Is the ambiance worth paying for?

One of the most expensive Chinese restaurants in Toronto is Lai Wah Heen (麗華軒) - with rave reviews in Gourmet and the New York Times.  It has been around for many years but we have never been - possibly because it's downtown, also because someone had said eating there was like eating money and we didn't find eating money particularly appealing.  Last week, we ventured in as part of a birthday celebration - a good excuse, especially when someone else was footing the bill.  The food was excellent indeed.  I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of money and I really enjoyed the lunch in a quiet, almost elegant atmosphere with attentive service, multiple plate changes and in general, being engulfed in a sense of luxury and wellbeing - who wouldn't love it!

This week, we went to a simple dim sum restaurant in Scarborough, Full House at Midland and Finch, priding itself as a restaurant serving rural Chinese food, where dim sum was about a third of what it costs at Lai Wah Heen (in some instances, a fifth of the price for some ultra expensive dishes).  Obviously it didn't have the same ambiance - encased in dirty fogged up glass windows and a thread bare carpet cushioned with ancient crumbs.  We were clearly among members of the proletariat.  But we thought the food was good, the wrap for the dumplings just as perfectly done as those at Lai Wah Heen as were the ingredients for some of the dishes.  The only thing lacking was the aesthetics.

One steamed dish, enoki and king mushrooms wrapped in bean curd, tasted very similar at both places. At Lai Wah Heen, it was a special with a truffle, at $5 a piece - a piece being half of a bean curd roll, only enough for one person (see photo below).  At Full House, it's $2.15 for 3 rolls, enough for six.  Unbelievable price difference given that both tasted equally good - granted, the truffle was special.  We got good service as the staff knew us.  When we considered this intellectually, we realized that we were paying mainly for the ambiance (which included the presentation) the week before.  The debate then becomes, are we willing to pay megabucks for the ambiance, the aesthetics?   For the very occasional treat, on very special occasions AND if the person who pays can afford it - yes.  Otherwise, it would be an indulgence - and I would feel guilty...

Steamed bean curd roll of mushrooms and truffle - it is very good, one of the best I've tasted with subtle contrasts in textures and tastes, the truffle is a treat - thumbs up! 

Steamed dumplilng of lobster & shrimp in garlic butter - disappointingly bland in both taste and texture, couldn't taste the lobster at all - thumbs down!

Deep-fried tofu brick with Dungeness crabmeat and shrimp - very good - an 8

Deep-fried prawns and scallop wrapped in bacon - another 8

Wok-fried diced turnip cake with soy sauce - not as good as the regular turnip cake - a 4

Crispy fried pastry of foie gras, shrimp & minced pork - if there were real foie gras in there, it was wasted - a 5

Baked pastry filled with cured ham & shrimp - a 5

Chilled chicken wing marinated in wine sauce - outstanding!  One of the most memorable dishes in the meal!  The chicken wing was deboned, cold and firm, could use a tat more wine in the marinate but otherwise, it's perfect.  With added points for the work involved in deboning and the relatively reasonable price, I would give this a nine and a half.

Maitake mushroom & vegetables in rice roll - great texture and taste - an 8

This was an ordering mistake - I thought I had ordered braised pork belly, but it turned out to be ordinary roast pork belly.  It was very good nevertheless but nothing special although they did give us a good cut - a 6

The perfect ending - gorgeous layered pastry encasing papaya in milk custard - unbelievably good - a 10!

To be quite fair, Lai Wah Heen did offer some unusual dishes not often seen in other restaurants.  For that, it's probably worth an occasional visit.  I'll be thinking about the chicken wings and the papaya pastry for a while...