Fortune Dumpling pancakes are AMAZING!

[Chocolatesa]

My cheeks are burning from cold cause I couldn't wait till I was home to eat it, my stomach is sore from eating too quickly and my feet are sore from waiting for it, but wow are crunchy Chinese pancakes ever AMAZING!!! http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Quebec/... People if you're in the area get them! It's the item at the topmost left on the menu, something starts with a J. $5.49 tx.incl.

I can't fault the amount of time I waited (20 minutes I think?) cause it seemed to be the opening night of the restaurant and it was packed and hectic. But SO worth it. If you like a combination of soft thin eggy pancake with fresh coriander painted with three kinds of umami-packed sauce and then wrapped around a shatteringly crisp piece of wafer-thin fried dough then this is for you.

You can see them make them in the window too, that's what drew me in, I had walked past a time or two in the past few days and seen it before it opened, and then when I saw it was open and packed with people I glanced in, and saw the guy painting some sort of sauce on a pancake and then wrapping it around something crispy I knew I had to try it. Just one of those things that you KNOW will be good when you see it.

I had heard of soft pancakes wrapped around crispy fried dough served as street food in China and always wanted to try it and finally got to for the first time :D

I'm gonna bring everyone I can there this weekend to try the rest of the stuff on the menu. Another reason why I LOVE living in this neighborhood!

Unfortunately I don't have a photo cause my camera battery was dead but I'll take some when I go this weekend.

[berbatov]

Tried Fortune Dumplings a couple of weeks ago and thought it was just OK. I prefer the dumplings at both Qing Hua and Mai Xiang Yuan in Chinatown, and with QH so close by, I wouldn't really have any reason to go back to Fortune (although the interior is very nice, bright and clean and the open kitchen is a nice touch).

Tried the pancake and while it was decent, it just wasn't really my speed.

Service was very friendly and I wish them much success nonetheless.

[kpaxonite]

I got take out there tonight and it is delicious.... I got a mix of porc mushroom dumpings (P1... because the man at the cash said he liked them and they are popular) and beef coriander dumplings. They charge an extra 1.50 for doing a mix so with tax and tip for 15 or 16 dumplings it was 16 dollars... it sounds a little pricey but I think it actually very good value. They are a little weird about cash/credit/debit which I pointed out to the cashier...If you read the french signs then you can only use debit if you have a ten dollar order and credit if you have 30, in english it is 5 and 30 (Im not sure what it says in chinese haha.. it was obviously a mistake and when I laughed, the cashier said she would fix it).

When you walk into the restaurant you can see two chefs preparing food on a low table to your left using very fresh ingredients..everything is made to order (unlike qing hua where they at least sell frozen ones... I dont know if they use frozen ones to serve people though). Pestels are filled with beef and porc and other yummy ingredients. The dumplings didnt look like they would be very good.... like they had too much pasta... but I was downright wrong, they are juicy and very delicious. I will definitely return.

The spicy sauce is great.

Sorry for repeating this post in Openings 2013.

[jay_81k]

Gave this place a try tonight and wasn't so impressed by the pancake. It was decent but wouldn't really crave it. Also had some dumplings which were good but Ive had better. I like the place but not sure if I'll return...

[denpanosekai]

Yeah I tried the crispy pancake sandwhich Friday too, and although it was decent, I couldn't see what the fuss was all about. I kept wanting to get to the good part, but the first bite tells the whole story.

The dumplings though, I was impressed. The skins were so soft! These just melted in my mouth. I'd put them on par with Qing Hua (but I'm not exactly an expert, only had Maison du Nord and Qing Hua a half-dozen times each). If anything it's a good alternative and I sort of prefer the decor anyway. I'm sure they'll do good business.

One thing however. The open-kitchen thing is cool in theory but I noticed that customers walk way too close too the food. It's a narrow entranceway so I'm sure folks will bump into each other and eventually drop/spill some stuff on the prep table. Also one of the cooks didn't have a hair net and was eating her own lunch as she prepared my Jian Bing.

[jay_81k]

If you want good dumplings try Mai Xiang Yuan in chinatown.

[denpanosekai]

OK Thanks!

[hungryann]

Do they have a chinese beef roll? I've beem looking for something like this.

[SnackHappy]

Sorry, it's not on their menu. That looks really good, though. I'd love to find a place that makes it. From doing a quick search it seems to be a Taiwanese dish (niu rou juan bing). Montreal unfortunately doesn't have a great offer of that type of food.

[cherylmtl]

I believe Le Cristal Chinois has one on their dim sum menu.

[denpanosekai]

I think this place is gonna kill it. Kitchen-by-the-window is brilliant marketing.

[SnackHappy]

Sounds like jian bing:

http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2012...

So is this a Beijing-style restaurant? What else is on the menu? I hope they have good sweet and sour pork.

[Chocolatesa]

The ones they had weren't as big as the ones pictured in that website but yeah pretty similar otherwise.

I'm sorry I didn't look at the rest of the menu, I was too much in a hurry to get one of those pancakes :P

[SnackHappy]

Yeah, they're probably smaller because they are made on a crepe maker. That's how they make them at Shi Tang (former Tian Tan).

[Chocolatesa]

Oh they have them at Shi Tang too? I've never been there, I'll have to go to compare the two.

[SnackHappy]

I went there today and we ordered the jian bing. It's not quite the same as the one they made at Tian Tan which didn't have the crispy "fritter" but was a bit heftier. We really liked it and thought it would make a great snack.

We also ordered the potato salad which we found a bit bland and oily and the beef carrot dumplings which we really enjoyed.

The menu is mostly snack food. There are lots of appetizers, a few soups, a couple of noodle dishes, dumplings and bubble tea. It all looks pretty tempting. I'll certainly be trying more of it in the not too distant future.

[Glaff]

Veg-friendly?

[SnackHappy]

Not really, they have a few vegetarian dumplings, but a couple of them include shrimp. The jian bing is probably veg. IIRC the rest of the menu items, save for a couple of salads, all have meat in one form or another.

[BLM]

Which Jian Bing you like better? At Shi Tang or Fortune Dumpling? I haven't tried this Chinese snack before.

[SnackHappy]

I haven't actually had one from there since Tian Tan became Shi Tang, but I found the one at Tian Tan more flavourful. The one at Fortune has that fried cracker, though, which is really good texture- wise.