#WednesdayInScarborough has a funny habit of drifting north into Markham.

Sometimes we end up somewhere that can’t be reviewed one restaurant at a time.

New Kennedy Square is one of those places.

It’s the kind of plaza where you come for one thing and leave carrying six. BBQ pork hanging in the window. Fresh buns cooling on racks. Dumplings full of scalding broth. A bowl of noodles you weren’t planning to order. Egg tarts for the drive home. You wander, you point, you eat. Then you promise yourself you’ll come back for everything you missed.

We’ve been doing exactly that for years.

Every visit turns up something different. Some places have become ritual. Others we’ve only just discovered. The only constant is leaving with a longer list than we arrived with.

This isn’t a review of New Kennedy Square. It’s a progress report.

We started at 369 Shanghai Dim Sum, where the spicy wontons were exactly what we’d come for.

Thick, handmade wrappers stuffed with shrimp, swimming in black vinegar, chili oil, peanuts and scallions.

There are plenty of other things on the menu. This isn’t one of those pushcart dim sum palaces. It’s smaller than that, quieter than that.

Truth is, we’ve never made it past the wontons. Maybe one day. Just not today.

Next stop: Hua Xing BBQ.

Forget the ducks for a minute. Give us the roast pork with blistered crackling and an order of cuttlefish.

The pork is all crunch and rendered fat. The cuttlefish fights back just enough to remind you it came from the ocean.

It’s the kind of lunch we never have to think about. We just order it.

A few doors down is Bowl Kee, probably our favourite noodle shop in the plaza.

The menu is massive. We could spend the rest of the year working through it.

Today, though, we came for the Capital Style Pork Chops. We almost always do.

Crispy, lightly battered, tossed with onions in that unmistakable sweet-and-savory sauce.

The noodles can wait until next time.

We also ducked into Les Châteaux Restaurant for Malaysian.

Malaysian food might be our favourite cuisine anywhere. Chinese, Indian and Malay influences all colliding on one menu. We could eat it every week and never get bored.

Today, we ignored all of that.  We ordered the Roti Canai.

Shatteringly flaky. Unapologetically buttery. Served with a bowl of curry that demanded every last piece be dragged through it.

Tear off a piece, drag it through the curry, repeat until there’s nothing left to clean up.

One of the newer additions to the plaza is Northeast Comfort Food, specializing in the hearty cooking of China’s Dongbei region.

It’s become our dumpling stop. Thick, chewy wrappers wrapped around generous meat fillings and plenty of leafy greens. Just enough black vinegar and chili oil to bring everything into focus.

There are plenty of reasons to come here.  The dumplings just happen to be ours.

And then… dessert.

Most of you know we’re on a lifelong Natas Tour, working our way across the GTA one Portuguese custard tart at a time.

Les Châteaux Bakery has long been known for its Hong Kong-style egg tarts, and it was about time we gave them their due.

Still warm from the oven, impossibly flaky, with silky custard that barely holds together.

Is it a nata?  No.  Did we care?  Also no.

Every visit starts with a plan.  Every visit ends the same way…

Too much food. Too many bags. A box of egg tarts riding shotgun. A list of places we’ll hit next time.

That’s New Kennedy Square.

We’ve been coming here for years, and it still feels like we’re just getting started.