Dim Sum in Winnipeg

[prasantrin]

My daughter would agree with you on the greasiness, and that Victoria Seafood is still the best.

Actually, I think Victoria Seafood has the best seafood items, but that's all. Most of the stuff I order is pork-based, so VS is actually in last place on my list of dim sum rankings. I haven't been there this year, though.

I will be very interested in your report on Noodle Express.

Have you tried the xiaolongbaos at Victoria Seafood? It was a new item when I was there in the spring. I wonder if they've kept it on their menu.

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I'll check when we go. I don't really like xiaolongbao, but I'm always willing to try them!

[prasantrin]

The nephew of the meat guy(s?) at Sun Wah opened his own grocery store and my mother picked up some frozen dim sum there. She only got one kind, and she showed it to me this morning.

It's xiaolongbao! He and his wife are making it. I haven't tried it, but it sure does look pretty!

So if you happen to be in the south end of Winnipeg and want to pick up some frozen xiaolongbao (I haven't been there, so I don't know what else they have), you can find it at Hoa Ky in a little strip mall in the 1300s of Pembina Highway. The name is Vietnamese, but I'm guessing they're ethnic Chinese-Vietnamese.

[prasantrin]

Noodle Express is located in the Dynasty Building in Chinatown. They only started carrying dim sum relatively recently, I think.

We had some usuals, and some other harder-to-find options. We found duck feet on the menu, so Mom had to order it. She didn't like it--scrawny, flavourless...I can't remember what else she said about it.

We also had scallion pancakes! I love scallion pancakes, but these weren't like any scallion pancake I've ever had. It was as though they coiled the dough on itself (in two layers), and instead of rolling it out, they deep-fried it as is. The result was a very crispy (and greasy) outside, and a doughy (albeit cooked dough) inside. If it hadn't been called a scallion pancake, I'd have enjoyed it, but since I was expecting a scallion pancake, I was disappointed.

Char siu rice noodles--char siu could have been more flavourful, but the noodles were good.

Har Gau--I don't remember much about these, which means they weren't bad, but weren't necessarily great, either.

Hum soi gok--OK.

Chinese doughnut--not you tiao, but the cow-tongue named one. I love these, but they're hard to find and Noodle Express has them! It was OK--not as sweet as I like, but good enough.

I can't remember what else we had. After 2:00, they have a special where everything on the regular dim sum menu is $2.20, plus there's a 50 cent/person "seating charge". I kept the menu, and copied down the prices of the different sized dim sum, but I've left everything back in Winnipeg. Oops.

Some of the items we had were on a different menu, and so had different (read: more expensive) prices--the cow tongue doughnut and the scallion pancakes, for example.

I'd go back if craving items that aren't normally found elsewhere, but for the usuals, I'll stick to Kam Ho or Kum Koon.

Oh, they also have xiaolongbao. It was about $6 or $7 for I think 10 pieces. More and more places in Winnipeg have xiaolongbao, which is making me think they must be outsourcing production--all the ones I've seen look alike. I'm betting they're getting them from Hoa Ky, and my mother is going to ask the Hoa Ky guy the next time she's there.

ETA: Am I the only one eating dim sum these days? Almost all the posts on this page are mine, and I haven't even covered my Victoria Seafood and Kum Koon visits!

Edited September 6, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[Pam R]

ETA:  Am I the only one eating dim sum these days?  Almost all the posts on this page are mine, and I haven't even covered my Victoria Seafood and Kum Koon visits!

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Yes.

I can only think of one dim sum visit for me this summer, and it wasn't great. I can't even remember where we went. I think that I OD'ed on dim sum a couple of years ago and it's not usually first choice for a Sunday brunch like it used to be. But it might be time to try Victoria again. Depending on your review.

[Dejah]

A timely report on dim sum in Wpg...we were at Victoria Seafood today with daughter and the Boy. We'd helped them move into their house , so dim sum at their favourite location was our reward.

The Boy ordered for everyone - 21 dishes! Not sure if I can remember everything but here goes:

Sticky rice: different from what my family is used to, but flavourful and moist ground meat sandwiched between 2 thick layers of sticky rice.

Stuffed eggplant - lots of seafood in between 2 buttery-soft slices of eggplant. Good stuff as was the stuffed green pepper.

Har gow - 3 nice-sized shrimp with that special texture we'd been discussing in the Chinese forum - "crisp". The wrapper was thin and delicate.

Deep fried shrimp dumplings - with a crisp wonton wrapper. These were good fresh out, but I couldn't make myself use the mayo...

Beancurd wrapped meat filling - I can't remember if it was good, but I vaguely remember eating a piece.

