dim sum at pearl harbourfront

I'm such a sucker for dim sum. To me, it's the perfect mid-Saturday morning meal. And while I mostly frequent the Chinatown dim sum joints for convenience, I recently checked out Pearl Harbourfront for a change of scenery. With views overlooking Toronto's harbour, the Pearl has a more upscale feel than the dim sum places I'm used to. They do offer cart service, but if the dining room isn't very full (like when I was there) they ask you to order off a menu. The food quality is definitely a step up from Chinatown. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. The price ended up being a few dollars more, but totally worth it. 

From top to bottom: haam siu gok (glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with pork); har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings); crispy deep-fried squid tentacles; bbq pork cheung fun (rice noodle roll); siu mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings); steamed black bean spareribs.

Pearl Harbourfront

207 Queens Quay W.

ding tai fung

Ding Tai Fung specializes in Shanghai-style dim sum and whenever I find myself in Markham, I always stop in for a quick meal. I'm not a dim sum expert, but I think that Shanghai style consists of mostly steamed dumplings along with some pan-fried versions (not a lot of deep-fried items like at regular dim sum places). And there is no cart service since everything is steamed/fried to order.

Always go for the xiao long bao or soup dumplings. These are the most popular and for good reason: they are really, really delicious. Be warned though, they are scalding hot inside. Use your chopsticks to gently pick one up and place it in your soup spoon. Nibble a little hole into the skin, slurp out the soup, then chow down on the rest of the dumpling. I like to dip mine in a mixture of vinegar, soy, chili oil and fresh ginger.

The sticky rice shu mai are ok, but seriously heavy. The sticky rice is mixed with a small amount of pork and mushrooms then wrapped in dumpling skin and steamed. One or two is usually my max.

The fried chicken soup is another one of my faves though not on the dim sum side of the menu. The dish is composed of two parts: the soup (pictured above) which has noodles (I think they are handmade), greens and pork, plus...

...A plate of toppings: soy sauce boiled egg, seasoned soybean sprouts, fermented chopped vegetables and a very crispy boneless fried chicken thigh. I throw everything on top of the soup and season it with a bit more chili oil, vinegar and soy. So utterly comforting on a cold day.

Ding Tai Fung Shanghai Dim Sum

3235 Hwy 7 E. 

Markham, ON.

house of gourmet

I've been trying to be more open when it comes to eating in Chinatown. I have my usual joints for pho, dim sum and seafood, and when I want "rice & meat" aka roast pork, bbq duck, bbq pork or soy sauce chicken on a bed of steamed rice, I usually head to King's Noodle. But the last time I went, there was a way too long line and I was inpatient, so I tried someplace new: House of Gourmet. Overall it was a pretty good meal. Joe and I ordered our usual King's Noodle dishes and everything was about a dollar cheaper. 

Rice with roast pork and bbq pork. Can't go wrong with double pork right? 

Noodle soup with wontons, brisket and tendon. The portion here is smaller than King's, but I actually liked this version much more. 

This rice flour roll with Chinese doughnut (zha liang) is more of a dim sum staple, but I always order it I see it on the menu. Even though this is a larger portion than King's, the doughnut was way greasier and the rice roll much thinner. At King's the rice roll portion has green onions and dried shrimp mixed in too, making it more flavourful. 

House of Gourmet

484 Dundas St. W.

sunny dragon korean chinese

I'm on a bit of a Korean kick these days and decided to try out a new restaurant, Sunny Dragon which specializes in Korean Chinese food. I'm not sure how to define Korean Chinese cuisine, but the most popular dishes are ja jang myun (chewy noodles in a rich black bean sauce), tang su yuk (crispy sweet and sour pork), jjamppong (spicy noodle and seafood soup) and kkhanpunggi (spicy-sweet crispy fried chicken). My usual order includes ja jang myun and tang su yuk, but I'm pretty excited to go back and try out some new dishes from their extensive menu.

Here are the side dishes: kimchi, yellow pickled radish which is perfect in between bites of noodles, and raw sweet onion that you dip in the dark brown black bean paste on the far right.

The tang su yuk was really good. Unlike Chinese sweet and sour pork, the sauce isn't as gloopy and leans more on the tangy side rather than sweet. 

Then came the jajangmyun. Step 1: Mix it all up!

