My Playing Safe with the Xiao-Guo Rice Noodle

People say Toronto has diverse culture, and in such a culture, I believe Chinese food would have its place. I always eat in the same restaurant ordering the same several dishes if my first time eating there successfully impresses me. The word "crave" must have been invented for these events -- and 90% of the time, it would happen in a Thai or Taiwanese diner: the price is low, the line moves fast, the dishes served hot and fresh. Oh, and, though there are so many choices on the menu, I keep going for the safe choice I started with so that I won't regret for my acting fickly if my new choice failed my expectation. In the One Hour Cafe in this diverse city, this bowl of rice noodle, "Xiao Guo Rice Noodles", with its name directly coming from the Mandarin pronunciation, stunningly interpreted the Taiwanese finesse with its relish. On top of the noodle and noodle soup there is a handful of ground pork, braised with some spice. The soup combined the flavor of tomato and broth. Cilantro and tomato pieces acted brilliantly in playing with the fragrance and making it sweet and sour. And the bok choy chunks added in the last minute kept this dish balanced from being too protein-dominated.

 

After I got back home I tried to learn about "how to make/cook rice noodles" and most entries were about cooking them. Then I found videos on youtube on the actual procedure of making rice noodles: mixing rice flour, tapioca starch and water at the cup rate of 2:1:3, with some salt and oil. Then steam the batter in thin trays and cut them into pieces/slices -- in this way the flat rice noodles would be done that we usually see in Thai dishes. For the round rice noodles in the "Xiao-Guo Rice Noodle" I was having, I believe there's some kind of machines to make it work. And later I ordered this banana crepe because I wanted my mom to have a try, something which was not quiet popular in China yet. It was so beyond delicious -- the flour wrap was the best I ever had: thicker and softer than the average ones: they must have put more eggs in the flour. Compared to those thin and crispy crepes, this would be the one that stood out and sated my desire. Mom and I revisited this cafe the next day. I had the same Xiao-Guo Rice Noodle like last time. My playing safe with this dish gave me a smile.