Dim sum is one of our favourite meals of the day. It’s so good that we’re willing to wake up early for it!
We find that the best time to have dim sum is bright and early in the morning so there’s plenty of time for your system to digest the food. Dim sum can be very filling, especially when you lose control and want to try everything on the menu.
Although we love going for “yum cha”, we haven’t met up with friends for dim sum due to the pandemic. Now that things are looking better, we decided to go to Yu Seafood for dim sum with Henry at their Richmond Hill location.
Our usual dim sum spot is Dragon Boat, but ever since they closed their East Beaver Creek location, we had to find other top dim sum restaurants in Toronto to try.
And everyone knows that if you want some great-tasting dim sum, you have to drive a bit north to find the best dim sum places in Richmond Hill and Markham.
We tried Skyview last time and we had a great time there – one of the best in the GTA. Check out our review of Skyview (乙龍天) for an in-depth experience of their dim sum. We also recently tried The One Fusion Cuisine (聚龍軒) in Richmond Hill, which was a phenomenal experience too!
We’ve heard great things about Yu Seafood and we were all excited to try it out!
Yu Seafood Richmond Hill Review
Yu Seafood has two locations in Toronto. The original location is in Richmond Hill and the second one in Yorkdale mall. We choose the Richmond Hill location because it was closer to us.
The Richmond Hill is conveniently located at:
Address: 270 West Beaver Creek Rd, Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3Z1
Hours: Monday to Sunday – 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM (Dim sum is served from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM)
Telephone:(905) 881-1688
The restaurant is several minutes drive when you get off Hwy 404 at Hwy 7. It’s located at Jubilee Square, a shopping plaza with ample parking space. Golden Court Abalone Restaurant, another dim sum restaurant is in the same plaza.
Yu Seafood Dim Sum Menu
There’s a good variety of dim sum selections on the menu.
Their dim sum pricing is at the bottom of the menu. In case you can’t see it, here it is:
S – $4.98
M – $5.98
L – $6.98
XL – $7.98
SP – $11.98
The tea charge is $2.50 per person.
(Dim sum prices as of February 23, 2022)
Yu Seafood Dim Sum Review
We ordered 13 items in total, which includes our favourite items like har gao, siu mai, rice rolls, and BBQ pork buns.
Initially, we thought that 13 items wouldn’t be enough to fill us, but we’re glad we didn’t go ham because we were completely stuffed by the end of the meal. An extra item would’ve pushed us into the territory of fighting over who will finish the remaining pieces.
Baked BBQ Pork Bun Pastry (#2)
The first item that arrived at our table was the BBQ pork buns. You can tell that it came straight from the oven because the fresh smell of baked goods filled the air. There were 3 buns on the plate so it was perfect for our party of 3.
We patiently waited a few minutes for the buns to cool off before taking our first bite.
Once my patience ran out, I quickly grabbed one and shoved it into my mouth. Luckily, it didn’t burn my mouth.
The first thing I noticed is how fresh and flakey the crust was. The BBQ pork inside the bun was delicious with a good amount of fillings. The bun was sweet and the BBQ pork was savoury. It was the perfect combination.
We all agreed that their baked BBQ pork bun was the star of the meal.
Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Har Gow – #4)
Whenever we go for dim sum, Bonnie has to order this no matter what. Dim sum isn’t complete without ordering har gows. Girl loves her har gows!
Her hopes were flying high when she saw her har gows arrive at our table. Unfortunately, she was deeply disappointed with the quality of the har gows at Yu Seafood.
The happy smile on her face quickly turned into a “yuck” face after the first bite. She said that the shrimp had some seawater taste to them. Henry tasted one and agreed that it did have some seawater taste to it.
Naturally, I was expecting some really bad har gows, but the ones I had didn’t have the seawater taste. Maybe I got lucky and had the regular shrimps.
For me, the har gows were nothing to write home about. Very average for a highly rated restaurant.
