Mei Mei is located in Peterborough, the small city about 125km NE of Toronto, at 1080 Lansdowne St. W. We went for a weekday lunch. Note that it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays which is not common in Toronto. It had plenty of customers. AYCD pop is $3.25. Interior is bright basic contemporary.
Potato salad was excellent with plenty of dill. Mishy said that the coleslaw was very standard and lacked zip. Neither of us were big on the Thai peanut noodle salad, but it is as it is supposed to be made; the peanut flavour does not seem to go with the rest of it. Macaroni salad was excellent with well-balanced flavours including oregano. Caesar salad had the dressing pre-added, this will eventually make it soggy although this was not the case yet, but there was not enough dressing for my taste; at least it was fresh.
Mishy loved the wonton soup saying it was “wow” and really good and savoury; I found the flavour a bit gamey, and therefore I think they were pork wontons. When I mentioned this to Mishy she realized that she had also not liked this flavour either. Pork shiu mai was a little dried out but still very good. Spring rolls were exactly the same size/flakiness/consistency/flavour as the ones at Loon Ho the day before, and they are both in Peterborough so this indicates they're being purchased from the same supplier. Mishy loved them nonetheless. They weren’t the best I've ever had but still were pretty good. Mishy also loved the chicken balls, which also seem to be like the ones yesterday as they were full of meat rather than breading; they are one of her favourites and she’s mentioned a few times that chicken balls are enough to get her to a buffet.
Egg foo young had shrimp in it, and I'm not sure whether it does usually but Mishy was not big on it, although I found it delicious. Lo mein was delicious due to the savoury seasoning. Shanghai noodles were not bad with a bit of sweetness but quite edible. Torpedo shrimp were dry even though they were just put out; and there is no horseradish & ketchup seafood sauce available. Beef with vegetables was very good with a savoury sauce, fresh and delicious. Tofu with mixed vegetables was the same although I could not find any tofu, but the vegetables were at least quite good. Vegetable chop suey was also delicious with a savoury sauce and fresh, which is important with chop suey as it goes mushy when kept out too long.
Sweet and sour pork was a bit dried out but still quite enjoyable and I liked the ginger in the sauce. Chicken curry’s flavour was a little milder than I'm used to, but it was still quite enjoyable and fresh at least. Singapore vermicelli was almost excellent with plenty of flavour. French fries were basic, probably pre-cut commercial fries, but were still good. Definitely commercial were chicken dino nuggets which are out-of-the-bag available from Maple Leaf or Walmart; they were tasty nonetheless. Honey garlic ribs were pretty good, though as with many other things here a little dry.
For dessert, Mishy noted that the coconut cream pie is definitely commercial as it has the flavour of coconut suntan lotion; I agreed but loved it nonetheless. Chocolate chip scones are as far as I know original and everywhere I have ever eaten, and are quite a good combination. Chocolate chip cookies definitely appear homemade as they are too irregular to be commercial, and too good! They had plenty of chocolate flavour. Small flaky layer pastry was very good. Strawberry matcha ice cream was nothing but remnants at the bottom of the barrel, so I don't know whether the green stuff was the matcha that was supposed to be there or some other flavour mixed in. At least the strawberry part was good. Peach sorbet was just about the best sorbet I ever had, but unfortunately Mishy hates peach so it wasn't mutual; it had actual pieces of peach in it for overpowering wonderful flavour. Vanilla was, well, vanilla. Chocolate was semi-sweet which made it more enjoyable, full of chocolate flavour and excellent. None of the ice creams had freezer burn. Service was very good. Weekday lunch was $20.99 and this is quite a good price. There were numerous minor quibbles but nothing significant out of order, and we did have a enjoyable lunch.
Rating: 7.5 / 10 + 0.5 value adjustment = 8 / 10
