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| - I convened at the Brilliant Chinese Restaurant today with my sister, her friend, and my best friend in tow, along with fellow Yelpers Karl R, Tony F, Roma, and Wayne C. Great turnout and I had a smashingly good time... there was even a mini after-party at Starbucks where a full onslaught of Big 2 ensued. This brought out Karl R.'s uber-competitive side and we learned a few new French words.... Lol
I was able to make a reservation, which IMHO is a big plus and definitely much appreciated. When we arrived the place was pretty busy. I had been to this restaurant before when it was under different management. It had been about 2 years since. Not much has changed save for minor adjustments in the decor.
We ordered the following dishes (from what I can remember):
Chiu Chow Style Dumplings
Beef Balls
Beef Rice Noodle Roll
Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll
Shrimp Dumplings
Pork Siu Mai
Black Bean Braised Chicken Feet
Beef Tripe
Bok Choy w/ Egg-White Bean Curd (Tony F.'s attempt at adding a vegetable to our meat-laden meal)
Deep-Fried Taro Dumpling
Calamari
Deep-Fried Eggplant
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
Chicken Siu Mai
Coconut "Pudding"
Green Tea Mochi (Rice Cakes)
Custard Roll (Malay style)
Korean-Style Short Ribs
We may have ordered other dishes, but that was all I could recall from memory. I think that the items that really stood out for me were the Korean-Style Short Ribs, Custard Roll, Green Tea Mochi, Coconut Pudding, and Deep-Fried Eggplant.
The Korean-Style Short Ribs were really flavourful. The custard roll was soft and eggy. The Green Tea Mochi is not something you see often on a dim sum menu, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the inside was a custard filling. My favourite filling for anything is custard! The coconut flakes that it was rolled in was also sublime. The deep-fried eggplant batter was amazing... don't know what they do differently to it, but it was good. It was a bit too salty, and judging from the "orange-y" colour that dusted the top, my guess is that it was dusted with salted egg yolk... The coconut pudding was also quite tasty.
All in all, the bill came to $12 a head including tax and tip (this was with a 10% discount). It is not the BEST dim sum I've had, but it was pretty good!
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