611961 Tue Apr 14 11:29:11 -0700 2009 57 22 Quebec (including Montreal) 0 4594933 So after reading about this sandwich via another thread (Chinatown 2), I had to have it. I had other plans for lunch, but oh well, they cancelled themselves. The resto is VERY bare bones. The walls look like they were last painted in the 80s. There are wooden racks and crooked plants and not much else, well except for another patron, talking on a walkie talkie (?).. The place is hard to notice, especially since the storefront is narrow, and the south side of their sign is broken. A strong mutton smell hits your face the minute you enter. I am fine with it, but I must warn you it is muttony. There are possible hygiene violations going on, but I don't care about that either. So I order. Service is neither friendly, nor non. My order arrives fast. The sandwich is confusing. Unlike the description, there is no cilantro in it. Damn, did they forget, or did they think the whitey don't like it? Too late to ask because I am already in my office, stuffing it into my mouth. The pork is fantastic. One might say this is the Chinese equivalent of a pulled pork sandwich. The meat is warmly spiced and adequately fatty; neither too greasy, nor too dry. But it needs something, something like... umm cilantro! The pancake that wraps the meat is not as good. I think in theory it is promising, but the one I received is undercooked inside, and too doughy. It just sticks into your innards, and not in a good way. But hey, the pork is good and I can see how some cilantro and a better pancake could have elevated it to the new heights of yumminess. What you get is a giant portion, 5 bucks, tax included. I am definitely going to try again, asking for cilantro specifically. 2130, rue St-Mathieu Tue Apr 14 11:29:11 -0700 2009 53259 emerilcantcook 1 4594967 where's that ? Tue Apr 14 11:36:21 -0700 2009 4594933 11828 Maximilien 2 4594981 oops. added the addy. Tue Apr 14 11:40:47 -0700 2009 4594967 53259 emerilcantcook 3 4810056 "oops. added the addy." I'm new to this, Is one not supposed to disclose the address of the place? Fri Jun 26 20:20:13 -0700 2009 4594981 1088341 the taipan 1 4610427 Yup, the inconsistency of the fresh coriander leaves in one's pork sandwich is pretty much a... constant. I used to go to Maison du Nord a lot two years ago, and coriander would appear or not. It is in fact a lot greater when you find coriander - and when the bread's thin and crunchy like an Italian pressed panini. There are also dumplings on the menu as well as other very exotic things like a glutinous rice with lotus seeds and berries I think (It's eaten as a main dish that you share). The latter is super super heavy on your stomach. It's also good to order one of the "soups", also typical "student food" like corn cream and chicken... Sun Apr 19 22:37:53 -0700 2009 4594933 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 2 4761687 berries? In an Asian dish, or actually a Chinese dish? I highly doubt it is true -- it's probably red or green bean. Wed Jun 10 18:13:12 -0700 2009 4610427 281227 Yummylicious 3 4761701 Could be wolfberries. "Dried wolfberries are often added to rice congee, as well as used in Chinese tonic soups, in combination with chicken or pork, vegetables, and other herbs such as wild yam, Astragalus membranaceus, Codonopsis pilosula, and licorice root." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry Wed Jun 10 18:18:37 -0700 2009 4761687 10520 carswell 1 4727860 I discovered that the handmade Lanzhou noodles (兰州拉面) that were briefly on the menu at Qing Hua Yuan Dumplings have now reappeared at La Maison du Nord. It wasn't on their menu the last time I ate there or even the last time I checked on their door (two weeks ago). The man who presumably makes them says that have to eat it really quickly or they'll become soggy! I'll be posting something on my blog pretty soon. Sat May 30 10:18:23 -0700 2009 4594933 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 2 4727874 Here are some pics of the said noodles: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smurfmatic/3579172296/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/smurfmatic/3579172324/ Sat May 30 10:26:29 -0700 2009 4727860 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 3 4728005 They look very good. I know what I am having for lunch this Monday :) Sat May 30 11:38:59 -0700 2009 4727874 53259 emerilcantcook 4 4733301 So Mme Moh and I went there today for lunch, and the noodle guy wasn't in. Just a heads up, Mondays are the day day off for the noodle master according to the server. We also saw the Qing Hua noodle man coming in and getting out. I think he might be the noodlemaker that our server was talking about. So we couldn't try the aforemented noodles; but everything else we tried was very good, and very