Review: Parkdale’s Miss Thing’s is a happy place for snacks and a spasmodically strong rum punch

Miss Thing’s ★½
1279 Queen St. W., 416-516-8677

Parkdale’s Polynesian spot is a happy place for snacks and spasmodically strong rum cocktails, but it needs some work. The chefs have solid Pan-Asian cred: Jasper Wu worked at Bent and Paul Hadian at Momofuku. They each bring lively, kitschy ideas from their experiences with post-modern Asian junk food, then add hits of Hawaiian flair. This results in some satisfying bites, like the Spam Pintxo, a house-made ham product served with pineapple salsa and scallop slivers on butter-soaked crostini, or the peak-season crispy scallion flatbread loaded with rich hazelnut romesco, ramp salsa verde and blackened garlic scape coils. But too often dishes are heavy and bland. The Korean rice cake carbonara is a novel notion, but instead of being pan-fried for that irresistible combo of chew and crunch, the tubes are boiled until doughy and doused in salt-deprived egg yolk–parmesan sauce. The Loco Moco—pink flank steak slices, a huge duck egg and small-batch A1 sauce on coconut rice (pictured above)—needs salt and acid. The room, however, delightfully evokes a 1950s rom-com set in Honolulu, with gramaphone light fixtures, Sinatra-blue banquettes and suave bartenders ready to facilitate a meet-cute. Closed Sunday and Monday.

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