December 1st, 2020 and I officially cannot remember the last time Stephen and I enjoyed a meal inside a restaurant (I looked it up, it was October 2019). Eating out was such an integral part of my day to day routine and something I’ve missed dearly this year. The continuous announcements of Toronto restaurant closures have been disheartening and a constant reminder to support local businesses. Stephen and I have been trying to order takeout at least once a week from local spots since the summer and I’m eager to start sharing our food adventures again, albeit with a 2020 lens. First up is Yu Seafood, our new go to dimsum restaurant, which surprisingly we had never been to pre-pandemic.

Ordering: My preference is to order pickup directly from restaurants, avoiding any third party apps and additional fees for myself and the restaurant. Lots of restaurants have set up their own online ordering platforms, which greatly increases the ease of placing an order. Yu Seafood uses Snappy, a platform also used by Chatime and many Chinese restaurants in the GTA. The menu is English and Chinese. There are no photos so the first few times I ordered, lots of time was spent Google translating the Chinese menu names. Now that we’ve ordered from them several times, it’s not an issue to distinguish BBQ Pork Bun Pastry with Baked BBQ Pork Bun Pastry. Your order history is also stored for reference. We try to place our order during off peak times, weekday lunch or early weekend lunch time, to avoid any delays. I have heard of very long order times during events like Mother’s day but we’ve had no issues so far.

Pickup: Once your order is ready for pickup, a text message is sent for notification. Our house is a 15-20 minutes drive to Yu Seafood and we place our order right before we leave. 4/5 times, the order is ready by the time we arrive. Masks are required for entry and your temperature is checked by a gate using your wrist. You do have to walk through the dining area to the cash to pick up (now that indoor dining is allowed there are people at the tables) but it is a one way track to the exit through a side door. Overall the pickup experiences we’ve had have all been quick and felt safe. We do purposefully avoid peak times.

Food: Prices per dish range from $3.60 to $6.30, quite reasonable for the quality and serving size. Our bill totals ~$80 each meal for Stephen, myself, Alivia and a set of grandparents with plenty of leftovers. Each dish is packed in a leak proof takeout container, which we wash to reuse and have now amassed quite the collection.

By now, I’ve tired 90% of their dim sum menu and all of the items are fresh, delicious and flavourful. The classics, har gow and siu mai, both transport great. Meat dishes like chicken feet, steamed tripe and steamed spare ribs also stay warm and don’t lose much of the experience with takeout. Similarly the baked and steamed buns still taste great at home. I do find the texture on the rice rolls can get a bit chewy once the dish cools and the fried dishes are not as crispy compared to fresh at a restaurant.

Some of our new staple dishes from Yu Garden are their BBQ Pork Puff Pastry, so flakey, and Deep Fried Durian Puff Pastry for Stephen, so fragrant. Alivia loves their Steamed Sweet Egg Yolk Layer Cake that’s soft and airy, and always asks if we ordered the black buns (Bamboo Charcoal & Egg Yolk Bun). We’ve also tried their Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling with Foie Gras Paste, but prefer the normal steamed shrimp dumplings. The foie gras was subtle.

Overall, pickup from Yu Seafood has been a delicious treat this year and has become our new way of satisfying those dim sum cravings.

When The Hubby proposed, after saying yes, our first biggest decision was where to host the wedding. We knew we wanted a Chinese style banquet and with Lai Wah Heen’s reputation as Toronto’s best dim sum restaurant, they were one of our top choices. When I was invited to attend Lai Wah Heen’s Fall Tasting Dinner, I cleared my calendar.

Atmosphere: Lai Wah Heen is located in the Double Tree hotel and has been the standard for upscale Chinese food in the city for over 20 years. The classic restaurant is frequented often by Chinese celebrities visiting Toronto and is still the go to place for my parents friend when celebrating a special occasion. On a Tuesday night, the restaurant was quiet with only a few tables filled. Decor was elegant and traditional with white table cloths and warm lighting.

Food: We were treated to a 10 course meal, including 2 giant lobsters cooked 4 ways, Peking Duck carved tableside and two types of claypot rice. A few of the dishes featured more Western ingredients like foie gras, which were interesting. To me, I found Lai Wah Heen excelled more with the traditional Cantonese items, but every dish was delicious.

