Showing posts with label dim sum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dim sum. Show all posts

Jumbo Lobster Restaurant (Richmond Hill)

Usually, when I visit a restaurant for dim sum, I’m going for the small dishes filled with bite sized morsels for sharing amongst a table. Things change at Jumbo Lobster where seafood is king. Especially since they only have 24 dim sum dishes (one being French fries) on their menu.

It’s a restaurant made for large gatherings, even a table of four is too tiny. Otherwise, it’d be difficult to order one of their two lunch menus where charges are based on the size of the lobster: $35/lb for 5lbs+ and $36/lb for 10lbs+.  While the price difference is minimal, the surcharge for the 10lb+ meal allows diners to have the lobster prepared two ways and arrives with additional dim sum dishes (eight vs. five).

The 10lb+ lunch menu (or L2 for $36/lb) includes lobster, eight dim sum, congee, fried rice, and a vegetable dish. Out of the stir-fried green onion and ginger and deep-fried dry garlic lobsters, I preferred the traditional onion and ginger as the crustacean’s flavours were more pronounce and felt juicier and plumper.

Despite the mountain of ingredients filling the deep-fried garlic version, it just tasted salty with a hint of sweetness. I can see the dish being favoured by children as it sits on a bed of French fries, which were kind of stale given they’re prepared ahead of time.

Any lobster tomalley is reserved for the lobster roe and shrimp fried rice, which was prepared well. The dish had decent wok hay, and the rice dry enough so there were distinct granules of grain. It was so good that our table finished the entire plate.

To balance the heavier items, there’s a generous portion of poached snow pea tips with goji berry, which were stir fried until tender but still crispy and fresh.

After ordering it does take about 30 minutes before dishes arrive - an anomaly at dim sum where things normally start flying in as soon as the menu is whisked away. In fact, the first item presented isn’t even dim sum, rather a large bowl of chicken congee that’s piping hot and contains tons of bone-in skin-on chicken. It’s a hearty and flavourful way to begin.

What I enjoy about Jumbo Lobster’s dim sum is that they make each item smaller to include more in a dish, making it easier to share. For example, a dish like shrimp dumplings generally arrive in fours but there are six at Jumbo Lobster.

The exception was the steamed rice rolls, which may be slightly longer but contained two rolls instead of three. Nonetheless, they were thin and silky and likely one of the items made in house.

Dishes like the steamed buns seemed like they were purchased frozen wholesale as they were all perfect spheres making the filling indecipherable. Wanting a pork bun, I played Russian roulette and was left with salted egg yolk instead. To their credit, it’s a solid interpretation of the dessert – a creamy molten centre with small egg yolk pieces mixed throughout. Sadly, the sweet and salty filling is not for me.

Much to my chagrin, it’s the same filling used in their deep-fried sesame balls, which were warm and crispy but not filled with lotus paste.

As for the staple dishes, their siu mai just contained pork but were rather juicy. Contrasted against the beef balls that were too dense, even when eaten hot from the steamer.

And while Jumbo Lobster provides a decent portion of meat in the pork spare rib, it lacks flavour as there’s more pumpkin than black bean sauce. The table seemed to prefer the beef belly with special sauce instead.

We were thoroughly sedated after our meal and were quickly pushed out after 1.5 hours to accommodate the bustling Sunday crowd. And for the financially savvy: paying with cash will net you a 10% discount. But, if plastic is your thing, stick with debit as credit card payments command an additional 3% surcharge. Whatever you do, just gather a group of at least ten, you’ll need them to get through the mountain of lobster.

In a nutshell... 
  • Must order: lobster lunch combo, siu mai
  • Just skip: steamed beef balls

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Richmond Hill, Canada
 Address: 9019 Leslie Street


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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Zunyan Fine Dining & Banquet 樽宴大酒楼 (Toronto)


If you’re in the mood for dim sum on a weekday, consider Zunyan Fine Dining & Banquet where any small, medium, or large dish is only $5 for the entire lunch period. Order before 11:00am on weekends and the price inches up to $5.25.

