In Fusion

Potluck Hawker Eatery: A Taste of South-East Asian Street Food in Vancouver

July 14, 2020

Potluck Hawker Eatery is now open in the Cambie Village area of Vancouver. This is a counter-service style restaurant inspired by the South-East Asian hawker street food markets.

Chef Justin Cheung put his own spin on Malaysian cuisine, paying homage to a comprehensive training of Thai cooking and a nod to a Filipino potluck. It is fantastic and we are all here for it.

Interior

The 993 square-feet restaurant draws inspiration from the ritual of potlucks, where families spend the day in the kitchen preparing their family’s signature dish and contributing to the table – a coming together of stomach-filling, soul-warming dishes. We absolutely love the space and don’t forget to take a selfie in the washroom because it’s amazing. Make sure you go into both washrooms too.

My favourite part is seeing the ingredients that go into the dishes on the walls. its gives it nice character and also transparency in what they cook with.

If anyone blames the smell on you, tell them it’s from the durian wallpaper.

Thai Iced Tea

One of our favourite drinks and its very nice and refreshing for a summer’s day. Bold tea flavour and they sweeten it with condensed milk. If you want it less sweet, just ask.

Beet Carpaccio

This has spicy fish sauce and lime juice dressing, fried shallots and fresh herbs. You heard that right beet, not beef. It was tangy and refreshing. The chilis give it a nice kick of spice. It really reminded us of butter beef but without the beef or butter.

Burmese Shrimp Ceviche

The dish has cucumber, cherry tomatoes and shrimp lightly pickled in fresh lime juice, fish sauce and chili. Not as flavourful compared to the other dishes but you’ll want to eat this before all the other dishes so the work better together. The shrimp was really nice and fresh in this ceviche.

Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken Sando

This beauty has crispy chicken thigh, green mango slaw, tamarind chili jam, in Fife Bakery milk bread. We also got their Malaysian shaker fries as an add-on.

This dish was our favourite. The fried chicken thigh was tender and juicy. It balanced well with the crunchy slaw, salted egg yolk, and jam. The bread was really good, lightly toasted but very soft. The shaker fries has that savoury-sweet flavour combination.

Nasi Goreng

This is an Indonesian style fried rice with house special soy topped with shrimp crackers and fried egg. You can choose to have this with chicken, seafood or tofu. The egg was cooked perfectly to moisten up the fried rice. The rice did end up to be quite moist.

Mama Cheung’s Laksa

This is dish is named after the chef’s mom. It has coconut curry noodle soup with fish cake, prawns, puff tofu, boiled egg and mixed noodle. You can choose to have this with vermicelli or egg noodles. Very flavourful with a kick of spice.

Fish Sauce Caramel Wings

They use free-run Farmcrest chickens from Salmon Arm, BC. It was finger lickin’ good with the pandan infused palm sugar and sesame. Their fried food is exceptional here. The chicken is seasoned as well as the batter so they really get the flavour to shine throughout the wings.

Roti Canai with Condensed Milk

Not the combination that I would have through would work together, but it was simple and tasty. A good way to end the meal.

Final Thoughts

The food at Potluck Hawker Eatery is fantastic and packed with a depth of flavour. The essence of South East Asian cuisine really shines through. A lot of the dishes do use cilantro and spicy peppers, so if you adore that, head on over to Potluck. If you’re not into those flavours, they can accomodate no cilantro and reduced spice levels too. Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken Sando is the best.

Highly recommend this place and we just can’t stop thinking about their fried dishes. All so nicely battered and seasoned. Vancouver definitely needed more restaurants like this.

Address:
3424 Cambie St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.potluckyvr.ca/

In Thai

Simply Thai in Yaletown: Review

September 3, 2018

Simply Thai in Yaletown has been around since 2000 with Grace Rerksuttisiridach as the owner and Executive Chef. She is one of the only female owners and executive chefs in the Yaletown neighbourhood, which is a major accomplishment and we respect her for that. Her talents come from studying PenPen Sittitrai, who is a teacher and trainer of chefs for the Royal Thai family. We were invited to check out a few of their signature dishes.

Interior

They have seating indoors as well as outside on their patio. Since the weather is still warm, sitting outside on the patio with drinks and food is the best way to do it.

Thai Iced Tea

Thai Iced Tea is a popular drink at any Thai restaurant. It is made with the bold Thai Tea, sweetener and milk. Make sure to give it a good mix to incorporate the ingredients. We found the drink to be a bit sweet, so best to see if they can make it less sweet.

Cho Muang

This dish comes with 5 pieces of beautiful steamed violet-coloured flower dumplings stuffed with minced chicken, onion, and their special Thai spices. One of our favourite appetizers and tasted really good.

Mummy Prawns

The prawns are covered in crisp wonton strands that make it looks like mummy bandages. It is served with a sweet chili sauce. If you like crunchy textures and prawns, this is your dish.

Ghiaw Grob

For each order, you will find 8 pieces of deep fried-wonton wrappers stuffed with ground chicken and spices.

Mango Salad

A refreshing salad made with mangos as the star of the dish. A good item to have if you are also getting the deep-fried appetizers.

Tom-Yum Goong

You can choose between prawn or chicken, but we got it with prawns. This is a hot & sour soup with fresh mushrooms, lemon grass, kaffir, green onion, cilantro, and Thai chilli paste. It has a good balance between the ingredients and isn’t too spicy.

Tom Kha Gai

This soup is different as it has a base of creamy coconut milk with sliced chicken, mushrooms, green onion, cilantro, lemon grass, galanga root, and kaffir leaves.

Gong Prig Paow

There is sautéed prawns in sweet chilli paste with seasonal vegetables, green onion, and fresh thai basil.

Pla Pad Hang

This dish has deep-fried snapper fillet with stir-fried straw mushrooms, bell pepper, carrots, and green beans topped with green onion and cashew nuts.