Tripe - with sliced sweet peppers in a light blackbean sauce? - tender and yummy. I was the only one who wanted them and I got to eat the whole dish myself!

Shrimp and chive dumplings - nicely filled, and again, delicate wrapper.

Pork siu mai - ok.

Seafood dumpling - 2 pieces of shrimp and a small scallop - very nicely flavoured and steamed

2 orders of curry baby octopus - an all around favourite. The octopus was tender without being mushy. The sauce was so good that The Boy was dipping his "baby" char siu baos into the sauce: " Too good to waste!"

Steamed rice rolls with shrimp - nice soft rice rolls - similar to other restaurants.

Pan fried meat dumplings - good flavour with a soft chewy wrapper.

Turnip cake - I liked these better than my own as there was more turnip and "dough" than filling. I wish it was fried more so there'd be crispy bits on the outside.

Sticky rice seasame balls filled with red date paste - very good

I can't remember the rest, but everything was delicous and hot. I think I've been swayed from Kum Koon.

The place was packed when we arrived at noon. There was a line-up with no-one leaving soon. A round table for 8 open (daughter said it was the boss's family table?", so I suggested maybe another couple or two who were also waiting can share with the four of us (Hong Kong style), but they weren't keen. Then another Chinese couple with a 1 year old came through the door, heard the suggestion, and said, "We'll share!" It saved us all a half hour wait!

We were stuffed for $89.00, and that saved me some money when I went for groceries at the new Young's grocery store. I think it's on Ellen. They have a smaller section of BBQ and fresh meats meats than Sun Wah, but so nice, clean and new! I picked up 2 salty chicken, 3 lbs of char siu, 4 pieces of fresh pork belly, lots of taro root (Mid-autumn festival!), beautiful fresh lemongrass, dried oysters, salty turnip, etc, etc. I found the gigantic Pocky, so picked a box up for the grandson.

I think they get baking from Maxim in Chinatown. I got there too late for egg custard tarts. They said the baking is usually gone by noon. I'll have to get there earlier next time as I don't want to go to Maxim's anymore. The staff is so rude! The staff at Young's is very polite and friendly - which is a real change. The staff at VS is also more friendly and polite than Kum Koon. These two have become my favourite places for food!

[prasantrin]

When we went to VS, it wasn't too busy, but it was around 11 on a weekday. The staff wasn't that friendly the day we went, and they were very slow (to take our order--though that seems to be a trend these days in Winnipeg--and also to refill our teapot and water glasses). They weren't unfriendly, mind you, just not friendly.

I thought the dim sum was much better than when we went last year. There were three of us that day, and we all commented that they must have a new cook. The seafood items were still great, and the meat/pork items were much better.

When we ordered the sticky rice last year, it was the same style (minced pork in the middle), but didn't have much flavour, and I think the filling was rather skimpy last year. This year it had much more flavour, and there was more of it. It would be better if they added some other stuff to it, though. Would a few rehydrated mushrooms and a teeny piece of lap cheung be too much to ask? My parents always say the ground pork-only filling is the cheap way to make sticky rice.

We had the fried shrimp with mayonnaise, too. I actually didn't like this dish too much (and I'm a firm believer that anything fried is good). The filling wasn't as flavourful as I expected it to be given VS's record with seafood.

Hum sui gok has a thicker dough than previously, but the filling is still a bit skimpy.

We had the xiaolongbao here. I thought the pork filling was quite good, but I don't remember the broth too much.

We had the fried meat-filled bean curd wrap, too. I remember thinking it was very good.

The Hong Kong-style rice roll sucked. Ick to soggy youtiao (spelling? I seem to spell it differently every time!).

Char siu rice roll also sucked. The rice roll part had definitely improved since last year, but the char siu was still lacking in flavour.

We had a lot more--chicken feet (I think only my mother ate it, and she said she still prefers Kam Ho's), the special seafood siu mai (very good), and char siu bao (meh). Maybe more but I can't remember now.

Overall, in terms of food quality alone, I'd put it above Noodle Express, and maybe the same as Kam Ho, but a little less than Kum Koon. We didn't go to Dim Sum Garden this year, so I can't compare it with the rest. My mother prefers Kam Ho for flavours, especially their sticky rice, tripe and chicken feet. I'd need to do repeat visits, though, to test consistency. This year I only went to each place once. The main reasons I put Kum Koon higher are that they're very consistent with their food--everything I ate there this year seemed to be the same in quality and flavour as last year, and also because my favourite dishes are best there (hum sui gok and char siu bao, and also coconut buns, but those probably shouldn't count because no one else has them). VS is much closer to home, though, and has better parking.

