Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have trouble understanding this urban myth: Toronto has a large Chinese population and have North America's best and most authentic Chinese restaurants. However, I haven't not found a single decent Chinese restaurant south of Sheppard ave.
Personal experience tells me all good Chinese food are located north of Sheppard, in north Scarborough, Markham and Richmond Hill.
Chinatown serves Chinese food of horrible quality as if the owners don't care about their customers at all. The restaurants are predominantly 1970s Cantonese style, which is not mainstream or popular in China at all. The ambiance is usually horrible and sanitary conditions disturbing. Service is subpar if not outright rude. The cuisine style is outdated and shows no sophistication. Spadina Garden on Dundas/Bay, for some mysterious reason quite busy, serves the least authentic Chinese food I have ever seen - everything seems to be deep fried and wrapped in layers of thick sweet and sour sauce. Whether it is chicken, or pork, or shrimp, or beef is cooked in exactly the same way, with 3 or 4 sorts of sauce, and they taste similar. Some restaurants, including Spadina Garden, lable themselves as "Szechuan style" but real Szechuanese are often appaled and offended by it.
On the northern part of the city, in North Scarborough, Markham and Richmond Hill (particularly along steeles, hwy 7 etc), it is completely a different story. The Chinese restaurant scence (remember Chinese restaurants =/= Cantonese restaurants) beats almost every city in North America. You practically can find anything, any type of Chinese restaurant there, not only popularly known Szechuan and Peking, but Shanghai, Hunan, Xinjiang, northwest, northeast, Taiwanese, everything. Even in NYC and LA you don't have so much selection, not to say San Fran and Vancouver, which are dominated by Cantonese restaurants.
I can understand those areas are where most Chinese live and eat, however, the utter lack of ANY good restaurants south of Sheppard is shocking and confusing to me. In Manhattan, there are a fair decent number of Chinese restaurants I have been to, but here in Toronto, after years of search, there is simply none! As much as 11.4% of residents in Toronto are Chinese according to wikipedia, not to mention those who work downtown, however, there is no good and authentic Chinese restaurants, zero, nada, nil. Admitted there are a few upscale ones (all Cantonese), but the average cost for a dinner is like $60-$100, which hardly constitutes an "option" for casual dining events. In the northern area, $25-30 per person goes a LONG way.
I simply can't understand this. Apparently Chinese food in Toronto is car dependent.
Its actually not a myth, its true from what I have observed. That is not to say a good meal can not be found in Chinatown, places like Rol San, New Sky and Crown Princess will give you at the very least a solid meal if you order correctly.
Also downtown is Lai Wah Heen which is about as close to an authentic upscale Dim Sum experience you can find outside of Hong Kong. Otherwise though, you are in for a ton of misses when randomly walking into a restaurant in Chinatown.
I am not Chinese, but I went to Rotman for Grad School and my Chinese classmates confirmed that the stellar meals are to be found in Richmond Hill/Markham/Thornhill area. A few times though they took me for meals in Chinatown and ordered off menu (yes the "secret" menu thing is true) and we had some very solid meals, but they all warned me not to go alone because I would be disappointed. On the flip side I can put together a list of a dozen blow your mind restaurant meals in Markham and I was not with any Chinese speaking friends.
So I think your thoughts are pretty much bang on when it comes to the type of meal you are searching for.
Its actually not a myth, its true from what I have observed. That is not to say a good meal can not be found in Chinatown, places like Rol San, New Sky and Crown Princess will give you at the very least a solid meal if you order correctly.
Also downtown is Lai Wah Heen which is about as close to an authentic upscale Dim Sum experience you can find outside of Hong Kong. Otherwise though, you are in for a ton of misses when randomly walking into a restaurant in Chinatown.
I am not Chinese, but I went to Rotman for Grad School and my Chinese classmates confirmed that the stellar meals are to be found in Richmond Hill/Markham/Thornhill area. A few times though they took me for meals in Chinatown and ordered off menu (yes the "secret" menu thing is true) and we had some very solid meals, but they all warned me not to go alone because I would be disappointed. On the flip side I can put together a list of a dozen blow your mind restaurant meals in Markham and I was not with any Chinese speaking friends.
So I think your thoughts are pretty much bang on when it comes to the type of meal you are searching for.
Rol San is not bad for Dim Sum, and Crown Prince/Lai Wah Hee are good but both on the pricy side. All of them are Cantonese. Cantonese/Hong Kong cuisine is a small part of Chinese food. The frustrating thing is - there is no alternativ to Cantonese.
Richmond Hill/Markham/Thornhill are not Toronto. What I can't understand is why there is no good Chinese restaurants in the city of Toronto, particularly downtown.
I have eaten in Manhattan, and even in downtown Montreal (not Chinatown), and found excellent Chinese restaurants. But in Toronto, none. You have to drive 30 minutes to Steeles Ave in order to have a decent meal.
Rol San is not bad for Dim Sum, and Crown Prince/Lai Wah Hee are good but both on the pricy side. All of them are Cantonese. Cantonese/Hong Kong cuisine is a small part of Chinese food. The frustrating thing is - there is no alternativ to Cantonese.
Richmond Hill/Markham/Thornhill are not Toronto. What I can't understand is why there is no good Chinese restaurants in the city of Toronto, particularly downtown.
I have eaten in Manhattan, and even in downtown Montreal (not Chinatown), and found excellent Chinese restaurants. But in Toronto, none. You have to drive 30 minutes to Steeles Ave in order to have a decent meal.
