The GTA has expanded to include cuisine from many regions of China over the last decade. Yet, where you can sample Chiu Chow dishes has diminished. One restaurant that has been around for ages is Vintage Garden, a bustling place that still serves from the Chaoshan region in Guangdong,

Vintage Garden isn’t the easiest to find. If you’re heading to the establishment from the south, most likely you’ll be directed onto the 404 North to exit at Finch, then perhaps through Gordon Baker Road through a commercial complex, eventually hitting Victoria Park where your GPS may tell you to turn right, but just go straight through the traffic lights into what looks like an apartment complex.

It looks like you’re lost, but you’re in the right place as the restaurant is located at the bottom of a retirement community. Their signage leads you to the south side of the building, but it’s mismarked. Instead, head to the busier north end instead where Vintage Garden’s entrance is found.

So, what exactly is Chiu Chow cuisine? There’s a lot of variety, but their dishes tend to lean towards braising, boiling, and steaming and less on frying and thick sauces. Yet, they don’t shy away from flavours making it a great option for senior citizens.

While I don’t enjoy offal, I nevertheless sampled the broth and vegetables in the pig tripe, preserved vegetable, ginger and peppercorn soup ($14), a signature Chiu Chow dish. The strong spicy hit of ginger and pepper is great for clearing the throat and does the work of those gingery immunity shots.

I prefer the Chiu Chow style oyster and minced pork with rice in soup ($12.50 for regular (pictured) or $21.50 for large), that borders between broth and congee. In this case, the rice is added with all the other ingredients so doesn’t break down. Rather it soaks in the broth that is teeming with pork and seafood flavours.

Located near the coast, the Chaozhou region cultivates a lot of oysters, so you’ll find the ingredient in a lot of menus. Another common dish is the homestyle fried oysters egg omelette ($23), which at Vintage Garden is simply prepared with tons of oysters, green onions, and egg that’s just cooked through, so it’s still jelly-like in the centre. Use the dipping sauce sparingly as it’s a VERY salty fish sauce.

Other popular items include daa laang which are marinated items served hot or cold. My family thoroughly enjoyed the Chiu Chow style marinated intestine ($18.95), which given my aversion to offal I passed on. But I had my fill of the Chiu Yueng style marinated duck ($21.95 for a half order). Despite its disheveled appearance, the duck was steeped in flavours, especially the slices of deep-fried tofu on the bottom that soak up the braising liquid.

The hand shredded chicken with jelly fish ($21) was tender and tasty tossed with tons of sesame oil and salt. The mound also goes a long way given the chicken is cooled, pulled, and served boneless.

Vintage Garden even features less common dishes like deep-fried cuttlefish roll ($22 for 8 pieces) and Chiu Chow style deep fried shrimp ball ($16 for 6 pieces). The seafood was transformed into a paste, formed, and deep-fried into a hot springy nugget. If you’re only going to get one, the cuttlefish is the better of the two.

Plan ahead and you can special order the diced mushroom and chicken in egg white wrap ($7.50 per wrap), which is exactly what it’s described as: a wrap made with egg white that’s filled with tiny pieces of mushroom and chicken, steamed, and covered in a savoury sauce. It reminds me of the dumplings in soup found at dim sum without the broth. It’s worth a try, but we all agreed was bland compared to the other dishes.

I wouldn’t have thought to order stir fried satay beef ($20.95) but was glad someone recommended it as it became one of my favourite items. Vintage Garden’s sauce is rich, thick, and has a nutty finish. It’s a bit powerful on its own so you’ll want steamed rice ($2.50) on hand to fully enjoy the sauce.

The satay was so good that on a following lunch visit we ordered the satay beef fried rice noodle ($18.95) and the sauce with the noodles was perfect. Best yet, order any rice or noodle dish from their lunch menu and it arrives with a choice of hot drink (supplement $1.50 for a cold version).

The Chiu Yueng style fried rice ($17.50) tasted like Yeung Chow (shrimp and BBQ pork) fried rice, except in this instance the meat wasn’t barbequed. The dish was good and had decent wok hay.

Seeing an order of the black sugar sponge cake ($6.75) float by and I was immediately captivated. The dessert arrives steaming hot emitting a lovely sugary fragrance. The cake was perfect to share amongst our table of six, very fluffy with a hint of brown sugar.

The waitress also recommended the crystal dumplings ($7.75 for 8 pieces) where you get a choice of red bean, lotus paste, or egg custard filling. The golf ball sized desserts consist of a chewy clear wrapper stuffed with a hefty portion of filling. I preferred the red bean, which was sweeter and more flavourful. We all agreed the egg custard was too thick and weak.

You’ll need a reservation for weekend visits as it’s a popular destination for families visiting their relatives that live in the building. Despite running a tight ship with a strict 1.5-hour seating limit, the ladies working there are very friendly and attentive. Just keep in mind they have a cash only policy. Vintage Garden, one of few restaurants in Toronto remaining that you can sample Chiu Chow cuisine.