Steamed Pork Dumplings (Siu Mai – #5)
When we had the siu mai, the wrapper was a little tough. Perhaps the pork dumplings were sitting on the table for too long and the wrapper turned hard? As you can see, we took many photos of our food for this review.
The big chunks of pork were lightly-seasoned, but the meat itself was a bit rough to chew on too.
While Henry was finishing his siu mai, he found a small little bone inside. 😱
Not to worry, a small bone isn’t enough to kill him.
That being said, come on guys, finding a bone is what we would expect from our McNuggets, not in our siu mai…
Steamed Shrimp & Veggie Rice Rolls (#31)
What do you do when you love shrimp rice rolls? You order 2 dishes of it!
We chose to order the regular shrimp rice rolls over the red rice rolls because Henry prefers to stick to the classics.
The rice sheet was silky soft and the shrimps were big and plump. There were 2 shrimps in each individual rice roll.
The soy sauce provided was light and wasn’t too overpowering with sodium and gave this dish a nice flavour.
We were a little disappointed with the lack of vegetables. On the menu, it says “Shrimp & Veggie,” but all we got was scallions in it… we were expecting a long green veggie leaf!
Henry is not a big fan of veggies, so if he’s complaining about the lack of veggies, there’s a problem!
Okay, don’t get us wrong, this is still a very good dish and the lack of vegetables is not a deal-breaker for us.
Would we order it again? You bet!
Bamboo Charcoal & Egg Yolk Buns (#1)
If you want an Instagram-worthy photo, then you have to order their charcoal custard buns that come in black with brushes of gold food colouring on them.
Similar to other “charcoal buns,” they’re soft and inside is filled with runny, liquidity salty egg yolk that leaks as you pull the bun apart. The bun was soft and the fillings weren’t too sweet.
Bonnie liked it so much that she said she would order another plate of these babies!
Steamed Chicken Feet (#8)
It looks gross and unappetizing, but those who appreciate it can’t get enough of it.
The chicken feet had a bit spicy taste to it, enough to give a nice little kick, but not too much where you’ll be gulping down your cup of water. Size-wise, it was pretty meaty compared to other restaurants. The meat came off the bones easily as it was soft and tender.
According to Henry, it was succulent good!
He hasn’t had this dish in a long time and he was completely satisfied with the dish.
Steamed Spare Ribs with Taro (#9)
The spare ribs were decent. The dish wasn’t oily, the meat tasted fresh, and the ribs weren’t full of fat. I don’t know why some restaurants would even serve customers stale meat and ribs that are pure fat.
Some people might find it “bland” without all the salty flavours infused in the meat. Personally, I enjoyed the natural flavour of the ribs.
Steamed Sticky Rice with Chicken in Lotus Leaf (#13)
I like to order sticky rice because I don’t get full unless I have some really carby food. And what can be more carby than sticky rice?
There wasn’t anything special with this dish. The only thing to note is that the sticky rice had a firmer texture compared to other restaurants. There were small pieces of chicken and salted egg yolk inside the lotus leaf.
Bonnie had a few bites and I had the rest.
Baked Egg White Milk Tart (#45)
Bonnie will never walk away from dim sum without a plate of egg tarts.
The scent of freshly baked egg tarts always smells amazing. Once it’s on your table, the scent will throw off your train of thought and disrupt your conversations. Yes, they smell that good!
We made a rookie mistake and didn’t eat our egg tarts when they were fresh and hot.
Although they were left unattended for some time, it was still soft and silky smooth when we got to it. The crust was buttery and flakey, and the egg was light and creamy! Delicious!
Pug Dog Chocolate Mousse Cake (#44)
Bonnie ordered this item because there was a “thumbs up” on the menu.
When the mousse cake came out, Bonnie’s face turned 🤢. No one anticipated a lifelike pug to show up at our table.
After we got over the way the dessert looked, we went ahead and tried it out.
