Go for the food, go back for the dessert!. Review on 5 Spice, Sakinaka, Mumbai

When I first heard this restaurant's name, I thought it served Indian food.But I should have known better... we were taken there for a colleague's birthday treat, and this colleague is obsessed with Chinese food (almost as much as I'm obsessed with Italian). And of course, my first hint was when we were greeted by a North-Eastern hostess... a staple at all Chinese restaurants :) I guess the owners think it gives their restaurant a more authentic look and feel. After that first time, I've visited 5 Spice many more times, despite screaming about how much I dislike Chinese food, and even ordered in (they have home delivery). Wonder why? You have to see their dessert counter to believe it :) And they also have excellent mocktails and cocktails.

Before I start raving about the drinks and desserts, I'll talk about the food, which is really good. I only enjoy the starters in a Chinese restaurant. Some good starters at 5 Spice include the crispy vegetables, but they're too oily,and the steamed dimsums, which are steamed to perfection and the vegetables inside are seasoned really well. The sizzling vegetables and sizzling potatoesare delicious too, and if you ask that they don't make them too spicy, they comply. I also like the crackling spinach, but noone can do crackling spinach like Mainland China. The one thing I'd suggest not ordering is the stir fried exotic vegetables, when we tried that it tasted off and smelled weird. Maybe it was just a bad day for them, but we were so put off by it that we never gave it another try. Apparently their soups are good too. My friends love their coriander and sweet corn soup, but I'm not a soup person so I've never tried those.

Now on to the main course. My absolute favorite there is the exotic vegetables in hot garlic sauce. This consists of vegetables like brocolli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bell peppers, and tofu (I ask them to substitute the babycorn with tofu or paneerand tonot make it a "hot" sauce)in a delicious garlicy, sweet, yet slightly spicy red garlic sauce. Theirmanchurian isgood too, both vegetable and paneer variants of it. The mushroom in green garlic sauce is delicious and different, and so is the roast paneer with vegetables. You could also order any of the vegetables or paneer or tofu in your choice of sauce, like sapo, burnt chilli, soya chilli, garlic, hunan, black bean chilly, mangolian, or shanghai. I love their garlic sauce most, but then I'm not big on Chinese food, so I don't experiment much with the main course. And of course you'll need some noodles or rice to go along with your gravy. You should definitely give malaysian noodles a try, or stick to the classic hakka noodles. Next time I go, I plan to try something called the 5 Spice noodles. If you prefer rice, the garlic rice (yes, I love garlic) is good, as is the fried rice, and pot rice, which smells divine. If you like Thai food, they also have some thai gravy and rice/noodle options.

Now let's move to the mocktails and cocktails at 5 Spice.There are plenty to choose from and they are allexcellent. Their cocktails, like the cosmopolitan (vodka and cranberry), caprioska (vodka and lime), screwdriver (vodka and orange),are really strong and their mocktails (can't remember the names, but have tried most of the peach and orange and cranberrybased ones)are really fun. And in this weather, nothing beats a drink with some hot starters:)

Ok, now the reason I swoon whenever I go to 5 Spice: the desserts! Their dessert display is right at the entrance, of their Andheri East and Bandra branches at least. So I walk in and I'm in heaven! Their chocolate almond cake with ice cream leave me weak in the knees. Their mud cake, again with ice cream, is also amazing. If you're a fellow-chocoholic death by chocolate, a dark chocolate pastry served with chocolate ice cream and sauce, is the perfect choice. Androcky road is a road I'd always take, a brownie with chocolate andvanilla ice cream, chocolate mousse,chocolate sauce, and topped off with roasted nuts.Their sizzling brownie is delicious too, but I'd skip that since that's available everywhere. In fact, I can't think of a single dessert there that is below par. So no matter what, if you visit 5 Spice, leave room for dessert or you'll regret it!

Just one last thing, ifyou love Chinese food and look for authenticity, you should know that 5 Spice is no Mainland China or Aromas of China. But it's priced a lot more reasonably, the portion sizes are huge, and the food tastes good. A meal for two including starters, mains, desserts, and alcholohic beverages will cost about 900-1000 bucks, and less if you get non-alcholic drinks.And no otherChinese place comes close to 5 Spicein terms of desserts and beverages on offer - a must for someone who doesn't really enjoy Chinese food :)