Our full Tasting Menu consisted of the following dishes:

• Peking Duck with shredded Scallions and Cucumbers on Steamed Rice Crepes
• Foie Gras and Seared Scallop
• Fried Truffle wonton in Clear Consomme
• Deep-fried Lamb rack with Truffle and Assorted Mushrooms
• Wok-Cooked Boneless Chicken with Fish maw in Chinese Wine Broth
• Wok-Cooked Quail flavoured with Soy Bean Sauce
• Nova Scotia Jumbo Lobster cooked 4 ways
• Claypot Rice with Quail
• Claypot Rice with Eel
• Glutinous Rice Ball
• Chinese Pearl Glazed with light Osmanthus Syrup

With the Foie Gras and Scallop appetizer, I liked the seared version over the deep fried ones. With the foie gras, the simplicity of the cooking technique focused the dish on the quality of the ingredient while the deep fried version was a bit heavy on batter. The clear consomme with the crispy fried truffle was savoury and the filling of the wonton was bursting with flavour. Of the 4 lobster dishes, my favourite was the steamed lobster with garlic. The simple seasoning highlighted the natural flavour of the tender lobster.

My favourite dishes were the Wok Cooked chicken with fish maw, served over a hot flame, which reduced the broth as we ate. After some time, the fish maw had soaked up a ton of flavour and the broth was thick and concentrated. I also really liked the flavours of the wok-cooked quail, which was savoury and incredibly tender. The deep-fried lamb rack was lightly battered, gamey and the hint of truffle oil added a punch of umami.

Currently, Lai Wah Heen is offering 2 coupons allowing their customers to enjoy their Peking Duck and Lobster dinner at a special discounted price. Simply present the coupon before ordering (be sure to double check the fine print). Lai Wah Heen continues to serve up delicious, elevated, Chinese cuisine while testing out new innovative menu items.

My time in Hong Kong this summer centred around The Hubby’s childhood memories and traditions. One thing he always does when in Hong Kong is pop over the border to Luoho Commercial City in Shenzhen for custom tailored suits. I tagged along to help pick out fabrics, get a foot massage and grab dim sum.

We took a train from Mong Kok to the border, passed through customs and was greeted by a the giant 5 storey shopping centre filled with small shops (think Pacific Mall) from clothing to accessories, shoes and electronics. There were no brand name stores and many offered wholesale pricing and quantities. We headed straight to the “tailor” section of the building, which was filled with small shops and packed with samples. The Hubby’s family has been visiting the same tailor for as long as he could remember. We flipped through a magazine of suit styles and settled on one before moving on to thick books of fabric swatches. Throughout all this, I assumed his aunts agreed to pricing and bargained it out in Cantonese while we focused on just shopping. The Hubby ended up ordering three suits, which his aunts helped pick up and ship to Canada.

After our main goal for the trip was done, we were rewarded with dim sum at Laurel Restaurant, located on the 5th floor of Luoho Commercial City. The large restaurant was very busy and hectic with every table filled and a line outside. We ordered a table full of dishes and none disappointed, I especially enjoyed the hot clay pot dishes and flakey bbq pork roll. I found the skin on the shrimp dumplings a little thick, but the chicken feet were tender and juicy. Of all the meals in Hong Kong, this one was the closest in style and flavour to Cantonese restaurants in Toronto. Service was efficient and professional.

Another early morning dim sum outing dragged me out of bed at 8am (after a wedding the previous night) to queue up outside of Dragon Boat Fusion Cuisine. When The Hubby and I pulled into the parking lot of Dragon Boat Fusion, at quarter to 9am, there was already a long line. Since the parking lot was small and it was challenging to find a spot closeby, I hopped out first to secure our spot while he parked. On a weekend, I would highly recommend coming before the doors open.

Atmosphere: Dragon Boat Fusion is one of the classier Chinese restaurants uptown. Popular for weddings, new year banquets and special events, the decor was tasteful and featured lots of gold and red elements. Each table was set with crisp white tablecloths and contemporary chinaware. Square dim sum steamers was branded with the restaurant name and logo. A wall display of wine bottles greeted customers in the lobby and 8 large fishtanks housed an impressive display of fresh seafood.

Service: Despite the refined atmosphere, service during dim sum was a mess. When the doors opened, chaos ensued. Everyone streamed into the restaurant and ran to a table, there was no semblance of order and the staff didn’t even try to assign tables. It was like a mass game of musical chairs, if you took too long to sit down, all of the tables could be taken, regardless of where you were in line outside. Practically all of the large tables were occupied by 1 or 2 people holding them down. Many still didn’t have a full party by the time we left and the line outside snaked around the building. When we were trying to place our order, we were also consciously ignored at least 3 times. I’m not sure if the servers were waiting to collect multiple orders at a certain time, but it would’ve been nice to be told, rather than having them make eye contact and promptly walk away. Even with lower expectations, the service was dismal. It was near impossible to get a teapot refills, but the bill came quickly.

