In the GTA, there is no shortage of restaurants serving dim sum. But, where do you find the best? For me, I favour places with clean dining rooms, menus with enough choices, reasonable wait times, and of course, where the food tastes delicious.

At Skyview Fusion Cuisine, even though their early bird specials are only available Monday to Friday, based on reviews, the restaurant still gets busy on weekends – perhaps due to its proximity to a Costcos. However, the wait times seem manageable: arriving at 9:30 on a Saturday, we were seated right away and even while leaving at 11am there were still available tables.

Their regular menu prices are small for $3.90, medium for $4.90, and large for $5.90. Even without the weekend early bird special, Skyview’s menu includes a lot of small category options: pan-fried turnip cake, deep-fried sticky pork dumpling, and steamed beef ball with chestnuts, which may be considered medium at other establishments. As a result, the bill total isn’t too bad, even without the discount.

Their steamed beef ball with chestnuts (S) was a bit dense for my taste, but the addition of cilantro, water chestnuts, and sweet corn does help to add further flavours and textures to an otherwise monotone item.

I would have liked the pan-fried turnip cake (S) to be cooked longer, to enhance the crust, but otherwise it was a decent consistency and incorporated enough turnip and lap cheong within the cake. Similarly, the deep-fried sticky pork dumpling (S) could have used a bit more time in the oil to really create a crunchier exterior but was still a solid version of the dish.

Both their steamed shrimp dumpling or har gow (L) and steamed pork dumpling or siu mai (M) are solid renditions and sizeable portions. While most people welcome the golf ball sized dim sum, I personally prefer them smaller so there’s a better ratio of wrapper to filling.

With all the seafood dumplings, it seemed like a bit of over kill to also have the seafood dumpling (L), which truthfully pretty much tasted like the har gow with a tiny bit of chives, scallop, and fish roe on top. It’s a good dish, but I’d pick one or the other.

Their steamed sticky rice with chicken in lotus leaf (L) is a great option. The glutinous rice is not overly thick and there’s enough filling to keep it interesting.

The ‘vegetable and bean sprout and shrimp rice rolls’ (L), may more concisely be labelled as shrimp and snow pea shoot rice roll. It’s fine, the rice wrapper thicker than it needs to be.

One of my favourite dishes, assuming its prepared properly, is the steamed seafood dumpling in soup (L). At Skyview, they are one of the best. The dumpling’s wrapper is thick enough to withstand getting too soggy and there’s tons of ingredients (scallop, shrimp, mushroom) in it. The broth is salty enough for flavour and is kept hot with the candlelit warmer. It was amazing when it was first brought to the table, and still decent enough to finish half-and-hour later.

The sitting around factor of a dish may also be considered an important criterion for a good dim sum experience. After all, it’s an occasion to eat, but also to catch up with family and loved ones. Sometimes you want to sit back and actually just yum cha (drink tea). Converse, drink more tea, and then dive into a dish later.

At first glance, you wouldn’t think Casa Imperial is a Chinese restaurant, much less one that serves authentic dim sum. Set in an altered mansion, the baroque details, gilded frames, and sparkly chandeliers suggests the place would serve more high tea than jasmine tea.

Even though they do not offer an early bird special, the restaurant is still fairly busy, especially on holidays and special occasions – skip Mother’s Day unless you like waiting around and fuming. As for their pricing, it’s in line with the regular menus found elsewhere: $3.80 for small, $4.80 for medium, and $5.80 for large with $1.50 per person tea charge.

My must-have dish is a siu mai (L). The conpoy (dried scallop) topping the pork and shrimp dumpling adds little to the experience and gives the dish a boring beige appearance. Nonetheless, the siu mai itself is tasty; a balanced combination of filling to ensure it’s hearty but not hard.

For something a little more Instagramable, the scallop and spinach dumpling (L) has a nice pop of colour. It’s also fairly flavourful with enough seasoning added to the shrimp filling and wrapper, compared to other places.

Casa Imperial certainly isn’t afraid to lay on the spice, there’s plenty of it in the curry sauce marinating the steamed baby cuttlefish (L). The seafood is enveloped in salt and heat, to the point that you may want to ensure there’s a neutral rice dish to pair with the cuttlefish.

Something like a steamed rice pot, as the sticky rice with conpoy and chicken in lotus leaf (L) already has a lot going on in the fragrant parcel. Aside from the chicken and dried scallop, there’s also pieces of Chinese cured sausage and salted egg yolk, traditional fillings that have been substituted by cheaper minced pork at other restaurants.

The crispy bean curd rice roll with shrimp and pork (L) is such a great combination of textures. Soft silky rice rolls surrounds a shrimp and pork sausage like filling that’s encased in a crunchy bean curd sheet. It’s a little heavy, so make sure there’s at least four of you to share.

