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| - I feel that this place is very underrated in the Spadina Chinatown area.
The fact that it's hidden in a corner in the Dragon City mall, and has few prominent signs out front (drowned out by signs from other restaurants like Owl of Minerva, Yooj Express, and Sky Dragon), means that Canteen is not easy to find. However, take the time to go up to the second floor, and you'll find Canteen to be a far superior alternative to the Chinese-style fast food offered by Yooj Express.
Canteen serves what's called "Hong Kong Steakhouse" food. Places like these usually include menu items such as noodles and rice as well as Western fare such as steaks, grilled fish, sizzling dishes and so on. For some strange reason, this kind of food is neither very abundant nor very good in Toronto's Chinatown. This type of restaurant is very popular with Chinese people, especially people from Hong Kong, in the tradition of Cafe de Coral, because of large portions, variety of food and reasonable prices.
I've had a few bad experiences trying out this style of food in the Spadina area (several spots along Dundas St. serve this food, but they are pretty pathetic, and I'm not going back). Canteen is the one that passes the grade.
I usually order something simple such as the Pepper and Salt Pork Chops with rice. They make a pretty good Ox Tongue in White Sauce (a very hit-or-miss dish, usually), and their Sweet and Sour beef is good. For larger dishes they have a really great sole fish/chicken steak combo, and you can get some very delicious fried rice to go with it. With your soup comes some simple yet great garlic toast. And their iced milk tea is well above average.
I wish Canteen would improve its decor a bit, because it's quite dark, a bit cramped, and adding to its somewhat hidden location, it just doesn't catch the eye. But give it a chance and you'll find it to be quite a good contender in the area for fast, uncomplicated, reliable food.
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