MIMI Chinese — Restaurant in Toronto

The crossed arm dumplings in red oil ($26) may sound like a starter for grumpy old men, but is named after the way the wonton wrappers are folded and the two tips meet. Having made many dumplings in my youth, this style is much quicker to prepare, compared to the pleated variety, and also allows more filling to be used.

Indeed, each thumb length dumpling at MIMI was stuffed with plenty of the pork and scallion mixture, which could have used more seasonings such as Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, or soy sauce. Maybe it's due to the thicker wrappers or there not being much heat within the "red oil" condiment, but the dish was rather devoid of flavours despite the colourful look. The oil is described as roasted chicken oil, which leads me to believe they use the leftover oil from deep frying chickens to make this condiment, something that sounds great in theory. In reality, it doesn't add much additional flavour and really the oil could benefit from more chilies and something pungent like shallots.

I can't recall that last time I had shrimp toast ($21 for four pieces; $5.50 for extras), but I must have been young as this dish has been removed from dim sum menus as customers become more health cautious. Pieces of soft white bread sandwich a mild shrimp paste and is deep fried and topped with a sesame crust. The crispy toast was bang on - the crunchy exterior and slight leak of oil is reminiscent of childhood memories.

Since MIMI uses two pieces of bread (restaurants previously used an open-faced sandwich format), the carbs did drown out the shrimp taste. The toast could benefit from more filling or incorporating pieces of diced shrimp in order to give it a stronger seafood essence.

The scallion and ginger sea bass ($59) uses white leek but lacks ginger making it a fairly neutral main. The soy sauce and scallion oil is poured table side instead of directly from wok to dish, which while nice for presentation purposes, means it lacks the "scalding" properties that crisps the skin a bit and causes the sauce to more deeply permeate the meat. All in all, it was a pretty plain tasting dish and is for those who really want to enjoy the fish's flavours - at least it was well cleaned and tasted fresh.

For those who are afraid of bones, this dish is perfect as everything is pretty much removed (all I found was one really thin small piece). While the lack of bones makes it much easier to eat, it does mean the fish cools quicker, so be sure to tuck into it right after the sauce is poured.

Presented at the table with a flourish was the four foot belt noodle ($26), stretched to showcase its length before being cut into more manageable two inch segments. While not a terrible dish, the noodle could be thinner as we found it a tad chewy and the sauce needed something else for interest. Although the noodle was covered with a fair amount of chili oil, a salty richer flavour like bean paste or a complex XO sauce would have been a great addition.

I preferred the supreme fried rice ($28), filled with umami flavours thanks to the dried scallop, salted egg, and lap cheong sausage. These ingredients do make the rice a tad dry, which MIMI ties to combat by adding diced vegetables and scallions into the dish. Really, I think if there was just more rice to mix with all the other ingredients it would provided the needed moisture.

Be sure to listen to their feature dishes, we ordered both and they were my favourite of the evening.

The Cantonese chicken ($28) is your traditional fried chicken with shrimp chips. It was executed perfectly at MIMI: the skin delicate and crispy, the meat very juicy, and there wasn't an ounce of pink on the bone (something that can be found at Chinese restaurants and make some squeamish).

I loved how the kitchen took the razor clams ($26) and chopped it to pieces and mixed it with wine, garlic, vermicelli, and other herbs before steaming the crustacean. With each bite you get different flavours and textures, a lovely...

