Recommendations on GOOD chinese restaurants

[el_diablo007]

Hey guys I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on GOOD chinese restaurants down town in the chinatown area...most of the ones I used to go to have really cut down on the quality of food (mostly from the over zealous use of salt, too much sauce, and smaller quantity... ). Some place that serves good chinese food and doesn't make you feel like a ton of bricks afterwards would be nice

Thanks!

[omegas_decree]

I'd reccommend if you were in the GVR.

[kilarney]

Hey guys I'm just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on GOOD chinese restaurants down town in the chinatown area...most of the ones I used to go to have really cut down on the quality of food (mostly from the over zealous use of salt, too much sauce, and smaller quantity... ). Some place that serves good chinese food and doesn't make you feel like a ton of bricks afterwards would be nice

Thanks!

Come up to Markham/Scarborough near the Pacific Mall/Market Village area. Theres lots of great cuisine there and good portions.

[teknoluv]

Have you been to downtown's King's Garden?

[el_diablo007]

Come up to Markham/Scarborough near the Pacific Mall/Market Village area. Theres lots of great cuisine there and good portions.

whenever I'm up in that area, I'll usually have something hwile I'm there but its a little too far most of the time

Have you been to downtown's King's Garden?

no, but I'll take a look see.

[xtal]

Swatow (309 Spadina Ave.)
Chinese Traditional Buns (536 Dundas St. W) (downstairs)
Hua Sang (41 Baldwin St.)
Yueh Tung (126 Elizabeth St.) (upstairs)

That will get you started.

[TheDarkRage]

Rol San
323 Spadina Avenue
At the "T" intersection of St. Andrew St. and Spadina

I believe that this place is the best dim sum restaurant in the downtown area. Very crowded on weekend mornings and early afternoon. If you want to save yourself some time, you can offer/ask to line up in the back room, which has no windows, and is a bit darker (since it's only lighted by fluorescent lights). Method of serving dim sum is not by servers walking with carts, but simply with a small paper menu (in chinese and english) given to you at first, and is served to you as soon as it's steamed in the kitchen. A very efficient method if you ask me, and puts their main competitor (Bright Pearl Restaurant -across the street) to shame.

New Sky Restaurant
353 Spadina Avenue
A bit south of the Nassau Street intersection w/ Spadina Avenue.

They serve cantonese-style food, usually very busy at nights. Hmmm, how do I clarify on canto style...all I can say is, popular dishes such as Pheonix Nest is served here. Phoenix Nest is a dish with a "bowl" made out of crispy deep fried taro containing many seafood meats (scallops and I think squid) with vegetables such as carrots, brocolli and celery.

Lee Garden
331 Spadina Avenue
A bit north of Rol San, right before the LCBO

This place is pretty expensive, but it's because their food is free of MSG and manages to make the food just as delicious. They're pretty popular and well known among the non-chinese community, and a price range to boot. I'll admit it's a bit pricier than their MSG peers, but it's very good.
http://toronto.com/restaurants/listing/000-213-094

I don't know how these restaurants compare to other uptown locations, but I'm very familiar with the restaurants in DT chinatown. If you have any other chinese restaurants in the north york/markham area, I'd also like to know where they are, since I've never been to any that are good.

BTW xtal, is Sawtow really that great? My friends have been there and they weren't really impressed at all. Must be the concept of "fresh" and the jumbo dried "instant" noodles by the window of the restaurant, lol

[xtal]

BTW xtal, is Swatow really that great? My friends have been there and they weren't really impressed at all. Must be the concept of "fresh" and the jumbo dried "instant" noodles by the window of the restaurant, lol

It can be fantastic, but this depends on a few things:

i) the time you go
ii) how busy it is
iii) what you order

i) and ii) are pretty well linked. The place is a zoo on weekends, especially late, due to the post-clubbing influence. If you go then, just order General Whoever's chicken, because you're not going to get a decent dish of anything. And, if you've had a few drinks, it won't matter anyways.

If you head in there when it's a little quieter, you can enjoy some really well-prepared items. There's a tofu hotpot that is incredible, as is the eggplant (garlic, I believe). The dumpling soups are great, mainly due to the broth, that can be fantastic. My personal favourite is the shrimp dumpling soup. It's a meal unto itself.

Great post above, btw.

[IronMac]

Great post xtal...I've been to Swatow a couple of times, all on the weekends, and haven't been too impressed. I'll keep in mind to go during the weekday nights.

Lee Garden and Rol San are also good.

For dim sum, my brothers have introduced me to a Rainbow Seafood (?) Restaurant just west of Spadina on the north side of Dundas. Very good stuff there!

[keanefan]

chinese restaurant reviews:

http://www.torontolife.com/cityguide/subcategory.cfm?category_id=1&subtitle_id=17

[yatko]

http://www.szechuanszechuan.com/

[Oni-kun]

lol "good chinese food" and "healthy chinese food" are oxymorons. Before anyone calls me racist. I am chinese.

[IronMac]

lol "good chinese food" and "healthy chinese food" are oxymorons. Before anyone calls me racist. I am chinese.

It all depends on the dishes. I'd call you ignorant before I call you racist.

[Oni-kun]

It all depends on the dishes. I'd call you ignorant before I call you racist.

Well okay name 10 dishes that neither have: deep fried components, high in fat (either by oil or meat), high in sugar (corn syrup based sauces or sweet sauces), high in salt, or unhealthy because of high mecury levels (Ie. shark fin soup). I'm talking about the typical selection of dishes you will see at a chinese restaurant. Just try going to any one of them one night and try to order a whole mean without any of the above. Good luck. I wouldn't say i'm ignorant because my parents like to eat out at chinese restaurants a lot and i would say i've been to quite a few of them. Some of them are "good" in a sense that the food is tasty. But they are by far not the healthiest choices.

[keanefan]

chinese steamed fish, steamed buns, steamed dumplings, tofu dish in hot pot, bbq pork, steamed chicken, steamed cake, steamed rice noodles, boiled noodles, boiled dumplings, beef or meat in hot pot (soup), boiled soup with meat, bones, herbs, Shanghai cold cuts, etc. Stir-fried dishes are considered healthy. You just have to order the right dishes and there are different kinds of Chinese food (different regions).

Food at expensive Chinese restaurants tend to taste better than less expensive Chinese restaurants. So don't go to $4/dish places because the quality won't be so good.

The food at City Inn Chinese restaurant (at Market Village = gray building at Kennedy & Steeles) does not contain a lot of oil and the food is somewhat bland since they use less salt, etc. I recommend City Inn.

http://chaliu.com/

CHA LIU
dim sum- night and day
2352 Yonge St. (Eglinton)
Floor 2,
Toronto
Tel:416-485-1725

Business Hours
Mon: 11am-10pm
Tues-Sat: 11am-11pm
Sun: 10:30am-10pm