- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
Backyard Garden Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Chinese Chinese [Edit]
3636 Steeles Avenue EMarkham, ON L3R 1K9
Neighbourhood: Scarborough
(905) 415-8988
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
8 reviews for Backyard Garden Restaurant
8 reviews in English
-
Review from En L.
2/6/2012 1 Check-in Here
Like chinese food? Love spicy food? Must try Backyard Garden. The food is simply tasty. Lot of flavour. They use alot of peppercorns in their dishes. I Love their eggplants and pineapple fish.
The restaurant is simple and unassuming. Waiters don't speak english very well but enough to get by.
It's worth the drive to Markham from Downtown. -
Review from Tee Jay R.
Toronto, ON
12/25/2011
As someone whose experience of Szechuanese food over the years was confined to the generic Chinese restaurants on Spadina between College and Dundas, I held the cuisine in fairly low esteem, associating it with sticky sauces, fried salty meat, and a tepid spice profile.
So Backyard Garden was a total revelation! The heavy use of the Szechuanese peppercorn alone added a totally distinctive depth and dimension of flavour (the smoky, almost clove-like numbing effect that can't quite be described) and the food was legitimately, profoundly hot. Every dish is strewn with dried chillies, which while not individually searingly hot created a sustained simmering heat that really elevated even the most familiar dishes.
I was there for Christmas Eve dinner with my family, who vetoed some of my more unconventional choices (I really wanted to try the steamed fish) in favour of the old stanbys like kung pao chicken and sizzling beef, but even these felt like a new experience. I'm 100% certain I'll go back to explore some other corners of their menu.
I don't speak or read Chinese, but I didn't find it hard to understand and navigate the menu or to order, so this shouldn't put anyone off this exceptional culinary experience.
SIDEBAR/RANT: It's really unfortunate that downtown food has stagnated (with a few decent exceptions like King's Noodle House and Dumpling House) and that all the best Chinese restaurants are now in the outer orbits of Markham and Richmond Hill. There has got to be a robust market for good Szechuanese food right here in the city -- I suspect it's the sky-high rents that make it cost-prohibitive for profitable restaurants at the moment, another unfortunate consequence of the surfeit of gentrification that seems to be driving low- and middle-income small business owners out of the city (for the future of which see SF, DC and NY). -
Review from Pomwonderful P.
Toronto, ON
5/18/2012
Amazing food. One of my favourite restaurants in all of the GTA.
The popular Shuizhu yu (fish) is amazing, as is the beef version of the dish.
Their special noodles (can't remember what it's called, but it's one of the first items on the menu) is absolutely incredible. They're transparent in colour.
Other note-worthy mentions: eggplant and sizzling beef.
The price is also amazing. And by amazing, I mean cheap. -
Review from Nadia O.
Toronto, ON
12/16/2011
Every dish we ordered was absolutely delicious. Much better then the Chinese restaurant we originally had in mind; luckily they were closed so we got a chance to try this splendid place. The Szechuan Dan Dan noodles and Wonton chilli soup are some of the best I've ever had, but just a tad too salty. We tried the smoked duck and various types of dumplings quite good indeed!
*Most of the restaurants in this area do not accept credit cards, however here they do if you spend over $35, (or 25 maybe, don't remember exactly how much). -
Review from Bright L.
Maple, ON
11/6/2011
This is the BEST and most AUTHENTIC Sichuan/Szechwan restaurant in the GTA.
First of all its almost always packed so u know its great. The decor is nice and bright and clean. The service is great and friendly.
Now onto the food. Most dishes use a generous amount of chilli peppers, Sichuan peppercorn(hua jiao in mandarin), peanuts and ginger which is typical of Sichuan cuisine.
the appetizer i like to start my meals with is Fuqi Feipian (Cold Beef Tripe) which is a cold dish with tons of spices - mostly peppercorns - it can make ur tongue numb but so tasty. the other great appetizer is garlic sliced white meat (suan ni bai rou in mandarin) lol i dont know how to translate it into English... very succulent meat in minced garlic sauce.
as for entrees, there are so many great choices. and the good thing is they are not all spicy. i like the popular Shuizhu yu(water boiled fish), very spicy but deeeeelish. i like the Surimi with Broccoli (sai pangxie in mandarin). the zhai jiang mian - which is a Northern Chinese noodle dish but they make it very well here. i also like the three cup chicken (san bei ji) which is served in a casserole. the Kung pao dishes are good too.
as for dessert I usually get the reb bean congee which is sweet and tasty.
overall - A+ for the food, the vibe is nice, service great, just an awesome restaurant, you'll love it if you like spicy food, but great for those who like milder dishes too!!! -
Review from Tony F.
I'm not sure what your backyard garden tastes like, but this one's a "spicy meatball". Ok.. minus the meatball.
Don't let this Szechuan gem intimidate you. The food looks much spicier than it is. We had a few szechuan specialty dishes: spicy lamb kabobs, chili beef tongue (and yes.. it was the only tongue I got that night), and the chili chicken dish that came on a wok on top of a burner. The longer you let it sit, the more fragrant it gets. Now all this might sound very painful, but it really was all very flavourful without getting into the high heat threshold.
If you're looking to sample real Szechuan, this is a great authentic place to go.
Anyways, if it was my real backyard garden.. I'd be tasting a lot of dirt.. and weed. Insane in the brain!Listed in: Omnomeriffic Yum! (TM)
-
Review from alfred i.
North York, ON
8/4/2011
This is a great spot for traditional Szechuan cuisine. Everyone is very friendly. I recommend dining with someone who speaks Mandarin and knows the food well (At least for the first time). The menu is bigger than most books, and your waiter may not be as well versed in the English language as you would like. Nevertheless, the food is great! it's usually packed, so if you see something you like, point to it with awe and glee and I'm sure your waiter will get the idea. I recommend:
- Suan Cai Yu
- Kung Pao chicken (May make your mouth numb)
- Cumin Lamb
- Shui Zhu Yu (Sichuan Boiled Fish) -
Review from Wendy C.
4/26/2010
In the Chinese strip mall (Metro Square) next to IBM compound.
One of the best, and very authentic Szechuan restaurant in GTA. There is another location of this restaurant in Scarborough which also serves ok Cantonese dim sum at lunch time.
Pretty extensive menu. Can't go wrong with fish fillet in hot oil/soup or in pickled vegetable soup (in the soup section of the menu); they do justice to typical Szechuan dishes like beef in spicy sauce (or spicy beef stew), diced chicken with chili, lamb cooked with cumin flavour, cold appetizers like spicy beef/innards slices with chili sauce, starch noodle with red chili sauce (noodles made from green beans)
Unlike a Cantonese restaurant, green/leafy vegetable dishes are lacking.