On that note, I don't have much to report about my visit to Kum Koon, because as I said, they're very consistent. They had a new dish, though. It looked like a piece of maki-zushi--something minced wrapped in nori and steamed. It didn't look like anything I would have ever ordered, because it kind of looked gross (who likes limp nori?), but my mother got it while I was away from the table (she's sneaky that way--there were chicken feet on the table when I returned, too!). It turned out to be very very good. I think it was fake crab in the center (those pollock sticks), ground pork around that, then the nori. It had a very delicate flavour. I'd order it again, unless the Vietnamese spring rolls rolled around first...

[prasantrin]

Sun Fortune on Pembina (Pembina and Chancellor in a strip mall) has some dim sum items. They have assorted rice rolls (char siu, duck, I can't remember the others, and Hong Kong-style with the youtaio), spring onion pancakes, xiaolongbao (I think), and a couple of other things.

I've tried their spring onion pancakes before, and they weren't that great. They weren't flaky enough, but they'd do when craving spring onion pancakes.

This year I tried to order the HK-style rice rolls. According to their menu, the rice rolls are only available until 3:00pm. We were there for a late lunch, so we figured we'd be OK, but we weren't!! All the rice rolls EXCEPT the HK-style one are available every day before 3pm. The HK-style one ONLY is only available before 3pm on weekends!! Or maybe it was only on Saturday, I can't remember now.

So we settled for the char siu rice rolls. They were sooooo good! Very moist and flavourful char siu, and the sauce wasn't too sweet (I actually like it sweet, but I liked this version, anyway), and the rice rolls were perfect! I think I may have also liked them because put green onions in them. They were a very nice touch!

I'd like to try the other dim sum items on their menu now. Either that or I'll only be going for lunch from now on, just so I can keep eating their rice rolls!

[prasantrin]

We were stuffed for $89.00, and that saved me some money when I went for groceries at the new Young's grocery store. I think it's on Ellen. They have a smaller section of BBQ and fresh meats meats than Sun Wah, but so nice, clean and new! I picked up 2 salty chicken, 3 lbs of char siu, 4 pieces of fresh pork belly, lots of taro root (Mid-autumn festival!), beautiful fresh lemongrass, dried oysters, salty turnip, etc, etc. I found the gigantic Pocky, so picked a box up for the grandson.

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Do you mean the one on William (but in the phone book it says Elgin, because that's the only door that's ever open)? My mother said it opened last March. I thought it seemed kind of dirty already, but it was definitely cleaner than it used to be!

[Pam R]

On that note, I don't have much to report about my visit to Kum Koon, because as I said, they're very consistent. 

I find them to be consistent too -- but not in the same way. I find the staff consistently rude (not unfriendly, I mean really rude) and the food consistently cold. I was talking with a friend and she reminded me that Kum Koon was the place we went this summer, and it wasn't a good experience.

[Dejah]

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Do you mean the one on William (but in the phone book it says Elgin, because that's the only door that's ever open)? My mother said it opened last March. I thought it seemed kind of dirty already, but it was definitely cleaner than it used to be!

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It must be the one on Elgin as that's where my daughter's house is, and we drove past it to get to her place. I didn't realize it's been opened for so long. Daughter just moved to that street and said it was new, so I assumed it just opened. It definitely is cleaner than the one on McPhillips, and not as crowded. I guess it seemed so clean compared to Sun Wah, although they seem to have cleaned up somewhat.The salty chicken and char siu I bought there were very good.

Re: dim sum at VS: They didn't try to "sell" xiaolongbaos this time, so we didn't get any. In May, they were just bringing them onto their menu, and we tried them that time. They must not have been great as I can't remember too much about them. I tried them at Ken's restaurant on Ellice, and they were disappointing. The wrapper was very thick and the lump of meat was non-descript.

We didn't dare order the rice roll wrapped youtaio as they were terrible the last time: chewy tough youtaio inside bland rice roll. My kids said these were very good at Kam Ho.

Your are right about the rice rolls at VS. They were bland until you put sauce on them. I like them with green onions as well.

I agree with your parents on the filling for sticky rice. I make mine with lapcheong and mushrooms, so I found VS good but a little too "simple" for my taste.

Hubby and I were at Kum Koon on another day. I need to learn to control myself better when the carts come around - don't grab everything all at once! So, the cold food might be my own fault. There is one dish that I haven't been able to get again - a really delicate and delicious shrimp, perhaps wrapped in taro and chopped shrimp on a whole shrimp? The coating was like tempura. We had those at Kum Koon when Ben Hong visited a couple years ago!

I found the servers pretty good this time at KK, not overly friendly but seemed more "patient." Here's a shocker for you, I saw Smiling Johnny SMILE! Well, he actually flashed his teeth like a smile at something a customer said! It's strange to see a security guy at the front. Do customers get rowdy waiting?

I don't know what it is with Chinese people in the food service sector, whether it is in restaurants, grocery stores, or Maxim's bakery. The young lady who finally came out to serve me on a Sunday morning was very abrupt. Is it against the Chinese culture to smile, be polite and courteous? I am Chinese, and ran my own restaurant, and I would never be rude, even for one-time customers.

[prasantrin]

On my way to assembly, but the security guys are pretty much always there. They've had them for at least a year, probably more. It's primarily to keep away the drunks that hang out asking for money.

[prasantrin]

First meal out this summer was dim sum at Kum Koon. As reliable as usual. Interestingly, when we arrived at 11-ish, most of the tables occupied were occupied by caucasians. Ten or fifteen years ago, you'd have seen very few caucasians at dim sum, especially in the early hours.

They've got a new chef, and have a lot of new dishes. We didn't try any of them this time, but will do so the next time. They had something similar to curry puffs, but filled with papaya (kok was in the name, but I can't remember the rest). Something else like a black crepe rolled up--made with black sesame seeds. The third new thing I remember was something wrapped in a green leaf. It looked like a steamed white cake in a leaf. It was savoury--filled with chicken or pork???

The spicy chicken feet don't taste the same, my mother said. She said they weren't bad, just different from what she was expecting. Same goes for the cha siu in the cha siu bao. Not bad, but different. I'm not sure yet if I like the changes.

Hum soi gok was as good as usual, as were the coconut buns! And the sticky rice in lotus leaves!

Edited July 21, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[Dejah]

Ah...welcome back to Manitoba, Rona! Sounds like a good start to your eating out.

I was in Wpg with my students in June. Many of them went to Kum Koon and ejnoyed the dim sum. 2 of the teachers wanted to go some place with a buffet, so the staff and some students went to Golden Terrace. The buffet at KK was bad last summer when we were there.

4 of us had dim sum - ordered off the menu. They only had carts after 2 pm. I wasn't as happy with the food. KK is better, especially the char siu cheong fun. The meat was diced and tasted old. Must have been leftovers from the previous day.

It was quite different with the staff all speaking Cantonese. I could understand them! Funny how they all speak Mandarin at Kum Koon. Might even get to like Smiling Johnny.

Won't be able to get into the city again for a while. But, might be having a dim sum "workshop" at my place in the near future with a bunch of friends who are missing the dim sum my restaurant used to offer.

[prasantrin]

Smiling Johnny is still as friendly as ever!

It's amazing they've been able to keep some of their staff for so long. There are three or four people who have been with Jeff for 20 or so years.

Is Golden Terrace the one that used to be Marigold? Marion Warhaft raved about the place, so my mother went and said it was terrible.

Oh, the new chef at KK is from a part of different part of China (I can't remember which now)--that's why they have so many new items.

If you need any help with your dim sum party, I'm always available! I hope hum soi gok is on the menu. . .

[prasantrin]

Went to Southland Restaurant in Fort Richmond yesterday for lunch. We arrived shortly before 1, and the restaurant was a little less than half full. From what we saw, the two tables occupied by Chinese patrons ordered dim sum or other food off the menu, while the other patrons (all non-Chinese) were eating from the buffet.

We checked out the buffet, just to look, and there was pretty much nothing there I'd eat. It looked like food court Chinese food, but I guess for most of the other patrons, that's what they expect from Chinese food.

At lunch on weekdays (I don't know about weekends) they've got an order sheet, not carts. They don't have a huge assortment of items, but they've got enough variety to keep you satisfied. Only one kind of tripe, one kind of chicken feet, etc, but at least they have them. I really like the order sheet because it has the prices clearly listed at the top for small, medium, large, extra large, and extra extra large items, and the "size" is clearly marked next to each item.

We ordered some of our standards, so we could make a comparison with other places we frequent. Hum soi gok, cha siu cheung fan, lo mai gai, cha siu bao, and a very special pork trotters dish (XXL!).

First came the lo mai gai and cha siu bao. The steamers were soggy, which also meant the cha siu bao was a little soggy. I hate soggy cha siu bao. The bao is really light and fluffy, though. In this case, the lightness was not a good thing, because it made it too delicate when soggy. The flavour of the filling was fine, though it could have been more plentiful and the cha siu, itself, lacked flavour. The lo mai gai wasn't as flavourful as I like, and the sticky rice was too loose. But it was fine.

