Mississauga Chinese Centre ~ Ontario Canada

A Taste of Hong Kong in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Years before I ever set foot in China, I was intrigued by the complex face it showed the world, a face both exotic and beautiful yet faintly dangerous, the 'Bad Boy' in the 'mysterious Orient', its peoples 'inscrutable'. This Yin-Yang face lured me to its shores, and to Hong Kong, with some trepidation but much excitement.

Chinese Centre On Dundas Street East at Cawthra road

Like at the Mississauga Chinese Centre on Dundas Street West, near Cawthra Road (see googlemap). When the Mississauga Chinese Centre opened in 1987, its dramatic replicas of traditional Chinese structures -- a main entrance gateway, Nine-Dragon Wall, Soo Chow Garden, covered walkway and Great Wall Fortress -- added a tourist attraction to the otherwise predictable suburban landscape.

Compared to the lure of these unique structures (built by craftsmen brought over from China), the shops, restaurants and services located within were inadvertently, and undeservedly, relegated to second place. But it wasn't until I had been to Hong Kong that I realized they, too, reflect a major part of Hong Kong, and Chinese, culture.

Sino Mall offers bargains just like Hong Kong markets

The shops in the Centre's Sino Mall offer not only the usual touristy items -- Chinese motif pictures and vases, figurines and linens -- but also everyday housewares, toiletries and foodstuffs that the Asian market demands. In the cramped interior of one of the dozen or so storefronts, many with goods spilling onto tables in the court itself, I spied some silk tote bags and purses that were duplicates of the ones I had bought in Hong Kong, thinking they were unique mementoes.

Checking the price tags, I realized with a start that these ones cost the same, or a bit less, than those I'd bought at Stanley Market. Why had I bothered lugging them home to Canada? Had I known my own city better, I could have bought them here.

Soon I was checking the other shops to see what else on offer here was the same as in Hong Kong. Silk pillow covers? Check. Silk table runners? Check. Wall hangings? Figurines? Check and check.

Food court in Sino Mall at Chinese Centre

And so it went, this voyage of discovery. A large, smartly decorated restaurant serving dim sum all day long, gift shops selling jewel-like cloisonné curios and jade pendants, and furniture shops chock full of inlaid gleaming woods and embroidered art prints.

Food court noodle and sushi stalls, bubble teas and steaming woks -- just like Hong Kong, even to the small group gathered around a food court table, engrossed by small wooden pucks on a square white board.

"They are playing Chinese chess," says Billy Lau, property manager for the centre, as I tell him my tale about how these stores crammed to the rafters with aisles so narrow you have to walk sideways and merchants who know every item in stock and offer 2-for-1 deals and discounts before you've even looked around make me feel like I am in China.

"That's because our tenants are largely immigrants from China and Vietnam," says Lau, himself newly arrived with his family from Hong Kong's New Territories. The centre serves a similar demographic from the local community, he says, as well as a wider one, with tour buses from New York state, and Niagara Falls and further afield stopping here so passengers can stock up with goods unavailable at home.

Mississauga Chinese Centre designated tourism area

"This is an official tourism area," he says, so the Centre is open most days year round, and celebrates special events in the Chinese calendar. (Early birds take note -- most shops open at 11 a.m.) Does Lau ever dine at any of Mississauga's many Chinese buffets? "They serve Canadian style Chinese food," he says. "We prefer Chinese style food." And Hong Kong's gleaming jewellery stores and designer clothing shops don't have a Mississauga counterpart, Lau says, because those high-end shops need a much larger market to be economically viable.

Oakville resident and Hong Kong native Karisa Lui agrees. "I always shop for things Chinese -- jewellery and clothing -- in Hong Kong," she says. "They are the 'must buy' items there." As the senior marketing executive for the Hong Kong Tourism Board in Toronto, Lui travels to Hong Kong several times each year. Lui points out the board's web site, Discover Hong Kong, has an entire section devoted to shopping.

Hong Kong, China style grocery shopping in Mississauga

Lui comes to Mississauga to shop for food, at a store that caters to the Asian community, as well as to canny Westerners who know a good deal when they see one. "I always shop for Chinese groceries at Sun Hing Supermarket -- officially known as H & H Oriental Food & Hardware Centre -- located in the Golden Shopping Mall at 1177 Central Parkway West near Burnhamthorpe," says Lui. "H & H is the largest Asian supermarket in Mississauga for now. We are looking forward to a new one -- the T & T Supermarket -- that opened in 2006, on Central Parkway, near Mavis Road."

And like the Mississauga Chinese Centre, H & H Oriental Food and Hardware also draws shoppers from as far afield as Niagara Falls, both for its wide selection of foodstuffs, housewares, china, cutlery and appliances like automatic rice cookers. If you're looking for sushi bowls, tea pots, mugs with lids or Melmac dinnerware for the cottage, then this is the place to come. Other 'Chinese shopping ops' can be found at Ying Ngai Co. Ltd., at 1310 Dundas East. The large showroom is filled with lacquered rosewood furniture, standing screens, porcelain dinnerware, cutlery and home decor.

Authentic Chinese Restaurants don't have buffets

All this shopping works up an appetite, so keeping with the theme of authentic Chinese, I bypass the buffet restaurants and head for the Perfect Kitchen on Ridgeway. Though not the same 'star' rating as the Golden Bauhinia Restaurant in the Hong Kong Convention Centre, or the Chinese New Year's banquet served at Toronto's Metropolitan Hotel, its pleasant decor and excellent menu fill the bill nicely.

A neighbour, from Taiwan, says I'd enjoy the Hong Kong style food at Macey's Restaurant on Burnhamthorpe; a take-out order soon proves her right. Macey's clientele -- largely Asian -- is scattered throughout a large room of simple tables and chairs and not much else, its basic decor belying the excellent variety and tastiness of its dishes. Unlike westernized Chinese buffets, each dish has distinct taste, and is a piping hot demonstration of the Cantonese penchant for very fresh foods.

These kinds of dishes are also served at nearby Tremendous Chinese restaurant, on Wolfedale south of Burnhamthorpe.

In ocean-challenged Ontario Canada, it's not likely I'll ever be able to select my entree from tiers of colourful tanks brimming with live crabs, lobsters and fish as I did at Chuen Kee Seafood Restaurant in Hong Kong's New Territories Sai Kung, or lose myself in the vibrant bolts of silks and satins, like in Tsim Sha Tsui. So far, I haven't seen fortune tellers seated at card tables in city parks, eager to predict my future, or any funiculars, like the one at Victoria Peak. But for sampling a bit of Hong Kong close to home, Mississauga has a fine Tasting Menu.

Mississauga * Mississauga Restaurants

See blog post about Dim Sum at Sun Sun and here with pictures

Dim Sum Happy Garden Located in the Streetsville - Credit Hills area, Mississauga

Tremendous Chinese restaurant Located on Wolfedale south of Burnhamthorpe, near Square One.