the vain search for good dim sum

Ai ya. When I first moved to Montreal, a friend from Edmonton told me not to approach the Chinese restaurants. They are all a disappointment. Well, come on. Can that be true? Ok, two and a half years later I have yet to find a good one. Some are acceptable.

So now dim sum. I've had dim sum in only three restaurants here: Kam Fung, the place on de la gauchetiere x st dominique and now, Ruby Rouge. I went with the husb, the mother in law, and my neighbours, one of whom is from Taiwan. We wanted to go to Furama but it looks like they've closed. According to the neighbours, a lot of the Chinese restaurant owners go to the Casino a wee bit too much and then lose everything, including their business. Um, cultural stereotype?!

Anyhoo, since Furama was closed, I wanted to try Ruby Rouge. I tried Kam Fung before and it was pretty bad I thought, the food was cold and way too salty. But the place was packed! and with Chinese people - with kids, usually a sign of a good place! (?!) If this was Edders, that place would definitely be empty. But I digress.

I like dim sum because if you don't have to wait in line, you get to eat pretty quickly. You get the tea, the chili sauce, then the food starts coming to you. I don't know what the cart ladies were on, but it was like they were crack addicts and we were the sole dealers they've seen in a month, they swarmed us and pawed us with dumplings. When they left we had lots of food to manage.

The dumplings were good, especially the ones with pea shoots. Delicate flavour, nice wrappping.

Turnip cake was a disappointment, it came already fried and it was quite tough - and cold. Cold! Why don't they fry on the go (yes, comes the refrain, "like in Edmonton"...but like in Vancouver and Toronto too)

Then the steamed sticky rice wrapped in leaf. For my neighbour, this was the litmus test of a good dim sum joint. I'm afraid they didn't pass...the rice was tough and DRY, and there were barely any filling. You should find nice, slightly saucey, pork in the middle, along with some other tasty bits but this really skimmed on the fillings.

Service was the standard Chinese restaurant service (I can say this, cos, you know, I'm Chinese). I found the items, for their quality, pretty expensive (average $3.50 an item).

All's I'm saying is that when my parents come to visit, there's going to be plenty of bitching going on about the crap Chinese food here...

hey - I had AMAZING dim sum once at Hakkasan. Probably the best turnip cake I've had. Super posh. Also, if you are in London, Royal China, and the place near the Millenium dome that's on the main floor of a hotel are good. And I have to say, I rather liked ping pong when it first opened (don't know what it's like now), but I wouldn't take my family there. It was more of an after work (therefore not really dim sum) with work mates kind of place.