Restaurant Review Tangerine Asian Cuisine Mississauga.

So what is Hakka cuisine? That was the question I had going into this lunch date with friends who were visiting from the Caribbean. I soon found out that the Hakka menu at Tangerine Asian Cuisine in Mississauga is a delightful, spicy and a wonderful ‘fusion’ of the best of Asia! “Best of Asia” may be bold words, but the infusion of Indian spices like red chillies, green chillies, chilli powder, tandoori masala, cumin and coriander combined with fresh Chinese ingredients makes for the most flavorful “Chinese” food I’ve ever  experienced. Yes, it’s an experience indeed!

Tangerine Asian Cuisine Battleford Centre : 6415 Erin Mills Parkway, Unit B01, Mississauga, ON L5N 4H4

Images from Tangerine Asian Cuisine Mississauga.

We were in the mood for spicy so I do apologize for not noticing if there were non spicy dishes on the main menu. However I do know that you can ask for lees and more spicy when you place your order. Also note that some dishes can come ‘dry’ or with sauce as with the Bombay Tiger Prawns we ordered. I personally believe that the abundance of ‘sauce’ killed this dish and I would recommend getting these tasty prawns ‘dry’ with sauce on the side, especially if you want to top the steamed rice which accompany this and many of the other delightful Hakka dishes.

The restaurant itself has  a sort of modern-Asian feel to it with tables and booths for small and large groups. Our semicircle style banquet comfortably fit the five of us with room for at least 2 more people and the spacing between table and your body is very accommodating and not tightly fitting as what seems to be the new trend in restaurant design.

Since Caron isn’t a fan of spicy food she ordered the Honey Garlic Chicken Veg Fried Rice off the lunch menu where you have several options based on three price points. A ($6.95 + tax), B ($5.95 + tax), C ($5.95 + tax). Along with your dish of choice, the lunch special also comes with steamed rice and choice of Veg Spring Roll or Pop or Soup.

Please bear in mind that the portions at Tangerine Asian Cuisine are large, even the lunch special.. Caron had enough leftover to take home with us. We ordered the Caribbean Style Fried Chicken (crispy fried chicken with a sort of spiced skin.. just amazing)  to start then we went on to have the Bombay Tiger Prawns (with sauce- but probably better dry or sauce on the side as I mentioned above), Mongolian chicken and the  House Special Fried rice which included chicken and shrimp in the mix.

Being a family restaurant, be prepared for noisy kids? Not sure how we do it but no matter where we dine we always seem to be placed close to an unhappy child, who’s parents doesn’t seem to get the meaning of the word ‘consideration”. The service was excellent, bathroom clean and well serviced and of-course the food was on point. I did notice thought that though the flavors of each dish was unique and stood out, after a while they all seem to blend together to a uniform ‘taste’. Almost as if near the end of dining your taste buds could only identify one flavor.

With such large portions even after the four of us (Caron got her lunch special) had a good fill, we still had leftovers to take home. BTW, the left overs (other than the rice) does not travel well (the taste and texture changes when reheated).

Being in a strip mall you’ll have ample free parking and I could easily see this restaurant being very busy during dinner service, so you may want to call ahead for reservation.

Hakka cuisine, or Kuhchia cuisine, is the cooking style of the Hakka people, who originated in the southeastern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, but may also be found in other parts of China and in countries with significant overseas Chinese communities

In India and other regions with significant Indian populations, the locally known “Hakka cuisine” is actually an Indian adaptation of original Hakka dishes. This variation of Hakka cuisine is in reality, mostly Indian Chinese cuisine. It is called “Hakka cuisine” because in India many owners of restaurants that serve this cuisine are of Hakka origin.

Hakka means “Guest”. The Hakka people in Toronto are first and second generation of Hakka settler from India.