Our meal seemed to include a lot of things that spent time in the deep fryer. The crispy meat dumplings (S) and chicken wings with lemon grass (L) both arrive hot, hot, hot! While they’re nothing to rave about, they’re still solid offerings, especially when they’re so fresh from the fryer.

It’s not every day you’ll find fruit mixed with shrimp. In reality, the peach in the crispy spinach nest shrimp roll with peach (L) is simply the puree dipping sauce on the side. The puffy spinach laced batter is pretty, but also fairly oily… I personally still enjoy the plain Jane bean curd sheets. Yet, this combination was better for my denture wearing grandmother, who had no difficulties biting through the airy crust.

Same with the soft black sesame dumpling coated with cashew nut (L), a ball of sticky glutinous rice filled with a warm oozing black sesame paste and covered with powdered and crushed cashews to keep everything from sticking together. It’s a nice way to finish after all the deep fried dishes that graced the second half of brunch.

If you’re not a fan of leftovers, Casa Imperial’s portion sizes are larger than normal, so you’ll want to order less and add on later. Or you’ll just have to get a bigger group together – four or six works best – so that each person gets a mouthful of the dishes. It’s the sampling and varied bites that makes dim sum such a great experience. Even if the oil-based paintings doesn’t make it feel like you’re in a Chinese restaurant.

During my travels to other countries, I only occasionally dine at hotel restaurants, preferring places that are (hopefully) more local or not teeming with tourists. In Dubai, this preference goes out the window. That’s because, it’s mostly in hotels where I’m able to have an alcoholic drink with my meal. And a glass of chilled white wine simply makes the experience of dining al fresco so much better. After all, if you’re going to view the Burj Al Arab closely, why not do it from a sunny patio with a glass of vino?

So, this is how we found ourselves at Dhow and Anchor, a British restaurant located inside the famed Jumeirah Beach Hotel. It seems strange to go to Dubai to have British food, but with the number of expats in the country, they make good British eats – way better than the Chinese options we tasted.

The British coast fisherman’s pie (AED130) was fantastic incorporating big chunks of salmon, cod, and prawns, in a lovely leek gravy and covered with rich mashed potatoes that is more buttery than what you’d normally find on Shepard’s pie. Topped with a bit of cheese gratin, it makes for a heavenly pie that’s simply intoxicating, in taste and aroma.

So much so that it seemed to really draw in the flies. In fact, any dish seemed to attract the pesky buggers. The fly situation at Dhow and Anchor was horrendous with a huge pack of them descending upon the table as soon as our food arrived. We had to constantly have one hand waving in front of our plates, while eating quickly, and finally using our napkin to cover the dishes before they could be whisked away.

The restaurant really needs to invest in table fans that flitter around to help keep the flies away. As it stands, the fisherman’s pie was tasty but actually ingesting the dish was frustrating and rushed. I felt like I was having fast food when the meal should be savoured. Al fresco dining can be great, but I guess that’s the perils of outdoor eating.

I don’t often have sushi in a restaurant whose menu isn’t entirely Japanese, but Planta Queen’s nigiri is so inventive that you should try it once. As the ahi watermelon ($5.25 for two) and unagi eggplant ($5.25 for two) are placed before us, I’m marveled by how much they look like lean tuna and mackerel. In reality, the consistency and taste doesn’t resemble fish – the watermelon has a strong ginger flavour and the eggplant a slight smokiness – yet, it also doesn’t taste like the fruit or vegetable it’s made from. It just works!

The ahi watermelon makes its way into the rainbow roll ($15) and spicy tuna roll ($15) as well. Of the two, the rainbow roll has more interest: the soft pressed watermelon paired with creamy avocado and mayo, crispy romaine, and a sliver of bright shiso leaf. The spicy tuna roll is fine, but relies a lot on the spicy aioli for flavour.

You wouldn’t want an entire order of gomae ($12.25) for yourself. Even though it’s essentially just boiled spinach tossed in a sesame dressing with crisped rice thrown on top, the nutty sauce is also what makes it fairly rich as well. Yet, when shared, it’s a nice way to start the meal or even to finish off with something refreshing.  

On the other hand, I could easily down an entire bowl of the mushroom dashi ($8.95). It’s everything you want during the winter: a warm bowl of rich consommé, enoki and shiitake mushrooms peppered throughout, and cubes of delicate tofu sitting at the bottom. It’s simple and heavenly.

Planta’s Hakka rice noodles ($17.50) doesn’t really taste like anything I’ve ever had at a Hakka restaurant, but it could easily grace the menu of a Thai establishment. The coconut green curry base has a lovely aroma and a hint of heat, but could use more salt. As it stands, the dish of rice noodles with tofu and Chinese broccoli (gai lan) was fine but didn’t overly excite.