Their sui mai with fish roe (L) is solid with authentic flavours and the pork not overly pulverized. Just break into it before eating as they were not cooked through on one of my visits.

Oddly, the har gow is considered an XL and therefore not included in the special. But, if you’re a fan of shrimp dumplings, the shrimp and chive dumplings (L) is a close substitute. Moreover, the filling is heavy on the shrimp and skimps on the vegetable anyways. It’s a run-of-the-mill version of the dish with the wrapper slightly to thick and sticky.

It’s a similar story with the BBQ pork and egg rice roll (M), which has big chunks of barbeque pork, but lacks flavour. The rice roll wrapper isn’t consistently prepared: one visit it was too thick and another still thick but at least silkier.

If you prefer a thinner cheung fun, the fish paste with parsley and preserved egg rice roll (L) fits the bill and the filling a combination seldom found elsewhere.

Zunyan’s shrimp balls (L) remind of me of a crab claw without the crab. Hot, crispy, and juicy these are delicious! Just be aware that the crispy vermicelli noodles pieces coating it are not always used.

The shrimp balls are much better than the pan-fried shrimp with corn cake (L), which is really fish paste studded with shrimp pieces. Sadly, it also lacks corn… an ingredient that adds texture to an otherwise overly soft patty.

While there’s a fair amount of mushrooms in the tofu skin roll (M), there isn’t a lot of other vegetables and relies on vermicelli instead. At least they were well toasted to give it that crunch you need.


I prefer the steamed bean curd meat roll with oyster sauce (M) that encapsulates more filling. Big chunks of pork, shrimp, and vegetables are wrapped in the flavourful bean curd sheets. Having ordered this several times, the dish stays consistent and always satisfies.


The shrimp paste and squid with vermicelli (L) is rarely found at dim sum restaurants, even though it was a staple in the past. While the dish isn’t heavy on the shrimp paste, it’s flavourful enough and the vermicelli soaks in all the juices and almost melts into the other ingredients. Sadly, in recent months the squid seems to have been taken off the menu… hopefully, it’ll make a reappearance.  

For a filling dish, the preserved egg with minced pork congee (L) arrives as a huge bowl and has a decent amount of ingredients. While the congee base could be saltier, it is accompanied by green onions and crispy wonton bits for colour and crunch.

Zunyan’s wrapped chicken with egg yolk and cilantro sticky rice (L) are larger arriving two to an order. However, it’s mostly rice with a bit of salty duck egg and meat. Overall, nothing really stood out and it was too dense. Having it with the steamed shiitake and chicken (L) is ideal. At least the chicken is marinated longer and flavourful enough to cut through the big chunks of rice.

If you can get past the overly oily wrapper on the fried chicken dumpling (M), it is crispy and stuffed with chunks of chicken, diced mushrooms, and green onion. For me, I found this was too oil logged and heavy.

In terms of dessert, sharing the golden mango sago (M) is a perfect finish. The sago isn’t overly large and just sweet enough to satisfy. The real mango pieces are also a nice touch.

I find the mango sago more satisfying than the black sesame glutinous rice balls (L), which wasn’t sugary enough. Ultimately, it tastes more like a nutty sticky rice ball than dessert.

Zunyan’s dining room is spacious, but even so, I recommend arriving before 11:00am on weekdays to avoid waiting. Tables of two will need to be okay with dining beside others as the small tables are set very close. There’s no privacy with dim sum.        

In a nutshell... 
  • Must order: fried shrimp balls and bean curd meat roll with oyster sauce
  • Just skip: pan fried shrimp corn cake and fried chicken dumpling

Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 648 Silver Star Boulevard
 


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Grandeur Palace 華麗宮大酒樓 (Toronto) for takeout

Note: Prices in post are based on regular menu prices and may be higher when using delivery services

One thing I loathed about Grandeur Palace was their ridiculous wait times. I would channel my inner Zen master while waiting for a table on weekends. It was a test of patience that I rarely had, so while I really enjoyed Grandeur’s dim sum, it’s a restaurant I hardly visited.