Food: Honestly, I’m torn between rating Dragon Boat 3.0 or 4.0. We had such a poor experience but the food was really good. Good enough for me to deal with lousy service for at least one return visit. Between 4 people, we ordered 8 dishes in total and I thought 6 were above par. There is a reason the restaurant is so popular and I couldn’t disagree.

Deep Fried Taro with Quail Egg – Very crispy, like a small bird’s nest, warm creamy taro filling and soft boiled quail egg.
Chestnut Pumpkin and Corn Congee – Surprising hit, I didn’t expect the rich colour or large portion. Nuttiness from the chestnut, sweetness from the pumpkin and corn, was filling and tasty/
Steamed Tripe – Tender with lots of ginger and green onion.
Steamed Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf – These rolls came out wrapped in parchment paper, on top of the lotus leaves, easier to share than traditional Zongzi but not as flavourful.
Shrimp Dumplings – Decoration shrimp was cute, but overcooked, dumplings themselves were only ok. The skin was sticky and thicker than other dim sum restaurants.
Rice Roll with Dough Fritter – Loved the addition of bonito flakes, the dough fritters were crispy was served with lots of sauce. The style of presentation allowed for maximum saturation.
Baked BBQ Pork Bun – Golden, crispy topping, fluffy bun with lots of filling, would happily order this again.
Steamed Chicken Feet – This dish arrived last, we thought it was actually forgotten and was ready to cancel it when it appeared. I found the chicken feet cooked well, the skin was soft and fell off the bone and was well seasoned.

If service was cleaned up, Dragon Boat Fusion could easily be a great restaurant. Perhaps dinner is a completely different experience than the craziness of weekend dim sum. For now, I’m conflicted.

I’ve been on a dimsum kick the last month. This has included several great meals uptown and one unforgettable lunch midtown. Yes midtown. In a neighbourhood known better for fried chicken and brunch, Kwan has brought delectable, authentic dim sum dishes to Yonge and St. Clair. Midtown is seriously lacking options for good Chinese food, if Kwan is the beginning of a new influx, I for one can’t wait.

Atmosphere: Sitting comfortably between mid to upscale, Kwan was a stunning, elegant restaurant. Each wall was decorated with geometric display shelves, lit with spotlights. The shelf at the reception was filled with tea boxes, the one behind the bar had bottles and at the back of the main dining room, a beautiful redwood shelf with intricately carved corners displayed porcelain vases. I loved how the bar was decorated like an apothecary table with round drawer pulls. Kwan would be a great venue for a date, special occasion or treating-myself-to-a-nice-lunch-during-the-week.

Service: In addition to the lovely space, Kwan offered great service. Our server was patient, friendly and efficient. One of the girls I was meeting for lunch had stopped by Uncle Tetsu before hand and we dug into a cheesecake right after the meal. Our server was super accommodating, offering us clean plates and cutlery when we were happy to simply re-use our chopsticks and eat out of the box (classy). He was also apologetic about our food taking some time to arrive, when honestly we didn’t even notice. I felt like he was truly invested in how much we enjoyed our time at the restaurant.

Food: Two points to get out of the way before diving into the details. One, the food was amazing. Two, it was more expensive than Markham. Personally, I think there is room for dim sum to be a fine dining experience. In Hong Kong, dim sum restaurants come in a wide range of price points and there isn’t a direct correlation between money spent and how delicious the meal is. Yes I will always love cheap dim sum, but I also appreciate excellent service, intricate details and elevated classics, which Kwan delivered in spades. I also noticed that for the dish size, the pricing wasn’t high ($3 for small, $4 for medium, $5 for large) but many dishes that would usually be counted as small, were medium or large at Kwan.

Now to the nitty gritty. Lunch started with two baskets of steamed dumplings, har gow and scallop with shrimp, water chestnut, egg yolk and cabbage. Both of the dumplings had a flavourful filling and were piping hot. The skins weren’t 100% translucent, but they were a chewy consistency and didn’t stick to anything. Next were steamed tripe and chicken feet. The tripe was tender and on par with many dim sum restaurants. The chicken feet were awesome. Sweet, savoury and the skin melted off the bone. Kwan had one of the best chicken feet I’ve had before in the GTA.

