Chinese Takeouts in Ottawa

Canadian Chinese cuisine is a popular style of cooking in take-out eateries found across Canada. It was the first form of commercially-available Chinese food here, and until recently it was the only form. It was developed by early Cantonese immigrants who adapted their traditional recipes to Canadian tastes, focusing on fast cooking times, local ingredients, and preparation methods that made the dishes more agreeable to Canadians.

Takeouts are usually small family businesses, so the menus are variable, especially chop suey, which means 'leftovers' in Cantonese. In recent years, many of Ottawa's Chinese eat-in restaurants outside Chinese areas have converted to "all you can eat" buffets heavy with deep-fried breaded foods. Some new restaurants serve dishes based closely on today's regional cuisines of China. But, takeouts still serve mostly the food described here.

Anglicised transcriptions of Cantonese are often used to describe the dishes. This was probably adopted originally to enable unilingual Chinese to take orders; even today half those of Chinese origin in Canada can speak neither English nor French, and the proportion was much higher a century ago. Since the names are transliterated, spellings vary, e.g. foo young being fu yung in some. I've found the following so far in Ottawa:

• Cha Gio Chay - Vegetables in a dough wrapper, deep-fried. Usually called vegetarian egg roll or spring roll.
• Char Siu - Pork marinated in Hoisin sauce, sugar and house spices then broiled. Usually called barbeque pork; 'char' means fork and 'siu' roasted.
• Chop Suey - Bean sprouts and fine slices or strips of colourful vegetables such as carrots and bright green edged bok choy, stir-fried together. 'Chop' is slang for 'quick' in Cantonese. Originally a derogatory term, chop suey can be a gourmet dish when prepared with fresh vegetables steamed over a fine broth.
• Chow Fun - Broad rice noodles.
• Chow Mein - Usually chop suey accompanied by crunchy pan-fried noodles, or in a nest of dry noodles. 'Cantonese Chow Mein' is usually noodles (mein) stir-fried (so they are soft) with mixed vegetables and meats. Chow has become common North American slang for food.
• Dai Dop Voy - Mixed meats stir-fried with mixed vegetables.
• Dim Sum - "touch heart", any bite-sized dish that can be shared with friends
• Foo Young - Egg omelet with other things, usually including bean sprouts.
• Gai Lan - Broccoli.
• Gee Bow Guy - Sliced marinated chicken (guy) wrapped in rice-flour wrappers with fresh ginger and onions, deep-fried.
• General Tsao Chicken - Chicken, deep-fried then seasoned with ginger, garlic, sesame oil and hot peppers.
• Guy Ding - Chicken cut in cubes (ding), almonds and vegetables.
• Har Gow - Steamed wheat-flour dumplings (gow) filled with shrimp (har).
• Hoisin - A sauce made from salt-fermented soy beans, honey, vinegar and mild peppers. Sometimes made with peanut butter instead of bean paste. Sold premade in Chinese groceries, often coloured red (an auspicious colour).
• Hoy Fan - Fine rice noodles.
• Jar Doo - Lightly breaded deep-fried meat, usually chicken wings, usually seasoned with ginger, soy sauce and vinegar.
• Koo Loo - Marinated in sweet and sour sauce (a mixture of sugar and vinegar).
• Kung Pao - Diced chicken stir-fried with peanuts and hot peppers.
• Lo Mein - Stir-fried egg noodles and vegetables.
• Ma Po - A spicy hot sauce.
• Moo Goo Guy Pan - Sliced chicken with fresh mushrooms (moo goo) and mixed vegetables.
• Moo Goo Har Kew - Shrimp, fresh mushrooms and mixed vegetables.
• Moo She - Vegetables, black mushrooms and shredded egg omelet with black bean sauce rolled up in thin unleavened pancakes. (The name refers to flower petals, which the shredded omelet resembles among the dark ingredients.)
• Soo Guy - Chicken coated with a batter and deep-fried.
• Siu Mai - Steamed rice-flour dumplings.
• Sum Kew - Three kinds of meat.
• Sum See - "Three colours", a dish with 3 kinds of something, usually meat or mushrooms.
• Woh Sew Guy - Chicken stuffed with minced bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, deep fried.
• Wonton - A Chinese equivalent of ravioli, made with rice-flour wrapping and usually containing pork. Usually served in broth as a dumpling, but sometimes deep-fried.
• Woo Dip Har - Stir-fried shrimp, bacon and eggs.
• Wor - A stock pot (slow-cooked).

