Tai Yien

We found another fairly good Chinese place in Belleville last night, although we had actually been on our way to Wen Zhou (and as an additional side note, tonight I accidentally stopped in the "fake" Wen Zhou a few doors down--I think it's called Weng Zhou Traiteur or something-- for what turned out to be a delicious fresh-steamed sticky rice flour bun stuffed with pork, woodear mushroom and other goodies). Reeled in by the lacquered glory of the barbecue window display, we decided to give Tai Yien a chance. A notch pricier than Wen Zhou and Asia Palace, but still not bad, the crispy pork belly was great (though not as good as Shuang Hur's in Minneapolis!), the hot pot was hot and with good ingredients but in a typically bland, though thankfully not starchy and slick, Cantonese sauce (I knew but somehow couldn't resist), and the dumplings were pretty good but nothing special. Food came lightning fast. I saw a large number of people take whole bbq ducks to go, wrapped in paper tablecloths, as well as some people slurping seriously good-looking noodle soup topped with that duck. I guess this means I'll have to go back!...