Dining Out: Winter Solstice Festival Dinner at NKS Banquet Hall

Went for Winter Solstice Festival dinner with my mom and her bestie at our go-to Chinese restaurant, NKS Banquet Hall:

Fried tofu puffs with assorted mushrooms and Chinese broccoli
Stir-fried sirloin beef with broccoli and candied walnuts
BBQ combo platter: Roast duck and BBQ pork
Garlic-fried pork ribs

Got all our favourites, of course. I was tempted to get Peking duck but my mom had had it for lunch with my aunts and uncle — plus, NKS does a promotion on Peking duck on Tuesdays for half-price or something, so it seemed silly to get it there on any other day — so we made do with a BBQ combo of roast duck and char siu instead. Both food and service were incredible as usual, despite there being some crazy Christmas line dancing event going on. (I swear, Chinese seniors know how to party harder than anyone else.) Will be coming back on Wednesday for Christmas Eve dim sum!

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668

Dining Out: Winter Solstice Festival Banquet Dinner at Casa Victoria

My brother and sis-in-law brought my nephew, Archer, to visit us in Toronto for the first time this weekend! Since most of us live in Toronto, it was also Archer's first time meeting all the relatives, so to celebrate this first meeting as well as winter solstice, my brother treated the entire extended family to a Chinese banquet dinner at Casa Victoria:

Roasted suckling pig with jellyfish noodles
Baked meat-stuffed sea whelk in Portuguese sauce
Deep-fried scallop and shrimp balls with broccoli
Braised duck feet with snow pea leaves and shiitake mushrooms
Stir-fried jumbo shrimp with snap peas and carrots
Roasted crispy chicken
Glutinous fried rice with Chinese sausage

There was also a soup course, wontons in soup, and desserts (red bean soup, almond cookies, and goji berry jelly), but I was too distracted with catching up with my cousins to take photos. Anyway, everyone got to meet Archer and agreed he is one hecking cute baby, the food was delicious, and everyone was full and happy by the end, so I think dinner was a success overall. Hope everyone had a great winter solstice!

Casa Victoria

8601 Warden Ave., Unit 4 - 6

Markham, ON L3R 0B5

(905) 948-1618

Dining Out: Winter Solstice Festival Dinner at Congee Queen

This year's winter solstice dinner with my dad at Congee Queen:

Fried tiger shrimp and chicken with mango
Sweet and sour pork
Pork rib and preserved sausage hot pot rice
Fried bean curd with mixed vegetables
As per tradition, of course. (Congee Queen has inadvertently become my dad's go-to restaurant for special occasions in the last 5 years. Not sure how this happened because it's a pretty typical Cantonese joint, but I'm not mad about it.) I got enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow, too. Because nothing says Christmas like leftover Chinese food, right?

Congee Queen

230 Commerce Valley Dr. E., Unit 1

Thornhill, ON L3T 7Y3

(905) 707-8388

Dining Out: Winter Solstice Festival Dinner at The Dumpling King

A second low-key Winter Solstice dinner, this time with my mom at The Dumpling King:

Steamed leek and pork dumplings
Smoked pork with layered pancake
Braised beef noodle soup
Sautéed assorted vegetables

As expected, the dumplings are excellent here — plump, flavourful, and moist with a great wrapper-to-filling ratio — but the braised beef noodle soup is truly delectable. The broth is savoury and full-bodied without being too oily, the noodles have the ideal thickness with a great chew, the beef is ultra-tender and juicy, and even the bok choy has the perfect crisp bite. Honestly, I don't know why it took us so long to try this place. I think because it shares the same plaza as Congee Queen, we never thought of stopping by here, but goddamn, this has replaced Ding Tai Fung as my new favourite Northern Chinese restaurant. 

The Dumpling King

5328 Highway 7, Unit 1A

Markham, ON L3P 1B9

(905) 209-9888

Dining Out: A Winter Solstice Festival Dinner at DiaoSi Malatang

Went for a casual Winter Solstice dinner with my friend Carmen at DiaoSi Malatang:

All-you-can-eat malatang
All-you-can-eat malatang

This place used to charge by weight so a single bowl of malatang was about $20 on average just for takeout. I would come here with Carmen occasionally for lunch if I felt like splurging because the malatang is exceptionally tasty, but it was definitely overpriced and not something I could afford to eat for lunch often. However, they very recently changed their format to all-you-can-eat, so our dine-in dinner tonight was $35 per person after tax and tip, including a free canned drink of choice. I could only fit in two (very full) bowls, but I thought it was entirely worth it. Plus, there's nothing like a hearty bowl of malatang to warm you up (e.g. make you sweat from every pore) on a freezing winter night.

DiaoSi Malatang

King's Square

9390 Woodbine Ave., Unit 1FC17

Markham, ON L6C 0M5

(647) 360-0998