Located at the address of the now defunct 'Brilliant Chinese Restaurant' the chef/owner of this relatively new Cantonese Restaurant has been around for years!
First, at the restaurant with the same name inside the Sheraton on Hwy #7, Chef Lai later moved his place to Ngau Kee in First Markham place and then Cheuk Tung Teen on 16th Avenue. Taught at George Brown and famous for his Dungeness Crab in Rum Sauce, he was also known for charging exorbitant price for some of his specialty seafood dishes!
Told that, due to sign of the times, Chef Lai has made an 180º turn and started charging great food at a more reasonable price, I decided to give it a try. The outcome of yesterday meal was an enjoyable feast with some hard to find dishes. Because of our small number, we decided not to try out their more expensive and exotic dishes, leaving them for a bigger party, at a later date.
The three of us had the following:
- Complimentary Soup of the Day.
Turnips with Beef Briskets. The slight infusion of Star Anise made it
very 'Vietnamese Pho tasting'! Delicate and delicious!
- Shrimp on Toast.
A rare, labor intensive dish, this is becoming even hard to find in places like Hong Kong. Grease-less, crunchy and topped with sweet chewy prawn Pattie. These morsels were very addictive!
- Poached Baby Chinese Mustard Greens in Fish Broth.
Swimming in a delicate, milky and delicious fish soup, the greens were
perfectly cooked and tasted sweet.
- Stirred fry 'Goose Intestines' with preserved Mustard Green, pepper
medley and Black Bean Sauce.
This is the first time I've seen this exotic ingredients available in
Toronto. Available on the menu only as a soya poached item. I made a
special request to the kitchen to have them 'stirred fry'.( just like the
version I had in Hong Kong last month - for comparison ). The result
was not as satisfactory as I hoped. The Mustard greens were way too
salty, the 'Wok-Hay' smokiness missing. However, the intestine was as
crisp and crunchy as should be. Hopefully, with a bit of tweaking, they
will come out with a more enjoyable version?!
- Stewed Duck and Taro Roots with Chinese Preserved Plum Sauce.
Delightful! The sauce was tangy, sweet and spot on! Duck was chewy
yet tender. Taro was cooked tender so as to allow them to be smashed
up with a fork. The result, when mixed with the sauce, a Chinese
Mash and Gravy
An array of complimentary Chinese desserts were offered. We selected the Herb Jello, Sweet Cashew and Almond Soups!
Total price came to $61 inclusive of tax.
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