Moving away from steamed dishes, we tried the fried calamari and pan grilled turnip cake next. I liked the strip of seaweed wrapped around the turnip cake, which added a different texture and bit of umami to each piece. The calamari was fried perfectly, not oily and served in a “bird’s nest”.

Of all the dishes, the steamed rice roll with tofu and pea sprouts was the most untraditional and one of the best. Sheets of rice roll was wrapped around salted, deep fried tofu and fresh pea sprouts. All of the ingredients tasted fresh, as if just made from scratch and had lots of natural flavour. I really need to try the other filling options.

We ended lunch with a steamer of Steamed Golden Lava Buns (aka Leaky Sand Buns). While the filling could have been more fluid, the bun was soft, fluffy and the taste was on point. Again, I need to go back and try all of the other desserts.

Low price, good quality dim sum is one of the few things that will get me out of bed at 9am on a Saturday. Unfortunately, many people feel the same way. This means, having to queue up before Richlane opens at 10am to guarantee a table during the first seating. From 10am to 11am, all dim sum plates are priced at the cost of small ones. We found out on this visit, the same special pricing is offered during afternoon tea, from 2pm-4pm.

Atmosphere: The building where Richlane was located looked like an office building, but the first floor was full of restaurants. Although the location was out of the way, this meant there was plenty of parking. I was surprised by how spacious and elegant the restaurant was. The main dining room had high open ceilings to the second floor and the walls were decorated with an Asian floral motif. White porcelain table settings were placed on ivory linen tablecloths. There were additional dining areas upstairs and downstairs. In the main room, there were only a few tables for large groups (8+) and they were taken up quickly. Many parties sent one or two representatives to line up for and occupy tables.

Service: With the initial rush of people and orders, there was definite delay in the kitchen at the start of the meal. Once service started though, the kitchen constantly pumped out dishes. The order sheet had two columns to keep track of multiple orders. For a busy Chinese restaurant, I found service to be average, abrupt but efficient. Our tea was refilled after waving someone down and it took some time to get the bill but overall, not terrible.

Food: Between 5 of us, we ordered 11 different dishes and egg tarts for dessert. Richlane made very good rice rolls, to the point where we ordered two, one with dough fritter and another with bbq pork. The plate was served with a decanter of sauce we could pour liberally to our content. The dough fritter was crispy and fresh.

The deep fried taro dumplings were flaky, light, with a flavourful filling and the turnip cakes had a great smooth texture. One of the main draws at Richlane are their baked BBQ pork buns. I was weary when the mostly white buns arrived but the tops were surprisingly crispy. A nice change from the regular steamed BBQ pork buns.

For steamed dishes, we tried the shrimp dumplings, beef meatballs, tripe, chicken feet and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf. The skins on the shrimp dumpling were a touch thick and the chicken feet were under seasoned and not tender. The meatballs, tripe and sticky rice were much better and on par with most dim sum restaurants in the neighbourhood.

Dessert were milk egg tarts, which had less egg flavour than regular ones. The pastry was flakey but the filling had sunk quite a bit.

Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the dishes and can’t wait for a repeat visit, next time though I’ll be checking out the afternoon dim sum special.

Ginger and Onion Cuisine is a Chinese restaurant located next to Pacific Mall in Markham. They offer push cart style dim sum during lunch and there is usually a wait for tables on the weekend.

Atmosphere: Saturday at 10am is pretty close to peak for dim sum and the restaurant was bustling. We didn’t have to wait for a table, but those arriving after us did. Parking this close to Pacific Mall always gives me anxiety, so I would recommend visiting early to beat the crowd. Ginger and Onion catered to families and large groups with many round tables and multiple private dining sections. The decor was outdated, but comfortable and a little kitschy with golden dragons.

Service: With push cart style dim sum, I find service is always hit or miss. Either the carts are efficient, a good variety and multi-lingual or they get stuck in between tables, run out of food before it reaches your table and the same cart with spring rolls laps your table 5 times. At Ginger and Onion, it was a bit of both. Space between tables were tight and we witnessed a few traffic jams. The ladies were nice enough to leave their stuck carts and serve tables nearby. The dishes were only called out in Cantonese. To no fault of the restaurant, I found diners were very proactive (aggressive). People would look into steamers themselves and run up to carts as they exited the kitchen. For the popular dishes, it was a battle.