cheap. Inspector Moh promised to write a report soon. Mon Jun 01 13:49:01 -0700 2009 4728005 53259 emerilcantcook 5 4733721 Goodness! We went a little crazy ordering, and ended up with a crazy amount of food! Prices are incredibly cheap, and portions are huge. Very high quality to price ratio. This is a great student eats place. I would add this to that $10 or less list. We had the following dishes: 1. Pork sandwich: $5 for a large pork meat sandwich - very good deal.... The sandwich consists of shreds of pork between 2 halves of a thin, crispy crusted bread/pancake. The bread is quite unique. It has a nice crispy bite, but there is also a slightly sticky texture to the rest of the bread, imagine a crusty mochi-like substance. There is almost certainly some glutinous rice flour in the batter. For me, this sandwich is more about the bread than the pork. The pork is very good, but it acts more like a seasoning for the bread than as the main ingredient, a very Asian approach to meat. I agree that some sprigs of fresh coriander might add a nice touch to this sandwich. I personally really liked this sandwich, but if you are expecting a big pork fix, you may be disappointed. I really like the taste and texture of the bread, it is very different than what you usually get in sandwiches. 2. Crystal noodles: This is listed in the appetizer section. $5, and again, it is huge! The dish consists of broad flat noodles made out of rice flour I believe. They may also be made of some kind of legume starch. They are served with julienned cucumber and slices of some kind of tofu or seitan product, the slices are lightly chewy and add an interesting textural element. The ingredients are served cold in a soy-sauce and vinegar based sauce with a hint of chili. This is a very refreshing noodle salad. You could easily eat this as a light lunch and be quite satiated. $5 for a bowl the size of a large serving of pho... how do they make money on this one? (scratches head in bewilderment) 3. Pork chive and shrimp dumplings: Half order: $5.50. Full order is 22 dumplings for about $9. These dumplings are delicious! The skin has an excellent texture, the dumplings are aesthetically pleasing, and the filling is wonderful, an elegant blend of pork, chunks of shrimp and fresh chives. These dumplings taste homemade and very fresh. Delicious and crazy cheap. There is black vinegar and soy sauce on the table to make a little dipping sauce, and they can also bring you chili oil to spice it up. 4. Noodles with stewed pork and vegetables: I apologize, as this is not the exact name on the menu. It is the first offering in the noodle section. The noodles are made on the premises, but when the noodle chef is not in, they use a machine to pull the noodles. The noodles are served in a light flavourful broth, and are garnished with umami-laden stewed potatoes and hunks of fork-tender braised meat, and baby bok choy leaves. The menu says it is pork, but it seemed really beefy to us. An unimportant detail. This noodle dish is simple but filled with home-spun goodness. $6 for a very large bowl. We could have fed 4 people with the food we ordered. Total price: $21.50!!! We thought they forgot to add some items to the bill, but no, this was really the price. I was a little giddy when I saw the bill. Very recession friendly. Service was excellent, tea was included in the price, and we both left with enough for another filling meal. This is not a special occasion kind of place, but another home-style classic along the veins of Qing Hua Dumplings. And it appears they share the noodle chef... Mon Jun 01 16:08:10 -0700 2009 4733301 89969 moh 6 4758869 I went to Maison du Nord this week, and got the pork sandwich along with some dumplings and a standard bowl of beef noodles à la Lanzhou. They didn't put coriander leaves in the pork sandwich, but were nice enough to give me a small plate of the stuff when asked. Dumplings were eggs + zucchini + shrimp. It qualifies as meat-less, and it was weird. I prefer to find meat in my Chinese dumplings, but my cousins liked it. Noodles -- they have to be eaten quickly, repeats the presumed noodles master, a tall middle-aged man with short greying hair. Frankly, a bowl of noodles is big enough to cover a normal meal of two people, thus the 8$ price tag. We shared the aforementioned dishes between three people and it was more than enough! Tue Jun 09 22:50:21 -0700 2009 4733721 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 5 4733743 I forgot to add that they did revamp the space a little bit since my last visit. There were pictures on the walls, and the meat fridge that was on the south side of the store was taken somewhere, replaced with tables. The racks were gone too. It looked less chaotic than before, and more eat in friendly, including the super sweet server. Mon Jun 