Joojak Restaurant

So our favourite Unilocal Japanese Food Critique gave a 5 star thumbs up. A rarity that when it happens, I take notice. Today she said the Cold spicy lotus root dish from Joojak was very good. I asked how she would rate it and she gave them a 5 stars for this dish. So this is what the review is for.
We had some other dishes. Wanting to keep it simple we ordered the dumplings in spicy and sour soup, and a tomato egg woods ear (black fungus) soup. A good drinking clear broth soup that was simply flavoured and seasoned enough that you don’t need to add anything to it. God forbid I take my other Japanese relatives here. They always end up adding extra salt to everything they eat!!! For me I like it simple. And this place makes simple in a way that you don’t realize the complexity of the preparations that go behind their food. They are always proud that they make their own dumplings and they don’t use MSG in their food. They can service you in Mandarin and English. I believe Cantonese as well.
If you’ve never tried Xian Style food. Try the basics here. Many dishes are recommended.

This place is CASH ONLY!
Tried the popular dishes other yellpers recommended, steamed chili chicken, hand pulled noodles with chili oil, and pork and chive pan fried dumplingsx w
Note the over usage of chili oil so expect that on your dishes. The dumpling had more filling to wrapper ratio so tasted a bit imbalanced. The chicken was not as spicy as other helpers lead to be. And best of the dishes was the noodles. However, my order was to go so I would recommend dine in, even though the establishment is small, so you won’t get the pulled noodles sticking together like we did

Tonight i went on Unilocal in search of something chinese to eat. I came across this restaurant and saw some photos that made my mouth water. I went ahead and ordered those things to go. We got:
Hand pulled spicy noodles
Cold chicken in spicy oil + side of rice
Spicy dumpling soup with pork&cilantro dumplings
When i had read some reviews, some people stated its not so spicy where it would burn your mouth, but i was wrong. My boyfriend and I are brown so we know spicy, but we couldn’t eat the noodles. The chicken was good and my boyfriend likes the soup; especially the dumplings. The food here is the most flavourful Chinese food we have had. Everything has a sour/​spicy taste. I don’t know how i feel about the sour element, but it was good nonetheless. Id come back for the dumplings and chicken, but will make sure i have a pack of Tums too.

Ordered some very popular dishes! Super tasty!!! If you have not been here, come check out! Their dumplings though were little too salty.

I went here with my little sister today and the food is FANTASTIC! We were almost not going to walk in considering all the other restaurants along Kingsway, but after we read the Unilocal reviews, we decided to visit. It’s easy to miss the place, as it tends to blend in with the other restaurants in the area. We went around 4pm, the place was empty, but a steady stream of people started coming in. The restaurant is not very big, but the seats are comfy, the place is clean and they use nice utensils and dishes.
I’m a huge foodie, and have tried all restaurants in LA, Richmond, Vancouver etc… and this is the first place where the owners don’t use MSG. Regina, the owner, is super nice, and did you know she’s also an Architect? She is super friendly with fluent English, and is well traveled. Who knew that striking up a conversation with her would be so fun? Regina is warm, talkative and caring. Our tea cups were never empty. Her husband does the cooking, and they both run the place efficiently. They are both healthy people and she told me they don’t keep MSG in the kitchen. We weren’t thirsty, dizzy, or tired after the meal. Most Asian food are laden with MSG, I’m so happy we found this place! 2 hours later as I’m typing this, I feel no side effects.
In terms of spiciness, it’s not the spiciness that will leave your tongue and stomach burning. The food has enough kick to it that you will finish everything. We ordered the spicy oil steamed chicken, it’s a cold dish but the best chicken ever… I’m not sure what sauce they use, but try it! It’s super tender with just the right amount of spice. We also had the dan dan mein, the pork and chive dumplings which we got pan fried, pan fried gai lan, and the sweet potato noodle soup. The prices were cheap, portions were generous and the was food not too greasy nor too salty. For a restaurant that doesn’t cover their food with MSG, they sure know how to cook. Regina told us that most menu items are hand-​made and takes lots of time to make, but the food comes out fast and hot.
I have found my new Xi-​An cuisine place, give this place a try, and strike up a conversation with the owner Regina, super nice, optimistic and loves explaining her culture and dishes. I hope they manage to grow and expand!

I enjoy small hole in the wall, dirty looking restaurants. Its usually hit or miss. This was a miss, but I’ll visit once more to see if they can change my mind.
Restaurant itself is pleasantly cramped and small and lacking in design sense at all. Just what I like. Service was pleasant, the place was full when I arrived, but they hustled to clean up a table for me during a short wait.
I ordered their house special soup noodle and the lamb ‘burger’. The soup noodle was very disappointing, the noodles was one big clump, they were stingy with the meat portion and the soup was tasteless. Would not recommend their soup noodles at all.
The burger, or actually a toasted pita stuffed with lamb was better. For the price of $ 4.50 (and extra $ 0.25 for cilantro — seriously who CHARGES for cilantro?) it was shockingly small. About the size of a mcdonald’s egg mcmuffin. Pita was warm and slightly crunchy and the lamb was pleasing soft and had good taste. It was more like pulled lamb. Oh and they forgot to add the cilantro.
I may have ordered wrong, because looking around, most people ordered cold or dry noodles and meal size dishes, instead of combos. The dumplings looked intriguing so that may warrant a try.