Food: Of the 12 dishes we ordered (11 pictured), 5 were above par, 5 were on par, only 1 below par and 1 dish that isn’t my favourite anywhere.

Above par dishes:
My two favourite dishes of the meal were the braised chicken feet and dessert, two giant ma tuan. The chicken feet were steamed until tender and the seasoned skin fell off the bone. Flavours were rich and deep. As for the ma tuan, a hollow mochi ball, deep fried and rolled in sesame seeds, I ate the lion’s share and could have easily finished the plate myself. This was a dish we chased the cart for. Even better, we had a saucer of sugar from another dish and I dipped the hot pieces of mochi into the sugar. It was brilliant.

I also enjoyed the blood soup, savoury but not too strong with a tofu-like texture, the water dumplings, another dish made using glutinous rice flour and the sweet bbq pork buns. Clearly, my sweet tooth was overactive that day.

On par dishes:
Whenever I go to dim sum, I end up ordering the same dishes. Ginger and Onion served up my standard order on par with other dim sum restaurants in Markham. I will happily continue to re-order these dishes.

• Shrimp Dumplings – Wrappers were thin and a bit chunky but the filling was delicious
• Rice roll filled with Minced Beef – Served with lots of sauce
• Steamed Tripe – Tender
• Steamed Pork Short Ribs with Black Bean Sauce – Lots of cooking wine used, super umami
• Deep Fried Squid Legs – Lightly battered

Wouldn’t Order Again:
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of beef offal and wouldn’t order the dish myself. However, the fiance’s family likes this dish and they enjoyed the bowl at Ginger and Onion. The only dish I was truly disappointed with was the Zongzi, especially as the presentation was so promising. A cart rolled by with a large tray of steaming Zongzi and the cart lady unwrapped them for you once you ordered. Sadly, the sticky rice balls weren’t flavourful and was short on filling.

During university, I often ate dim sum at Sky Dragon Chinese Cuisine. The Spadina, Dundas location was prime and they could always accommodate a large group of hungry students. It helped that prices were low. I could eat a full meal for close to $12 after tax and tip. Prices per dish has increased, but our bill on my last visit was still only $14/person on a Saturday.

Atmosphere: Sky Dragon has been around for over a decade and it shows in the worn out decor. The furniture is dated and the tables are covered with sheets of plastic. Somehow it feels right. I’m there for good, well-priced dim sum and they deliver. Dishes are served cart style, my favourite way to eat dim sum, circulating the dining area filled with families, students and tourists.

Service: Over the years I’ve been frequenting Sky Dragon, service has ranged from standard to terrible, I-don’t-want-to-leave-a-tip bad. The ladies pushing the carts usually speak Cantonese and some broken English so if you’re new to dim sum, it’s easiest to dine with someone able to translate or to order with your eyes and be adventurous. Like many Chinese restaurants, we were left alone unless we seeked out a hostess.

Food: I find ordering dim sum for two people challenging. Usually, I end up eating too much because I just want a bite of 10 dishes, but instead I need to eat 2 or 3. On this Saturday, I limited myself to 6 plates and a bowl of tofu pudding (豆腐花) for dessert. We started with bbq pork buns and a zongzi filled with glutinous rice. The buns were airy and bbq pork on point, while the zongzi needed a bit more meaty filling.

Next were a tray each of shrimp dumplings and siumai, dimsum favourites. The plump dumplings had a thin wrapper that wasn’t sticky and a delicious filling. The siumai were also very flavourful, while wrapped a little sloppy. To add some green to our the meal, I ordered a plate of blanched micro sprouts. Served alongside the bowl of fresh vegetables was a chilli, soy and black vinegar dipping sauce. The dish was refreshing and a nice change in between the savoury dishes. Our last plate was julienned carrots and bean sprouts rolled in tofu sheets and pan fried, reminiscent of egg rolls.

Sky Dragon has expanded their menu offerings as I saw plates of Kalbi walk by and it is always possible to order from their full menu. While a little rundown, I’ve never had a bad meal with them and they’ll continue to be my go-to spot for dim sum in Chinatown.

During our flight to Maui back in April, The Fiance and I had a stopover in Vancouver for 6 hours. Instead of sitting around the airport for all that time, we met up with a friend who was wonderful enough to pick us up from the airport and take us on a quick tour of the island. A tour that had to include a dim sum meal.

