Cynthia Cheng

When one thinks of a stir-fry bar, one generally sees fast food. However, nothing can be further than the truth at Fire & Ice. Located off of Highway 404 and Highway 7 in Markham, this restaurant is different. It marries the typical stir-fry bar with traditional sit-down service.

Like a regular restaurant, customers order their meals from a menu at their tables. Items range from traditional stir-fry meals such as chicken, vegetarian and beef, known as “single protein” choices, to more unique dishes, which are a mix of several different proteins. After ordering, the server gives the customers a slip, where they then and take to a counter where they pick the vegetables, noodles and sauce. There is a wide variety of veggies to choose from, including bok choy, onions, carrots, spinach and broccoli. There are several choices of noodles as well, including egg white noodles and whole wheat noodles. However, Fire & Ice did not have rice noodles. Perhaps people did not want to have rice noodles if they were also eating rice? Each meal comes with a choice of white, brown or basmati rice.

After the food was handed to the chef, customers could help themselves to the salad bar. Unfortunately, the salad bar was dreadful. There was one huge bowl of iceberg lettuce, which looked a little yellowed and the pasta salad looked like it was more mayonnaise than pasta. The corn and chickpeas were, in contrast, much better. Of course, one can’t be too critical of the salad. Fire & Ice is a stir-fry restaurant after all.

After the disappointing salad, my dining partner and I were looking forward to the main meal. Unlike the salad, our main course was much better, even if they added a little too much sauce. The great thing about stir fry meals is that it’s the vegetables that make the meal taste better. My dining partner, who isn’t a vegetable fan, ended up practically cleaning his plate!

When it came time for dessert, we were a little disappointed at the lack of choice with ice cream. Customers had the choice between vanilla ice cream and mango sherbet. What happened to the chocolate? It would also have been great if they had a few Asian flavours, such as red bean or green tea.

While the first and final courses were not the greatest, I would still recommend Fire & Ice. Not only is the concept of a sit down stir-fry bar interesting, but its cave-like decor – the “ice” part of the restaurant is too.

Fire & Ice is located at 25 Cochrane Drive in Markham.  To book reservations, please call 905-947-1900 or book via their website.