Dim Sum in Winnipeg

[Pam R]

My favorite is Victoria Seafood. Not such a fan of other places that are highly recommended.

What are your thoughts?

[jamiemaw]

My favorite is Victoria Seafood.  Not such a fan of other places that are highly recommended. 

What are your thoughts?

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I'm thinking it's probably not Kum Koon.

[Pam R]

You're right Jamie!

You wanted to know why I like VS? Well I'll tell you! It's always busy (always a good sign in my book), the staff is friendly and helpful and the food is great. Some people may prefer a restaurant where they roll around the carts full of food - but I like my hot food hot - and this place lets you order what you want. Little slips of paper on the table let you order whatever dishes you want and it appears hot and fresh on your table within minutes of placing the order - even when they're packed.

I've been to some of those cavernous places downtown - I have no knack for waving people down with carts. I can sit there for hours with no food to eat. (well, maybe not hours)

Did I mention that the food is great? Not just the dim sum either. But that's a whole other issue.

[Dejah]

I've only been to Kum Koon, Grand Garden, Dim Sum Garden, and a little congee/noodle place on McDermot called "Double Happiness?"

Have heard many good reviews on Victoria Seafood, so that's our destination next leisurely trip into the city.

Unfortunately, most of my trips have been for teacher's conferences over at St Boniface College or Mennonite College with collegues. I'll have to change that!

What is the addrsss for Victoria Seafood? Do they serve xiao lung bao?

Kum Koon is so crazy busy. We were there acouple Sundays ago and had to wait for 30 minutes. When we came out, the foyer and waiting room was so packed I struggled to get to the cashier. The times that I have been there, the food was hot and good. I especially like the hot tofu fah and the taro battered stuffed shrimp.

I don't care for Grand Garden - the staff is definitely NOT friendly...and scowl when you order something from the kitchen. I just want a plate of gai lan with brunch!

Dim Sum Garden on Rupert is pretty good. You order each item and it's always hot. My son likes to go there from 2 pm to 5? when it is half price dim sum. He eats alot!

But, it's Victoria Seafood next trip. Any items you would recommend that are a "must have" there? What's a good time to go?

[Pam R]

What is the addrsss for Victoria Seafood? Do they serve xiao lung bao?

Victoria Seafood

F-1086 St. Mary's Rd 255-0665

It's a couple of blocks north of Bishop Grandon.

(I hate to have to tell you .. but I order from the english translations. what is xiao lung bao?)

I don't care for Grand Garden - the staff is definitely NOT friendly...and scowl when you order something from the kitchen. I just want a plate of gai lan with brunch! 

you can order off the 'regular' menu at any time.

Dim Sum Garden on Rupert is pretty good. You order each item and it's always hot. My son likes to go there from 2 pm to 5? when it is half price dim sum. He eats alot!

But, it's Victoria Seafood next trip. Any items you would recommend that are a "must have" there? What's a good time to go?

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I usually go on the weekend - to now have to wait for a table, you pretty much have to be there before 12:30. They serve dimsum all day (even for dinner!), so as long as you can get a table, you tan order it all.

I don't know that I'm a maven on dim sum ... just know what I like. Stuffed eggplant is wonderful - all the dumplings I've tried are great - buns, rice dishes... I've liked everything I've had (well.. not the rice rolls... I just don't like rice rolls anywhere). I'm getting hungry!

[Pam R]

Went for dim sum today. Victoria Seafood of course. It's been a while since I've been - but it was just as good (or better) than I remembered.

There were five of us and we ordered shortly after arriving. Within a couple of minutes they started bringing out the dishes (sticky rice right away). There was a steady stream of hot fresh food for about 20-30 minutes. The dumplings were the best I've had. I don't enjoy doughy things - and the wrappers on these were nice and delicate (almost too delicate - but in a good way). The fillings all good.

I really prefer ordering off a menu rather than grabbing things off a cart. I've had too much cold, soggy dim sum from carts. So this restaurant is perfect for me.

The restaurant was full, as it almost always is. This is a good sign.

We had so much food that there was actually some left over - but the total for the whole table was $71. Great value.

[prasantrin]

We did a dim sum tour of Winnipeg this summer.

