Lunch Tuesday: Jim Chai Kee Noodle
Posted October 12, 2010 10:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
We’re in the middle of nowhere. I always thought it would be less crowded.
To be fair, it’s only the middle of nowhere for a transit-relying, downtown-dweller like myself. For the residents of Richmond Hill and beyond, I’m at the edges of a restaurant -packed strip mall.
The plaza at 270 West Beaver Creek is also packed with people, with an abundance of adorable babies. I’m here for Jim Chai Kee Noodle, a restaurant with a famously limited menu.
In full, there are noodles, soup, and lo mein. Each of them can be served with beef, shrimp wontons, or fish balls, or you can have them plain. The noodle options are egg, rice, and vermicelli. There is one side dish. Extra oyster sauce costs 50 cents. That’s it.
If you want tea, it’s in a self-serve carafe at the back. If you want a cold drink, don’t even think about serving yourself – a sign on the cooler at the front warns that you need to order it.
The sunny restaurant seats about 60 people. It’s half-full when we arrive. We’re greeted with a hearty “Happy Thanksgiving!” and the waitress is at our table almost immediately after we sit down. We place our order and less than a minute later, there’s a plate of Chinese broccoli ($2.50) in front of us.
Seconds after that, the beef noodle arrives ($4.50) and so does the three-topping lo mein ($7), with soup on the side. We each ordered a can of Coke ($1) and dug in.
As an aside, Coca-Cola and Chinese food is my very favourite combination. The drink is so sweet and so cold and the food is so hot and so salty…perfection. Not high-end perfection, mind you, but I’ll take it.
There are no frills here – no side plates, for one, and no glasses for our pop, for another. Did I mention you get your own tea? But our entire meal was less than $20, and it came within minutes of ordering.
And after, it’s just a short walk to Dong Dong Pastries for a coconut tart.
Closed Wednesdays.
Email me: erin.criger@citynews.rogers.com
