Spice Avenue - Hamilton

Spice Avenue
http://spiceavenue.ca/
1066 Upper James St
Hamilton, ON

I felt underdressed when I walked in the uber-chic Spice Avenue, despite it's location on the commercial strip of Upper James. It took a few minutes to realize all the diners were 'underdressed', the restaurant just seemed to think itself fancy. Luckily, the prices reflected the casual - and not the classy.

But I digress. Spice Avenue seems to be a primarily Vietnamese/Thai restaurant for people who might be uncomfortable going to an authentic Vietnamese or Thai restaurant - and prefer the term "Pan-Asian", and clearly English-speaking servers. That said, both the menu and the food we received definitely compared with the more 'authentic' restaurants. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

We split fresh shrimp spring rolls, which don't seem to vary too much from restaurant to restaurant. These were just as tasty as always.

For my main I got one of the Vermicelli Bowls (which at a Vietnamese restaurant go by the alter ego of "bun"). Mine came with a big skewer of shrimp (generous!), a fried spring roll, and tender grilled pork slices - in addition to the prerequisite vermicelli, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, bok choi, and a dish of sweet chili sauce to dump on it. Delicious and filling and very similar to when I've had it at a Pho restaurant.

My dining partner got the Mongolian noodle bowl - nope, it wasn't quite Thai or Vietnamese (I guess this is the "Pan" part of the Asian), with nice thick noodles and a spicy bean sauce with veggies.

All in all, I feel like this would be a classy place for martinis (they did have a very intersting martini list), despite the location. And I liked the food enough that I would go back - unless whoever I was eating with also wanted a vermicelli bowl/bun, or other Vietnamese food. Then I would choose to instead go to one of the Pho places in the city!