The Oriental Gourmet

Always reliable here! And cheap too. Go with a lot of people — generous dish portions. Recommend the smoked duck and crab/​lobster with creamy rum sauce.

One of my favorite Chinese restaurants that I frequent.
I usually order the same things:
— Smoked duck — Must try! The smoky sauce is soo good, can’t find it anywhere else.
— Pork neck rice in stone pot
— Deep fried squid pieces
But pretty much everything is good! Eg. pea shoots/​any greens, peppery pork stomach soup… and of course the taro dessert.
Complimentary dessert on weekends only.

I live 5 minutes away from the Oriental Gourmet and it’s one of my favourite Chinese restaurant around the area! The place specializes in Chiu Chow cuisine, though I find that the flavours are still very much Cantonese in style.
For Mother’s Day, we opted for a $ 78 package meal that included most of their specialties, starting off with the pig stomach soup. I know that doesn’t sound very appetizing, but I can assure you that it’s delicious.
Honestly, my mom picked this place for Mother’s Day for only one reason: the smoked duck in sugar cane sauce. It is unbelievably delicious and I cannot sing enough praise for this dish. I order the duck almost every time I come and I always end up eating way too much of it. Definitely a must-​order!
Another favourite is the Szechwan-​style chicken with vegetables. The veggies melts in your mouth!
Another bright note is that the restaurant usually provides complimentary dessert (even if you didn’t order a meal package like we did).
One last note: reservations are highly recommended because the restaurant is small and very popular, especially around dinner time.

If Chinese people (non-​English speakers) used Unilocal,there would be much more reviews of this place!
The Oriental Gourmet is this small restaurant that packs itself to no end with locals in the Markham area. The place is heavily populated by the Asian community and for good reason! Chiu Chow is the cuisine that reigns throughout the menu. Variations of it is derived from Southern China and the food is simply wonderful. Reservations seem mandatory. Last thing you want to do is have to wait on large Chinese families to finish eating before you get a chance. The place itself is rather small so being lucky might help, but make reservations just in case.
The dish that I wanted to try dearly was the Smoked Duck in Sugar Cane Sauce. To go along with that dish, we also ordered the Hand Shredded Chicken with Jellyfish and Fried Noodles with Chinese Broccoli and Pork. I’ll start off by saying that the prices are very good. The dishes hover around the $ 10 range and that just makes it taste that much better.
The Smoked Duck in Sugar Cane Sauce was fantastic! For only $ 8.95, you can get an entire half smoked duck that is lightly doused in a sweet thin sugar cane sauce. I’m not a big fan of smoked poultry, but this duck was lightly smoked and it wasn’t overpowering which I enjoyed. The flavor of the duck was still present and was only improved upon with the use of the sauce. It’s not a thick sauce at all, despite the notions of sugar. It is rather thin and the duck meat soaks it in much better as opposed to having it layered and caked onto the meat.
The Shredded chicken with jellyfish was a fair dish, but I thought the chicken tasted a bit off. It was flavored great, but the chicken tasted a bit sour as it didn’t seem too fresh. Regardless, the jellyfish and chicken mixture is still a good dish to be had. The fried noodle with chinese broccoli and pork was also a great dish. Noodles like this tend to be greasy as they are rice noodles. However, the dish was wonderfully aromatic and tasted much lighter than it looked. Chinese broccoli and pork is always a great combo and worked well together with the fried rice noodle.
You’ll also read about how crappy the service is, but honestly, it’s just standard Chinese service to me. I didn’t really see any difference. Does it matter that they don’t fake a smile your way? Keep serving me food like this and you could scream at me for all I care.

My friend recommended this restaurant to me for some chiu chow food and I’m glad she did! I enjoyed everything I had here. The only complaint I have is that the food is a bit greasy but I supposed it had to be for the type of food I ordered. The service is like any other typical Chinese restaurant so don’t expect anything amazing but they get the job done. I can’t wait to come back here to try out some other things off their menu!

This restaurant offers very authentic «Chiu Chow» cuisine, which bears regional differences than most Cantonese cuisine.
Ambiance:
It was very busy when we arrived at 6:30pm for dinner. All the tables are full and the empties were reserved. We were very lucky to have a table. I have been here at different times and each time the food were amazing.
Food:
Smoked duck in sugar cane sauce — one of its signature dishes. The smoked duck was flavourful and not too fatty. The sauce was sweet and went really well with the duck meat.
Lotus roots omelet — I loved the crunchiness of lotus roots and the softness of taro in the omelet. If you like oysters, then the oysters omelet is a signature Chiu Chow dish that you should try.
Squid balls — I had fish/​squid balls rice noodles before and I like these handmade fish/​squid balls that could taste the fish/​squid instead of just dough. They were chewy and the fish broth tasted great!
Oysters hot pot was given to us by mistake. According to my friends the oysters tasted good. They looked pretty big to me anyway.
Tofu eggplants with preserved olives hot pot was good but too oily for me. I liked the eggplants remained firm instead of all mushed up.
In the past I’ve also tried the Chiu Chow Cold Crab which according to my friend was very authentic.
The restaurant also has a prix fixe menu for $ 25/​person for table of 8 or more. The dishes looked very interesting like braised meat served inside a coconut!!! I will definitely give it a try.