Yes, Chinese food south of Sheppard in Toronto is terrible. I'm sure people with chime in with exceptions but generally speaking, this is a very true statement. The reason is simple, the immigrant Chinese population mainly lives in N.Scarb, Markham, Richmond Hill! Hence, they set up the real deal, authentic restaurants up there so they can frequent them. Manhattan is Manthattan and if you seek, you will find what you want in terms of food, it's a different beast compared to any other city in that regard and thus not a fair comparison.
Yes, Chinese food south of Sheppard in Toronto is terrible. I'm sure people with chime in with exceptions but generally speaking, this is a very true statement. The reason is simple, the immigrant Chinese population mainly lives in N.Scarb, Markham, Richmond Hill! Hence, they set up the real deal, authentic restaurants up there so they can frequent them. Manhattan is Manthattan and if you seek, you will find what you want in terms of food, it's a different beast compared to any other city in that regard and thus not a fair comparison.
As I said above, I agree minus the exceptions I noted.
This is actually common with quite a few ethnic groups in Toronto. Many East Indian people will readily admit that the real Subcontinent cooking is to be found in the Burbs (Scarborough-technically Toronto I know, Brampton, Sauga) And are less likely to frequent Little India for Food. Italians know that College Street is more for drinking than dining and would rather eat in places like Woodbridge.
At least those groups can find their food somewhere in the GTA though, I can speak from personal experience that despite a huge Jamaican population, you cannot find authentic real down home Jamaican restaurants with any sort of variety to their menus. What Caribbean restaurants serve in Toronto is an embarrassment. Only exception are the great Jamaican bakeries like Randy's, Allen's, Tinnel's and Michidean's.
I also agree with the Manhattan statement, Toronto has never and will never be in the top tier food wise so making that comparison is not fair. No matter how much gentrification Manhattan goes through, it is still one of the best places to eat on the planet.
Yes, Chinese food south of Sheppard in Toronto is terrible. I'm sure people with chime in with exceptions but generally speaking, this is a very true statement. The reason is simple, the immigrant Chinese population mainly lives in N.Scarb, Markham, Richmond Hill! Hence, they set up the real deal, authentic restaurants up there so they can frequent them. Manhattan is Manthattan and if you seek, you will find what you want in terms of food, it's a different beast compared to any other city in that regard and thus not a fair comparison.
I wonder how come no Chinese restaurant owner even consider setting up new locations downtown. It is obvious the new ones are far superior to the (low quality) Chinatown restaurants, which seem reasonable busy and profitable. If they have one south of bloor, wouldn't that be a huge success, since the quality difference is HUGE.
Or is it because Chinatown patrons simply prefer those dirty and unauthentic old style Cantonese food any day? I can't believe that would be the case.
Apparently we can't expect that many good one as in the north. But not a single one downtown? That's puzzling. If the Rol San etc can thrive (the quality is hardly impressive IMO), there is no reason new ones can't make good business downtown.
As I mentioned, there is one really good Chinese restaurant on St Catherine West/Peel, which we discovered recently, and we were wishing "only if there is one in Toronto!". It is Montreal for God's sake, the last city where you expect great Chinese food.
As I said above, I agree minus the exceptions I noted.
This is actually common with quite a few ethnic groups in Toronto. Many East Indian people will readily admit that the real Subcontinent cooking is to be found in the Burbs (Scarborough-technically Toronto I know, Brampton, Sauga) And are less likely to frequent Little India for Food. Italians know that College Street is more for drinking than dining and would rather eat in places like Woodbridge.
At least those groups can find their food somewhere in the GTA though, I can speak from personal experience that despite a huge Jamaican population, you cannot find authentic real down home Jamaican restaurants with any sort of variety to their menus. What Caribbean restaurants serve in Toronto is an embarrassment. Only exception are the great Jamaican bakeries like Randy's, Allen's, Tinnel's and Michidean's.
Then the conclusion is that food in Toronto (the city) simply sucks since apparently it doesn't offer any great cuisine, not Chinese, not Indian, not Italian, not Caribean. I know for a fact that Japanese restaurants are not good either (most are run by Chinese/Korean).
What's left? Burgers and fries (yawn)? Where is the diversity we always talk about?
There are thousands of restaurants covering cuisine from around the world in Toronto's central city. To say that none of them offer great food is absolutely absurd. It's downright laughable to say the least.
There are thousands of restaurants covering cuisine from around the world in Toronto's central city. To say that none of them offer great food is absolutely absurd. It's downright laughable to say the least.
I am not sure about other food (someone else said it), but central Toronto offers no decent (not to say great) Chinese food is a fact. Ask any Chinese and they will tell you so.
There are thousands of restaurants covering cuisine from around the world in Toronto's central city. To say that none of them offer great food is absolutely absurd. It's downright laughable to say the least.
No one said there were no good restaurants period, what we are saying is that for a city of its size the selection is poor. Plus when you get into ethnic cooking, much of it is dumbed down for Canadian tastes or suffer for a lack of consistent ingredient trade. And I will never back down from my statement on Jamaican cuisine in Toronto, never have had even one blow me away cooked food meal anywhere and I grew up eating that food.
So atticman to add to the discussion, where do you eat in Chinatown and what specific dishes do you recommend. Also I would be interested to hear your top 10 in toronto period.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
since apparently it doesn't offer any great cuisine, not Chinese, not Indian, not Italian, not Caribean. I know for a fact that Japanese restaurants are not good either (most are run by Chinese/Korean). 
Where is the diversity we always talk about?
