Dim Sum at Crown Jewel - A Pleasant Morning

Crown Jewel Fine Dining
325 Bamburgh Circle
Toronto, ON, M1W 3Y1
T: 416-502-2888

http://www.crownjewelrestaurant.ca/

 

Pear-shaped fried meat dumpling!!  The first time I had eaten such a cute shaped dumpling was at Premier Ballroom and Convention Centre (although I've had the traditional shaped one many times before), I'm glad to have found another place that does the same, and just as well.  Crown Jewel serves 3 per dish vs Premiere's 4, but they are definitely bigger.  The glutinous rice dough was nicely fried and had that hint of sweetness while the inside filling was nicely seasoned.  The filling inside was seasoned with 5-spice powder making the taste a little different but still good.

Yummy!

The other dishes were okay, nothing that requires too much explanation.  Everything tasted pretty good and for $2.90 per dish before 11am, it's a pretty good deal.

Har gow (shrimp dumplings)

Siu mai (pork dumplings)

Very good as well, some of the chicken pieces could be more tender though.



Shrimp Rice Rolls: A good amount of shrimp was provided per roll :)

Service was quite good and they spent some time arranging the place settings.  Food came out pretty fast.  I did notice that some things weren't steaming hot when they arrived but was still in the right temperature zone for eating. 

Decor is nice, nothing too fancy but like most fancier dim sum places, they have the banquet style chair covers.  Place is smaller than other dim sum locations like Premiere.

When we were done, I noticed another table had a plate of bbq pork buns, and they look like the ones where it is baked with the sweet crust on top, similar to Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong which was soooo good if you like the savory sweet combo.  I think I'll have to try it next time!

My 2nd Visit...lunch at Lucullus

 

It‘s rare that I buy lunch on a weekday but I found myself without a lunch one day last week and needed to eat out.  Lucky for me, I had a place in mind...Lucullus Bakery.

 

Let's be honest, I really wanted to pick up a green tea red bean sticky ball (pictured on the right hand side) and since they also served lunch, I thought it would be good to try.

 

Lucullus serves sandwiches and soups but also serves some traditional Chinese lunches like steamed rice dishes.  They have 3 options for steamed rice: chicken and mushroom, black bean spare ribs, and chicken curry but they only had the spare ribs left when I arrived.  For $5.95 which includes a small drink, this was not bad.  Changing to a cold drink would add $1.50 more to your bill (which afterwards I realized is actually a little more than the price difference between a small hot and medium cold drink on their general menu).  I opted for an iced milk tea.  Cold water is also available and is infused with cucumber which is a nice touch.

The steamed black bean spare rice dish tasted okay but not outstanding.  Fits the bill when you're looking for a basic Cantonese dish though.  The downside is the portion is a bit small.  When I finished, I was satisfied but I can see others having to eat 2 to be full simply because the rice portion amounts to probably no more than one cup of rice.  If you get take-out from other Chinese establishments downtown, the steamed rice portion is a lot bigger.  I would have liked to see some veggies too, like a couple of florets of broccoli or strands of Chinese greens (like 油菜心 or "you cai xin" in Mandarin pinyin), but I understand veggies are usually an after-thought when it comes to take-out meals like this and adds extra labour.

Green tea red bean sticky ball

I also had dessert picked out, a green tea red bean sticky ball.  Besides the sticky rice balls, they had a tapioca red bean sicky ball which I might get next time.  Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed with this though.  The rice ball was nice and soft but the green tea flavour did not come out.  The coconut shavings on the outside may have masked the green tea which I was a little sad about.  The red bean paste was ok and not as sweet as Japanese red bean paste.  Also, HK style sticky/glutinous rice balls are not as chewy as Japanese or Taiwanese versions I've had. 

 

For me, I think I would have liked a little more green tea flavour or the outside dusting could be done with green tea powder.  Alternatively, a green tea with red bean combo filling might be nice.  Anyway, I think I'd still go back to try the other sticky rice balls (sesame walnut and mango) as they do satisfy a craving for mochi at a reasonable price.

 

The cold HK style milk tea was okay as well, but surprisingly I think I like their hot just a tad more.

