Went walk walk, see see at East Chinatown of Toronto and had pho (Vietnamese beef noodles) for lunch at Que Ling Restaurant.
East Chinatown emerged in the 1970s when rising property prices in Chinatown at Spadina Avenue spurred some businesses to move east along Gerrard Street East.
East Chinatown stretches along Gerrard Street East eastwards from the intersection with Broadview Avenue to Carlaw Avenue (about 3 blocks).
The main communities in East Chinatown are Vietnamese and Chinese.
Recently, there is more diversity in East Chinatown. Andrea's Bakery which is known for one of the best butter tarts in Toronto is doing a thriving business sitting comfortably at the heart of East Chinatown ๐ click
There are several Vietnamese restaurants in East Chinatown. One of the local favourites, Que Ling Restaurant is tucked inconspicuously behind a nursery and aquarium shop at the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Boulton Avenue.
Tiny little space inside. It was full house during lunch and there was a queue waiting to be seated. (I took this picture after eating and as I was leaving.)
Inside the little space, we sat knocking elbows and I can hear banter in Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin and English. I shared a table with a stranger, and we soon had an interesting conversation about food in Toronto ๐
As soon as I sat down, a lady plonked a pot of tea and tossed a menu on the table. The one page menu laminated in plastic slid across the Formica topped table to me.
Once I ordered the Que Ling Special Rice Noodle Soup (large serving for CDN9++), a plate of bean sprouts and mint leaves followed soon afterwards. Que Ling was full house, so everything had to be done chop chop in double quick time.
Que Ling Special Rice Noodle Soup is pho lah ๐
Probing below the mound of rice noodles and broth revealed generous amounts of cooked and medium rare beef slices, a few slivers of tripe and pieces of tendon.
I always eat my pho by heaping the entire plate of raw crunchy sweet bean sprouts and mint into my bowl of beef noodle soup. I just fold these into the hot soup. I don't know whether this is the right way or the wrong way.
The tea colour soup was savoury sweet but lacks beefy notes or undertones.
The rice noodles were the generic dry supermarket kind.
But, the beef made the entire dish taste good.
The meat was so soft and tenderly juicy. What the soup lacks, the beef more than made it up with its beefy sweetness.
I enjoyed this pho.
The few pieces of crunchy tender tripe and firm chewy tendon were nice.
The pretty good chili paste and raw chili padi spiked up the heat quotient to make the dish more enjoyable.
I like the house made chili paste so much that I was adding a quarter teaspoon of it with every mouthful of pho ๐
Feeling pleased thanks to the beefy beef, I finished up everything in the bowl. Everything, tax and tip included cost CDN11.
Table mate: You drink up all the soup?
Me: Yeah.
Table mate: A lot of MSG.
Me: Yeah, but still ok. Less than most places I've tried.
Then, we became acquainted and David told me that the best place for pho in Toronto is at Pho Tien Thanh on Ossington Avenue. "They use a lot of beef bones to make their soup."
For here at Que Ling, "you have to get their Hue style pho" David said as he dug his spoon into his bowl of fiery looking broth. "You can also try their steamed rice rolls with meat. It's very good." David also recommended Minced Crab Meat with Vermicelli.
I am surely heeding David's advice. He came to Toronto from Ho Chi Minh City as a teenager in the 1980s. He knows his Vietnamese food and where to get them in Toronto. Pho Tien Thanh will be my next pho target and I hope to be back to try Que Ling's spicy Hue style pho, steamed rice rolls and crab bee hoon.
And, so I went to Pho Tien Thanh the very next day ๐ click
What is Johor Kaki doing in Toronto? ๐ click
Restaurant name: Que Ling Vietnamese
Address: 248 Boulton Ave, Toronto, ON M4M 1Y3
GPS: 43°39'57.1"N 79°20'57.8"W ๐ 43.665872, -79.349375
Tel: (416) 778-4038
Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm (Tues off)
Non Halal
I like this video because it has a nice personal touch and also covers a bit of East Chinatown as well.
Date visited: 27 Jun 2019
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