Spirit Bistro
10824 97 Street
780-425-0183
spiritbistro.com

Opening a restaurant is risky business at any time. Opening one during a pandemic requires an even greater level of courage. However, that is exactly what Spirit Bistro did.

One of the newest restaurants in Chinatown, Spirit Bistro opened in mid-December of 2020. It is a family-run Asian restaurant featuring an extensive menu of rice, noodle, and main dishes. According to their Facebook page, Spirit Bistro aims to “to provide the community with fresh, vibrant and flavourful dishes made from locally sourced ingredients.” Familiar favourites include ginger beef, sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour chicken balls, and a variety of chow meins and chop sueys.

I had one of the Dinner for One combination meals as my New Year’s Day lunch. My food delivery came within a reasonable amount of time, was well-packaged, and still hot. My meal included a spring roll (packaged separately to stay crispy), beef and vegetables, sweet and sour chicken balls, and chicken fried rice. It was a mountain of food almost enough for two people to share. The fried rice in particular was a very generous portion, as well as being absolutely delicious and not greasy in the least. The more I ate, the more beef and vegetables kept popping up from under the rice. There were only three sweet and sour chicken balls, but they were large and filled with white chicken meat. I can definitely see myself ordering this again.

Prices are reasonable. My dinner for one (of which there are three options) was $16.95. Most dishes are in the $15-$17 range. There are also dinner packages, offering choices of items to feed your household cohort.

Delivery is available through DoorDash and SkipTheDishes. If you live in the area, I would suggest ordering directly from the restaurant and doing a curbside pick-up.