Chinese rocks

>> Restaurant Keung Kee caters to your Cantonese cravings

by SARAH MUSGRAVE

I used to spend a lot more time in Chinatown, back when you had to go further than your front door to find a good Asian restaurant. In the post-midnight hours, there were always one or two late-night eateries where you could feast to you heart’s content. Since Chinese New Year starts this week—February 12, to be precise—it seemed like a good moment to venture back there again.

My destination was a second-floor Cantonese restaurant called Keung Kee on de la Gauchetière that’s open daily until 2 a.m. I’d never noticed the place before, but it has an excellent selection on the menu and an upbeat atmosphere, with most of the crowd under the age of 30. Like many authentic Chinese restos, the plates—they’re platters really—are designed for sharing. If you’re a bunch of people you get the spinning disc in the centre of the table to help the various dishes make the rounds. Then you heap the food onto your bowl of rice.
We decided to start with something steamy to warm us up. I wanted to sample the bird’s nest soup, but was told that it has to be ordered at least a day in advance (incidentally, it’s made with real bird nests, but I’ll save the details for another review). Instead, I got something equally exotic: shark’s fin soup, a special occasion treat that in other places can run you between $30 and $80 a bowl. There was one option with shredded crab or chicken for $8.95, so I jumped on that. It consisted of a delicate, gelatinous broth in which tufts of egg white and crab meat were suspended. My spoon also turned up transparent strands that looked like noodles but were actually the threads of carefully extracted shark’s fin.

The hot and sour soup ($6.95), on the other hand, was unremarkable. All the usual suspects were there—tofu, bamboo, mushrooms, chilies—but the broth was thin and the whole thing didn’t quite hold together.

There was nothing disappointing about the main courses. The steamed half chicken with sausage and Chinese mushrooms ($8.95) was a great combination of tastes and textures. The meat was steamed to firmness, then hacked into pieces still on the bone. The slices of deep red sausage had the pungent flavour of barbequed pork, quite similar to a sweet beef jerky. The generous helping of black mushrooms had the wonderful nutty aroma and chewy consistency they’re known for. Every so often, a shard of fresh ginger would accentuate a mouthful.

The deep-fried stuffed tofu was a fun choice too ($8.95). When eating out, I always order tofu deep-fried because it’s so hard to recreate the desired effect at home. The bean curd pockets were ridiculously puffed up in oil, all crispy and golden on the outside and soft on the inside, with pieces of green onion in there somewhere. There must’ve been about 20 of them, atop Chinese greens dotted with fresh garlic, and served with a sweet dipping sauce on the side. I’d definitely order this again.

Our third selection was an eggplant dish ($6.95). The diagonally sliced pieces were tender and soft, topped with Yu Hsiang sauce that was deep brown and flavourful. Also very yummy, it’s a must try for Asian eggplant aficionados. The meal finished with slices of fresh orange and fortune cookies.

If your New Year’s resolutions have already fallen by the wayside you can make them all over again now, in time for the Year of the Horse. If being more adventurous was one of them, you’ll find plenty of dishes here to make it happen. :

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Restaurant Keung Kee
Address: 70 de la Gauchetière W., 2nd floor
Phone: 393-1668
Hours: daily 11:30am–2am
Best features: good selection, good food, good prices
Alcohol: yes
Vegetarian friendly: yes
Credit cards: yes
Wheelchair access: no
Price: $13/person before tax, drinks or tip
Rating: HH1/2 out of HHHH