There are quite a few chinese joints in mumbai. Most of them can be categorized as either authentic, or adopting the more "desi" style. You'll either be having some weird dish that you've never heard about, or some fried rice at a food stall, that you might have become bored of. But there's this other category, called semi-authentic, which does not fall in between the two, but one which adds a different dimension to the cuisine. There are very few places which adopt this style of cooking, which is sad considering how good the results can be. 5spice is one such place which falls under this category. Its a franchise with multiple outlets in the city, and has made quite a name for itself with their semi-authentic style.
Ambiance-Pretty much your standard fare. A bit tawdry for my liking. Its your standard restaurant decor with the occasional chinese relic thrown in between just to justify the cuisine. Its like they took the semi-authentic concept too seriously. Other than that, its pretty well maintained with comfortable seating and well presented tables. A tad too small, considering the crowd it attracts, resulting in queues waiting outside for most of the day. But even so, they provide chairs for the people waiting outside so that's good enough.
Food - Most of the dishes found at this place can range from good to very good. If i had to suggest a good combination, i would say have the crab meat soup, kung pao chicken for starters, Forture rice with fish hunan for the main course, and top it off with a death by chocolate. But you can trade any of the above dishes with any other on the menu and still have a very enjoyable experience. And there's a lot of variety to choose from. They have separate sections for chicken, fish and lamb, and each one of them have a lot of dishes to try. And its not just the quality of the food thats praise worthy, but also the quantity. Its the textbook definition of 'bang for the buck'. One portion of rice or noodles can easily serve up to 3 people. So if you're planning to go solo, don't. That brings me to my main complaint, the lack of half portions. They should have been introduced a long time ago and would make life easy for a lot of people. And its a bad business decision in itself. I can't recount the number of times i had to cancel my plan of going to this place because some friend of mine had some other matter to tend to. As soon as you think of going alone, the quantity comes to mind along with the potential wastage, which is a turn off. But other than that, the food gets no criticism from me.
Service - Depending on the time you visit this place, it can either be very good or disastrous. If you go only to find a huge number of people waiting outside, don't expect to get a table any time soon. The waiters are lousy when it comes to keeping a note of who came first, and you might lose a table to the person who came after you. Other than that, the service is decent. It doesn't take much time for the food to arrive once you place the order, but the time it takes to actually reach this phase can be variable. Do not order food from home. It will take ages. You're better off going there and getting the food yourself. Plus if you go there to take the parcel, they give you a 10% discount, which is a nice motivating factor.
Conclusion - As the title for this article suggests, 5spice is a chinese place which you can always depend on. Although not completely authentic, it has built up a name for itself by serving something different, and it has done this very well indeed. Building up reputation with a high level of quality and then complementing that with awesome quantity; how many places can boast of that? Not many i'm sure. It does have its problems. The service is haphazard, and the ambiance is an afterthought. But when it comes to the food, it hits the mark. And that's the best indicator of a good place. But i wouldn't give it the credibility it deserves until they start serving half portions. That's an absolute must.
Pros-
-Good quality of food
-Good quantity of food
-variety
Cons-
-Ambiance cant keep up with the other aspects
-Can be really difficult to find a seat given the huge crowd it attracts
-service is passable
Final verdict - A must try!!!
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