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. 

Rol San

Rol San (323 Spadina Avenue, Toronto)

In Chinatown, there are two dim sum places that are right across the street from each other. One is said to be rather mediocre, so naturally we went to the other one for some all day dim sum. On a weekday morning, it was just us and some elderly Chinese folk. Derek had been there before, but me and Monique had low expectations for Chinatown dim sum. I'm more a fan of that strip of Chinese restaurants on highway 7 sometimes called Chinatown North. They seem slightly cleaner and the food seems to be of higher quality. 

Some har gow (steamed shrimp dumpling) and har cheung (shrimp rice noodle roll).

They weren't bad! The shrimp were pretty large. The skin on the har gow was a bit thick, but it was edible.

Fried octopus and siu mai.

There were three of these fried radish block thingies before I took the pic.

It could've used a little more fried outside, but I liked 'em. 

Chicken feet.

Black sesame balls and milk egg tarts.

The sesame balls were really hot and fresh. We all quite enjoyed them, though I know that Jo would complain about how thick the outer shell was.

Taro spring rolls. Monique was trying to order something else, but this came out. 

That was kind of new to me. It was okay, but the taro would've gone better with the flakier stuff that Monique was attempting to order.

Would I return? Yeah. With my aforementioned low expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by how edible everything was. Some stuff was even good! I like how they even had the authentic dim sum standard white plastic table cloth. Since their dim sum is offered all day, I wouldn't have to wake up early to get it. That's a win to me! However, if given the choice between Rol San and uptown dim sum, I'd pick uptown. But you know... it's still okay for downtown dim sum.

Total damage: $14 per person. Three is a good number of people for dim sum because most of the food comes in portions of three or four. 

Regal Palace

Regal Palace(9712 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill, Ontario)
905-770-1388

It should be noted that there is also another location on Highway 7 not too far away.

Time for more dim sum!

Crispy!

Quality-wise, everything was standard or a bit above average. Price-wise, it was probably in between something like Golden Court and Casa Imperial.

Golden Court

Golden Court Abalone Restaurant (270 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill)

(905) 707-6628

This was another visit to Golden Court for some weekend dim sum. This place is about the size of half of a regular Loblaws, and it was packed.

They actually had the steamed beef balls this time.

The steamed shrimp and vegetable dumplings were cute. The shrimp rice noodle rolls were pretty standard.

Deep-fried black sesame filled sesame balls

Jo didn't like how the outer layer was so thick. As a result, she started scooping the insides out.

Would I go back? Sure, why not. It's one of the bigger dim sum places available in the area (and not as expensive as Regal Palace).

Total damage? I really can't remember. These were taken summer last year.

Casa-Imperial Fine Chinese Cuisine Ltd.

Casa Imperial (4125 Steeles Avenue East, Scarborough)
416-756-2788

This was my first time experiencing overpriced dim sum (and having to pay for it). It's an experience, but it's probably not something I could afford to do regularly. Also, the wait for a table was pretty long and finding parking involved waiting for people to leave the restaurant.

The shrimp dumplings in the bottom left corner are what they call "super har gow":
It's just like regular har gow, but a bit bigger. They weren't that special, but at least they weren't bad.

I forgot what was in those triangular pastries. The "salad" that came with the scallops were really just a couple of melon balls.
The congee we ordered was pretty good. The good thing about it was that the server actually took the time to remove all the clam shells at the table before serving it to us.
Apparently, these Shanghai style meat dumplings had crab in them. I had no idea.

The something something soup was very nice. It was quite smooth in texture, and it came in a fancy bowl. Unfortunately, that bowl was quite small.
The egg tarts had swallow's nest in them. I thought that was unnecessary, and I would've been fine with regular old egg tarts; however, my friends at the table noted that the swallow's nest added a smoother texture to the filling.
The most exciting dish for me was the de-boned chicken wings. There weren't that many on the plate, but I was pleased that the hard work had been taken care of for me.

The outside of Casa Imperial looks like a house.
Casey mentioned that the paintings and chandeliers juxtaposed with the giant Chinese character was like a fusion of Eastern and Western styles. I thought it was more like confusion.
We joked that they basically took a regular dim sum menu and added abalone and swallow's nest to everything.



Along with the prices, the teapots and menus are also upscale.

Tea charge? WHAT? I didn't know that existed.

Before arriving at the restaurant, I had estimated that the dishes would be approximately $5 per plate. It might have been slightly higher than that.

