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Lion City Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Singaporean Restaurants Malaysian Singaporean, Malaysian [Edit]
1177 Central Pkwy WUnit 70
Mississauga, ON L5C 4P3
(905) 281-0860
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Caters:
- Yes
8 reviews for Lion City Restaurant
8 reviews in English
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Review from Kyle G.
Markham, ON
3/12/2012
Went to this place after a day of trampoline dodgeball (I have another review for that).
This restaurant is located in far right end of the plaza (facing the plaza). I tried a really simple dish, just fried chicken and egg with rice; I did not know it was fried chicken until it came out. My friends had the green curry beef and yellow curry beef and both of those dishes were pretty good. My own dish was 'meh' but it wasn't their specialty so I can't really complain. The hainan chicken with rice looked pretty good and is apparently their specialty.
I'd recommend this place if you're craving for curry but don't expect the restaurant to wow you in any way. There's not much I can say about the atmosphere nor the decor of this restaurant. It's very typical of a Chinese restaurant.
Cheers. -
Review from Valerie Y.
Mississauga, ON
5/13/2012
I went here for mother's day and it is horrible. The food tastes disgusting. It all tastes the same. Very very salty and no flavour. The pictures look great, but when the food comes out, it looks absolutely nothing like the picture. The servings are insanely small.
The service was more than horrible. There were dirty tables everywhere. Our table had a dirty water jug which they did not remove. They forgot to bring me my soup. They were rude as hell, especially the woman in the picture on their website. I asked her about my soup and she gave me attitude and walked away! Absolutely horrible.
Very horrible food. Very very dirty place, it's sooooooo dirty. Horrible service. 100% thumbs down. -
Review from Jennifer K.
Markham, ON
5/13/2011 8 photos
With all these Yelp reviews of Lion City Restaurant, we decided to give it a try as one of lunch experience for my "A Day in Mississauga".
Disclaimer: I been to Malaysia/Singapore/Thailand and I am a regular at Gourmet Garden...I am writing this review based on my experience... so it might be bias... but is my own review!
The colourful interior does remind me of South East Asia. Even the older owner/waiter reminds me of the easy and laid back tropical vibe.. where nothing should be rush and eventually you mayl get what you nicely asked for ....
Bak Kut Teh (Herbal Pork Rib Soup) - $6.95
- Not as flavoured as I would have expected, lacking that intense herbal flavour... just saltiness...
- It was so salty that we don't even need the dark soy sauce as condiments
Laksa Lemak (Rice vermicelli in spicy coconut gravy with chicken, shrimps, fish cake & beansprouts) - $7.95
- I enjoyed Lion City's version of Laksa
- the soup base does have an intense coconut taste and more on the sweetness side..
- spice level is A-OK.. (as my friend did not complain...)
Teh Tarik - $3.00 and Grass Jello Drink - $2.50
- Both are standard and A-OK
- I preferred the Teh Tarik more as it is not as commonly available and for $3 it is really reasonably priced
So what's the verdict?
Based on the food we sampled, Lion City Restaurant is A-OK Singaporean/Malaysian restaurant. I definitely recommended to give it a try when you are in the area.... but doesn't worth making a special trip...especially if you live in the Scarborough/Markham area where Gourmet Garden is only 10 or 15 minute drive away!Listed in: A Day in Mississauga!, Malaysia/Singapore Food!
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Review from David L.
Mississauga, ON
I just love this place when I have the craving for Singapore / Malaysian food.
Being an ex-Singaporean who travels back and forth to my former hometown every year, I have an acute taste for what is authentic and what is not.
Lion City restaurant easily passes my food cravings for Singaporean food.
The star dishes are the Chicken Rice which IMHO the best in the GTA.
(Sorry to the Gourmet Garden fans but I eat there too whenever I am in the east end. GG has the best Sambal belachan on the GTA if that matters)
I do not agree with Erwin's review regarding the chicken rice because it does come complete with the dark soya sauce, ginger and chilli sauce every time together with a bowl of chicken soup.
It is also NOT true that chicken rice is served boneless 98% of the time. Do not confuse this with the Chatterbox or Sergeant's chicken rice in Singapore! (if you are Singaporean you know what I am talking about)
I was in Singapore just last month and FYI, they are cutting back on serving deep fried chunks of fat in the Mee Pok now.
The back vinegar style of Mee Pok is not as popular especially over here so don't knock a restaurant for not serving it your style.
My other favorites are the Hae mee soup (prawn mee soup) which has a great stock. Other favs are the Wat Tan Hor Fan and the fried kwey teow.
The extensive menu also adds various beef / chicken curries and rendangs and they are very flavorful.
The negative reviews on this place are probably from people who do not know what real Singapore food is about or are not realistic on their expectations.
As far I as I am concerned this is the best Singaporean food restaurant in the GTA.
The restaurant also just finished celebrating it's 15th year of business in the same location making it one of the oldest Singaporean restaurants in the GTA.
That says it all. -
Review from John C.
Mississauga, ON
3/28/2011 1 Check-in Here
Plane food not sure how they stay open.
tastes like Hospital asian food. -
Review from Erwin M.