01 16:18:29 -0700 2009 4733301 53259 emerilcantcook 1 4773585 Tried Maison du Nord for dinner yesterday. My only regret is not having tried that pork sandwich sooner! It was crunchy, salty, delicious. We ordered "Spicy Noodles" - a big bowl full of handmade magic noodles with small chunks of beef and slivers of cucumber, all swimming in chilli-oil broth. The noodles had a fantastic texture. Also the "Wasabi Salad", though we're not sure why it's called that. It had shredded nappa cabbage, carrot, and clear noodles. Mon Jun 15 06:50:23 -0700 2009 4594933 48563 mainsqueeze 2 4774674 That pork sandwich is yummy! Hubbie is quite enamoured. He normally doesn't make requests for places to eat, he usually goes along with whatever I suggest, but today he requested we go to the "pork sandwich place" for lunch. The sandwich was even better than the last time, the pork was more seasoned, and the bread very crispy and crunchy. We tried the pork and cabbage dumplings, they are good, but I think I prefer the pork chive and shrimp dumplings. We also had a fabulous dish called lamb ribs stewed in soya sauce. These are lamb ribs braised in a savoury brown sauce based on soya sauce, it is not spicy, but it is very rich, with a hint of sweetness. The lamb ribs are incredibly tender and have a very strong lamb flavour. This lamb dish is not for everyone, you really have to love the taste of lamb, and you can't mind lamb fat, as they leave on all the fat. But if you love fatty lamb, this dish is a winner. It is one of the pricier dishes ($12), but it was very homey and very delicious. They had a dish called "soup with assorted lamb organs". It sounded intriguing, but I didn't get up the courage to order it yet... Mon Jun 15 12:04:41 -0700 2009 4773585 89969 moh 3 4775545 I went today and it's the only day they don't have the magic noodle soup :( I grabbed the pork sandwich to go which was irresistable so I started to eat on the bus and people gave me dirty looks. I asked the girl for cilantro or coriander and she didn't understand. Luckily I had some at home. Do they bake the bread when you order ? I thought I saw uncooked dough (translucent) or is it the fat of the pork ? The paper bag became transparent too. Mon Jun 15 16:28:54 -0700 2009 4774674 30876 marblebag 4 4775564 I stopped by and had one for lunch the other day. Moh, you understated if anything. They are only a few blocks away from home too! Mon Jun 15 16:34:26 -0700 2009 4775545 259263 bigfellow 4 4775568 Yeah, I think Emerilcantcook mentions that the noodle cook is not there on Mondays in a post above... Re: uncooked dough in the sandwich, I am not sure if that is uncooked dough. I certainly don't taste any raw dough when I eat the sandwich. I had guessed they use some rice flour in the dough, mostly because of that translucent area, glutinous rice flour gets that translucent look when it is steamed/cooked, but that doesn't mean it is raw. I was thinking that the translucent area was some combination of rice four and moistness/fat from the pork. Mon Jun 15 16:36:25 -0700 2009 4775545 89969 moh 5 4785437 I would tend to think that it was moisture and fat. :) I think the real denomination for such pork sandwich is actually the "Shaanxi pork sandwich", which is what I was told it was when I ate it in China as well. Shaanxi is a central-northern province of China, and they should be traditionally be eating wheat products... Here's a link on Shaanxi sandwiches: http://www.iwalku2.com/2009/03/those-shaanxi-sandwich-i-like.html What I like the most of their pork sandwich (which I had again yesterday) is perhaps the subtle (or not subtle enough) flavour of the bread's yeast. Thu Jun 18 14:06:24 -0700 2009 4775568 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 6 4786473 that site with all the pictures of the sandwich made me think of the pork bun at momofuku ohhh gotta go to manhattan soon Thu Jun 18 22:09:45 -0700 2009 4785437 30876 marblebag 6 4786487 I will defer to you on this point, you make a very compelling argument about the use of wheat in Northern chinese cuisine! Love the picture. The only reason I suggested the possibility of an element of glutinous rice flour in the bread is because I associate that translucency with suet fat mixed with glutinous rice flour. But I do not know enough about this cuisine to substantiate my hypothesis! Thu Jun 18 22:22:33 -0700 2009 4785437 89969 moh 6 4810465 I tried it and thought it was like rou jia mo (a popular snack in China). It was OK but the flavour of the filling was not complex. I also thought it needed coriander, or another source of acidity, to break through the fattiness. I would still rather have a guo bao any day of the week. As usual CH tends to over-hype these kinds of places a bit, but have to agree with those who thought Maison du Nord was quite authentic