Chinese Food for Jewish Christmas

[deadchildstar]

Hello - did a search, and to my surprise, there was no existing thread!

Where can a nice Jewish girl (non-Kosher) go on Christmas for a traditional Chinese dinner in Montreal?

Preferably good/more authentic Chinese food, as opposed to the more deep-fried American kind, but the best restaurants I've been at on Christmas have both, and do both well.

I wait all year for Christmas Chinese Food (for some reason, it just tastes better on Christmas!) and I don't want to be disappointed my first year in Montreal.

Help me out if you can.

[looosia]

As this is my second time going to Mon Nan, thought I'd mention it as a place worthy of another visit. We had the hot and sour soup, General Tao chicken, the Stuffed Tofu with Mushroom, a lobster dish (forgot the name!), Chicken Fried Rice, and all were flavourful without being too greasy, something I come across at some Chinese restaurants. The fried lobster dish was reminiscent of the Chinese lobster dishes I would eat with my family as a child in Toronto Chinatown--hacked parts of lobster, fried probably in a bit wok, with spicing and a bit of batter. The Stuffed Tofu did not actually come stuffed, came with cloud mushrooms and bok choy, was a bit bland but I often find these non-spicy tofu Cantonese dishes to often lack flavour. Chicken fried rice was a good standard fried rice. I think the standout, however, was the sweet and sour soup. Thick, spicy, and the flavours had both a kick and soothing soupy-ness (I am aware this is not a word). Another good spot in downtown Chinatown.

[MiguelB]

Maison V.I.P. in Chinatown for a real chinese/jewish experience

[eat2much]

A sign posted at a Chinese restaurant in NYC

[kpzoo]

That was a 2010 David Mamet cartoon, originally. Loved it.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/54112...

[porker]

Hehe!

[deborahm]

That photo is absolutely priceless. Thanks so much for posting this. I will probably be heading out earlier to Kam Fung for dim sum if it's open on X-mas day. Perhaps someone here knows...

[towkay]

As a Chinese origin, I can appreciate the nuance of the sign, and will forward it onwards to my Chinese friends, who will get a kick out of it, as much as I have!

[porker]

Since we're on the topic....
We ate ate Fu Kam Wah on Decarie just north of Cotes Vertu just the other night. I'm not in this neck of the woods often, but when we are, we try to stop in. This place is as good and better as many joints in Chinatown.
Don't know their xmas schedule, though.

[RhondaB]

Curious to know what you order from FKW? And what's with those waiters, especially the bald waiter who is just plain nasty.

[porker]

Lets see,

We ordered the Cambodian style clams. Last time we had them, it was out of the park (part of the reason we returned the other night - the clams). This time, it was a bit gloopy with maybe too much lemon grass.

Sui Mei, very good.

Hot&sour soup, mediocre.

Pan fried dumplings very tasty.

Steamed scallop in shell with dry garlic and glass noodle, dellicate and flavorful.

Steamed cuttlefish, excellent.

Steamed sparerib with blackbean, good, but not great.

Waiters? Well we're not regulars (we're there maybe 2x/year) so can't judge clearly. We had a woman the other night who was very cheerful and fun. The place is made up of a main dining room and a slightly smaller glassed-in dining area at the front. This front space was completely full at suppertime on a Monday night and about 3 large tables in the adjacent room.

[crispy1]

We order from Chung Mei on Queen Mary road on the 24th. I am pretty sure it may be what you are looking for. the close for Yom kippur.

[OliverB]

Chung Mei might possibly be the worst Chinese food in Montreal.

I used to get dragged out ritualistically on Sunday nights with family about 8 years back, and it was terrible then. It's much, much, much worse now. Everything is completely bland and flavourless. Frozen packaged vegetables and meats in tasteless generic sauces. One time, I was served some kind of chicken dish (I guess honey was the base) full of dead bees!

