Located at 9255 Woodbine Avenue in Markham

This restaurant, Noodle Star, is another variation of the many “Congee Queens”, “Congee Wongs”, and “Congee Times” out there.  They’re Chinese-owned and run and serve everything from breakfast sets to lunch sets to dinner sets with anything from chow mein to fried rice to noodle soups and of course congee.

Three of us dined here for a quick lunch recently and I found that the food was mediocre.  Noodle Star is located in the plaza at the intersection of 16th and Woodbine and was fairly quiet when we came here for lunch.  They have a lunch special where the dish comes with a soup, spring rolls, and a drink.  We ordered two of these lunch specials to share.

Surprisingly, I really, really enjoyed the spring rolls!  They were really well made with just enough stuffing inside of it — vegetables — and so delicious.  The only downside is that it was more cold than warm/hot.

Spring rolls with Chicken Corn Soup and Vegetarian Hot & Sour Soup

The daily soup came — we chose to try both the hot and sour soup and the chicken corn soup.  Both were all right.

One of my favorite Chinese dishes is theSingapore Vermicelli.  I love the ones that are just the perfect kind of spicy.  This one was mediocre; not really spicy or memorable but not terrible either.

Singapore Vermicelli. $7.95

The other dish that we ordered was the Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts — such a classic and typical Chinese order.  It was also mediocre.  Both dishes were actually perfectly portioned for one person —  read: not very good for sharing.

Rice Noodles with Beef and Bean Sprouts. $7.95

Typical congee/rice/noodle restaurant design… do they just copy each other or what?

It seems like the congee and noodle place right next door to this one is more popular and when I come to this plaza again, I likely will try out the restaurant next door instead of Noodle Star.