12 Spices, Canley Vale Heights
squishies
26 February 2008
Dinner, Laos, Sydney, West, Thai
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“Cheap” and “Thai” are becoming (or already is) synonymous when it comes to dining out, so it’s not really surprising that I seem to end up at 12 Spices quite often (though pedantically, they also serve Laos food); it is also terribly close to where I live (always a plus when laziness sets in).
Green Duck Curry
Sadly, my inability to take spicy food kept me away from this dish, but from what (little) I had it was quite nice (though it was still awfully spicy).
Seafood Pad Thai
It was your typical, round-of-the-mill pad thai. It was rather different to have it with seafood (I’ve only have had chicken) and I think I like it better! It wasn’t too sweet nor was it bland. Almost just right; something was missing, but I wasn’t too sure what it was. Then again, I’m more of a pad see ew person so that may have worked against me.
Chilli Basil Chicken
Quite delicious, but also quite spicy after consuming quite a bit. I had to regulate my intake of this dish, sadly enough. (Yes, I need to work on my chilli tolerance)
Mild Paw Paw Salad
I’m always amused by the different standards of “mild”; obviously it differs between person to person and so dish to dish. One of my friends is my chilli barometer (she has a slightly better tolerance to spicy stuff than me) and after taking a bite of the salad she gave me the Look, which I took to be “daaaaang, my tongue is on fire” and so sensibly avoided the dish.
Deep Fried Ice Cream with Caramel Topping
I didn’t have this dessert, but those who did seemed quite pleased with their choice. (Not a big fan of deep fried ice cream, I always feel like I’m going to have a heart attack when I eat one)
Sticky Rice with Mango and Vanilla Ice Cream
I love this dessert. It’s such a juxtaposition between warm and cold, sweet and almost savoury. Some of my friends didn’t quite like it as it was too odd, but I think it’s something that definitely should be tried, if not loved.
I normally eat at 12 Spices with a friend outside “peak hour” times (e.g. 9pm on a Saturday night). This time I had about 6 people and on a very busy Friday night. It’s this mad rush to try to accommodate so many hungry and demanding people that service wasn’t as attentive as I had come to expect. The food, though, was still quick in being served.
A few things happened that kind of made us go “hmmm”.
Our Chilli Basil Chicken was somehow mixed up with Chilli Basil Beef and had to sent back (one of us is Indian).
We saw one very annoyed and disgruntled customer walk up to one of the waitresses and complained about his fried ice cream: it was cracked opened and all of the ice cream had melted. She apologised and tried to appease him by offering a replacement, but he just shook his head in disgust and told her not to bother before walking out.
We also had the unpleasant experience of finding a tiny dead cockroach floating in our water jug after we had poured out water into everyone’s cup and was drinking it. This was quickly rectified, but it was still kinda gross. No one got sick though, which was fortunate.
Although the overall experience during their busy period was marred by these mishaps, the food we had were above average and it is quite good value for money – reasons enough for me to come back to 12 Spices really.
12 Spices
197 St Johns Rd,
Canley Heights, NSW
Ph: 02 9609 1465
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