20150710 Toronto Trip: Chinatown

Our cousin, JS, got married back in July, so our family planned a trip to Toronto for a few days and then we were going to make our way up to Algonqiun Park for another few days. While in Toronto, we'd have some free time so we wanted to enjoy it.

My personal favourite Chinese restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown is still the House of Gourmet. It has become a family favourite too. When we made the trip down to Toronto, we had a chance to dine at House of Gourmet for our first meal: lunch. I wanted to check out the murals on the side of the restaurant before going in. I wonder what the person in the yellow was talking about.

The next three pictures are from the Journey to the West story.








The restaurant was renovated a few years back. It's more welcoming for the easily intimidated. We went through the menu and thought about the different dishes we could order. I was very tempted to order my noodles aka rice noodles with beef and vegetables (with "mo' sauce"), as it has been a while since I last had it there. I was going to order that or their shrimp wonton egg noodle soup. We decided we'll order a bunch of dishes that we don't normally get in Ottawa.

Mom wanted to get an order of the braised beef tendons, since it's her favourite item here. Super gelatinous and packed full of flavour, everyone swooned with each bite. It was so good that Mom was raving about it. "This is the best beef tendon. I only want this when we come here." What a statement from someone who rarely gives out compliments.

The shrimp wontons are large here. They're essentially plump juicy shrimp siu mai.

As a filler, we ordered their youtiao rice noodle rolls aka zhaliang. Dad also wanted to try out their fish on rice too. In the future, we won't get the fish since it wasn't anything special.

We walked off our lunch in Chinatown.







Then on our way back to the car, I grabbed a snack from a tiny place a few doors down from House of Gourmet.








This taiyaki was crispy on the outside and the batter mix wasn't too sweet. The red bean filling provided most of the sweetness. It hit the spot. We met back by the parking garage, packed into the car and did family stuff before retiring at my aunt and uncle's place.

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House of Gourmet
484 Dundas St W
Toronto, ON
416-217-0167