ottawa foodies

I was wondering if I might be able to get some help from Ottawa Foodies in choosing a good Dim Sum restaurant to take our girlfriend out to lunch? Anyone have any good suggestions?

Hi and welcome to the site. Questions like yours are exactly what this site was built to answer. While people are more than welcome to reply to you here, I would refer you to the food entry for Dim Sum (Dim Sum). There, you will find the restaurants that serve dim sum, listed in descending order of popularity. :)

My own preference is for Mandarin Ogilvie or Yangtze. Chu Shing is (I believe) the cheapest by a small margin but when I was last there it wasn't as good as the other two.

Thanks for the suggestions Fresh Foodie. As a matter of fact most of the group going out for lunch live within blocks of The Mandarin. I have heard from a few people that the food there is excellent..but pricey though. Is that true?

People say it's pricey but it's all relative. What they mean is that a dim sum dish that costs $3.25 at Chu Shing and $3.50 at most places might cost $3.75 at Mandarin. So yeah, it costs more but it isn't twice the price or anything like that.

I believe the Mandarin only serves dim sum around lunchtime on weekends (but don't quote me on it). Not sure if they take reservations for dim sum. Anyways, if you're going for a birthday lunch you'd probably want to call them and get the details to be sure.

Thanks for the info FF. I have been reading a lot of reviews and I'm finding the site very informative. Someone wrote in a review that you are a spring roll guru. Have you ever been to Pho Bac? I highly recommend their spring rolls. We always order an appetizer of the rolls and #24 on the menu, which is pork with vermicelli. This dish also has a roll on top, so we definitely get our fill. If you do happen to try it, ask for your pork to be lean, as sometimes I find the pork a bit fatty. I've not asked yet, but I'm sure that the pork can be substituted with shrimp. Btw, great website!

Haha.. they only said I was a guru because I had commented on quite a few. I had read your Pho Bac review and it's absolutely on my "to try" list. Thx for the positive feedback. :)

In my somewhat limited Ottawa experience, Jadeland is excellent value (typically about $10 per person inc. very decent tip for a big lunch), and Yangtze is a little more pricey but better for a big group as there is plenty of space and the carts come around and picky people can see what they are getting beforehand.

At Jadeland I recommend the curried squid in particular.

Tracinho, just to confirm... Jadeland offers dim sum on weekends?

I went to Jadeland several years ago for dinner and really liked the food. The tables are squeezed in very close together and it's always crowded -- a very good endorsement but not so great for the ambience. ;-)

I have only been on a weekday to Jadeland, so I can't say for sure. Since it is made-to-order dim sum (not service carts), I they might serve it whenever they are open. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

I'll second Mandarin Ogilvie & Yangtze (in that order). I haven't had great experiences at Chu Shing, I'll just leave it at that... everything at Yangtze & Mandarin are done at a 'higher level' than Chu Shing, at least in my (albeit) limited experience.

I've heard mixed reviews from the dim sum at Palais Imperial. Anyone been?

Saurian I only had dim sum once and it was at the Palais Imperial. I really enjoyed it. I was with a group however and the organizer was Chinese so she did all the ordering in Mandarin. I didn't see the menu so I'm not sure if the items we ate were off the menu or made just for us but I did enjoy the experience...

I've only been to Dim Sum once or twice in Ottawa, although I've been several times with friends in both Toronto & Montreal. The place I went to here was on the Northside of Somerset and the restaurant was upstairs... large place, as I recall a lot of red & gold decor (some black too I think). Might have been on a corner... I remember lots of windows overlooking Somerset. Anyone know the name of it? It was a couple of years ago, but I enjoyed it. Maybe time for another visit.

If it was on the north side, it was probably Chu Shing. The only other place I know off the top of my head that has big stairs up to the eating area is Yangtze, but that's on the south side of the street.

Momomoto - Thanks for the info... now that the milder temps seem on their way, I tend to get out more into the neighbourhoods where one parks their car and walks (lets face it some places are not that great for winter parking or walking). I'm going to put Chinatown on my MUST DO LIST.