Having gone to my fair share of Cantonese-Chinese restaurants in the GTA, I find the clientele tends to be fairly homogenous – either comprised of 90% Chinese patrons or in the case of the “chop suey” establishments lacking anyone of Chinese representation (my husband’s nostalgia for Choice of the Orient means I’m usually the only Chinese customer when we visit). 

Perfect Chinese Restaurant is different. Since I can remember, their clientele is so diverse that even during major Asian holidays like Lunar New Year, you’ll still see families of various ethnicities. During lunch hours, you’ll hear the Chinese ladies loudly describe the dishes in broken English as they push around the dim sum cart. They also stop frequently to speak to regulars; things move a bit slower here.

The restaurant’s been around forever and the draw could be Perfect’s vast menu: there’s the traditional Cantonese dishes, all-day dim sum, and they do a great job on “chop suey” dishes… even my grandmother likes their sweet and sour pork.

They are also famously opened 24 hours a day (I’ve had my fair share of post-club visits) and offer some great specials. Even now, during COVID, they continue to provide take-out and delivery around the clock and have several discounted dishes available for take out through their new online ordering system. Such as the all-in-one meals like the roasted duck on rice ($7.95), which provides a decent portion of flavour fowl on a bowl of rice with two leafy vegetables; or the fried rice noodles with beef, bean sprout and soy sauce ($9.99) that’s well-tossed with sauce while still keeping the noodles intact.

Like my other experience with takeout lobster, the flour coating on the stir-fried lobster with ginger and green onion ($19.95) does get mushy (I suggest using less or switching to a flour that’s not as heavy and sticky), but the flavours are bang-on, fragrant and salty that I would happily have one of these in a single sitting.

If you enjoy dishes such as sweet-and-sour or honey garlic, you’ll want to try the sesame chicken ($6.95). I found it a bit too breaded and syrupy for my taste, but it was my husband’s favourite.

Surprisingly, the most expensive dishes of the meal were the vegetables. I love Chinese leafy greens and couldn’t pass-up the stir-fried garlic snow pea leaves ($14.95). There were some bits of harder steams left on (a breeze for us to consume but could be more difficult for dentures), but they sure pack plenty of it into the takeout container.

Their sautéed Buddha-style mixed vegetables ($11.95) doesn’t incorporate the gluten puffs you’ll find at Buddhist vegetarian restaurants, substituting the lighter white snow fungus instead. It’s also made up a variety of vegetables - broccoli, bean sprouts, snap peas, baby corn, bamboo shoot, and mushrooms – from what I can remember.

A dish of diversity, not unlike the customers of Perfect Chinese Restaurant.