Tangthai (Robson)

Tangthai Cuisine of Thailand
1626 West Broadway
1779 Robson Street (Location visisted)
Vancouver, BC

Ah, so many new restaurants opening, yet so little times at times… Tangthai is one of the newest restaurants opening near the corner of Robson and Denman where it is already well known to be the epicentre of ramen in Vancouver – where you can find Kintaro, Motomachi Shokudo and Benkei Ramen, all of them in the same block (plus the soon to be open Santouka in the next block). Thai cuisine is one of those that I know can be really bold, yet, for other reasons, it seems to be continuously bastardised to the point I am not sure if it can be considered ethnic anymore. True, I am Chinese and not a Thai expert in any way. So, for this purpose, I have been bugging Victoria (of Victoria’s Food Secrets), the in-house Thai food blogger expert in Vancouver, to help me check Tangthai: Would it pass her litmus test?

Not the best picture. I might retake this one…

To avoid the same situation we had last time we met, where we ended up going to Thai House, Victoria made reservations, although she was told it wasn’t really necessary. In fact, when I arrived, it was mostly empty. Victoria, along with T and D arrive not long after. Now, since I arrived first, I made claim for what I thought would be the best spot to take pictures (due to lighting). Sorry D, you know this is business!

While deciding, I asked for a Thai iced tea – with the odd part that it is made with whipped cream… Now, I have heard it being made with evaporated milk or condensed milk but this is the first time with whipped cream. The resulting drink was quite rich and not that sweet. This is specially taken into consideration that Thai House’s Thai iced tea used a syrup. Interesting drink but not sure if I would order it again in the future.

Similar to our last visit, each one of us chose a dish and decided an appetizer, which ended up being…

Peek Kai Yud Sai or sutffed chicken wings. I was at first curious on how can chicken wings be stuffed. I mean, aren’t they somewhat small for that purpose? In a way, the second picture answered it. Since it was boneless, I guess they were boiled, the bones carefully pulled to not break the skin and then stuff it from there. As for taste, we pretty much agreed it was subpar. I myself couldn’t taste much of the chicken nor the filling (didn’t take a list of the exact ingredients in the filling). Hell, some more seasoning would have helped a lot!

In our visit to Thai House, Victoria expressed her disappointment they did not have Larb – a form of minced meat (cooked or raw) with ground toasted rice, chilli and other vegetables seasoned with some fish sauce and lime. However, this time she was excited to find out Tangthai had it. Translation: no way it won’t be ordered! However, Victoria was expecting it to have a chicken option but, alas, it was Larb Moo or pork larb. I will have to admit I couldn’t taste that much of the pork (as pork). However, the combination of the larb along with the rice (more of this in a moment) was quite interested, in the sense it had some acidity, pungency, meatiness and spicines in the same dish. In fact, it reminded me a little bit of ceviche. Regardless, a winner in the end.

The bowl of rice. Since it was four of us, we got this big bowl instead of individual servings. Now, we did not order plain steamed rice; rather we go coconut rice. Was there coconut? Well, it did smell like coconut! It was an odd good coincidence, as it had some slight hint of coconut sweetness that provided some odd contrast to the characteristics of the larb.

Pad Kee Mao – flat noodles with chicken, seafood and vegetables, this was ordered in-lieu of pad thai. Now, I am not sure if comparison should be made at all but, given what was served, I can say I like it and disliked it at the same time. On one side, it wasn’t laded with a red/catsup-like sauce; on the other side, it was a bit bland. However, there are some other positives: the texture of the noodles was quite nice as it still had some bite and the vegetables were still crispy (and without blisters, indicating it was oil blanched).

Nua Pad Takhai – Beef with lemongrass and vegetables. Similar to the Pad Kee Mao, it had also both its share of highs and lows. At first, I thought this looked quite similar to a Chinese stir fry but with more sauce. As a result, I would expect some wok hei characteristics – it wasn’t there. Sure, it was tender but did not try that caramelisation, specially considering I was hearing wok sounds in the background while we were waiting. The lemongrass did compensate, though, as it became the dominant flavour.

Green Curry Chicken, our final dish. In a way, this dish can be summed as a fail. To put it bluntly, it lacked much curry taste and sweetness. The chicken was barely OK (probably because I ended up picking mostly white meat?) and the vegetables did not add much – not to mention the mushrooms were a bit distracting. For some reason, I wished they were bamboo shoots instead.

I think the question of authenticity should not be asked here – of course, again, with the caveat I am not a Thai person. However, the question that should be asked is why they shot themselves by making dishes milder, hence more appealing to the masses. True, they have a star rating with five stars called “Welcome to Thailand” but that explain spiciness, not the lack of flavour/boldness of some of the dishes. Would I come back here? If the option is between Thai House (or similar bastardised restaurant) and Tangthai, it would be Tangthai hands down. However, there are some others that are still out there waiting for me to try.

Finally, what about Victoria? Well, you can check here post!

Tagged under: Beef • Chicken • Downtown • Lunch • Thai • Vancouver • West End