Mandarin, Chinese buffet restaurant in Woodbine Avenue, Markham, Canada.
Mandarin is a Chinese buffet restaurant in Markham, Ontario, where food is laid out across a series of self-serve stations throughout a large dining room. The selection covers seafood, meat, vegetable dishes, and desserts, alongside live cooking stations where dishes are prepared in front of diners.
The restaurant opened in 1979 as a single Chinese food location and grew over the following decades into a chain with multiple sites across Ontario. It was one of the first Chinese buffet chains to establish a lasting presence in the province.
For many Chinese-Canadian families, this restaurant is a regular gathering spot on weekends and holidays, as seen in the large groups filling the dining room. The dishes bring together Cantonese and northern Chinese cooking side by side on the same serving counters.
The restaurant is in Markham and is generally easy to reach by car, with parking available on site. Weekends tend to draw larger crowds, so visiting on a weekday at lunchtime can make moving around the stations more comfortable.
Although the chain is known as a Chinese restaurant, the buffet has always included western dishes such as pasta, roasts, and North American-style desserts alongside the Chinese options. This was a deliberate choice from early on to appeal to a broad range of diners rather than only those seeking Chinese food.
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