Review - Le Chinois, Hamilton

Yes, it was that time again, for our monthly night out for dinner. Bob is really getting into this, since we have been doing our dinners for about 4 years now. This time, we thought we would check out a great Chinese restaurant downtown Hamilton, called Le Chinois. It's an unassuming place on King St., and Bob had never even heard of it. I knew it was there, as it has been a place we frequented over the years for work functions. It was a favourite place of ours to entertain our Japanese guests from work. Bob was game to give it a try, since it was his choice this month.

When we got there, we were surprised that the place was empty. I know it was a Tuesday night, but after we thought about it, the degradation of the downtown core is to blame for the lack of people going out and enjoying a great meal.

We did the usual. We asked the owner to choose our menu for the evening, with no restrictions on what we wanted or could have. We like this format, as it gives the restaurant a chance to showcase their talents, and the "best of" for future consideration.

We started off with a Tsingtao beer, in keeping with tradition to have the beverage of choice for the ethnicity of the meal we are having. Bob wanted to try the Wor Won Ton soup, so we started with that. The soup was excellent! Nice size wontons, stuffed with shrimp in a nice broth, with the fresh veggies. A nice start, with homemade noodles to go with it.

After the soup, we had cheese rangoon, which were a deep fried wonton-like cream cheese. It was excellent, with a side of plum sauce. In addition, we had nice spring rolls, which weren't the usual soggy ones you can get. All fresh, and a nice appetizer.

For the main course, there were 6 dishes they brought out: Le Chinois Special Fried Rice, Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Beef, Deep Fried Shrimp and Cucumber, Tofu and Pea Pods, and Dry Ribs. Each and all the dishes were cooked to perfection. We weren't too crazy about the Tofu, but we aren't the veggie types...we tried it, and we did tell the restaurant to serve us what they wanted. The Orange Beef is their specialty, and it was fabulous!!

There was lots of food for us, and we stuffed ourselves, as we usually do. There was enough leftovers for both of us to take home.

After rounding out the meal with a coffee and a fortune cookie, we were pleasantly surprised with the bill....$125, with taxes and tip...can't beat that for 4 meals!

If you are looking for authentic chinese food, then Le Chinois is the place...it definitely beats the chinese food we are accustomed to ordering as take out. This place is top notch.

Next month, the plan is to head to the Danforth in Toronto for a Greek feast...to make up for our disappointment at Sotiris. Stay tuned!