and a great value. Sat Jun 27 05:59:42 -0700 2009 4785437 97533 thelonious777 7 4811131 Made the trek to try it out today. We ordered two sandwiches. There was quite a bit of wait when one plate arrived. Since it was sliced in 4, we figured it was just 2 sandwiches and ate it. Then another one arrived. One $5 sandwich is certainly satisfying enough for 2 people, I think. We didn't get cilantro or anything else either, and it definitely seemed to be lacking something. The first and second sandwiches were very different too. One was really crusty, one was really soft. One had really dry meat, one had really moist meat. The dumplings definitely seem like a good deal, so I might go back and try that and their soup :) Sat Jun 27 12:40:26 -0700 2009 4810465 119412 afoodyear 8 4831401 And here's the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rou_jia_mo Sun Jul 05 15:25:51 -0700 2009 4811131 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 7 4831395 You're right, it's exactly that, a rou jia mo! I recognize the Chinese characters from the menu now: 肉夹馍. Sun Jul 05 15:25:19 -0700 2009 4810465 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 8 4831904 I could never read well and after not having tried for 10 years can only remember a few characters. "Rou" is one of them for some reason. Sun Jul 05 19:05:32 -0700 2009 4831395 97533 thelonious777 9 4832702 Yes, when I was in on Friday I asked if it was a Shaanxi jia mo. They said yes, and that most of their noodle dishes are Shaanxi-style, and the dumplings are Beijing style. Unfortunately, cilantro, coriander leaf, and Chinese parsley all got a blank stare when I asked if they had any when my jia mo arrived without any. As far as the bread is concerned, it seemed to me like a pan fried (possibly pre-steamed dough?) wheat-flour pancake that had just soaked up lots of pork fat. http://petercherches.blogspot.com Mon Jul 06 07:03:13 -0700 2009 4831904 10736 Peter Cherches 5 5006281 Well, the Qing Hua noodle chef had been training the male owner of la Maison du Nord before he went to China. Now the owner does the noodles, but only after 12:00. I spoke with the wife/owner today and went over the coriander situation with her... suggested posting a picture so we could all point. She also explained that the addition was not traditional... a Chowhound thing I think, but a tasty idea. Fri Sep 04 18:29:47 -0700 2009 4775568 29305 Andria 4 4785445 "Coriander" is "xiang cai" in Chinese (pinyin romanization). You may also romanize it as "hsiang tsai". It literally means "flavoury herb". Thu Jun 18 14:08:35 -0700 2009 4775545 163049 schtroumpf_gourmand 5 4786167 Do we have to order the coriander (cilantro) in Chinese or will they understand one of the English versions? I really want to make sure my sandwich has it. I am thinking I might just head out there for an early lunch tomorrow. Thu Jun 18 19:30:37 -0700 2009 4785445 29305 Andria 1 4796430 I finally tried the pork sandwich today. Although I heard it was a good size portion, I never imagined it was about the diameter of a baby's head! I had to share it with some of the girls at work. In my opinion, the sandwich is just so-so. I love the crunchy outside of the bread, but a would have to agree with marblebag on it being undercooked on the inside. The texture was more sticky than translucent (from fatty pork). The girls liked it more than I did, polishing of 3/4 of my sandwich between them. I also took a full order of pork/shrimp/chive dumplings, which I ate while driving... no easy task. I found the filling, generous and fresh tasting. I especially liked that the filling was not over-processed (like many dumplings), with large chunks of shrimp. I am almost willing to offer to paint the place for them... really. Mon Jun 22 18:00:01 -0700 2009 4594933 29305 Andria 2 4797537 next montreal chow group activity , paint this store and maybe the new qing hua dumpling place too I am thinking of bringing my own dressing kit for the next sandwich. Lettuce, butter, hot sauce, pickled daikon and carrots, cilantro... Maybe Picks can sell us their condiments. Tue Jun 23 06:55:03 -0700 2009 4796430 30876 marblebag 1 4810054 I take it that 2130 St-Matthieu is the address of La Maison du Nord, YES? I might try it this week-end. Fri Jun 26 20:17:57 -0700 2009 4594933 1088341 the taipan 1 4811483 Do you think it's possible to seperate the fatty bits from the pork, or is it all mashed up together? I'm SORT of on a diet ;) Sat Jun 27 15:38:59 -0700 2009 4594933 361889 passthatversace 2 4811554 You could separate the chunks of fat in the sandwich, but the fat soaked into the bread and whatever binds the pork together would be pretty difficult :) Perhaps a liberal use of napkins would assist you, but I guess the simple answer is: no, not really. Sat Jun 27 16:12:12 -0700 2009 4811483 