Curry in Fresh Young Coconut

You can get their curries served in fresh young coconuts. Make sure to have a order of Jasmine rice with it or if you want to have more coconut flavour, they have steamed coconut rice too. The two pictured here was the yellow and red curries. You can adjust the level of spice if you want it more hot or mild.

Salmon Panang Curry

This dish has wild salmon in thick red curry with coconut milk and bell pepper topped with fresh Thai basil and lime leaves.

Gra Paow Ped

This dish features their succulent duck in a light brown sauce with onion, bell pepper, green beans, mushrooms, and fresh Thai basil.

Pad Thai Talay

This classic dish has pan-fried Thai rice noodles in sweet and sour tamarind sauce with a mix of seafood like mussel, squid, prawns, and scallops. There is also tofu, egg, green onion, sprouts, and ground peanuts. Delicious and you can’t go wrong with this dish.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of dishes on the menu and after indulging on so many dishes, a lot of the stir-fried dishes has similar ingredients so it started tasting the same even thought the proteins were different. Our favourites were the appetizers like the Cho Muang, mummy prawns and Ghiaw Grob. They go very well with beer too. As you get a little bit from each part of the menu, you’ll have a good time.

Address:
1211 Hamilton St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://simplythaivancouver.com/

In Malaysian

Rice and Noodle: Southeast Asian-inspired Dishes in Vancouver

March 24, 2018

Rice and Noodle serves up Southeast Asian inspired food in a convenient and affordable way on Robson Street right in the middle of Downtown Vancouver. All their dishes are MSG-free, made to order and highly customizable to your tastes. Their menu has rice dishes and noodle dishes where you can choose your own protein, spiciness level and any thing else extra you want in it.

You can also order online for pick up or you can get delivery through the different delivery services around town like Just Eat, Door Dash, UberEats, Foodora, Skip the Dishes, etc.

Interior

You order your meal at the counter in the back and then you can take a seat until they bring you over your order.

Laksa

The laksa soup is made with a coconut curry broth, rice noodle, broccoli, carrot, onion, tofu, zucchini, and then topped with bean sprouts, boiled egg, and cilantro. I really enjoyed this laksa as it had a good level of spice to the broth. I highly recommend this.

Tom Yum Soup

This has a lemongrass broth, prawns, rice noodle, cilantro mushroom, onion and tomato. It’s a little bit sour and a little bit spicy.

Panang Red Curry

This has red curry with basil, cauliflower and yam with rice. It has a hint of spice to it but not too much.

Creamy Peanut Stirfry

This has bean sprouts, carrot, onion, red pepper, spinach and then the rice.

Family Combo for 5

We got this combo for the rest of the dishes. It comes with all these 6 dishes for $50.

Pad Thai with Shrimp
Kung Pao Chicken
Mongolian Beef
Green Curry with Chicken
Pineapple Fried Rice with Chicken
5 Spring Rolls Thai

Pad Thai Shrimp

This dish has rice noodle, egg, tofu, bean sprouts, green onion, crushed peanuts, and prawns. Squeeze some lime on it and it’s ready to eat.

KungPao Chicken

On the plate is rice, chicken, green bean, onion, pineapple, red pepper, ginger, cashew, and spinach.

Mongolian Beef

This has beef, broccoli, bean sprouts, carrot, green bean, ginger, onion, red cabbage, water chestnut, and a mound of rice.

Green Curry with Chicken

Pineapple Fried Rice with Chicken

I missed taking a picture of this, but I wasn’t a fan of this. It has fried rice, egg, carrot, green bean, onion, pineapple, red pepper and chicken.

Spring Rolls

One spring roll per person and it has a crisp and crunchy exterior.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I like how the dishes are highly customizable. You can switch up your protein options, spice level and add any extra items to it. For my own personal preferences, I love a little bit of spice instead of mild. I would choose 3 chili peppers next time.My favourite dish of the evening was the Laksa.

We Rate Rice and Noodle:

Address:
1236 Robson St, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://thericeandnoodle.com/

In product

Easy 3 Ingredient Thai Iced Tea

January 9, 2018

Thai Iced Tea is an absolute treat and my friend finally encouraged me to make this at home instead of spending all my money drinking these at restaurants. There’s many variations of making Thai Iced Tea, but I don’t like buying so many ingredients that might go wasted if I don’t use them all. It’s always a hit when I have friends over and it’s pretty easy to make and you can’t go wrong with it.

This article contains Amazon affiliate links. All you need for this recipe is the Thai tea mix, granulated sugar, and cream. So simple! You can now have it at home all the time.

Thai Tea Mix can be hard to find in stores, so I opted to go get it from Amazon as well as a fine mesh strainer. The mesh strainer is important as it will remove as much tea leaves as possible to give you a clear tea. Sometimes some sediments will form even with a fine strainer, but it won’t affect your enjoyment of the drink. I preferred this option of buying online rather from hunting store by store in hopes they carry this tea mix. Plus, the 400g bag of tea mix lasts quite a while.

[tabs tab1=”3 Ingredient Thai Iced Milk Tea”]

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Ingredients:

1 cup Thai Tea Mix
8 cups Water
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar ( or to your liking)
Cream
Ice

Instructions:

In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Add the Thai tea mix in a mesh bag strainer and let it boil for 15 minutes.
Add in sugar and stir to dissolve. Taste to ensure it’s your desired level of sweetness.
Turn off the heat and let the tea steep for 30 minutes as it cools. (The stronger the tea, the better the tea will taste.)
Take the mesh bag with the tea leaves out of the pot.
You can make the Thai Iced Tea ahead of time and have the tea chilling in the fridge OR if you can’t control yourself, drink it right away if it’s cool enough.
Fill the glass with ice and pour in the tea leaving a little room for the cream. About 3 tablespoons for a glass.
Stir and enjoy.