First stop--Kam Ho. Fairly new place on St. Mary's Road. They don't have cart service, so you order from a menu. We ordered: cha siu bao, sticky lotus rice, hum soi gok, har gau, chicken feet, and bbq pork rice rolls.

Their sticky lotus rice is very very good. Lots of filling, and very flavourul. The rice rolls and cha siu bao were OK. They could have had more filling, and I didn't think their bbq pork had a lot of flavour. The har gau is very good--big, moist, tasty shrimp with a decent wrapper. My mother very much liked the chicken feet, and I liked the outside of the hum soi gok--it was much thinner and crispier than at other places, though the filling was not quite as flavourful as I like. At this place, the service sucks, though. I don't think I've ever had service as bad as I've had here.

Next, Dim Sum Garden. Here we had cha siu bao, sticky lotus rice, hum soi gok, chicken feet, and fried calamari.

The filling of the cha sui bao was tastier than that of Kam Ho, but the dough part was about the same. The sticky lotus rice here is good, but not as good as Kam Ho's. There was quite a bit of filling, but mostly ground pork and some mushrooms, I think. Our fried calamari was not quite fresh (it was one of the last off a cart that I think had gone around a few times), so it wouldn't be fair to judge it. The hum soi gok was very good--the casing was a bit thick, but the filling was plentiful and flavourful. My mother enjoyed the chicken feet, but said the ones at Kam Ho were better.

Kum Koon Garden--we've been eating at KKG for decades, though it hasn't always been our favourite. Here we ordered cha siu bao, sticky lotus rice, hum soi gok, chicken feet, fried calamari, and Vietnamese spring rolls. I think we ordered one other thing, but I can't remember what it was.

The cha siu bao was the perfect balance of bread and filling. They bread was light, and the filling was ample and flavourful. The hum soi gok was OK. The filling wasn't as plentiful as Dim Sum Garden's, but the casing was a little thinner. The fried calamari was fresh, crispy, and not too heavy with batter. I've only had Vietnamese Spring Rolls here and have not seen it on any other dim sum menu in Winnipeg--they use the same rice paper wrappers used for Vietnamese spring rolls, but they fry the spring roll, and they fill it with meat (ground pork). I like this dish because it's not as greasy as regular spring rolls, and you don't have all that vegetable filler. I hate bean sprouts and cabbage in spring rolls.

Victoria Seafood--this was my final lunch in Winnipeg. We ordered cha sui bao, hum soi gok, "deluxe shrimp dumpling", bbq pork rice rolls, sticky lotus rice, and shrimp and scallop dumpling.

We received the bbq pork rice rolls first. They were sloppily done--scant filling that spilled out everywhere because the rolls weren't wrapped tightly enough (and the roll part wasn't cooked properly, so it probably didn't wrap well to begin with). The bbq pork had little flavour. The sticky lotus rice had a lot of rice--but mostly just that. The filling, again, was scant and mostly limited to ground pork. I think there may have been a piece or two of Chinese sausage in there, though. The hum soi gok filling, once again, was scant and not very flavourful. The casing part was nice--not as thin as Kam Ho's, but crispy. I really liked it, but the filling just wasn't good enough to save it. The cha siu bao suffered from similar problems of the other meat dishes--the filling is scant and not very flavourful. But the bread part was OK.

Finally, the seafood items. This is really where Victoria Seafood shines. The deluxe shrimp dumplings (oddly called "siu mai", but they're really a deluxe har gau that look like siu mai) were excellent--the shrimp are huge and moist, and the casing was light. These had a bit of roe on top. Very very good. The shrimp and scallop dumplings were also packed with filling (the scallop portion of the filling was a bit small, but you could still see the scallops).

I wish there were just one place in Winnipeg that did all our favourite dishes well, but in order of flavour, we would rank the above in the following order:

Kam Ho--crappy service, but tasty dishes with some outstanding ones

Kum Koon--good service (but we know the owners and many of the old-timers on staff), and most of the dishes are good

Dim Sum Garden--OK service (we probably get better service than many because we know the owners and many of the old-timers on staff), and some good dishes.

