Lunch Tuesday: Bright Pearl

If you’re looking for a quick lunch but still want to sit down, it’s hard to beat dim sum, a buffet where the food comes to you.

This week, I went to Bright Pearl, Toronto’s most well-known (if not it’s most well-regarded) dim sum restaurant.

Located in the heart of Chinatown and at the edge of Kensington, the screaming yellow signage is hard to miss. It’s on Spadina just north of Dundas but the entrance, is around the corner, on St. Andrews. Once you’re through the doors, it’s up a wide staircase to the restaurant itself. A hand-lettered sign on the door lists a number to call if you’re in need of an elevator.

At the top of the stairs are the washrooms and a large waiting area. It was busy but not packed, so we were led straight into the enormous (really: the website boasts seating for 350) dining room. There’s a stage at one end, which is occasionally used for karaoke but on this Saturday afternoon is the backdrop to an engagement party.

Within seconds of sitting down, a pot of tea, a dish of hot sauce, and our bill are delivered to our table for two. There’s a menu there as well, but we won’t be using it much. Instead, we’re watching women in white uniforms push steaming silver carts around the room.

There are circular tables for 12 and square tables for two set up side by side, making rows for the servers. Each pass leads them between two tables of diners craning their necks to see what’s up next.

The first server arrives with a giant tureen of soup. My friend Erin and I wave her away with a polite “no thank you.” It’s too hot and we’re waiting for the seafood. She doesn’t eat pork, so we won’t be eating pork, but everything else is fair game.

First up are steamed shrimp balls, large and pink and hot. It’s strange to say, but they taste incredibly of shrimp – no disguising the seafood here. They’re quickly joined by a sticky slice of barbecued duck and a bowl of squid in cloudy broth.

The squid is overly chewy, barely saved by a kick of spice. The barbecued duck splits evenly into three layers – glistening sweet skin, fat, breast meat – but is best eaten in one bite.

There’s a plate of cold green beans slicked with sesame oil, and shrimp in rice noodles. These long tubes of sticky noodles wrapped around whole shrimp and drizzled with soy sauce have always been my favourite dish. Our waiter snips them with scissors so that we can more easily share. Too bad.

We’re full but we haven’t seen Erin’s favourite: steamed chicken buns. We’ve seen cha siu baau aplenty but that’s got barbecued pork inside. We managed to flag down a waiter – they wear black vests and if we wanted a drink other than tea, we’d have to get it through them too – and place an order.

It seems like it takes an inordinately long time for the fluffy white buns to arrive, but that’s probably because everything else was served so quickly.

These are the ultimate in comfort food, delicately steamed, slightly sweet bread surrounding sticky chicken slivers.

Finally, it’s a heart-shaped serving of mango pudding, covered in evaporated milk.

The total cost of the meal is $34 but deciphering the price of each individual dish is difficult. The servers circle a number on your bill, indicating the size and price of the item, as they drop off each order. As well, Bright Pearl often has happy hours where each dish is a “lucky” $1.88.

Everything is good at the Toronto legend, but nothing is great. Where do you go for dim sum? Can you get there without a car? Let me know!