An after-hours shot of dining room at Tidbit Restaurant. The "dark" side is the former non-smoking section. (Donna Lee/CBC)
Kitty Lee puts up an extra-large order of the Tidbit Deluxe Chow Mein in the kitchen.
For more than 17 years, residents in and around the rural Manitoba town of Carman, located about 60 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, sought their fix of chow mein and chicken balls at Tidbit, the only Chinese restaurant in town.
Owners Sam and Kitty Lee, who had immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1976, moved to Carman from Brandon in 1989 to start the Main Street family restaurant from scratch.
"I find that the town is smaller, so I don't need that [much] manpower to do it, so we can manage on our own," Kitty Lee said.
And, "managing on our own" meant getting the kids— CBC.ca journalist Donna Lee, who was 10 when the restaurant opened, and her younger brother Ryan — bussing tables, answering phones and minding the cash register after school and on weekends.
A close-up shot of the Tidbit Deluxe Chow Mein, a popular dish that includes pork, chicken, bean sprouts, bok choy and onion.
Like the restaurant itself, Tidbit's most popular menu offerings — lemon chicken soo guy, sweet and sour chicken balls, stir-fried chicken and vegetables with almonds — are all made from scratch, Lee said. The process of making a batch of chicken balls, which includes making batter, cutting chicken into bite-size pieces, coating the chicken with the batter and deep-frying the whole package, can take up to half an hour to ensure that they are ready ahead of time.
As for being in a farming town of about 2,500 people, Lee said she enjoys running the only game in town, at least for Chinese food.
"We got a chance to know everybody in town," she said. "It's just kind of more personal thing. It's not like in the city where you don't know many people."
Snow peas with straw mushrooms
- ½ pound of snow peas
- One can whole straw mushrooms
- 3 thin slices ginger
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp oil
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch (or as needed to create sauce-like consistency)
- ½ tsp salt
Wash snow peas and remove stems. Next, drain and rinse straw mushrooms. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok. Add ginger slices and salt to wok and stir-fry for a minute. Add snow peas and straw mushrooms. Then, pour in chicken broth and keep stir-frying for about three minutes. Add cornstarch as needed to thicken broth until it results in a sauce. Serve with rice.
Serves 2-4 people.
Tidbit Restaurant, Main Street S., Carman, MB
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