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| - In a world where cart dim sum service has largely become an inexplicable endangered species in Toronto's Chinatown, Dim Sum King still does cart service..... in the daytime only, that is, according to a server (which is quite the standard deal with traditional dim sum service). Otherwise it's the a-la-carte off an order sheet deal as to maintain their all-day dim sum restaurant cachet (dim sum, much like gwai-lo brunch, is generally a cuisine traditionally served in daytime). Food arrives on a cart regardless, but it's not the same.
But what do I know?--information on where cart service still survives in town circa 2015 is generally outdated, even from Yelp. Chinatown might as well be a writeoff on the topic, as the places that does cart service either ceased doing so completely, only do it in limited periods not well communicated, or in cases like Forestview across the street, closed down. Restaurants might as well advertise they do cart service as a selling point (I feel like making another Yelp list...).
Anyways, THE LATE ENTRY: you walk in in the early evening with a friend who's expecting to be schooled on the yum cha cart service experience after reaching the third floor of a very grimy and unkempt building to find a traditional large Chinese banquet hall style restaurant (apparently they also do ballroom dancing sessions at certain evenings). You direct your attention to a window-facing table that in the glaring evening sun despite the blinds deliver enough solar gain to make you feel like sweating at a summertime patio. Don't sit by the windows--oh, too late for that. I'm melting, melting!
FAST ORDER, SLOW FOOD: you will have multiple staffers swarm at you eager to take your order sheet the moment you finish it. Then comes the inexplicable long wait for your food, perhaps close to an hour for a mere handful of dim sum dishes. You sit bored by the golf on the TVs everyone ignores (watching golf is boring as fuck, yes?) and salivating at the peking duck served traditional-style to other tables. You bring up the delay with a manager, who then disappears for the next 15 minutes until long after the first set of food finally arrives on your table. Primal instincts sees the food devoured quickly. Then comes another long-ass wait for another batch of food. Rinse and repeat.
THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY OF CHOICES: in terms of dim sum, the food here is either surprising good or bad, but they all come to you piping hot. Some choices include:
- Siu mai: juicy and flavourful with the goji berry on top.
- Honey lemon glazed short ribs: so sweet and delicious
- Curry octopus: absolutely no curry taste. Tiny octopus taste like something between calamari and raw fish. Ugh.
- Steamed spare ribs (pai gwoi): bloody disappointing tiny chopped pieces, little meat.
For about 10 plates it works out to about $20/person. You have to ask for whatever sauces you want, nothing's provided right off the bat. Fucks sakes lah.
YES I DID ORDER FRIES WITH THAT: of all the stuff that slowly arrives, you realize they missed one thing you ordered. You bring it up with a staffer, who surprisingly delivers it quickly, not before a manager marks "+1" on your order sheet. The confused you argue with three different uncoordinated staffers over whether you "extra ordered" the missing dish or if anyone took care of the bill. You get a sense of how disorganized things are here, despite the odd cart service marker sheet on your table that they use to keep track of service no matter what service type it is. You convince them they're in the wrong and they dump a dessert plate of almond cookies your way, which I guess is to be interpreted as an implied apology for the snafu. Don't be impressed.
You can see why a-la-carte order sheet dim sum can be an unenjoyable and definitely inauthentic experience, as opposed to watching carts and old ladies go by.
THE TREK OUT OF THE KINGDOM OF DIM SUM HELL: The highly inconsistent quality of food and totally piss-poor downhill service of Dim Sum "King" isn't really a surprise when you're over the years used to seeing how lousy Chinese restaurants can be with quality and courtesy.
Cart service or lack thereof, traditional Chinese dining in Toronto's Chinatown is largely now for tourists and late-night hipsters who relish in the patronizing cachet of eating in Chinatown. The rest of us have generally given up on Chinatown (both West and East) and are well aware of the "yellow flight" of more quality Chinese dining experiences to the 'burbs (although even that can be a crapshoot). That being said, if I knew I was going to spend three hours mostly cannibalizing the bile in my stomach, I would have suggested the hell with seeking cart service and gone to Rol San instead.
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