Total damage: $26 per person.

To add some perspective, I usually spend no more than $20 on dim sum and I average around $10-15. The upper bound is usually reached when I go with big eaters who are hungry.

Golden Court Abalone Restaurant

Golden Court Abalone Restaurant (270 West Beaver Creek Road, Richmond Hill)
(905) 707-6628

Dim sum. Dim sum is great with people who like to eat a lot. Chances are they'll order lots of different dishes, and in one meal you can eat a bunch of different foods.

Korean style short ribs and deep-fried tofu:
I actually ordered the steamed beef balls, but they didn't have any that day. It was okay because the short ribs were tasty enough.

Har gow and deep-fried dumplings:
This is what deep-fried should be: crispy! And that is what they were.

Shrimp rice noodle roll:
Shrimp rice noodle rolls are my favourite. This place wins for not skimping on the shrimp.

I have no idea what this is called in English:
The food that day was pretty good, but I didn't like that a bunch of items were crossed out on the menu. Not only that, but they didn't have egg tarts! What kind of a dim sum place runs out of egg tarts? Also, a bunch of dishes that we ordered never came. We got bored of waiting, asked for the bill, and headed to a Chinese bakery nearby for some egg tarts.

Oh, and ordering a Coke may take several asking attempts. For some reason, the staff tends to forget things.
Total damage: approximately $15-20 per person. I can't remember the exact cost.

Royal Teahouse

Royal Teahouse (10 Applecreek Boulevard, Markham)

Please excuse the lack of visuals. There wasn't an opportunity to paparazzi my food at this restaurant; however, I found this old picture on my phone of a fried dim sum bun from this place. It's shaped like a porcupine! I think an eye might be missing.
I actually wanted to order the porcupine shaped bun again, but I couldn't find it on the menu. It's probably still there. I probably just can't figure out the translation from Chinese to English.

The plain congee was plain. Really plain. Maybe some salt would've helped. I'm used to stuff laden with MSG that they serve at Congee Wong.

There was some sort of curry concoction served in a mini tart. It looked like an egg tart that was puffed up. I would've preferred that the tart crust held together better rather than have crumbs dancing down my face and falling off my chin. The crust actually started crumbling right when I picked it up.

I was kind of surprised at the egg yolk section inside the lotus paste bun. I found that the paste had the right texture and that the buns were quite tasty.

This restaurant seems to be a popular recommendation for good dim sum. I'd say it's pretty good. Mainly, I'm very amused by the porcupine bun.

Damage: none. Free for me!

Richmond Court

Richmond Court Take-out (328 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill)

Rolls with meat, street style "siu mai," and a bowl of mixed vegetarian "jai." 

Everything in the picture fed two hungry people. It fed us well.

I've never had street style "siu mai" before, but it was pretty good. I liked the rolls as well. 

Total damage: $9, I think. I can't really remember anymore.

Seafood Delight Chinese Cuisine

Seafood Delight Chinese Cuisine (8425 Woodbine Avenue, Markham)

Chinese pork bun ("Cha siu chaan bao"):
The outer bread part of this bun was great. It had the browned top which was both sticky and sweet. The inside was a bit too saucy for me. Still, this was ten times better than the pulled pork sandwich at Montana. 

The chicken feet from this restaurant looked really discoloured. They were more brown and dull than what I'm used to seeing. I don't eat chicken feet, but chicken feet expert Chris assured me that this was far from the best that he's had. He orders this dish at every dim sum meal, so I think he'd know what they're supposed to taste like.

The skin on the shrimp dumplings (har gow) was thick. The actual dumplings were smaller than usual.

The lobster in the noodles had a good flavour. The rice noodle rolls weren't bad either.

Damage: None. Free for me!

Dri Eats at Home

I made yet more chocolate chip cookies.

More chewy:
More not so chewy:
By "gourmet", they must mean extra fatty.
This freaked me out:
Leftovers on English muffin. Mmm...
Some apple pastry:
Yeah, I know that picture makes it look nasty, but it wasn't bad.

Plate full of leftover dim sum!
I like the buns with the shiny, sweet glaze. 

Oatmeal raisin cookies:
Finished the chocolate chip cookie dough, only peanut butter to go.

Threw processed cheese and Black Diamond mozzarella chunks on leftover pasta. Ding-ed it. This was the yummy, gooey result: