Review: Kanpai, Cabbagetown’s new Taiwanese snack bar, is more of a rowdy pit stop than a dining destination
Kanpai ★
252 Carlton St., 416-968-6888
Cabbagetown’s new snack bar is more of a rowdy pit stop than a dining destination: pop in for $3 shots of Jameson, a healthy dose of Tupac and Biggie, and a few capable but forgettable Taiwanese bar snacks. From the long menu, zero in on pig’s ears, served in delicate cured strips and seasoned with chili oil; thick morsels of squid coated in a subtly sweet batter and fried to a perfect crisp; and chunks of chicken tossed with a fiery combination of scallions, green pepper, dried red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Vegetables are treated as an afterthought: the kung pao cauliflower is woefully under-seasoned, and the cumin-scented mushrooms are leathery. The OG bao is equally disappointing: the stale bun overwhelms the thin slices of overcooked five-spice pork. And on a recent visit, the much-hyped fried chicken was sold out by 7:30 p.m.
The fried chicken doesn’t live up to the hype anyway.
There are no “healthy” doses of degenerate Rap music. Why the would a Taiwanese place play this garbage? I would immediately leave any dining establishment that played this moronic trash. 25 years of the media pushing ONLY rap music has normalized it.
the girls are smoking
Smoking what?
West: 107
East: 7
smoking my cock
Not worth going for food. The fried chicken was good, I’ll give it that, and that’s about it. The potato slaw was mediocre, the Taiwanese “antipasto” plate was bad, and the shrimp avocado salad was really bad (the shrimp was not fresh at all). Service was lackluster – we had empty pints for a long time and had to meticulously flag someone down for another.
I didn’t find anything particularly Taiwanese about the food either.
blacks told me their fried chicken is shit
smokin my cock
The staff is rude. They don’t have facial expressions and seem like they hate their lives.