Alma may impress a “Western” palette, but they can further lean into the Chinese elements to improve dishes. I really really want to LOVE Alma. Any place with a female owner-chef, in this case Anna Chen, is a bonus and the Asian, Italian, and French recipes sound like three delicious cuisines in one. Yet, some of the larger plates need work.

The squid fried rice ($31) needs rebranding – it’s not fried rice, rather an Asian paella. When I think of fried rice, I imagine a dish that emits wok hay (a fragrant, reach into your gut aroma) with individual grains tossed with vegetable and proteins. Alma’s rice was too saucy, the romesco clumping the rice and drowning out the squid. And don’t even get me started on the cashews… an annoying garnish that must be picked out. Drier and nut free, this may resemble fried rice.

I was expecting mouth numbing spice with the Szechuan spiced lamb belly roast ($44) but not prepared for the grainy rub that covered the tongue and meat flavours. What a shame, as the lamb was cooked beautifully and after scraping off the rub it was delicious, especially with a dollop of the salty Chinese olive paste.

With the chopped Chinese olive, the dish reminds me of braised pork belly with preserved vegetables (muy choy coaw yok). I would have preferred the lamb belly to have flavour profiles closer to this traditional dish, enhanced with a bit of Szechuan heat and a roasted crust.

While the black pepper soy sauce in the pork wonton and noodles ($29) was too heavy handed, the noodles were incredible, having a lovely chew that would impress a pastaia. Sadly, this expertise didn’t shift into the wonton’s wrappers, which were too thick. At least the wontons were nice and plump, filled with a generous amount of pork filling (this could benefit from finely chopped vegetables to add moisture). Using scallions in the filling and reducing the amount of garnish would better balance the dish.

Chef Chen’s take on Peking duck ($58), a special for the evening, needs a permanent place on the menu. While the skin wasn’t as crispy as Peking duck, it did have that lovely salty roasted taste and the meat cooked to a medium rare. The well crusted roasted turnips and the creamy foie gras sauce were great complements and left us wanting more.

In fairness, Alma nailed the small plates. The parmesan tapioca fritters ($10 for 2; $5 for additional piece) were crispy, creamy, and captured a depth of flavours that beat out most arancini I’ve had. The tapioca also added a glutinous chewiness that would make a mochi lover swoon.

One look at the beautiful caramel crust on the bao ($17 for 2; $6 for additional piece) and I could why the dish is so popular. Break the bao open and the dough is fluffy and moist… the consistency so perfect that I didn’t even mind that the bun had no filling. Just give more of the stracciatella cheese and eggplant fenugreek dip as the tablespoon portions were too scant to share amongst three buns. I could have used all the eggplant spread on my bun alone it was so good.

Diners may find the chili bean beef tartare ($26) salty, but anyone that’s had chili bean sauce should know it’s sodium laden. Our table loved the finely chopped beef mixture on the thin rice cracker, just handle it delicately to avoid it crumbling.

Eating at Alma is like a rollercoaster… a series of highs and lows. We finished downhill with the coconut flan ($12), the syrup incorporated a strong flavour that just didn’t work - it’s hard to decipher but reminds me of the herbal pei pa kao mixed with white rabbit candy. It overpowered the flan’s egg custard flavour, and the wild blueberries didn’t hold up either.

To continue with the amusement park analogy: dining at Alma was good – the food mostly delicious and the service warm and friendly – it just wasn’t great, so I won’t be signing up for a season’s pass anytime soon.

In a nutshell... 

• Must order: parmesan tapioca fritters and the duck special
• Just skip: squid fried rice and the coconut flan

There are a lot of great restaurants in North York/Midtown. Even so, sometimes I miss the options from downtown. With the dazzling array of choices and most offering delivery, eating diversely is not a problem for those south of Bloor.

Given the density of the downtown core, it’s no surprise that the delivery radius cuts off homes north of Yorkville. Sometimes, the area may expand to Eglinton, but the outer Toronto regions are deserted. Hence, Hong Shing’s pop-up deliveries to the outskirts of Toronto and beyond (Mississauga, Brampton) are such a blessing. The cities vary by day (check their website or Instagram), but place you order by 4pm and you’ll receive free delivery and they even honour the 20% online discount. 

What really captured my attention was the promise of fresh lobsters for the weekend. Between that and Chinese barbeque – two things I don’t make at home – I had a two-month long craving that yearned to be satisfied. So, dinner plans were changed and that evening we were having Chinese!

The pièce de résistance was of course the lobster e-fu noodles ($35). How they managed to jam so much food into a single container is staggering – even after eating two portions each there was still plenty of leftovers.

Despite travelling all the way from downtown to North York, the lobster remained surprisingly hot and not overcooked. Perhaps the flour coating the crustacean was a bit gluier than normal (note to chef: maybe only dust lightly?) but was still very satisfying. Even the e-fu noodles held-up nicely and didn’t become soggy, likely the better delivery option compared to chow mein.

Families regularly get Chinese barbeque to go, so it wasn’t a surprise that the roast pork ($15) and duck ($15 for half) delivered well. Without the diluted hoisin sauce, the pork just wasn’t the same, but the skin still crispy despite it being a rather lean cut. Meanwhile, the duck could have done without the liberal ladle of sauce into the container - that extra moisture rendered the skin soggy and made it so salty that adding any plum sauce would be overpowering.

The Chinese barbeque did work well as leftovers for the following days. Using the popular “KFC rice cooker” recipe as inspiration, the roast pork went into the rice cooker with 2-cups of rice, a teaspoon of bouillon, and a tablespoon of soy sauce to be transformed into a fragrant sticky rice and tenderized the lean meat. And after re-heating the duck in the toaster oven, it was combined with chewy noodles and broth for a tasty dinner.

Dishes that didn’t fair well for the drive were the honey spicy crispy beef ($14) and the deep-fried spicy squid ($14). Once they lost their heat it became dry and powdery and even re-eating them in the toaster oven only marginally improved the dishes. At least the spicy honey sauce on the beef was well flavoured; the spicy squid, on the other hand, needed a lot more seasoning.

It’s surprising that the squid wasn’t spicier considering Hong Shing’s hot and sour soup ($7 for a medium; equivalent of two bowls) was a flavour bomb! Whether it’s the sting of the vinegar or the kick of chili flakes, this was a great rendition of the soup incorporating plenty of tofu, vegetable slivers, and bamboo shoots.

Stir fried snow pea leaves ($14) is another quarantine craving of mine. The leafy vegetable is impossible to source through supermarket delivery and curb-side pickup, so I was elated when a packed container arrived. The neutral vegetable was an ideal pairing with the other heavier dishes.

Hong Shing’s online ordering system allows customers to choose whether they need cutlery, an option I hope all restaurants implement. Yet, whoever is packing the order doesn’t seem to care as our arrived with plastic cutlery and extra sauces anyways. For someone who is trying to reduce waste when dining under the “new normal” conditions, I really really would have preferred not to receive something that could be saved from the landfill.

We all need to do our part during this epidemic. Customers should support small businesses to ensure they continue and survive. Restaurants, please also consider your footprint on the environment and reduce unnecessary waste and packaging whenever possible.