Dine & Dim Asian Cuisine (粵點居) – 633 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M4M 1Y2
Country: China  
Seating: Only indoor seating. 
Must-try dish: Mu Shu Wrap Beef 
Dinner guests: Millionaire Max & Pornstar Sam 
The high: Our server helped us order the perfect amount of food, and guided us to decide on the most delicious dishes. 
The low: The dishes came out too fast, and all at the same time. 

The original Chinatown is in Toronto’s East End at the corner of Gerard Street and Broadview Avenue. It’s much smaller than the city’s main Chinatown on Spadina Avenue, but there are hidden gems if you’re looking for culinary satisfaction. One of which is a restaurant called Dine & Dim Asian Cuisine (粵點居) that is a little fancier than the rest. The dining room is elegantly decorated with Chinese artwork, while the upstairs section is a trendy karaoke spot on weekends.

Several of the dishes sounded tempting and we tried to diversify the order to try as much as possible for the size of our group. Our server was terrific in suggesting a healthy mix of vegetables, seafood, beef, and pork. He even deterred us from ordering the traditional Congee that comes topped with a pickled egg and has a reputation of having a violent stench. 

Here’s the food roster for the evening: 

• Har Gow: Large shrimp dumplings with a slippery texture that are full of flavour. 
• Sui Mai: This crowd-pleaser never disappoints – it’s the classic dim-sum dumpling stuffed with shrimp and pork. 
• PF. Pork Dumplings: To shake things up a little, our third order of dumplings is pan-fried, so they have a crispy exterior and a warm, meaty interior. 

When it comes to Chinese-style dumplings, the individual shrimp or pork, or a combination of the two is always the way to go. 

• Mu Shu Wrap (Beef): This interactive dish required diners to make their own wraps from stir-fried vegetables and beef cooked in Mandarin spices topped with an omelet. You break it all up, mix it together, and then build the wrap and top with hoisin.
• Stir-Fried Beef Tenderloin: This sizzling platter of beef in a black pepper sauce is 100% worth ordering. The sauce has a bit of a kick to it, and the meat itself melts in your mouth. 
• Seafood Congee: Congee isn’t the most appetizing-looking dish in appearance (it resembles oatmeal), and the traditional flavour with a pickled egg is rumoured to be an acquired taste. However, this Seafood Coongee topped with chili oil was irresistible and every last bite was gone. 
• Stir-Fried Green Beans: Relying on Chinese-style green beans topped with minced pork as the vegetable dish in a meal is always encouraged. 
• Bean Sprout Chow Mein: This noodle dish mixed up the meal’s texture in a good way. Despite being cooked, the noodles retain a crunchy element and are dressed with Chinese seasoning. 
• Yeung Chow Fried Rice (Shrimp & BBQ Pork): It’s hard to turn down fried rice, so our final dish was shrimp and pork fried rice which was soft in texture. There are always a few tempting proteins in fried rice but shrimp and pork seem to be a winning combination. 

Dine & Dim Asian Cuisine (粵點居) offers traditional Chinese dishes to eat in the restaurant or to enjoy at home. There’s an extensive selection to try at all times of the day. If you find yourself craving Chinese food, go check out Toronto’s East End Chinatown. 

Eat with you soon, 

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)