Victoria Seafood--So-so service, meat-dishes are mediocre, but the seafood dishes are outstanding

In terms of the individual dishes, the best would be:

hum soi gok--Dim Sum Garden

sticky lotus rice--Kam Ho

cha siu bao--Kum Koon

chicken feet--Kam Ho

fried calamari--Kum Koon

Anything seafood--Victoria Seafood

bbq rice rolls--we only had these at two places, but from distant memory, I would rank Kum Koon's above the two places where we tried them this time around

Edited September 8, 2007 by prasantrin (log)

[Pam R]

Rona - great report. I went to Kum Koon recently and while I thought everything tasted good, almost every thing we had was cold. Did you find the same thing?

This is one of the reasons why I prefer Victoria - I like to order off the menu and get things hot. If I could have hot cart service, that would be great.

What was the place across from Kum Koon? They managed to do hot/cart.

[prasantrin]

Rona - great report.  I went to Kum Koon recently and while I thought everything tasted good, almost every thing we had was cold.  Did you find the same thing?

We actually had mostly hot stuff. Timing is crucial at KKG. On this particular visit, it was a weekday shortly after 1. On Sundays, we usually go around 11:30, so we can still get lots of fresh stuff, but there's more variety than when they have just opened.

This is one of the reasons why I prefer Victoria - I like to order off the menu and get things hot.  If I could have hot cart service, that would be great.

Again, timing is key for hot cart service. Also, when you see there are only a few of an item left on a cart, you should usually assume they're not going to be hot. When that happens, you can ask the cart person if they have any fresh ones, and they'll either get new ones from the kitchen, or get the kitchen to make another batch to go around. We've done that in the past. Another thing we've done to ensure freshness is if we don't see what we want, we ask for it. Then as soon as the batch is finished in the kitchen, they bring us an order before it even makes it to the carts.

You might like Kam Ho since the ordering system is like Victoria. The flavour and quality of the meat dishes is much better than Victoria, but the service really did suck. Kam Ho also had some dishes we haven't seen at other places, but I didn't try them. Since I knew I'd be comparing restaurants, I wanted to stick to our usual dishes. Next time, though, we're going to try some new dishes. If you mostly order seafood dishes, though, I'd probably stick to Victoria. We were really impressed with the two we had.

What was the place across from Kum Koon?  They managed to do hot/cart.

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Grand Garden? On the second floor above a grocery store? We haven't been there in years. We used to like it a lot, then several years ago the quality of their dim sum went downhill. We thought they had changed chefs, but they denied it. We really should give it another chance, but we have reasons for being wary.

[Dejah]

Rona - great report.  I went to Kum Koon recently and while I thought everything tasted good, almost every thing we had was cold.  Did you find the same thing?

This is one of the reasons why I prefer Victoria - I like to order off the menu and get things hot.  If I could have hot cart service, that would be great.

What was the place across from Kum Koon?  They managed to do hot/cart.

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Grand Garden has been closed for at least a year. Apparently the original chef retired, and had refused to teach anyone his recipes and techniques. The quality must have suffered as the business closed. I was told this by the owner of the grocery downstairs who is a sister to the restaurant owner.

I think KKG contributed to GG's demise - new and better facilities. The wait staff at GG was, as I stated in a previous post, arrognant, unfriendly, and did not appreciate a la carte orders during dim sum. KKG was always friendly whenever I've been in, except for Smiling Johnny at the front desk who, I am sure, has never cracked a smile. He is sombre-faced to everyone.

Dim Dum Garden is small and I've only been there recently during Happy Hour when every item is 2.25 (used to be half price). They have many items on carts, but others, are ordered and they bring them fresh from the kitchen. The last time I had the tripe there, it was rubbery, so had probably been sitting for a while. The sticky rice was very good even tho' the filling was mainly meat and mushroom.

I've only been to Victoria Garden once. I don't think we gave it a fair try because it was far out of our way and late in the evening. It was interesting listening to the older couple beside us. They had just returned from a tour of China, and after eating the food there, they just had to get to VS for their wonton soup and egg rolls!

At KKG, my favourite dishes are the curry octopus and the shrimp wrapped with meat, shredded taro,and deep fried. Not sure about the ingredients, but I believe it's called phoenix shrimp. The recipe was presented by the KKG chef in the magazine Taste or some similar mag about Winnipeg. I'm upset 'cos I couldn't find it right now, but I DID find the 2003 issue that featured eGullet's Fat Guy: "Ethnic Food: A Critic's Tour". He said,

" KKG serves a dim sum lunch every day of the week that rivals the variety and quality of some of Vancouver's better places."