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In Coquitlam

Ma Now Thai Kitchen: Thai Restaurant in Coquitlam

October 18, 2017

Ma Now Thai Kitchen is located in Coquitlam and a friend – Hilda suggested we come here for dinner as it’s one of their favourite places to get Thai cuisine. I can’t believe I haven’t been here yet, but then again, there are so many hidden gems in the city.

Interior

The interior was very clean, modern, and had a good amount of tables. We sat here for a while and the traffic on a weekday night can be busy.

Tea and Water

As we sat down, they have us a cup of hot tea and another cup of cold water. I love the look of the water cup!

Thai Iced Milk Tea

I ordered Thai Iced Milk Tea and I absolutely love it. One of my favourite drink to get at any Thai restaurant. Highly recommend it.

Chicken Satay

These are fire-grilled chicken on skewers served with house-peanut sauce and pickles. It was delicious and juicy.

Pad Thai with Chicken

The famous Thai stir-fried noodles has egg and tofu; topped with bean sprouts, peanuts, and a lime wedge. We got it medium spicy and it had a very nice amount of heat. When they say its medium, it really is medium.

Green Curry with Chicken

Green curry of Keaw Whan is a Thai classic coconut cream curry with vegetables and Thai basil. We added chicken to this and there is also rice on the side. We ordered this as mild, but it has a very faint hint of spice, which is actually really delicious.

Craving Cashew with Shrimp

This dish is also known as Pad Med Ma Muang. It has fresh vegetables, chili jam, and cashew nuts and is served with rice, but we got coconut rice instead.

Think Thoughts

The food here is pretty good and I was glad I was able to enjoy it with good friends. I love how mild has a hint of spice because thats how Thai food should really be enjoyed.

We Rate Ma Now Thai Kitchen:

Address:
2755 Lougheed Hwy #29, Port Coquitlam

Website:
https://manowthaikitchen.ca/

In Fusion

Longtail Kitchen and Freebird Chicken at River Market

October 10, 2017

We were invited to Longtail Kitchen and Freebird Chicken at the River Market in New Westminster to try delicious creations by Chef Justin Cheung and Chef Angus An. Their other sister restaurants are Maenam Restaurant and Fat Mao Noodles. The items in the photos aren’t 100% representative of how it will be served as the serving sizes have been modified for our dinner.

Longtail Kitchen

This restaurant is named after the iconic water taxis of Thailand. Longtail Kitchen has Thai-style comfort food. I’ve come here several times for their famous wings and other dishes.

They also have a wall of different products to purchase.

Thai Iced Tea

This is my favourite drink to get at any restaurant that serves it. Delicious depth of tea flavour with the creamy milk and touch of sweetness.

Steel & Oak Beers

If you love local beers, they serve a variety of beers from Steel & Oak. The brewery is even close by.

Mango Pok Pok Slushy

Pok Pok is a restaurant in Portland and they sell their drinking vinegars. They even take the vinegars and turn the into slushies.

Crispy Chicken Wings

Their famous chicken wings are delicious. Very crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Sticky Chicken Wings

If you like getting messy, their sticky chicken wings are a delight too. Lots of flavour in the sauce that coats the crisp skin. The skin stays crisp even with the coating of sauce.

Mama Cheung’s Laksa

The laksa has a kick of spice to the broth, but it is pretty clean and not too rich.

Bicol Express

This popular Filipino dish has pork belly, peppers, and green beans and a delicious sauce with a base of coconut milk.

Duck Yolk Butter Prawns

The prawns were flavourful but the duck yolk wasn’t too strong. Perhaps an extra pinch of salt would enhance them.

Shaking Beef Tenderloin

This dish was delicious and the beef was super tender. Great paired with a side of rice.

Freebird Chicken

The newer addition to River Market is Freebird Chicken, an Asian-style rotisserie chicken shack. They serve flavourful free-range, hormone-free chickens with sides of rice, soup, and salads.

Khao Man Gai

This is Hai Nan chicken and it comes with soup and chicken rice. The chicken is poached and there is a bunch of different sauce that pair with it. I personally like the classic ginger and green onions.

Tumeric Fried Chicken

The fried chicken was super crispy and they use NextJen Gluten-Free flour in their batter mix. You would have never thought this was gluten-free, but it is.

Tom Yum Spiced Fried Cauliflower

If you’re in need of more vegetables in your meal, this dish was a good accompaniment.

Tom Yum Spiced Fried Brussel Sprouts

Vegetables are great deep fried and spiced with Tom Yum.

Rotisserie Chicken

If you’re looking for another type of chicken, they have rotisserie chicken. Tasty skin and moist inside.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I loved this introduction to some of the newer items on the menu since I usually order the same thing.

Address:
810 Quayside Dr, New Westminster

In Commercial Drive / Grandview

Kin Kao Thai Kitchen: Thai Iced Tea on Commercial Drive

July 27, 2017

Kin Kao Thai Kitchen is located on Commercial Drive. It’s been a very popular spot since it opened for authentic Thai cuisine. My friends and I were craving Thai Iced Tea, so we decided to meet up and have lunch here on the weekend. We went around 1pm and it wasn’t too busy. I had to take my Thai friend as she could tell me how ‘Authentic’ it is to food in Thailand.

Interior

There is bar seating and a few other tables around the restaurant, but it’ll be hard to accommodate large groups unless you go early. It’s easier going in groups of 2 – 4 people.

Thai Iced Tea

Thai Iced Tea is made with black Thai tea, sweetener and topped off with half and half cream. You mix it around to incorporate the tea and the cream. It was absolutely delicious but I personally would have wanted it a bit less sweet.

Complimentary Soup

Before our order arrived, we got a nice complimentary soup for each person at the table. It was a clean garlicky broth and we really enjoyed it. My Thai friend said it really reminded her of home.

Chicken Satay

The chicken tender strips are marinated with coriander, cumin seeds, kosher salt, lemongrass, turmeric, galangal and coconut milk. It was really delicious and tender. The cumin, lemongrass and turmeric stand out in the flavour profile. It comes with 3 pieces.

