📍 4400 Sheppard Ave E, Toronto, Ontario
Wonton Chai is a quick and simple noodle place with their basic menu! Their options aren’t plenty nor is their decor anything fancy because people just come in and out of this restaurant to eat.
A simple stop like a gas station when you’re on a long road trip, except you get to chow down on their delicious noodles for a cheap price!
Their menu consists of soupy noodles or dry noodles with a bit of sauce at the bottom and a side bowl of soup, it is stated as “Lo Mein” above.
The noodles comes with wonton (shrimp dumpling), beef brisket, or dumplings. Their dumplings are the water dumplings, also known as “水餃” or “Suey/Sui Gao” in Cantonese and “Shui Jiao” in Mandarin.
Wonton origins from the Southern part of China, whereas Suey Gao is from the Northern part of China.
I didn’t order Suey Gao from Wonton Chai – but in my experience, Suey Gao is usually bigger than Wonton. Plus the fillings for Suey Gao differs from store to store but inside sometimes would be mushrooms, minced meat, tiny shrimps. Wonton is always 100% shrimps, and sometimes green onions would be inside as well.
I actually prefer Suey Gao over Wonton because of the different fillings and the taste – just feels like Suey Gao is juicier but they’re both probably the same in terms of that category…
What I got was simple Wonton noodles in soup! They have condiments on the side, so naturally, I’m going to add spice, heehee. Really standardized Wonton noodles, or “Wonton Mein”. Usually comes in the form of the yellow noodles and big juicy pieces of Wonton.
This is the Beef Brisket in vermicelli noodles, as they ran out of the rice noodle. The rice noodles that they use here are the thicker, fatter ones. Not the thinner ones like the Bun Bo Hue post mentioned in Bong Lua.
I’m not sure why it’s a thing, but whenever I eat Wonton noodles, it’s like a thing to get side vegetables, with hoisin/hoi xin sauce at the side. I believe these vegetables are “kai-lan” also known as Chinese Kale. The vegetables help provide a crunchy bit towards the meal – I like adding vegetables towards my meals as well so it’s a good combination!
Wonton Chai is a simple place to eat this very simple classic Chinese dish of Wonton, Suey Gao and Beef noodles. Service is quick and tables are pretty big. They don’t have small 2 seaters, but instead have big round tables to fit about 6 people each.
There is also tea at the corner for you to self-service, with paper cups. In some simple noodle places like this, they have this style of service. Unless you come with more people, then they’ll provide a teapot.
Wonton Chai is definitely a hidden cheap eat gem which most people don’t know about because it’s not exactly in a popular location, etc… But the meals here are easy going and simple. So don’t expect much and enjoy the simplicity of a classic Chinese meal!
Till next time, ♥
