Weekly Lunch Pick
Rol San Restaurant
The dim sum choices in Chinatown can easily overwhelm, but this long-time favourite rises above the rest with fresh and comforting midday dishes—none priced higher than $3.28 By Renée Suen
The cutest food in the world: Rol San improves
noon hour one dumpling at a time
Image credit: Renee Suen
The place: Mint- and cream-coloured walls are decorated with aging Asian portraits, paint-by-numbers scenes, posters of Hong Kong superstar Stephen Chow and marker boards announcing the specials. Round tables, including a bunch of empty eight-seaters, are covered with white plastic sheets (it’s less surgical than it sounds).
The crowd: The front room hums with activity from retirees, young families and in-the-know hippies from nearby Kensington Market. Accustomed to weekend crowds, the servers move briskly between the tables, lingering only long enough to drop off and collect plates.
The deal: Instead of subscribing to push cart novelty, Rol San offers a one-page dim sum checklist that ensures that all dishes arrive freshly steamed, fried, boiled or baked. The 54 items are individually priced ($1.88–$3.28) and are available Sunday to Thursday until 2 a.m.
The meal: The dishes are perfect for cold days; we find comfort especially in the sticky rice in lotus leaves ($3.28), mixed mushroom dumplings ($2.88) and chicken chunks bundled in sheets of fish maw ($2.98). Adventurous diners won’t be disappointed; braised chicken feet ($2.48), beef tripe ($2.28) with ginger and scallions, and pods of steamed cuttlefish in a golden curry ($2.48) are all succulent and packed with flavour. A trio of flaky baked tartlets ($2.28) finishes the meal, each filled with just-set sweet milk custard.
The time: With no weekend lineups, our entrance to exit clocked in at a reasonable 46 minutes.
The cost: $13.50 per person, including tax, tip and bottomless pots of Iron Goddess tea (50 cents).
Rol San Restaurant, 323 Spadina Ave. (at St. Andrews St.), 416-977-1128.
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Sorry but I thought Rol San was a disappointment. Our dim sum results were mixed with passable dumplings but BBQ'd beef that was tasty but tough and chewy. There was a beef dish (sorry don't remember the name) that was disappointing with more fat, gristle and bone than beef and a flavour that lingered unpleasantly. Another steamed 'Buddha' dumpling was a sticky, glutinous mess insufficiently stuffed with the crispy veggies that were very good but overwhelmed by the dumpling wrap. The little custard pastries were very good but by then we had formed the opinion that this restaurant didn't merit the attention that Toronto Life gave it. In a word, forgettable.
November 19, 2009 | by ricardamundo