TORONTO: Spicy Szechuan bargain

I don’t have any brothers but I have Ben. Our parents have been friends since before we were fetuses, so we spent a lot of holidays and meals together. Ben used to lock me into a closet, go in for dinner and tell everyone I wasn’t hungry. He liked to make me cry a lot.

Of course, that’s all behind us now. I hardly even remember getting pounded relentlessly by couch cushions until I couldn’t stand up amid a blur of tears.

But we’re too old to fight anymore. We just get together and eat in peace now.

When I requested something tasty and cheap, Ben suggested the curiously named Pals WT International, a hole-in-the-wall I had walked past hundreds of times on College but never tried.

Pals serves mostly spicy Szechuan and some northern Chinese. It’s a no-frills family business, one with a toddler in a corner playpen and Chinese soaps playing on the television.

Cantonese-speaking Ben found Pals through some Mandarin-speaking friends, so between simple English and a lot of pointing at the menu we got about eight dishes for nine people.

The spicy Szechuan green beans and the double-fried garlic pork are mouth-watering must-haves.

We also got a big pot of flaky white fish done with peppercorn and chili peppers and big knotted ribbons of sea kelp. I forget some of the other dishes but I vaguely remember some beef with broccoli and pork slices with thin flour pancakes.

Oh wait and the dessert! I’m not sure about the Chinese lineage of this but we had these deep-fried battered apple slices that came with a bowl of cold water. Once you dipped your piping hot apple slice into the cold water, it became this instant candied apple slice. Oh my, it was good.

Or as my sister wrote to remind me: “Super hot and tasty, like nuggets of deep-fried candy apple yumminess - i want some NOW!”

Pals appears to do a lot of take-out business but this is a great place for a group of friends averse to bland food. Plus they’ll thank you when the bill comes. Our total came out to about $13 per person with tax and tip included. It’s also nice to have dinner and not be locked in a closet.

Pals Wt International, 376 College St., Toronto, (416) 929-1212.