4/27/2010
I'm seeing a trend here, crappy places don't get reviews. I think they deserve a writeup just like any other place and I feel bad about that so here goes... :)
First of all this is a Singaporean restaurant, or at least markets itself as such, albeit not a very good one. The food here was disappointing to say the least. I had the chicken rice which is probably SGs national dish and my wife had the mee pok (pork with noodle dish)
Chicken rice peeves:
-lacked the condiments I'm used to like the dark sweet soy sauce, ginger, etc. (had the chili though, you have to!)
-servings not big enough therefore not worth it
-most importantly the chicken had a lot of bones in it. I'm used to boneless chicken rice which I've probably had 98% of the time everywhere else.
Mee pok peeves:
-lacked the dark vinegar it usually goes with. We had to ask for vinegar but all they had was just regular vinegar.
-no little deep fried chunks of fat that it should be topped with that really brings the dish to another level
-sauce used for the noodles wasn't that good to begin with.
Overall, lazy preparation, not good enough cooking, and not enough dedication to sticking to what makes SG dishes one of my favorite cuisines. -
Review from Candace L.
North York, ON
1/30/2011 5 photos
Lion City
First of all, let me say I'm no Singaporean/Indo/Malay food expert.
I have been to Singapore once and have tried most of the Indo/Malay restaurants in the city that I know about. For me, this restaurant serves food the most similar to what I ate in Singapore. My Indonesian friend recommended this place to me and I've been loving it since.
It's true that the spices here are milder than what I had there, yes, I do wish for stronger spices here. But after so many trials of other supposedly authentic places in the city (Restauran comes to mind, which to me is just Chinese food trying to be Indo/Malay), this place just gets better and better, and more authentic in my mind it seems.
Some of the dishes I have tried the last few times I've been that I'd recommend are:
Popia: these are a fresh spring roll. Similar to Filipino "fresh lumpia". Fresh-wrapped (not fried, and also not similar to Vietnamese rice fresh wrap rolls) and filled with a combination of fresh and cooked vegetables, ground meat and in this case sausage. Comes with two, cut into bite-sized pieces.
Veggie salad with peanut sauce (I forgot the name): this was very refreshing, a nice way to have salad in winter as well. Plate came with cooked cabbage, al dente green beans, sliced boiled eggs, al dente bean sprouts, fried slices of tofu, and small shrimp chips on top.
Hainanese Chicken: Steamed chicken served with rice cooked in chicken stock. Served with several sauces. There are many Chinese restaurants in the city that serve their versions of this so I'd probably pick the other dishes to order here over this one.
Laksa Noodle soup: Rice noodles in a coconut curry gravy with shrimp, egg and chicken as garnishing.
Hokkien Prawn Mee: vermicelli and yellow noodles fried with shrimp, sliced cuttlefish and pork bits.
Beef Rendang: addictive, coconut and slightly spicy, easily pulled-apart succulent beef stew. Ordered roti with this, heaven!
Nasi Lemak: I ate this for breakfast every day in Singapore. A plate served with coconut-scented rice (heaven) with a small deep fried whole fish, boiled eggs, cucumber, fishcake wrapped in leaves, and slightly spicy shrimp paste sauce (I would like more spice in this). A little bit of everything makes this dish heaven for me.
Fried fish served in leaves with Sambal - crispy and addictive.
Martabak - a wrapped roti canai filled with minced meat curry with eggs and onion. Would prefer spicier but this was gooood. Served with hot curry (which again, I would like spicier).
Teh tarik: this is a tea that is mixed with carnation milk and 'pulled' from one mug to another to create a froth when served. I had this a lot in Singapore.
Chendol - icy drink with coconut milk and pandan leaf flavoured jelly bits and red bean. Refreshing, slightly too sweet but these icy Asian drinks (whether Indo Malay / Filipino or Chinese) are always too sweet for me.
I know they fry their shrimp paste there themselves (or maybe use a jarred one and add to it?) as I came once during lunchtime and the place reeeeeked (but for me, in a delicious way but not for my then pregnant-friend) of it!
Décor is simple, looks like a quiet Chinese Restaurant inside. There are many tables inside but I'm not sure how well it would accommodate very large groups. Impressively clean. Food is always served fairly quickly. I will be back again and again! -
Review from Tina N.
Toronto, ON
8/17/2010
A unique restaurant I was able to try out that serves a fusion of Malaysian, Indonesian, Singaporean and Thai cuisine. First impression of the place was a typical family run restaurant which I usually enjoy because it gives you the homey and authentic taste to the food. It's a casual place that serves pretty generous portions for a good price and being a huge fanatic of curry, I didn't hesitate at all to order the Chicken and Goat Curry. Both curries tasted really good since it was made in a typical Malaysian/Singaporean style that had a strong fragrance of coconut and spices. They went well with the Roti Canai which was thin and crispy and the Coconut Rice which should have had a more coconut essence in it so I'd rather recommend the Haianese Chicken rice instead. Their Pad Thai was made more on the traditional side so it was a bit sour but not bad at all. Long story short, food was good but the service was a bit lacking as the main server was an old man (about 75 years old?) so I gotta give him some credit at least for trying...