Fellow egulleteer Ben Hong thought that KKG rivaled the best places in Toronto.

I will definitely have to try Kam Ho next trip in. On St. Mary's Road, you said

[Pam R]

I think KKG contributed to GG's demise - new and better facilities. The wait staff at GG was, as I stated in a previous post, arrognant, unfriendly, and did not appreciate a la carte orders during dim sum. KKG was always friendly whenever I've been in, except for Smiling Johnny at the front desk who, I am sure, has never cracked a smile. He is sombre-faced to everyone.

I've had the opposite experience. At GG we always had great, friendly service. But once I moved from Garden City to the south end, I started going to Victoria (when it was owned by friend of a friend). Victoria is one restaurant that didn't suffer from a change in ownership and some of the dished improved.

A couple of years ago I went to KKG for a weekday lunch -- I doubt the place was even 1/4 full. The service was so unfriendly and terrible - it took a couple of years to go back. My friend recently moved within walking distance of KKG, so we thought we'd give it another try. The experience was the polar opposite of the last one. The carts came by so fast and frequently, we couldn't keep up. We were there on a Saturday, around noon. The place was packed, and the carts were full. Stuff was still cold. But friendly.

[prasantrin]

Grand Garden has been closed for at least a year. Apparently the original chef retired, and had refused to teach anyone his recipes and techniques. The quality must have suffered as the business closed. I was told this by the owner of the grocery downstairs who is a sister to the restaurant owner.

Peggy? My mother talked to her a couple of weeks ago, and mentioned the restaurant but Peggy didn't say anything at all about it being closed. Actually, she didn't reply to what my mother had asked, so she might not have heard my mother.

KKG was always friendly whenever I've been in, except for Smiling Johnny at the front desk who, I am sure, has never cracked a smile. He is sombre-faced to everyone.

He's been with them forever. I'm not sure, but I think he's been with KKG since before Jeff (or is it Ken? Maybe Jeff owns Dim Sum Garden) took over the business.

When I first read "Smiling Johnny", the first person I thought of was the guy who was the original owner of Red Fortune (on Main), and before that, he owned a place on South Osborne. We always call him the "perpetually smiling guy". His mother was the best cook--she did everything well, and we were crushed when we found out they had sold Red Fortune and weren't going to open another place (mother wanted to retire). He eats at Kam Ho, too.

I've only been to Victoria Garden once. I don't think we gave it a fair try because it was far out of our way and late in the evening. It was interesting listening to the older couple beside us. They had just returned from a tour of China, and after eating the food there, they just had to get to VS for their wonton soup and egg rolls!

Victoria Seafood? I think they have an advantage with the Chinese crowd in the south end because they're the only dim sum place in that part of the city (or at least they were until Kam Ho opened). If Kam Ho can fix their staff problems, I think VS will be losing a lot of their Chinese clientele, though.

I will definitely have to try Kam Ho next trip in. On St. Mary's Road, you said

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Yup. Maybe halfway between Tache and Bishop Grandin. 757 St. Mary's, so says Google.

I wanted to try Asia City during my visit. They opened a full restaurant somewhere in town, but it was somewhere not very convenient for us, so we never made it there. They have dim sum there, as well as a Chinese/Vietnamese menu. I think they closed the Sargent location, which makes it harder for us to get good bubble tea.

[Dejah]

Rona: I wanted to try Asia City during my visit. They opened a full restaurant somewhere in town, but it was somewhere not very convenient for us, so we never made it there. They have dim sum there, as well as a Chinese/Vietnamese menu. I think they closed the Sargent location, which makes it harder for us to get good bubble tea.

Daughter said Asia City is on McPhillip before Leila. She used to live by Seven Oaks Hospital and stopped there for their bubble tea. Said it was good stuff but hadn't tried their food. Since then, she's moved down to Notre Dame in the Medical Apts. by the hospital.

[prasantrin]

Daughter said Asia City is on McPhillip before Leila. She used to live by Seven Oaks Hospital and stopped there for their bubble tea. Said it was good stuff but hadn't tried their food. Since then, she's moved down to Notre Dame in the Medical Apts. by the hospital.