Chicken Wings

These deep fried chicken wings marinated with fish sauce, garlic and white pepper tossed in garlic, red jalapeño, vinegar, sugar, salt and corn starch. The saucy wings has a sweet finish to them, but the crunchiness was definitely lost because of it. The size of the wings and drumettes were on the smaller side.

Papaya Salad

It has shredded green papaya, tomatoes and long beans with their spicy dressing – thai chili, fresh lime juice, fish sauce, tamarind, garlic, palm sugar and peanuts. Whey they mean spicy, they do mean spicy. Very fresh tasting papaya salad, but those thai chilis pack a punch.

Stir Fry with Thai Basil

Green Curry

It has coconut milk, chili, garlic, ginger, thai eggplants, lime leaves, bamboo shoots, palm sugar, fish sauce and thai basil. We got this with chicken. This was also medium spice, but it only had a tiny tiny amount of spice.

Candy

When we got the bill, it came with Amira candy for everyone. Amira is a tamarind candy.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the spice level of the dishes were strangely balanced. Everything was medium spice but the papaya salad was a ton spicier than our 2 main dishes. In terms of authenticity, it fell a bit short as it seems to be catered towards the clientele of the neighbourhood.

We Rate Kin Kao Thai Kitchen:

Address:
903 Commercial Drive, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.kinkao.ca/

In Happy Hour

Urban Thai Bistro: Happy Hour in Yaletown

May 21, 2017

Urban Thai Bistro has happy hour from 3 – 6 pm and 9 – 10 pm. $4 drinks, $6 appetizers, and $8 salads. Since Summer is coming very soon, what better way to celebrate than happy hour after work. We invited to try all their happy hour items.

Interior

The interior has lots of space for small to large groups. They also have a patio. There are a few ornate statues inside and gives this restaurant a modern Thai look and feel.

Drinks

Thai Iced Tea is a must here. The unique taste of the tea with milk and added sweetness. It’s very addictive.

Thai Iced Coffee is on the menu as well. This was really creamy and sweet, which I didn’t like too much. I would have liked a bit more coffee intensity in this.

Royal Thai is another popular beverage. It is a mix of fresh coconut milk and lychee.

Appetizers

Fish Cakes comes with 6 pieces topped with onion, cucumber, sweet chili and a fried basil leaf.

Vegetarian Spring Roll are deep-fried to a golden brown colour. There is a sweet chili sauce on the side.

Urban Thai Shrimp Balls were good to munch on with some beer. It comes with 6 pieces, so its good for groups to share.

Wings comes in 3 different flavours – red curry, chili basil and sweet & Sour.

A good combination of sauces and wings. Recommended for happy hour with beer.

Thai BBQ Chicken was good with a nice char on the outside.

Thai BBQ Pork was really good and comes with many slices.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce was ok, but a bit on the dry side.

Calamari with crispy batter and a sweet chili sauce. All shaped like rings.

Crispy Fish with homemade sauce was good when it’s fresh out of the fryer.

Salad

Spicy Beef BBQ sits in a lettuce cup. The slices were thin but not very spicy.

Spicy Thai Prawns Salad was not that great. The prawns didn’t seem that fresh.

Chicken Lettuce Wrap is always a fun dish to have at the table and get interactive with your food. The crisp wrap with the savoury filling.

Som Tum Papaya Salad was ok.

Final Thoughts

Overall, some items were hit and miss but anything deep fried with drinks can’t go wrong. They have a lot of options of the happy hour menu.

We Rate Urban Thai Bistro:

Address:
119 Hamilton St, Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/urban-thai-bistro/

In Riley Park/Little Mountain

U & I Thai: Thai Cuisine in Vancouver

April 14, 2017

For our 9 year anniversary, M and I went to U & I Thai Fine Cuisine on Cambie Street for a quick dinner. I’ve never been here before, so it was perfect. We came pretty early in the evening after work and we really were craving Thai Iced Tea. Staff were friendly and they guided us through the menu.

Interior

The interior was large and had lots of tables. We did see there were a few tables with reservations signs on them. As it got later in the evening, more and more people filled up the dining room.

The only thing I didn’t like was the strong citrus lemon smell inside.

Thai Iced Tea

This is beautiful and mighty tasty. It is a bit more dark than what we normally see, but it was so good and addictive. If you’re never had Thai Iced Tea before, it is a must.

Chicken Satay

Chicken is marinated in Thai spices, coconut milk and served with peanut sauce and cucumber relish. It comes with 6 pieces and the satay skewers were moist. I liked it with the sauces.

Authentic Pad Thai

This has rice noodles stir fried with chicken, tofu, egg, bean sprouts, and palm sugar in a Tamarind sauce. It is then topped with ground peanuts, chilli powder, fresh lime, bean sprout and chives. It was decent, but seemed more wet than other places.

Green Curry

We got this with beef and at medium spice. When we wanted it medium spice, it was definitely medium spicy with a good kick. It came with coconut rice on the side. It is our go to curry when going to Thai restaurants. Good taste too.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the meal, they give you some mint candy to end the meal. I really did enjoyed the meal and will be back.

We Rate U&I Thai:

Address:
3364 Cambie Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
http://www.uandithai.com/

In Langley

Ban Chok Dee: Thai Food in Langley

March 16, 2017

Ban Chok Dee Thai Cuisine is a restaurant in Langley. I was shopping in the area and needed to find a place for dinner with the family.

I’ve heard lots about this place and I wanted to give it a try. It’s a bit far from where I live, so it was a perfect time to visit to see how it compares to places in Downtown Vancouver.

Interior

The interior was ok with a few Thai pictures around the restaurant. You can make reservations, but we just walked in without reservations and there was plenty of seats.

