Ah Dee's a big guy, but we managed to stuff him in back of our rental car for the forty-minute drive from downtown Toronto to the suburb of Scarborough. Our destination was Fantasy Eatery, the ill-named, deserted-looking place that our dim sum waitress from the day before had tipped us off on. But at 7:30pm, it wasn't so deserted-looking anymore -- the place was so packed, there was a waiting line snaking out the door. The ventilation was nonexistent, the lighting was garish, and the waiters were brusque, but it didn't seem to matter to anyone --the place was hopping. We were in a good mood already!

Against incredible odds, we were seated immediately at the only available large table -- apparently we'd jumped the queue because our party of 7 was considered the optimum size for that table. The menu was vast, comprised of almost 500 offerings ranging from the straightforward ("duck tongue") to the perplexing ("pork dummy" and "beef rid" -- which we later took to be pork tummy and beef rib). Prices appeared to be ridiculously low too, pleasing the budget gourmet in us.

Following the example of smart Chinese diners, we looked over at the next table to see what they were having. This inspired us to request tofu done 2 ways: jew-yeem style (deep-fried with salt, which the kitchen had omitted due to a misunderstanding) and Taiwan-style, where the deep-fried tofu cubes were sauteed with peanuts, chives, red pepper, and little 2"-long dried fish. It was a new and delicious way for us to enjoy tofu.

We also had the aforementioned duck tongue, scrambled eggs with salted fish, a pig's stomach casserole, frogs with leeks (the frogs were large and plump), crab with scallions and ginger (finger-licking good), and pork belly with sugar snap peas. But what really excited us was the taro with Chinese sausage casserole. The coconut sauce in it was unexpectedly quite complementary to the taro and sausage. And being Chinese, we of course discussed how we could duplicate it ourselves at home.

We would have ordered more, but our friend Alvin cautioned us to save up room in our "dummies" (as Fantasy Eatery refers to "tummies") for snacks at our next stop, Magic Wok.

Fantasy Eatery, Silverland Plaza, 3320 Midland Avenue (between McNicoll and Finch), Scarborough, Ontario (416) 332-0288