Nom here! @ Hot Wheels Tea House
The young 17 and 18 year old froshes running around this fall marks my seventh year here living in Waterloo. In 2006, I was surprised at the amount of Chinese students, yet disappointed by the amount of bad Chinese food in the area. Also, I distinctly remember as a first year student in the middle of midterms or exams that Waterloo desperately needed a Chinese bun store.
Having grown up in Markham with a very evident Chinese population, Chinese bun bakeries were everywhere. These fluffy buns were soft, tender, and usually filled with exotic fillings like BBQ pork, red bean etc. On top of that, they are pretty cost-effective, especially towards the last closing hours when you can get 6 buns for 3$. For me, they are a comfort food that I didn't realize I missed until I came to Waterloo.
Seven years later, Hot Wheels Tea House opened! I was really excited about the long-awaited Chinese bakery, but also cautious about raising my hopes for good buns after having my expectations with Chinese themed restaurants repeatedly crushed in Waterloo. I will not deny how I feel about the name, it seems off with the theme and type of restaurant. It reminds me of the little toy cars they used to advertise on commercials when I was growing up in the 90's.
When we entered the bakery, the buns were immediately to our left. There was a bunch staple Hong Kong style buns like the pineapple custard bun, BBQ pork bun, egg tarts, etc. Not only do they have buns, they also have many Hong Kong styled noodles and toasts for brunch.
I also ran into an old acquaintance there that knows the owner, Vicky, who seems like a very sweet lady, greeting her regular clientele amicably in Cantonese. The restaurant is open and has a relaxed feeling. There was also something nostalgic about the bakery that reminded me of the Chinatown bakeries in Toronto when we used to visit as kids.
We picked up a pineapple custard bun for 1$ and a Banh mi (Vietnamese-style subway)+beverage+salad combo for another 5$. A very good deal that was also not taxed!
When we entered the bakery, the buns were immediately to our left. There was a bunch staple Hong Kong style buns like the pineapple custard bun, BBQ pork bun, egg tarts, etc. Not only do they have buns, they also have many Hong Kong styled noodles and toasts for brunch.
I also ran into an old acquaintance there that knows the owner, Vicky, who seems like a very sweet lady, greeting her regular clientele amicably in Cantonese. The restaurant is open and has a relaxed feeling. There was also something nostalgic about the bakery that reminded me of the Chinatown bakeries in Toronto when we used to visit as kids.
We picked up a pineapple custard bun for 1$ and a Banh mi (Vietnamese-style subway)+beverage+salad combo for another 5$. A very good deal that was also not taxed!
Food Review: I really like this place! Not only was our meal cost-effective, but very tasty too!
The pineapple custard bun (below) was very good (and I had a lot of pineapple buns in my time)! The custard filling was silky and on top of that, the "cookie" portion on top had a good balance of sweet, flaky, as well as crunchy.
The pineapple custard bun (below) was very good (and I had a lot of pineapple buns in my time)! The custard filling was silky and on top of that, the "cookie" portion on top had a good balance of sweet, flaky, as well as crunchy.
The beverage portion of our combo was at a self-served counter with coffee, Hong Kong style tea, or cold green tea as our options. We made a weird concoction of the coffee and the tea that wasn't very good, but naturally we can't fault the bakery for our failed attempt at being a mad chemist.
For the Banh mi, I had two options: five-spiced marinated meat or Peking duck (below). I chose the latter and it was delicious! The Banh mi came out warm and the Peking duck was extremely flavourful. The combination of hoisin sauce, cucumbers and duck reminds me of the dinners where we had Peking duck carved in front of us at restaurants. The pate, parsley, onions, and mayonnaise (?) really brought the sandwich back to the traditional Banh mi.
I wasn't a very big fan of the salad, which was mixed greens coated in a creamy ceasar dressing and diced mango on top. The combination wasn't my favorite and maybe a fish sauce vinagrette would have been a better pairing to counter the sweetness from the mango.
Conclusion: I would definitely come back here for the buns and the other foods. There is a Hong Kong style noodle soup that I'm looking forward to trying as the days are getting colder. I didn't look at their complete menu, but I hope that they will have a lot of other Hong Kong style cafe food (e.g., "french" toast, steak and pepper sauce, Portuguese chicken on fried rice, "borsch" soup, beef tong and pasta, etc.)
Update: I've been talking to a lot of people about Hot Wheels and have issues describing the location since the tea house doesn't really have a sign up yet. You can find the store where the old Eldon Gallery stood, just south of Beta or north of King's convenience.
