The restaurant started out as a few tables in a strip mall, then expanded
Published Jun 02, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read
Sunday was a bittersweet day for staff and diners at the Mandarin Ogilvie Restaurant.
Bitter because the east-end mainstay known for its dim sum was serving up its last round of fresh-made treats, from barbecued duck and pork to quail, squid, shrimp and assorted rolls, dumplings and potstickers.
Sweet because customers were there not just to savour the food, but to celebrate their relationships, sometimes decades-long, with the family that has run the restaurant for 36 years.
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Customers brought cakes, flowers and champagne to celebrate the end of an era. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former prime minister Jean Chrétien and Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier dropped by to offer their farewells in person, said manager Johnny Hsieh, scrolling through photos on his cell phone. News of the restaurant’s closing has been reported in Chinese-language newspapers in Toronto and Vancouver.
“The customers have been very nice, very friendly. I will never forget them,.” said Hsieh, 69, who has worked in his family’s restaurant since it opened.
“Today I feel like a movie star.”
Samphe Lhalungpa has been coming to the Manadarin Ogilvie with friends and family for 30-plus years. It’s the authenticity of the food that keeps him coming back.
“If you look at the range of things, it’s all prepared by hand, it’s not machine-made. Some of the wrappers are very hard to make, because they’re made with rice and tapioca starch. They must start at four in the morning to make it,” said Lhalungpa.
“And then it’s very convivial. People come and eat different things. There’s something for everyone. And we talk.”
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Shirley Serafini said her husband Peter discovered the restaurant while he was taking French-language training in the east end in the 80s and it remains a family tradition. When her son and his family visits from Norway, they all eat at the Mandarin Ogilvie.
“The food is unique. It’s not the stuff you get in regular Chinese restaurants. They have their own dishes that are amazing. And the dim sum here is fantastic.”
Peter Serafini said over the decades his family has come to know the owners. “Then their kids worked here, and their kids went off to university. It has been lovely to know them as a family for all this time.”
Sheila Rose said her daughter lives in Montreal and her son lives in Toronto, but the Mandarin Ogilvie remains a family favourite.
“They have yet to find a restaurant that has the quality of the dim sum here. They always want to come here.”
How the family came to settle in Ottawa is a convoluted story. The restaurant’s owner, Jor-Chaur Shienh, was one of a family of six brothers and three sisters. Born in Cambodia, family members scattered to Taiwan, Kong Kong and Paris.
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Shiehn, who died in 2018, ran a restaurant in Paris called the Mandarin Provence. He moved to Ottawa in 1987, and opened the Mandarin Ogilvie in 1987. Members of the family met and decided to reunite in Ottawa, said his daughter, Nathalie.
The restaurant started out as a few tables in a strip mall, then expanded. Soon, the family followed the Palais Imperial on Dalhousie Street. It was sold in 2021.
The restarant is located in the Mandarin Plaza, which the family owns. It is to be developed into a 20-storey, mixed-use building with more than 300 residential units.
“It’s emotional. We’ve created relationships with all of our customers A lot of them are here to say goodbye,” said Nathalie. “We’re just so happy to see everyone one last time.”
Before the pandemic, the Mandarin was known for serving dim sum on carts. That fell by the wayside during the pandemic, when the Mandarin introduced an à la carte service. The cart service was resurrected Sunday.
“We haven’t done that since COVID,” said Nathalie. “On our last day we decided to do that so everyone could remember how it was when we first opened.”
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Shirley Serafini said her next challenge will be to find a place where her family enjoys the food as much.
“We’re checking Chinese recipes online. We’re trying our best to copy our favourite recipes from here.”
As for Johnny Hsieh, his work is not over yet. He would be back on Monday to start cleaning out the restaurant to make way for the new development.
“Because they want start the apartment building.”
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