J Dee’s Market Grill is like a cross between a cottage and a sports bar. The wooden benches and counter, the fish tank, and the random street signs hold a certain charm.
They boast the best burgers in town but at $12 a burger, they’d better be good. We settled on chicken fingers, poutine, salad, and a cod sandwich.
The chicken fingers were made from fresh chicken breast, and were tossed in a thin breaded coat with light seasoning. They were piping hot and absolutely delicious. Not oily or soggy in the least.
The poutine was made with what seemed to be beef gravy, on a bed of thick-cut fries. The fries were delicious, but the dish would have been even better if they hadn’t used cheddar cheese strands.
The side salad was your average garden salad, but the homemade sauce, in my case honey dill, was surprisingly good. The Guinness-battered cod was tender but bland, although the tartar sauce was one of the best I’ve had. The burger/sandwich was too large to eat together, so I had to eat each half separately.
For dessert, apple crisp was the featured special. The apple was heavily doused in syrup and cinnamon, with a generous serving of vanilla ice cream on top. Presentation was a bit shabby, but the taste made up for it.
Rocky road mud pie was nothing more than chocolate ice cream cake, with loads of almonds and a very yummy chocolate crust.
Service was attentive, and the food arrived quickly, although that may have been because the place was practically empty at noon.
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The weather was perfect when I met my friend on the patio of Veg Out, taking over Jambalaya’s spot on Richmond Row. After a bit of awkward standing around while the staff (or were they customers? It was hard to tell) shared anecdotes and hugged each other, a server finally acknowledged us and showed us to our seats.
I settled on the Thai Peanut Power Bowl while my friend chose the Pate Sandwich. The sauce in my Thai Peanut Power Bowl was more like a red curry sauce than a peanut sauce. In fact, I don’t think I tasted or saw any hint of peanuts in the bowl. The chickpeas and sweat potatoes gave a nice texture to the sloppy mess, which rested on a bed of quinoa. The dish certainly could have used more kick, the sauce was bland and most of the flavour was from the sweet potatoes. I was disappointed to realize that this restaurant perpetuated the vegan reputation: blandness. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I thought that perhaps they did not want to put in too much sodium – you know, being health-conscious and all.
On the side, I had ordered a sweet potato cornbread, which turned out to be dry and tough and tasted nothing like sweet potato. I took half of it home in a paper bag, and when I got home, the paper bag was soaked through with oil. So much for the health-conscious defense.
For dessert, we shared a velvet chocolate cake. It was slightly more dry and crumbly than I’d have preferred. It was not too sweet, like the cakes of the “good ol’ days.”
Service was hit and miss. Sometimes the server would check on us twice in ten minutes, other times she wouldn’t come by for a stretch of 30 to 40 minutes. The washroom was small and cramped, but not anymore cramped than the rest of the restaurant. It has a homey feel, and the staff are certainly very welcoming. Unfortunately, I suspect the chef of this restaurant is also a family cook.
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Ambassador Chinese Cuisine is practically a landmark in Richmond Hill. Every weekend, dozens of Chinese families flock to Ambassador for an age-old Chinese tradition: dim sum.
A group of friends and I joined the frenzy one rainy Sunday noon. Given my preference for northern Chinese food, I hadn’t been to a Cantonese-style dim sum place in a long time. I let my friends do most of the ordering since they had been here before, I just sat back and prepared to eat.
Crispy shrimp cigars were spring rolls shaped like straws, with a single shrimp in each. They were so cute! The spring rolls were crispy and golden. Perfection.
Pan-fried pork and shrimp dumplings were a little burnt, but the wrapper held strong. The filling was average, mostly pork and chives with some little dried shrimps.
Pan-friend bean curd rolls had a vegetarian filling in a bean curd wrapper. The bean curd tasted surprisingly fresh.
Dessert in the form of steamed egg custard rolls arrived too early in the meal, but were light, fluffy, and not too sweet.
Steamed shrimp dumplings in a translucent wrapper sprinkled with roe, stuffed with plump pieces of shrimp. So tender, so delicious.
Steamed shrimp and roe shao mai, in a surprisingly tough egg wrapper. Not as tender as the steamed shrimp dumplings.
Jellyfish and mango salad was cold and refreshing. The biggest surprise? The jellyfish did not taste like canned jellyfish.
Steamed pork rice noodle roll. It was soft and delicious, especially with the light house sauce. If I knew how to make rice noodle rolls, I’d make them every day.
Another dessert that arrived in the middle of the meal, tapioca jelly cups, each with a different ingredient in the centre. One had red bean, one had egg custard (?), and one had a cream-coloured filling that I didn’t get to taste.
Coconut tapioca dessert, with chunks of real coconut, honeydew, canteloupe, and of course, tapioca jelly. Anything with coconut tastes good to me, and honeydew is only my favourite melon, so of course, I loved this.
Another bean curd roll, this time with a savoury ground pork filling that included wood ear (mu er).
This was also a steamed pork dumpling, but the wrapper is made of tapioca as opposed to flour. The filling did not hold together very well though.
The last to come was also the one we were dreading the most: curry octopus. One of my friends had ordered this on a whim/dare. It was a bad decision. The octopus was hard to chew and the curry was more messy than it was flavourful.
Desserts came at the same time as entrees, service was mediocre, but what do you expect from such a large banquet hall? At least the bathrooms were clean. The prices are reasonable, and (I am told) the quality of food is consistent, which is the biggest draw for its loyal customers.
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