Month: February 2010

“You win some, you dim sum”: Urban China

You can thank Mack for the eye-rolling title quote.

It’s always nice to have more options within walking distance of the office, so when signs of a new restaurant where Rosie’s used to be on 106 Avenue and 100 Street appeared, I was excited. Urban China opened up in the fall, and I was eager to give them a try.

Dickson and I met up for a dim sum lunch one afternoon. A handful of tables were occupied, with one or two non-Asian groups seated when I entered. The host immediately greeted me in Chinese, to which I ungracefully replied in English, and was led to a table.

The interior had been completely redone, with fabulous results. Unlike most Chinese restaurants that utilize too many gold accents and fake fauna, Urban China chose the sophisticated route of dark wood, leather chairs, bright aquariums and a single red accent wall. It is a sleek space that seems destined to become popular for special occasions and banquets.

Interior

Of course, that previous statement would only be true if the food matched the expectations set by the décor. At Urban China, dim sum is both a cart and paper affair. For the limited number of tables, it seemed rather silly for the restaurant to offer carts at all, even though I prefer the jostling atmosphere incurred by drive-by hawkers. Because of their limited pre-cooked selection, we ultimately ended up ordering a few dishes directly from the kitchen anyway.

The dim sum litmus test of ha gao and siu mai ($4.25 each) wasn’t overly positive for Urban China – the shrimp dumplings were the better of the two, but for the price and wavering quality, we were better off at a cheaper establishment.

Shrimp Dumplings

Pork Dumplings

The rice crepes with shrimp ($4.75) were probably the best of our dishes that day, which contained a fair amount of shrimp encased in a silky wrap. My BBQ pork buns ($3.75) on the other hand were poor, a congealed meat filling with an almost pasty quality in every bite. Dickson was similarly unimpressed with his steamed egg yolk sauce buns ($3.75), commenting that the frozen versions at T & T were better.

Rice Crepe with Shrimp

BBQ Pork Buns

Egg Buns

Sharing small plates for lunch is always a nice way to go, particularly in a clean and chic environment. But at least for dim sum, Urban China doesn’t provide the best value or quality. I’ll have to come back to try their dinner menu to see if it holds up.

Urban China
10604 101 Street
(780) 758-1888

Food Notes for February 1, 2010

Anyone know what the “WHEN?” billboards all around the city are about? Though the campaign seems to be working because I’m asking the question, doesn’t it seem passé to use a similar technique so close to Southgate’s “August 5” campaign? At any rate, here are this week’s food notes:

  • ZINC, the restaurant inside the sparkly new Art Gallery of Alberta, opened for full service today. Menus aren’t up on the website yet, but Liane wrote two articles about the establishment that provide an idea of what to expect. Also worth a read – a NYT article published this weekend about the trend of solid eateries in museums (partly as an effort to help make the museum some money).
  • Though I liked Liane’s article about the current “rock star” quality of local butchers– I couldn’t help but think of this similar article in the NYT, published last summer.
  • I forgot to link to this article last week, but I think it’s a clever idea – kitchen demos are the new showhome hook. Homes By Avi hired a chef to create appetizers for four different showhomes as a means of encouraging visits, and for potential buyers to see the kitchen “in use”.
  • The second annual Winefest returns to the Shaw Conference Centre on February 27. Looks like tickets are available for the afternoon session at this point.
  • Century Room, the revamped Century Grill lounge, is set to open this week.
  • Unfortunate news – Sysco takes over Fin’s.
  • To celebrate their one year anniversary, Flirt Cupcakes is giving away cupcakes to the first 100 visitors on Valentine’s Day!
  • The Alberta Avenue Farmers’ Market is hosting a Customer Appreciation Day on February 11.
  • Speaking of farmers’ markets, this is pretty cool – the CBC Broadcast Centre in downtown Toronto will be hosting a farmers’ market every week until April. How great would it be to have access to local food year-round in the core?
  • Valerie (aka A Canadian Foodie) is inviting prosciutto lovers to take her taste challenge – she picked up prosciutto de parma, Serrano ham and Iberico ham for a savoury taste-off.
  • Second Cup is really pushing their coffee – we found a card in our mailbox that entitles one to a free medium coffee after each similar purchase…11 times. Too bad I didn’t have one close to my office, or I’d be heading for numerous coffee breaks during the day.

 

Second Cup’s new loyalty program card

  • Sweet Lollapalooza announced that they will be hosting chocolate making workshops in the coming weeks (February 20 and March 9) – contact them to sign up. I swung by there this evening and picked up some of their chocolate chip cookies I’d been wanting to try. Though the chocolate coating wasn’t as overwhelming as I expected, I think the cookie would have been better if it had been soft and chewy.

 

Sweet Lollapalooza cookies

  • Before the wine tasting last week, I stopped by Blue Plate Diner for a comforting bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese. It was a cheesy bowl of warmth, but surprisingly, the soup of the day (Southwestern potato and sausage), stole the show.

 

My blue plate special