Traditional Chinese Breakfast in Toronto: A Congee Shop Guide

If you grew up Cantonese, breakfast didn’t always mean a Hong Kong cafe with milk tea and macaroni. Just as often it meant a congee shop: a big bowl of rice porridge, a basket of fried dough, a plate of silky rice rolls. That’s the traditional Chinese breakfast we went looking for in the Toronto area, and this post is our introduction to it for anyone who has never had one.

We went to Sam’s Congee Delight in Markham, a spot we’ve been coming to for as long as we’ve been coming to Toronto. We shared everything as a family of four. The bill was $41 before tax and $46.33 CAD with tax, and it’s cash only. Our verdict: a classic, always good, always consistent. Every time we come to Toronto, we go.

We filmed the whole visit: watch the episode.

Quick facts

• Place: Sam’s Congee Delight, Markham (Greater Toronto Area)
• What we paid: $46.33 CAD with tax for 2 adults, a 3-year-old and a baby
• Payment: cash only, so bring Canadian dollars
• Good for: a first try at a Cantonese breakfast, families, anyone who likes watching food being made
• Good to know: they ask about peanut allergies when you order, because the congee has peanuts in it

What a traditional Cantonese breakfast is

A congee shop breakfast is built around one bowl of congee (粥, jook), a rice porridge cooked until it’s smooth. It usually comes with savory things in it, like fish or pork. Around that bowl you order small plates: fried dough to dip, steamed rice rolls, radish cake, and something sweet.

It’s different from a Hong Kong cafe (cha chaan teng 茶餐廳) breakfast, which is more Western-style sets with toast, eggs and milk tea. A congee shop is the more traditional side. As we said in the episode, it gives you that home feeling of really good food.

Part of why we come to Toronto to eat is that so many Hong Kong families moved here, and a lot of good cooks and restaurants opened here too. Some of the flavors are the most authentic we’ve found in North America. If you’ve never eaten in the GTA, most of these restaurants are in plazas: a big parking lot in the middle with a bunch of restaurants around it. We hop from plaza to plaza, and Markham is one of the original Cantonese areas.

How ordering works at Sam’s Congee Delight

There was no wait when we got there. You order by writing the numbers from the menu on a slip and handing it in. Their congee is the specialty (it’s in the name), and the menu also has stir-fried noodles, sticky rice, radish cake and rice rolls.

Near the tables there’s a big glass window into the kitchen, and it’s worth a few minutes before your food comes. We stood there with Spencer and watched one cook stretch and press the dough with a stick, drop it into a big wok of oil and turn it with long chopsticks. Next to him, another cook was steaming rice rolls: he poured a thin layer of rice batter into a big steamer, added what looked like dried shrimp for the next batch, then rolled it up and cut it.

The kitchen is behind glass, so you can watch the fried dough and rice rolls being made.

What we ordered, dish by dish

Here’s everything we had, with a line on what each one is.

Congee with pork blood and fish (豬紅粥)

Rina’s pick. Rice congee with cubes of pork blood and pieces of fish fillet, plus peanuts. It looks plain, but it isn’t. It’s savory with good flavor of its own, and the small pieces of fish make it a hearty meal. We added a little white pepper. Pork blood is something we always order in Toronto because it’s really on point here.

Congee with pork blood and fish, with a cup of fresh soy drink.

Fried dough (油炸鬼, yau ja gwai)

A long stick of fried dough, the Cantonese partner to congee. The way to eat it: tear a piece, drop it into the congee and let it soak. You can leave it in a while until it’s soft, which is still good, or dip it for just a few seconds so it keeps its crunch.

Steamed rice roll with mixed sauce (腸粉, cheung fun)

A plain rice roll, the one we watched them make behind the glass. We ordered it with the mixed sauce: soy sauce, hoisin sauce and peanut sauce. It’s silky soft. Spencer ate the whole plate himself, so I never got to try it. Next time we’re ordering two.