Now, it's ready to eat. Almost every table had some form of this dish—apparently there are a few versions including one with seafood and another that uses rice instead of noodles. 

Sunny Dragon

398 Steeles Ave. W.

Thornhill

sichuan green beans

Ever since having these Sichuan-style dry-fried green beans on a recent trip to Hamilton, I've been obsessed with trying to make them at home. Imagine crispy green beans tossed in a salty-spicy mixture of Sichuan peppercorns, garlic and pork. It's such a savoury and flavourful dish that all you need is a big bowl of fresh steamed rice on the side.

Recipes here and here. 

new sky

New Sky is probably my most-frequented restaurant in all of Toronto (no lie, I've even celebrated my last three birthdays here with friends). Service is ok, the atmosphere is typical Chinatown (you can see the atrocious lighting in my pics), but I go for the food and nothing else. The double lobster dinner is the best deal if you're with a group—it comes with two lobsters (I like mine stir-fried with ginger and green onion), a choice of soup (go for the hot and sour) and a selection of other dishes (the number you choose depends on the number of diners at your table). Check out this feast: 

hot and sour soup

deep-fried soft shell crab w/ salt & pepper

crispy beef

beef w/ eggplant in hot garlic sauce

crispy sweet & sour pork with pineapple

salt & pepper squid

double lobsters w/ ginger and green onion

New Sky

353 Spadina Ave.

dim sum king

Ever since Bright Pearl closed down for "renovations" I've been searching for a good dim sum place with carts. Over the weekend I decided to check out Dim Sum King, a new-ish restaurant on the third floor of a random Chinatown mall on Dundas St. Funny enough, I recognized a lot of the cart ladies from Bright Pearl (maybe they got head-hunted for their cart skills?). I got there just before 11 a.m. and by noon the tables were filling up quickly. The usual dim sum fare was offered up hot and fresh and I happily walked out stuffed. 

Top to bottom: sweet beef ribs; char siu bao (bbq pork buns); deep-fried shrimp dumplings; har gow (steamed shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings); haam sui gok (savoury deep-fried glutinous rice dumplings); black bean spareribs; rice flour roll with shrimp.

Dim Sum King

421 Dundas St. W, 3rd floor

green onion pancakes

Here's a step by step look at how to make flaky Chinese-style green onion pancakes. Once formed you can freeze them (with a layer of parchment paper in between each pancake) and fry as needed (no need to defrost).

1. Place 2 cups of flour in a food processor. Drizzle in 3/4 cups of boiling water. If dough looks dry add more boiling water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. Let dough rest for 30 minutes at room temperature, covered with a damp towel. Divide dough into 4 equal balls.

2. Roll each ball into an 8-inch circle.

3. Brush a very thin layer of vegetable oil over the dough. Sprinkle with salt and chopped green onion.

4. Tightly roll up dough like a jelly roll.

5. Twist and tuck end into the bottom.

6. Flatten with your hand, then roll into a 7-inch pancake. Note: The onions will probably burst out of the roll. It's fine, just push them in. 

7. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a non-stick pan and fry over medium heat until blistered and brown on both sides (about 2-3 minutes each side).

8. Slice into quarters. I serve mine with a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar, and sriracha (because I put it on just about everything. It's a serious problem.).

saturday dim sum

Rol San doesn't have the cart ladies that I love so much, but the dim sum is always fresh and consistent. Plus, even though you'll most likely have to wait in line if it's a weekend, the dishes come out fast. Our table was overflowing with baskets and plates just 10 minutes after ordering.

Rol San

323 Spadina Ave.

eastern legend...again

I'm usually pretty organized when it comes to weekday meal planning. My Sundays are more often than not, spent in the kitchen in preparation for the upcoming week. But every so often, I lose motivation. This was one of those weeks. So when Wednesday rolled around, I had nothing prepped for dinner. Luckily Eastern Legend is around the corner from my house. I've blogged about this place before and it's way better than the delivery Chinese food in my area which, unfortunately, is not so good.

Spicy pork szechuan wrap: this is a special that they just started serving. It's only $1!

Insides: pork, lettuce, kimchi, bean sprouts, spicy sauce. So good and the waitress told us everything is homemade (even the tortilla-style pancake wrap).

Cantonese fried noodles

Deep-fried spicy squid

Eastern Legend

771 Dundas St. W