Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine, Toronto

My mom, Beebs, and I recently took a quick one day trip to Toronto for a family reunion. We have a pretty big family, so it was great (and rare) to see everyone all under one roof. We ate so much Chinese food on our trip that I don't want to see or eat Chinese food for a while. Our first stop was at Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine.

This is a fairly new Shanghai restaurant that opened less than a year ago. They offer many dim sum dishes, and over 150 dishes overall. They have a large flat screen TV in the middle of the restaurant, and a soccer game was playing when we walked in.

The first dish we offered was a soup filled crab and pork xiao long bao. The crab meat was a nice change, and the soup in the dumpling was incredibly flavorful.

Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao

Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao

Strongly recommended by the owner was the house special bean curd skin. This was good but not the amazing dish that he advertised.

House Special Bean Curd

Look at the different layers of the bean curd skin.

Many Layers of the Bean Curd

Next was the pan fried pork buns. The dough was fresh, and these buns also had soup in them.

Pan Fried Pork Buns

One of my favorites is the Shanghai chow mein. This is best when it is mixed with tons of hot sauce. Their noodles had a strong red vinegar taste.

Shanghai Chow Mein

Last dish of the meal was the pan fried chive dumplings. I find chives are an acquired taste. People either love it or hate it.

Pan Fried Chive Dumplings

Filling of Pan Fried Chive Dumplings

Overall, I recommend this place. The ingredients are fresh, their staff is friendly, and the place is nice and clean.

Good Taste Shanghai Cuisine
505 Hwy 7 E., Bldg C. Unit 98-99
Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 905-370-6868

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Ginger Scallion Beef Tripe

Ginger scallion beef tripe is one of my favorite dim sum dishes. It usually comes in a small dish, and I find it is never enough. I love making tripe at home because I can make and eat as much as I want. I buy beef tripe from a Chinese butcher, and it is important to find tripe that is cleaned well by the butcher. I usually judge it by its color: the whiter the better. In Ottawa, I get my beef tripe from 168 Market.

Beef tripe is the stomach lining of a cow, and is a general term in the sense that it can be from any one of the three stomach compartments. In dim sum, the omasum is used, which is the third compartment of the stomach.

The Chinese believe that good food does not need to be masked with strong sauces. Hence, the sauce for this dish is very mild in flavor, and is enhanced ever so slightly using ginger, garlic, and scallions.

This is one of those dishes where the texture is just as important as the taste. Good tripe should be tender, yet crunchy at the same time. The biggest challenge for most people is getting past the thin, bumpy textured sheets that dangle from the base of the tripe.

This recipe makes 4 servings.
Ginger Scallion Beef Tripe
- 1/2 kg beef tripe
- 1 piece of ginger (approx 2 inches x 1 inch in size)
- 1 tsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 - 1 tsp salt (depends on taste)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 scallions

Method1. Bring a pot of water to a boil (use enough water to fully immerse the beef tripe). Quickly rinse the beef tripe under cold water, and boil the entire piece of beef tripe in the pot of boiling water for 20 minutes.

2. Drain the water, and run the beef tripe under cold water for a few seconds. Cut the beef tripe in 1/2 inch slices, and set aside in a bowl.

3. Allow the tripe to completely cool and dry. I usually like to cook this over 2 days. I boil the tripe in the evening, and then once it is cooled, I cover it with plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge until I'm ready to cook it the next day. It is best to stir fry the tripe when it is dry.

4. When ready to stir fry the beef tripe, cut the scallions and ginger into matchstick size pieces. Heat oil and garlic in a pan on maximum heat. Be sure not to burn the garlic. Throw in the beef tripe, ginger, salt, sugar and stir fry for about 3-5 minutes. The beef tripe will release water which will form the sauce.

5. Add in the scallions, and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Transfer to a dish and serve.

Remember that the texture of the beef tripe should be tender but crunchy at the same time. If you find the sauce too mild, you can always boil the beef tripe in beef or chicken stock.

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Dim Sum at Chu Sing, Ottawa

I met up with my mom and some family friends this morning for dim sum at Chu Sing, and although I didn't feel like it, I couldn't turn down the opportunity. If you're Chinese, you NEVER turn down dim sum. I always tell CK that it's like a Persian turning down kabob...it just doesn't make any sense.

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine of small plates that consists of meat, seafood, vegetable, and/or dessert. It is somewhat comparable to Spanish tapas. Besides the actual food, one of the differences is that dim sum is eaten in the morning or for brunch. As my family always said, dim sum should always be served with Chinese tea to help counterbalance the oil in the food. That's how you remove the guilt from eating so much greasy food for breakfast...the tea will break down all of the oils.

Literally meaning 'touch the heart', dim sum was always a treat for me as a kid...actually, it still is! The fun part is how the food is served.

Generally, the food is wheeled around on carts by servers. As they are wheeling along, they yell out what they have in their carts. The yelling part is important because each server is carrying different foods. The moment you hear or see what you want, you flag down the server before they get away. Each dish you take is recorded on a sheet, so that the total can be calculated accurately when you are ready to pay.

Here's what we had. It was a lot, so I'm going to refrain from commenting on every dish.

Deep fried tofu.

Eggplant with shrimp stuffing in a black bean sauce.

Beef tendon with lobak (aka daikon). This dish is definitely an acquired taste. You need to get past the texture of the tendon to enjoy this dish.

Spare ribs.

Yellow siu mai. Siu mai dumplings are not wrapped completely. The wrapper is like a little cup with the stuffing sticking out on the top. This was a pork siu mai.

White sui mai. Another pork dumpling.

Har gow or shrimp dumplings.

Phoenix talons. They are actually chicken feet. Because chicken in Chinese also means prostitute, they use the word phoenix instead. The phoenix is very symbolic in the Chinese culture. People only eat this chicken feet dish for the skin. There is no meat to 'em! They are first deep fried, then boiled, then marinated in a sauce, and then steamed. That's how they get the fluffy, fall off the bone texture.

Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. To eat this, you peal the lotus leaf (only used for steaming), and eat the rice part. The rice is usually stuffed with a combination of meats and vegetables. This one had mushroom and pork in the middle.

Deep fried shrimp dumpling.

At this point, you're probably thinking 'oh god...not another dumpling!' This dumpling is special because it is a 'soup dumpling'. While you may think that this is a dumpling to be put into soup, it is in fact the opposite. It is a dumpling with soup in the middle. When you bite into them, you not only get the meat, but a wonderful soup as well. Unfortunately, there wasn't much soup in these ones.

Deep fried shrimp rolls.

Ham sui gok. This is a deep fried rice flour dumpling with a pork and vegetable stuffing. The stuffing is salty, and the rice flour dumpling wrapper is sticky and a little sweet.

Pan fried radish cake. One of my favorites! The ones here are made really well. Nice and fluffy, which means they put a good amount of daikon radish in them.

Ha cheong fun. Steamed rice noodle rolls with whole shrimp inside.

Dan tat. Chinese egg tart.

If you're ever in Ottawa's Chinatown, the two main places for dim sum are Chu Sing or Yangtze across the street. Although neither is exceptional, the food is no doubt good. They are most popular due to their location, size, and selection of dim sum dishes.

Chu Sing

691 Somerset Street West

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Telephone: 613-233-8818

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