Yuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant

Ditch the food courts for affordable food, especially if you have a few mouths to feed. The food courts in Toronto and Scarborough can cost approx CAD10++ per pax but having a meal with sharing dishes at Yuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant in Markham in Scarborough cost us only CAD30 with tax and tips for 6 people.

Canada is a country where different nationalities are celebrated, so you can get almost any kind of cuisine and they’re pretty authentic. The Tian Jin cuisine served at Yuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant was recommended by my aunt who hails from China. She visits this restaurant with her Chinese friends monthly.

Personal recommendations:
- Seaweed egg drop soup
- Tian Jin liang pi
- Green Bean Crepe with crispy dough fritter
- Braised Pork Bun

Another dish I haven’t tried before. This essentially tastes like tau huay or beancurd With fungus and mushrooms in brown gravy. The tofu is soft and melts in your mouth. The gravy isn’t very salty, and if it gets tasteless after a while, load up on the chilli oil and vinegar. Yumz. This would be so amazing on a cold day in Scarborough!

A slab of braised beef in between a pan-fried bun speckled with sesame seeds. The meat is incredibly tender, and lined with some fat around the rims. It’s braised to perfection, so each piece gives easily. I love how nicely it goes with the bread. The bread is also worth a mention as it’s pan fried and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside.

My favourite order of the night is definitely this soup. It’s a clear soup, but savoury enough to drink on its own. Plus there’s seaweed and egg inside, what’s there not to like?

A simple and palate-cleansing Congee made from miller grains. Millet is a small grain which gives rise to a resultant texture like a mix between rice, quinoa and beans when stewed into congee. Very light on the palate and good to wash down the oil and spices in between dishes!

Another variant of the crepe wrapped around you tiao, this one comes with a flattened and ultra crispy dough fritter in the center. I actually preferred this variant because of how satisfyingly crunchy the dough fritter was inside! It’s also a little more spicy than the other variant, but only marginally. While nice on its own too, I still ended up dipping this in the chilli oil provided because #singaporean #spicelover 🤣 must try this if you drop by this restaurant in Scarborough.