Then COVID struck and now Grandeur’s pivoted to “all day” dim sum and from 10am - 3pm, essentially the normal brunch hours, any small, medium, or large dishes are $3.88. No trying to order before 11am, when the special pricing is normally in effect, there is now five blissful hours to get your dim sum hit.

The only small hiccup is getting an order placed, which essentially means going old school and calling in. Of course, there’s always the trusty delivery apps, but you’ll be paying a premium – the $3.88 dishes will instead range from $5.85 to $7 before all the ancillary charges. So, get used to redialing starting at 10am and after a dozen tries, you’ll hopefully get through.

As with all my other dim sum experiences, takeout and delivery just isn’t the same. As soon as the lid is lifted and the steam escapes, the dish starts to wilt - it’s as if the protein packed dumplings are a plant. The wrapper on the steamed shrimp chive dumplings starts getting sticky and hard (although Grandeur smartly places them further apart, so they don’t meld together). They’re just as huge as normal, but the filling is skimpy on the chives, so they end up tasting like har gow.

While still the size of a golf ball, the shrimp sui mai loses a lot of its juices so they’re much harder than at the restaurant and sits in a shallow pool of liquid causing the wonton wrapper to become soggy. But when you haven’t had one of these pork dumplings in a few months, it still tastes awfully good, despite the sad state.

Forget about the deep fried savoury glutinous dumplings with meat. Any crispiness disappears, and it becomes a sticky chewy ball. I have no one to blame but myself – of course anything deep fried would be a disappointment. But I so wanted a bite of that five-spice laced pork with the slightly sweet chewy wrapper. At least the flavours were still on point.

The steamed rice noodle with shrimp was the dish that’s closest to what you’d find at the restaurant. They’ve always made it a bit thicker, so it held up to the travels and the consistency and texture remained consistent.

Strangely, the glaze on the honey sauce beef short ribs ($7.68) sort of melts off, leaving the top pieces lacking flavours and the bottom soaking in sauce. Do yourself a favour and open the takeout container upside down so that the sweet sauce recombines with everything. It’ll taste a lot better.

Following traditions, I had to finish the meal with the stir-fried lobster e-fu noodles ($18.88). Grandeur doesn’t skimp on takeout, really packing the noodles into the container so it’s not the easiest to portion out without having lobster fly everywhere. If I were the restaurant, I’d add a bit more savoury sauce to cover everything since the noodles will get soft regardless – it would allow the noodles to stay untangled.

Perhaps the lobster e-fu noodles aren’t ordered with as much gusto in takeout as the crustacean didn’t taste the freshest – not rancid or off, just not nearly as clean as normal.  

While I’m glad it was an efficient meal from Grandeur – call to place an order, arrive at the stated time, go to the cashier area to tell them your number and pay, then bring the receipt to the takeout table to collect your order – the saying “good things come to those who wait” creeps into my mind. While the dim sum was passable, it wasn’t great. Who would have thought I’d actually miss the days were I would have to stand in line for 30+ minutes for a table? What I wouldn’t give for a test of patience now.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
  Address: 2301 Brimley Road
 Delivery: Uber and Skip the Dishes
Referral Discount Codes
 Support the blog by using my referral code
 UberEats: use eats-ju6ta to get $5 off a $15 order 
 SkipTheDishes: click link to get $5 off a $15 order


Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!


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CLOSED: Dim Sum Queen (Toronto) for delivery and takeout



Note: Prices in post are based on regular menu prices and may be higher when using delivery services

Coming from a Cantonese Chinese background, my brunches were less about eggs benny and pancakes and more about steamed dumplings and pan-fried delights. Being able to have dim sum was something I took for granted, just a lunch we’d have as a family every other weekend. It wasn’t until the quarantine hit that I realized how much I would miss these small bites. So much so, that one Saturday, I placed a huge order at Dim Sum Queen and delivered care packages to family members.

