O'Mei Dim Sum - Surprisingly good!

[Charles Yu]

My family of four had Dim Sum lunch at O' Mei today. Caught my eyes first was the Dim Sum menu's huge variety of choices that included both southern ( Cantonese ) and northern ( Shanghainese ) offerings. We had Ha Gow, Steamed rice noodle with prawns and chives filling, Taro croquettes, deep fried squid tentacles, soup dumplings ( both north and south varietals), chicken feet in XO sauce, shrimp spring rolls with mayo dressing, B-B-Q pork buns, the spicy peanut based 'Dam Dam' noodles, Malaysian stirred fry turnip cakes...etc.
Though the food presentation is not as fancy as some of your high end places, however, the 'degree of yumminess' is definitely way up there.! And at $50 for four, thats pretty good value!

[Royaljelly]

Finally got a chance to try OMei's dim sum and it is pretty good. It's been about a week ago and I've eaten out so much w/ my parents that I'm starting to mix up what I had where... but here's what I recall we had (there's a few more dishes I forget now)

1) ha gow - really nice shrimp dumplings, big and plump and fresh. I love that slightly chewy/bounce off your teeth texture to the shrimps (I think it's a cantonese term that I can't quite translate into english).

2) steamed beef ball - my parents eat this all the time, and they really liked it. My 2 yr old really hates eating meat, and even he ate a few bites of it.

3) spring roll - tiny little thumb sized rolls, nothing fancy but tasty

4) congee - my wife is the big congee fan, I think she liked it?

5) shrimp noodle wrap - also nicely done

6) chicken's feet - ok

Final bill was $42 including taxes (after a 10% discount on the sunday morning - but cash only) for 4 adults and a child. Definitely a good value for the quality of dishes, as Charles mentioned above.

I scanned in the dim sum menu for those interested. Once again, OMei seems to shun away the non-chinese customers by providing english on the menu to less than 1/3 of the dim sum items. Are they doing this on purpose, or just too lazy to do the full translation?

Dim Sum Menu (212kb) http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/74...

[auberginegal]

i was there about a month ago and noticed the same thing. someone in my party tried to ask the manager, but didn't really get a response. we found the food to be hit or miss. the cantonese items (iirc, most had english translations on the menu) were fantastic (totally agree about the ha gow, i'd go back just to eat those), the shanghainese items, not so much. in particular i found the dough for the dumplings (steamed and the pan friend ones) too doughy and thick. not sure if this is a preference of taste or anything, but having had soup dumplings at din tai fong (sp?) we found these ones very disappointing.

[s0memale]

Ahh Charles, you being such a big fan of O-mei i'm supprised you've never had their dimsum! Next time you go there make sure you try their 'Chi Fan' - Sticky Rice with chinese donut and dried shredded pork. Best in T.O.!

[Charles Yu]

May be I got too distracted by all the Dim Sum places along the Hwy 7 corridor?!
I'll let my wife and daughter know about the sticky rice. They love it with hot soya bean milk! Thanks! Talk about Dim Sum. Have you tried the new Chinese restaurant ' Paradise' at the corner of Finch and Leslie ( location of the now defunct Jade Dynasty ). Suppose to be very good.

[Royaljelly]

We're all waiting for you Charles to see if Paradise lives up to it's name. :)

[ace123]

I went to Paradise for dim sum. The har gow was so so. Other dim sum was good. The portion of fried noodle we ordered was very small, only 3 bowls. I noticed the fried rice that next table ordered was very small too, probably 3 bowls also. I mentioned this to the manager & hoped they improved the size.

[Royaljelly]

Are they the same owners as previous Jade Dynasty? They used to have decent dim sum, as we'd go every so often since we're so close by at work.

[ace123]

It's the same owner of Dynasty on Bloor W.

[kwong]

Is this a push cart restaurant? Or a la carte?
Also, what is the price for each item (S, M, L, etc)?

Thanks!

[Charles Yu]

Its a la carte.
Sorry, we did not pay much attention to the price. Just went ahead and order our favourites. Thats why the final tally came as a pleasant surprise.

[kwong]

Do they have a website?

[Helen]

Have you the address, please? I thought it was on Steeles West but I'm coming up with Highway 7 and another somewhere else.

[Charles Yu]

I am referring to their 'flagship' at the corner of Hwy7 and Valleymede, next to the Scotia bank. This is also where you can get the yummy 'Gigantic lobster cooked 4 ways'!

[Helen]

Thanks

[caitlink]

I have the ccue discount card which offers 20% discount for afternoon tea. What do they serve? is it dim sum after 2pm? If so, i might give it a try for the holidays?

Is it crowded in the afternoon? Thanks.

[Charles Yu]

I overheard the waiter talking to the table next to us that the ccue card only applies to 'non-holiday' period. Therefore it should work for any day except Jan 1st. I did not pay too much attention to their 'afternoon tea' menu, so unsure whether its referring to Dim Sum after 2pm, like most Scarborough restaurants, or something else? Lastly, since the place is quite big, I doubt it'll get too crowded in the afternoon.

[Royaljelly]

Sounds interesting... do you know if they serve dim sum 7 days a week, or just on weekends and special holidays (i.e. xmas)?

[Charles Yu]

Yes, they are open for dim sum lunch 7 days a week. Try them and see what you think?!