Dining Out: An Epic Dim Sum Feast at Auric King

I decided to take a half-day off from work today since I had some time owing, so I met up with my friends Minji and Daniel (who are on early parental leave since Minji is now in her third trimester and thus have a lot of free time) for dim sum. Minji had asked me to ask my mom for a good dim sum option (because like most Hong Kong immigrants in their 70s here, my mom is a dim sum pro) and she suggested Auric King since they have some more unique options than the average dim sum restaurant, so we decided to try it out.

"Dim Sum Combinations": A selection of steamed dumplings
Steamed pork soup dumplings
Steamed crab meat and truffle dumplings
Steamed house special crystal shrimp dumplings
Steamed BBQ pork buns
Baked milk tarts with bird's nest
Baked shredded turnip puff pastries
Fried glutinous rice pork dumplings
Steamed Chinese sausage buns
Deep-fried creamy custard sesame balls

When we got there, I was immediately impressed with the interior. It is a huge, huge space — it took over the unit that The Pickle Barrel used to occupy at Markville Mall — and it looks freaking fancy AF. Massive mirrored pillars, gilded walls with intricate phoenix designs, huge modern chandeliers, tufted ivory leather chairs... I honestly forgot I was in a mall. It was also crazy busy — most dim sum places in Markham won't have a wait for a table on a weekday, but at 1:00PM on this Friday afternoon, we did have to add ourselves to the waitlist. (Granted, the wait itself was only about 10 minutes, but it is worth noting.) 

We let Minji pick the dishes since she's pregnant and arrived starving (and you do not get in the way of a hungry pregnant woman). Of course, that also meant she ordered 11 dishes. For 3 people. (The standard ordering at dim sum is generally 2 plates per person, maybe 3 if everyone is very hungry, so we definitely knew we'd have leftovers.) But I will say, despite being on the pricier side, the dim sum here is excellent quality and, as my mom had mentioned, more interesting than the usual yum cha fare. Highlights for me were the "dim sum combinations" platter (which includes 6 random steamed dumplings), the crab meat and truffle dumplings, the crystal shrimp dumplings, and the shredded turnip puff pastries. But we were all very pleased with the dishes and the presentation. Tea is served in a sleek clear pot over a holder with a lit tea candle underneath to keep it hot, and a massive metal pitcher of hot water is also provided for refills. Service is also attentive and very efficient considering how busy it was. A 12% service charge is included in the total (also worth noting since it is not mentioned upfront), but I thought for $42 a person after tax and tip with a big box of leftovers to bring home was actually not too bad. There are about 12 more dim sum dishes I want to try here, so I'll definitely come back for another visit.

Auric King

Markville Mall

5000 Highway 7, Unit 2006L

Markham, ON L3R 4M9

(905) 477-7222

Dining Out: Dad's Birthday Dinner at The Big Brother 大師兄新派順德菜

I asked my dad what he wanted to eat for his 74th birthday dinner, and he just requested Chinese food (as usual) so my mom and I decided to take him to The Big Brother since we enjoyed it so much last time.

Deep-fried shrimp tossed in Thousand Island dressing with seasonal fruit
Special made puffy fish tofu with clams, sponge gourd, and mixed mushrooms in broth
Salt and pepper crispy fried silver fish
Traditional salt-baked crispy skin chicken

Again, the food was excellent. I never thought I'd need blueberries and honeydew with my deep-fried shrimp, but here we are, and it's freaking DELICIOUS. Honestly, that would be my must-order of the night. The fried silverfish (also known as icefish or noodlefish, NOT the insect) were also perfectly golden and crispy and an absolute DELIGHT. The broth for the fish tofu puffs and clams was milky and mellow — great for accompanying the deep-fried foods. The traditional salted chicken, which we also ordered last time, did take quite a long time to get to the table (they did say it would take 20 minutes to prepare, but it definitely took longer than that because but we were nearly done the rest of the other dishes by the time the chicken came out), but was still as tasty as I remember it being — perfectly crispy, salty skin, and juicy, tender meat. And again, service was great — welcoming, accommodating, and efficient. I think we might have found a new go-to special occasion Chinese restaurant.

The Big Brother 大師兄新派順德菜

328 Highway 7

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P7

(905) 881-3333

Dining Out: Chinese New Year 2026 Dinner at NKS Banquet Hall

A Chinese holiday wouldn't be complete without dinner at NKS Banquet Hall with my mom and her bestie:

Thick-cut char siu (BBQ pork)

Stir-fried sirloin beef with broccoli and candied walnuts

Stir-fried gai lan (Chinese broccoli) with garlic

Steamed tilapia with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions

Crispy skin free-range chicken with shrimp chips

Longevity buns

A complete meal of land, sea, and sky! (Okay, chickens don't really fly but it's still a bird, and IT'S SYMBOLIC, OKAY?) Got all of our favourites — including, yes, the best char siu I've ever had in my life — along with the traditional steamed fish in soy sauce and scallions (for prosperity, of course). Finished off with some piping hot longevity buns that the staff gifted us since my mom was born on Chinese New Year in the lunisolar calendar (yes, she is the only person I know that gets to celebrate two birthdays just because of this). Anyway, if you're wondering how the hell the three of us could eat all of this food — we didn't. There was enough food for two more dinners. And, obviously, since I am way too lazy to cook and they take pity on me, I got to take home of all the glorious leftovers!

