Golden Spring Restaurant

The restaurant one storefront to the South of Bon's Off Broadway has changed hands a few times.  Currently, it is Golden Spring and honestly, I've never kept it with what is going on with that restaurant.  I do remember frequenting the place when I was a kid where it was always bustling with a lineup.  Nowadays, I've heard that Golden Spring is a good value and their food is pretty solid too.  Hence, we gathered up the family and headed out to see for ourselves.

Starting off the meal, we were served a daily soup.  I didn't post a picture because it wasn't that interesting, but it was decent.  Our first dish was the first course of the Peking Duck.  As you can see, the skin had a beautiful lacquered appearance.  In terms of texture, the skin was uniformly crispy with the fat removed.  Therefore, it ate light with uninterrupted crunch.  The accompanying crepes were thin with a nice elasticity. 

The second course of the Peking Duck consisted of the Duck Lettuce Wrap.  We asked for the green onions to be omitted and they did so.  Believe me, 9 out of 10 Chinese restaurants manage to mess this up!  As for the execution of the dish, it was quite good with enough wok hei to caramelize the ingredients.  The dish was on the saltier side though but it was partially offset by the crisp lettuce and hoisin.

To ensure we got more veggies in this meal, we ordered the Gai Lan with Beef as well.  This was a large portion of thick stalks of gai lan.  I found them to be ever-so-slightly on the older side so some pieces were a touch fibrous.  However, the dish still ate well with barely cooked through gai lan that maintained a crunch.  The beef was tenderized enough so it was soft yet still retaining natural meat texture.  This dish was seasoned mildly.

Onto another beef dish, we ordered my son's favourite in the Curry Beef Brisket.  However, this was clearly made with beef rib finger meat instead (which is a good thing).  This was a huge portion of finger meat that was moist and tender with not too much fat.  With an appealing viscosity, the curry was flavourful and notably spicy.  I liked how they used red peppers rather than green as there was a sweeter flavour rather than raw vegetable aftertaste.

We also ended up getting a Dungeness Crab in cream sauce atop wonton noodles.  Although not plated particularly well, the dish ate much better than it looked.  The noodles were al dente and were a nice blank canvas for the cream sauce.  The sauce was well-seasoned with salty and sweet notes while thickened just enough.  The crab was on the smaller side but still had a decent amount of meat.  It was possibly fried a touch too long as some of the meat became dry.

We didn't plan on ordering a Steamed Rock Cod because that could mean taking out a second mortgage these days.  However they had a special where a whole fresh rock cod was only $48.00.  Yes, that is not a typo.  It was good being steamed just enough with springy flaky meat that was sweet.  It was further enhanced by the sizzle of hot oil and sweetened soy. The fish was also of a good size considering the price.  

Our last dish was the Peking Pork Chops and once again, the portion size was massive.  It was also very good too with large slices of pork chop that were properly tenderized.  The exterior was still crispy while there was just enough tangy sweet sauce clinging onto each piece.  I liked how there was very little fatty portions too.  Overall, you can tell that the food at Golden Spring is pretty solid.  Portions are huge and the prices are reasonable.  Definitely a dinner option for any night of the week.

The Good:
- Solid eats
- Reasonable pricing
- Large portions

The Bad:
- Place could use a refresh (but I guess prices would go up)
- That parking lot is super tight