinese and at the back of the menu we would find the typical Canadian-Chinese dishes.
We said we were interested in the Big Plate Chicken. She did not think this was suitable for us because there would be bones in it. But she said it was the signature dish of the town from which she came and was obviously very proud of it.We told her bones didn’t worrierWorry us. At the time that was a very true statement!
We asked how it was cooked and the chef tried his best to explain it and eventually got across to us that it included the hand pulled noodles which were high on our list of things we were interested in.
While we waited for this chicken to arrive, she brought a complimentary plate of spring rolls.
These arrived with a fork each but still presented a challenge to eat with any degree of decorum having already been sauced. The fork was obviously inappropriate and fingers going to end up very sticky. But we persevered and they were quite good. Again obviously freshly made.
Finally the chicken
It was tasty with a very prominent star anise component. But it was a minefield of crushed and splintered chicken bones. Not at all as we had imagined. We soldiered on as best we could but there was a great deal left over.
Here is the website.
I did bring home the leftovers but no matter how hard I tried I could not muster up the courage to eat them. The Heimlich maneuver is challenging to self administer! With a heavy heart and Kerry’s blessing I ditched them.
