Tung Sing Chin

This year, Sunday hockey has been somewhat disappointing. I'm not talking about the hockey itself, it is basically the same as it has always been. Albeit a bit lower scoring, which makes me happy. The real problem is there are very few people willing to eat out afterwards. We used to have RBC; but he has moved out to Ontario while Gordo jets off before we can ask him if he'll join us. So it has been up to JuJu and Kaiser Soze in terms of eating companions. However, this week, Kaiser Soze seemed a bit hesitant and really wasn't "feeling" it. Hence, an apprehensive diner is as good as cat in the middle of a Superdogs show. JuJu and I gave up on trying to convince him and took off for some Dim Sum. We were in no mood for traveling too far for grub, so we ended up nearby at a spot that has changed hands a number of times.

First it was International for the longest time, then it became Golden Star and then a just a year later, it is now Dung Sing Chin. I don't know about you; but what's up with these names? Who in their right mind would have "dung" in their restaurant name??? I don't care if it is a phonetic translation, it just doesn't sound right. Reminds me of the long gone joint named Fook Yue out on Hastings. Honestly... It did end up on Leno though... So the advantage of only being a party of 2, we got a seat right away. Otherwise, it was a slight wait. Showing a bit of restraint, we only marked off a conservative amount of items despite our initial thoughts of doing 20 dishes. Yah, JuJu and I together are trouble, we would probably order enough for 3 meals! We started off with the Shrimp Spring Rolls. For such a seemingly simple item, this was really good. Packed with crunchy whole shrimp, it was served hot and crunchy. It was not too oily and the shrimp itself was plenty seasoned with garlic.

JuJu and I like rice noodle rolls, so we got one each of the Beef Rice Noodle Roll and Shrimp Rice Noodle Roll. If we had known how big they were going to be, we could've done with only one. Well, that's a fallacy. We still would've ordered 2! LOL... Anyways, these things were absolutely humongous. At first, we were concerned that the thick-looking rice noodle would be a problem; but it turned out to be fluffy. In fact, the texture was almost perfect which is a good combination of soft while not falling apart on contact. We found the beef filling to be somewhat loose and a bit heavy on the onions. On the other hand, the shrimp filling was very good. Full of bouncy-textured shrimp, they where a nice contrast to the pillowy rice noodle.

As if we had not eaten enough rice noodles, we also got an order of the Fried Rice Noodle with Beef. This is typically prepared by frying up rice noodles from a "raw" state in a hot wok. Thus, the only way to prevent it from sticking is to use oil. As the glistening picture shows, there was a good amount of oil used here. Other than that, the noodles were good. Not overcooked and properly seasoned, the accompanying beef was tender as well. We were actually quite surprised at the portion size considering the price. We then moved from a dish we couldn't finish to a more typically-sized one in the Black Bean Spareribs. Plain and simple, this was well-executed. Not too oily and full of garlic/black bean, this was well-seasoned. Furthermore, the meat itself was perfectly between chewy and tender while not being fatty. Normally, I never order the Fried Tofu. To me, there is no meat... Yes, I'm never gonna make it as a vegetarian. However, I'm glad that JuJu took the initiative and ordered it since it turned out to be really good. The cubes of silky tofu were fried crisp without spewing out oil. Also, it was wok-tossed in chilis and salt which provided a nice kick. I still prefer meat; but this was darn good tofu.

In my never ending praise of the Dim Sum here, it continued with the Sui Mai (Pork & Shrimp Dumpling). Despite the haphazardly placed tobiko, it looked pretty nonetheless. The pork was the desired texture of being slightly chewy while the shrimp had a nice crunch. A right amount of shitake added another flavour to the already sweet and savoury meat. One thing I didn't like was the copious amount of pork fat chunks. I realize that is a necessity for flavour and texture; but there was just too much of it. After that, JuJu and I shared some balls. Okay, I just needed to get that out of my system. As you might have guessed, they were the Beef Meatballs. Nothing more, nothing less. However, I did shower prior, so I was clean... Okay, enough of that. These meatballs were slightly spongy; yet still decent in texture. The meat was soft while still exhibiting a slight bounce.

As for the most important dish at Dim Sum, the Haw Gow (shrimp dumplings) were very good considering the price. They were quite large and packed full of crunchy shrimp. I would've preferred a bit more seasoning in the form of sesame oil; but I usually dip it into hot sauce anyways, so no big deal. The only thing that could've been better was the dumpling skin, it was slightly thick. And that was a fitting end to a surprisingly solid meal. For the prices they charge, Dim Sum was fantastic. Portions were substantial and execution as a whole was impressive. Of course service could've been better; but hey, this is a Chinese restaurant. I'm now curious how their dinner menu fares with the new ownership. After all, as I have mentioned many times, Dim Sum cannot be an indicator of the dinner menu and vice-versa. So I guess I'll be dropping by for dinner too. Maybe I can drag some people with me, even Kaiser Soze!

The Good:
- Large portions
- Generally good execution
- Inexpensive

The Bad:
- Service is hurried and hard to flag down
- Place could use a bit of renovations other than the name change