While Joe Chow's has been in New Glasgow for as long as I can remember, it was only in my 40th year…read moreon this earth that I darkened their doorway. What can I say, we were a Ming's and Dragon Bowl family! The restaurant is just about everything you'd expect an old school, Chinese-Canadian restaurant to be. Vaguely oriental script on their sign? Check. Wood paneling? Check. Heavily boomer clientele? Check. That's not to slag any of those things (well, maybe the latter...). Restaurants like this, and ones that my own grandparents ran, were trailblazers in bringing new foods and flavours to palettes across Canada, from the biggest city to the smallest towns. I've had my fair share of takeout out from Joe's, but I wanted to get their food fresh from the kitchen. Chinese may do better as takeout than some other foods (I'm looking at you French fries), but everything is better when it hasn't been steaming itself in a plastic container. We got a hefty order considering it was just my wife and I, but such is the way of things! The meal started off with their pan fried dumplings, which seemed more like pan fried wontons, but they worked - crispy edges and something resembling chili crisp for dipping added sweetness and spice. For a Chinese place, their menu is oddly bereft of pork other than the de rigueur spare ribs and BBQ pork noodles and rice, so we went with the latter for our rice dish. It was a solid iteration of fried rice, with little else than the desired protein in it, but it hit the right notes. Fried rice is like pizza in that it's hard to have a bad version of it, but it's equally rare to have a really memorable one. Our favourite dish of the evening was definitely the hot and thick noodles (oh, grow up). For the namesake hotness, you can chose the degree of spice and we went with the middle of the road 3 out of 5. The broad noodles had a little hit of wok hei to them, which along with the moderate spice made for a nice flavour profile. Chicken, eggs, bean sprouts and julienned carrot fleshed out the dish, and the chicken was quite tender and distinctly *not* overcooked and dry. To bring *some* vegetables to the meal, our final dish was the almond guy ding. The mix of baby corn, carrot, onion, water chestnut, broccoli, chicken and almonds may not have tipped the scales on this being a "healthy" meal, but it was a deftly cooked and kept out plates from being completely brown. Joe Chow's is a relic in all the best ways - a testament to hard-working people that made a life for themselves and shaped the communities they set up in, and who still take pride in putting good food on people's plates.

Very efficient staff, small location, service oriented. Great food choices, well run business even…read moreunder busy circumstances.

Chinese food in Canada these days is probably most well-known as takeout food. Easy, convenient and…read moretasty. But it, like most food, is better at the source, with the temperatures and textures not suffering from the time waiting for pick-up and the drive to your front door. This is what brought my wife and I to eat at V&E Chopsticks. Located on Westville Road, it's in what I'm sure myself and everyone else in the county who have been here more than a couple years will call 'the old Dragon Bowl' for decades to come. We focused on the Chinese portion of the menu, which dominates the options, saving their Thai food for another time. Our order was way more than needed for two people, but we wanted to try as much as we could, and I even came prepared with my own containers for the inevitable leftovers. I've always been a fan of the thick noodles in Shanghai noodles, so that was a easy choice when I spotted it. Ginger beef seemed like an appropriate choice while we were dining in, as the light coating on the beef would have a chance to shine. Lemon chicken was in the same vein as the ginger beef, but with a full, proper batter that normally suffers greatly as takeout. For the last of our mains, we went with the spicy coconut vegetables, to add a semblance of balance to our meal. The Shanghai noodles didn't disappoint, with its thick, pleasantly chewy noodles, plentiful cha siu (BBQ pork) and a surprise hit of spicy heat (but not too much, don't you worry your small-town palate). An assortment of tender-crisp veg rounded out the dish nicely. I appreciated the crispness of the battered chicken in the lemon chicken, but the sauce in these types of North American-ized Chinese food are too sweet for my tastes. Amp up the lemon and acidity for balance, and then you'd have a winner. The ginger beef's light crispness lasted for a bit before succumbing to the lightly sweet, and soy-based sauce. It of course had a prominent note of ginger, but none of the burn that often comes with it. The spicy coconut vegetables were a bright mix of veg and tofu in easily-chopsticked chunks, and a thin coconut sauce. Don't let the 'spicy' label scare you off, you're in no danger of breathing fire in a Loony Tunes-esque manner. Honestly, I would have preferred more heat and a more prominent coconut flavour, but it was still a satisfying dish, nonetheless. A bowl of steamed rice lasted the two of us for the meal. V&E Chopsticks is putting out some solid Chinese food, and deserves a nod for bringing Thai food to New Glasgow as well.

And we just enjoyed a delicious meal, which we picked up from V & E'c chopsticks restaurant on…read moreFather's Day. Everything was very tasty... We had fried rice, lemon, chicken, Almond, chicken,, Mongolian beef, possibly the best sweet-and-sour chicken balls in Pictou County. Chicken balls are solid chicken with just the right amount of batter on them. We have probably ordered 20 or 25 times from V&E's restaurant and will continue to do so. Keep up the fine work portions are a i'm very... generous size.

