Bad news on the eating front this weekend as word came down that the Foo Wor restaurant in Brossard has shuttered its doors. This is really too bad because I liked Foo Wor’s dim sum: they had a really great roast pork plate and their dumplings were very delicate and flavorful. I guess it must have been hard to draw people further west on Taschereau with their location being hammered by both the departure of the Kim Phat grocery store that drew crowds to its strip mall in the first place, and the opening of a giant Kam Fung in the new Place Kim Phat that sucked out what remaining customers might have driven the few extra klicks. Worse still, the Foo Wor’s closure coincides with rumors that the quality of dim sum at Xin Jing Hua now being described as “unmemorable”, with that particular stalwart appearing to take on the Kam Fung competition by using the anti-Wal-Mart defence of dropping prices irrespective of the impact to quality. This is really disappointing: one less dim sum alternative to frequent in the greater Montréal area, and another starting a slide to mediocrity.

I am hoping that another restaurant steps in to help fill the void. Tong Por St-Laurent (which I’ve already scribbled about) appears to be chugging along in spite of their weird waiter but another possibility that presents itself is Zao’s. Tantalizing to be certain, as Tong Por was one of the better dim sum houses before the transformation and some of the former Le Président chefs switched over to Zao’s after the takeover. Their “dumpling magic” didn’t make the trip with them though, as I’ve read reports that the dumpling wrappers need work.

However, I don’t go to dim sum exclusively for dumplings so I was curious to see what other stuff they might offer and how that would compare. Did I mention I was also hungry?

Okay, so… off to Zao’s.

Zao’s is on the west (southbound) side of Acadie, ergo it’s across the street from the outlet shopping arcology that is the Marché Central. Its specific strip mall also houses a Lebanese restaurant, a Chez Cora, a coffee shop, another Chinese restaurant (which turns out to be just a sign), and Sharky’s Pool Hall. I actually had a WTF? moment when I realized that Zao’s is not only on the second floor next to Sharky’s Pool Hall, the owners appears to also run Sharky’s Pool Hall. The annoying thing about the location is there is absolutely no parking, which is really strange for a strip mall. I managed to find a space that was essentially in the middle of a muddy sinkhole and then hoofed it up the stairs.

The interior is really non-descript and if it weren’t for the tanks of live seafood, the stereotypical scroll painting and the giant phoenix and dragon wall plaque for weddings, it could be a pool hall, a cafeteria or discount shoe and clothing retailer. Ambiance isn’t the strong suit for Zao’s: nothing fancy for chairs and tables, and the flat-screen televisions were showing competitive poker. One thing you’ll want to watch out for is when they turn on the music: there are speakers every 2 metres or so just above the windows.

So what’s the crowd like? Well, since it’s dim sum there won’t be any pack of Appalachian hillbillies sitting nearby, but in all honesty there was almost no one at 11:30 AM on a Saturday. One family was finishing their meal when I arrived, and another table was talking and drinking tea, but not eating. Okay…

I eventually figured out that the crowd for Zao’s is the same crowd that spends its time at the outlets across the street and stream into the restaurant considerably later than other places. The other oddities apart from the decor, the televisions and the clientele? The workers. They were standing around waiting for clients when I arrived but:

1. They’re friendly (!)
2. They smile (!)
3. They speak English and Mandarin Chinese (bad thing as it’s something that will upset the pur et dur, but good thing especially since I don’t speak Cantonese)

Zao’s does the pushcart, but there aren’t a whole lot of them and a lot of the pushers actually brought food over in hotel pans to see if I was interested in whatever it contained. I also found out that I could specifically order some things if they weren’t already available.

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; they were quite orange in color
• Spare ribs (排骨 paai gwat, páigǔ) – ordered the beef short ribs version, did not see pork ribs
• Tofu skin roll (腐皮捲 fu pei guen) – saw it but didn’t order
• Chive Dumplings
• Beef leaf tripe (牛柏葉, niu bai ye)
• Lotus leaf rice (糯米雞, nuo mi ji)
• Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou) – saw it but didn’t order
• Stuffed crab claw (釀蟹鉗, niàng xiè qián)
• 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, though it was more the stuff that I normally don’t find or get at other places. And the nice surprise? Those special dishes that I almost always miss everywhere else were in easy supply at Zao’s: chili and salt-baked capelins full of roe, clams in black bean sauce, porky chive dumplings.

The reports I had read were correct: the steamed dumplings really need a rethink. The fillings are okay – they’re savory and taste of shrimp, pork, scallops or whatever else is used as filling, but the skins weren’t particularly translucent, were very sticky, and had an odd texture to them. Other misses were the char siu bao (odd texture to the bread, meh filling) and the steamed leaf tripe with ginger and onion (lacking ginger and onion, and salt).

My two favorites were actually the flanken cut beef ribs, which were very savory, beefy and peppery. Flanken ribs can be tough, but these were tender so someone was definitely paying attention to their cooking. What else? The capelin. Full of roe, crispy, warm, slightly salty, nice bite from the bird chiles, onion and bell pepper.

One item here that looked pretty good was the stew of organ meats. As I’ve said, I usually avoid this as it’s often chock full of mou (lung), but this one was full of large pieces of honeycomb tripe and daikon. After everything else that was ordered I wasn’t sure if I could stomach (sic) more tripe but maybe next time. Chances are probably very good that it’s better than the leaf tripe.

Dessert. I saw egg tarts that looked okay and I saw some mochi. I elected to go with silken tofu (豆腐花 dou fu fa) instead, because I happen to like it better. Zao’s ginger-flavored simple syrup is thicker, darker and sweeter than others (more reduction) but it’s somewhat weak on the ginger flavor.

Wine

Heck if I know – I stuck with tea and ice water.

Then again, since the (dysfunctional) website is listed as “http://www.sharkys-zaos.com/” I’m assuming there’s booze somewhere. It’s likely on the Sharky’s side, so you can enjoy your drop with some pool or a cozy video poker machine (what I think most people go there for).

Photos

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Impressions

Zao’s was actually a very pleasant surprise and reminded me of the time I went to see Stargate. I didn’t expect much based on what I had read and I was really pleasantly surprised.

Sure – the “dumpling magic” that the old brigade from the former Le Président is essentially non-existent and they screwed up leaf tripe and char siu bao, but some really nice off-the-track surprises and a lightness with the fried items. I’ll have to go back and give them a second look just to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke. Hopefully I won’t have the same parking issues. 

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