Lemongrass 檸檬草

It’s been a long time since my last restaurant review. I guess some of you might have been wondering where marz has been doing these days. Isn’t she supposed to be dining out every week and write about her food experience? Yea… I just haven’t really tried any new restaurant lately. Part of the reasons may be that I’m kinda into Subway lately. Don’t laugh… I’m not trying to lose weight by eating the subway everyday. It’s just that sometimes I feel a bit tired of looking for places to eat. Especially when I’m already tired from a whole day of work and it’s already kinda late at night.

The decision of where to eat is always a tough one. First, it can’t be too expensive. Who can afford paying $30+ for dinner every night?! Second, there are lots of places where you can get cheap food, but you know the quality will be terrible for sure. So, the choices are further reduced. Third, some places are of good taste and price, but the food may be just too greasy and that really turns me off.

As a result, Subway is actually a pretty good alternative. The under-6g-fat subs, plus all the fresh veggies; it is definitely a healthier and more convenient choice… coz there’s always a subway nearby. (梗有一間係左近的Subway, 而不是 7-11!!)

Back to the original topic: Lemongrass.
A few weeks ago, I went to the plaza near Silver Star Blvd. and realized that the congee place 三米三 was no longer there. I wondered what was going to replace it. I got the answer 2 weeks ago when I saw the new logo “Lemongrass 檸檬草” during its renovation.

LEMONGRASS. First thing that comes to my mind was the Thai Lemongrass in Lan Kwai Fong, HK. The second one was the other place called Lemongrass in Toronto. However, I never relate this new Lemongrass restaurant to the one on Bayview since the look and feel are quite different. (Also, this new Lemongrass definitely caters more to the Asian population.) That’s why it somewhat suprised me when I found out this restaurant is acutally under the same management/company as the other restaurants e.g. Lemongrass, Riz, Saigon Star and Green Papaya. But if I knew it after the meal, I wouldn’t be surprised at all since the food there really resemble the ones at Saigon Star. The deco of Lemongrass is actually pretty nice. High ceiling, white IKEA-style lanterns on the side where you can see from outside, dark-brown wooden tables and chairs…

Friday night 8:30p.m., walking into this new restaurant. Full-house, but we were quite lucky that we didn’t have to wait too long for the table. Seated and looking at the menu, there was a pretty wide selection of dishes, from thai to vietnamese to somewhat chinese. There was also a special 1-page menu listing all the best-picks.

Here’re what we ordered for the night.

Shrimp salad roll as a starter.
Taste was okay; not as greasy as spring roll.
I already had enough dim sum from Friday’s lunch.

Spicy Fried BIG prawn!!! Seasonal price – approx. $10 each.
But it was sooo yummy… Does it look familiar to you?
The ones from Saigon Star are also this huge.

Let’s give it a close-up.

Thai-style pineapple fried rice. Quite good.
With lots of shrimps, chicken pieces, diced pineapple, etc.
The look was very appetizing.

Finally, the charcoal broiled pork (neck). Tasted very good. But I would recommend 4 people sharing instead of 2 coz it’d be much better if you eat it with rice, but you can only each so much rice… Pork neck is the most “crispy” part when cooked. How can I describe it? in Chinese, 爽! But you gotta try it yourself.

Overall, including 2 lemon cokes, excluding tips, total came to $57 for two people. But I think Lemongrass is still worth-going once in a while. Downside is that they don’t accept credit card!!!! I know, that’s just ridiculous. But I guess it might be because they haven’t had it installed yet. During Friday night, there were about 6 waiters/waitresses, and another 2 persons at the bar. Services was ok, food delivery could be a bit faster.

Address: International Gourment Street, 633 Silver Star Blvd., Scarborough