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I love their bubble tea, but only the fresh fruit ones (their young coconut is sooooo decadent!). When they first opened they had a very good cook, but after she left, their food was so-so except the little meatballs on a stick (I've always loved those). My parents loved their banh mi, too (as did all my mother relatives). They're such nice people that I really want to support them, even if their new place is sooooooo far from me! I hope they do well with their new place!

[Dejah]

Daughter said Asia City is on McPhillip before Leila. She used to live by Seven Oaks Hospital and stopped there for their bubble tea. Said it was good stuff but hadn't tried their food. Since then, she's moved down to Notre Dame in the Medical Apts. by the hospital.

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I love their bubble tea, but only the fresh fruit ones (their young coconut is sooooo decadent!). When they first opened they had a very good cook, but after she left, their food was so-so except the little meatballs on a stick (I've always loved those). My parents loved their banh mi, too (as did all my mother relatives). They're such nice people that I really want to support them, even if their new place is sooooooo far from me! I hope they do well with their new place!

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My daughter agrees that Asia City's young coconut bubble tea and banh mi are delicious.

Hubby and I took a drive to Winnipeg today and went to Kam Ho for lunch. The place was just starting to fill up at noon. The clientele was mostly Asian.

We ordered the large hot 'n' sour soup - piping hot, lots of ingredients except for Chinese mushrooms, just enough spiciness and tang. Good stuff!

For dim sum, we had deep fried tofu stuffed with shrimp (3 pieces). The outside was crispy topped with a tablespoon size "patty" of shrimp. The inside was hot but soft and creamy. It was very good with the "gravy".

The beef tripe with black pepper was very good. It was flavourful, tender but still a little chewy, and the bits of black pepper were great for that bite.

Pan fried dumplings (4 pieces)were the best! The pastry was "blistered", crispy and light. The filling was generous, silky and contained just a tiny bit of cabbage. I wonder what kind of pastry they used - commercial, homemade?

Crispy chicken with ginger and green onions was crispy and tender. It would have been better if they used finer threads of ginger, long strands of scallions, and poured hot oil over the whole thing just before serving. As it was, they topped the chicken with finely diced scallion and chunky strands of ginger.

ETA: we also had a half order of gai lan. It was tender and still bright green with just enough oyster sauce for dipping.

Our bill came to $41.00.

And yes, staff definitely needs improvements.

BTW, they are closed for holidays starting Sept. 16th to the 23rd, I believe.

Edited September 16, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[prasantrin]

Hubby and I took a drive to Winnipeg today and went to Kam Ho for lunch. The place was just starting to fill up at noon. The clientele was mostly Asian.

Crispy chicken with ginger and green onions was crispy and tender. It would have been better if they used finer threads of ginger, long strands of scallions, and poured hot oil over the whole thing just before serving. As it was, they topped the chicken with finely diced scallion and chunky strands of ginger.

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Was the crispy chicken from the dim sum menu or the regular menu? My mother hasn't yet been there for a meal from their menu, but she really wants to go. I wonder if they could do the steamed/poached version of the dish you had. We prefer it to the fried version, but it's hard to find nowadays.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the food, even if the service was crappy!

[Dejah]

prasantrin said:

Was the crispy chicken from the dim sum menu or the regular menu? My mother hasn't yet been there for a meal from their menu, but she really wants to go. I wonder if they could do the steamed/poached version of the dish you had. We prefer it to the fried version, but it's hard to find nowadays.

The crispy chicken was not on the dim sum menu. I guess their focus at lunch time is dim sum, so we were not given a dinner menu. But, being the kind of person to always have something to read while waiting for food, hubby picked up a take-out menu on the way in.

I don't see a steamed or poached half chicken, but there is an item called "Ginger and green onion Chicken with Chinese mushrooms". This would be chopped pieces of bone-in chicken steamed. If your mom goes often, maybe she can call ahead and they could make it a special order?

The crispy chicken, I think they must have them cooked, either steamed or poached before hand, then pour hot oil or immerse in hot oil to crisp up. I was glad there wasn't a "stale oil or over-used oil" taste to the chicken as it happens sometimes. There weren't any cross-over flavours.

As I look over the dim sum menu now (I asked for a copy so I can study and be better prepared in ordering next time ), I wish I had ordered the curry beef tendons! I haven't seen tendons offered at KK or DSG.

