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| - I love xiaolongbao (XLB) - pork soup dumplings - and there are several Shanghainese restaurants in the Richmond Hill/Markham area that make them. Yu Garden is hidden in the end of a strip plaza sharing the parking lot with Loblaws at High Tech and Bayview. It is towards the very end, by the stand alone Scotiabank building.
Yu Garden is pricier that the other restaurants in the area (Ding Tai Fung, A la Kitchen, Shanghai Dim Sum, Asian Legend) but I found that they had the worst XLB of the bunch. The issue I have is with the way it's wrapped. The skin is of average thinness, however, the way they wrap it here, the skin forms a massive "clump" at the top of the dumpling. Because of the big clump on the top of the XLB, it becomes hard when steamed. It costs $6.99 for 6.
We tried other menu items that were average as well such as Shanghai Fried Noodles (good), Stir Fried Pea Sprouts (old sprouts, hard), Onion Pancake filled with Beef (ok), Crystal Shrimp (plain), but there was a standout dish: The dungenous crab with rice cakes saved the day! This is the first time I've strayed from the traditional Shanghainese rice cakes stir fried with pork and vegetables (primarly cabbage). This spin was done very well, full of flavour and a different sauce. It was pricy (market price about $50) but very tasty.
Bottom line, don't come here for the XLB, there are many better options in the area. This place is a 2.5 stars for me.
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