119412 afoodyear 2 4871170 you don't need to seperate the fatty bits from the pork, just tell the girl you don't want the fatty part when you order.For me,I like the one with fatty pork. also for coriander, you should tell the girl you want add some in your sandwich because there is only pork in real shaanxi rou ji mo, Sun Jul 19 00:31:28 -0700 2009 4811483 1094842 big chowhound 3 4878882 I think I will open up a little cilantro stand on the sidewalk outside their door. Tue Jul 21 17:29:19 -0700 2009 4871170 20900 spankyhorowitz 3 4881709 yesssssssss, thanks for the heads up! if i ask the girl for coriander in english, will she understand (posters above seemed to have probs)? i have no idea what it is in cantonese! Wed Jul 22 13:39:29 -0700 2009 4871170 361889 passthatversace 4 4881766 "i have no idea what it is in cantonese!" I think you'd have better luck if you learned how to say it in Mandarin. Wed Jul 22 13:55:07 -0700 2009 4881709 18488 SnackHappy 5 4881861 ....and have them laugh in my face?? :( haha Wed Jul 22 14:19:54 -0700 2009 4881766 361889 passthatversace 5 4882086 You're right. They probably don't understand any Cantonese. Wed Jul 22 15:36:21 -0700 2009 4881766 11610 BLM 4 4882528 I know it is 'xiang cai' in Mandarin.Ask the girl for that next time, hope she can understand. Wed Jul 22 18:22:00 -0700 2009 4881709 1094843 chinesefood 5 4883371 ...And it should sound something like shiang tsai. You can hear the pronunciation in this little lesson on ordering noodles: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/noodles-without-cilantro Thu Jul 23 05:42:28 -0700 2009 4882528 18488 SnackHappy 6 4888978 I stopped by this place for dinner tonight, before a Just for laughs show. After reading so much about it on CH I really was eager to try it! The sign outside actually says "Nord du Chinois", lol. We ordered the pork/ chives (more like green onions) /shrimp dumplings, and a sandwich. Dumplings came first, and I found them delicious!! Big shrimp pieces and nice flavors (sesame seed oil?) cutting through the dough, which had a slight vinegar aroma (surprising but OK). The BF said the dough was too thick, and I also prefer a thinner coating, but they were fresh, hot and very tasty. LOVED the spicy oil that came with it, it burns the lips after a while but it's worth it!! For 9$ this is a very filling plate. Then came the sandwich.. I tried to ask for coriander/coriandre/cilantro when ordering (of course I couldn't remember the chinese name), and even tried "green herb" but the server didn't know what I was talking about :-/. There wasn't any inside - I agree it would have helped give it some oumph. The exterior was crunchy and browned, and the pork moist and tasty, but we were not pleased with what looked like uncooked dough inside. One quarter of the sandwich was pretty thick and it was almost 1 cm on each side like that... I asked the server if it was normal, and apparently it is. They fill the dough with hot meat and it then steams the bread. The taste is not really like uncooked dough, but it's not as satisfying as a crunchy bread would have been. To be honest, I'd rather have dumplings (and try the fried ones) rather than the sandwich if I return, unless I can ask for the sandwich to be less chewy. Still glad I tried it, next on my list is Antep kabab!! Boy did it smell good when we passed by... after the Chinese :) Fri Jul 24 21:15:49 -0700 2009 4883371 275139 Chocolatine 7 4889557 poor guys,next time show the serve with the picture of coriander, haha Sat Jul 25 08:31:27 -0700 2009 4888978 1094843 chinesefood 7 4890576 I ordered the spicy noodle the last time I went and asked for "more of this *points*" and got a bowl full of cilantro. If it weren't for that, the waitress thought I was asking for table salt :) Sat Jul 25 18:19:46 -0700 2009 4888978 119412 afoodyear 6 4895456 yep, that's it! my parents just helped me perfect the mandarin pronunciation haha - hope i won't butcher it! Mon Jul 27 17:23:32 -0700 2009 4883371 361889 passthatversace 5 4983812 I went there yesterday. I'm the only customer. I ask for coriander. The girl goes what? I start to explain. Green. Herb. Flavour. Then she says ohh .. you want in sandwich ? I nod. I get coriander. The sandwich seems to have less pork than last time and the bread isn't as cooked. Thu Aug 27 14:47:34 -0700 2009 4882528 30876 marblebag 6 5011112 I was there today. Not really sure why it's so popular. Plain flavored food in my opinion. Anyway the sandwich came with cilantro on it and the waitress, a tall girl, had no problem understanding any of my requests. Mon Sep 07 10:51:38 -0700 2009 4983812 55745 hhost.ca 7 5011264 It's popular because it's obviously handmade, pretty authentic and incredibly cheap. Mon Sep 07 12:18:06 -0700 2009 5011112 119412 afoodyear 7 5011277 "Not really sure why it's