Have you noticed how many Chinese take-out menus have the same format and same spelling mistakes? I remember when one of my former cooks bought his own place, came in and "snuck" a copy of our take out menu and used it as his own with changes only from Soo's Deluxe Fried Rice to *** Special Fried Rice.

In the Kam Ho one:

staty beef, fired rice rolls, or consume soup. Would I find similar spelling on take-out menu at other restaurants.

[prasantrin]

(quoting a bit out of order)

...hubby picked up a take-out menu on the way in.

As I look over the dim sum menu now (I asked for a copy so I can study and be better prepared in ordering next time  )

My mother always does the same things with menus! Except she never asks for the dim sum menus--she just takes them. Places that have order-based dim sum usually have them on the front desk counter, so she just grabs one on the way out.

...I wish I had ordered the curry beef tendons! I haven't seen tendons offered at KK or DSG.

I wonder if my mother has had them. She loves tendons, too! I read her your post, and she wants to try the tripe with black pepper, next. It, and the chicken, were the only ones you mentioned that she hasn't tried. She likes their spicy beef tripe, and of course their spicy chicken feet.

Have you noticed how many Chinese take-out menus have the same format and same spelling mistakes? I remember when one of my former cooks bought his own place, came in and "snuck" a copy of our take out menu and used it as his own with changes only from Soo's Deluxe Fried Rice to  ***  Special Fried Rice.

In the Kam Ho one:

staty beef, fired rice rolls, or consume soup. Would I find similar spelling on take-out menu at other restaurants. 

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I don't remember the staty beef, one, but the consume one was my favourite! I saw that somewhere else, recently, but can't remember where.

[prasantrin]

My mother went to the Age&Opportunity's Moon Festival celebration. She got a little box of stuff from Maxim's (just a sponge cake, coconut tart, pork bun, and mooncake), but more importantly, she got some info!

She sat next to a Chinese woman who told her the new Chinese place in the old Marigold location on King has some very good dim sum! The woman told her it was better than Kum Koon's! But my mother forgot to ask her how it compared to Kam Ho's.

Here's the thing, I read that this place has the same cooks and staff (and owners, too?) as the Marigold that it replaced. I'm thinking if this is true, they perhaps went through a name change to avoid the connections to the multiple health department fines and closures they suffered through.

Anyone want to try the place and report back?

[Pam R]

I heard the same thing - that the old Marigold had good dim sum. I won't be able to get down there for a while, but I'll put it on the list.

[Dejah]

I didn't even realize the old Marigold had dim sum! Or do you mean the new restaurant in the old Marigold location?

Daughter was at Victoria Seafood last weekend for dim sum. She said the flavours in the dumplings (didn't say which one) were better, but the rice rolls were sloppy and not great. Being a med student without Ah Momma's credit card, she liked the prices at VS better than KK.

Can one of you ladies list all the places that do serve dim sum in Wpg? How about Hong Kong Snack House? Or Double Happiness on McDiarmid? We used to go there years ago and got to know the owners quite well. Then the change of owners turned us off when they served stale simmered chicken over rice.

ETA: Rona. Can you ask your Mom if she thinks the wrappers on the potstickers are commercial? Does your mom mjake potstickers...with her own wrappers?

I bought some Shanghai dumpling wrappers, but they are so small! I had a hard time making them with the amount of meat that I like in them, but they blistered and fried up nicely.

Edited September 25, 2007 by Dejah (log)

[prasantrin]

I didn't even realize the old Marigold had dim sum! Or do you mean the new restaurant in the old Marigold location?

The old Marigold had dim sum, too. We never went, for a reason I can't disclose on a public forum without backlash.

Daughter was at Victoria Seafood last weekend for dim sum. She said the flavours in the dumplings (didn't say which one) were better, but the rice rolls were sloppy and not great. Being a med student without Ah Momma's credit card, she liked the prices at VS better than KK.

Yes, they are quite a bit cheaper than KK. I'm guessing she had mostly seafood dumplings, because the meat ones weren't that good. The seafood ones were excellent, though!