Rice roll with mixed sauce. Spencer finished this one on his own.

Steamed radish cake (蘿蔔糕)

Usually radish cake is pan-fried. Here it’s steamed, with soy sauce on top. It’s bouncy, a little sweet, and a different texture from the fried kind.

Marinated pork liver

Thin slices of marinated liver, dipped in soy sauce. Liver is definitely not for everyone. We like it, and they do a good job cooking it here. Getting liver soft and velvety instead of tough is hard; it has to be cooked for exactly the right amount of time.

Sesame ball (煎堆)

A fried ball rolled in sesame seeds, cut up for the table. This one had a thin, really crispy shell. With a sesame ball you mostly want the crispy outside. Rina left me half of half of one, because everybody else ate it first.

Sweet cruller

This is the one Archie ate for most of breakfast. It’s like a Chinese donut: soft, a little sweet, and easy for a baby to eat. It’s also good with congee.

Fresh soy drink (豆漿)

Freshly made. Not too sweet, very creamy, a perfect flavor.

Eating there with a baby and a 3-year-old

This was Archie’s first congee. We made sure it wasn’t too hot, gave him small spoonfuls, and let him try a little fish too. For the radish cake, we took off the top layer with the soy sauce and gave him the bottom part. The dish he liked most was the sweet cruller.

Cooling down Archie’s first spoonful of congee.

One small trick: we’ve been using a toy spinner as a snack holder for Archie at restaurants. The little pop-out cups hold one snack each, which makes it more fun for him. By the end there was very little food on the floor and no bib needed.

What a first-timer should order

If it’s your first traditional Chinese breakfast, here’s what we’d point you to from what we ate:

1. One bowl of congee to share. Pork blood and fish if you’re curious; it’s what we always get in Toronto.
2. Fried dough to dunk in it.
3. A plain rice roll with mixed sauce. Order more than one if you have kids.
4. Something crispy and something sweet: the sesame ball and the sweet cruller.
5. Fresh soy drink.

Skip the pork liver if you’re not sure about organ meat. It’s good here, but it’s the one dish we’d call an acquired taste.

Our verdict on Sam’s Congee Delight

A really good breakfast, and a classic for the Toronto area. Always good, always consistent. The one thing we’d change: one rice roll was not enough for our family. And we only know the dishes we ordered here; we didn’t try their noodles or sticky rice.

Want every place we eat this season in one list? Get our free Toronto Food Map.

After breakfast: Panda Mart in Scarborough

After breakfast we drove about 20 minutes to Panda Mart in Scarborough, a warehouse-size discount store that sells home goods and a lot of random stuff. It felt like a massive dollar store, or a big Temu store you can walk through. The carts take a coin, which you get back when you return the cart.

Our honest take: we bought nothing. Most of what we looked at felt cheaply made, the toys especially, and not everything was cheaper than Walmart. It was also overwhelmingly big, and many of the aisles didn’t apply to us, so we didn’t walk them all.

Two things were real deals:

• Yarn, about $2. Rina crochets, and on Amazon it’s about $14 for three.
• Letter balloons, 40 cents each. At a party store like Party City they’re a couple of dollars each.

Letter balloons at Panda Mart were 40 cents each.

So it’s worth a stop if you crochet or you’re planning a kid’s birthday. Otherwise, unless you need something specific, we wouldn’t make a special trip.

FAQ

Is Sam’s Congee Delight cash only? Yes. Bring Canadian dollars.

How much is breakfast for a family? We paid $41 before tax, $46.33 CAD with tax, for two adults, a toddler and a baby.

Can you get congee without peanuts? When they take your order, they ask about peanut allergies and can leave the peanuts out.

That’s one more stop on our slow food tour of the Toronto area, where we live in our van for a few weeks at a time. Next up in the series: Pacific Mall. The whole morning is in the episode: watch it on YouTube.