so popular. Plain flavored food in my opinion." Well, I can tell you why I like it. It is incredibly cheap, and the food it very homey in an Asian way. It tastes like food my mother might make, had she been Chinese instead of Korean. When you grow up with these sorts of flavours, there is an appeal that you don't outgrow. It reminds me of the appeal of hamburgers and hotdogs for Americans, or fish and chips for Brits, or good pasta for Italians. This isn't high-end restaurant food. It is what it is. And you can't possibly match the prices. But it is ok if it isn't your thing, nothing stated anywhere that says we all have to like the same things. As for your comment about plain flavoured food, I am a bit surprised. I would comment that part of what I like about this sort of food is that you can season it to your liking, by combining different ratios of chili oil, black vinegar and soy sauce, all sitting on the table with you. I am very liberal with the condiments when I go. I would also add that some of the other dishes have been very flavourful, including the crystal salad, and the braised lamb dish. Perhaps some of the other dishes might have had more appeal for you. Mon Sep 07 12:22:44 -0700 2009 5011112 89969 moh 8 5011366 Well said Moh! Mon Sep 07 13:08:13 -0700 2009 5011277 259263 bigfellow 1 4971550 I'd really like to know if they do takeouts. Sun Aug 23 21:32:18 -0700 2009 4594933 1084400 mokafeinomane 2 5011148 it was reviewed in this weeks montreal mirror: http://www.montrealmirror.com/2009/090309/resto.html Mon Sep 07 11:09:47 -0700 2009 4975949 39407 wilmagrace 1 5096002 i'd just like to give my own little review on this restaurant. coming from a chinese family where we would hand make our dumplings at home every year (my mom is from the northern province of shan dong), me and my sister weren't really expecting too much from this restaurant. we ordered green onion pancake, lamb and carrot dumplings, the traditional pork and cabbage dumplings and stewed beef noodles. i've got to say, best beef noodles i've ever tasted in my entire life, beats even the one i had in taiwan at a restaurant that is famous for them. great flavor, genuine hand made noodles (the way i loved eating them when i was younger), and stewed beef that almost melts in your mouth. and i forgot to add, very very large portion! the dumplings, hand made too, were wonderful. it reminded me of the dumplings my mom would make for us, in the traditional northern chinese style. lamb was something new, but it was pretty good as well. the green onion pancake was very different that what i am used to eating, thick and much more doughy than fried, and the green onion seemed only to be at the edges. different, but not bad. i can definitely see this being more of a sandwich type of bread as other chowhounders are enjoying it, with the pulled pork, rather than eating as a side dish as i am used to.wasn't able to get the fried dumpling (one of my favorite dishes to order!) but hopefully i can try that again next time :) better than any of the dumpling places back home in los angeles. overall a superb meal that made me and my sister reminisce about home and wish that our parents were there to enjoy it with us, i will definitely go back again! Sun Oct 11 19:02:58 -0700 2009 4594933 1113414 sharkbait88 1 5166581 I found more western people there than before when I got there yesterday.Before there are almost all chinese student. Mon Nov 09 05:51:01 -0800 2009 4594933 1094842 big chowhound 2 5188014 Along with Abu Elias this past weekend, we tried out Maison du Nord on saturday as well. As OP stated, there does seem to be some hygine issues in here. We ordered; Fried Noodles with Pork, Pork sandwich and fried dumplings. I found the noodles to be excellent, you could not even tell that they were fried as they were not greasy at all, pretty cool to watch the noodle guy pull your noodles on the spot. My only issue was something something in the dish was way too salty, I am not one of those "no salt freaks" and it wasn't too the point where it was inedible but I think a touch less salt would have made this plate perfect. The sandwich, overall very tasty but also on the salty side. I found the bread to be fantastic but the sandwich itself was a bit too greasy. I'm assuming (I could be wrong) they have to oil up the bread so in addition to the pork fat it makes for quite a greasy sandwich. I'm wondering if it would be better to hold off on oiling the bread. Cilantro was included in the sandwich. Fried dumplings were ok not much to say about them, I think the flavor got lost due to the fact they were fried. I think the regular steamed dumplings would have been a better option. Overall, I'd go back for the noodles although my stomach didn't quite agree 100%. Tue Nov 17 06:06:33 -0800 2009 5166581 71168 ios94