A groan of delight must have escaped when I bit into my favourite dish, the siu mai (pork dumplings). They were a little wet from sitting in a steamy closed container, but once the condensation evaporated, they’re not that far off from what you’d get at a restaurant. Both the pork ($5.30 for 4 pieces) and chicken shitake ($5.30 for 4 pieces) versions are delicious, a nice meaty consistency but not overly dense.

The shrimp and snow pea leaves dumpling ($5.30 for 3 pieces) doesn’t travel as well since the wrappers get soft and sticky. Order the pan-fried shrimp and chive cakes ($5.30 for 3 pieces) instead, the thin wonton wrappers don’t mind a steam and the filling is just as good – plump pieces of shrimp studded with bits of leafy vegetables.

Of all the dishes, I would have thought the steamed sticky rice with meat in lotus leaf ($5.30 for 2 pieces) would be best for takeout - the wrapper helps keep in the heat and they are steamed for so long anyways that another 15 minutes wouldn’t make a huge difference. Alas, Dim Sum Queen’s has so much rice and so little filling that it’s a bland forgettable dish.

Their steamed BBQ pork rice rolls ($5.30 for 3 pieces) are thicker than what I’ve had at the restaurant, nonetheless, they’re a still decent and the restaurant smartly sends the soy sauce separately so it doesn’t get too soggy.

One of my favourite items from Dim Sum Queen is their sesame seed and lotus paste balls ($4.50 for 3 pieces) – when they are freshly fried these sweet spheres are A-MAZING! Understandably, takeout doesn’t do it justice (maybe if they were shipped in paper bags instead of Styrofoam it’d allow it to breath better), but still fairly decent and the just-sweet-enough lotus paste was as tasty as ever.

Despite the restaurant’s name, their non-dim sum items are good as well. While the sweet and sour pork ($14) and General Tao chicken ($14) look identical, the sauces do differ: the pork using the typical sweet and sour combination but ends with a gingery finish while the chicken savoury and sweet. They’d be even better if the batter weren’t quite as thick and the General Tao given a spicier finish.

Nonetheless, both went quite nicely with the yang chow fried rice ($12), a sizeable portion incorporating shrimp, large cubes of BBQ pork and enough scallions to add a freshness to the rice.

The mixed vegetable chow mein ($10) is also a great choice, they serve the sauce on the side so the noodles remain very crispy and crunchy. They also don’t skimp on the vegetables, the container held big chunks of broccoli, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots, amongst other greens.

Honestly, dim sum tastes SO much better when it’s fresh; not all dishes lend itself to delivery. So, since the restaurant offers dim sum all the time, if you want to miss their busy lunch rush, a dinner of noodles, rice, vegetables, and select dim sum may be the smarter choice. 


Overall mark - 7.5 out of 10*
Higher marks for their noodle, rice, and other dishes than the dim sum


How To Find Them
 Location: Toronto, Canada
 Address: 3241 Yonge Street
 Delivery: Uber, Skip the Dishes
Referral Discount Codes
 Support the blog by using my referral code
 UberEats: use eats-ju6ta to get $5 off a $15 order 
 SkipTheDishes: click link to get $5 off a $15 order
 

Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never order again
  • 6 - decent for delivery and takeout, but there's better
  • 7 - this is good, for delivery and takeout
  • 8 - great for delivery and takeout, it's almost like you're in a restaurant
  • 9 -  wow, it's like I'm eating at a restaurant
  • 10 - I'd happily order this for delivery or takeout instead of dining in any day!


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Skyview Fusion Cuisine (Markham)



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.

Overall mark - 9 out of 10


How To Find Them
 Location: Markham, Canada
 Address: 8261 Woodbine Avenue

Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


Is That It? I Want More!

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