Ottawa Foodies

Had the Spicy Beef Brisket with Thick Noodle Soup for lunch today.

Very hardy, with a kinda gravy with the beef on top. The beef was VERY fatty, but not in a bad way. The fat seem to melt in my mouth. The falvour was quite tastey. If you like lean, or are watching your LDL/HDL, then this soup in not for you.

It could have used a vegtable in it, to round it out and lighten it up a bit.

They are changing their takeout menu (and thus the eat-in menu) next week. We all know what that means.... a price increase..... so I will be back before next week to save some money, and try another soup. Most are $6.50, same as Phở shops.

I got some BBQ pork and BBQ Duck from their take-out window as I was leaving. The BBQ pork is yumm yumm yumm (yes... a Captain Caper three yumm rating). The BBQ duck was OK.

Had the roast pork, dim sum and a tofu and Chinese broccoli dish.

The dim sum was a bit overcooked and a bit rubbery.

The roast pork was very good. Probably the best I've had in Ottawa so far.

The tofu and Chinese broccoli dish was pretty good.

Service was friendly.

I will go back . . .

I took my 3-year-old daughter here on Saturday after going for a ride on the O-train. We were both ravenous after walking from Carling and Preston!

I ordered:
D18. Shrimp Won Ton Soup ($5.25)
G1. Tiger Shrimp and Green Veg Fried Noodle ($9.25)
J18. Fried Bread Stick ($1.50)

We absolutely pigged out and left some noodles behind. The won ton soup is great -- tender wontons and a great broth (in that won ton sort of way).

The Tiger Shrimp were plump and plentiful. Noodles were saucy and tasty. Shanghai bok choy were the main veg in both the noodle dish and the soup, but I could have asked if I were concerned about variety.

The fried bread sticks are a decadent treat, normally to be had with congee. I opted to order them because I knew they'd keep my daughter happy even if the other food didn't. Besides, they're quite affordable. My daughter had 2 and I had 4. Oink oink! :-)

We sat near the Buddhist shrine and my daughter asked me who the big man was. I told her it was Buddha, but didn't expect the next question, "Does he have a baby in his tummy?" ;-)

I helped a friend move this weekend and we decided to try take out from here because So Good was under renovation. The meat eaters were happy with their meals and the vegetarians were very disappointed. The meat eaters had spring rolls, General Tao’s chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Beef with Snow Peas. Everyone seemed to enjoy the beef and the chicken dishes. The vegetarian dishes that we ordered were covered with chicken or fish sauce so the meat eaters enjoyed those as well. As I eat fish I tried their Fish and Tofu casserole which I found pretty disgusting. The fish was slimy and the tofu reminded me of eating sponges. They had no vegetarian spring rolls on the menu and limited options for those that do not eat meat.

The service was good but the chefs forgot one of our dishes and we had to make a return trip to get it. The chefs offered us a free order of spring rolls for their mistake.

Probably a great place to go if you like meat; however I will not be eating here anytime soon!

After reading all the wonderful reviews of this restaurant , my husband and I decided to try it out last weekend (I was too afraid to try it before because of the appearance of the restaurant). I have to agree that the food here is pretty good and they are quite big portion (there were more than enough for dinner the next night!). We ordered the crispy roast pork (crispy and succulent), fried rice with seafood and garlic (perfect texture!) and stir fried chinese vegetables (still crunchy but not raw - love it!). The server was quite friendly. It is cheap and delicious, will go back there again.

I have a new favourite! This little hole in the wall is the closest thing I've found to what they take for granted in Toronto: good food from an extensive menu at very reasonable prices. Sure, the atmosphere is more like a pho joint than the Yangtze but the prices are more like a pho joint too! :-)

I might have gone years before discovering Jo Moon Ting so thanks very much to you all -- especially Ashley with her tantalizing photos!

Service was the friendliest I've had in a long time. As he delivered our bill the waiter even took the time to say that it was a pleasure to have us there. I thought briefly, "Did he recognize me from ottawafoodies?" but he seemed 100% genuine.

Like all the Toronto congee places the menu offers much more than congee. I even saw General Tao's chicken, but that will have to wait for another visit. Based mostly on recommendations here this was our order:

A1. Roast Crispy Pork ($8.50)
D1. Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup ($4.95)
G10. Fried Rice Noodle with Beef in Soya Sauce ($7.25)
J10. Steamed Shrimp Dumplings ($3.25)
O1. Braised Chinese Mushroom with Chinese Green ($8.50)

J10 was Har Gow and the Chinese Green in O1 was shanghai bok choy.

This proved to be more than enough food for my wife and I with our two 3 year olds. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's lunch at work already!

This restaurant has a take out counter next to the front door where you can get the BBQ items to go, much like Double Happiness (vendor 1169).

The floor in this restaurant is noticeably inclined, meaning you should choose the high side of the table in case someone spills the soup! ;-)

Jo Moon Ting.... 2007 07 03...

I am just a sucker for punishment, aren't I? Went there again tonight for their after hours half portions at half price, specials... Kung Pow Chicken $3.99... pretty bad... XO sauce fried Pork $5.99... so so... prices were reasonable but the chef for this part of the menu has definitely left the house... (heard one of the two main chefs had gone back to Toronto).

