NEW HONG KONG - Ottawa ON

#lotwwintercatchup

I hate to bash on Ottawa, but in the different years that I have lived here I have not enjoyed the Chinese food that I've sampled. While some things just have their own character that I'm not used to or like (egg rolls here are filled with minced cabbage & pork, not bean sprouts & sliced bbq pork, and they are often fried here with open ends), or the quality of the food just wasn't great. But I keep trying and I finally found a place that doesn't remind me of Canadian Chinese food like I used to get back west of Ottawa, it's pretty good. That place is New Hong Kong.  

Back in November I went there and sampled the wrong dish by accident. I got the Shanghai Noodles with Meat Sauce, which was totally different than any Shanghai Noodles I've ever had, but it was good! But that got me thinking about trying the chicken wings here too.

It's a tiny little store in a small strip mall, a strip mall that contains one of my favourite take-out wings from Crispy's, as well as long ago reviewed Mr Mozzarella and/or Wing Shoppe*. The place is mostly take-out/delivery, but there are about 4 tables inside to dine in, although it's not the most atmospheric place to dine. It looks more like an office supply closet with various Chinese calendars, banners, and small shrine for the gods. This is near Algonquin College, so there are often Chinese students dining here or getting food to go.

The few times I have been, the same lady is out front taking all the orders. She sometimes seems almost suspicious of what I am ordering, but quickly becomes very friendly. She is often very motherly to the students, such as a visit I had the other night where she was concerned about the snow and ice for a couple of young girls going out.

*I searched the blog for my Wing Shoppe review, but believe it's in the #lostreview category, yet to be posted. Ooops.

Like many Canadian Chinese restaurants, they have a large menu. They also have a large offering of lunch specials, combination plates, and meals for one to choose from. Those are very tempting, but on this occasion, I wanted chicken wings. There are three types to choose from: Deep Fried, Hot & Spicy, and Garlic. I went with Hot & Spicy, hoping it too was deep fried.

I ordered my wings, and about 10 minutes later my to-go bag was ready. Inside was the half-size styrofoam clamshell, some soy sauce, and a fork. Not sure how to eat wings with a fork but oh well.

The smell was that of fried Chinese chicken wings. If you know, you know. It`s hard to describe, but I was ready to try. I opened up the heavy little package and took in the sights.

Inside the box my order of wings came to a count of 13 pieces, which was pretty good. There was roughly equal amounts of wings and drums.

Most Chinese places tend to serve small wings, but I was surprised to find pretty large wings. And the wingette`s were served tip on, so an extra amount of skin & cartilage to gnaw on. The wings were decently meaty to for their size.

The wings are covered in classic Canadian Chinese batter used for chicken. This made for an extremely crispy, but very brittle bite. I mean these were loud wings to consume, and messy, because little bits of the batter just went everywhere. I love it.

The wings I`m pretty sure come from frozen, but the meat is still pretty tender, and the bones pull apart pretty well. The texture of these wings is just crazy, in a very good way.

The wings don`t come in a sauce like I expected (I didn`t think they`d be sloppy or anything, but in some sort of sauce). Instead, these were dry wings (with a touch of oil/grease) and then tossed in a hot and spicy dry spice mix. You could really see the chili flakes.

The flavour was very much dry chili, but you could make out some garlic, and some other spices I just couldn't put my finger on. The heat wasn't crazy hot at all, just a nice, dry, warming pepper flavour and heat.

I enjoyed the flavour, but you can see how messy these wings were for a dry spiced wing. To be fully honest, the grease, the batter, and the chilis all kept repeating in me through burps for the rest of the day. The food was good, but there was a price to pay!

FINAL SCORE:

I really enjoyed my Hot & Spicy wings from New Hong Kong. They were super crispy/crunchy brittle wings with a nice dry spice seasonings. I would get them again, but I would also like to have these wings tossed in their General Tao sauce. Oh, and you can't beat getting a fortune cookie for dessert!  11/14

New Hong Kong
1433 Woodroffe Ave, Ottawa ON
newhongkongchinese.ca