Commerce Gate Dynasty Cuisine - Toronto

Finally, our last stop in Toronto or to be more specific, Richmond Hill, is to have some good dim sum.  Mom usually goes here on her way home as she loves the quality of food they serve here.  On top of that, if you come early, before the big dim sum rush, all items on the menu are marked the same low price.

The place is a little hard to get to and find the parking lot.  We had to take a few turns around before dad was able to give me the correct directions.  It does not help that Hwy 7 is under construction.  The restaurant is located on the second floor on the corner of the building.  All along the side are big giant windows that look out on Hwy 7 and the surrounding area.  The view is actually quite nice and helps make the place much brighter and open.  The dim sum is ordered by marking them off on a paper and they bring out the food for us.  They had all the standard fare dim sum food.  Of note, the steamed ground beef balls were much better than in Ottawa.  Better flavour and texture.  The BBQ pork buns were also extra tasty.  Sadly, they did not have any egg tarts!  Very disappointed about that.  The service here was pretty good.  They did smile and we did get prompt service.  They do need to clean up their restrooms more. 

Overall, the mix of the open restaurant, decent service, good food and cheap prices, this place is a great place to visit for dim sum.  Make sure you do come early, or you will not get that discount.  We will be back!

Review (out of 5):

Food: * * *1/2

Value: * * * * 

Atmosphere: * * * 1/2

Service: * * * *
Price Range: $ 7- $12 (Dim sum)
Website: http://www.dynastycuisine.ca/index.html

LAIDOH Resturaunt - Toronto

One of the things I remember when I was growing up and visiting my grandparents in Hong Kong was what my mom called, "Hong Kong Breakfast".  This was not dim sum, but actually an interesting combination of breakfast cultures.  There would be congee, and fried noodles, but the main type of food was macaroni soup, or instant noodles served with ham and a fried egg.  This sounds very weird to most, I am sure, but for me, it brought back a flood of memories when my mom told me that you could now get this in Toronto.

The place is in the Splendid China mall across the street from the Pacific Mall.  It's a small place, but it opens early enough to have breakfast.  The place reminded me quite a bit like a Hong Kong Diner.  Mom and the "boss" had congee while dad and I had the noodles, meat and ham.  This all came with some buttered toast as well.  The service was good, since we were the only ones there bright and early, the place was clean and the food was what I expected.  The noodles are instant noodles, as they should be, and the congee was good as well.

The cost for food here was very cheap and cash only.  The food did its job at bringing back memories of Hong Kong.  For a cheap, Hong Kongs style breakfast, I will be back for sure!

Review (out of 5):

Food: * * *

Value: * * * * 

Atmosphere: * * * 

Service: * * * *
Price Range: $10 - $25

Hipot Hot Pot - Toronto

Next on the list on cultural experiences is hot pot.  Hotpot is usually a meal had over the winter, because of how the meal will also heat up your home.  The meal consists of having a big bowl of boiling broth, and you get served big platters of raw meats, and veggies.  Everyone then takes the food, and cooks it themselves in the broth, and then you can eat it, or dip it in some of the sauces they have at the table.  The more stuff you cook, the more flavour the broth becomes. I think this meal was the hardest for the "boss" due to cooking raw foods in with other foods in the broth.  For me, this was all the norm as I have had this since I was little, so I guess my stomach is able to handle whatever comes at me from this meal.

This type of meal is now becoming more and more popular in Canada with the growing population of Asians.  This is my first time having it at a restaurant.  The location was a little hard to get to with all the construction out front, but the place was clean.  There were many tables, all ranging from a few very big round tables of 10-12 to the smaller tables of 4.  We showed up late, around 7pm, and we had to wait about 10 mins.  Very popular place.  The location was bustling and noisy, as everyone in the place was having a good time.  The space to move around was a little cramped as beyond the main tables, there were a lot of smaller side tables to help hold all the raw foods (The main table has your bowls, chopsticks and the big pot of broth).  Service wise, the place was overly busy for the number of staff.  They were all running around trying to serve everyone with little luck.  Once we did get our order in, there was a decent number of broth refills when we did get low.

The food was very fresh and had a decent selection.  The main staples were beef, chicken, beef and shrimp balls, whole shrimp, a variety of veggies, oysters, lamb and I think mom ordered 4 lobsters.  Everything was very tasty and I was very full by the end of the night.  The food you order is all you can eat, so you end up paying a flat price and you get a selection from that bracket.  There are higher brackets, and that opens up more selection of meats, and seafood.  The down side is that there were still things that were extra, such as eggs, and if you wanted to start with a more spicy or flavoured broth.

Overall, this is a lot easier and cheaper than doing hotpot yourself at home.  The time it takes to slice everything, the clean-up and selection is a very good choice.  This is not for everyone, as the boss was a little more uncomfortable with the idea, but she still tried everything!  The service left something to be desired (it seems to be a common theme on the trip), and as clean as everything was, the place was cramped.  I was still go back here if I had a craving for hot pot but not go back regularly.  Sadly I do not have much to compare it with, but home cooking.

When we left, 2 hours later, there was still people waiting at the door for seats.

PS:  Quick warning, the menu is only in chinese.

Review (out of 5):

Food: * * * 1/2

Value: * * *  

Atmosphere: * * 1/2

Service: **

Price Range: $25 - $35

Keung's delight - Toronto

We took trip down to Toronto recently and we got the "boss" exposed to some more asian culture food than she is used to that is not "canadianized".  

The first place we went to was a small place in Markham called Keung's Delight.  This is traditionally a congee place with a mix of noodles,  rice dishes and veggies.  For those who do not know what congee is,  it is most easily describede as Asian rice porridge as the plain porridge.  After that, you can have many different varieties when you start adding different ingredients, such as chicken, beef or eggs.

We ordered a nice variety of things for our lunch.  I had a beef congee and my parents had one with some seafood in theirs.  The congee was actually really well done and had lots of flavor.  Sadly, since the boss is allergic to scallops,  this place uses dried scallops in their soup base so she ended up not having any at this place.  In addition to the congee, dad ordered a fried noodle dish, as well as a free ranged quarter chicken cooked on the bone.  The checks is cooked in almost a steamed or boiled style, so the meat was very tender.  For myself, one of my favorite things to order in a Chinese restaurant is the Asian breadstick wrapped in a rice noodle.  Lastly,  mom ordered a bowl of won tons.  These were surprisingly very large in size and with very good size shrimp within.  

The food was very good and a nice experience of a more traditional congee dining.  The location is very clean, open and with lots of light.  Plenty of parking too which for me, is a great bonus being in the middle of Markham.  The staff I found was slow and did not pay much attention to the diners.  They spent much time standing in the middle chatting which I was not very happy about.  When we asked out waitress recommendations,  they did try to help as best they could but in the end,  they were to very helpful.  Price wise,  this is where they shine.  The food is cheap.  For the quality of food,  this alone makes it worth visiting again.

Next time we are in the area and have a craving for congee,  we will be back for sure!!

Review (out of 5):

Food: * * * 

Value: * * * 1/2 

Atmosphere: * * * 

Service: * 1/2

Price Range: $12 - $20