Dining Out

Karl Wells

Magic Wok

402 - 408 Water St.

Ph. 753-6907

As a tower of bright orange flames seemed to rise higher and higher, the roomful of gobsmacked diners sat and watched in total amazement. A server had poured something alcoholic on a platter of shrimp and set the booze alight. I witnessed this scene at Magic Wok recently.

Two guests and yours truly had made our way to Magic Wok for Sunday dinner. The first thing we noticed was how cool it was inside the place - despite all the flaming going on. I mentioned this to one of our servers early on. She said she’d look after it but it never did warm that much. The cold metal chairs contributed to the chill. I noticed a lot of folk with their jackets draped over the backs of their chairs. Perhaps, like me, they were trying to prevent a cold shock to the back.

The first appetizers to arrive at our table were dim sum treats, fried and steamed. They were all delicious but I’m partial to the steamed ones myself. Mind you I’ve seen better-looking steamed dumplings at Magic Wok. These ones appeared to have been put together in a hurry. Parts of the wrapping were missing on a few of them. My steamed favourites were pork sui mai - a large juicy ball of minced pork - and the shrimp dumpling, which had loads of flavour. Among the fried dim sum, I favoured the curry beef triangle that was dark inside and quite rich. The har gaw, another shrimp filled treat was tasty as well.

Magic Wok discontinued their weekend lunchtime dim sum several years ago. It seemed like I'd no sooner discovered their dim sum days before I was told they were gone, caput, terminated. Magic Wok was the only Chinese restaurant in town to ever offer a complete luncheon of these wonderful appetizers. Many were dumplings, both sweet and savoury. Some hold out hope that chef and owner Rene So will one day bring back dim sum days. The Wok’s servers think they might return. I hope they’re right.

Magic Wok was full that night. I saw many tables with families who gave the impression they might be Wok regulars. It was a large room of round and square tables, with neatly arranged place settings. The room had attractive features like hardwood flooring, palladium style windows and a propane fireplace. There was some atmosphere but I sensed I was in a room really meant for wedding receptions.

The servers did their best to create some excitement while we were there. If they weren’t flaming something, they were moving through the room with sizzling platters, spilling copious amounts of steam and smoke. One server rushed from the kitchen with a platter and suddenly stopped in her tracks when her head became enveloped in a cloud of smoke. She couldn’t see. When the air began to clear she got her bearings and carried on.

Having seen a demonstration soon after our arrival I decided to order a flambé for our table. We chose flambé shrimp. It was exciting, perhaps because of the element of danger. It’s questionable whether the flames actually helped the dish but it was a heck of a show. The shrimp were large, plump and juicy and I also enjoyed the sweet and sour sauce. More salt would have helped the dish tremendously. A word to the wise, if it’s inconspicuous dining you want don’t even think about ordering such an item because everybody in the room will be looking at your table.

The armoy style rice vermicelli was a standard dish of pasta, baby shrimp, pork and green pepper. It was a good accompaniment to the array of other dishes arriving at our table. For example, the stir-fried chicken with honey melon was fruity sweet. It was an interesting combination of honeydew and chicken. I also liked the presentation, a scooped out half melon filled with stir-fried melon and chicken. However, I did think Magic Wok could have been a little more generous with the chicken. It was heavy on melon but light on chicken.

An amazingly good sizzling seafood platter satisfied everybody. It was blocked with scallops, shrimp, cod, bok choy and baby corns, a truly delicious combination. Contrasting that was a dark, crunchy, intensely flavoured platter of fried pork loin “Peking style.” It was equally delicious. I loved the crunchy texture of it and having been cooked on the bone it had loads of flavour.

For dessert we tried Magic Wok’s only authentic Chinese “after” called coconut pudding. It was a ball of coconut and pastry cream dipped in batter and deep-fried. Four balls came to our table dusted with confectioner’s sugar. They were soft, chewy and mildly flavoured. The server described them as being somewhat like Tim-bits. I wouldn’t disagree.

With tea came our fortune cookies and, for me, a measure of disappointment. When did fortune cookies stop being “fortune” cookies? Have you noticed that more times than not, they don’t tell your fortune anymore? For example, at Magic Wok I broke open my “fortune” cookie to find the following statement on the piece of paper that fell out: “Promote literacy. Buy a box of fortune cookies today.” That’s lame. When I’m out for a bit of fun and Chinese food I’d like my fortune cookie to tell me I’m going to inherit lots of money or that I’m destined for greatness or something equally fun and foolish.

Despite the fortuneless fortune cookie and a few other minor concerns, I thought the meal at Magic Wok was exceptionally good, perhaps the best Chinese food in town.

Our meal for three - with five glasses of wine and gratuity - cost $135.56.

Magic Wok was wheelchair accessible and the noise level moderate.

Best Points:

Excellent food.

Areas for improvement:

Pay attention to air temperature and create some intimate spaces.

Ratings Category:

Magic Wok gets 8 points out of 10.

7 points = satisfactory, 7.5 points = good, 8 points = very good, 9 points = excellent, 10 points = perfection