Mandarin Canton - Is this Cake Noodle?

*** 04/03/2011 You can find an update here.

Tucked in a strip mall on Telegraph Canyon Road in Chula Vista is Mandarin Canton, like Golden Chopstick, a Chinese-American-Filipino restaurant.

One night about a year ago, the Missus called from work and told me she thinks she found that "noodle dish" I'd been looking for. What I'd been looking for is called "Cake Noodle" in Hawaii, and I've never seen it anywhere on the Mainland. I've had some dishes that used pan fried noodles, but they were not even close.

Cake Noodles are usually thin egg noodles that are fried until crispy in a pan (thus the cake), cut into squares, and topped with a thick stir fried "gravy" and various meats and veggies. I knew this was a Filipino-American Chinese restaurant when I noticed that no chopsticks are provided and we are served what we jokingly call Chinese Tortilla Chips! Actually these won ton pi chips are very sneaky, served with sweet and sour sauce, you end up eating one after the other....

On this visit I was really surprised that lunch specials were being served on a Sunday! The specials come with soup and either Fried Rice or Steamed Rice and range between $3.75-$4.75. One quick tip - stay with the steamed rice! We ordered one item off the lunch menu, and two off of the regular menu:

We received the Shrimp with Lobster Sauce ($4.75) that the Missus ordered off the specials menu:

I was pretty surprised to find that we got a whole order of Shrimp with Lobster Sauce. Shrimp with Lobster sauce is not my favorite dish, I call it "egg drop soup with shrimp", but the Missus enjoys it. This version was very mild, though the shrimp were large and tasty, ditto with the water chestnuts. It also started congealing as soon as it hit the table.

The Salted and Deep Fried Shrimp with No Shell ($11.00) came up next:

So fried, salty, garlicky, slightly spicy, and crunchy.....I don't think you need to say anything else about this dish. It's probably the most expensive dish on the menu, but it's alot of really large shrimp. I once saw a Young Lady order this with a side of the garlic/green onion/chili pepper topping, and eat a spoonful of the garlic with each shrimp, and loving it! Make sure you order them without shell.

Than came the dish I came here for - the Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles ($6.50). Yes, it's actually called that on the menu:

The noodles are fried to a crisp than topped with veggies and meats in a brown sauce. The sauce is nice and salty, sweet, and gooey, and slowly softens the noodles. My only complaint is that there is not enough brown sauce. The Missus ended up spooning her rice into the empty plate to sop up the remaining sauce. There are large shrimp, beef, and chicken, along with broccoli and snow peas.

So is it Cake Noodle? Well not really, but it's close enough for me.

Some notes on Mandarin Canton: Like many of these places Your Mileage May Vary, there are some really terrible dishes here, so pick and choose based on what you see others eating. There are only ten tables, and a constant flow of people in and out, but the turnaround is pretty quick. Mandarin Canton is a "Player" in the "Best Salt and Pepper Wings" battle going on, but is not as good as Golden Chopstick, though Golden Chopstick's Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles (yes, they have them there as well), is not as good as Mandarin Canton's. I've actually swung by both restaurants on a single take-out trip. Don't eat here if you are afraid of salt and MSG, though I've never had any problems or reactions from the food, I'm pretty sure it's there.

Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Rd
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Open Daily 11am - 10pm

Comments

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

If you go back, please tell them to cut the noodles into squares....

[Jo]

Are these noodles fresh then fried, dried boiled then fried, or dried & fried? Are they skillet fried or deep fried? I think I might take a shot at this dish. Especially if you can give me a hint or two about how to make the gravy.

[Kirk]

Hi Reid - Then you think it'll be cake noodle? If so, I might bring my own scissors! :)

Hi Jo - A typical Chinese Brown sauce is made by stir frying whatever ingredients - quick marinated pork, chicken, etc - usually in wine, soy sauce. Stir fry with garlic, ginger, veggies, etc...than adding soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and soup stock - bring to a boil and adding a well mixed cornstarch/arrowroot mixture to thicken...

[clare eats]

mmmm salt and pepper shrimp!!! LOVE LOVE!! The onion/chilli stuff is def compulsory!!

[Rachel]

mmmm salt and pepper shrimp with a double shot of garlic !!! I'm excited !!!

[elmomonster]

I love that dish you call "cake noodle". 'Course, I only know it by the name I often see it at Viet restaurants: Crispy Chow Mein. Still, it's so satisfying to chomp down on crunchy/crispy fried noodle after it gets soaked a little in that gravy!

