August's Pick: Small Dishes - Big Trouble
Spadina & Dundas strikes again! It's the best cultural hub in Toronto that is always popping with cool and authentic bars and restaurants!
This time for my monthly's pick is a delightful choice that Sasa, Justin, and I made to catch-up after such a long time of not seeing each other!
Big Trouble Bar has only been opened for 5 months by the time I'm writing this blog piece! The vibes are so #cultured and Asian (you don't say!)! Even the dragon neon in my 2nd capture is so captivating!
We learned that the place was broken into (unfortunately!) just a night before our visit but they kept the restaurant open while having the owner cleaning up the window mess! Now that's the restaurant business spirit!
The bartender (and also our server) was so friendly and the drinks in my 3rd capture were fantastic! I got a tequila passionfruit (next to the orange lantern reflection), which was OUTSTANDING for $7!
Now for the first Chinese tapas (IKR? Tapas is the new black now :D): the Spicy Coconut Firecracker Shrimp! Oh gosh! This was my most favourite dish of the night! The shrimp roll was SO coconutty and well-flavoured that we ordered twice! A must-have!!!
They cam out fresh and hot so be careful not to pick-up the fried roll right away! Haha.
Secondly, it's my childhood favourite! The Fried Chicken Wings with Fish-sauce was nicely done! It's such a signature dish in Vietnamese culture (the fish sauce!) and if you love Vietnamese food, this is also a must-try!!!
Here comes that one veggie dish! Haha! The Squash Dumplings were actually outstanding! We totally did not expect veggie dumplings to taste this good and Big Trouble Bar certainly killed it! The squash was so silky, well-seasoned and mashed to perfection! I'll order again for sure!
The last two dishes are Bang Bang Shrimp and Cow Fritters! The shrimps were not spicy (as some might have thought to be due to their name) and were delicious!
My least favourite (and probably won't order again) is the cow fritters! I found the dipping sauce - a kind of berry jam - to be not an ideal pairing with the fritters. But Justin loved it haha.
I mean, this place overall was incredible! Amazing vibes, great people. awesome food, and such good pricing for drinks! (still dreaming about that Tequila & Passionfruit drink hehe).
Let me know if you ever decided to visit!
Visit instagram.com/bigtroublebar for more info! All photos are taken by Huy Tran.
(Don't cause any big trouble when you're there! Haha!)
