By: KELLY GENG

Field notes:

The popular chinese restaurant chain “Magic noodle (chinese)” is located 1383 16th Ave, Richmond Hill, Ontario. The time of day i ate at was from 6:00 – 7:30 on Sunday evening. All around me are chinese people, families, coworkers, international students and family friends. The environment is very family friendly with people constantly moving around and children standing up and looking over the clear plastic wall to watch the staff hand-make noodles. Laughter fills the air around me as i hover my mouth over my noodles careful to blow on them before i eat.

*a picture of cold appetizers you can order with your meal

*a party of people  usually order at least one appetizer

As i sat down at my table, the set up was similar to that of a fast food restaurant. The differences include darker colours (the table was brown to mimic a tree bark), along the side of the restaurant, there were ten tall chairs labeled 1-10 (to encourage people to eat fast and alone), and a glass wall so that onlookers can see inside and potentially coe inside for a meal. There were multiple booths with cushions, but we sat at a table due to how many people were there.

The family sitting beside me was speaking in chinese (i could understand) a mother and a father with a (what seemed like) a year year old daughter. As i listened in, i could hear their conversation about their day. The mother and father switched off on feeling their daughter slices of beef, noodle and veggies. In the background, i could also hear the mechanical sound of pagers going off. Since there are so many people waiting to be seated, the restaurant decided to invest in pagers for customers for longer wait times.

The menu at Magic Noodle is 12 pages. The first few pages are different types of hand-pulled noodles featuring the three most popular dishes on the first page. Next, other less popular but equally as delicious is at least two pages dedicated to hand shaved noodles offering variations of noodle, some of which include classic, silk string, mid round, mid triad, mid flat ribbon and curtain, stir fry noodles, cold noodles, sizzling noodles, cold dishes, special snacks and drinks. In addition, there are several additional toppings including, but not limited to sliced beef, beef brisket, lamb, braised pork belly, pig intestines, seafood, egg, vegetables, soup, e.t.c. (All of which have an authentic chinese food taste)

The classic noodle is authentic seeing as it is made right in from of you. Often, you will see one or two men hand pulling noodles stretching it their arm span and repeatedly pulling and folding. The hand shaved noodle is also made in the traditional way (by hand) seeing as when it arrives, customers are able to see the varied sized of the noodles. Most of the food is reasonably priced, locally sourced and leaning slightly on the unhealthy side.

Similar to restaurants such as the Keg, Kelseys, and Montanas, when you walk in, you wait to be seated and order your food via wait staff. Despite this, ordering at magic noodle is quite different from typical restaurants. The authentic chinese environment does not allow for a long conversation with the waiter. Instead, the staff takes your order quickly and does not check in and as questions like “how is your meal?” or “how is everything?”

At Magic Noodle, the environment is somewhat like a fast-food restaurant. To explain, within 5 minutes after ordering, your food will arrive. Further, a party of people typically only stays for a half hour to an hour (making my stay of an hour and a half unusual. I saw many people arrive and leave before me). The rhythm of the restaurant is fast-paced with little to no silence.

Moreover, the food presentation is very clean and for lack of a better word, plain. Each bowl of noodles looks the same. Soup, noodles and on top, the topping you ordered with your dish. When I went, I ordered the sliced noodle with traditional braised pork. The presentation was similar to the picture in the menu, if not identical. The vegetables were on the side, and all the meal placed on top.

Note: Seeing as Magic Noodle is very family friendly, there are some families with younger children who share a bowl but children past the age of 12 typically order their own noodle bowl.

The smell of the restaurant environment is predominantly a soup smell. The meat vegetable and other dishes offered such as stir fry noodles, sizzling noodles, special dishes, e.t.c, blend together with the smell of soup (because the soup noodles are so popular). Additionally, all the soup noodles use the same soup (optional: you can add spices to make it spicier to fit your taste buds), and because of this, the soup at Magic Noodle has gained a reputable name of deliciousness and a savory taste.

If the noodle is not labeled as “cold” then all the variations of noodle are hot. Although the colour of the noodle does not change, the texture does. Like I listed above, the different types of noodle are classic, silk string, mid round, mid triad, mid flat ribbon and curtain.

Aside from the classic noodles that i explained earlier (hand pulled), the other options are all traditional authentic chinese noodles. The silk string noodle is a thin version of classic noodles, mid round are rectangular shaped noodles with mid triad noodles a mix between the two. Next we have flat ribbon noodles which are thinly sliced and have ribbon-like edges and curtain noodles which are flat ribbon noodles but with flat edges instead.

Final (overall) thoughts

• This chain fast food restaurant is an extremely popular location. With the amount of chinese immigrants in the area, during lunch and dinner hours on weekends, there is usually a wait.

• Overall, a fast-food like environment (fast paced and food options leaning towards the unhealthy side)
• You should most definitely check it out!