where jess ate

Living downtown, I’m always on the search for a good dim sum restaurant. Located in the heart of Chinatown, Rosewood Chinese Cuisine seems to fit the bill.

While it still can’t compare to what you can get uptown, the food is pretty solid, the restaurant is clean and the prices are reasonable. Dim sum is served daily until 4pm and if you drop by between Mondays and Fridays before noon, all dim sum items are only $1.88 each.

I dropped by for a late lunch with Chris and Jo and found the restaurant to be still pretty busy. If you like egg tarts, don’t make the same mistake we did. We tried ordering them at the end of our meal but they were already sold out. Order them early to avoid disappointment!

The first thing that arrived was the Shrimp Dumplings aka Har Gow ($3.68), a dim sum favourite. These plump dumplings were packed full of shrimp. While the filling was nice I found the skin to be a little too thick.

We also ordered the Pork Dumplings aka Siu Mai ($3.28), which was my least favourite dish of the meal. The texture was a little off as I found them to be quite rubbery. I wouldn’t order this again.

Another dim sum favourite we ordered was the Steamed BBQ Pork Buns ($2.38). It came with three plump buns with a tasty and saucy BBQ pork filling. No complaints here!

Next up was the Deep Fried Mashed Taro Pastry – with minced pork ($3.28) which came with three large pieces. They were well-fried as we didn’t find them too greasy but the taro to minced pork ratio wasn’t very good… there was way too much taro making it a pretty heavy way to start off the meal.

We also ordered some Steamed Rice Rolls – with minced beef and cilantro ($3.28). The minced beef tasted delicious but similar to the har gow, the rice noodles were a touch too thick.

Chris ordered the Braised Chicken Feet – with house sauce ($3.28) for himself since Jo and I aren’t big fans of chicken feet. I didn’t try any of it but Chris really enjoyed them.

Up next was the Five Spice Beef Tendon ($2.38). You’ll notice that the portions at Rosewood are pretty generous and the tendon dish was no exception. The dish came with a heaping pile of tendon with a sauce that was spot-on. It would’ve tasted great with some noodles or a bowl of rice.

One of our favourite dishes of the meal was the Steamed Cuttlefish – with curry sauce ($3.28). It was a nice mild curry sauce with pieces of tender cuttlefish. Highly recommended if you like cuttlefish!

For some veg, we ordered the Garlic Baby Bok Choy ($4.99). Other veg options include Chinese broccoli, broccoli and choy sum which are all $4.99 for a plate. You also have the options with respect to preparation – steamed, with oyster sauce, sautéed or with garlic. Our order was a perfectly cooked plate of bok choy.

As for some carbs, we ordered the Spare Ribs with Olive on Rice ($3.68) which was served in a small clay pot. For only $3.68 I thought it was great value as the spareribs were quite plentiful.

We also ordered the Steamed Sticky Rice – with meat in lotus leaf ($3.68). People should know by now to never let me order while hungry… once again, we over-ordered and ended up taking this to go. So, needless to say, I don’t really have much to say about this dish.

Like I said, Rosewood is clean, their food is solid and they have great prices! If you’ve got a dim sum craving downtown, Rosewood Chinese Cuisine is probably your best bet.

At a glance:
• Serves dim sum until 4pm daily; Mon to Fri before noon, all dim sum items are $1.88
• Reasonable prices, generous portions
• The space is clean, the food is solid (for the most part)
• Located in Chinatown – on Dundas just east of Spadina

Ratings (out of 5):
• Food: 3.5 stars
• Service: 3 stars
• Atmosphere: 3 stars