Despite claims that business in Chinatown East has never been better, it feels to me that it has been in decline for at least a decade. Certainly the restaurants aren't anywhere near as popular as they once were. The big one ( it used to be called East Grand, for a few years ) on the south side of Gerrard used to have a queue for dim sum out the front door on weekends and is pretty quiet most of the time now. That Beijing restaurant, downstairs on the south side, looks as if it has closed. Jun Jun closed in 1999. The wonderful Ka Hee closed way before that, and was replaced by a succession of lesser restaurants. Spring Rolls GO doesn't appear to be doing much business, and is closed more than it's open during the hours that one would expect a restaurant to be open. There are several empty storefronts for rent. Bill's remains a great place to buy wet fish, and Hanoi 3 Seasons ( the original, now that a sister restaurant has opened on Queen ) is a treasure, and there's Batifole, but the Chinese character is slowly fading and being replaced by Vietnamese versions of Chinese.
