Dining Out: End-of-Year Dinner at NKS Banquet Hall

Went for an end-of-year dinner with my mom and her bestie at NKS Banquet Hall:

BBQ pork and roast duck platter

Fried stuffed tofu puffs with broccoli

Poached white cut chicken with ginger scallion sauce

Cantonese stir-fried ginger scallion lobster

Steamed bass with scallions in soy sauce

I don't know it's because I had novovirus last week and was forced to eat really bland foods for days on end, but this meal was extraordinarily delicious. NKS Banquet Hall — which is primarily known for dim sum — is truly underrated for their dinner service. I've only been here once before for dinner — which was for Mid-Autumn Festival last year — but I've been thoroughly impressed with everything I've tried here. Everything this evening was just spectacular and I have a feeling this is going to be our new go-to special occasion dinner restaurant. A great way to end the Year of the Dragon!

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668

Dining Out: Chinese New Year Dinner at Uncle Wing's Kitchen 榮記海鮮小炒

While Chinese people traditionally stay at home for New Year's, my mom and I traditionally go out to eat (for all occasions) because we hate cooking. So when my mom's bestie invited us to have a Chinese New Year dinner at Uncle Wing's Kitchen (because he also hates cooking), we immediately took him up on the offer.

Free range poached chicken with dried scallops and gai lan
Eight Treasures braised tofu hot pot with shrimp, scallop, chicken, beef, squid, BBQ pork, and mushroom
Stir-fried diced beef tenderloin with okra and cashews
Fried pork chops with chilies and spicy salt

They opened a few months ago in an old, narrow shopping mall that is frequented mainly by boomer Hong Kongers (like my parents and all their friends), so it's not exactly social media-worthy, but that also means we could get a table without reservations on a Saturday night. More importantly, the food was tasty (though they initially forgot the cashews in our beef with okra and cashews, so it had to be taken back to the kitchen for them to be added) and the portions are pretty generous, so not only do I have dinner for tomorrow, but I also have enough for lunch on Monday. I wouldn't come here specifically to eat Cantonese food (like I would Skyview), but it's a decent option if you're in the area.

I hope everyone had a similarly lazy, food-filled start to the Year of the Dragon!

Uncle Wing's Kitchen

9425 Leslie St., Unit 6-7

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3N7

(905) 224-2388

Food Delivery: Year of the Dragon Lunar New Year Macaron Box from The Social Blend

Happy Year of the Dragon! 🐉 I am starting off the new year with some fat Korean-style macarons, featuring the adorable Lunar New Year Box from The Social Blend:

The Social Blend Lunar New Year Box
The Social Blend Lunar New Year Box

It's been nearly three years since I've ordered macarons from The Social Blend and I forgot just how freaking good they are. (My condo management stated that food cannot be left with concierge, and since I'm at work for 9 - 10 hours a day, I'm just never home to get the delivery, so I had to stop ordering them. But a couple weeks ago, I realized that I could just have them delivered to my office building instead. Not sure why it took me so long to think of this, but I guess better late than never!) 

Matcha Rice Puff — Matcha with Fried Rice Puffs
Firecracker — Grapefruit
Red Money Pocket — Strawberry
Dragon — Oreo
24 — Earl Grey
Golden Dragon Pearl — Salted Caramel Chocolate
Sakura — Cherry Blossom
Mandarin — Mandarin

I should probably ration these but — oh no! — they'll go stale within a few days. So I guess I'll just have to polish these off and get myself another box for Valentine's or Family Day or something...

The Social Blend

130 Eglinton Ave. E.

Toronto, ON M4P 2X9

(416) 484-9919

Dining Out: End of Year Family Dinner at Skyview Fusion Cuisine 乙龍天

Had the last dinner of the year (of the Rabbit) with my parents at Skyview Fusion:

BBQ pork (char siu)
Stir-fried diced steak with bell peppers, onions, and asparagus in black pepper sauce
Chinese mustard greens with enoki mushrooms
Steamed green bass with green onion and ginger in soy sauce
Almond cookies and mango pudding jelly

I overheard the dude sitting behind me saying this restaurant is overrated, but I honestly think this was one of the best Chinese meals I've had in a really long time. I'd only ever been here once before for dim sum (which they're well-known for) and remember it being really good, but the dinner menu is totally worth coming here for as well. The portions and quality of the ingredients were all top-notch, and everything was cooked perfectly. The BBQ pork is especially notable — tender, great meat-to-fat ratio, super-flavourful — and perhaps the best I've ever eaten. (Which is saying quite a lot because I have eaten a lot of char siu in my lifetime.) A little on the pricier side for a Cantonese restaurant, but I genuinely think you get what you pay for here. A truly excellent meal to end the year.