It's funny how being away from the town you grew up in can affect your perception of places. For…read moreexample, to me, China Boat is the "new" Chinese place in town, but it's been open for over seven years and isn't even the most recent Chinese restaurant to set up shop in town! While we've had takeout from here once before, I wanted to dine-in to try their food at its best. Yes, Chinese food fares better as delivery than some types of cuisines, but not all dishes do, and dining in will let you try a dish at the temperature and texture that it's supposed to be ingested at. We ordered a few different dishes to get a food feel for China Boat's kitchen - egg rolls, chicken fried rice, vegetable chop suey, Shanghai noodles and BBQ pork (char siu) with broccoli. They weren't crazy busy on a Sunday evening, with just a couple other tables occupied and a smattering of takeout orders coming in, so our food came out fairly quickly. We knew what we were getting into with the classic Canadian-ized Chinese food - the egg rolls, chop suey and chicken fried rice - and they performed admirably, and having them fresh and in-house meant that everything was good and crisp when it was supposed to be. The standout dishes were definitely the Shanghai noodles and BBQ pork with broccoli. The Shanghai noodles had a nice bit of wok hei to them. Loosely translating as 'breath of the wok', this is the smoky flavour that foods develop when cooked and tossed in a wok, with the high temperatures creating some char and caramelization. I also always love the pleasant chew of the thick noodles in this dish, which makes it one of my 'go-to' choices. Back when I lived in Ottawa, I'd buy chunks of char siu, aka Chinese BBQ pork, from a grocery store in Chinatown to freeze and keep on hand for an easy upgrade to ramen noodles. Alas, I don't have that option in New Glasgow, so it was good to be reunited with these tasty, lightly sweet, slices of pork. Paired up with tender-crisp florets of broccoli and onion, it's a well-rounded dish. Having planned on getting way too much food, I brought some of our pandemic era horde of takeout containers to do the environment a solid and save China Boat a few cents at the same time. We had another (massive) dinner with the leftovers. The novelty of Canadian Chinese food may have disappeared decades ago as it became a regular part of the culinary landscape across the country, but there's still something to be said for restaurants like China Boat that are putting out good food at affordable prices.

A whole new dining experience since the new ownership. We…read moreeat there on a regular basis now.

Food was tasty. Satisfied the craving. My order was…read moredelivery. It came fresh and on time.

If your looking for a retro Asian food experience in Antigonish, this is the place for you. It…read morelooks like it was decorated in the early seventies, because it was! But the menu is more modern and won't have those 70's favourites like the pu pu platter or bo bo balls. But you can have hot and sour soup, chop suey and sushi in one sitting. The food is pretty good. My wonton soup and spring rolls were great and the egg fried rice was also good. Service is friendly but a bit challenged as they run a very small staff. This helps keep prices reasonable, along with savings on decor. I gave it a three because I didn't think the food was quite good enough to overcome the decor and low budget feel. However, it's possible that a few more trips could sway me in time as I think there is potential here.

This place has a mix of 'traditional' Chinese cuisine, Canadian Chinese and Sushi…read more The restaurant itself looks a little tired and dark near the back, but overall it seems clean. The same cannot be said about the bathrooms though. The food itself isn't bad. Certainly acceptable but it doesn't blow you away. The portions are big and the prices are reasonable. I got the 'traditional' sichuan spicy pork and asked for it to be made extra spicy. It still wasn't to my spice level but I could tell they at least tried by adding extra chili flakes on top. She got the Udon noodles with tofu and thought it was decent. Both came with generous amounts of pork and tofu. But my dish was a little too salty. And I'm someone that loves salty food. If you're looking for cheap Asian eats that's good value for the buck, this place should do just fine. Don't expect to be blown away though.

Great little food truck. Especially like the dumplings…read more They sometimes sell out early..

From the owner: Asian fusion, Thai and Chinese dishes. We're turning fast food into the delicious meal. Find our…read moretruck in Antigonish Chisholm Park, Downtown Antigonish.

In Charlottetown for a night and we were looking for some good options for a vegetarian and a vegan…read moreand much to our surprise we found this little gem. I was not expecting a vegetarian or a vegan friendly place in Maritimes and definitely not in PEI. Were seated quickly and the place wasn't busy, but tables were filled in which was as a good indicator. Disappointed that green tea is not offered complimentary. Ordered a steamed dumplings to start with and Udon Noodles with mixed veggies, Mushrooms with Bok Choy, Spicy Soy Nuggets with mixed veggies. The dumpling were freshly made and good. The filling needed some more seasonings and were bit smaller than the ones we have added. The Chilli Sauce requested did the trick. The Steamed Rice provided with the two dishes was also smaller than anticipated and glad that we ordered the Noodles dish. After traveling for days and not having proper food, this food was a welcome relief. The udon noodles was perfect in every way except I think one of the mushroom or wood ears had a stronger flavour which over powered the entire dish. It was almost bitter. Not overly, but it still took away all the rest of the flavours. Mushrooms with Bok Choy was perfect. The flavours and crispness of Bok Choy was 5/5*. The Soy Nuggets with mixed veggies was amazing as well. The Soy nuggets small and veggie still crisp. Could have used a bit more spice though All in all a good spot. What was most amazing to me was that in the land of sea food that there was this place. Also as we were in PEI, it would have been nice if at least one dish was made with PEI potatoes and some Soy Sea Food dishes that are available

We are carnivores so were dubious before we tried this restaurant tonight. We are absolutely in…read morelove with their food now!! We can eat here every meal and every day, and do not miss meat! Every dish we ordered was delicious, elegantly prepared, so tasty! Wish they would open a place where we live!! Their service was very good as well - friendly and helpful! Can't say enough good things about them!