Spring World: A Photo Essay

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of introducing a friend to Spring World. Here are a few pictures from our meal. Not coincidentally, the items shown are some of my perennial favourites on the Spring World menu.


"hand-shredded chicken with spicy sesame vinaigrette"


"cold noodles Chengdu style"


"scallion cake"


""lamb with cumin"


"whole tilapia with Szechaun chile miso sauce"

The above items all fell into an acceptable range. Missing from the photo lineup are our orders of "hot and sour soup" and "tofu with okra." I chose the latter item after having read Rob's comments about it in an old post. This was a low-point for us both, as it tasted unmistakably of dirt. As for the hot and sour soup, well, we've both done alot better.

Oh, I had leftovers for days, in case you were wondering.

Spring World
2109A S. China Place (Archer Mall)
312.326.9966
Seven Days

Erik M.

nice photos!

cold noodles Chengdu style = my favorite dish at my favorite Chinese place in the city...


how did you like the Tilapia? I've avoided the fish for the most part at Spring World.

ab wrote:nice photos!

Thank you for the reply and the kind words.

ab wrote:how did you like the Tilapia? I've avoided the fish for the most part at Spring World.

As I tried to make clear in my o.p., this is one of my favourite items at Spring World. On this particular evening, though, it wasn't much above average. The sauce was a touch too sweet, and the breading on the fish had an unpleasant mouthfeel. The fish itself, however, tasted of good quality.

Speaking of fish dishes...

I always forget the name of it, but over at L.S.C. they have something similar with a steamed whole fish in a tofu-laden, oily chile sauce. I think that it is called "Tony's special sauce," or "Extremely spicy lalala something." Now, that is a real favourite of mine. Are you familiar with it?

Regards,
Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:Speaking of fish dishes...

I always forget the name of it, but over at L.S.C. they have something similar with a steamed whole fish in a tofu-laden, oily chile sauce. I think that it is called "Tony's special sauce," or "Extremely spicy lalala something." Now, that is a real favourite of mine. Are you familiar with it?

Regards,
Erik M.

Erik,

Last week I had the "house special fish filets in spicy sauce" or was it fish filets in house special spciy sauce", anyway it was on the lunch special menu and it was very very good and sounds exactly like your description other than being filets rather than whole fish, though that may have been for inclusion on the luncheon menu

Erik M. wrote:
Speaking of fish dishes...

I always forget the name of it, but over at L.S.C. they have something similar with a steamed whole fish in a tofu-laden, oily chile sauce. I think that it is called "Tony's special sauce," or "Extremely spicy lalala something." Now, that is a real favourite of mine. Are you familiar with it?

Regards,
Erik M.

I have not - when I went to LSC, I ordered off the cuff and ended up with random dishes of random quality. I tend to avoid whole fish dishes in Chinatown unless I know for a fact they're gonna have them fresh. I will try both of these over time and get back to you tho. Sounds delish.

Me: I'd like to order dan dan noodles
Chinese woman taking my order: Yes, dan dan noodles
Me: But I'd like to pork to be cooked well done
Chinese woman: <smile and nods> Yes, dan dan noodles
Me: But the pork is fried extra crispy
Chinese Woman: <confused> you would like crispy pork?
Me: I would like the pork in the dan dan noodles to be fried extra crispy
Chinese Woman: <smiling> yes, dan dan noodles. Anything else?
Me: No, that's it.

Somehow this combination of ground pork, noodles, greens, scallions, chili oil and a few other things is just really good together. I prefer Spring World's version, since it is not too soupy, and has great flavor. But I'll have to learn how to ask for the pork to be done extra crispy next time. Or even better, bring a note written in Chinese.

(edited to correct the picture link)

Here's a link to Rich's picture. Does our software only support jpegs and gifs?

Rich, you owe it to yourself to try this at Katy's in Westmont, where the noodles are hand pulled.

While I'm on the subject, I should note that I took a group to Triple Crown in the DiHo plaza this past weekend, and was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the food. Selection was a little less than some places (no soup dumplings, eg) but most of what I tried was solid.

Of course, LSC, the "food court" places and Fabulous are all in the general vicinity (as are the fairly solid Uncle Lou, somewhat Americanized and with a serviceable sushi bar, and Jockey Club, Hong Kong with an interesting Filipino menu on the side).

One more random thought on Chinese: Silver Seafood seems to be consistently pretty good these days, I cautiously state. Delivery last night (20 mins tops) produced a nice, crip broccoli in oyster sauce and addictive salt and pepper short ribs (thinly-sliced, red-cooked beef ribs dredged in some cornstarch and fried then covered with the oil/jalapeno/garlic/onion/pimento "salt and pepper" giardinera more associated with the squid/cuttlefish/shrimp prep. Good stuff.

Sadly, most of the pictures in this thread have disappeared. That doesn't change the fact that Spring World is one of the better restaurants in Chinatown. It often gets lost in the shuffle between board favorites like LSC, LTH, Shui Wah and Double Li, but Spring World stands on its own as a destination. The fact that they offer a $3.95 lunch special is yet one more reason to visit. Since this is a photo essay thread, here are some new ones.

Spring World Cold Appetizer Bar

Choice of 3 items for under $4

Spring World Chengdu Dumplings

One of the better versions in town

Spring World Cold Sesame Noodles

Second only to Katy's IMO.

Spring World Sesame Pancakes


Spring World $3.95 Lunch Special

One of the best lunch values in town. This one is twice cooked pork and eggplant.