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| - It isn't often that I make it out to the Beaches area these days, but when I do, obligatory eating transpires. On a late Saturday afternoon, we waited for about five minutes before our party of two was seated in this small (but not tiny) Queen Street restaurant. Having just bought some Holy Basil for my herb garden, I immediately felt the need to order the Holy Basil lunch dish, with chicken. Obviously I need to set a baseline for my future cookery. As an accompaniment, a tall glass of thai iced tea.
After a quick trip downstairs to the washroom to give my hands a wash, a spring roll appear in front of me. I didn't order a spring roll... wtf? But it turns out that it comes with one! Woah. It was good. Hot, crispy, savoury, and most importantly, not greasy. An amazing spring roll experience.
After setting the bar so high, the thai iced tea arrive and this too did not disappoint. Once I gave it a good swirl to bring it to its final deep red-brown hue (and also to mix in the dairy), I took a long blissful sip. The rich, bold flavour brought back childhood memories of running through fields of grass along the country side, devoid of all cares in the world. Actually, it didn't. But it was delicious, and the flavour *was* rich and bold with strong black tea undertones, mellowed by a gentle sweetness.
Next came the ... Holy Basil? Wait. Where's the basil? After digging around a bit, I found a few pieces here and there, but it wasn't as basily as I would have expected. In fact, it wasn't basily at all. Instead, it was salty, like someone added too much soy sauce and not enough of anything else. But that said, I didn't not finish it, although towards the end when the rice supply was running thin, it was getting difficult.
So would I come back? Probably. Would I order the same main? Probably not. 1 star for the spring roll, 1 star for the thai iced tea, 1 star for the staff, and 0.5 stars for the main. 0.5 stars for my +1's main (because it was good and it wasn't mine and I didn't get to eat all it). Four out of five.
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