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401 Spadina In the heart of Chinatown, Arani is one of the few South Asian restaurants in the city. Music and dark tones give the dining area a cozy feeling, though the art deco furniture is out of place. The serving staff is somewhat slow and inexperienced. The cream of lentil soup ($2.95) is light and chock full of vegetables, but lacks any real texture or zip. $5 gets you fried chicken masala: tender, flaky pieces of chicken breast topped with spices. For variety there's the big winner, a vegetarian thali platter ($7.25). It has 5 kinds of curry along with pickles, potatoes, eggplant, zesty beets, onions, and rice. Try the iddi appam ($7.25), or chicken strings kottu. They're sliced noodles steamed into cake, eaten with coconut chutney. The chicken is good, but has an unsophisticated flavour. The food can be heavy, so the large yogurt lhassi shake ($1.95) is refreshing. |