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: New Year Special at Uncle Qiang BBQ 犟贰叔

Happy New Year!

I rang in 2025 with Chinese takeout, bubble tea, and a Harry Potter movie marathon with my friends Minji and Daniel, which, frankly, was the best idea, ever. Since I got home at 4:00AM, we decided to go for a late lunch at my new fave, Uncle Qiang BBQ, where they are currently having a New Year Special Combo for $119.99:

Hand-smashed cucumbers
Flavoured sausage
Black pepper beef brisket
Pickled Chinese cabbage with chili oil
Chinese sausage and black pepper beef brisket
Garlic prawns
Miso beef brisket
Miso beef brisket and pickled cabbage
Egg fried rice
Uncle's Special beef
Uncle's Special lamb
Cheese corn

2025 is off to a great start.

Uncle Qiang BBQ 犟贰叔

350 Highway 7, Unit 105

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3N2

(905) 751-7518

Dining Out: Christmas Dinner at Xiang Zi Hot Pot

Every year, my mom and I go out for Christmas dinner, usually a set menu type of deal. But I wanted something a little more comforting this year, and more warming because I've had a runny nose and nasal congestion since Sunday. And what could be more warming than hot pot?

Ready-to-serve dishes: Cucumber salad, lettuce stem salad, and marinated duck tongues

Premium item: Abalone

Napa cabbage, lettuce stems, king oyster mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms

Beef tripe, beef tendon, fish and beef balls, winter melon, daikon, and lotus root

Premium item: Tender beef

Angus beef, beef brisket, beef sirloin, New Zealand lamb, pork belly, and basa fillet

Cooking in mushroom and pork bone broth

Dessert: Fresh-cut papaya, oriental melon, honeydew, and watermelon

On top of their regular menu, they also had a Christmas-exclusive buffet-style spread around the main centre booth, which included ready-to-eat foods like marinated quail eggs, braised tofu, and stewed beef tendon; raw items already separated into dishes that you could pick up instead of ordering from the tablet; a huge variety of all-you-can-drink canned pop; as well as an assortment of cakes, Melona bars, and fruits for dessert. This was awesome. Kinda wish they had this all year round, but I know it's a lot to maintain and it makes the restaurant way more hectic than it needs to be since so many more people are getting up to roam. Still, the food was excellent, the service was excellent, and therefore, Christmas was excellent. 

Hope everyone had a similarly delicious and merry Christmas!

Xiang Zi Hot Pot

Uptown Market Shopping Centre

3989 Highway 7

Markham, ON L3R 5M6

(905) 305-9888

Dining Out: Winter Solstice 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

Take Out: Apple Cider, Tanghulu, and Churros at Holiday Fair in the Square

After our downtown adventure, Minji, Daniel, and I went to check out the Holiday Fair in the Square.

Tanghulu
Churros
Custard bungeoppang

It was... disappointing. We dropped by to see what kind of sweet treats we could get, and though Minji picked up a couple boxes of baklava and Turkish delight to bring home, we only got some apple cider, a skewer of tanghulu, and a couple of churros. There were no funnel cakes, no cookies, no crazy holiday-themed hot chocolates. Maybe it's because we went on a Friday, but there were only about 10 food stalls in total, so I'm guessing they open way more stalls on Saturday and Sunday. Either way, we ended up having to make up for the lack of food variety by getting some custard bungeoppang up the street. 

Sigh. This is what we get for not wanting to pay the admission fee for the Winter Village.

Holiday Fair in the Square

Mel Lastman Square

5100 Yonge St.

North York, ON M2N 5V7

(416) 338-3343

Dining Out: Thanksgiving Dinner at The Moon 花好月圓

As per usual, my family made plans to go out to eat for Thanksgiving. (We don't cook at home for holidays. Ever.) Except my really traditional Chinese father picked the restaurant, so we ended up going to The Moon:

Peking duck
Duck meat
Baby bok choy in pumpkin sauce
Stir-fried ginger scallion lobster
Steamed bass with scallions in soy sauce

That means Peking duck instead of turkey. Crab meat and fish maw soup instead of gravy. Stir-fried ginger scallion lobster instead of stuffing. Baby bok choy in pumpkin sauce instead of roasted Brussels sprouts. Steamed bass with scallions in soy sauce instead of mashed potatoes. Taro sago dessert soup, mango pudding, and almond cookies instead of pumpkin pie. And I can't even be mad about it. Because even though The Moon replaced Destiny — which was one of my fave dim sum spots (and before that, one of the OG bubble tea hangouts, pre-Chatime days) — the food was excellent, the service was great, and the new interior looks gorgeous. Plus, they have a few cash-only set dinners that are incredible value. So no stuffing or mashed potatoes tonight, but I had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner, nonetheless.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

The Moon 花好月圓

165 York Blvd.

Richmond Hill, ON L4B 4A7

(905) 889-7899

Dining Out: Mid-Autumn Festival Dinner at NKS Banquet Hall

Tonight's Mid-Autumn Festival dinner with my mom and her bestie at NKS Banquet Hall:

Deep-fried stuffed tofu with broccoli

Poached white cut chicken with ginger scallion oil

Deep-fried oysters with gai lan

Stir-fried beef tenderloin with cashews and choy sum

My mom and her best friend are regulars here for lunch (they come here 4 to 5 times a week for dim sum) and every single server and manager knows them, so the service was impeccable — super attentive, super friendly, super efficient, and super accommodating. While I know their dim sum is consistently good, this was my first time there for dinner so we decided to forego the holiday set menus (which included some dishes that we didn't unanimously like) and ordered à la carte. And I gotta say, every single dish we had tonight was truly incredible. The stuffed tofu were pillowy on the inside and crisp on the outside, the chicken was soft and juicy (even the white meat!), the oysters were gigantic and plush, and the beef cubes were ultra tender with perfectly crunchy cashews. (My mom's favourite server even treated us to some freshly steamed longevity peach buns for dessert!) Not sure why we'd never come here for Chinese holidays or special occasions before, but that will absolutely change. Tonight's dinner was a truly delicious experience.

I hope everyone had an amazing and equally tasty Mid-Autumn Festival!

NKS Banquet Hall

New Kennedy Square

8360 Kennedy Rd., Unit B06

Markham, ON L3R 9W5

(905) 948-8668

Cooking at Home: Canada Day BBQ Feast

The BBQ madness continues as my friends Minji and Daniel hosted a Canada Day BBQ for seven of us today. I think this may win as the biggest, most epic BBQ I've ever been to:

Grilling Italian sausages, bratwursts, and baked potatoes

Baking Peri peri chicken and more baked potatoes

Grilling Angus beef burgers with cheddar

Grilling giant tiger shrimp

Grilling beef skewers, kohlrabi, and eggplant

Grilling mushroom caps and mixed veggies

Beef skewers with bell peppers and onions

Peri peri chicken

Corn on the cob

Smoked BBQ pork back ribs

Loaded baked potatoes

Grilled pineapple

Watermelon and pineapple

Sparklers!

I ate enough for three people. We started grilling at 4:00PM and just kept going until 9:00PM. That doesn't even include the ice cream sandwiches we had after we lit up 20 sparklers. Or the homemade peach sorbet (they just got an ice cream maker) we had while playing Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. Basically, this was the best Canada Day, ever.