Then came the cha siu cheung fan. Mmmmm. The cheung fan is the best I've had in Winnipeg. It's so thin and light. They use a lot of chives in it, which is nice, but again, the cha siu isn't flavourful enough, so the entire dish sufferes because of it. It doesn't suffer terribly, but this dish could be an A+ rather than a B+ if it had better cha siu.

Next was hum soi gok. The outside was perfect--not too thick or too thig, and perfectly crispy. When I cut it open, I was a little disapointed in the filling. It's heavy on the dried shrimp side, and I'm not a big fan of the flavour of too much dried shrimp. I tasted the one I cut open, and as I predicted, I didn't care for it. Too shrimpy. But the more I hate it, the more I liked it. I still like KKG's filling better, but I like Southland's, too.

Finally, we were waiting on the pork trotters. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Nothing came. My mother had refrained from eating the sticky rice, so she could eat it with the trotters. You have no idea how much she was looking forward to that dish.

After maybe 20-30 minutes, we asked the waitstaff. She went back to the kitchen, and came back with the answer. . . in Chinese (I assume Cantonese). Someone else came to help out, and it turned out they didn't have (or couldn't make) the trotters. Gee, thanks for letting us know.

To soothe her disappointment, my mother ordered the beef tripe in satay sauce. She liked it a lot. It looked pretty, but I didn't try it.

While she was eating her tripe (I had already finished eating), I went to browse the bakery displays and ended up buying a cocktail bun. It wasn't very good--tasted like artificial flavourings. KKG's is much better.

I'd return to Southland, but overall, I think KKG is still better. We'd definitely like to try the pork trotters, though, and I want to try the you tiao (not wrapped in cheung fan, just plain). The prices are in line with other dim sum places--they run from just under $3 for the small to $5.95 for the XXL dishes (or was that $6.95?).

Oh, and the woman at the front (manager? owner?) could give smiling Johnny a run for his money.

ETA: Pics can be found on Flickr in my Winnipeg Food Set.

Edited August 6, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

Today we went to Victoria Seafood for lunch.

Sticky rice in lotus leaves--served incredibly quickly (not just for our table, but for every table that ordered it). The filling is still very sparse compared to other places, and there's not a lot other than ground pork (beef?) in there. A few thin slices of Chinese sausage, but that's it.

Hom soi gok--Maybe 1 tsp of filling for some very large shells. What's up with that? The shells were sweet, which I kind of like, but they were overly caramelized. They weren't burnt, but the outside was a little difficult to chew (and it stuck to my teeth). I liked it, but in terms of hom soi gok, it wasn't a good sample.

Char siu cheung fun--the cheung fun is still too thick, but it's not as stiff as it has been in the past. The downfall of this dish was the char siu. It tasted heavily of citrus or some other acid. It wasn't char siu as I've ever had it before.

Beef omasum (tripe) with ginger and scallions--I didn't try it, but my mother said it was flavourless.

Victoria Seafood special siu mai--really it's like har gau in siu mai wrappers. I wonder of the wrappers have turmeric in them, because they're yellow-ish, and they tint the shrimp yellow. Large-ish pieces of plump shrimp, but not particularly flavourful.

Service was kind of sparse at lunchtime. We went early--just after 11, and only saw staff when they were bringing out food. One family that came in around 11:30 or so waited several minutes before anyone came out to talk to them, and it's not like the staff was waiting in the kitchen to bring out food for a table (there was only one other table occupied aside from us), because when someone did come out, he was empty-handed. The adult male in the party even went back to the kitchen door to call someone, but no one heard him.

I was far more impressed the last time I went to VS, but this visit was back to normal for them (which isn't very good, imo). We only had one seafood item, and I think that was a mistake on our part. I really do think we should just order seafood items here, and stay away from everything else. The only problem with that idea is that most of the things we like don't have seafood in them.

Edited August 19, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

Went back to Kum Koon the day before I left. We tried some of the new items. They were all pretty good, and I'd order some of them again.

Pork and shrimp dumplings. They look like xiaolongbao, but they're not. There was one other main ingredient in the name, but I can't remember now. Maybe ginger?

This was something like tsing tsang bao??? I liked the bao, but didn't care for the filling. It wasn't bad, but I just prefer more meat (actually, I just prefer cha siu bao).

And this was similar to hum soi gok, but it was steamed in leaves. We really liked this one.

And just for comparison's sake, look at KKG's hum sui gok compared to Victoria Seafood's.