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| - TLDR: Come here before 11 am and it is probably the cheapest Shanghai style restaurant in the GTA. Dumplings as low as $0.99 and buns are $1 each before 11 am.
$23.67 - this was my bill before tips but including taxes. It included the following:
1. Corn congee - $1
2. Xiao long bao (4) - $1
3. Xiao long bao with crab meat (4) - $1.99
4. Pan Fried Xiao long bao (4) - $2.99
5. 2 steamed veggie buns - $1 each
6. 1 steamed veggie bun - $1 each
7. Jelly pork or something - $3.99
8. Noodle bowl with bean curd - $5.99
We had no idea about their specials and arrived at around 10:45 and just furiously ordered random specials.
From what I gather the 0.99 Xiao long bao were the best values since you get 4 dumplings and also the best tasting. They also looked like they had a lot of soup in them and the skin was very thin. The steamed buns had a nice thick, but not too thin wrapping and the veggie bun was filled with preserved veggies.
While the noodle bowl with bean curd for $5.99 was the most expensive, the noodles weren't your typical thick Shanghai or udon noodles, nor were they ramen. The best way to describe it is a thicker vermicelli, not really al dente, but not soggy either. The bean curd had a great flavour to it, as did the broth.
In terms of the pricing, items 1 to 6 listed above were the pre 11 am specials. All the XLB (xiao long bao) pricing is for the first. If you order more, then you pay $1 more (i.e. normal XLB would be $1.99 for every order thereafter). However, all the buns and congee are $1 each and you can order as much as you want.
The only thing severely lacking is service. We had to call the waitresses a few times and while they were busy, we still got our food. The only thing is that when we had to wait for a table, they would say the number in Mandarin only and not Cantonese or English which got me really nervous that we'd be waiting for seats for a while.
Verdict: Very good food, plenty of vegetarian dishes at super cheap prices as long as you are willing to put up with sub-par service. Will visit again.
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