It’s kind of rare to find a curry-flavoured soup around Toronto so our hearts skipped a beat as we stumbled across a NEW offering on the Panera Bread (various locations) menu: Chicken Tikka Masala Soup. We had to have it. Just had to.

First impressions were that it was a generous portion size for the price. Some soups on sandwich chains’ menus are often an afterthought and smallish, but this one makes a good lunch option.

We dug in. It was nice and thick, almost like a curry sauce in itself, with quite a bit of rice too … although that seemed a little crunchy and al dente. Lentils was the other main ingredient it seemed, which balanced out the texture, and think we spotted some pepper too, but couldn’t be sure.

Taste? It was OK and filled a gap. Definitely not British spicy so add a few drops of your own hot sauce if so inclined, but we wanted to sample it as it came.

It’s not really a Chicken Tikka Masala vibe, more like a general curry flavour. The closest we could compare this soup to is Heinz Mulligatawny, so if you’re craving and missing that, this might suffice in a pinch.

So, all in all, we give this soup a Brits in Toronto 2/5 stars.