The udon ($18.75) was a hundred times better. In this case, the rice noodles (since we were having the gluten free version) was tossed in truffle oil and coconut milk creating a creamy base that would make Alfredo weep. There’s no shortage of mushrooms in the dish and is finished off with some snow pea leaves for colour and freshness. Would this dish paired with a bowl of mushroom dashi be too much fungi for one person to handle? Challenge accepted.

In general, Planta Queen uses a lot of truffles, whether it be the infused oil or the real deal. Even the maitake mushroom fried rice ($28) comes with shaved truffle on top, which truthfully doesn’t add that much to the experience. Overall, I expected the dish to offer more – something bursting with wok hay and an umami essence galore. Instead, it was pretty average fried rice with shaved truffles on top.

After the heavier mains, we thought the lemon curd ($12.35) would be a lighter finish to the meal. It certainly was a refreshing end, but the combination of lemon custard with passion fruit gelato makes for such a tarte finish that I’m puckering up thinking of the bite. The meringue needed to be sweeter and the matcha powder dropped all together as the combination of acidic citrus with bitter powder wasn’t necessarily the greatest.

For those who are celiac, you’d be happy to know every dish in this post is celiac friendly and vegan. Planta Queen certainly has an impressive menu of options for various food sensitivities. Best yet, they’re actually tasty and makes you realize that Asian food could easily forgo all the meat, eggs, and gluten and still be fantastic. Mushroom dashi, until we meet again.

I truly believe restaurants don’t need to be fancy or expensive to serve delicious food. This proved to be true when I bit into one of Al Mallah Dhiyafah’s chicken shawarma (AED9). My eyes momentarily closed so I could really savor the delicious chewy pita filled with moist lightly-spiced chicken.

The soft pita was thin enough that the filling’s flavours really came through: nutty tahini with pickles and lettuce for a bit of texture. I immediately started thinking about ordering another one after that first bite… but, thankfully stopped myself as after getting through all the sides was thoroughly stuffed.

Did I regret having the fattoush salad (AED17), when I could have saved room for another meaty log? Not a chance, as the salad was a great way to balance out the otherwise carb and meat heavy meal. Having had fattoush a handful of times, Al Mallah’s is the best with small pieces of chopped lettuce and cucumbers tossed with herbs and really crispy thin fried pita. It was refreshingly citrusy.

I might have skipped the hommos (AED18), which while tasty, was really just well-pureed chickpeas with oil drizzled over top. There wasn’t any other ingredients – tahini, lemon, or even much salt – just a bowl of thick and earthy hummus. There was also a sense of guilt when having another pita as each one was wrapped in a plastic bag – hygienic, but not very environmentally friendly.

If that weren’t enough, there’s even a complimentary plate of pickled vegetables and chilies. They are really salty, so not necessarily the greatest to have plain, but tucked into some pita with the neutral hummus was pretty good.  

Sit (outside or inside) or even grab-and-go, there’s tons of options for dining at Al Mallah Dhiyafah. Just do yourself a favour and go and try one (or two) of their shawarmas.

On my last two visits to Montreal, I’ve tried to secure a reservation at Joe Beef with no luck. Not even when I offered to go on a waiting list - the famed restaurant could never fit me in. Consequently, when I heard their chef de cuisine, Zach Kolomeir, was leaving Montreal to head to Toronto to open Dreyfus, there was hope that I’d finally try their no-nonsense French creations.

A group of girlfriends and I tried to get a reservation at Dreyfus; once again, securing a table for four was impossible. So, I finally changed tactics and decided to visit with my husband instead. Finally, I was able to secure a Saturday sitting without a hitch. Sure, it took half a year, but I was finally on my way.

Once you see the dining room, it’s understandable why acquiring a spot for more than two people is so difficult.  There’s only two larger tables in the whole place and then a row of singles that I guess could be pushed together to form larger tables, but for whatever reason are kept separate. It’s very intimate seating – you will over hear your neighbours’ conversation and most likely need to push your table to touch theirs to get in and out if you’re seated on the bench.

In a nutshell, the restaurant is cozy. This goes for the esthetics, temperature, and service. Your experience will be elevated if you’re served by Keegan deWitt. It’s rare that I try to figure out who our server is, but this guy is AMAZING – Dreyfus, do whatever you need to keep him. Keegan exudes passion without being preachy, is attentive without being annoying, and his knowledge of wine puts most sommeliers to shame.

In fact, a love for a wine is an important quality for working at Dreyfus. They don’t have a wine menu. In fact, there’s no drink menu period. So, our first interactions with Keegan revolved around what we wanted to drink: flat water and a bottle of wine.

