Chef Tony

As big fans of dim sum, we have had Chef Tony's on our list for a long time. We finally made a reservation for Sunday morning and it was worth doing. This place gets busy long before noon on the weekends.

Located in Empire Mall on Number 3 Road, plan to be a little frustrated by the parking and make your reservation expecting to spend some time driving around aimlessly (To be honest, there is a multi-level parkade at the back of the mall that you should try first). We were promptly seated in this beautiful room by uniformed wait staff. I was a little confused by the presence of a 'wash bowl' on the table. I guess more people are germaphobic than ever before since the start of the pandemic. I chose to assume that the utensils on the table were washed well enough that a bowl of warm water won't change much.

We don't usually order Siu Mai and Har Gow but at CT, these are signature items with little "up-grades". We like black truffle but my own personal disaster, making 'black truffle mashed potatoes' has taught me that a little goes a long way. Fortunately, the chefs at Chef Tony's, are not heavy-handed and the subtle flavour makes these siu mai quite special. 

Likewise, the Har Gow are made with the addition of matsutake mushrooms. Again, the very subtle additional flavour does not interfere with the delicate shrimp. And put together with a delicate skin, these were also some of the best we've had.

We ordered a plate of Deep Fried Squid which arrived at the table first and served to fill the little gaps between dim sum dishes (not that we didn't do any savouring between tastes). With a nice topping of chillies and garlic, the tender squid was very good.

One of the most exquisite dishes that we tried were these beautifully delicate pastries with abalone filling (what they were called escapes me). I tended to massacre them with my clumsy chopstick technique but the bits that reached my mouth had the wonderful abalone in a rich sauce. Amazing! 

Also "the best ever" were the Chicken's Feet. These were fat and profoundly tender with a salty soy sauce and we loved them!

I thought that these Steamed Buns with Salty Egg Yolk Lava might end up being more flash than substance but we ordered them anyway because, well look!

I'm happy to report that they were delicious as well as beautiful. The creamy egg yolk filling was salty and sweet and this served as a wonderful conclusion to an excellent meal. Highly recommended!

So Chef Tony's dim sum was a touch on the expensive but not to the amount that I expected. Considering the amazing things that we tasted, I would have to rate the value as high. 

One thing that we found was that the staff were more than a little on the reserved side. This may be the result of their professionalism or it may just be that it is sometimes awkward to interact with people who do not speak your language. We certainly understand that. Either way, we were not left floundering and the service was still very efficient and the food offerings were amazing.

Food             5 out of 5

Comfort        4 out of 5

Service         4 1/2 out of 5

Value            5 out of 5

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