Stuffed Chicken Wings

The chicken wings are marinated with Thai spices and stuffed with sautéed shredded vegetables, vermicelli noodles, egg, ginger and garlic steamed and then fried to a golden crisp and served with sweet chili peanut sauce. There are 2 pieces to an order. The wings were really packed with the filling, so you can taste a lot of the egg and noodles.

Papaya Salad

This has shredded green papaya with lime juice, cherry tomato, green bean, roasted peanut and fresh chili served with sticky rice and two grilled prawns on a skewer. A great presentation in a clear glass cup but it made it a bit hard to scoop onto a plate to share. Other than that, the flavours were really good and had a good balance.

Chicken Satay

These are chicken skewers marinated in traditional Thai spices, broiled and served with peanut and cucumber plum sauce. It comes with 4 pieces per order. The chicken was surprisingly moist and the sauce was really good. I’d definitely order this again.

Pad Thai

Their Pad Thai has pan-fried rice noodles in tamarind sauce, with chicken or prawns, egg, tofu, green onions, bean sprouts, topped with ground peanuts. We got it with prawns. It was good but I felt it was a touch sweet.

Red Curry

We got this with beef. The curry has red curry paste, coconut milk, bamboo shoots, red and green bell peppers, lime leaves and sweet basil leaves. Slightly watery, but the flavour was nice.
We rate Ban Chok Dee:
Address:
20563 Douglas Crescent, Langley, BC
Website:
http://banchokdee.com/

In Downtown

Sala Thai: Thai Cuisine in Downtown Vancouver

February 22, 2017

Sala Thai serves up authentic Thai cuisine in Downtown Vancouver. They are a family-run restaurant and have been operating for over 20 years. I came here with some friends for dinner and it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.

Thai Iced Tea

Thai Iced Tea is a must when going to Thai restaurant. It’s milky and a bit sweet. Highly recommended.

Gai Hor Bai Toey

This is chicken marinated in a chef’s sauce, wrapped and cooked in pandan leaves. It comes in an order of 4 but we added 1 more extra for our group. The chicken was moist inside those pandan leaves.

Golden Angel Wings

These are boneless chicken wings stuffed with shrimp, pork, vegetables, vermicelli noodle, herbs and served with homemade sweet chili sauce. The crisp chicken wings were so delightful and super easy to eat.

Sala Thai Salad

It has green leaves, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, onions and boiled egg with their house dressing. Not a very exciting salad.

Gaeng Dang

This red curry has coconut milk Bamboo shoots, bell peppers and Thai basil leaves. It comes with your choice of beef, pork or chicken. We went with chicken for our dish. It was very flavourful and we ordered 2 bowls of rice to accompany this dish.

Pad Thai

This is their most popular Thai rice noodle dish with shrimp, egg, tofu, bean sprouts and ground peanut. Mix this up and its quite delicious too.

Final Thoughts

Sala Thai has been a great place to go to since they’ve opened. It’s authentic and great to see how they are hiring Thai staff to make sure all of the food stays true.

We Rate Sala Thai:

Address:
888 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC

Website:
https://www.salathai.ca/

In North Vancouver

Thai House: Celebrating 30 Years with 1986 Prices

November 7, 2016

In 1986, I was -2 years old, Vancouver had Expo 86, Top Gun was the top grossing movie and Thai House Group opened their first location on Robson Street. 30 years has passed and Thai House is celebrating their 30th anniversary by bringing back their 1986 pricing with a $30 tasting menu for 2 with their top menu items.

For $30 you get:

Spring rolls
Tom yum goong soup
Kaeng kiew waan (green curry)
Pad ma-mung him ma-pan (sautéed chicken with cashews)
Steamed Thai Jasmine Rice

Foodgressing and I were invited to try out the menu and went to the North Vancouver location. This special menu is available throughout the month of November at all Thai House locations.

Interior

The interior was nice and has a good amount of seating for small to large groups.

Drinks

Drinks are extra but we tried out the Fresh Young Coconut and Thai Iced Tea. Both were delicious and what I liked about the Thai Iced Tea was that it wasn’t too sweet. Just the right amount of sweetness. Drinks aren’t included in the set meal, but it’s a nice accompaniment.

Appetizer

For the appetizers, we got 2 spring rolls and 2 bowls of tom yum goong soup.

Tom Yum Goong is a spicy and sour noodle soup with tiger prawn, mushrooms, lemongrass and Thai spices. It had a good amount of spice to the dish.

Por Pia Tod are spring rolls. They are deep-fried and served with their sweet chili sauce. Crisp on the outside and the savoury veggie filling inside.

Entree

For the entrees, there are Kaeng Kiew Waan (green curry), Pad Ma-Mung Him Ma-Pan (sautéed chicken with cashews) and Jasmine steamed rice with coconut milk. Plenty for 2 people to share.

The green curry has chicken, coconut milk, eggplant, bell peppers, and topped with fresh basil. I found the chicken to be a bit dry but other than that, the taste went well with the steamed rice. I liked the hint of coconut milk.

Pad Ma-Mung Him Ma-Pan is sautéed chicken with cashew nuts, veggies, and roasted chili. The chicken was also a bit dry too and I would have liked a bit more spice to this dish. You can ask the kitchen staff ahead of time to have your dishes more spicy or less depending on your preference. I generally like my food a bit more spicy to bring out those bold flavours.

Dessert

Sticky Rice with Mango is what we ended the meal with. A good item to share and I like how it isn’t too sweet. There are days where my sweet tooth isn’t there. This isn’t part of the set menu, but it’s an option to order if you need something to end the meal off with.

Overall, the $30 set meal for 2 is a great price. The spice level could be increased but thats just my personal taste preferences. You get a good amount of food at 1986 prices…something that we probably won’t see again like the housing prices in Vancouver. It’s only here until the end of November, so grab some reservations before its too late.

