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| - I have ten minutes before the World Cup starts. We are on Front Street at the CIBC Soccer festival. Said to my wife and kids, "I'm gonna run ahead up to King and try and find a seat at the first place with available seats. I'll text you when I'm there." Thinking to myself - it will have to be some crappy bar at this point, but as long as there's a TV in sight, we're good. Turned the corner at John Street and first spot I see is Pearl King. Not sure where this place came from, but they had seats, so this is it. Wow, did we luck out or what!
Working in Markham and traveling China, I can safely say that I know what good Dim Sum is. This place takes the cuisine to a whole other level. Brands themselves as a tapa style, where it's in a bar setting, has a patio and is on the competitive King Street West strip. The place was quickly packed, but they were well organized. Staff helping each other, food making its way out with a fluid rhythm. Saw the owner a few times making sure everything was running smoothly and even brining out dishes himself when necessary. From speaking with him I learned they have to other locations, one in Toronto and one at Bayview Village. This location opened two weeks ago.
The great thing about tapas in this bar type setting, is you order off the typical checklist menu, then have a couple drinks, watch the game, then ask for another menu and repeat. Since the World Cup went into extra time, we did this four times. It's amazing how much I can eat when the food is that good.
To note is the deep fired shrimp dumpling which had this amazing crispness to the wrapper and an incredibly full shrimp flavour. Even the deep fired wings were top notch. Big wings with crispy batter and a pleasantly spiced sweat sauce. Calamari that was pub style, but was had thick tentacles, very tender, no chewiness that would typically turn me off. I can go on, but check the pics. My phone died, so take a look at Afaf W for what we experienced, she will upload soon.
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