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Chinese
GunGun Rice Noodle
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When Dan Li came from China to Toronto where she met and fell in love with her girlfriend, Vanessa, among the many decisions the couple made about their future was the name they’d give to their first daughter: GunGun.
In Chinese, GunGun is a wish for imminent luck and prosperity (not to be confused with a single “Gun”, which as Li mischievously points out means “fuck off”). It was a wish very much on the couple’s mind during the pandemic, when the Japanese restaurant where Li was employed as manager and associate chef, was struggling to stay solvent.
Amid such uncertainty, and to make ends meet, Li fell back on what she knew best: the immensely popular rice noodles of her home country, which she began preparing and selling out of a ghost kitchen. Her efforts were so successful that Dan and Vanessa decided to open up their first restaurant, an establishment so dear to their hearts (and filled with promise) that they christened it GunGun.
Perched strategically on the corner of Yonge, just north of Wellesley, GunGun Rice Noodles’ white neon sign glows like a beacon signalling to its significant Chinese clientele that they can get their home country’s home-cooked comfort food fix here. Bright and cheery, the restaurant’s minimalist interior glows as well. In addition to more white neon, the soft light cast from overhead spots and a row of modern Chinese-style lanterns reflect on the shiny surfaces of a half-dozen wooden tables and a counter overlooking Yonge Street’s constant action.
Affixed to the walls at regular intervals, bilingual (Chinese and English) paper menus inform customers of the small, but constantly growing menu of possibilities, with the list of rice noodles – currently boasting seven options – taking pride of place in large, bold print.
Rice noodles are ubiquitous throughout China, but Li hails from Hunan province, which has earned particular fame for its centuries’ old noodle-making traditions. Despite this pedigree, when developing the noodles prepared at GunGun, Li cast a wide net.
“In China, each region, each city, even each small village has their own recipes and flavours,” confesses Li, recounting how she travelled around the country on a taste-testing mission. As a result of her investigative forays into the preparation of noodles at street stands and market stalls, the broths served at GunGun draw on various influences and feature some unique combinations.
For example, Li’s own personal fave, the Spicy Pickle Noodle, is made using four different types of pickled chilies, reflecting the type of piquancy popular in Sichuan, along with pickled mustard greens, a signature ingredient in Yunnan. If you like heat – not just simple heat, but complex heat – this broth, fierce and fiery in all the right ways, will get you stoked. On its own, it’s a force to be reckoned with, but for extra taste and texture, try the Crispy Pork version, which includes a heaping pile of tender pork strips enveloped in an aromatically seasoned, delicately crunchy batter.
To diners who grew up on Campbell’s tomato soup, GunGun’s Tomato broth will be both vaguely familiar, but also quite a surprise. According to Li, tomato rice noodles are big in certain regions of China, even though the natural tomato flavour is often masked by excessive MSG, sugar and artificial flavours. To appeal to Canadian palates, Dan uses concentrated Italian tomato paste along with sun-dried tomatoes, their umami richness merging with the chicken broth and a sneaky dose of shrimp paste. “Chinese find the flavours weird, but Canadians love it,” she admits.
Deceptively simple, but perhaps most uniquely personal is Li’s Original Chicken Broth. The inspiration for the recipe came from a woman who owned a small, rice noodle stand next door to Li’s house in China. “She served chicken rice noodles only at night, for late dinners, for people with hangovers, or just to warm you up.” Memories of that broth infuse Dan’s version which integrates sesame paste balanced with peanut butter and also includes ground pork.
In addition to noodles, all of GunGun’s bowls come with an array of regular toppings: bok choy, fluffy tofu puffs, delicately textured strands of tofu skin, briny kelp, quails’ eggs and chives. In truth, “bowl” is a misnomer viewed the fact that all of the rice noodles are unexpectedly, but quite wonderfully served in individual pots, custom-made according to Li’s specifications and memories of her grandmother’s traditional cookware.
“I went back to China and visited this small village where I asked if they could make these pots for me,” she recalls. “Because they’re aluminum, they keep the broth and noodles warm. And they never break!”
Since pots are bigger than bowls, it goes without saying that portions at GunGun are supremely generous. Moreover, Li offers as many free “refills” of noodles as you can slurp down. However, should you find yourself in a severely ravenous state, for a small price you can get extra toppings, or even opt for a side dish.
Like the main noodle menu, the list of sides has expanded since GunGun first opened. Among the most popular classics is the crispy fried chicken strips (available on their own or stuffed into a sandwich). But there are also more unusual (to Canadian palates) options such as beef tripe with sesame sauce and spicy sesame paste gluten.
Not to be missed is the braised pork belly bun. Channelling a rich, creamy (but not fatty) paté, the tender chunks of pork are seasoned with fragrant spices including ginger and star anise. They’re served sandwiched between a house-made “bun” whose light layers of flakiness bring to mind phyllo pastry.
To drink, there’s a small assortment of non-alcoholic Chinese beverages. The Jia Duo Bao iced Herbal Tea is refreshingly crisp, not to mention healthy with a mixture of medicinal herbs that includes white frangipani, honeysuckle and licorice root. There’s also Suanmeitang, a commercial version of a centuries-old sweet and sour plum drink with an alluringly smoky taste.
Although the majority of GunGun’s orders are take-out, the central location, unfussy, relaxed ambience and rare chance to enjoy rice noodles out of your very own custom-made pot, makes it worthwhile to show up – and slurp down – in person.
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