Happy Year of the Horse!

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668

Dining Out: Chinese New Year 2026 Dim Sum at Purple Orchid

I took the day off and went for Chinese New Year dim sum with my parents at Purple Orchid:

Egg custard tarts (daan tat)

Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings (siu mai)

Fried glutinous rice dumplings (ham sui gok)

Steamed shrimp dumplings (har gow)

Steamed BBQ pork buns (char siu bao)

Steamed bean curd rolls

Lion dance!

The dim sum was good — classic options, standard portions, no frills but tasty (though the char siu bao were a little too soft; the bottom was almost mushy), and decently priced (about $60 in total after tax and tip for six dishes plus tea service for three people). A solid choice for dim sum in the Richmond Hill area. Bonus: we got there just in time for the lion dance show. A great start to the new year!

紫蘭軒 Purple Orchid

Jubilee Square

270 West Beaver Creek Rd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Z1

Dining Out: Mom's Birthday Dinner 2026 at NKS Banquet Hall

For my mom's birthday, I went to celebrate with her and her bestie at their go-to Chinese restaurant:

Thick-cut char siu (BBQ pork)

Cantonese poached chicken in soy sauce

Stir-fried sliced beef with sponge gourd and cloud ear mushrooms

Cantonese-style omelette with silver fish and green onions

An excellent dinner as per usual, but especially the SUBLIMELY SUCCULENT thick-cut char siu that the chef prepared that afternoon. Apparently, they don't always have char siu available because the chef who prepares it only comes in a couple times a week, so when it is available, it's sells out fast — and for good reason. I say this with no hyperbole: this was the best char siu I have ever had in my life, and I have had A LOT of char siu in my almost 40 years. The flavour is PERFECT — the most ideal combination of sweet and salty with a slightly smoky edge — and meat is super juicy and insanely tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth. They serve you two cuts of meat, one leaner (probably pork shoulder) and one fattier (probably pork belly), but even the lean cut was incredibly soft and juicy. I don't even think NKS is known for char siu, but it is TRANSCENDENT. 

My only complaint from this dinner is that the omelette has cilantro in it (so unnecessary), and was therefore ruined for me. But my mom and her bestie really enjoyed it, which is what counts, I guess. Whatever, this post is really an ode to their char siu, anyway.

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668

Dining Out: End of Year Dinner at The Big Brother 大師兄新派順德菜

To celebrate the end of the year (to clarify, the end of the Year of the Snake) as well as my mom's birthday, my dad made reservations at a Cantonese restaurant called The Big Brother.

Traditional salt-baked crispy skin chicken

Pan-fried green peppers stuffed with house-made fish paste

Stir-fried beef with bitter melon in black bean sauce

Hakka-style tofu stuffed with minced pork and secret seafood sauce

Deep-fried salted egg yolk kabocha squash and fresh oysters

The food is EXCELLENT. The menu is actually relatively small for a Chinese restaurant — it's literally a double-sided laminated sheet about the size of a placemat, and nearly every dish comes with a picture — which usually means every single dish offered should be executed exceptionally well. And it was absolutely true for our experience tonight. Cantonese restaurants are a dime a dozen in the Richmond Hill/Markham area since the majority of the people here are Chinese, but The Big Brother offers notably incredible, authentic Cantonese/Shunde-style dishes — even my parents, immigrants from Hong Kong, commented on how good each dish was with not a single complaint or criticism (you'll know how rare this is if you have Chinese parents). The Shunde-style deep-fried salted egg yolk squash and oysters dish is especially memorable — incredible flavour, perfect crispy exterior, ginormous and meaty oysters — probably because it's not a common offering at Chinese restaurants in general.

My dad told us that his friends had went to eat at The Big Brother around the time of its opening last summer and that while the food was good, the servers were so rude that they would never return. I'm glad to report that they've either gotten new staff or new customer service training because I found the three or four staff that served us were great. They greeted us warmly, they were accommodating, and they were efficient. Also, the space is clean, sleek, and bright, unlike many other Chinese restaurants where you question how they possibly passed their health inspection. It's a little out of my way, but I would absolutely come back here to eat again.