 

All in all, I still enjoyed my meal and would revisit just to enjoy the quiet ambience and try out a few more of their offerings!  Wifi is also available :)

 

 

 

 

"Pear" Dim Sum @ Premiere Ballroom and Convention Centre

This was my second time visiting Premiere Ballroom and Convention Centre for dim sum but this time was with a larger group so we got to try many more dishes.  I was definitely impressed by several dishes this time around but unfortunately did not take pictures!!  Except for one cute, cute one on my plate.  It's very hard to take pictures of food in large groups at dim sum as one, people are hungry, and two, you may be in a conversation when the dish comes that you miss the opportunity to yell "Wait!!  I gotta take a picture!".

So...here is the cutest dim sum dish yesterday ^-^

(鹹水角 variation, picture taken with my phone)

Their version of 鹹水角 or fried mixed pastry with pork or fried crescent dumpling (didn't remember the name on the menu); shaped like a pear!  It was the cutest dim sum of the day and tasted good too.  The pork filling was well seasoned and the glutinous rice dough was slightly sweet.  Fried lightly but not greasy.  The amount of filling is less than in the traditionally shape it seems, but there are 4 per order vs 3 at other places.  I think I enjoyed this the most because it was visually appealing, it probably took a little more time to shape, and tasted pretty good; salty, slightly sweet, crispy, and chewy at the same time.  If you're wondering what the stem is, it's a small carrot piece...cute idea!

Other dishes that got a thumbs up were:  siu mai (steamed pork dumplings), fried tofu which was delicately fried and seasoned (so not greasy), beef tendon, shrimp rice roll, and honey beef ribs (but may be a bit on the sweet side for some).  

There were quite a bit of dim sum dishes that were unique or they made a variation to the standard which makes for an interesting experience.  My first time having dim sum here, I thought it was okay, overall good but it seems like this most recent time it was better.  Maybe it was the variety?  Or maybe we ate after 11am, paying full price opposed to before 11am where S/M/L are $3 each and quality differs?  I really don't know but, we do want to go back and hopefully I'll be able to take more pictures! 

Scribbles in Hong Kong - 1 Michelin Starred Dim Sum

How often do I get to dine in a Michelin starred restaurant?  Not very often!  Actually, I've never dined in one until I went to Hong Kong a couple of months ago.  I've been to Hong Kong several times before so this visit was quite short and I wasn't planning to do much sight-seeing.  Instead, there were a few places I wanted to check out - the 1 Michelin Star Dim Sum restaurant "Tim Ho Wan" was one.

I'm not one to really be caught up on Michelin Stars but I've enjoyed dim sum my whole life and wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I had to go and taste for myself.

Tim Ho Wan, the Dim-Sum Specialists 添好運點心專門店

Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall) Central
中環香港站12A鋪(IFC地庫一層)

There are several locations, we just happen to choose this one since I wanted to go shopping in Central afterwards.  But, the location is a bit hard to find since it is near the airport express train and doesn't really have that "dim sum" atmosphere.

The menu is not very large and prices are decent for Hong Kong, however we found prices in Toronto could be better for some dishes.

Here is what we had:

Glutinous Rice and Chicken Wrapped in Lotus Leaf

Savoury chicken and shitake mushroom filling inside, meat was abundant, and glutinous rice was soft but held it's shape.  One of my favourite dishes.

Abalone Chicken Feet - Flavour was subtle but the texture of the skin was more "qq" or has a bite to it which is not the normal texture we're accustomed to in Toronto.

Siu Mai or Pork dumplings - Flavour was subtle, not much going on here though.

Vegetarian Bean Curd Roll - Savoury and had enough sauce.  Filling was fresh but wasn't outstanding.

Haw Gow or Shrimp Dumplings - Skin was thin and filling was fresh and sweet but it's not the best that we've had.

BBQ Pork Buns - What a lot of people rave about when they come here.

Baked BBQ Pork Bun - Inside the filling was saucy, did not have excessive red food colouring, good balance of salt and sugar.  Amount of filling was just right.  If you like sweet and savoury, this will also be a hit as the sweet crumbly crust on the top complemented the meat inside.  Tops in my opinion!

Steamed rice roll - Skin was thin and held together well, there was enough filling but it didn't "wow" me.  Well made but maybe I was expecting too much. 

Overall, the dim sum was very good.  There were some exceptional dishes (like the chicken and glutinous rice wrapped in a lotus leaf) but also some that were so-so in my opinion.  Ambiance, unfortunately because of the locale that I chose, didn't have any...really like a food court but with servers.  Am I glad I went, of course!!

Worth a try, but I would go to a different location unless you are just getting off the airport express train or going to board it to catch a flight.