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).

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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.

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).

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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. 

Tong Por St-Laurent is the second of Montréal’s current trifecta of dim sum restaurants (the other two being Xin Jing Hua and the Chinatown branch of the Kam Fung – I’ll argue later about the relative merits of the Chinatown Kam). Originally known as Le Président, the space was taken over last autumn by the owners of the original Tong Por much to the dismay of those hooked on dim sum. Why? Fear that the food would change. Why would the Tong Por want to do this? Expansion of the business empire, the strip mall has a parking lot and Chinatown doesn’t, captive Asian population in Cartierville… plenty of reasons. There were obviously some changes with the change in ownership (e.g. some of the kitchen brigade apparently bolted to Zao on Acadie), but the restaurant managed to stay on track and is still serving packed houses.

This restaurant however, has a very different feel to it and serves a different crowd than its competition: lots more mini-vans, lots fewer luxury vehicles, lots less jewelry and no Louis Vuitton. However the parking lot’s still crowded and people still park illegally, ensuring that they maximize the inconvenience factor for their fellow diners.

Since I keep missing those “special dishes” at every single place because I go just a tad too early, I decided to try the Tong Por a bit later on in the day (30 minutes later, so not exactly “late”). I got a seat next to the window and a little bit of attention as I was openly packing a camera and actively snapping away (did I ever mention that while I really enjoy shooting with a LX3, I would love to have a Leica M9 and a Noctilux-M?).

Tong Por also does the pushcart, but I immediately noticed that this is a restaurant where geography does have importance: several carts never actually made it past a couple of metres from the kitchen exit before being emptied, and there’s only so much chow fun and egg tarts one can look at for those who did.

The Meal

Well, it’s dim sum: whatever was available that looked interesting on the pushcart. Tong Por’s pushers (who speak Mandarin) offer up all of 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) – saw it but didn’t order
• Char siu bau (叉燒包, steamed bun)
• “Phoenix talons” (鳳爪 Fung zao alias chicken feet) – atypical service; on rice rather than standalone (also didn’t order this)
• Spare ribs (排骨 paai4 gwat1, páigǔ) – saw it but didn’t order
• Tofu skin roll (腐皮捲 fu pei guen) – saw it but didn’t order
• Chive Dumplings
• Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou) – saw it but didn’t order
• Spring roll (春捲 cheun gyun) – saw it but didn’t order

Yes, there was a whack of stuff that I didn’t order, though it was primarily because I was trying to do some strategic eating. I also didn’t order any congee, dessert, eggplant, green pepper, daikon cake, chow fun, noodles or gai lan on the hopes that I could snag one of the special items. As always, no luck on that front in spite of coming later as geographic location ensured that most of the special items didn’t make it anywhere near me. I did of course spotted fried whole capelin and chili and salt-baked shrimp after I paid, but then again, the cash register is next to the kitchen exit.

Those chive dumplings? Yuck: oily and glue-y with an uninteresting minced pork and chive filling that lacked chives - I did not need to eat this. What was very good were the crab claws (very moist, full of crab and rounded off with shrimp) and the scallop dumplings. The wrappers on the latter were very thin, slightly chewy and the filling had distinct flavors of scallop, shrimp, pork and coriander.

One item that was very popular was the stew of organ meats. I usually avoid this as it’s often chock full of mou (lung), which is tasteless and chews like a sponge, but most of the surrounding tables were really into it. Maybe not the two Caucasian professors who were desperately looking for anything they could identify that wasn’t seafood or an abat, but pretty much everyone else who ordered it liked it.

Wine

Actually, Tong Por does have booze available: I spotted a bottle of Liano and a couple of DuBoeuf Beaujolais staying nice and toasty warm under halogen spotlights (sorry Karl). It was tea and ice water, though for alcohol it’s probably best to stick with beer as that’s at least kept cold and has good rotation.

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Impressions

Wow – I wouldn’t have thought that there would be such a significant difference in taste/quality depending on the time and day of the week but there is. My first time to the Tong Por was at 11:00 am on a Saturday and most everything could be summed up by ”meh”. Underseasoned, cold, generally underwhelming. This time around, 11:40 am on a Sunday. Same packed restaurant, vastly different food: savory, hot, and generally tasty. So the chive dumplings were a miss, but the seven other things I ordered weren’t, which feels like a complete reverse of the first time around where it was one hit among many, many misses.

The other thing that I noticed is that the Tong Por is significantly pricier than its local competition. Dim sum isn’t exactly “take a sledgehammer to the piggy bank because we’re having lunch at Guy Savoy” pricey, but similar items here are more expensive than at other local restaurants. Not sure why this is.

