Green Tea Restaurant located at 3235 Hwy 7 E, Unit 18 in Markham

January 12, 2018:  After attending the tasting event at Green Tea Restaurant last month, I visited Green Tea Restaurant again in order to use up the $30 credit voucher that I received from the event.  (I actually tried to go to Green Tea Restaurant two times before that — the first time, the door was looked at around 4 p.m. on a weekend so we assumed they were probably closed for their staff to rest or something; the second time, me and my boo went on a Friday night and there were packed with people.  The hostess gave us a number and told us that the wait was 15 minutes.  Even when she told me that, I doubted it because it didn’t seem like any tables were leaving yet and there were so many people in the foyer waiting for a table too.  Nevertheless, we waited for about 15 minutes before we left to go to another restaurant.  In the 15 minutes that we waited, they barely called a party to a table.)

Gorgeous interior design

Anyway, my mom and I came here for an early dinner around 4 p.m. (yay for early job finishes).  The restaurant was open!  Yay!  I was so glad because I was afraid that the door would be locked again like last time.  The restaurant already had a fair number of customers too.  Either these were customers who were having a really late lunch or also an early dinner like us.

The restaurant had a lot of staff on hand.  We asked to sit at one of their booths.

The prices at Green Tea Restaurant are quite high for a Chinese restaurant considering that most Chinese restaurants offer cheap to moderate prices for shareable plates.  Their menu also indicates a “regular” price and one for “VIP members”.  Apparently their VIP card is $20 and good for one year (don’t quote me on this).  We paid the regular price since we didn’t buy or have a VIP card.

Menu with photos

Menu that you can write on to check off items

Stir Fried Lamb on Sizzling Hot Stone Plate. $17.99 ($15.99 for VIPs)

After placing our order, the first dish arrived so quickly!  This was the Stir Fried Lamb on Sizzling Hot Stone Plate.  This was indeed on a sizzling hot stone plate!  The lamb was sizzling so loudly when it arrived at the table!  The hot stone plate was heavy in weight and it kept the dish warm right up until we left the restaurant pretty much (an hour later).

There were substantial slices of the stir fried lamb mixed with lots of green onions and chives.  If you like green onions and chives, this is definitely your dish.  I adored the seasoning of the lamb slices!  It was so well done and cooked.  It was such a savory dish to my liking.  I ate so many of the slices. ^_^

Steamed Pumpkin Stuffed with Sticky Rice and Mixed with Honey. $11.99 ($9.99 for VIPs)

The second dish to arrive was the Steamed Pumpkin Stuffed with Sticky Rice and Mixed with Honey.  This was such a unique dish and I’ve never seen it anywhere before.  This was more of a dessert since it was a sweet dish.  The steamed pumpkin’s “lid” was lifted open to review the sticky rice inside.  You could use the spoon to scoop out the sweet pumpkin flesh along with the sticky rice to eat together.  It was a really homey and comforting dish!  Although the sticky rice was plain in flavour, the sweetness of the pumpkin enhanced it.

Opening up the cover

Assorted Mushroom Baked with Cheese. $14.99 ($13.99 for VIPs)

Our third dish was the Assorted Mushroom Baked with Cheese.  I had been curious about this dish since seeing it on the menu last time when we were waiting for a table.  It turned out to be a not-so-authentic Southern Chinese dish as I’m not sure if authentic Southern Chinese dishes from Hangzhou actually use baked cheese in their food?  Even if they do use cheese, I highly doubt that they use American style cheddar and mozzarella cheese in their dish. >.<

This was essentially what it was.  There was a layer of assorted mushrooms (king oyster mushrooms and other ones) with a huge layer of cheddar and mozzarella cheese baked on top of it.  While the amount of cheese that was used was ample and generous, it wasn’t the best dish since it seemed a little out of place in a restaurant like this.  As a cheese lover though, I definitely loved the huge layer of cheesy cheese that stayed warm throughout the visit too.

The service here was good.  A server kept walking over to our table to check on us to see how we were doing without interrupting us.  (I find it intrusive if any server keeps coming around to verbally ask us how we’re doing at restaurants…)  Even when we weren’t able to log into the free wifi network, the server followed up with us.  Alas, the free wifi network didn’t work no matter how many times we tried to input the password. XD

Our spread of food

Lamp with intricate design

One of many restaurants at First Markham Place

While I enjoyed the food and flavours here at Green Tea Restaurant, I think their prices are very high for elevated Chinese food (unless you get the VIP card and split it with a lot of people when dining in, I guess).  Their interior, as I had mentioned before in my blog post from the tasting event, is gorgeous and all imported from Hangzhou, China!