Review: Spring Rolls (Asian)

[nwriter]

Spring Rolls: On A Roll!

Asian cuisine is plentiful in the big city, particularly in Toronto’s China Town. But what oh, what are you to do if you if you live further away, even in the outskirts, or the dreaded sticks?

Ha ha! Well, until recently you had to settle for the default: a forgettable, greasy, reheated chicken ball-slinging joint in a strip mall. That is all about to change, thanks to a new chain of Asian-inspired restaurants called Spring Rolls!

Admittedly, I was very dubious, when I first glimpsed their red and white signs. I immediately assumed, wrongly, that mass-produced food court quality Chinese food was soon to run amok in franchise form.

After all, franchised Chinese hasn't really succeeded in our neck of the woods.

However, that all changed when some dear friends heartily recommended joining them for dinner at a Spring Rolls location in the midtown Toronto area and told us they’d make reservations. (Reservations? I wondered. Almost no Chinese restaurants I know of even take reservations.)

Night fell and we soon arrived at our destination.

And? We were suitably impressed. It was jam-packed with diners. There was a nice warm ambience. The interior was stylish and sophisticated. It was fun. It was chic!

I thought to myself: this is a Chinese restaurant? I then observed: if the food is as anything as inspiring as the interior, this is going to be a great hang-out. (In truth, I might’ve actually supplied an excited albeit less printable adverb.)

We were soon seated and scanned a broad selection of items, which ran from Thai, Vietnamese to Chinese. Our table ordered some edamame or cooked salted soy beans (which we polished off quickly!), as well as some shrimp hurricanes (or was it tornados?

Hell, I just know it was named after some form of wind-storm!). Essentially, the dish in question is a handful of jumbo shrimp wrapped in thin rice noodles, deep-fried to a crisp! The crunch of the noodles and the sweetness of the shrimp was a wonderful combination. It took every ounce of will-power not to hoover the last piece that everyone was eyeing.

Fortunately, by that point our mains had arrived.

I’d settled on a dish that included 3 skewers of satay chicken served on a bed of mango salad with peanut sauce on the side. The chicken skewers were surprisingly not overcooked, as I find grilled kebab-type dishes are often cooked to death. The meat was marinated in a pleasing lemongrass spice, and was in fact quite juicy. I immediately made a dive for the spicy peanut sauce. It was nice – I could even see flecks of chili flakes.

Truth be told, I quite liked the chicken on its own. And I should add that when I chose my dish, I almost treated the mango salad as an afterthought. But my ignorance soon vanished. *poof!* For once my focus shifted, I saw it was a beautifully presented dish of thinly shredded mango: firm but sweet, mixed with chili. Despite the generous portion, it was the perfect light dinner dish. And I felt good that I ate something that was actually good for me!

My wife tried Spring Rolls’ version of Vietnamese Pho beef noodle soup – though we didn’t like the broth nearly as much as the one at Rice Paper (see review) or Pho Saigon (review still to come!) but it wasn’t bad. What she liked more at Spring Rolls was their Shrimp and Chicken Pad Thai – that, she happily ate.

All in all our evening of dining was excellent – franchise or not. We should all look forward to their fresh Asian ideas coming to a menu near you!

Btw, you can use this coupon for free spring rolls when you spend $25 or more:

http://www.menupalace.com/menupalace...aspx?rid=33977

Note: I later Googled Spring Rolls and learned they are opening locations all over the GTA, even as far from Toronto as Milton (where the Chinese food situation can only be described as dire).

8 Locations, including:

1800 Sheppard Ave
416-756-7655

More info, menu and locations:

http://www.springrolls.ca

[NSangel]

Pho Saigon (review still to come!)

thanks for the heads up!!! :D

you should put that link to the coupon into the coupon database (if you haven't arleady). that's a nice little freebie.

[nwriter]

Actually, I found it in the database by some eagle-eyed SCer, but I thought it would be handy to also have within the review.

[Justine]

Spring Rolls is more of a thai fusion place. I've been eating at it for years, I try to go every time I can in Toronto. The three locations I've been to in Toronto all have a different decor style, which is pretty cool. The one near Yonge and Bloor is the oldest one out of the tree, it has brick walls on the inside, and buddha statues, the one on Front St is more modern and clean, white interior and a shark tank, and one near Yonge and Dundas has a foundation that you can sit beside and is inside a shopping more/office building, the most accessible one I think.

The food is great. I love their spring rolls (obviously) and their pad thai is a favourite. Their mango salad is small, but so good. The service is great. Highly recommended.

[itsjustmebub]

I've been as well just once and I really enjoyed myself.
The atmosphere was nice and the food was delicious and well priced.