cheap, dirty, tasty... After a crazy weekend of partying, my friend Shiang and I went to Kom Jug Yuen in china town to grab some cheap chinese food. Shiang was craving for some BBQ pork (aka Cha Siu) and considering the cheap prices here, it would definitely help his wallet out after ballin out at the clubs. I've actually been to this place a couple times and I have friends who religiously come here because of how cheap it is. It is not your typical chinese restaurant, but more like a "hole in the wall" type place. Throughout your meal, it is no surprise to see random staff walking through with giant plastic tubs full of barbecued pork or mopping up the floor as you eat.
To fulfill his craving, Shiang ordered a BBQ pork on rice ($4 + tax/tip). In a sign on their store front, they actually claim to have the "Best BBQ Pork in North America!" This is a pretty big claim especially in Toronto, where you can get Chinese barbecued meats in any of the many Chinese restaurants, food courts, plazas or malls. Fortunately, the BBQ pork lives up to their claim as it is really good- each piece has lots of flavour and the perfect texture balance of juiciness and chewiness. The best part is the charred edges that make Chinese BBQ pork so good. As for the dish itself, it was literally just BBQ pork on a giant plate of rice, and they brought us some Bok Choy (chinese vegetable) on the side as well. It also came with a soup; can't really complain about this meal for $4.
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I ordered a rice noodle soup with BBQ Pork and BBQ duck ($6 + tax/tip). Again, this was pretty standard, but what makes it is definitely the BBQ pork which is awesome. They gave me the leg piece of the duck and I'm guessing they use the same type of technique to grill the duck as the skin is nice and crispy as well. This also came with some Bok Choy on the side. We also grabbed 2 Nesteas to complete the meal ($1.25/ can).
Kom Jug Yuen is a great place to grab a quick filling meal, while spending about the same price 3 McDonald's value meal items. This place has been around forever as I remember coming here when I was much younger and it probably looks the same as it does 10 years ago. It is a perfect place for students to eat in or grab takeout (close to UofT as it is just south of College on Spadina), but definitely not a place to bring a date haha. Like I said before, it's more like a hole in the wall type of place, so don't expect the cleanest or nicest place (actually, expect the opposite, but it's still great!).
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Kom Jug Yuen Restaurant
371 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON, M5T 2G3
pho... I haven't eaten or reviewed a pho (fahhh) place in awhile, so we went to Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine (aka Trainhead) in China Town. This is a well known place in China Town that is frequented by many UofT students who live in and around the area. There are quite a few places to grab pho in china town, but this is the spot where me and my friends usually hit up, especially since it is open until late night (open till 6 am!). The pho or beef noodle soup here is a bit more expensive than other places (Small- $4.95, Large- $6.00, X-Large, $8.00), but they are pretty consistent with giant, tasty bowls of pho and the place is pretty nice, being recently renovated in the past year. Honestly, I don't think their pho deserves to be higher priced than other places, but I still keep coming back. I usually order #106 XL- Rare Beef Tendon and Tripe Rice Noodle Soup ($8.00), and my friends got #101 XL- Special Beef Noodle Soup ($8.00), which is just a mix of different types of beef.
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I often come here after chilling with freinds or playing ball at UofT (...also going to class and studying...haha). After playing ball, one of my favourite things to get is a fresh fruit smoothie ($3.50 or $4.25 with tapioca). The mango and sour sop smoothies are legit (no idea what sour sop is, but it tastes good). The key to drinking these is to eat your whole bowl of noodles first and just killing the whole smoothie in one huge gulp- the feeling of refreshment is ridiculously good.
Xe Lua (aka Trainhead) is located at 254 Spadina Ave in China Town (South of Dundas). It's also quite spacious, so very seldom do you need to wait for a table. Its not the cheapest pho place, but it fills you up and i'm satisfied every time.
