Spadina Garden
Location:
114 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Cost: $50 for 2
One of our friends has been talking about this place for so long, claiming it to be his favourite chinese restaurant. Ever. And we had tried, on numerous occasions, to eat-in (and even do take-out from) there, with no luck.
So, it became the perfect dinner venue for us on the night we saw WALL-E at the AMC theatre at Yonge and Dundas. There was no question where we really wanted to eat, even after a walk down Elm St. with all the fancier places (like Oro, Thirty-Five, Adega - which I actually DO want to try sometime) toting their Summerlicious menus and vacant patios.
Spadina Garden doesn't have a patio, but I suspect if it did, it would be packed. it does however, have a very nicely decorated interior with very comfortable chairs.
Since we had less than an hour to eat, we looked around at what other people were enjoying and asked our host what he recommended on the menu. His suggestions mirrored our own for the most part, so we went with the dry chilli chicken, the chicken in ginger sauce, a vegetable noodle dish and later decided we also wanted shrimp fried rice instead of plain rice.
We were warned that it would all be too much but we were inclined and happy to finish the rest the next day.
Our vegetable noodles came out in no time. Colourful and crisp.
Then our chicken in ginger sauce arrived....which I thought looked like it may have been the dry chilli chicken.
But then the dry chilli chicken arrived...
The fact that all the dishes reached the table separately bugged us a little bit. I'd have preferred having everything arrive together, at once, so that we wouldn't have been eating noodles first, and then chicken in ginger sauce and then dry chilli chicken.
And how about the shrimp fried rice, you want to know. Well, we had to double check that they'd received our order. They had. And there it was...
With lots of shrimp dispersed within the rice.
But, Foodhogger, how did it all TAAAASTE???
Incredible! Very spicy (we asked for it), fresh and not greasy. It's very good chinese food...maybe a bit haka-ish.
Speaking of spicy, we also requested a SIDE of hot sauce and this is what arrived at our table! None of that Tabasco s***.
You might be interested to know that the left-overs were even BETTER the second (and third - yep, that's right) time around. Highly recommended. Thanks friend.
12 Comments | Share Article | in Chinese, Dinner, Indian, Lunch, Toronto | Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 1:10PM
Reader Comments (12)
Sounds really great! I can't wait to go try this place out. Thanks so much Smita.
What is it above the broccoli and to the right. It's not bacon cause I checked and it says vegi, so maybe like ?
It's an onion :)
As the name implies i am from out of town and went to Spadina Garden on the recommendation of this site. 5 others joined me 3 of whom were from Austria. Let me just start with the comment from the Austrian who had lived 2 years in China - he said and i quote " This is worth flying over the ocean just to eat at this restaurant."
And wow was it good, from the peanut chicken to the crispy chilli chicken to the Hunan beef - this placed rocked the pallette.
The only set back was the service was kinda mediocre - something that i could live with just to eat at this place. The food was on our tables plenty fast.
Great suggestion Foodhogger.
Agree with London - this place is great and very "user-friendly" for those who don't like to experiment with the food on Chinatown or Dim Sum menus! Next time I'll ask for all the dishes to be served at the same time - otherwise a definite 10 out of 10 on the overall quality and experience.
[...] back before we knew how good Spadina Garden really was, we dismissed it and the buffet at Indian Flavour because all we really wanted was some [...]
[...] the food is tasty, I still much prefer Spadina Garden and House of Gourmet where I know I can count on going home with more to eat [...]
Hi,
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Have a nice day
AnnaHopn
Spadina Garden has recently renovated their restaurant. They serve excellent spicy peanut chicken, house special fried noodles, and dry shredded beef. I totally agree with what you said. Two Thumbs Up.
Renovations you say, Bob? Will have to go check it out...I'm due for some peanut chicken!
Thanks for your comment!
My husband and I come here often. Food is great, service good, but i sure wish they would clean their hanging light fixtures. The place is really nice but then you look up and see the lights loaded with dust. Such a simple thing to do and would make a big difference!
Hahaha Amy, thanks for your comment! I've never noticed the dusty light fixtures, but you're right, such an easy thing to do!
I JUST recently ate at SG again and the food is still so good!