Apologies for the radio silence. I’ll blame it on the recession.
When looking for brunch options around Montreal, we tend to forget the abundance of Dim Sum establishments. For those who are looking for some adventure in their bruncheon experience, Kam Fung is one of a number of restaurants that serve Dim Sum. This past week, friends and I decided to hit up Kam Fung in Ville St-Laurent (rather than their Chinatown locale) and dined on a variety of steamed and fried treats.
We began our meals with fried noodles, cooked oysters on the half-shell and cups full of hot Chinese tea. We then sampled an assortment of dumplings (pork, shrimp and peanut), Chinese broccoli, beef balls, spareribs, eggplant and rice balls. While most things were absolutely delicious, the bbq’d pork in pastry was a little off-putting; I am usually a great fan of savory/sweet combinations, but the pastry was way too sweet. For those of you who love pork desserts, this may be for you. The only other dud (in my opinion anyways), was the dish of spareribs; while the meat itself was fine, dusted with salt and pepper, the little ribs were virtually swimming in a small bowl of oil. This being said, the spare ribs were the only things that failed to impress, everything else was well-seasoned, not too greasy and incredibly flavorful. We finished our meals with more tea and those small sweet dumplings/donuts filled with red bean paste. While some may argue that Kam Fung’s Dim Sum is too “Westernzied,” I have to say that there was nary a General Tao chicken on the menu (which I have seen at other dim sum joints), but neither were there chicken feet or beef tendon (a staple at the Edmontonian Dim Sum places I used to frequent).
As for the service, it was speedy and solicitous: we were never without tea and the carts came by at regular intervals. A small note to vegetarians: don’t go. I have gone to Dim Sum with vegetarians in the past and things get complicated with the “Is there meat in this?” question. There are many items with “no meat, but yes, fish” at Kam Fung, so unless you want a meal of Chinese broccoli, fried tofu and sweets with red bean paste, it might be worth your while to try elsewhere. Plus, it makes it difficult when divvying up the bill…
Last but not least, one of my dining companions found a pearl in his oyster, well, either that or a part of his tooth chipped off. Either way, it seemed like a sign of good fortune, or at least a reason to return.
7/10
Avg. $15-20 per person.
Photo courtesy of Caroline Guistini