Did it taste better than it looked?
Nope, it was overly sweet and we couldn’t finish this dish. This was the worst dish we ordered.
Pan Fried Radish Cake (#25)
When I saw pan-fried radish cake, it reminded me of Congee Queen’s turnip cake (one of my favourite appetizers!). With that in mind, I had to order one to satisfy my cravings for it!
The radish cake was nicely pan-fried and had a good crisp when biting on it. It wasn’t too hard to chew on nor too sticky and the filling wasn’t too shabby. The flavour was alright but doesn’t beat Congee Queen’s one.
Steamed Mixed Vegetables & Mushrooms Wrapped in Bean Curd Sheet (#12)
A vegetarian dish that is filled with a bunch of mixed vegetables (carrot, celery, mushroom, and cabbage). It was lacking flavour and didn’t taste good.
This was another miss of the day.
Food: 4/5
When you dine at a higher-end dim sum restaurant, you expect the food to be above average.
Although a couple of dishes were disappointing, the majority of dishes hit the spot. We cleared the plates, except for the pug dog chocolate mousse cake.
Overall, Yu Seafood delivered fresh and piping hot dim sum that was seasoned well. Not too salty, not too bland. Just right.
Dim sum quality at Yu Seafood is comparable to the other top dim sum places in Richmond Hill and Markham.
People rave about their dinner menu so you can count us to be back!
Service: 4/5
We went to Yu Seafood on a Wednesday morning and we got a table right away. Glad we didn’t have to go through the whole ordeal of waiting in line for 45 minutes to get a table! (Based on all the stories we heard, we highly recommend you make reservations ahead of time)
The servers showed us to our table and took our tea order. She returned in a flash with the teapots (one filled with our tea, the other is hot water).
The menu that they provide is the ordering sheet. The two columns to the left of the dim sum dishes are the spots where you fill out how many items you want of each dish.
It took us a while to go through the menu and markdown our favourite dim sum dishes. Luckily, the servers didn’t hover around our table to rush us to order.
After we submitted our orders, we waited for about 10 minutes before our food started to come out of the kitchen. Different servers brought the food to our table and they all came one after another very quickly.
If you like to keep hydrated while eating, they’ll refill your teapots regularly as long as you have the lids open. During our meal, they also replaced our dirty plates with new ones – this is not common at other dim sum restaurants.
The servers at Yu Seafood were quick and efficient leaving us with a positive dining experience.
Ambiance: 4/5
Yu Seafood is an upscale restaurant that is decorated with a modern interior. The environment is bright and clean. The dining area has high ceilings with large paintings hung on the walls. You won’t find the familiar “dim sum” restaurant feel here.
You get your little own “pod” with a large lamp overhanging the table. To keep everyone safe, they’ve set up plexiglass around each seating pod.
When we arrived at 9:15 AM, not a lot of people were there. Only half of the restaurant was filled. Halfway into our meal, more people showed up and the restaurant got livelier with more chatters in the background. Don’t worry, nothing crazy to the point where you have to shout to carry on a conversation.
Need to impress someone for dim sum? This place won’t fail!
Price: $$$
The price for dim sum is higher than your regular dim sum, which is comparable to their competitors. In return, you’ll get higher quality dim sum and a fancy environment to enjoy your food.
S – $4.98
M – $5.98
L – $6.98
XL – $7.98
SP – $11.98
(Dim sum prices as of February 23, 2022)
The menu didn’t mention anything about “early bird special” or “morning special,” but when we got our bill, all the S, M, and L items were treated as S items ($4.98). This was definitely a pleasant surprise!
Dim sum restaurants that offer early bird special usually require you to place your orders before 11:00 AM and pay with cash.
Since they didn’t announce the special prices anywhere, I wouldn’t bank on getting discounts next time.
What are your favourite dim sum places in Toronto? Let us know in the comments below!
Leave a Reply