Located in the heart of Parkdale, Miss Thing’s could be mistaken for a hip clothing store from the outside. You’re going to love that, instead, it’s a Polynesian restaurant with an amazing selection of drinks in funky vessels. Believe me.
Miss Thing’s was Anita’s pick and she scores yet another home run (we aren’t sure she’s struck out yet). The menu is varied enough to give everyone a little something to taste.
We started with cocktails, created by head barman Robin Wynne – and each one is more elaborate than the next! Jess and I had the Caribbean Queen which comes in a yellow parrot cup. Then there’s Left Shark – Marj’s choice – which literally comes in a shark. Caitlin had the Electric Banana which comes in a flamingo cup with a banana crafted into a dolphin and Anita had the Fuzzy Wawa which is a daiquiri in a coconut. If funky vessels are not your thing, there are a bunch of great drinks that come in regular glassware, like Becky With The Good Hair which Lynds chose and Disco Juice which was Heather’s. A note: these drinks are 2.5-3 oz each so keep that in mind if you’re driving!
On to food, with a menu created by Chef Jasper Wu. We all skipped the raw bar selections in favour of snacks to start. Between us we tried the Hoki Poke, Fried Eggplant and Shrimp Po’Bao. The Hoki Poke is 4 medium taro chips with ahi tuna, avocado, tobiko and nori with a sesame dressing. It’s a mix of crisp and meaty, with a delicate fish taste.
The fried eggplant is really simple – cubes of eggplant, coated in batter with a light chili seasoning. Lynds, Marj and I shared that, and it’s a great little snack. I had the po’bao to myself. The bao to filling ratio wasn’t great – not enough shrimp and slaw for that fluffy bao. Individually, each thing is really flavourful and delicious. Together, it missed the mark only slightly because of that skewed ratio.
For a main, I had the Spicy Crab Roll which is, strangely, not on the website menu but totally on the paper menu in the restaurant. It’s rice paper rolls filled with crab meat, cucumber and spicy mayo with a mango chutney base and shiso pesto on the side. It’s a great meal for summer; light, refreshing and filling without being too much. Even with baos for a starter.
Lynds and Jessica shared 8 pieces of the fried chicken and I hear they were well executed. Lynds’ scale for fried chicken is 1 to Bar Fancy and these were somewhere nearer the Fancy end so that’s saying something! Caitlin had the Poke Bowl and it’s definitely not your average bowl. I can only describe it as the grown up sister of the fast food bowls that are all the rage in Toronto right now. It’s a miso cured rainbow trout, salmon egg, shiitake mushroom, chili radish, coconut rice feast!
Finally, the piece de resistance on Miss Thing’s already mouth-watering menu is their Pineapple Fried Rice. It’s brown rice with toasted cashews, dressed with sambal mayo and you get a choice of braised pork belly or sweet and sour jackfruit. Heather and Anita both chose this as their main, and both chose to have pork belly and jackfruit. The dish is served in half a pineapple.
Looks alright, doesn’t it? This has been our favourite DOOL so far this year and, if you go, you’ll see why right away! From the decor to the drinks to the food, the entire vibe of Miss Thing’s is seamless and the quality is near perfect.
Until we eat again.
Dinners of our Lives 