Today’s the last day of February, which so happens to be the last day of the Vancouver Olympics, so what better thing to do than to go for dim sum. I figured that I may as well scribble something that people visit this site for (the dim sum postings), which is not only tastier, but a whole lot more interesting than watching the logs document the current site attack from Latvian and mainland Chinese content spammers (you’d think that the Latvians at least would have something better to do with their time).

I am by no means trying to compare local dim sum offerings to Vancouver, which was recently named by Condé Nast Traveler magazine as the city with the best Chinese food. Period. True? Maybe. I’ll give YVR the nod as the best in North America following the 1997 exodus prior to the repatriation of Hong Kong, but I’d have to make an eating comparison between Taipei and Vancouver just to see for myself which city is really the top of the pile.

Local dim sum however, remains in flux ever since the opening of the Brossard branch of the Kam and the closure of the Chinatown Tong Por. Chinatown’s main stalwarts (Ruby Rouge and the Kam Fung) continue to be plagued with inconsistencies with the RR suffering more than the Kam, there are rumors that the Tong Por VSL is falling to consistency issues of its own, and Zao’s has decided to rename itself “La Maison Foo Lam”, all the while trying to find a footing to compete against the others. I wasn’t in the mood to find out what Brossard’s latest daikaijū (大怪獣, giant monster) restaurant addition was like (initial reports aren’t good) so I elected to try the Kam’s “other” surburban outpost – La Maison Kam Fung in Saint-Laurent.

Okay, let’s get it over with - the Kam is located in a strip mall. A rather small one next door to the Wyeth facility (now part of the new P), with somewhat limited parking that it shares with a newly-opened breakfast place for the Bois-franc straight-laced in need of waffles and breakfast sausages.

I think my family’s been going to dinner at this Kam for the better part of oh, 15-20 years or so and apart from re-upholstering the chairs, I don’t think they’ve made any significant changes to the decor since that first visit. Two tanks of live seafood at the entrance (one with lobsters and crab, one with live fish), the giant phoenix and dragon wall plaque for weddings, dance floor, disco ball, red velvet-y everything. This was the restaurant where we learned not to be present when a Vietnamese wedding is being held (non-stop mandatory table-by table karaoke including disco-beat renditions of “Ave Maria” sung in Vietnamese – think about it). Those are really only during the summer months so it’s a pretty good bet that one can avoid that during the winter.

The Kam uses pushcarts and it’s actually the first time I noticed that the people doing the pushcart 1) all wear the same orange visor and apron that I see almost everywhere else and 2) they speak Mandarin (!). The language support is a surprise. Unlike the Chinatown branch, geography has a less significant effect at this locale, but the staff recognized me even without my parents present so I got a pretty good table (yes!). I was also surprised that it wasn’t as packed as my last, as there were maybe only about a third of the tables occupied at 11:00 am, but who knows? Maybe people were still flipping between the Olympics and Coronation Street. Then again, it really did fill up by noon, and with a very good representation of Saint-Laurent’s multicultural population and many large groups taking up the big tables. All good for turnover, and most impressively, enthusiastic eating and very little squeamishness from what I saw.

The meal

Well, it’s dim sum: whatever was available that looked interesting on the pushcart. I saw the following:

• Assorted steamed dumplings (餃, Dumpling; 餃子 gau zi, Gow gee)
• Har gau (蝦餃 shrimp dumpling)
• Siu mai (燒賣 pork dumpling)
• Char siu bau (叉燒包, steamed bun)
• “Phoenix talons” (鳳爪 Fung zao alias chicken feet) – saw it but didn’t order
• Spare ribs (排骨 paai gwat, páigǔ) – ordered the beef short ribs version, saw but did not order pork ribs
• Tofu skin roll (腐皮捲 fu pei guen) – saw it but didn’t order
• Chive Dumplings – saw it but didn’t order
• Shrimp and Chive Dumplings (韭菜虾饺) – saw it but didn’t order
• Beef leaf tripe (牛柏葉, niu bai ye)
• Lotus leaf rice (糯米雞, nuo mi ji) – saw it but didn’t order
• Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou) – saw it but didn’t order
• Stuffed crab claw (釀蟹鉗, niàng xiè qián) – saw it but didn’t order
• Spring roll (春捲 cheun gyun) – saw it but didn’t order

There was a whack load of other things (especially fried and baked) that I didn’t order, including daikon cake, Singapore noodles, gai lan (too late) chili and salt-baked capelin (too late) though it was more that therre’s only so much that I can eat. There weren’t too many of those “special plates” (they’re generally $$$, but it tops off at $5.50 here) that I could spot, but then again, I wasn’t going to hang around the restaurant just to see. Apart from the offerings on the pushcarts, the Kam had a stock menu offering the stalwarts (e.g. General Tso’s chicken) for the more squeamish or for those not in the mood for smaller bites.

I was fairly impressed by the different steamed dumplings this go, as they were greatly improved from the previous times. The skins were not translucent as with other places, but they were thin, not cloying and had a nice chew to them. Fillings were very savory and weren’t skimpy on the key ingredients. My favorite of these was one I couldn’t identify, but it was a seafood filling mixed with peas, corn and water chestnut for textural and color differences. The organ meats were limited to the leaf tripe, which was cut into larger strips and flavored with fried julienned ginger. Interesting. The char siu bao is one of the nicers ones I’ve had in the city and has remained consistent with a nice bread that was slightly sweet from the milk and a savory filling that complemented it. I also liked the two vegetable dishes (eggplant and peppers) as they were light and retained their respective tastes even though they were fried dishes.

The one dish I was disappointed with was the chili and salt baked shrimp, which was okay in flavor but suffered from way too much breading. The dish calls for the shrimp to be dusted in flour, not dipped in beer batter. I seem to be the only one in disagreement since they were being popped down pretty quickly at other tables.

Dessert. I saw egg tarts, I saw jello (because there’s always room for jello) and I saw silken tofu (豆腐花 dou fu fa). I didn’t order any of it because of lack of space.

Wine

In nearly two decades I’ve never actually noticed whether or not they have wine. I think they do since there is a wine rack behind their bar, but the only alcoholic drinks I’ve ever seen people consume is beer. Standard domestic mix, plus Heineken plus Tsingtao (if you really must). I stuck with tea and ice water though these two guys at the next table sucked down a 12-pack of Coke with their meal (that’s a lot of high-fructose corn syrup).

Photos

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Impressions

The last time I did dim sum at the Saint-Laurent Kam (wow, maybe more than a year now), I came away thinking that it was pretty ordinary. Tasty enough, but not great and not something I’d be springing out the door to try.

The Kam has improved their dim sum since that time. It’s still not the most exciting place for dim sum (excitement? it’s across the street from the southern border of Bois-franc), but it’s playing to what its clientele likes by offering competently made mainstream items. Can’t complain at all - seafood was tasty, pork was tasty, vegetables were nice, unobtrusive service. I appreciated this “no surprises” excursion today as I’m about to suffer from a headache coming out of the Big Easy.

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