Cai

Simple, elegant, and fresh describe Cai perfectly. This spacious, well-decorated restaurant is probably the only one that can compete with Ming Hin at the moment in terms of variety of dishes in Chinatown Square. The amount of excellent dishes here is so numerous that you could come back every day of the week and be surprised on every visit.

What truly sets Cai apart is its impressive dedication to quality food. Dishes come hot, fresh, and delicious. Rice crepes are always bouncy, buns are sweet and chewy, each dish comes at the right flavor, texture, and temperature.

Here are some dishes that really stood out for me:

Super Har-gow jumbo shrimp dumpling: Think you've had har-gow? Your har-gow experiences aren't complete until you've tried this. The jumbo shrimp adds an extra sweetness and bounciness that redefines this classic dish.

Steamed beef meat ball /w minced vegetable: This is less salty than others I've had at nearby dim sum restaurants. The bouncy texture of the beef is really enjoyable.

Steamed chicken feet with Peking sauce: Really tasty, really good texture on the feet. It's hard to describe this dish exactly, but it's something you could eat as a comfort food with a whole bowl of rice.

Papaya with custard cake: Even with the excellent St. Anna bakery nearby, don't leave before you've tried this. It's light, smooth, and fluffy with just the right amount of fresh papaya.

(30) "Celery with shrimp"/Shrimp rice crepe: The rice noodle is warm, elastic, and fresh. It's so hard to find this done well outside of Chinatown, it's worth it to eat as much as you can from anywhere within Chinatown if you're in the area. This is just another excellent version.

Crispy Taro with chicken dumplings: Wow... WOW! This item is worth the entire trip alone. The last time I remember being impressed with this was from a very nice dim sum place in Calgary, I have longed to find another comparable version in Chicago. The chicken inside is flavored perfectly with a perfect ratio of taro root to give the item a kind of gooey/mushy texture. Combine that with a delicate, crispy exterior and you have a winning combination. This item is not to be missed on any trip.

Fried sticky dumpling with chicken: On a guilty pleasure scale, this is equal to the item above. Get this in place of or in addition to the crispy taro (this is one of the cheapest items on the menu as well!). If you like lotus leaf sticky rice, this has a similar interior but the crispy exterior provides excellent texture contrast.

BBQ Pork turnover: This item is just great on so many levels. I grew up on char siu bao and fatty pork so this brought a smile to my face as soon as I took a bite. This is a crispy puff pastry with sweet bbq pork inside. The bbq pork is a little sweeter than what you'll find in most bbq places (unless you've been to Toronto recently), but the flavor matches perfectly when eaten together with the pastry.

Their non dim sum dishes such as lotus root stir-fried special and stir-fried sticky rice with Chinese sausage are good as well.

It's probably a good thing I don't live in Chinatown since I can't resist the abundance of superb dishes at this restaurant. But when I have the chance to visit here, I savor every bite and keep thinking about what I want to try on the next visit.

I haven't had Dim Sum in a while and last week we came down to Cai a little after lunch. Their hours said Dim Sum was served until four but there wasn't a cart going around and so we just ordered off their menu, but then we had people come by offering plates of..stuff.

I'm not Chinese, but I can play one on tv so it was an awkward experience with waitstaff flashing small plates of food in my face saying something in Chinese and then looking at me expectantly to answer yes or no in Chinese, instead I'd just shake my head yes or no.

Oh hey, speaking of weird service one of the servers spilled water all over one of our party and...that was about it. She kind of mumbled sorry and then just walked off.

We did order a few different dumplings which were all tasty but I couldn't really tell you what it was unless the menu was in front of me, as well as a few plates we did nod yes to.

I can say for certain that the black bean chicken and the chicken feet are outstanding. I don't know if there's ever a non-busy time but if there is, that's when I'll want to come by next time.

Cai is my goto place in Chinatown. Not only they have good HK style Dim Sum for breakfast / lunch.
Their dinner menu is also one fo the best in town. Love the different variety of seafood, steam Red Snapper, scallop with black bean sauce, walnut shrimp, and lobster noodle.
Not to mention Peking duck  ...