I so wanted to love this restaurant and was so disappointed. The decor is lovely and I would have rated 5 stars on atmosphere if the music were a lower volume. My friends and I could not hear one another at our table, which was a beautiful red velvet booth in the corner. The service is impeccable! My friend got up to go to the restroom and put her napkin down on the booth chair when she got up and within seconds an employee came over and folded her napkin put it on the table and filled her empty tea cup and then slipped away as silently as she arrived. The wait staff are exceptionally well trained and they know how to "sell" and "position" the food. My partner's father was a chef in Chinese restaurants early in life. Our neice is a pastry chef, and my partner is a gourmet cook. To say we are very familiar with Chinese food would be an understatement. In traditional Chinese food style the food is family style. We started our meal with shrimp toast. It was very good and authentic. Indeed it brought back memories of our youth making shrimp toast at home with my partner's grandmother. So we started out meal with hope. Next came the mapo tofu dish. It came with one bowl of rice to share. Which is understandable because that's how you best serve this dish over white rice. It was underwhelming. Heavy on the salt and seasoning. We ordered the fried rice with salmon roe. It was tasty, and next to the shrimp toast was our favorite dish. Simple to make but good. The four foot belt noodle dish is a gimmick and a RIP off. Over spiced to try and pack in flavour. But a huge miss in every way possible. The crispy Szechuan chicken looked impressive but again was over spiced way too many szechuan pepper corns and peppers. You had to dig through the peppers which they advise you not to eat....no kidding. Well why put so many on the plate? Answer to hide how little chicken there is. The crispy texture on the chicken was nice. But this dish was way too salty as well as over spiced. A real disappointment. The gailan with dry abalone and scallop sauce was beyond disappointing. The minuscule amount of gailan and no flowers only stock and leaves didn't hold up with the sauce. In a typical Chinese restaurant this dish you would find with asparagus. So another miss. The sea bass with ginger and scallions was the third best dish of the meal. The fish was cooked perfectly and was very good quality. Typically hot oil as well as the light soya sauce would be poured on the fish. Here they just used the light soya sauce...so the crispy skin was missing. But what saved this from being a disappointment was the quality of the fish and the perfect cook of it. The drink selection is good. Overall our thinking is that the team here have curated a small selection of Chinese food pairing it with a nice atmosphere as a way to introduce the food to an audience who may not otherwise try it in Chinatown. They tried to recreate some very traditional dishes with some hits and misses. Way to heavy on the spices and as a result lost the flavorful subtlety we have grown to love about these dishes. At the price you pay for the meal you really should enjoy it more and not feel ripped off. It so pains me, because we so wanted to love our meal and experience and instead left so disappointed. Oh well, live and learn. If you want an amazing Chinese meal there are plenty of other great restaurants in and around Toronto to...

It was very good, but I had super high expectations going in and I don’t think they were quite met. Food was good, but not spectacular or close to the best I’ve had. I think the bar is super high with such amazing Asian restaurants in the city (Lee, Dailo, Soos) and I’m not sure this one comes out on top. Service was just ok, they messed up our order. Finally, it’s a bit out of the way if you live in the downtown core compared to those other restaurants.

Overall, I would consider coming back but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

To get into the details, the ambiance was nice though a little dark, and service was good. Big plus point is there were a TON of vegetarian/vegan options. A lot of the menu could be modified and they also had some off-menu vegetarian items, including tofu and dumplings. Though it would be much easier if they just published their vegetarian menu, as a lot of people probably choose not to go based on their currently published menu.

Now onto the food. The off menu veggie dumplings were spectacular, quite possibly some of the best dumplings I’ve had and my friend said the same (she eats meat). These were the highlight of the night. The wrapper texture was homemade and so good, filling delicious, and just the right amount of chili oil without being overpowering.

Next, the vegetarian belt noodle was good but as some reviews said, definitely spicy. I don’t have a super high spice tolerance so it was hard to eat a lot of them, but my friend really loved them.

The rice rolls were another standout. I really loved them though they still weren’t “punching” me with flavor, it was more of a textural delight. I think the flavor could’ve been a bit more punchy and nuanced, it was mainly one note soy sauce. On this point, maybe they’re less thoughtful with their veg modifications as I know the chili oil just omitted the shrimp paste vs replacing it with something more flavorful.

Again, the smashed cucumber salad was a little bland. It had good garlic flavor but was begging for something more. The wood ear mushrooms especially, one of my favorite foods, were actually totally unseasoned and almost off putting. The pile of dry bitter greens on top was also unwelcome and not very seasoned.

We had ordered tofu, but that never came so I can’t comment.

My mangosteen mocktail was good but too sweet and a bit imbalanced - tasted more like regular juice despite the very interesting ingredients. Maybe sparkling water and less sugar would’ve improved it. It was also so much ice, I barely got 3-4 sips in before it was finished. With that much ice it should’ve been a bigger glass. I did love the gold topping.

Overall I would definitely consider going back to try more of the menu, but given how far it is for me and the spectacular Chinese food I have nearby (Lee, DaiLo, even Sunny’s Chinese), I wouldn’t go...