Dumplings!

Yesterday for dinner my wife and I joined my brother and his wife for dumplings in Chinatown at Mother's Dumplings (421 Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario). 

I was excited about going on a Sunday afternoon as it provided a day out in downtown Toronto and to have something that I really hadn't experienced much of before. DUMPLINGS!

One of the best things about Toronto on a weekend is that a family day pass for the TTC can be used by two adults for only $10.00!  This is equivalent for a two way trip for two adults using tokens.  So we decided to pick up the Day Pass and spend some of the afternoon wandering downtown Toronto.  We left our place and arrived at Yonge & Bloor for about 3:00 P.M. and wandered down Yonge Street to College Street to visit the Winners.  We then returned to the subway and scotted over to St. Andrew Station (King Street & Spadina) and walked over to the Moutain Equipment Co-op to see if they had any spring jackets on sale.  Unfortunately they did not at this time.

We ventured along King Street and up Spadina Avenue through Chinatown to meet my brother and his wife at Mother Dumplings for dinner at 5:00 P.M.  We were quickly seated and handed menues. 

Now normally I know right away what I want to order in a restaurant as I'm quite familiar with the food choices.  But in new atmospheres like a Dumpling Restaurant I'm a little stuck.  Mainly for two reasons: 

1. I do not know what is good to eat.

2. I dislike seafood that includes crab, shrimp and lobster.  

So with that out of the way I normally did what I normally do in an Asian restaurant where I haven't really had what is on the menu, take a look at the ingredients that I like and hope for the best.    In this instance I chose some pork dumplings and others chose other kinds of dumplings that I have no clue what they were.  So.....

The Order: A vast quantity of dumplings that I have no idea what is in them washed down with copious amounts of tea.

The food took a little while to show up.  But that is mainly because each dumpling is made by hand in the kitchen and cooked either fried or boiled.   But eventually they do hit the table.

The first round of Dumplings we had four different plates.  However, one plate had dumplings that were a little frozen inside.  Um...don't they check these things for temperature before serving?  Apparently they missed this plate and it went back to the kitchen.  With that hiccup out of the way the rest of the meal was pretty good. 

I enjoyed my time here using chopsticks to try different dumplings.  My brother and "the wives" were great at explaining what each dumpling had in it before I tried it. 

As for whether I liked dumplings and this restaurant?  I like dumplings and would gladly try this restaurant again as well as others so I could have a better comparision.   So for a first time dumpling taster I had a great time and can't wait to return!