We answered a few questions and he comes back with four bottles. In a succinct two-minute presentation, he goes through each bottle explaining their flavour profiles and the wine’s region, ending off with the cost of each one. Prices vary from $85 to $250 and we decide on the Domaine Viret Mareotis ($125). The first sip confirmed that Keegan got us.

So, when he came back to ask what we wanted to order and provided us the option of letting him ‘bring us an experience’, how could we resist? Again, he asked a couple of questions about dietary restrictions and how hungry we were on a scale from 1-10 (a 7 seemed safe) and that’s all we had to do.

It helps as they tailor the size of the starting nibbles to the table. Normally, the first three dishes are $16 each (unclear how many come with each), but for our table of two it was trimmed down to a smaller portion of one or two each (the perfect amount) and the prices also lowered to $12.

The canapes de topinambours ($12 for 2) went so well with the wine. Roasted Jerusalem artichokes forms the base of the canapes, instead of bread, giving the dish a creamy finish and a warmth that’s so lovely for the winter months. Forget trying to hold this in your hand as the artichoke is smothered with light tangy cheese and a warmed sardine that adds a nice muskiness against the slice of ham on top.

There were spinach dip oysters ($12 for 2) topped with feathery parmesan cheese, a dish that sounds heavy but actually quite nicely balanced. Oysters aren’t normally something I enjoy, but the mollusk was covered with so many things that it didn’t have a prominent in taste.

You can’t go wrong with the pommes dauphine ($12 for 4). These lovely potato puffs are as light as air – like a savoury honey cruller for those who have been around a Tim Horton’s. They’re fluffy and aromatic, by itself a delicate and creamy choux pastry, but arrives with thick crème fraiche topped with micro cubes of shallots and a generous portion of caviar. It takes the dauphine to a whole other level of decadence that made us swoon.

A skewer arrives and we’re advised the white chunks in the brochette de lotte ($24) are monkfish. The dense meaty fish was tasty, but perhaps could be cooked a touch less. Yet, any mild protein that sits in such a tasty sauce could do no wrong. It’s described to us as curry, but so light that it reminds me of a thicker and richer bouillabaisse. We must have been looking at the remaining sauce longingly, as a staff member asked if we’d like some bread, which was met with a resounding yes.

While I don’t know a lot of French, one word I do remember is cheval - on account of religiously visiting the now defunct Toronto night club. So, when the tower of filet de cheval lyonnaise ($33) arrived, I pushed thoughts of My Little Pony out of my mind and decided to just enjoy the dish. To be honest, if you didn’t know what cheval means, you’d think its veal or a light beef that’s tender and lean. The silky red wine jus keeps any gaminess at bay.

Dreyfus knows their way around a spud as the lyonnaise potatoes sandwiched between the cheval and the egg are heavenly. Essentially, they are thinly sliced potatoes that’s pan fried in parsley butter (forming lovely toasted edges) and mixed with well-caramelized onions. Just imagine scalloped potatoes, but even better, in my opinion. Mixed with some egg yolk and au jus, I probably could have a plate of the potatoes with eggs and been a happy camper.

To end, this main is smartly paired with an endive salad ($17). Dreyfus’ version of a Waldorf salad, the dish is one I normally detest - fruit (apple) mixed with nuts (walnuts) and topped with a blue cheese dressing? Yuk! Maybe it was the warm wine flowing through my veins, but it all worked together, including the thinned blue cheese dressing that adds tang without funk. Plus, the rosettes of curled cheese were so nice and creamy that I had a second and third helping.

After everything came, we assessed and indeed Keegan was true to his word – at the beginning he noted he’d make sure we’re satisfied but not disgustingly full. Rejoice, there was still room for dessert.

Once again, there’s no menu, instead another server explains she’s the walking dessert menu and lists off three options. The pear strudel ($11) sounded rather plain, but seemed like a dish I’d enjoy. Oh boy, did I enjoy it!

It took a while to arrive because it was being reheated and/or cooked. My first taste: crispy layers of phyllo pastry, warm chunks of cinnamon tossed pears, and creamy whipped cream. It was heavenly, the dessert I didn’t know I wanted to myself. My husband must have sensed something… after a few bites, he smartly left the remaining strudel with me.  

Find a lover or a buddy, hell, even a stranger off the street. Just book a reservation for two at Dreyfus! Whatever you do, do not visit with more than three people as you’ll be squished into a booth at the front of the restaurant that makes a sardine can look spacious; looking at the three couples packed in the table gave me shudders as I flashed back to an unfortunate incident at Grey Gardens.

Also, visit with an empty stomach and an open mind. And, there should be a level of trust as dining omakase style is the way to go. Just don’t be a hero and think you’ll share the strudel, that decision was the only mishap of the evening.