Place to go when you wanna try northwestern Chinese cuisine. Price is fair given that the quantity of the food is not huge. First time I tried cold noodle and spicy chili oil chicken. Best summer food. Spicy, sourness and saltyness just the best combo to open your appetite in hot weather. Cold noodle is very authentic. The chicken is a little different from what I knew back China but still very tasty. Owner is very nice. I’ll defnitely come back to discover more food.

** Note: I’d rate this place a 4.5* if I could. but since there were more pros than cons, I rounded up!
I remember when this mom-​n-​pop place first opened. not signage no menu… I wandered in here for a quick lunch — dine and dash — I left satisfied and full.
Fast forward a few months later, they actually have a visible sign, menu and pictures of their best dishes on the wall! Upgrade!
Having good memories of my last meal, we ordered by pointing to the pictures on the walls (no shame… its just easier that way sometimes!)
We had the cold noodles (not the spicy one), spicy chili oil chicken and pork buns.
— Cold noodles: I suspect they are handmade, but I’m not sure. They were firm and somewhat chewy, thicker than your average flat rice noodle. It was dressed with julienned cukes/​carrots, parsley and beancurd pieces… topped off with a homemade chili oil (more on the chili oil later!).
— Spicy chili oil chicken: hands down the best dish we ordered! Don’t miss this one even if chili frightens the heck outta you. Its a homemade chili oil thats made from ground chilies and secret stuff. Its spicy when you eat it. but not mouth numbing («ma– la» in mandarin). The chicken is also served cold… perfect on a hot day!
— Pork buns: well… lets just say that my significant other inhaled them… so they must have been excellent :)
Service: Here is where they lost half a star… we were told to sit and wait for a table, but when a table opened up, another couple happened to walk in and seated themselves in it. It would have been nice if the staff (mom and daughter duo) said something on our behalf.. but luckily another spot opened up. No big deal.
Otherwise it was service with a smile and the mom even stopped to chat and tell us about the cuisine and food.
Overall: Delicious authentic food from Xi-​An (China). Chili oil chicken is a must-​try!

Came here today and ordered takeout. It’s a pretty small restaurant with around 5 – 6 tables.
The first thing I noticed was the service. The lady who works the front register is extremely friendly and made us feel nice and comfortable.
We ordered three servings of Liang Pi (cold noodles) and three servings of Rou Jia Mo (meat burger). The meat burger was just okay. The bread was more hard than crispy and the meat lacked flavour. The cold noodles were tasty, but weren’t better than any of the cold noodles i’ve tried at other Xi’an restaurants. Both the meat burgers and the cold noodles came in very small servings.
After visiting «Xi’an Famous Foods» in NYC (which is just PHENOMENAL), i’m no longer impressed with any other Xi’an restaurants I visit. Nonetheless, this little place is close to home and satisfies the cravings I have for food from my homeland.

Interior
Small Chinese restaurant. Holds around 20 people. Not a fancy place but alright to sit in and have a bite.
The place filled with light kitchen small. However, just like other restaurant, there is nothing you can do if you wanna eat there.
Service
Friendly Chinese lady who pretty much doing all the service herself. Fairly easy to call her if you are sitting at the front.
Food
Delicious hand made dumpling. Pork bun and steam chicken with chili are also very nice. Price is considered cheaper then other restaurant. Lots of spicy dishes.
Recommended and will come visit again.
Cash only

Fast service and friendly servers. I’ve ordered spicy dumpling soup and beef rolls and dumpling soup was good. It left tongue-​numbing spicy feel. The dumplings inside were nice and delicious. Waitress said they were handmade in the restaurant.
I didn’t like beef rolls very much. It came out as too saucy and lukewarm. Tasted alright. I regret ordering beefrolls though, but the dumpling soup was good.

This restaurant is owned by a husband (he cooks) and wife (she waits and does the register). She is very friendly and helpful.
My favourite dish is the dumplings in the spicy soup. What I like about it is they give you 12 dumplings, not 2 or 3 like many other restaurants do… so if you like dumplings, give it a try.
They also have a Xian Burger, a specialty of the area in China they come from. It’s very tasty but it is too small for my liking.

Cozy little restaurant with decadent food offerings somewhat on the spicy side but well prepared and presented in a nice packaging. This would be a great place to bring a date in a comfortable, intimate setting.
We had the spicy chicken in a chili sauce with steamed rice on the side and the fried dumplings with pork and wintergreen lettuce. The chicken was a bit too spicy for my palate, but my dinner partner loved it and I quite enjoyed the dumplings.
Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience and I wouldn’t mind returning to try the beef roll and more of the dumplings.

Great little restaurant on Kingsway by Joyce. I’m not too familiar with Northern Chinese cuisine so I ordered and ate what I knew.
There were 5 of us and we shared a total of 8 different dishes. The pan fried dumplings came with a spicy dipping sauce and was my favourite dish out of the 8. We also ordered the dumplings in the (spicy) hot and sour soup that was also a solid choice. I found the beef rolls a bit too small (it was a small roll) but still tasty nonetheless.
Pro tip: Go for lunch. Or come early for dinner. Why? Two reasons.
#1 — The restaurant is small. Like very small. Maybe 15 – 20 seats? Come early if you don’t want to wait for a table (I’m not entirely sure if they do reservations).
#2 — They run out of food pretty fast. We came at around 730 and some of the items we were eyeing were already sold out.