At some point, every country builds a Great Wall to keep the secret of its cuisine from spreading to foreign nations, only to find that the real wall lies in its heart. Tear down the Great Wall of painful secrets with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of authentic Chinese cuisine at Ho Lee Pow on Carling Avenue.
Ho Lee Pow surveys Chinese cuisine with a vast menu of Szechuan and Cantonese dishes made with fresh, MSG-free ingredients. Appetizers focus on spring-roll variations, including the house filling of beef and onions ($1.59 each) and the vegetable version filled with free-range water chestnuts, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and garlic ($1.59 each). Entree selections begin with savoury stalwarts from the Tried & True section of the menu, ranging from General Tso chicken ($9.99) to ginger beef ($9.99). Ho-Lee-Pow's Choice exhibits more adventurous house options, such as singapore rice noodles slow dancing with barbecued pork, shrimp, green onions, and carrots in a spicy curry ($10.99). The vegetable moo shu stir-fries julienne vegetables in a spicy szechuan sauce, accompanied by six crepes and hoisin sauce ($10.99).
Ho Lee Pow
Ho Lee Pow’s cooks pack a punch of flavour into each meal using fresh ingredients and not a pinch of MSG. Most entrees are built from a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp, or barbecued pork, which can be stir-fried with black beans, simmered in curries, or transformed into fried rice with eggs, peas, and green onions. House specialties range from beloved Chinese classics such as general tso’s chicken to contemporary dishes such as lemon-chicken stir fry, which awakens the palate with a zesty blend of citrus, peppers, and onions. Beyond crafting made-to-order meals for restaurant guests, the kitchen builds catering platters of egg rolls, chop suey, and fortune cookies for groups of 12 or more humans or at least one famished Hydra.