[okazu]

five spice cafe

February 19th, 2006 by Naomi

it seems appropriate that the first post involve a quick restaurant review. five spice cafe, located in downtown burlington, specializes in pan-asian cuisine.

tj and i started with their noodle sampler, which included cold hunan and sesame-peanut noodles, served with a pile of spicy cucumbers (not a huge cucumber fan, but the boy seemed to enjoy them). the sesame-peanut sauce is one of those things that i would be a moron not to mention. it’s awesome. not only is it awesome, but it’s also available to purchase separately.

i followed up the appetizer with a basic southeast asian chicken curry, which was also great. it’s probably a safe bet for anyone who isn’t too familiar with this sort of cuisine. they do, however, also have a number of items on their menu that are not at all spicy.

for dessert, we shared a slice of lemon chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cheesecake. i chose this restaurant based on their dessert menu and, in this case, i was very pleased that i had gone with the backward approach. honestly, how can you go wrong with lemon and cheesecake and chocolate (and…more chocolate)? impossible.

off of a rather lengthy drinks menu i chose a captain and cider: a mug of warm rum and vermont apple cider. probably not the greatest thing to eat with curry, but it was just fine with dessert. they apparently specialize in hand-blended liqueurs. as you can see on their website, the selection is pretty impressive.

worth a visit, if you’re in the area. there was nothing i ate that i could not picture myself wanting to eat again, and there were a number of things on the menu that i would like to try.

prices are available on the website. they also have a fair-sized menu for take-out.