Takeout Food Finds - 5-Spice Asian Street Market, Boca Raton
by Judith Stocks - Sun-Sentinel.com, posted July 6, 2006
Address: 1200 Yamato Road
Phone: 561-989-1688
Type of food: Asian
Hours: 11 a.m.- 9 p.m. Monday-Friday; noon-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Dining facilities: Serve yourself takeout or eat at tables inside or outside on the patio.
Service/atmosphere: There's a big overhead menu behind the counter where orders are taken and take-out menus near the front door. Walk through the cafeteria line to pick out food. If you ask questions, answers are given, but hard to hear because of the noise. Most items are prepared to order but service is fast.
Delivery: none
The Dish
Imagine an Asian feast where you can have appetizers, salads and entrees, or create your own noodle adventures by adding your favorite protein to dishes such as Vietnamese pho or curry-flavored Singapore noodles. Take home whole five-spice roasted chicken or Chinese roasted pork (priced by the pound or as a family dinner with sides $18.99-$19.99). You can do it here.
Picking several appetizers is a meal made in heaven for me. There's nothing like cardboard Chinese take-out containers (without wires so they're microwavable) filled with fluffy steamed roasted pork buns jammed with diced barbecued pork (three for $3.99); vegetarian curry samosas (six for $4.49); crisp rice paper-wrapped triangles filled with flavorful corn, peas and carrots to dip in tamarind ginger chutney (six for $4.49). Or, Cantonese siu mai (six for $4.49), small soft dough packages wrapped around ground pork and shrimp. Have Vietnamese summer rolls (two per order) with rice paper holding fresh herbs, romaine, cucumbers, carrots, roasted peanuts and rice noodles. Select the vegetarian version ($3.99), one with grilled pork or five-spiced chicken ($4.99) or lemongrass shrimp ($5.99).
To drink? There's Thai iced tea ($2.99), Vietnamese iced coffee ($2.99) or tea ($1.29-$2.49) in designer flavors -- Dragon Well and Iron Goddess Oolong.
