Sliced Fish Congee魚片粥
Slow-cooked to the point of dissolving. The dish the name promises.
Chinese · Willowdale
Congee Queen
皇后名粥
A two-hundred-item menu, and the congee is still the reason to go
ChineseWillowdale, Toronto$$Details being confirmed
The review
Congee Queen's menu runs to a couple of hundred items, which is normally a warning. Here it is the format: this is a Hong Kong-style all-day restaurant, and the point is that any group of any size can find something.
The congee is genuinely the reason to come. Sliced fish congee is cooked to the point where the rice has dissolved entirely, which is what separates the real thing from thickened rice soup. Clay pot rice with the crisped base is the other order. Salt-and-pepper pork chop appears on every table for a reason.
Honest notes: with a menu that size, execution is uneven — stay near the congee and the clay pots. Service is quick rather than warm and the room is brightly lit. It is open late, which counts for a lot up here.
What to order
Clay Pot Rice煲仔飯
Crisped at the bottom, which is the entire reason for the pot.
Salt & Pepper Pork Chop椒鹽豬扒
The dish every table has and nobody talks about.
What works
- Menu covers everything a table could want
- Open late seven nights
- Good for a family group of any size
What doesn’t
- Two hundred items means uneven execution
- Service is fast rather than attentive
- Room is bright and functional
Verdict
Fish congee, a clay pot, and stay away from the far end of the menu.