Rich gives the low down on our visit to Toro Pan Asian...
Toro Pan Asian is the latest
offering to occupy the space that Beijing Bistro previously sat in, toward the
top of Park Street. Although the bistro offered good food at a good price,
after almost a decade of service it suddenly closed down. Then, after a long
period of being vacant, it was converted into Riva Italian, which promptly
lasted all of what felt like a month before also going under. Perhaps opening
another Italian on a road where Jamie's Italian, Mamma Mia and about three
others are all less than five minutes walking distance was not as sound a
business decision as they thought. Regardless, within about five minutes of
closing down, someone decided that what Bristol needed more than anything else
was another Pan Asian restaurant, and Toro appeared almost immediately too hastily appease our insatiable demands.
Saturday was deemed the day to go
and try the establishment out, and the first thing we noticed was that although
clean, spacious and bright, the restaurant appeared to look exactly the same as
Beijing Bistro and even use the same furniture. A cheap renovation then, and in
a way happily familiar, but we were quickly reassured of the venue with the
extremely friendly and helpful staff.
The menus offer all the usual
choices of food and drinks that you would expect, so the four of us went for
beers and soft drinks, four different mains, one starter of BBQ ribs, and three
starters of spring rolls. Now, I don’t really want to kick a place in the teeth
so close to its opening, and I’m not prone to exaggeration, but believe me when
I say that without a doubt the starters were the very worst I have ever seen or
tasted. Anywhere.
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| Spring Roll "Presentation" |
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| In contrast, Spring Rolls from Hong Kong Bistro in Bath |
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| BBQ Ribs |
When you order spring rolls, or even
when you get them served at a friends house, you generally expect a dip or
sauce of some kind to accompany them, usually a sweet chilli, soy sauce, or perhaps a
thick hoisin. Instead we received a handful on each plate dry, with nothing
else, and worse than that, they looked and tasted pretty much like the
pre-cooked re-heatable ones you’d find in an Iceland party pack (seriously,
force yourself to watch the next Iceand advert on TV, they are exactly like
that). The BBQ ribs too were appalling. When I say BBQ ribs you instantly
imagine and expect four/five hot ribs coverd in a sticky and tasty BBQ sauce,
these however were dry and warm, and with a slightly rubbery consistency. I’m
not going to say that they had been re-heated in a microwave before being
served to us, but if you've ever warmed up meat in a microwave before, and even
if you haven't, this felt and tasted just like that.
.jpg) |
| Crispy Shredded Beef |
So with a resounding failure of a
first course my optimism levels for the main were decidedly low. We were
however pleasantly surprised by the comparative quality of the mains. While by
no means great, or even close, some of the mains were quite tasty and possibly
even freshly cooked. Sadly my classic favourite, the crispy shredded chilli
beef, was not one of them. For a start there was no chilli or even a hint of spice,
the sauce was thin and horribly oily, and even the beef itself was fairly grim.
The batter for the beef was hard and crunchy, containing very little meat, with
some pieces consisting entirely of batter and nothing else. The vegetables
tasted okay, and whilst it may be damning with faint praise, but the rice was
cooked properly at least.
Abby plumped for the
Singapore noodles and described them as being mostly alright, if a little dry,
but at least fairly generous with the meat and vegetables. The shrimp though
was decidely small, rubbery, completely flavourless and worryingly
reconstituted. If the ribs and springs rolls had raised the idea of these being
obviously re-heated packets foods, then the shrimp near as completely confirmed
it. Our other dining companions fared better with this visit, choosing the
trusty classics of sweet and sour chicken and kung po chicken. And their dishes
at least looked quite nice, and were eaten with a small amount of enthusiasm,
even if the description used for them was a simple yet lukewarm “fine”.
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| Singapore Noodles |
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| Sweet and Sour Chicken |
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| Kung Po Chicken |
Most of us chose to skip dessert. However one lemon sorbet was ordered,
which amazingly was actually very good. Crisp, zesty and refreshing, I should
really have ordered one for myself to help clean my mouth of the unpleasantly
oily feeling I was left with courtesy of my ‘beef’ dish, instead I relied on
multiple cold beers.
Price wise it’s a fairly competitive
establishment with the standard prices you’d expect, £3-5 for a starter, around
£6-10 for a main, and drinks slightly more expensive than most pubs or bars. And the service is really very good, with
attention and charm winning you over as soon as you walk in through the door,
and crucially for me the lack of loud Nickelback and Westlife playing while we
ate was a definite plus. The crucially important part of the restaurant though,
the food, was frankly dire. Feeling cheaply sourced, prepared, cooked, and
presented, it really didn't give the impression of somewhere where you can say
they just had a bad day, as food wise it was it just got it all so wrong, but I
would be interested to hear if anyone else has a different, and better,
experience.
Personally for me, it left a nasty
taste in my mouth, both figuratively and literally, left me feeling ripped off,
and made me regret not having gone anywhere else. There is a huge bounty of
good and great Chinese food in Bristol already, so why someone has thought they
could contribute with such an obviously poor and cheap offering is if anything
utterly baffling. If you're ever near Toro and fancy a Chinese meal, do
yourself a favour and instead just keep walking and go to Wongs, Mayflower,
Dynasty, Shanghai Nights or maybe even the new-look Cosmo when it opens later
this month. Toro however, for me and without any doubt, is the absolute worst
meal and dining experience I've had this year, and in a long time.
