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| - Mai Xiang Yuan is without a doubt the best dumpling joint in Chinatown. In fact, sadly, I'm not so sure that any other Chinese restaurants period match up with it. If it was located in a city that had an abundance of good Chinese food it might be considered more average, but considering the sad state of Chinese food in Montréal, this will have to do.
I came in with a huge dumpling craving, so I ordered two plates - one of pork, leek, shrimp, and egg dumplings (boiled) and another one of beef and curry onion dumplings (fried). While the pork dumplings (a standard in my household) aren't as good as the ones that my parents make (but then again, every Chinese kid thinks their parents make the best dumplings), they were still tasty, juicy, and freshly made. They also used quality ingredients and whole pieces of shrimp are visible in every dumpling. The beef and curry onion dumplings were nicely fried on the bottoms and were a crisp alternative to their boiled counterparts, and the curry onion provided a nice flavoring to the beef, and they complemented each other very well. By the way, they also serve free tea here, just like I'm used to back home, in these cute teapots with their logo on it!
I come here every once in a while when I feel like walking down the hill, but every time is so worth it. If you ever need to satisfy yourself with warm food or don't have family around to celebrate Chinese New Year with, this place makes suitable dumplings that are guaranteed to fill you up and sooth your soul.
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