Congee Town serves up classic Cantonese dishes and bowls of heartwarming congee.

Occupying some spacious real estate in the Woodside Square mall at Finch and McCowan in Scarborough, the restaurant makes for a much heartier option than the mall’s food court, especially for groups.

This well lit restaurant is a family run endeavour, operated by the same folks who opened the equally busy and affordable Congee Time at Newtonbrook Plaza.

As their name entails, the bowls of savoury congee are the main attractions here. The Super Supreme Super Bowl Congee ($10.95) – yes it indeed quite super – comes in one size that's ideal for sharing with friends.

Adorned with surf clams overtop a mixture of scallops, prawns, garoupa, and salmon, it has a delicious seafood flavour.

You can’t have congee without something to dip into it, so an order of crispy deep fried dough fritters ($2.25) makes the perfect accompaniment. You can also order the sweet cruller ($2.25) which comes in a round shape and has a thicker texture. 

For a small appetizer, try the shrimp and chive rice noodle roll ($4.25), which tastes best doused in sweetened soy sauce. 

I also recommend trying their award-winning Hong Kong style tea hot ($2.25) or cold ($2.99), which comes sweetened.

Congee Town's tea blend took second place in the international milk tea competitions held in Markham in both 2013 and 2014, so you can imagine it's pretty good.

A favourite dish is the stir fried vietnamese-style diced beef ($12.50) which looks simple but is incredibly tasty. Beef is flavoured with fish sauce and decked out with broccoli and cashews.

The pork and preserved egg congee ($5.25) is a small bowl but packs a lot of flavour. The eggs' saltiness is a great compliment to the meat, and comes sprinkled with coriander. 

For a Hong Kong diner favourite, the crispy Cantonese chow mein ($11.25) is covered with an assortment of meat, seafood and veggies like chicken, shrimp and broccoli.

If you're looking for an authentic flavour, try the Lai Wan congee ($5.25), a popular congee style in China that consists of pork rinds, seafood, lots of peanuts and a sprinkle of chopped green onions. 

The pork that comes in the sweet and sour dish ($7.75) is very juicy – not crunchy or hard like other varieties, and is sauced in a mixture that's not overly sweet.

A dish that's good for picking at with friends is the Singapore-style fried turnip patties ($6.75) that are topped with little shrimp, shreds of cooked egg, and come with an itty bit of spice.

To finish off the meal, get a red bean ice ($3.75) for a very traditional Cantonese dessert. A mix of adzuki beans, ice, and condensed milk in a dessert cup comes topped with vanilla ice cream for a sweet finale.