The owners are very nice but it's no wonder the only people who frequent this place are geriatric Jews whose taste buds have long degenerated and typically don't venture outside of the neighborhood anyway. Do NOT reccomend this at all. If you're looking for this kind of food and don't want to head out to Chinatown then I suggest Kam Shing on Cote Des Neiges, as a mildly acceptable alternative.

[crispy1]

I never implied it was good. Like many things it is a tradition and I thought it was what she was looking for.

[anachemia]

For old-school classic Cantonese, Yangtze on Van Horne (just west of Victoria) is one of the best.

[RhondaB]

Yantgze is at best very mediocre & not very Cantonese at all compared to other Cantonese restos in the area known as Chinatown. The order we had delivered a few weeks ago was almost inedible, even their egg rolls were meh.

[BarackHObama]

they changed ownership again recently

yangtze is done for

[porker]

"yangtze is done for"...
how prophetic,
http://blog.thesuburban.com/2011/12/y...

[BarackHObama]

ah how sad

[anachemia]

Whatevs. As long as Gordon Ramsay hasn't become a silent partner and stuck his nose in the plum sauce, there's still hope. ;-)

I'm going there on Christmas, will report back on whether it still sucks (IMHO).

[BarackHObama]

lol it still sucked 3 and a half weeks ago

[anachemia]

As you've mentioned about 6 times now. ;-)

[wattacetti]

A Kosher Chinese option is the original Benny.

That said, the others have already listed some of the more popular places, though it's odd that no one's chimed in with the VIP (it's not an endorsement - it just seems to come up with it comes to odd opening hours).

Alternatively you can check with something like Cuisine Szechuan to see if they're planning to stay open.

As for the goofy, my friend hasn't mentioned putting up and decorating his Chanukah bush yet.

[OliverB]

I haven't done it in a while... but Chinatown is a safe bet for Jewish Christmas.

I really like Keung Kee upstairs or Beijing with a large group. Both places stay open for the holidays.

[porker]

As I mentioned, Beijing usually stays open until 4-5pm on December 24 then re-opens around 5:00pm on Dec 25....

[porker]

Small correction,
Beijing open until 7-8pm Dec 24
Closed until
Re-open 4:00p, Dec 25

[davekry]

Not strictly Chinese, but last year we had Kazu on the 24th, followed by PM across the street on the 25th.

There was a noticeably Jewish crowd at both, actually.

[porker]

I'm probably over my head here...
I'm not sure when or what Jewish Christmas is.
I'm not sure what a traditional Chinese dinner is.
and I don't know what Christmas Chinese Food is....
With that said, my go-to Chinese resto in Chinatown is Beijing. Generally, they're open until 5:00pm on xmas eve then open around 4:00pm on Dec 25th.
;-/)

[paulj]

Chinese restaurants used to be the only ones open on Christmas Eve or day, for those who aren't going to mass or waiting for Santa. It is also easy to eat relatively kosher at a Chinese restaurant (at least they don't mix meat and dairy). Apparently there are even certified kosher Chinese restaurants

Jenifer 8 Lee talks about this in her 'the fortune cookie chronicles'
http://books.google.com/books?id=wn7l...

[porker]

I was just funnin...

[deadchildstar]

I'm being a sort-of goofy about it. Many Jewish people (and other people too) wind up at Chinese food restaurants on December 25th. But many Jewish people do, it's a thing, it really is. So a "traditional Chinese dinner for a Jewish Christmas" just means I'm looking for a good restaurant - maybe a place others have been to on the 25th. Sometimes it can be a very friendly generally-festive place to be.

[porker]

I couldn't help myself and went a bit goofy as well. )

[deadchildstar]

http://www.metatube.com/en/videos/543...

[eatwell]

Love the video, thanks!

[happybaker]

Okay, I had not seen that SNL video - awesome.

Here's one back at you -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...

[Pookipichu]

It's a tradition in New York too. It's very festive and fun, "Jewish Chinese Christmas".