Restaurants
Nothing Better than Mother's Dumplings
It was a Tuesday night and I was being led down the stairs of 79 Huron Street by friends who swore I was about to try the best dumplings in Toronto.
The spot, Mother's Dumpling's, is a tiny little Chinese comfort food kitchen hiding mere steps from busy Dundas Street. Simple decor and a simple menu keep the focus on home made food... and I was definitely up for some home cookin' that didn't include a surprise course of, "So when you gonna get-ah marry?"
(You know what I mean?)
Dumplings at Mother's fall into boiled, steamed and pan-fried varieties, so we pick from each, trying Pork & Dill (boiled), Chicken & Mushroom (boiled), Vegetarian (steamed), and Pork & Bak Choi (pan-fried) - all around $5 for 10 pieces.
We also order up a big bowl of Tomato Soup ($4.79 for a large), Steamed Buns ($1.25), a Beef-Onion Roll ($5.49) and the highly recommended, Green-Onion Pancake ($2.99).
Once everything had arrived, we had a little trouble remembering what was what, but it hardly mattered as everything was equally wonderful. Left-overs were non-existent as this little spot truly lived up to all expectations.
Stand-out wonder-dishes were:
Pork & Dill Dumplings -generous amounts of dill make for a unique and zesty flavour. I even bought a bag of these to make myself (frozen packages of 30 available!).
Tomato Soup - Unlike the canned variety, this soup is filled with tasty real tomatoes, and prepared almost hot-&-sour-like with chives and egg.
Green-Onion Pancake - The crowd favourite, this pancake is thicker than most and crispy on the outside... that's Mother's touch.
Discussion
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With all that yummy food, it's a miracle that you are not 300 pounds...I gained 3 pounds just by reading your' article: - )
I was up at the Danforth last weekend, I was hoping to see or meet ya' while there, (just to introduce myself and say "hi" as an admirer of your' work). I was looking around at anyone snapping photos: - )
Jack - You'll have to ask when you stop in!
while i find them pretty tasty, sometimes i need a good mix of the black vinegar, sugar, chili flakes and soy sauce to really get it going.
next time you go back, definitely try the da lu noodles. probably the BEST thing there. there's a photo of them <a href="http://tongueandcheek.ca/2007/07/31/home-away-from-home/";>here</a>.
I'll make sure I get a bowl of those noodles. They look GOOD.
I only just noticed the star rating system too ... wicked.
the guy at pacific mall, suns, does a great job of entertaining (you can hear the "whap" noises of the noodles as he hand pulls them) but his soup bases lack much descerable depth. i'd pick mother's over his any day. the da lu noodles have more of a stew quality because of the thickness of the broth and density of meat toppings. it has however been getting noticeably saltier, unfortunately!
i am really curious about the recent addition of a dessert on their menu. tapioca i believe.... for the ridiculous price of $.88. who the heck sells anything under a dollar these days?
Great pictures! Sorry about the increased saltiness of the Dalu noodles. We will look into it.
Rick and Zhen
As for Mother's, not bad. However, there have been better in this city, and there are certainly better in other cities like NYC. There, not only is the food better, but so are the prices! Dumpling House on Eldridge St - 5 pan fried dumplings for $1.00; beef filled pancakes - $1.50; hot and source soup - $1.00. What is with Canada that the prices for food are so much higher??? Anyway, like with most of my shopping, I'll wait until I'm back in the good ole USA before I spend my hard earned money.
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if it would be maybe 60-70% of the current price, i would still consider going again but the way it is - not a second time for me.
Everything I have ever eaten from here is outstanding. Sure, the service is kinda slow sometimes but the staff are stretched thin. Who cares when the food tastes this good?
But what's up with the Chinese waitresses? LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH; STOP DRAGGING YOUR FEET; MAKE EYE CONTACT AND SPEAK CLEARLY!
...if not, get out of the service industry
But what's up with the Chinese waitresses? LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH; STOP DRAGGING YOUR FEET; MAKE EYE CONTACT AND SPEAK CLEARLY!
...if not, get out of the service industry
Incident #1: I came here with a group of 6, and the restaurant was busy. The (white) receptionist that there were no seats, and when we asked how would it take for the next seat to become available, she flat out said she didn't know. Her tone was so rude that one of my companions immediately went out to another restaurant to check if was open so we could go there instead. As an Asian I was really offended and if I got such a reply from any other restaurant I would be furious. If the receptionists just said: Sorry but we are a bit busy, would you mind waiting for awhile? we would have been ok that explanation. In the end, we only waited for 10 minutes, but if we were given a mental approximation of how long we were going to wait and if the waitress was politer, we wouldn't have been as pissed off.
Incident #2: It was another busy night, and my order didn't come. I has to personally flagged down two of the waiter/waitresses and asked about it. It was really embarrassing since my companion's food has already come and it was starting to get cool until I urged her to start eating. When my order finally did arrive, I received no word of apology and any explanation as to why my order was late. At this point, my companion has already finished her food. Even more annoying, the table sat next to me ordered later the same dish and their food came first. As a frequent restaurant goer, I understand that when the kitchen is busy, orders get misplaced and/or mixed up but if the waiting staff is able to mollify their customers, then the situation will not be as bad.
Incident #3: I came here alone and there was a free table at the back for two but not yet cleared up. When I asked the receptionist if there was a table, he said ok but then promptly disappeared off with the other guests in front of me (they had a larger group so had to wait). I was then left hanging and waiting for 10 minutes before he eventually came back to me. I am not blaming this guy because he was actually quite polite to me and the front of house was seriously short staffed. For example, in addition to being the receptionist, he cleared two dirty tables, escorted two groups of people to their tables, took their orders while I was waiting. If he had more help from other members of the team then the service would have been more efficient and this incident with me could have been prevented. When I complained to the manager (the person who was collecting the bill) speaking in Mandarin about this incident, he acted incredulous and was extremely defensive. I asked if they were very busy and short staffed and described the incident to him, but he acted as if I had a problem. I said that the fact the receptionist left me hanging there was extremely awkward (hint in Asian speak for being very rude, inhospitable and shouldn't ever happen). I didn't expect him to do anything about this incident other than a simple apology and a reassurance that it wouldn't happen again at the very least.
From these three incidents, I think it speaks volumes about the service in this restaurant. Incident #3 was the dealbreaker for me and prompted me to write this review, which I was very reluctant to do so since the food is very good. I understand that since this restaurant has become very popular, waiting lines are very long but this is not only restaurant in the vicinity that has long waiting lines (cf Kinton Ramen in Baldwin Street, where I have never got a bad experience and the receptionist has always been very polite, courteous and apologetic about the waiting times). Coming from a culture that eats dumplings on a daily basis, dumplings/noodle restaurants to me are like comfort food so the service should informal, reliable, fast and efficient. Not putting on airs and expecting people to waiting for a long time in queue. For instance, how many people would wait 10 minutes at a fast food joint for a table and then an additional 15 minutes for the food to arrive? Since the restaurant already make dinner write out their order on their menu sheet, I think they should consider letting people make their order while the wait and then give their server their order once they have sat down to speed up the process instead of making other patrons wait. This is a not uncommon practice in many dumpling/noodle restaurants in Asia/Toronto Chinatown so I don't see why they can't do this.
Overall, good food but expect to get pissed off at the ineptitude of the waiting staff and waiting times.
If you want to go to another place to better dumplings (in my opinion) where the dumpling skins/dough isn't as soft and has milk in it, then head for Dumpling Queen, 649 Yonge Street (Yonge and Charles).