Rating: NNNNN
JEAN’S FINE FOODS CATERING (2326 Danforth, at Woodington, 416-422-0617) The pair responsible for two of Toronto’s pioneering Thai-Malay restaurants — Rasa Sayang and Sawasdee — return with this low-key take-away featuring the street foods of Singapore. Fear not, pyrophobes. Unless fired with hot sauce, most dishes come moderately spiced. Best: Mee Goreng (saucy and slightly curried udon noodles mixed with shredded shrimp and chicken) deep-fried bean curd with chewy black Chinese mushrooms, broccoli and red pepper vegetarian spring rolls stuffed with carrot, cabbage, glass noodles and yellow split peas dunked in garlicky honey dip spice-tacular homemade hot sauce bottled in-house curry paste and powder. Complete meals for $10 per person, including all taxes and tip. Open Tuesday to Sunday 5 to 10 pm. Closed Monday and holidays. Unlicensed. Access: bump at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
THAI SPRING ROLL (1512 Queen West, at Fuller, 416-532-2877) Twenty years after the fact, Thai and Malay food finally comes to Parkdale. This offshoot of the Friendly Thai group offers fiery mains with many vegetarian options in evocative DIY digs set to the hippest electro soundtrack in town. Best: appetizer platter for two or more — shrimp satay, green mango salad, rice-paper spring rolls and lightly battered calamari Tom Kha Dai coconut chicken soup with galangal, kaffir lime and chilies curried pad thai mango tofu electric eggplant with Thai basil iced coffee with vanilla ice cream. Complete meals for $15 per person, including all taxes, tip and a domestic beer. Open Monday to Friday 11 am to midnight, Saturday and Sunday noon to midnight. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
VICKY’S FISH AND CHIPS / SUE’S THAI FOOD (414 Roncesvalles, at Howard Park, 416-531-8822) At this plain-Jane Parkdale diner with a split-personality, ignore Vicky (good fish, terrible chips) and concentrate on Sue. She may not dish up the best Thai in town, but she’s certainly the cheapest. Despite the low prices, shrimp dishes come with butterflied jumbo shrimp — not a lot of them but better than the tiny frozen ones offered elsewhere. And the vegetarian versions are even more inexpensive! Best: pad thai laced with coconut milk and garnished with crushed peanuts green curry with Thai basil crispy noodles with mixed veggies cashew shrimp with red peppers, tart green apple, and onions Icelandic cod with coleslaw (hold the fries). Complete dinners for $12 per person, including all taxes and tip. Open Monday to Saturday 11 am to 9 pm, Sunday and holidays 4 to 9 pm. Unlicensed. Cash only. Access: barrier-free, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
