Impérial Dim Sum: my favorite dim sum in Chinatown!

Restaurant: Impérial Dim Sum
Restaurant type: dim sum, Chinese, dumplings
Prices: $3-$6 per dim sum dish
Date: Saturday December 29th 2018
Table of: 4
My favorite dishes: hargow (steamed shrimp dumpling), shumai (pork and shrimp dumpling)

Over the holidays, my friends and I opted to switch things up a bit and go for some dim sum in Chinatown, rather than your more typical brunch spots. We usually go to Kim Fung (also in Chinatown) but I had been to Impérial earlier on in the year and from memory, it was better, so we chose it.

Impérial is located in the new “tower” in Chinatown, called Swatow Plaza, all the way up on the 6th floor. This tower reminds me a lot of Asian malls in South-East Asia, that have very similar layouts. Once you get to the 6th floor, you can’t miss Impérial, as its basically the only thing there.

Unfortunately for us, we chose to go maybe too early (around 10am and on a Saturday) and waited around a good half hour, 45 minutes, until any interesting food started to be carted out. In the end, the wait was well worth it and we ordered a bunch of different dumplings and dishes, containing all sorts of protein (shrimps, pork, chicken) and vegetables.

My all-time favorite dumpling at dim sum is the hargow (steamed shrimp dumpling) and they were excellent at Impérial, better than in my memory. The shrimp filling was large, juicy and oh so delicious dipped in some soya sauce and hot sauce. The shumai (pork and shrimp dumpling) which I’m not usually a big fan of, are amazing at Impérial. Once again, its all about the quality of the filling, which is full of delicious and juicy pork and shrimps and everything is very well seasoned too. Impérial also serves xiao long bao (soup dumplings) which in many years of going to Kim Fung, I’ve never seen them serve. I don’t have very many comparison points, but they were good, nothing special.

Overall, despite a lengthy wait (let’s be real, when does one not have to wait when going for brunch in Montreal? lol) we had an excellent meal at Impérial and in great company too. The service was also very good and attentive and the price was very good; we ended up paying less than $20 each and came out very full. 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 Impérial:
Food: 9/10
Price: $
Would I go back?: Yes as its my favorite dim sum place in Chinatown! (Need to try Kam Fung in Brossard though)