4 Best Restaurants in Chinatown, Montreal

This family-run restaurant for three generations offers more than 60 dishes on rotation on any given day, making this the place for dim sum feasts. Waiters clatter up and down the aisles pushing a parade of trolleys bearing such treats as firm dumplings stuffed with pork and stir-fried squid and shrimp. The best way to order? Halt a cart as it's going by and point to the dim sum dish you desire. You can order from a menu, too, but that's not nearly as much fun.

The dining room is small and not much to look at, but no matter—the food here is the main attraction, and locals come in droves for the homemade noodles and dumplings. If you time your visit right, you might see the staff through the huge kitchen window working on the dough. Noodles with spicy vegetables and pork is popular—either for one, or to share. Traditionalists take note, the General Tao chicken is one of the best in the city (you can also order it with tofu instead).

More of a brasserie than a restaurant, Orange Rouge pays tribute to its neighborhood with creative interpretations of traditional dishes that might ruffle the feathers of authenticity sticklers but will please Asian food aficionados. The chef takes liberties by combining familiar flavors with a surprising twist like the unusual, slightly herbaceous chrysanthemum salad or the intriguing foie gras steam buns. The whole roasted duck is an homage to Chinese-style Peking duck and can easily be shared by five people.

Groups of students and other budget-conscious connoisseurs of hearty chows crowd the tables at this hole-in-the-wall restaurant for traditional Chinese jiaozi, or soup dumplings, just like they make them in northeast China, with a price that's right: just C$12 for 15 dumplings. Demand is high for the lamb-and-coriander dumplings; the boiled shrimp, leek, and egg version; and the fried dumplings with chicken and curry. There are also several varieties of vegetarian dumplings, including tofu and vegetables, zucchini and vegan "salami," cabbage and vegetarian Texas sausage, or pumpkin. Service can be a bit slow, but it's worth the wait.  Cash only. There is another location downtown at 1675 boul. de Maisonneuve O.