| rev:text
| - After another ketchup-y plate of pad-thai at a local restaurant, I decided that I had to hunt for a great traditional version in Toronto. Mission accomplished!
A very late dinner on Pi-Tom's patio coupled with pleasantly humid weather made a few of us reminisce of travels to Asia. Usually bustling & full during dinner, we arrived around 9pm and had full reign of the patio! Still decorated from the Pride Parade, the colourful patio is enveloped in plants and trees, making you forget that you're in the downtown core.
Yum Mamuang (Mango Salad)
Green mango, red onion, chili, mint leaves, lemon juice
A great start to our dinner, the ingredients were fresh and the lemon juice-chili combination complimented the mangoes quite well. The mangoes were ripe, but still had enough bite so you can get a good stab with your fork each time. The balance between fruit and vegetables was great - too much red onion can kill a mango salad.
Fish Cakes
Deep-fried ground white fish mixed with chili and long bean
What a pleasant surprise - when I heard "fish cakes" I was expecting spongy slivers of processed fish. Instead, we received tasty well-marinated slices accompanied with a hearty peanut sauce. The sauce was full of peanuts and flavour with a smooth, non-oily texture. I ended up scooping leftovers on some rice, yum!
Chicken Satay
4 skewers of marinated chicken served with cucumber salad
Tender, juicy chicken with a sweet & salty flavour - I wish these were sold on the street. They'd be the perfect snack! A simple yet winning appetizer.
The servers were very friendly. The food came quick throughout the night, and upon request they gave us a jug of water to save the waitress the hassle of constantly refilling our glasses. We did not realize that they closed at 10pm, but they did not rush us out of the restaurant and did not seem annoyed that we were unknowingly staying well past their closing time.
Authentic Pad Thai
Thai rice noodles stir fried with sweet & sour tamarind sauce, chicken, shrimp, root vegetable, bean sprouts, tofu, coconut sauce, wrapped in a fried egg crepe
What a difference from ketchup-based pad thai! Tamarind is by far the superior sauce. While ketchup (or "sweet and sour tomato sauce" as some restaurants call it) is very sugary, tamarind gave it a more tangy flavour and the portion in the egg crepe was quite generous. It wasn't sopping with sauce, and there meat, noodle, and sprouts ratio was great, and everything was cooked quite nicely
Duck Curry
Roasted duck in curry, lychee, bamboo shoots, peppers, and basil
Full of bell peppers, broccoli and bamboo shoots, this aromatic curry was deliciously packed with flavour and roasted duck. To be honest, I didn't notice lychee...probably because I was too busy wolfing everything down!The curry was wonderfully seasoned; sweet, comforting and the favourite dish of the night for our table.
Peanut Chicken
Chicken stir-fried with peanut sauce & long bean
The simple peanut chicken dish was very flavourful with moist bites of chicken. As expected, it had a very strong peanut taste, but wasn't at all pasty in texture. While yummy on a summer night, I can really see myself enjoying a bowl in the winter - and Pi-Tom's does delivery!
Plamuek Pad Prik (Spicy Squid)
Squid in hot pepper sauce with bamboo shoots and basil sauce
A generous offering of vegetables and squid, this plate disappeared quickly! Green beans, carrots, bamboo shoots, onions, and squid, all smothered and cooked in an addictive basil sauce. Even when the food was gone, we were spooning the sauce on rice until the plate was super clean!
Goong Pong Ka-Ree (Stir Fried Shrimp Dinner Special)
Stir-fried shrimp with curry powder, egg, onion, chili garlic sauce, sweet peppers. Served with pineapple fried rice and pineapple salad.
Another favourite of the table - although the pineapples were canned, the salad was nice to scoop up with the shrimp and rice. The fried rice wasn't greasy (something that I'm usually wary of), and the shrimp had a great kick that kept us going back for more.
By the end of the night, all of us left happy & satisfied. Every single dish was full of flavour, the service was pleasant, and the patio was welcoming. A surprisingly delicious find, just off of Yonge Street and I will be back to try their soups and sticky-rice dessert!
*Update*
Pi-Tom's Mango Sticky Rice (~$6)
Thumbs down. I suppose I can't fault them for the blah mango - peak season has come and gone.
Mango Sticky Rice is supposed to be salty & sweet...I would've liked a bit more of a salty flavour in the coconut-milk. I could be wrong, but perhaps the rice wasn't soaked enough in the coconut-milk or maybe there wasn't enough (to my liking anyways. I'm no Thai-dessert expert) because I would've liked a milkier consistency.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)