We rate Thai House:

Address:
116 W Esplanade Avenue, North Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/

In Noodles

Pink Elephant Thai: 5 Year Annivesary

June 24, 2016

Pink Elephant Thai has been on Alberni Street for 5 years. To celebrate, they are having a 5 year anniversary special where you get 5 dishes for $55. You get 2 appetizers, 2 bowls of rice and 3 entrees to choose from. The 5 dishes are good enough for 3 -4 people.

We were invited to come here to try all of the items on their special menu.

The interior is pink and looks very modern.

Appetizers

There are 10 appetizers you can choose from:

Spring Rolls
Chicken Satay
Thai Fish Cakes
Thai Shrimp Cake
Thai Style Pork Cheek
Crispy Tofu
Som Yum Papaya Salad
Larb Gai
Yum Neau
Tom Yum Gai

Spring rolls were average. There’s only so much you can really do to transform a spring roll. Our portion size was a lot larger since we had 10 people. You can have this with minced pork or vegetarian.

Thai Fish Cakes was an enjoyable dish especially with the accompanying sauce.

Chicken Satay was dry and I didn’t like the texture of it. The flavour of it was good, but texture played a bit part in enjoying the dish.

Crispy Tofu was a delight. It was very crispy on the outside and inside, there was the soft silky tofu. It comes with a sweet chili sauce.

Thai Style Pork Cheek were tender and full of flavour. 5 pieces to the order and each bite was really good.

Larb Gai is a spicy thai ground chicken salad with fresh lime juice, roasted rice, nam-pla and Thai spices. Surprisingly it had a good amount of heat. I love the heat since I usually find most spicy dishes, weak in spice.

Thai Shrimp Cakes is another deep fried dish and had a good amount of filling inside. Definitely a good dish to get.

Yum Neau is a Thai beef salad and was quite spicy. It has sliced grilled New York beef mixed with fresh lime juice, nam-pla and Thai chili.

Tom Yum Gai is a hot and sour soup with mushrooms, tomato, lemongrass and Thai spices. You can choose it with chicken or tofu.

Entrees

There are 10 entrees and you can choose if you want chicken, beef or vegetarian

Yellow Curry
Red Curry
Green Curry
Thai Basil Stir-fried
Thai Black bean sauce
Cashew Nut Stir-fried
Pad Thai Noodles
Pad Kee Mao
Chilli Pepper Fried Rice
Mixed Seasonal Vegetables with oyster sauce

Pad Thai Noodles is a classic dish. It has tamarind sauce, tofu, ground peanuts, egg, green onions, and bean sprouts. Pretty good item.

Red curry has coconut milk, bamboo shoots, bell peppers and fresh basil. Grab the bowl of rice and slather this curry all over it.

Yellow curry has coconut milk, diced fresh pineapple and bell peppers.

Green Curry has coconut milk, eggplant, snap peas, bell peppers and fresh basil. One of my favourite curries of the evening.

Cashew Nut Stir-fried with onions, bell peppers and roasted chili. I liked the added texture from the cashews.

Thai Basil Stir-fried with beef, Thai chili, bell peppers, green beans and fresh basil.

Mixed Seasonal Vegetables with oyster sauce was a good dish. If you love veggies, this would be a good dish to get.

Pad Kee Mao has stir-fried rice noodles with Thai chili, bell peppers, onions, green beans and fresh basil.

Chili Pepper Fried Rice with vietnamese chili, egg and diced vegetables. A filling dish with good flavour, but can be very spicy for some.

Overall, I found some dishes at Pink Elephant Thai to be a hit or miss. Chicken is a popular protein to get, but we found that it was more on the dry side. A few items I enjoyed were the Green Curry, Pad Thai, Thai shrimp cakes, larb gai, crispy tofu and the Thai fish cakes.

One thing we like about this location is the balance of flavours in the dish and the use of spiciness in certain dishes.

We Rate Pink Elephant Thai:

Address:
1152 Alberni Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/pink-elephant-thai/

In Happy Hour

Pink Elephant Thai: Open at Marine Gateway

April 16, 2016

Pink Elephant Thai opened their second location at Marine Gateway serving up modern Thai food to hungry shoppers in this complex and the movie-goers at the Cineplex Theatres.

They also have happy hour on the weekday from 3 -6pm. The items on the happy hour menu range from $5 – $10 with Singha Beer, wine, and high ball for $5.

Their menu combines influences from Northern and Southern parts of Thailand, but they have added their modern twist to the dishes, so it’s not 100% authentic.

A few of us were invited to check out a few items on the menu and the space.

The interior is brightly lit compared to their Downtown location. They also can seat about 40 people here.

Thai iced tea is made of strong brewed tea, sweetener, ice and milk. It’s very good and always a treat at any Thai restaurant. Highly recommended!

Lime soda is very refreshing especially if you have spicy food.

Pad Thai Prawn is a stir-fried rice noodles with tamarind sauce, tofu, eggs, bean sprouts, green onions topped with ground peanuts.

You can also get this made vegetarian with tofu, or else you can choose your preference of protein like chicken or beef.

A classic dish that you can’t go wrong with.

Pink Elephant Thai Calamari is deep-fried and marinated with Thai spices. This dish was ok, looked more like an onion ring than calamari. There was a lot of batter and could have been a bit more crispy. After a while, it went a bit limp.

Goong Ob Woon Sen has Tiger prawns with glass noodles in a clay pot served with Thai spicy sauce. This was ok too, but I never really liked glass noodles as they tend to stick together a lot more.

Pad Kee Mao Prawn has stir-fried rice noodles with Thai chilies, diced green beans, onions, bell peppers and fresh basil. This was an ok dish as well.

Thai Style Pork Cheek is grilled and marinated with Thai herbs and spices. They use BBQ pork jowl in this dish. It was good, you can’t go wrong with jowl.

Chilli Basil Hot Wings are mild chicken wings but it does has a sight tingle from the chilli. I like the crispier skin on this flavour of wing.

Red Curry Hot Wings are a little more spicier, but the skin isn’t as crisp due to the red curry sauce.