The Big Brother 大師兄新派順德菜

328 Highway 7

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P7

(905) 881-3333

Dining Out: Christmas Day 2025 Dinner at Xiang Zi Hot Pot

My mom and I decided to go for Christmas dinner at Xiang Zi Hot Pot after last year's rousing success. We invited her bestie and got a 5:30PM reservation. It seems like they decided to do two seating times this Christmas instead of having reservations at any time like they usually do, because when we got there, it was a full house.

Tofu puffs, fish balls, quail eggs, beef tendon balls, luncheon meat, lotus root, daikon, and winter melon
Chrysanthemum greens and tender beef slices
Bean curd rolls, lettuce, napa cabbage, king oyster mushrooms, and spring rolls
White fish, squid, beef tripe, and tender beef slices
Premium abalone
Fresh-cut beef slices
Mushroom and pork bone soup

So, last year, we were blown away by the assortment and set up they had at Christmas. They had a huge buffet-style spread of various prepared dishes and snacks as well as extra raw items to pick up ON TOP of their full tablet menu. But they decided to do things a little different this year. They cut down about half the menu and put almost everything out buffet-style. A bunch of our favourite things — various slices of meat, prepared cold dishes like lettuce stem salad or spicy cucumber salad — weren't available. A lot of the ready-to-eat foods weren't being refilled fast enough. There were only about 10 items we could order from the tablet to the table. Disappointing, since the sheer variety of food is what we love about coming here over other hot pot places.

An issue this evening, though, is that we were seated upstairs. I don't really mind myself (hey, extra steps means I can eat more, right?), but my mom and her best friend are in their 70s and have bad knees and arthritis. And the buffet? Where all the food is? It's downstairs. There's no elevator. So I ended up walking up and down the stairs about 8 times to get enough food for everyone. And that's fine because that's as much exercise as I'm getting this holiday week. No biggie. The real problem? They FORGOT OUR HOT POTS. You know, the actual pots with the broth that we can cook all of our raw food in? Yeah. All three of us ordered the same type of broth — mushroom and pork bone. Not a particularly complicated order. They usually get our pots to us within minutes. But tonight, it took them 45 MINUTES for them to bring our broth pots to our table. This was after asking three different servers to check on them for us. And, mind you, every table gets a 2-hour seating limit here. The server sheepishly had to assure us that they wouldn't have a time limit for us tonight — frankly, the least they could do. If we weren't hungry when we arrived, we were starving by the time we could actually eat our food. 

So, yeah. Xiang Zi's Christmas dinner service this year was a disappointing, disorganized mess. Judging by how long they took to get our hot pots to us, how many empty chafing dishes there were at the buffet, how long it took them to refill all the different ingredients, and just the lack of variety that they usually have, I'd say they were way too understaffed for the sheer amount of customers there tonight and had to cut way back on food costs. I've never had a less-than-excellent time at Xiang Zi, so this dinner was particularly disappointing. (I also just discovered that they don't even have an official website anymore. Are they going out of business?)

On that note, I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a better dinner experience than we did!

Xiang Zi Hot Pot

Uptown Market Shopping Centre

3989 Highway 7

Markham, ON L3R 5M6

(905) 305-9888

Dining Out: Christmas Eve 2025 Dim Sum at NKS Banquet Hall

I had a half-day of work today and it would've been churlish not to go out for lunch since it's Christmas Eve and all, so I made plans for dim sum with my mom and her bestie at their regular spot:

Dough fritter rice noodle rolls with yuk sung
Steamed BBQ pork buns (char siu bao)
Steamed shrimp dumplings (har gao)
Steamed pork and shrimp dumplings (siu mai)
Pan-fried turnip and preserved pork patties (lo bak go)
Deep-fried shrimp and chive dumplings
Deep-fried pork and egg yolk glutinous rice (zong)
Baked egg custard tarts (daan tat)

I know I've talked endlessly about how great and totally underrated NKS Banquet Hall is, but honestly, if we're talking quality vs. value, their dim sum is absolutely the most worth it. Their decor isn't as fancy as Casa Victoria or trendy as Luna, and they keep it simple and traditional with their dishes (no truffle oil or gold foil here), but NKS is cheaper than both and the quality of their food is consistently excellent (similar to Casa Victoria; significantly better than Luna). The tea fee, at $2 per person ($1.80 if you're a regular, apparently), is on par with most dim sum places, but if you spend $20, you get your choice of siu mai or beef meatballs FOR FREE. IN THIS ECONOMY!

Also, if the room filled almost exclusively with Cantonese-speaking senior citizens isn't indication enough (and most of them are regulars since no less than five people came to greet my mom), NKS is — at least in Markham (which, honestly, is more Chinese than Toronto's Chinatown) — the best place to come for dim sum. And there's never a line-up because all the Millennials are going to the trendy, Instagram-able dim sum places. (I admit I have been guilty of this a time or two.) But y'all, when it comes to dim sum? Always trust the Hong Kong immigrant boomers! They don't give a shit about Google reviews or ratings — they just want good, authentic Cantonese food.

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668