Emerald Palace

Cuisine: Cantonese-chinese; not to be mistaken for American/Northern chinese
Area: West End
Address: 704 Sargent Avenue (and Toronto St.)
Number: 204-7884573
Open daily but closed on Tuesdays
Special interest: As with most chinese restaurants, vegetarian is always an option by replacing the meat content with tofu. Emerald usually has daily specials for different chinese vegetables that could be asked for specifically. 


What can I say about the restaurant that I grew up with? I really did grow up with this restaurant; for almost every Sunday that I could remember in my childhood, we had dinner right here in this little restaurant that's full of familiar faces.

Menu:
For those who are more familiar with the restaurant, I don't think you'd disagree that the Butter Chicken has got to be one of the restaurant's best dishes. This butter chicken does not have anything to do at all with Indian Butter Chicken (as deadly but delicious as it is). This is a dish that will probably sadly die with the chef who holds it's recipe. Butter chicken at Emerald Palace is deep fried chicken in a light and rich batter that's been sauteed with a special blend of spices and tossed with pan fried onions. Sound unhealthy? Yeah, the name pretty much tells you all you need to know about the health content of this dish but really, a little indulgence should never be neglected. The only critique I have for this dish is that it hasn't really met expectations as of late. Not to say that it's not good, it is, but maybe I'm just too familiar with the taste and have higher than normal expectations.

Anyhow, beyond the butter chicken, there's a full menu of good food for you to explore. Some of my favourites are: Spicy-salt pan fried pork chops, satay shrimp hotplate, and the seafood soup. Oh, and last but definitely not least, the Cantonese fried rice is fantastic! Just to make sure they know what you mean, always reassure the waitress that you want the WHITE fried rice (no soy sauce).

I won't always post pictures but here's a picture of the Spicy-salt pork chops:

Service/Facility
Service here is on par. It definitely isn't full service but for a chinese restaurant, it's great. The food comes out really fast and most of the staff are very fluent in English (accents aside). The owner and his wife are there all the time and have been since opening more than 25 years ago. He has a habit of calling young customers 'Queen' and 'King'. The restaurant does pack up quite a bit on the weekends so I suggest calling ahead for reservations. It's small but big enough for a small gathering. The only thing that's bad about the place is the outdated bathroom stalls/utility closets; very clean none-the-less.

That's it! Enjoy folks!
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Hmm..this is my first post... should I do a star-rated system of sorts? What do you think? Feedback would be greatly appreciated on this topic folks.