Floating Market is an appetizer with deep-fried spinach with tiger prawns, cashew nuts served with spicy sauce. The deep-fried spinach was interesting, but it only tasted like the oily batter.

Pad Phed Chicken has bamboo shoots, mushrooms, Thai chilies, bell pepper and fresh basil stir fry. Grab some rice on the side and eat it with this dish. A good mix of spice to this dish.

Khao Soi with chicken comes with their Northern Thai Style curry soup noodles. Dunk the noodles into the broth and enjoy.

Deep fried banana with mango ice cream had us all wondering if the ice cream was really mango or some Thai Iced Tea flavour. Their mango ice cream uses the larger red mangos. No one seemed to like the ice cream. I love deep fried banana’s so, I was all over that.

Mango with sticky rice cooked in pandan leaves uses the sweeter mangoes that we know and love. With the green sticky rice, this dish looks like a carrot.

Overall, the food was ok, but I think I would want to try more of their of the other items on the menu like the satays and fresher items like the lettuce wraps.

All of the dishes are mean to be shared to have the best experience, but if you wanted a single dish to yourself, the noodles, curry or rice dishes will be good.

We Rate Pink Elephant Thai:

Address:
434 SW Marine Drive, Vancouver

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/pink-elephant-thai/

In Hastings-Sunrise

Bai Bua Thai Cuisine: Dinner Time

February 28, 2016

Bai Bua Thai Cuisine is a family owned business in the Hastings-Sunrise area and has authentic Thai cuisine. Since I’ve never been to Thailand, I can’t really comment on the authenticity, but a few friends have said its pretty close. There is pay parking at the front of the restaurant, but it can be tricky to find a spot since there is a bit of traffic near the intersection. Luckily we were able to find a large space out front since it was pouring outside.

The restaurant has a good amount of space. We made reservations just in case this place filled out, but when we went around 6pm, it wasn’t too busy. Later in the evening, it did get very busy.

We started off with the Thai Ice Tea with Milk and omg it’s so darn good. I can not express how amazing and delicious this drink is. It was like milk tea but a lot better. If they made this into an ice cream, it would be awesome. Highly recommended item to order.

Laab is a warm salad that is North-Eastern Thai Style. You can choose to have it with ground chicken or pork. It also has lime, fish sauce, onion, green onion, coriander, ground chili and ground roasted rice.

It was like a warm meat salad. Good flavours, but I wish I had some rice with it.

Chicken Wings comes with 8 pieces. They are marinated in spices and garlic before being deep-fried. It came piping hot to the table and was very enjoyable. The batter reminded me a little bit like Church’s Chicken.

Khao Pad Pring Poo is their spicy fried rice. You have the choice of having it with chicken, beef, or pork. We went with the pork. The dish also has rice, chili, egg, green onion and carrots.

When first tasting this dish it wasn’t very spicy at all. It could have been a bit more spicy.

Green Curry comes with your choice of chicken, beef or tofu. We went with tofu. The dish also has green curry paste, thai herbs, coconut milk, eggplant, green beans, thai basil and bamboo shoots.

It was really good. We ordered a large coconut rice to go with it too, which was great.

Pad Thai Chicken comes with thin rice noodles, tamarind sauce, sugar, salted radish, egg, chives, bean sprouts and ground peanuts.

It was ok, but the sugar really threw me off. Didn’t like the slightly sweet taste to it.

One item that I was really looking forward to is the mango sticky rice dessert in the shape of a rose. It’s just so beautiful!

It is served warm with some coconut milk drizzles on top. I’ve never had this before, so it was a nice treat.

The 3 of us had a great meal but some dishes were definitely a hit and a miss.

At the end of the meal, they give you the bill with some apple hard candies.

We Rate Bai Bua Thai Cuisine:

Address:
2443 East Hastings Street, Vancouver

Website:
http://www.baibuathaicuisine.com/

In Chinese

Lee: Private Dining Experience

November 5, 2014

Lee offers private dining experiences for group of 10 – 30 people. It’s a cozy space for special occasions for friends and family…or even an office party. I was here for my friend’s rehearsal dinner for her wedding and gathered in the room to celebrate.

Photo by Lee

The space has a long table to seat all your guests and cozy up to the fireplace.The room over looks their narrow private garden.

The room is located past their kitchen and has their own washroom away from the rest of the restaurant.

Saketini has moonstone Plum Saké, Tozai Living Jewel Junmai Saké, Belvedere Vodka, Yuzu, and Flower Petals.

Singaporean-style Slaw has green onions, taro root, rice vermicelli, cucumber, carrots, jicama, daikon, tomatoes, sesame seeds, ginger, peanuts, edible flowers, purple, basil, coriander, daikon sprouts, shallots, pickled red onion, with their salted plum dressing and onion oil. This is an amazing dish! Everyone must order this.

Some people love this so much that they just order one of these to themselves.

Top Chef Green Curry Chicken has crispy multi-grain rice cake, pine nuts, spiced tomato jam, oven dried pineapple, and chili mint. This was the Top Chef award winning dish when Susur Lee was on the show. I always find this dish ok and not as jaw dropping as what some other people say.

Warm Molten Chocolate Cake has caramelized jackfruit & banana with vanilla bean ice cream. Oh man, this dish was a surprise. It seems pretty normal, but once you cut into the cake, it oooooozzzzeeessss with the chocolate inside. So good! I ate most of this and I kept craving more.

The vanilla ice cream with the blue berry sauce and chocolate decoration paired nicely too.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the meal. We had a lot of dishes, but I kinda enjoyed the meal a little too much. I usually don’t forget to take photos. For more dishes, you can view my previous review of Lee. When in doubt, always order the slaw.