Skyview Fusion Cuisine 乙龍天

8261 Woodbine Ave., Unit #8

Markham, ON L3R 8Z5

(905) 944-9418

Eating at Home: End of Year Family Dinner

It's almost Chinese New Year, which means this week is all about the end-of-year family dinners. We're not super traditional since most of my relatives have lived in Canada for decades, but we do enjoy a good family gathering since we only have them a few times a year. So tonight, my Aunt Barbara hosted dinner at her house for 11 of us on my dad's side of the family:

Braised abalone with broccoli
Chinese roast duck
Sweet and sour shrimp
Shrimp-stuffed roast chicken
Braised pork hocks with lotus root

And for dessert, egg tarts and mandarin oranges (of course). No one in my family actually likes hosting dinner at home (cooking + people = a lot of effort and a lot of cleaning) so we usually go out to a restaurant for dinner, but it was really nice to hang out with my cousins at home and chat for hours. I actually can't remember the last time we did this (it might be over a decade ago), but I hope we can do it more often in the new year. You know, so long as someone else is willing to host. 

Dining Out: Chinese New Year Dinner at Congee Queen, Pt. 2

My dad wanted to take us out for dinner as a joint celebration for Chinese New Year and my mom's birthday (which is actually tomorrow, but she was born on Chinese New Year in the lunar calendar), so we went to Congee Queen as per tradition:

Sweet and sour tiger shrimp and chicken with mango
Fried oysters with belacan sauce
Chili black pepper sirloin beef in crispy golden bowl
E-fu noodles with gai lan in broth
Fried bean curd with shiitake mushrooms and vegetables
I gotta say, it was much more satisfying than the first Chinese New Year dinner we had at Congee Queen. Maybe because it's not Chinese New Year Day proper so it wasn't insanely busy and they actually had time to care about the quality of their food. (Plus, there were fried oysters. Any meal with fried oysters is always a winner.) On that note, I love that Chinese New Year is a holiday that is celebrated for weeks. Such a great excuse to eat so many big meals.

Congee Queen

230 Commerce Valley Dr. E., Unit 1

Thornhill, ON L3T 7Y3

(905) 707-8388

Cooking at Home: Lunar New Year 2023 Hot Pot

My co-worker Maria invited a few of us over to her house for a Lunar New Year hot pot dinner:

Hot pot at home
Hot pot at home
She went all out for us: homemade pork bone broth, beef slices, pork slices, fresh shrimp, salmon, fish balls, fish cakes, shimeji mushrooms, watercress, napa cabbage, daikon, winter melon, and an assortment of condiments to make our own dipping sauces. It was the perfect post-snow storm meal. (I love that we celebrate Lunar New Year for weeks after the new year starts. And that I have co-workers who love hosting hot pot at home!)

Dining Out: Chinese New Year Dim Sum at Kingsfield Chinese Cuisine

Had a Chinese New Year dim sum session at Kingsfield with my co-workers on our lunch break today:

Steamed siu mai with minced shrimp and roe
Steamed chicken feet in supreme sauce
Steamed house special shrimp dumplings
Steamed snow pea leaves and mushroom dumplings
Baked BBQ pork pastry with hazelnut and pineapple
Pan-fried chive dumplings
Deep-fried golden squid tentacles with oats and spices
Deep-fried glutinous rice dumplings
Baked puffy egg tarts

Great quality, good portions, decent prices. Fairly busy at noon (we got a table right away, but almost all the tables were filled on this Thursday afternoon), but our food came out at a good rate and I was impressed at how polite and attentive the staff is. Upon sitting down, we were immediately met with Chinese New Year greetings (you know, wishing us health and prosperity, etc.). They continually replenished our tea and condiments without us even asking. They actually say, "You're welcome," when you thank them. I am totally satisfied with this place. A great find, and only 2 minutes from work. Only problem is the food coma afterwards. Nearly fell asleep at my desk...

Kingsfield Chinese Cuisine

2910 Major Mackenzie Dr. E.

Markham, ON L6C 0G6

(905) 887-1988

Dining Out: Taiwanese Style Popcorn Chicken and Stewed Beef Noodle Soup at Mabu Generation

Went for a casual Lunar New Year dinner with Carmen at Mabu Generation:

Taiwanese-style popcorn chicken
Taiwanese-style stewed beef noodle soup

Everything was... mediocre. I'd been to Mabu Generation a couple times before a few years ago and now I remember why I never bothered to go back. It's not that the food was bad, it's just that there's so many better iterations of both Taiwanese popcorn chicken and stewed beef noodle soup out there that they're just not worth the price here. I'm not going to write Mabu off entirely yet because they do have an extensive menu that might be worth checking out, but this visit didn't leave me any more impressed than it did before. I'm just determined to find out why it still gets so busy here.

Mabu Generation

First Markham Place

3235 Highway 7, Unit 23-26

Markham, ON L3R 3P3

Build Mode: LEGO® Lunar New Year Display + Money Tree

Happy Lunar New Year! I spent my day indulging in my new favourite hobby: building LEGO sets.

LEGO® Lunar New Year Display — Fortune and Treasures
LEGO® Lunar New Year Display — Prosperity and Happiness
LEGO® Money Tree

I think they turned out pretty goddamn cute. Who knew it would take me 36 years to get into LEGO?