ISO really good General Tao chicken

[chuang]

Hubby and I are tired of Asian Legend's GTC (it's gotten worse over the years) and tried Congee Wong's "new plate" of GTC, which was awful (batter and fat deep fried, with a sad, bland sauce). Major craving for some excellent GTC!! Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Matt H]

I always used to love the GTC at Big Mouth Kee in Richmond Hill. It is usually a dish I do not like in general, but they made it a guilty pleasure of mine.

[Crispier Crouton]

Don't eat the stuff myself but my friends used to really love the Gen Tao at Yueh Tung on Dundas W and Elizabeth St.

They may or may not call it "chili chicken". Here's a photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kancil/1...

[simplepieman]

Yueh Tung's "Szechuan Chicken" is closer in style to General Tao than their "Chili Chicken". The Szechuan chicken comes with a sticky sweet/hot sauce. No broccoli or any other vegetable, though.

[Crispier Crouton]

Hm, now I remember what they'd order. They called it "Manchurian Chicken". It's probably some pseudo-Hakka dish. All these names confuse me-- I don't know if these dishes are distinct or synonymous or what.

[simplepieman]

They're similar but not identical. Chili chicken has hot peppers and chopped onions, and Manchurian chicken has hot peppers, chopped garlic and ginger, and coriander. All three dishes start with fried dark-meat chicken.

[Musta]

Try the Spadina Garden at Bay and Dundas. Really good hot and sour too.

[TorontoJo]

I'm with cheeser as to the state of my experience, but the version of the dish at C'est Bon is good. Big chunks of real, white meat chicken, lightly battered and fried and tossed in a sticky, sweet and spicy sauce. It's my husbands favourite dish there.

[cheeser]

I don't have a good reference point for General Tao chicken as I haven't sampled enough to really know. It's pretty much a North American invention. On the odd occasion, I will have lunch at the Kowloon Dim Sum Restaurant on Baldwin where they offer cheap Chinese take out for us lunch goers. Their General Tao chicken is pretty tasty - the sauce has a nice sweet and spicy kick to it, and the chicken chunks seem decently sized. The fry batter has a slight fragrant aroma to it...can't quite put my finger on it (I won't question it). Their rice has a nice texture, and everything is piping hot! (which I assume means it's freshly made). It's not haute cuisine, but decent for a $4.99 lunch.

[ARisen]

If you're uptown, try the General Tao at Thai Basil Garden located at Dufferin and Finch. Its the best one I've ever had