[Kirk]

Clare & Rachel - Calm down Women, you're getting much too excited!!! Though it was delici-yoso....

Hi Elmo - OK, i've got to find those Viet restaurants you're talking about - I've had crispy chow mein at one or two that wasn't crispy...BTW, there was someone on the Chowhound LA Board looking for "Cake Noodle"...

[elmomonster]

Kirk - Actually, I had the Crispy Chow Mein dish at Phuong Trang on Convoy. It was pretty good, I thought - just needed a little more flavor (MSG?).

I took a photo of it for this post:

http://elmomonster.blogspot.com/2005/08/phuong-trang-san-diego.html

[Kirk]

Hi elmo - Thanks, though I've eaten there many, many, times I never thought of ordering it!

[Pam]

Sorry but shrimp w/ lobster sauce has always scared me. I always thought it looks like--uh, never mind. The salt & pepper shrimp looked hella good though!

[milgwimper]

The pepper salted shrimp looks so good, but they need more of the "sauce" on the side!

The crispy noodles I have heard them called Hong Kong styled now was it chow mein or stor fried noodles. Oh well it has been ages since I have ordered it.

[milgwimper]

stor = Stir

*sigh*

[elmomonster]

Kirk - Reading my post on Phuong Trang again has jogged my memory. It seemed that I didn't care for the Crispy Chow Mein as much as I had thought. Now I recall that the noodles weren't as crispy as others that I've had in the past.

[Kirk]

Hi Pam - Do you mean Re-gurg-i-tate??? I also have an aversion to the use of frozen pea's and carrots in a dish - but for $4.75, I'm ok with it!

Hi Mills - Who knows? Chow Mein on the West Coast is Lo Mein on the East Coast, is god knows what here! I'm sure that there's an expert somewhere, on Regional American Chinese Cuisine....

Hi Elmo - I'll probably try them anyways! Thanks!

[lance]

Kirk - Cake Noodles???? Not quite. Looks more like crisy chow mein. Or fresh noodles that was deep frier and it instantly puffed up. Too much space between the noodles and the layer is to thin to be cake noodles. Sam See Mein over Cake Noodles or Oyster Sauce Chicken over Cake Noodles with all the gravy. The best. The flavor of the cake noodle mixed with the gravy makes all the right flavor. Maybe cake noodles is a "behind the scene" dish there. What if you ask for a dish over cake noodle? You think that might do it? Or they'd give you a funny look? I always do that here. Haven't gotten a "no" yet.

[Kirk]

Hi Lance - If you ask for cake noodles you get blank stares here and in LA, and if you describe it you'll get fried thick lo-mein, I end up making my own, but sometimes you just don't want the hassle - Golden Chopstick version of this dish is more "cake-like" but the sauce is not as good. If you read one of the last lines - I said not really as well...

[MEalcemtric]

Those fried shrimp look good. Though that much garlic and chilis on anything deep fried cannot be half bad.

Though, as far as the shrimp w/Lobster sauce, I personally dont care for that thick gloopy sauce. Especially, as you keenly noted, when it begins to congeal. Food shoulnt congeal. They should kick back on the corn starch says I!!

[Kirk]

Hi Mealcentric - Couldn't agree with you more on the Shrimp w/Lobster sauce. BTW, you shoulda seen that Little Lady eating her shrimp with a whole bowl of garlic on the side, amazing!

[lance]

Kirk - You got me craving for cake noodles and also, wondering if cake noodles was a "local" thing like saimin noodles. When I ordered my favorite sam see mien cake noodles, the restraurant owner sat down by me and told me (since it isn't on the menu) "you sure know what to order!". So I asked him if cake noodles was a local thing. He said, "no, it's just that majority of the locals love cake noodles that's why you'll find it in a lot of chinese restraurants, except in Waikiki where there's a lot of tourist. I asked if it could find it in China. He said yes. I mentioned that you couldn't find it in the mainland. He said it's because not much people in the mainland like or know about cake noodles. He mentioned that a lot of local people in Hawaii love it because it goes really well with the sauce of the dish. Make sense, the gravy over noodles. He also, said that a lot of cooks in the mainland wouldn't spend the time to cook cake noodles if asked and would say too much trouble to make. Now, I know. Hopefully you'll be able to find a chinese restraurant that's willing to make cake noodles.

[Kirk]

Hi Lance - Thanks for the info, and the Detective Work! I'll keep trying, and I'll do a post on the one at Golden Chopstick - it looks alot like cake noodles - tightly packed and cut into squares! Thanks again.