Pho Hung

Pho Hung (350 Spadina Avenue, Toronto)
416-593-4274

Don't let the ghetto-looking exterior fool you. The food is good.

#17 bún. 

At least four out of the six people at our table ordered this. It is awesome. The fish sauce is necessary so don't forget it. It is an integral part of the dish. The meat is quite delicious and the "small" bowl is extremely filling, even for a hungry student like myself. 

Would I go back? Yes. The price is right. The food is good and plentiful. That pork is loaded with flavour.

Total damage: approximately $10.

Rosewood Chinese Cuisine

Rosewood Chinese Cuisine (463 Dundas West, Toronto)

416-593-9998

Momo found this place with their special dim sum pricing of $1.88 per dish, available Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. This applies to any size dish. 

We were greeted in Mandarin, but as we were led upstairs, I noticed that the staff also spoke Cantonese. We were given a dim sum menu that had two columns with Chinese headers. 

Momo tries to decipher the words.

This is but a fraction of what we ordered and ate.

Overall, the place is surprisingly clean for Chinatown - at least the upstairs was; I didn't quite get a good look at the downstairs area. There are four large screens put together for karaoke, which was not going on when we went to eat there. 

Would I return? Yes. I enjoyed the food. Most of it tasted like the real deal. I was just a bit disappointed at the cha siu chaan bao because it wasn't the sticky, glazed top kind. Other than that, the stuff we ordered tasted as expected. There is a tea charge, but the price per plate (during the early bird pricing) was very fair. 

Total damage: approximately $15 each. With the leftovers, this was more like two meals for the price of one. 

Ka Chi

Ka Chi (414 Dundas Street West, Toronto)

416-598-3222

Hours: 

10:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. daily

So apparently this place has a few locations. One is actually around Kensington market, just around the corner of the location we went to on Dundas Street West. I guess they're just that popular.  

Their bird logo looks frantic.

The prices seem pretty average for this type of food.

Monique's order of pork bone soup.

 The pork looked pink and really tender (not raw nor overcooked). She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. 

Standard Korean complimentary side dishes.

I split ten pan fried beef dumplings (#8 for $5.95) with Amanda. 

They had some darker edges, but I like the slightly burnt thing. I didn't really like that some of them were broken, but they were passable. The spicy soy sauce is a must.

We also split the stir fried rice cake with bulgogi (#18 for $8.50). 

We were debating between the spicy version and the version that we got. I think we were both glad that we picked what we had. That sauce was intense, and I'm not so sure that the awesome flavour would have come through as much in the spicy one. It was so good that we both took some of Monique's rice to sop it all up. The beef was also nicely cooked. There were also some glass noodles in there.

Andrea's spare ribs on a sizzling plate looked pretty good too.

Would I return? Yes! I'm drooling just thinking about that bulgogi sauce. So meaty and delicious tasting. The decor is a bit gaudy, but it looks clean - especially for a Chinatown area restaurant.

Ding Dong Pastries

Ding Dong Pastries (321 Spadina Avenue, Toronto)

416-640-2761

How can one resist going into a place called "Ding Dong"?

I had been craving some butter cookies with a chocolate button.

They weren't as nicely made as last time. The chocolate drizzles off to the side of many, and doesn't stay mainly in the centre. The box is different, possibly smaller. The chocolate part was more melty than before (perhaps because last time I had these, it was winter). The cookie part was also a bit softer than I remembered.

Downgrades aside, I'd still get them again. 

Total damage: 2 boxes for $5. 

Xe Lua

Xe Lua Vietnamese Cuisine (254 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario)
416-703-8330

Small #108: rare beef and beef ball pho.

Broth is decent. The dish of bean sprouts looked okay fresh. One of the beef balls had a really weird texture. Overall, everything tasted pretty decent for the price. It seems like slightly less noodles than a small at other pho places I've been to uptown, but it's also cheaper.

There were a lot of students (especially frosh) sitting in this Chinatown restaurant. I'd say that's an indication of cheap and filling food.

Would I return? I'm not sure yet. It's pretty friendly on the wallet, but my stomach was doing funny business when I got off the subway. I'm not sure if the pho was the cause of that, but I'n not ruling it out. Also, there was a sketchy character who started following us right when we left the restaurant. Blatantly following us. I'm not sure I want to go back for a while to a place with such shady people who hang around it. 

Total damage: $6.50.