Can one of you ladies list all the places that do serve dim sum in Wpg? How about Hong Kong Snack House? Or Double Happiness on McDiarmid? We used to go there years ago and got to know the owners quite well. Then the change of owners turned us off when they served stale simmered chicken over rice.

Do you mean Double Greeting on McDermot? They have (had?) dim sum, though not as much of a selection as at other places. I think HKSH did, too. One was owned by the family of a junior high classmate. I think they bought the place in around '83 or '84, when immigrant investors started to come to Canada in droves, then sold it when they got their citizenship.

I can't remember the food at either, but my mother and I recently were discussing HKSH. She and my dad went there a few times, but said the food wasn't very good. Or maybe that was Double Greeting...

I'll see if my mom and I can come up with a list. A friend of hers went to Asia City recently, and didn't like the food there, but we don't really trust her judgment so we still want to try it for ourselves.

ETA: Rona. Can you ask your Mom if she thinks the wrappers on the potstickers are commercial? Does your mom mjake potstickers...with her own wrappers?

I'll ask her. You mean the wrappers at Kam Ho, right? She doesn't make anything like dumplings, too much effort (she likes easy and fast things), and she definitely doesn't make the wrappers! Though she used to make pao ping for when we did homemade peking duck (or sometimes we just buy the roast duck and make our own pancakes).

I bought some Shanghai dumpling wrappers, but they are so small! I had a hard time making them with the amount of meat that I like in them, but they blistered and fried up nicely.

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If you use less meat, you can use that as an excuse for eating more of them!

[Dejah]

Yes. It was the Double Greeting on McDiarmid. It must have been around the late 70s when we used to go there with the kids. I think it was there that we first had fresh made-on-premise Chinese cruellers with jook. We were so thrilled to find them that everytime we went to Wpg, we'd make sure we'd stop there to buy a dozen to bring home. I remember the young woman who served us there. She had a little baby, and her mother would look after it while she served.

You are right, they didn't have a large selection, but I think that was even before the larger restaurants served dim sum? But I could be wrong. I know they had rice rolls, jook and cruellers, but what else I can't remember.

We went to HKSH acouple of times years ago, and we were not impressed either.

Do you remember the little shop that made dim sum for sale in bulk? It burnt down when the Turkish baths caught fire. When we first started doing dim sum, we used to order from that shop - a tiny store front, 4 large freezer display cases, and 4 little old ladies gossiping and making sui mai, har gow, etc around a high counter in the "kitchen". We used to order sui mai, har gow, BBQ pork buns, warteep. I think she even had xiaolungbaos! The fire forced us to recruit our own little Chinese po-pos to help make our supply.

Just thinking that Kam Ho should be opened again this week. I'll have to send the daughter there for a taste test!

One item I wish someone in Wpg would make: xiaolungbaos. I heard that Ken's on Ellice made them, but I haven't been there for dim sum items. Do you know if they do? That was our usual restaurant for hot'n'sour soup at one time. I still like it there.

[Pam R]

Ken's! I haven't been there in years and years. When I was but a child, we would pop into Ken's on occasion when we were in the neighbourhood (it was down the street from the YMHA). I never knew they had dim sum. Then again, back then I don't think I knew much about dim dum.

There was also a place on Henderson -- I have no idea what it is/was called, nor do I know if it's still open. Again, haven't been there in at least 10 years. It's interesting that we find a restaurant we like and stick with that one most of the time. Must try more places.

[Dejah]

Ken's! I haven't been there in years and years.  When I was but a child, we would pop into Ken's on occasion when we were in the neighbourhood (it was down the street from the YMHA).  I never knew they had dim sum. Then again, back then I don't think I knew much about dim dum.

There was also a place on Henderson -- I have no idea what it is/was called, nor do I know if it's still open. Again, haven't been there in at least 10 years.  It's interesting that we find a restaurant we like and stick with that one most of the time. Must try more places.

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I don't think Ken's really serve dim sum - more like a few items a la carte. Can't remember how we found it, but it used to be on Edmonton before they razed everything to build Portage Place. We were blown away by the hot'n'sour soup the first time, and we've been going there ever since. Kitchen and wait staff have changed many times, and Ken has since died. But, Mrs. "Ken" is always there watching her TV, reading the newspaper, and eating melon seeds at a table at the entrance to the dining room. Next time in, I must check for the elusive xiaolong bao.