So, would I go back to Tong Por VSL? Sure, but only late morning on Sundays. I’d also make sure to avoid the waiter who’s a bit blurry in photo #3 as he’s not particularly good at his job: he was so busy sucking up to specific clients that he knocked a teapot out of a waitress’s hands, blaming her for intentionally moving into a place where he would bump into her as he was flailing his arms and walking backwards (I guess it makes sense in a surreal sort of way). Then he kicked out a foursome who had started eating because they were seated at a table he deemed too good for them. To the family who got the table afterwards – like saliva? he didn’t bus the table before he seated you there (if you remember, the foursome had already started on their meal).

Weird waiter aside, Tong Por holds up well against other Montreal offerings, but I still wonder about the night-and-day inconsistency between a Saturday and a Sunday especially in light of the higher overall cost. And I’ll have them bring me new chopsticks and dinnerware.

I really like dim sum. I think it’s fun and it’s a meal where there’s a lot of variety. The problem with dim sum is that it’s something that you can’t do alone because you need additional eaters to be able to access that variety. However Grasshopper, one must choose wisely because those invitees better be open to things as squeamish people pretty much suck out the joy from the experience. Well, that happens irrespective of any outing, but probably worse here since you’re in need of them to be able to order the variety that’s nice to have. There’s also the question of how many additional eaters are necessary, but no more than five to not over-crowd the table.

There really isn’t any particular “set menu” as most restaurants offering dim sum will have many options available (depending on time of day and the day of the week). The older style restaurants will have people push food on carts whereas the newer ones will have you order from a menu as with regular service. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

Carts allow you to see and smell things that may not have been tried in previous visits, but you can be stuck with the leftovers that have been circulating with the cart for an hour, or (worse still) be “strategically seated” so that the cart never gets to you. That latter scenario heightens the importance of getting to the restaurant at the right time to be able to stake out a piece of geography close to the kitchen, since no one wants the piece that’s been cooling down while doing laps around the restaurant.

So why not menu ordering? First of all, you better know how to either read or speak the dialect the restaurant operates with (I can’t do the former and my Mandarin and Taiwanese are unfortunately limited to ingredients and not complete dishes). The English versions of the menus are generally missing one or two items, or don’t have valid descriptors meaning that there is a tendency to fall for the same-old. However, everything that comes to the table is made to order and will be about as good as it will get.

I can go either way. Xin Jing Hua does the pushcart.

The Meal

As I said, whatever’s available depending on the strengths of a given restaurant. Xin Jing Hua serves all of 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)
• Spare ribs (排骨 paai4 gwat1, páigǔ)
• Tofu skin roll (腐皮捲 fu pei guen)
• Shrimp and Chive Dumplings (韭菜虾饺)
• Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou)
• Spring roll (春捲 cheun gyun)

There are also special plates ($$$), as well as a variety of “organ meats” (I like the beef tripe steamed with green onions and ginger), congee, cold dishes (e.g. roast pork and jellyfish salad), and vegetables. Sort of depends on the luck of the draw I guess, since I didn’t see any steamed squid, cuttlefish or shrimp the last time out.

Dessert isn’t where this type of establishment shines and Xin Jing Hua isn’t an exception. Apart from the egg tart, about the only thing I would order if I was in the mood is silken tofu (豆腐花 Dou fu fa), which is served with a ginger-flavored simple syrup (theirs is a bit more caramel-y). Nice when it’s cool, not so hot an option when it’s hot.

Wine

You’ve got to be kidding. I saw a couple of people drinking beer but I’ve never seen anyone order wine or hard alcohols at this place. I kept with tea and ice water.

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Impressions

So, would I go back to Xin Jing Hua again? Sure – the food is generally very good with few misses (e.g. the duck feet) and they have plenty of parking unlike a lot of places in Chinatown. Is it the best dim sum that I’ve ever had? No; that would be reserved for a place in Taipei my maternal aunt took me to years ago where the cart attendants would berate you for being a troglodyte if you didn’t order whatever dish it was they were offering (it’s long gone as I would have liked to go back). Or the original Taipei branch of the Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐). For North America, the Yank Sing in San Franciso and Sun Siu Wah in Richmond BC both tower over the Xin Jing Hua, and it’s also got some serious competition in its own back yard from Foo Wor, the restaurant at the strip mall next door. But it’s got consistency, variety and there are just some things here that one can’t find elsewhere. So, sure, I’d go back. Need extra eaters though.