An insider's guide to Victoria since 1997.

I used to like the dim sum at Jade Palace in Market Square, but it was long ago was replaced with office space. Don Mee's became my default choice for those great little dumplings, but I wanted to find and alternative-- just to mix it up a little. A friend tipped me off to a place called "Jade Fountain"-- hidden underground beneath the Red Lion hotel/strip bar/beer store at 3366 Douglas St.. We were told: show up at 10AM or be prepared to wait. We took an elevator into the Earth and went down halls to small windowless room. It felt like I should be dining with Eva Braun and the Chancellor's staff. We lined up a ramp and were seated momentarily. It was funny coincide that we showed up early to avoid the crowd and beat the waitresses into the restaurant. Last left one of the men who seemed unhappy to deign to server the dim sum fare. The room is cramped with tables. While everything at other dim sums is presented on carts, at Jade Fountain it's a mix of carts and girls bringing around trays. The cramped arrangement of tables means there are traffic jams and frustrated servers turn back when they get tantalizingly close to your table. The food itself is good. There is an array of standard finds: hargow, shaomai, and the like; augmented with some nice pastries, a few finds that I have not seen elsewhere and lacking a few old favourites. By the time we left, I looked over to that rampway entrance. It was packed with people waiting to sit cramped together and sample little dumplings. If you want to change up where you usually find your dim-sum, you can try the Jade Fountain. I didn't like the bomb shelter feel or the chaos, so it will be some time before I return.