Thai Spring Roll

Many restaurant owners provide their service staff with a "script" to follow when approaching customers. "Hello, my name is _____ and I will be your server this evening. Can I offer you [an overpriced, sickly sweet] specialty cocktail to start?" Smaller restaurants have the appeal of making the diner feel like a guest, rather than just another tab/table number.

Thai Spring Roll, at the hands of Kumar, runs with the perfect combination of grace, business savvy and respectful consideration for the individual customer, regardless of price range. Many of the dinner entrees are available on the lunch menu, from 11:30am-4pm, come with choice of soup or a spring roll, and are above and beyond reasonably priced. The best part is, they are not half the size of their peak-hour counterparts, but fill up the plate with the same generous portions as they would later in the day. This restaurant started out serving great Thai food and will continue to do so for years to come, especially with the same wonderful service offered by the lovely Rachel.

Their signature dish was, of course, the spring rolls, and didn't disappoint. They were bursting with flavour and ingredients, but unlike many I have tried in the past, NOT drowning in grease or over-wrapped with pastry. Colourful, fresh and crisp, the Mango Salad (with peanut coriander and their a lovely house dressing) was a refreshing way to enjoy the unusually warm weather before diving into the Classic Pad Thai (chicken and shrimp). It was yet another dish that I would highly recommend, which was no surprise after the quality of what had preceded it. I liked how the green onions, roasted peanuts and sprounts were placed on top of the hot portion of the dish so they would retain their unique textures and allowed the green onions to add a spash of colour. The chicken was tender and tasty with fresh shrimp and al dente noodles.Throughout the dish, I continued to enjoy the medley of tastes and textures. Singha Thai beer (bottle), nice and cold, went nicely with each of the dishes. The fantastic spring rolls were too good to stop eating, but I had satisfied my hunger long before I ran out of food. I still found myself picking at the salad in the car on the way home, but shared the leftover Pad Thai with my boyfriend. He loved it too. A clean restaurant, with excellent service, generous portions and reasonable prices, and authentic Pan Asian cuisine, Thai Spring Roll is where to go for Thai food in Toronto.

Thai Spring Roll
525 Bloor St. W (at Bathurst), The Annex
416-588-THAI, (416-588-8424)
Delivery, Take-out, and catering available.
Visit www.thaispringroll.ca
Dated Apr 2010

Review by Melissa Peters