The place is too small anyways to support that kind of a format... I hate crowded restaurants... Cafe Orient was three quarters empty! and this place was the other end of the spectrum... because they have half the number of seats!

And I had their roast pork and must say, and others agree, that it is the best in Ottawa. It is not suckling pig, but they use a younger pig with the suckling pig marinade before cooking and that makes a huge difference…. Much better than Double Happiness, which is a rip off place from my perspective…. Their suckling pig is not as good as Jo’s regular roast pig….

Most of the cognoscenti agree that the wonton noodles are better at Orient and many of the customers that migrated to try the new place in town have returned to the fold….

Also the BBQ chef is still here from Tor., but the other chef has returned to Toronto… presumably leaving the recipes for the XO fried noodle dishes to sous in Ottawa. So if anyone is venturing to try their regular dishes other than fast food …. it might be too late…… shame…

I certainly hope they make a go of it… it good to have an alternative to Café Orient for Chinese greasy spoon fast food…..

I just tried this place last nite at 11pm with my wife. I found this place actually from this forum from you guys. The place was actually full even at 11pm (surprising scene in Ottawa). We ordered a BBQ pork lai-fun (type of rice noodles) and XO-sauce fried beef flat rice noodles. Both were pretty good! We're from Toronto, and we can both confidently say that it's up to par with Toronto standards. The price was alittle high, about 75cents to dollar more than Toronto prices, but oh well. AT LEAST there's one of these type of restaurant here in Ottawa. And yes this place is open until 3AM (except for monday which they're closed). I'm guessing the chef/owner camps out in the restaurant almost everyday til 3am...poor guy. We'll go back probably this weekend and try their congee. Life here in Ottawa is getting alittle more brigher after discovering Cafe Orient and this little restaurant!

Visited Jo Moon Ting on Saturday, around 1:30 PM. Surprised to find it full and bustling, so we had to wait less than 10 minutes. The waiter seemed polite and promised to call us inside when a table opened up for us (it was too hot to wait in the doorway).

I ordered the Pork and Gold Preserved Egg Congee ($4.25). Having just had my wisdom teeth removed 1 week earlier, it was just what I needed. It was much better than my homemade congee (which I've only attempted twice since moving away from home). My friend ordered the Chicken congee which she said was good. I also ordered a fried plain donut for, and she ordered the fried sweet one (very good!). Both were fresh, the plain one maybe a little too greasy but it had obviously come right out of the fryer. We both only ate congee so each bowl was too much for one person (one woman, anyway), so we took some home.

There was also a sign that starting that day they'd be open everyday until 3 AM (!). Also have a window to order BBQ pork and chicken, etc.

Overall, the experience was good enough to convince me to stop making my own homemade congee and just order some takeout next time I'm craving it.

The Roast Pork is one of the meats Jo Moon Ting has hanging in their window. I was quite thrilled with this dish, in part because of its simplicity. The pork was served at room temperature and cut into bite-sized cubes with the crispy fatty skin arranged on top. The flavour of the lean meat was very mild, with a pleasant (if you like it) porky flavour. The crispy skin was slightly salty and had a greasy tongue-feel. Sounds boring and kind of gross, huh? Well, the magic happens when you eat them together! Pop a cube of lean pork in your mouth and then quickly take a bit of crispy skin. As a well known pork lover often says... BAM! ;-)

This is quite a different dish from Char Siu (BBQ Pork). The only sweetness comes from the optional Hoisin sauce that accompanies it. The flavours are more subtle and natural, which is a good thing but not necessarily a better thing.

This is the Fried Noodle with Beef in Soya Sauce (#G10 in the menu, $7.25). Very good! Better than Rideau and Fortune Express in Kanata.

I normally order this dish to evaluate how good a chef is. A job well done! I recommend that you try this dish.

Deep fried Bread Stick (#J18, $1.50) must be ordered to go with congee. Very crispy!

This is the Pork & Gold Preserved Egg Congee ($4.25) that my husband ordered. I found that they put too much preserved eggs in the congee. Taste was alright.

D1 is the Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup and D18 is the Shrimp Wonton Soup. D18 costs $0.30 more than D1 -- no doubt for labour costs as the kitchen staff has to pick the noodles out. ;-)

Actually, it makes sense because the noodleless version has more broth and more vegetables, both of which should cost more than noodles. The wontons themselves seemed bigger than what we got with the D1 but that isn't necessarily a relevant observation since the soups were purchased on different visits. Anyways, it's a good bowl of soup!

We (and our kids) enjoyed this. I keep thinking how much I'd love to have a place like Jo Moon Ting near my workplace! I'd have this for lunch at least once a week...

I remember when Yangtze used to have nice pink and shrimpy wonton dumplings in their soup. After they went all pork (and I discovered fish maw soup) we stopped ordering it. Anyways, these dumplings were the shrimpiest I've ever seen -- with big chunks of chopped shrimp. The actual flavour was very mild (almost bland?) but tasting the shrimp isn't a bad thing! As you can see in Ashley's photo, the wrappers are more delicate and thin than most places.

This is the Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup, #D1 on the menu ($4.95). There should be 5 wontons in total. I took the picture after I ate 3 and half of the bowl. This wonton noodle soup was way better than Cafe Orient.