Toronto Wednesday: Spadina

The neighborhood around Spadina was the epitome of eclecticism. On one corner alone was a Korean place, pho, and dim sum. I took a quick break in Rol San, the dim sum joint. I ordered a Tsing Tao, and I wasn't that hungry so I asked for the deep fried crab claw and an order of dumplings.



Soon a guy who looked like David Crosby and a heavily wasted girl in a Ramones jacket sat behind me. She whined at him in a cheap English accent, "BUDDY, I feel awful, Buddy, I feel dirty." He tried to get her to lower her voice, "Relax we're across the border now. It's over." His voice had an ominous midwestern undertone like Steven Jesse Bernstein. She would not let up, "But Buddeeeeee, BADeeeee, I feel sooo awful, you know, so bad." Soon they were bickering over 20 dollars and the entire room stared. I didn't dare turn around, and waved for my check before I finished my beer. The waiter who had been so accomodating now treated me coldly, as if I had brought them in with me.



I took the dumplings to go, and later abandoned them in the room when I left, so the only thing I really remember about the food was how spongy the shrimp around the crab claw was - somewhere between a shrimp chip and styrofoam packing peanuts. For some reason they made me think about the Australian Kiwi birds and what they would look like deep-fried.





They did have an extremely cool poster on the wall



Next door was a little dim sum bakery called Dong Dong Pastries - how could I resist? I picked up a few treats for later.