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The 5 Spices Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Chinese Restaurants Indian Chinese, Indian [Edit]
1411 Gerrard St EToronto, ON M4L 1Z5
(416) 901-5559
- Hours:
Tue-Thu, Sun 12 pm - 10 pm
Fri-Sat 12 pm - 11 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
Heather B. said: "Had dinner here last night. Reservations at 7:30. I think they must of had an off night because the service was really slow, unless that is how they roll. It took some times for drinks to come and then for our server to come back and…" read more »
4 reviews for The 5 Spices Restaurant
4 reviews in English
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Review from David M.
Toronto, ON
12/11/2011
I met 5 of my friends here for lunch on Thursday, and last night I went back with my lovely wife.
For lunch on Thursday, we split a number of dishes, all of which were good, but when you start to have that many dishes, there is a lot of overlap in flavours.
As others have described, 5 Spices dishes are definitely more Chinese-styled (cornstarch laden, thick shiny sauces) but with Indian flavours. Unfortunately, you won't find ingredients like broccoli or eggplant. The most "exotic" vegetable was cauliflower.
My favourite dish both visits was an appetizer called Chinese Bhel, a crispy, noodley delight. Try it and thank me later.
My wife described the dishes as "comfort food". Don't expect nouveau cuisine, but if you want good flavours and hearty dishes, you won't be disappointed. -
Review from Ayesha A.
9/26/2011
I have wanted to try this place for so long but whenever I go to Little India I already have my plan so have never been. Oh my gosh, I'm going again.
My pallet just didn't know what was going on...it was so interesting.
I would say it was more chinese tasting than Indian, but then dosed in a bit of Indian spice. The staff were all Indian, the decor was all Chinese. Super interesting and well balanced.
The staff were so cute, they were so concerned about our satisfaction. Kept saying thank you thank you when we'd say we were interested, or liked something.
Definitely the best veggie pakoras I have had in a very very very very long time.
And the prices were quite decent.
We had the fish curry on the hakka platter, all the other parts of the meal were veggie and more chinese style: veggie noodles, veggie rice and veggie spring roll.
Then we ordered a crispy chilli fried veggie which was DELICIOUS. Not the most interesting veggie-cauliflower and carrots-but they were fried in batter than doused in indian masala sauce stuff. Wow.......mmmmm....
So good!
And then I had indian chai.
Yummm.
I have to go back because there were so many things on the menu I need to try...next will be the lollipop chicken (yummy looking breaded and spiced chicken drumsticks)! -
Review from Geoffrey W.
Toronto, ON
2/12/2010
I brought home a meal from 5 Spices, and was pleased.
Let's get the Hakka thing out of the way. First of all, I'll say that 5 Spices bills themselves as Indian Chinese cuisine rather than explicitly as Hakka. And I can't claim to be a Hakka expert even by local standards. I'd been given to understand that what most people call Hakka is chinese-style dishes with indian-style spices (although Wikipedia points out that the cuisine traditional to the Hakka region is actually something else). I've had food at The Danforth Dragon, but I didn't find it was radically different from Chinese Food.
That said, we ate the vegetarian spring rolls and manchurian beef, both of which I was pretty pleased with. The spices were definitely strong, and tasted more like Indian spices than chinese ones. The dishes had a fair kick of flavor and spice 'heat'.
We also had the chicken fried noodles, which were more subtle, but still pleasant, and the Veg. Sweet and Sour, which I was less enthused by. It was still reasonable, but I had a hard time relating the sauce to 'sweet and sour', and the vegetable balls were a little mushy (perhaps by design, but I would have liked them slightly more firm).
The price seemed reasonable ($26 for the above dishes, including rice), the service was friendly. There was no-one else in the restaurant, although it was a late week-day lunch, so I don't read too much into it.
Basically, I was happy with my meal and would order from them again. -
Review from Mary J.
Toronto, ON
2/6/2010
Never have I seen a bigger affront to Chinese cuisine. I've been to a couple of Hakka restaurants in Toronto (Spadina Garden on Dundas) and this one is probably at the bottom of the list, as far as the quality of the food is concerned. It is more Indian than Chinese. And yes, the owner, servers and chef (should I say cook?) are all Indian. I am not trying to sound racist just letting you know what to expect--certainly not authentic Chinese flavour. I got the chicken hot and sour soup to start and the 5 spices chicken as the entree. Both dishes were very spice, which is good because I wanted it to be. The soup however tasted pretty bad, not much else to say there. The main dish was okay but the flavour was overwhelmingly Indian. It had a little bit of gravy which was thick and very much from an Indian restaurant (think chicken tikka-masala or something). I got the "Royal Falooda" drink, a popular Indian concoction. It tasted more or less like a cheap candy. In all fairness though, some of the dishes on the next table looked good. I just thought I'd go with the server's recommendation.
To conclude, I wasn't very impressed and probably won't go there again nor would I recommend it to anyone. I don't see them staying in business for much longer.
