Golden Jade Restaurant

For my aunt's birthday, my cousin arranged a surprise family lunch in Markham, and of course I brought my baby along with me.

Restaurant: Golden Jade Restaurant
Location: Markham
Meal: Lunch
Day: Sunday
Son's Age: 7 months

Apparently, this restaurant actually relocated from the Steeles and Silver Star area. The entire meal was ordered ahead of time so I must admit that I am not always aware of what I ate or what it would be called on the menu, but I can still review how I liked it!

Accessibility: ⭐️
The good news is, there is a dedicated parking lot. I brought my son in his car seat to place on a chair at the table.

Of course, since this was a family function, the moment I set the car seat down, a family member came and scooped him up, so here is a photo of the empty car seat! The washrooms, on the other hand, are far from accessible.

There is absolutely no counter space to change a diaper and no change table. If you drove, I suppose you could change your baby in your car. Also, I did not see any high chairs around, nor was one offered to me, so I suspect they don't have any, in case your child is old enough to sit in one.

Service: ⭐️⭐️
Despite the fact that it was a surprise lunch, my aunt was actually quite punctual. Lunch was already late (1pm), but food did not arrive until an hour later. I'm particularly aware because my sister could only stay for an hour and thus was not able to eat anything for lunch. In general, the servers barely acknowledged us, and the only reason I give two stars is because they helped arrange the surprise birthday party and helped us take a group photo afterward.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I am going to try my best to describe each of these dishes as accurately as possible. First, we started with soup.

Generally, I enjoy soup, and I found that this was no exception. It was a nice way to start the meal on a cool day in November (although it would be nicer if I didn't have to wait an hour for it). The next dish was chicken and jellyfish.

The chicken was served cold (intentionally - not a product of the late start). It's quite good once you wrap your head around eating cold chicken, and it goes surprisingly well with the jellyfish, which I usually associate with pork. Next there was this dish.

I have to admit that I don't remember what this was or how it tasted, but clearly it did not leave any kind of impression on me, good or bad. We then had some fried fish.

This dish was pretty tasty albeit a little dry. There was a little bit of chilli on it, so it gives a little bit of a kick but still manageable for those who can't handle their food too spicy. This was followed by beef and mushrooms. 

This was also good but relatively generic, so it provided a bit of variety to the meal but was not a standout. We also had sweet and sour pork. 

I actually really enjoyed this because it wasn't too greasy. For those of you who are not accustomed to Chinese food, this is not the sweet and sour pork you get from Manchu Wok. It has fresh peppers and onions and a good amount of sweet and sour sauce. The next dish was bok choy. 

While it doesn't seem impressive, this was a welcome reprieve from all the other heavier dishes we had been eating thus far. Plus, it's always good to eat your veggies! After this, we had a much more memorable dish. 

I don't know what this was exactly, but it was shrimp coated in something orange and fried. Flavour wise, it was delicious and unique. Texturally, the coating was very powdery, which I thought was strange and off putting, as it left a weird aftertaste in my mouth. The consensus around the table seemed to be that the flavour more than made up for the texture, though, so I guess I kind of recommend it? Although how would you even ask how to order this? That weird orangey powdery deep fried shrimp? I don't know. Anyway, the next two items were your standard noodles and fried rice. 

I actually don't even remember the noodles, and I remember the rice even less 

As far as the whole meal goes, the food ranged from delicious to unmemorable yet inoffensive. I'd say that makes to a rather enjoyable lunch overall. 

Overall: ⭐️⭐️½

The food is pretty good, but the service was less than impressive and the restaurant itself does not make it easy to bring a baby. As such, I wouldn't recommend bringing a baby here (not to mention that the location itself is already pretty inconvenient if you live in the city).