Review: Hing Lung

• Name + address: Hing Lung,199 St. Andrew St

• Diet: Meat, seafood, vegetarian

• Appetizers: $2-$16

• Mains: $11-$18

• Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

• Licensed: No

• Website: www.hinglungchinesefood.ca

Hing Lung is one of those places you drive by so often that you think, “I’m going to check that out sometime.” Clearly, that day finally came.

This takeaway spot has been serving Lowertown for 35 years and has been passed down from one generation to the next. What surprised me was that after all this time, they don’t appear to be letting their guard down when it comes to quality standards.

As I make a hot and sour soup that is better than anything I’ve been offered in Ottawa, I rarely order it but I wanted to see how Hing Lung made theirs.

It was unusually pale and minimalist in appearance. It contained some of the classics such as tofu, egg, cloud ear fungus and bamboo shoots but was missing the scallions that usually dress the surface.

It was decently seasoned with white pepper but lacked the sour element so it was less than lip-smacking. Both Chinese black vinegar and soy sauce are key components of this soup and without them, it’s only an approximation.

I next tried the wonton soup in order to compare it to the one from Jumbo. The broth was milder and less salty, giving it more appeal, and while the napa cabbage and pork were both very nice, the wonton wrapper was stodgy and pasty. 

What may be a small point of distinction for Hing Lung is the fact that they don’t offer open-end egg rolls. Shocker right?

Yet the classic pinched end type they do have, is quite simply the best-tasting version I’ve had in Ottawa. They were juicy and robustly meaty with a perfect degree of seasoning. I’ll be ordering them by the dozen next.

Next were the mains, and I opted for beef stir-fried with wide, flat rice noodles and an order of shredded pork in garlic sauce.

Rice noodles of this type easily clump together during transit and I needed to add a little water and a lid to the pan to get them to loosen. 

The dish had an abundance of tender beef and perfectly cooked vegetables in that savoury sauce and the noodles still had a pleasant, chewy bounce.

The finely slivered pork was also supremely tender, but the portion was just not enough. It was a good-tasting dish and was meant to be spicy, but it lacked heat. I just wish there’d have been more of it.

For my own purposes, I feel fortunate that I’ve discovered this place where I can count on fresh, properly prepared Chinese-Canadian fare at decent prices.