Montreal Chinatown

This the map of Chinatown in Montreal. :) Its an area which isn't very big but is packed with small asian restaurants. There's a whole range of food there, from Chinese Noodles, dumplings to vietnamese, thai, Japanese food. 

I missed asian food a little while I was in Canada. Montreal's Chinatown was small but it had everything that an asian abroad would crave: Bubble Tea, Bakeries, Ramen, Rice, Noodles, asian supermarket. Some friends of mine went to a dimsum restaurant there and felt that though it was legit, the food wasn't good at all. Not only so, it was expensive. Its good to check out reviews online before jumping into just any restaurant.

The closest Subway Station is Place-d'Armes,

Sumo Ramen was the only restaurant I dined in at Chinatown, can't make any comparisons with the rest. The food was alright here though! :) Seemed quite legit as a ramen place with the thick broth and ramen egg :) Wasn't too expensive as well. I was getting chilly outside and it just felt nice and warm :))

Crazy hair due to a day of walking

Blurry, but.. Singaporeans on exchange!

SMU, NUS and NTU all represented in this group :) All of us went to Queen's in Kingston and got to know each other there :) Amongst our own unis we knew each other, but across unis we didn't till we picked up that familiar accent around school. Queen's is very big but that distinctive language Singlish just isn't easy to miss. Its nice how a group of strangers meet overseas and become friends. Though the point of being overseas is to make new friends, it felt nice being around people you share the same background with :)

Almond Pearl Milk Tea

Got to get a cup of bubble tea whilst there! :) It was about $5CAD a cup which I felt was steep cos in Singapore we pay like $2.50 for KOI, but if you're deprived, it doesn't feel too un-worth-it. Deprived cos.. Kingston doesn't have a Chinatown haha. We were almost exhilarated there was asian food around :O hahah I bought Liu Sha Bao for friends who didn't come to Montreal with us and they really appreciated it :)

Pineapple Po Lo Bun

They had Hong Kong style bakeries as well where they sold pineapple buns, water chestnut cakes, hotdog bread kinda bread stuff :) They also sold Liu Sha Baos packed individually and can be microwaved before eating to make the inside flowy again :)

Haha okay. This post is for #thedeprivedasian haha.

Kensington Market & Chinatown

This is an interesting neighbourhood that's a mish mash of all cultures and all interests. You can find anything from retro car dealers to fruit stalls to vegan bakeshops to street artists and irish dancers. It's a crazy neighbourhood that was fun to visit :)

I believe UofT students do their grocery shopping here cos it's probably cheaper than anywhere else in the vicinity. So its quite a safe neighbourhood, it isn't dominated by hippies haha.

This place is located behind the hostel, so this area kinda just never sleeps! Which is kinda nice cos it's not too quiet around and makes me feel safer. What an irony right. Haha. On Friday nights, the hostel's Pub Crawl is also held here! People just go from pub to pub and enjoy the night. :)

Retro car for sale

fruit market

super sweet smelling berries :)

Bananas that never ever go too soft

check out that brilliant pink!

Selling graphic art from a car

Retro Cake Shop :O Too Cute!

Sandwich counter at a Ham Grocer

My first Burrito :)

Jamming on the streets

:O All those flavours in a bite 

Kensington Market

Check out the map here.

I regret not taking note of the names of the places I ate at here. But I'm sure you can find something yummy around this place has all the kinds of food to satisfy your cravings :)

So, I walked walked walked and noticed the frequency of seeing Chinese shop names increased. Checking the map, I realised  I was in Chinatown! Kensington market is north of Chinatown so if you keep walking south you won't miss it.

The mainstreet outside Chinatown. Lovin' those funky yellow Traffic Lights :D

King's Noodle Restaurant

This looked so good from the outside!! I don't crave chinese food much but after all those days of not have a proper sit down dinner, (like eating with a spoon, fork and knife) I decided to try the food too :)

Friends I met up with were keen to eat Chinese Food!

Roast Duck Rice Bowl

Affordable Chicken Rice Bowl <$6 CAD (Promo)

Fried Dough Fritters (Yew Zhar Kueh) to munch on while we explore

King's Noodle Restaurant
296 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2E7, Canada
Check out their menu here.

This restaurant serves legit Chinese food. The waiters speak cantonese to each other so it might be safe to assume they were from HK. The quality of the roast duck here it very similar or even better to what you can get on the street of HK because the poultry here's fatter due to the weather. I doubt it's due to my deprivation of any asian food that made me like this place, seems like there are many good reviews of this place on Yelp as well! :)

Do check it out its awesome and affordable! :)

Hakkasan

Its an experience to be served dimsum by guys in suits. In Singapore (and Hong Kong) having dimsum is a casual affair but at Hakkasan, its more prim and proper, catering to very well dressed New Yorkers. This restaurant's interior is so pretty! I really enjoyed the ambience, it reminded me much of Yauatcha in London. 

Blue theme with Gold and Wood. Very '5-elements', very Chinese.

The use of Gold and Wood together makes very cool interior design. Esp when they try to incorporate chinese motifs you'd usually find on antique chairs into metal. So modern, so contemporary.

Our assortment of Dimsum

These were not just pretty to look at, they were yummy too! Its just, the idea of eating such pretty dimsum is a little bit. Hmm can't express it. Usually at when you eat dimsum, you might eat one Hakkau, one Siewmai but here its like. Because its so pretty you take a bite and taste every bit of what they put into it and you munch slowly. Hmm. Weirdish. 

Mushroom Cheung Fun

I really liked the thinness of the Cheung Fun. It was thin but able to hold everything inside and was somewhat chewy too :) Ya the skin was pretty well made!

Tofu, Aubergine, and Shiitake Mushroom Claypot in Chilli Black Bean Sauce

YUM! I liked this! I'm a tofu fan and a chilli fan so this dish was one of my favs on the table. Each slice of tofu and Aubergine was nicely coated with a layer of the Chilli Black Bean Sauce. And the Aubergines were really nicely cooked, it almost dissolves into nothing in your mouth.

Hakka Pork Belly Claypot with Leek and Cloud Ear Mushroom 

Wasn't a fan of this dish, the smell was too porky for me and I didn't try it. I heard that this is a popular dish here though. If you're a fan of pork you should give this a try. 

Pipa Duck

The duck skin was pretty well done. Much effort is put into roasting a peking duck to give that lovely brown crisp yet still moist skin, but eventually, you're only served the skin. Thus, peking duck often cost more and and is considered a delicacy. The Pipa Duck was quite nice, it still had very think layer of fat below the skin and that gives that yummy flavour and is a nice contrast to the crisp skin.

Hakkasan
311 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036, United States
Check out their menu here.