Queens Quay is home to about 37 eateries -- we'll loosely define them as places where you can pick up a bite to eat. At Queens Quay Life, why not try to give a good idea of what each has to offer. Today in honour of Chinese New Year, we continue with Chinese food.
Pearl Harbourfront Restaurant
207 Queens Quay West
Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Opens 10:30 a.m. on weekends
416-203-1233
Website
Menu
The Queens Quay Terminal is a tourist trap, but over the years, it has started to cater to the local neighborhood. Pearl, we can say at the outset, is not the best Chinese restaurant you will find in Toronto. It is what it is, though, and not many Chinese restaurants in its price range downtown offers what it has: Stunning views of our waterfront, friendly service and, important to those who hate the 'hole in the wall' quality you'll find on Spadina or Dundas, it's clean, at least the dining area is.
One warning: It's very popular for dim sum, especially on weekends. Anyhow, lets talk about the food.
The food: Chinese restaurants are known for two types of meals, dim sum, and 'normal' Chinese. This section will talk about each separately.
Dim sum: Pearl is a sought out destination for weekend dim sum, and will often fill up by noon, when you'll have to wait for a table. For the lucky few who get the window side seats, you'll be treated to great views. Dim sum is comfort food for the Chinese community, it's a daily ritual for an older generation -- sit down with your newspaper, drink tea and nibble away at some small portions. These days, maybe because of modern schedules, dim sum in some restaurants like Pearl is an occasional gathering where we stuff our faces with the various steamed and fried dim sum (and please lets not use the word tapas, dim sum in this city came far before tapas ever hit the restaurant circuit as code for charging you too much for little dishes.
You are served dim sum in plates, with forks an option for all. The usual steamed dumplings (Har Gow, the shrimp dumplings, Sui Mai, the pork and shrimp, Har churn, shrimp rice rolls) are all decent quality. Beware if you're there to fill up on cheap dim sum because it is not, you pay the premium for slightly above-par food and, of course, the view. Pearl has several noteworthy dishes in dim sum: The sticky rice and chicken is among the best you'll find both for quantity and quality, and the tripe-y variety like chicken feet are delicious here. You won't find that much in terms of adventurous and you'll find plenty of the fried variety: fried dumplings with shrimp and mayo, shrimp rolls and our favourite 'hockey puck' pan fried dumplings. If you want to wow a crowd of tourists this is the place. If you have friends who don't like dingy restos, then this is the place. If you want cheap dim sum, take the 510 streetcar up to Spadina.
The food arrives in carts and it's funny watching the staff lift the carts up and down from the lower level by the windows to the upper seating area. You can also ask for the a la carte menu if you don't see dishes appear in the rotation.
Dinner: The menu is not as expansive as you'd see in Chinatown, in fact it's quite small. You pay a lot of money for dishes -- we had a steamed fish dish and were surprised by how small it was. You don't get a lot of quantity and, frankly, the quality is about par with some less expensive restaurants. And, as the sun goes down, you lose the views that the daylight affords. One thing about the menu is that you can ask the kitchen to make tweaks, if you know some of the usual chinese noodle or main course dishes.
Eat in: Pearl caters to an eat in crowd and you're very likely to get a table on evenings. You should have little problems for lunch but you may have to wait. Luckily, the terminal has plenty of space for you to lounge about.
Delivery: Last we check, they do not deliver although we've very easily have ordered takeout.
What should locals know: A nice venue for dim sum. Since you live in the area, go there early, you won't have to fight the crowds. If you get there by 11 a.m., you should be able to get a good table by the water. You can also call ahead and reserve those choice tables. Get to know the wait staff and say hello -- once they get to know you, they may scribble a note on your bill which can get you 10% off. Given the amount of money, it's good business for them to do it for the local crowd since we're the dependable crowd.
Pearl, in a way, is that: dependable Chinese food, above par Chinese food. And if there wasn't a streetcar line that took us 10 minutes to get up to the great Spadina joints (Rol San, New Sky) then we'd go much more often than we do.
