Best Buns in Town

Nope.  Not mine.  Or were you thinking yours?  536 Dundas West.  On a chilly Sunday evening, as I was walking by, a basement Chinese resto west of Spadina caught my eye.  It was just west of Noble House -- the Cantonese restaurant I was excited to take my folks (despite needlessly fearing for my safety twice at this place at ~3:30AM).   I peered in curious at the possibiity of switching restaurants.  There were a few customers inside and some workers just inside the front door busy making noodles and steamed dumplings and other goodies.  Fresh.  Perhaps. You would think a restaurant called "Chinese Traditional Buns" woud have good buns.  I've passed by this place many times, so with my folks in tow who rarely venture such downtown eats, here was an opportunity to try something different.  They're such adventurers in life that trying this restaurant was less risky than parking at Pacific Mall.  We went in.   The ordering required we make many decisions.  Simple or complex?  Big or small?  Rice or noodles?  In the end, a large meal of fried salt/pepper pork chop and green beans with minced pork (the largest plate of green beans I've ever had) won out along with a delicious soup noodle with full shrimp.  I insisted we order one of the buns.  We were at a bun restaurant after all.  My dad was excited by #3 on the list of buns.  ZhenJiang buns (I think).  He doesn't perk up too often so this was remarkable.  I've never had this bun before at Asian Legend (they don't serve it).  Nor in any dumpling restaurant.  Possibly in China or Taiwan, but nothing I remember.   The food came pretty quickly.  And was goo.  We even ordered extra noodles which were fresh.   But the ZhenJiang steamed pork buns came.  5 for $3.99 (I think).  They're similar to xiao long bao (soup-filled pork dumplings) but with a skin more akin to a risen bun than skin wrap.  i.e. more bun than dumpling.  The inside was a little different.  Flavourful, soup-filled and extra juicy.  100% delicious.   And I dare say, these are the best buns I've had in Toronto.  I'll have to go back.   Has anyone else been here before?

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