Papa Jackie: delicious and authentic BYOW Chinese restaurant (Brossard)

Restaurant: Papa Jackie
Restaurant type: Chinese, BYOW
Date: Sunday October 28th 2018
Table of: 4
My favorite dish: shrimp wonton soup + chow mein + beef with ginger and shallots

Do you ever get cravings? I know I do. I woke up one cold Sunday morning, craving some dumplings and dim sum, so we grabbed the kids (minus Mia, who doesn’t really like dumplings anyways) and headed out to Brossard to try the apparently best dim sum restaurant in Montreal: Kam Fung. Unfortunately for us, we arrived way too late (just past 11h00) and the place was full, with an overflowing line up in the entrance and in the lobby. Knowing how bad Chinese people can be with line ups (that’s a fact folks – try lining up for the bathroom at a rest stop in Cambodia with a bunch of Chinese tourists, and we can talk about it after) we got back in the car and I proceeded to Google “Chinese restaurant”. I’d passed by Papa Jackie a couple times so when it popped up, I figured this was my chance to try it out.

We arrived just as they were opening and quickly began browsing through the menu (the English one that is – no clue what was on the Chinese only menu). Knowing I’d brought two kinda picky kids when it comes to ethnic food, I mostly opted for safe choices and a few of my favorites:

Shrimp wonton soup
Pork wonton soup (for Esteban who is allergic to shrimps)
Egg rolls
Har Gow (steamed shrimp dumplings)
Fried pork dumplings
Cantonese style chow mein
Beef with ginger and shallots
General Tao chicken

Overall, everything was very good, some things better than others. I absolutely loved the shrimp wonton soup and would definitely go back just for that and for a full bowl to myself (there were only 6 but very large shrimp wontons). According to Esteban, the pork wonton soup was very good too. The egg rolls, har gow and fried pork dumplings are a miss in my opinion; not the restaurant’s specialty. I very much enjoyed the Cantonese style chow mein and the beef with ginger and shallots; both prepared just the way I like them and very delicious. The chow mein had both crispy and soft noodles, which in my opinion is key and was full of vegetables and different protein (shrimps, calamari, chicken and beef). The ginger beef was excellent; very tender and tossed in a delicious sauce of ginger and shallots. The General Tao chicken was my kids and Alex’s favorite dish, but I found it was missing a little something and that the sauce wasn’t sweet enough. However, the chicken pieces themselves were perfectly fried on the outside and juicy on the inside.

I have my own criteria when it comes to reviewing restaurants, which I also use on my Instagram account (@elisebgravel). It’s very simple, there are only three points: the quality of the food (on 10), the price (from $ to $$$$$) and the following question: would I go back?

So, here is my review of Papa Jackie:
Food: 8.5/10
Price: $$$
Would I go back?: Yes, and I will definitely order the shrimp wonton soup just for myself!