dinner @ Double Greeting Wonton House
I wanna hear your answer: Was there a restaurant that you/your family went to in your childhood but (as you grew up...) you haven’t visited for 15+ yrs? The follow-up question: Was it more or less the same as you remembered it when you revisited it?
For me, such restaurant would definitely be Double Greeting Wonton House (DG). Like Taipan located in Chinatown, my family & I would come to DG with another family (grandparents, parents that are my parent’s generation, & their kids, which were 2-10 yrs younger than me) for late-night meals sometimes. So the routine was like: have dinner at one of our houses, chit-chat, then go out again for late-night dinner. Of course, we abandoned this habit over a decade ago. But nonetheless, I still remember DG’s exterior/interior. I occasionally pass by this place as it’s next to the Chinese Multicultural Centre.
Its full store front. Looks super shady (& it is lol).
But you can’t judge a book by its cover. They got a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. A lot of ppl have been here since the 80s when they first appeared & are still coming here! One thing for new customers is that: don’t let the shadiness or “dirtiness” scare you. They have awesome food!
Side note: regarding this “dirtiness”. Was on the topic at work about restaurants & someone said, “for places like .. ‘blah blah’ I always check the health inspection/hygiene reports before going. If it’s an issue, I won’t go.” I was literally dying on the inside, thinking, what do these reports mean? lol being named on such reports but still in business literally just means they have “cleaned up” & are ok to serve food again. But what about those ‘negatives’ where they’re not in any report? Does it mean they’re actually 100% “clean”, or did they just pass the minimal standard so their name didn’t get released? Maybe they just escaped under the radar? Maybe on the day inspection came, they were ok, but the day after, they’re terrible? As a normal customer, you don’t know what’s going on in the kitchen, right? I just find the statement so funny, & to an extent uneducated. You know what I mean? Even a “good” restaurant will have its dirty moment. *shrugs* that’s just my opinion - I won’t not go to a restaurant based on that factor is what I’m really saying.
Their menu - the good ol’ folded laminated type of menu haha they also dropped off a pen & the order form. Customers fill it out themselves & then they review the order with you before they take it away.
Sorry it’s blurry.. . didn’t realize this till I looked at the photos on my laptop =( Look at the prices; most are under $10! Like tell me, which restaurant still have these prices?!
The restaurant has Chinese customers for the most part but during my evening there with my parents, we saw many different ethnic groups coming in as well - that don’t speak Chinese. The table next to ours actually ordered by number straight off the bat without spending much time on the menu, which shows that they were very familiar with the menu/are regulars.
I’m just gonna tell you other things about the restaurant in between these menu photos :P
Their staff: the guy in his 40s/50s who “overlooked” the place (owner?), with 5 servers that did everything from taking orders, wiping tables, bringing dishes out (a lady held a big tray with her left arm, & on it were 5 plates of food!), setting tables after clean-up, & got the bills for ppl. They literally did everything, running back & forth. The guy wasn’t just doing nothing either, he answered many take out phone calls (in Chinese & English), & he also occasionally wiped tables & such.
The restaurant itself was super busy for a Saturday evening. Tables & tables of customers came & went, came & went. My family was one of the very few that actually took our time.
A summary of their menu: they have everything you would see in a Hong Kong-styled Cantonese café. The prices are very cheap, & there are many opions.
The cashier counter. Loved the “oldness” of this place. It honestly looks exactly the same in terms of the layout compared to when I last visited (which was likely >15 yrs ago). But everything looked newer. I’m sure they've had at least 1 reno since then.
On the far left is the entrance. Once you walk in, you will see a washroom & an ATM on your left. Then you enter the dining area. There are different types of tables: circular for large groups, 2-persons, & couch-seating like where I sat. The hole there leads to the kitchen but that little corner there is for storage.
Let’s move on to the food!
234. Deep fried fish with sweet & sour sauce. Mom loves the sweet & sour pork but decided on the fish version bcos it was later than our usual dinner time & we didn’t want to eat pork. The fish was basa fillet I’m sure. Lightly coated with batter, deep fried like the usual. I really liked the fish actually. It was REAL fish, not half batter, half fish. The sauce, however, I didn’t like it too much bcos I’m not into this type of sauce to begin with. Also, I don’t eat raw onions/half raw onions, so the onions were . But my mom & dad both liked the dish!
63. Chicken cubes & gai lan chow mein. This was my favourite of the evening! Huge pieces of chicken breast, gai lan was cooked perfectly (some places undercook them), & the noodles... wow! Crunchy when without the sauce (like on the edges), but soft & chewy with the sauce (under the chicken & gai lan where the sauce is). The sauce was a nice & simple oyster sauce-based sauce. Not too salty, & very tasty.
78. Beef chow fan (flat rice noodles) with bean sprouts. If you eat with my mom at places like these, expect to eat this every time (or at least, 99% of the time) lol I don’t know what it is, but she just loves this dish & orders I everywhere. A part of me thinks she’s just lazy or can’t make up her mind with the menu so it’s her go-to item haha anyways, this came out steaming hot & the smell was just so .. . powerfully appetizing! The taste was good, not as savoury/salty as you would expect based on the smell, but that’s good bcos it won’t make you thirsty! A large amount of beef for 10.75 in my opinion. Noodles were cooked decently well, with some pieces that were stuck together. Most importantly, this dish had that “wok” hotness to it. So yummy!!!
Definitely will be back again & likely fairly soon bcos my mom said this will become our new family favourite for Chinese food haha she is the type that sorta dislikes the idea of going out for food... but she really liked this place so I think that says something. That was a strong statement coming from her. For me, I liked both the chow mein & the flat rice noodles but the fish was the only thing I really liked in the 1st dish so.. 9/10!
Bonus photo #1. Haha shady.. . oh yeah! This place is cash-only so remember to either bring cash or your card for the ATM!
Bonus photo #2. I am so digging this background for a swag “back alley” photoshoot, like not joking at all. This is a far stretch but it kind of reminds me of those magazine photos of either street wear or Kpop album teaser photos of hiphop artists........ I don’t know. Like the ones taken in back alleys in LA!
