New Century Restaurant: Dim Sum in Markham
During this summer’s trip to Toronto, our relatives took us to dim sum at New Century Restaurant in Markham, which is roughly a 1 hour drive from downtown Toronto.
I know some of you have mentioned that Chinese restaurants are really intimidating because the menus often do not have photos of the dishes and it’s just overwhelming to order when you don’t speak or read Chinese. Hopefully this will help a few of you out!
Interior
The restaurant is huge and it can fit many large tables of 8-10. They have fancy curtains and sparkling chandeliers, a very classic traditional style of Chinese restaurants. Think Chinese banquet halls, wedding style if you may.
Seats are comfortable and plush and the AC is blasting so bring a jacket.
Food
We order everything to share between 6 adults and 2 children.
Har gow ($8)
Gotta start the dim sum off with one of the classic dishes – har gow. On the menu, this is listed as “steamed supreme shrimp dumplings”. The shrimp dumpling is quite tasty and doesn’t stick to the paper padding on the bottom – big shrimp filling and the wrapper is not too thick. Overall, it is a good har gow but I wouldn’t call it “supreme” lol. Also not sure why the 5th one in the middle is prettier/different from the rest.
Siu mai ($7)
Second most common dish to order in dim sum is the siu mai, which is like a pork dumpling with caviar on top. In the photo there’s only 4 but there’s actually 5 (someone just ate it lol). I like that they come in square wooden boxes instead of the usual circular steam baskets.
Again, pretty good siu mai – juicy and lots of stuffing inside.
Fried spring roll with impossible meat ($5)
I really don’t know who added this to the order because this is something I would never order lol. Wtf is impossible meat doing in dim sum?? Anyways, it looks just like a normal spring roll except that the filling inside is all white/kinda clear and it kind of tastes like turnip? Really don’t know what is inside but it was interesting and because of the deep fried exterior, still crunchy and tasty.
Ham sui gok ($6)
This is also one of my favourites at dim sum – ham sui gok is like a deep fried dumpling with meat filling. Usually it is pork but this one has chicken, and they fried the outside to look like a pear (cute!). Usually the exterior has almost a mochi-like texture so I like how it is a little chewy.
Fried five spice octopus finger ($13)
Really weird translation, but essentially what we ordered here is some deep fried squid tentacles cooked with a five spice rub. The tentacles are not battered too heavily so it’s only lightly fried and a little bit chewy. I prefer if the batter was thicker and crunchier!
Cheung fun with minced pork ($8) and cheung fun with beef and snow pea leaf ($6)
These are both cheung fun dishes, which means rice noodle. The only difference is the filling inside – minced pork on the left, and beef and snow pea leaf on the right. Both were pretty good but I personally always like the beef cheung fun more. The rice noodle is not as thin or silky as specialty places, but it is still pretty good.
We also ordered this soy sauce cheung fun, which is stir fried and not steamed. This one has no filling inside so it’s just the rice roll.
Congee with pork and preserved egg ($7)
I was hungover (surprise lol) so I added the congee to the order and I was surprised by how large of a bowl it was for $7 – enough for everyone to have a little bowl of it! The congee was very soothing to my throat and I love the century preserved eggs and the jelly-like texture it adds.
Stir fried rice noodle in chiu chow style ($13)
My little nephew really likes this dish (he basically devoured it himself) and it is a giant plate of rice noodles with beef and veggies, in a “wet” style sauce. It is kind of similar to the soy sauce cheung fun except it has more toppings and the sauce is different.
Hometown style silver needle noodle ($13)
Again, another menu item with a really weird translation… I would never order this. My mom told me this dish is hard to find so I was looking forward to seeing it and I was surprised to see the shape of the noodles – they look like little fishes? Little skinny turnips? Little worms? Not sure.
They cook it with prawns an veggies and bean sprouts. Overall, it is not a super rich or salty/savoury dish. The sauce is almost non existent but there are flavours there from the stir fry, but the most interesting part again is probably just the texture of these silver needle noodles. A little chewy, a little thick and a little strange. Doesn’t taste bad but definitely the most unique dish I tried here today.
Steamed ginger milk custard ($7)
For dessert, my boyfriend orders this steamed milk custard because he loves these kinds of desserts. It is a warm dish and the custard is smooth and milky, with a balanced taste due to the ginger.
Final thoughts
Loewe’s rating: โญโญโญ
I had an enjoyable dim sum at New Century Restaurant in Markham, Toronto. Their menu is huge and has all the classic dim sum dishes you are looking for, and as you can also see from this review, they also have some specialty lunch items as well.
Pricing is affordable. They assign a size or a letter to all their dishes. The cheapest dishes are S and are priced at $4.80. The most expensive dish they have is labeled J and is priced at $12.90. Everything else (M, L, XL, etc.) are all within this $5-13 range, unless you order from their bigger lunch set menus.
Sincerely, Loewe