We Rate Lee:

Address:
603 King St W
Toronto, ON

Website:
http://www.susur.com/lee/

In Thai

Urban Thai Bistro: Taste of Yaletown

October 12, 2014

Taste of Yaletown is back for its 10th year full of bites, treats, sips and sights of Yaletown. Every year, Taste of Yaletown brings together the talents of chefs with culinary treasures in the best dining district in Vancouver.

From October 16th-30th, Yaletown kitchens will offer featured menus, special tastings and innovative pairings to tempt the most adventurous foodie. With a fresh approach to fixed price menus of $25, $35 and $45 restaurants will offer combinations of food and drink or even special in-house events.

Urban Thai Bistro is participating this year showcasing their Thai dishes. They have been around since 2000 in Yaletown and is owned by the Thai House group.

[toggle title=”$35 Taste of Yaletown Menu”]
APPETIZER
BBQ chicken
(Thai Style marinated BBQ Chicken served with sweet chili plum sauce)
+
Papaya Salad
(Green papaya strips, carrots mixed with tomatoes, green beans, fresh chilies, roasted peanuts, diced garlic, fish sauce and lime juice )
+
Shrimp Balls
(Marinated shrimp paste wrapped with spring roll wrap served with sweet chili plum sauce)

Jalapeno Shrimp
(Fresh Jalapeno stuffed with shrimp paste served with house sauce)
+
Beef Salad
(Sliced New York beef w/ lime dressing, red onion, tomatoes & Thai chili)
+
Spring Roll
(Deep-fried with mixed vegetables and glass noodles served with homemade sweet chili plum sauce topped with ground peanuts)

SOUP
Tom Kah Prawns or Mussels – Coconut milk broth with galanga, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and mushrooms

ENTRÉE
Green curry prawns & scallop – eggplant, Peas, Bell Peppers & Fresh Basil

Pra Lunm Long Shong Lamb – Thai Peanut sauce topped with Lamb

Kra Pau Duck – Sautéed with Thai Chili, bell peppers, green beans & fresh hot basil

All entrée are served with stir-fried green vegetables

Choice of Rice or noodles

DESSERT
Lychee Jelly

[/toggle]

You can choose from 2 different sets of appetizers. The first one contains:

BBQ chicken has a Thai-style marinated BBQ Chicken served with sweet chili plum sauce.
Shrimp Balls has marinated shrimp paste wrapped with spring roll wrapping served with a sweet chili plum sauce.
Papaya Salad has green papaya strips, carrots mixed with tomatoes, green beans, fresh chilies, roasted peanuts, diced garlic, fish sauce and lime juice.

The BBQ chicken was tender and had a nice flavour. The shrimp balls were crispy and it was great to have it to add a crunchy bite. Papaya Salad was surprisingly quite spicy.

The second appetizer option has the following:

Jalapeno Shrimp has Jalapeno stuffed with shrimp paste served with house sauce.
Spring Roll is deep-fried with mixed vegetables and glass noodles served with homemade sweet chili plum sauce topped with ground peanuts.
Beef Salad has sliced New York beef with lime dressing, red onion, tomatoes & Thai chili.

The alternative dish is quite similar, but it depends on personal preferences.

Soup is the next item to come and you can choose Tom Kah with Prawns or Mussels. It has a coconut milk broth with galanga, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and mushrooms. It is quite spicy, so some people may need a big cup of ice water to quench the heat.

Green Curry Prawns and Scallops has eggplant, peas, bell peppers and basil. It is also served with vegetables and your choice or rice or noodles. I’ve never seen a Thai dish displayed like this. Quite fancy.

The sauce was good and well balanced. I did like the noodles over the rice.

Kra Pau Duck is sautéed with Thai chili, bell peppers, green beans and fresh hot basil. There is also veggies and your choice or rice or noodles.

Pra Lunm Long Shong Lamb has Thai Peanut sauce on top. You also get the same veggies and choice of rice or noodles.

Lychee Jelly has layered jello with different colours and embedded inside are two small lychees. It was quite a basic dessert and I didn’t feel like it represented Thai dessert very well.

Overall, you get quite a large appetizer and yummy entree. The dessert falls a bit short, but you get a well rounded taste of what Urban Thai Bistro has to offer.

We Rate Urban Thai Bistro:

Address:
1119 Hamilton St
Vancouver BC

Website:
http://thaihouse.com/urban-thai-bistro/

In BBQ

Urban Belly: Pork Belly, Ramen, and Communal Tables

September 21, 2013

When I was vacationing in Chicago, I went to visit Urbanbelly near Logan Square. They are also recipients of a Michelin Bib Gourmands Chicago award in 2010. It basically means they are a quality restaurant with affordable price.

They don’t take reservations, but on a weekday lunch hour, there was no wait.

The counter is at the back, so you just line up and order. They have daily specials written on the wall.

You can find the rest of the regular items on their menu. The prices are quite decent with nothing over $13.

The interior is one large room with 4 communal tables. Better get cozy and meet some new friends.

Asian Squash and Bacon Dumplings ($7) comes with 4 pieces of the steamed dumplings. It has a predominantly squash filling. It is topped with bacon bits, orange slices and other things. It was pretty good and has a nice balance between the sweet oranges and the savoury dumpling.

Urbanbelly Ramen ($13) is made with a pho broth and has pork belly and shitake mushrooms. Its deep rich broth with layers of savoury flavours is quite delicious.

Phat Rice ($9) is a fried rice dish that combined all the other rice dishes into one. There was short rib, pork belly, pineapple, scallions, pea shoots, and Thai basil. I chose this dish because I was pretty indecisive of what to order….so this was the best option. It was pretty good.

Chinese Eggplant with Thai Basil came complimentary because we waited a long time for the Phat Rice. I loved the sauce that came with it.

At the end of the meal, they give you some Ginger Candy to round out the experience.

Overall, the food was pretty good and I would come again. The food is a bit only and rich, but that means its extra delicious.

We Rate Urban Belly:

Address:
3053 N California Ave
Chicago, IL

Website:
http://www.urbanbellychicago.com/

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