Chinese Takeouts in Ottawa outside of Chinatown
most deliver evenings; those marked restaurant are also eat-in

Brother Wu, 1060 St.Laurant, restaurant 745-1791
Cathay, 1755 St.Laurent, restaurant 521-9168
Cathay, 228 Albert, restaurant 233-7705
Cathay, 1423 Woodroffe 228-2228
Charlie Chan, 1353 Cyrville, restaurant 745-9178
Charlie Chan, 3615 Innes 745-9178
Country Place, 1969 Merivale, restaurant 226-7507
Dragon Express, 2225 St. Laurent, restaurant 737-3198
Full Start, 2515 Bank 523-3247
Golden Bowl, 1598 Cyrville, restaurant 744-2865
Golden Capital, 1139 Baxter 596-1266
Golden Palace, 2195 Carling 820-8444
Golden Star, 15 Springfield 746-4975
Good Choice, 2138 St.Joseph 824-6454
Good Luck, 2493 St.Joseph 841-1800
Happy Lam, 5469 Bank 822-0245
Ho Ho, 875 Richmond, restaurant 722-9200
Hong Kong, 800 Hunt Club 521-1230
Hung Fatt, 2108 Montreal 745-9894
Lucky Chow, McArthur & Paul Anka 731-2828
Lucky House, 1675 Tenth Line Road 837-1618
Lucky House, 320 McArthur 746-8252
Lucky Key, 1272 Carling 728-6465
Lucky Seven, 8154 Jeanne d'Arc 590-3117
Lucky Star, 1615 Orleans 830-1808
Mandarin Court, 1374 Baseline 225-8882
Oriental Palace, 1390 Prince of Wales, restaurant 226-8888
Palais Imperial, 313 Dalhousie, restaurant 789-6888
Ruby Inn, 1834 Bank 731-1873
Ruby King, 3014 St. Joseph, restaurant 830-0008
Wonton House, 1300 Wellington, restaurant 728-8885
Young Chow, 2516 Innes 824-2991

Ottawa's Chinatown
Somerset Street West, Bronson to Preston
just about any far-east specialty can be found here

Jadeland Restaurant, 625 Somerset
Yen Fung Ding Dumpling, 628 Somerset
Mekong Restaurant, 637 Somerset
Man's Kitchen, 641 Somerset, restaurant
Yang Sheng, 662 Somerset, restaurant
Yee Cheong Tong, 685 Somerset, herbs
Ben Ben, 697 Somerset, restaurant
Yangtze, 700 Somerset, restaurant
Great Wall Restaurant, 704 Somerset
Golden River Restaurant, 711 Somerset
Kowloon Market, 712 Somerset
Wa Kui Foods, 713 Somerset
So Good Restaurant, 717 Somerset
Ping Fat, 719 Somerset, herbs
Bubble City Tea, 730 Somerset
Manphong Supermarket, 775 Somerset
Royal Treasure Restaurant, 774 Somerset
Double Happiness, 777A Somerset
Saigon Meats, 777B Somerset
Lan Key, 778 Somerset, restaurant
Ha Long, 789 Somerset, seafood
Phuoc Loi, 791 Somerset, grocery
Bangkok Grocery, 794 Somerset
Man Phat, 800 Somerset, grocery
Asian Market, 801 Somerset
Cafe Orient, 808 Somerset, restaurant
Shun Fat Hing, 827 Somerset, grocery
Wah Shing, 835 Somerset, grocery

Ethnic Foods in Ottawa

In the last few decades, Ottawa has become one of the most culturally diverse cities in Canada. However, many of the stores that serve these cultures are so small they can't afford expensive advertising such as the Yellow Pages. Here are my favourite specialty places where you can buy their foods. Find them at MapQuest. Find others at Chowhound.

Asian: T&T Supermarket, 224 Hunt Club
Caribbean: Savannah, 1838 Bank
Chinese: Kowloon Market, 712 Somerset
Dutch: Dutch Groceries, 1400 Clyde
Greek: Olympia Market, 590 Gladstone
Indian: India Grocery, 675 Somerset W
Italian: Nicastro's, 1558 Merivale
Lebanese: Ayoub's Minimart, 322 Somerset E
Mediterranean: Mid-East Food Center, 100 Belfast
Mexican: La Tiendita, 850 Merivale
Russian: Stolichniy, 2280 Carling
Vietnamese: many on Somerset St.

Updates are welcome.
John Sankey
other notes on food