Win, Lose or Thai

Thai food has lost a bit of its cachet. Being almost as common as "chinese" food, and often as mediocre, I don't often go out for it anymore. There's even a fast food franchise, Thai Express, at my local mall food court.

I tried Sukho Thai on Parliament Street as I was in the area to check out an art installation by Silvana Bruni in the Distillery District, having heard good things about the restaurant. On a strip dominated by African stores, it's a tiny narrow place, dotted with a smattering of tables. On one wall is a profusion of framed personal photos. Though the reviews describe the place as packed, it was quiet on this Saturday afternoon, though there was a steady stream of take-out customers.

I ordered the Khao Soi, having only been recently made aware of curry-style soup. The bowl seemed substantially bigger than the menu photo. Instead of noodles in a curry dish, it was kissing cousin to a bowl of Vietnamese pho. The noodles were adequate, but I especially enjoy the crispy noodle topping. The large cubes of beef, no doubt left simmering for hours, were supremely tasty. The tender meat reminded me of Vietnamese beef stew. The broth was delicious but left me mildly concerned. It tasted strongly of curry and coconut milk, but I usually pour a bit of curry on my rice, not slurp it up by the spoonful. With each gulp, I was thinking: "How many calories am I ingesting?!" The cassava cake dessert was too sweet and did not have the starchiness I was hoping for, probably from the layer of caramel. A nice place to grab a quick and tasty meal, although its small size, and having insufficient ventilation for with the kitchen in the back means that you'll come out smelling of fried food and grease.

My faith for Thai food reasonably restored, I checked out Vanipha Lanna on St. Claire West. This restaurant has been in Toronto for awhile. I believe it finally moved to St. Claire about 5-6 years ago. Being a Lao-Thai place, I had to try the Larb Gai, a Laotian specialty. This is one of my favourite dishes, simple to prepare, but the combination of minced chicken with fresh herbs and a lime chilli dressing is wonderful. Unfortunately, the traditional sticky rice accompaniment is not part of the dish here so I had to order it as a side. The "correct" way to eat Larb Gai is to use your fingers and scoop up the chicken with some sticky rice, even if other diners look at you askance. Lanna's version was excellent, but I would have liked a bit more chopped herbs and significantly more chilli kick.

I also ordered Gang Hung Lay, a dish unfamiliar to me. However, the fact that the meat came whole (medallions of pork tenderloin) instead of typically chopped up was intriguing. It was a tasty dish, with an slightly sweet curry. This is a first for me, as Thai curries are usually richly coconut in flavour (green, red), indian-style (yellow), or tangy with tamarind (musuman). Perhaps it was the slices of apple in the dish. The ginger also gave the curry a bit of zing. It seems that this curry does have tamarind in it, according to recipes online.

The service at Vanipha Lanna was prompt and attentive. I appreciated the fact that the waiter was nice enough, as I was a single diner nursing a beer, to tell the chef to get my dishes out first before the table of 8 that had ordered long before me.