I'm Australian-Chinese and grew up eating home cooked Chinese food so I'd like to think I know good and authentic Chinese food when I eat it.
I specifically chose Belleville because I knew there was a sizeable population on Chinese immigrants in the area. I was not disappointed (especially because now I live in London where the quality of Chinese food is in general not great).
The restaurant itself is rally more of a deli combined with a small diner. As in half the floor space is a counter selling tofu and meat buns, and he other half is cramped tables and chairs with people munching away.
My parents and I basically camped out at best tofu every morning for breakfast where we each had a savoury bowl of tofu in broth with seaweed (tofu hua), a fried dough stick (you tiao), a meat bun (bao zi), and some shallot pancakes. Real chinese street food and comfort food done well - very specific menu though, so you won't get sweet and sour pork etc. You can easily do this for lunch, it's not really a dinner place though but hey, depends on what you like.
On top of being authentic, it was also really really cheap. A hearty breakfast for my parents and I? €9 Total! (Not per person). Cannot be beat for value for money.
A note: I can see why it would be intimidating to go in if you're not Chinese as you don't know what to order and it's crowded and it looks chaotic. It's very much got the ambience of a classic cheap and cheerful Chinese diner. But if you're after authentic cheap chinese food, best tofu is where it's at! read more