Atmosphere: From the large array of dim sum restaurants in Vancouver, we chose Continental Seafood Restaurant based on reviews and mainly how early they opened (10am). We were on a tight schedule and actually arrived a good 20 minutes before the doors opened. The dining space inside is spacious, each table was covered with a white linen tablecloth and I could easily picture the restaurant hosting a dinner banquet. While we were the first customers in line, the restaurant filled up quickly and by the time we left there was a queue for tables.

Service: When it comes to dimsum, I love the rolling service carts. I like being able to see dishes as I order them, discover new ones and be enticed by the sights and smells in front of me. The Fiance prefers to order from a menu, it’s boring but more efficient and you don’t have to longingly stare as a cart of har gow is pushed down the other side of the restaurant. The first half of the meal, all the carts served our section of the restaurant first, amazing, and then half way they rotated to serve the other side of the restaurant; fair, but sad. At one point, The Fiance was ready to get up and chase down a cart, but one of the other cart ladies was kind enough to flag it down for us and direct them to our table. Our tea was refilled constantly and it was quick to get the bill.

Food: This was our first meal after being up for about 8 hours so we were hungry and our friend has a healthy appetite. The amount of food we ordered would have easily fed 4 people and we could have skipped two or three.

• Shrimp rice roll – Good, I liked the consistency of the rice roll, not too thick a good texture
• Pork and Century Egg Congee – The congee was really flavourful, the rice grains had broken down and there was a generous portion of pork and century egg
• Zongzi – I liked the consistency of the glutinous rice and the taste of the filling, The Fiance would’ve liked to see more meat inside
• Shrimp and Shrimp and Chive Dumplings – The dumplings were cooked well and stuffed with shrimp, but had very thin wrappers which made them stick to the wax paper
• Braised Chicken Feet – Pretty standard, the skin was really soft and easy to eat
• Braised Tripe – I was expecting this dish to be the typical steamed tripe, it was a pleasant surprise and the flavour’s very similar to the chicken feet
• Shumai – One of the best shumai I’ve ever had, great light flavour and balanced between the mushroom and pork
• BBQ Pork Rolls – These were only ok, I would’ve liked the pastry to be more flaky
• Egg Tarts – Again, I wasn’t wowed by the egg tarts. The custard was lighter than what I prefer
• Sesame Rice Balls with Red Bean Filling – Of all the “desserts”, the sesame rice balls hit the spot, exactly what I was hoping for

Double Lucky Seafood is an unassuming restaurant  tucked away in a strip mall on the corner of Highway 7 and McCowan. It’s a regular dim sum venue for the BF’s family and after our meal I can easily see why.

Atmosphere: Arriving at 1pm meant we missed the usual dim sum morning rush. The restaurant was quiet and about half full still. There was nothing really memorable about the restaurant interior or decor, a very standard Chinese restaurant.

Service: Each table was set with an ordering sheet in Chinese and English. The English translations were pretty good for the most part and didn’t require too much deciphering to find the dishes we wanted. Food arrived quickly and was freshly steamed. Since we did visit during an off-peak hour, egg tarts were sold out but our server let us know right away and gave us an eta.

Food: We started with a dim sum staple of shrimp dumplings, which were good, had lots of filling and thin wrappers. Next was a bbq pork pastry, turnip cake, dough fritter rice roll and steamed tripe. I liked the seasoning of the bbq pork it was clear by the flaky pastry, lots of butter was used. The dough fritter and the tripe was well seasoned, standard. For me, the turnip cake was a miss though. The patties weren’t crispy enough and was under salted.

The BF wanted me to try the offal dish, which is a classic dim sum dish that my family usually doesn’t order. Included were all sorts of edible organs such as lung and spleen. I’m not a squeamish eater so I thought each bite was interesting. Each piece tasted the same but with different textures. I would recommend trying the dish at Lucky Seafood as the serving included more of the “good stuff” vs radish filling.

Next was the “leaky sand bao” or 奶黄包. This is a steamed bun filled with a custard and salted egg yolk filling. I loved the mixture of sweet and salty and the creamy consistency of the filling. The baos were served piping hot and the bread was soft and doughy. This was my first time having this type of bao and I can only hope it’s always this delicious. This is a must try. We finished the meal with a plate of crispy fried noodles topped with pork and julienned vegetables. The sauce of stir fry was savoury and rich, which mixed in with the crispy noodles made for a great bite.