A good place for authentic chiu chow cuisine. If you’re feeling adventurous tell the chef to pick your dishes for you and he’ll gladly venture beyond the menu and serve you some of his specialties.

Rating’s still the same. I tried the pigeon yesterday (they had a special last night on it), together with soy cuttlefish on the side and tofu. Delicious as well!
We also got 10% discount since they recognized us from the few times we’ve eaten there.
And yes, the environment still sucks when busy.

Is it a surprise to people that sometimes the best food is found in locations where it’s not all glitz and glam? I am quite an oddity, as I have grown up with Chinese food in Vancouver and typically turn my nose at the typical greasy, over-​seasoned and over-​sauced low quality Chinese fare that you find in Toronto. The Oriental Gourmet is a welcome exception and I hope to find more like these.
The décor is simple and spartan, but clean. Service is typical asian, fast and efficient.
This is very authentic chiu chow. I am reviewing based on a recent lunch here, and my favourites from the meal included:
–the fish dumplings (dumplings with a skin made of fish that are firm and chewy.)
–noodles with pork and preserved olive leaf (preserved olive leaf is a chiu chow speciality)
–beef brisket, tendon and turnip. brisket was tender but still held it’s form, tendon was nice and soft
I particular enjoy the well balanced seasoning and undetected use of MSG. I suspect the use of good fresh and flavourful ingredients eliminates the need to fake flavour enhance their food. Props to that!!!
Will be returning. Warning on dinner: reservations are mandatory, this place is obviously very popular because of the quality, value and authenticity. It’s no hidden secret.

One of my family’s favourite restaurants. There’s the Satay Beef Rice Noodles, the Cold Crab, the Preserved Olive Fried Rice, the Lao Sui Chicken, the yummy chicken with deep fried vegetable leaves (I don’t know what the English name as I’ve been ordering without the menu in a long time), there’s the Oyster Hot Pot with Green Onion — everything on the menu makes me drool! I cannot imagine not going back to this restaurant in the future.
Always busy and tightly packed, but I believe it’s the right size for the kitchen to serve — any bigger and the service wouldn’t be as darn good. The waitresses are also very friendly!
This is a restaurant I have confidently brought friends and visiting guests from all over to, and they are all impressed with the food. I would bring you too if I knew you… but sadly, I do not. You will have to bring yourself!

A gwailo (Westerner) like me will not stumble into this gem of a restaurant on his own. Located in a non-​descript suburban Chinese shopping plaza, not far from Pacific Mall, the restaurant is well known in Markham’s Chinese community. The lucky few Westerners who have discovered its delights most likely owe it to their Chinese friends or their partner (Thank you, Dear!)
Chiu Chow cuisine comes from the North-​East region of Guangdong province of China, which itself is located in the South-​East of the country, just up the coast from Hong Kong. (Look it up on Wikipedia.) Similar to Cantonese cuisine, it is known for its seafood dishes and more subtle use of spices as compared to other Chinese regional cuisines.
If you’re lucky, your Chinese friend will take you there for a bigger family gathering or one of the seasonal holiday celebrations which will involve a banquet-​style dinner. It starts with a tiny cup of strong bitter tea, features a series of large dishes to share, served one after another, all at the chef’s discretion, and ends with a kind of sweet bean soup for dessert (admittedly, an acquired taste). If you have a friend like that, cherish the friendship.
If you’re there for a regular dinner, try to find out what the special is. It may not be on the menu. My favourite dish is crab or lobster in a creamy rum-​flavoured sauce. An extremely messy dish — you have to use your hands to deal with the crab — but worth it, and it comes with a fluffy bread roll to mop up the sauce. Another favourite of mine is an oyster omelette, and still another is tea-​infused smoked duck. The restaurant offers specials that vary with season, so every time I went there, and it’s been close to a dozen times, I had a chance to try something completely new, be it delicious steamed fish with garlic, creamy soup served in a hollowed-​out winter melon, or oyster congee. (Their congee looks more like rice in broth, unlike the thicker, starchy Hong Kong variety you get in Cantonese restaurants.)
As in most Chinese restaurants, it’s better to show up in a bigger group, to share as many dishes as you can. It will also help to have a Cantonese speaker in your group to find out what the chef’s special is for the day. As others have mentioned here already, reservations are recommended and payment is by cash only. (Also, if you want to eat pigeon, you must order it a couple days ahead.)

After reading William H review of the Dried Orange Peel Duck Leg Soup, I decide to try that for lunch at Oriental Gourmet Chiuchow again!
I was NOT disappointed! For $ 5.50 with the soy bean drink, this is really a steal!
The duck meat is so moist, so soft, so full of taste! The noodle is like an afterthought. I would just order the Duck Noodle Soup and just eat the Duck!
Don’t expect any good service and you will be happy with the food!