Brick-Roll

On Tuesday, I was in the Chinatown area for a fruitcake purchase from a home-cook. I wasn't throwing away good money; this wasn't the store-bought monstrosity packed with red and green bits. In previous years, I have enjoyed their dense but flavourful concoction full of quality nuts and fruit. Although to be fair, this year's edition seemed heavier than usual. But I'm sure it'll still be tasty and not useful only as a blunt weapon.

For dinner, it was off to Rol San. Odd that despite 10+ years looking at the "All Day Dim Sum" banner, I've never actually ordered the excellent dim sum here except during brunch. And dim sum is just a variation of the tapas, izakayas, and small plates trend that are ubiquitous in Toronto. The har gow and siu mai were plump and juicy as usual. Both the shrimp-stuff eggplant and tripe were also good. I was on-the-fence about the deep-fried pumpkin with yolk; just a little bit too greasy and gooey. I also didn't love the one non-dim sum item: the vegetarian buddha's feast with fried noodles. But I'm not a fan of any thick sauce-based Chinese food given the alternative. A good stir-fry, done right at high heat in a professional Chinese kitchen, simply can't be replicated at home.