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| - Dropped by for lunch and was impressed, overall.
The owner/host/waiter was quite reserved at first, but when we engaged him in conversation, he turned out to be pretty funny.
There was only one other table of two occupied when we arrived, then a party of 9 showed up, but he handled it all with aplomb. Before talking about the food I should mention an hilarious event that transpired. After the first table left, whist he was busy with us and the large party, two women walked in and pulled an absolute classic that must drive restaurants crazy. There were about 9 or 10 other set tables, but of course they made a beeline for the dirty table that had just been vacated. When the owner came out and asked them to pick any other table because he was too busy to clean that one, they got so offended. They wanted to argue about it, but he just turned around to get some food from the kitchen and they finally, resentfully, moved. What is it with some people?
The food: Several reviews suggested the portions were small and we were hungry, so we ended up ordering too much. The portions are a perfectly reasonable size.
Appetizer platter: This was the least satisfactory part of the meal. Lots of deep-fried stuff and some OK dipping sauces. Decent, but not outstanding, other than the fresh chicken roll.
Papaya salad: Fresh veggies and chunks of papaya in a spicy dressing...excellent.
Red curry beef: Tender slices of beef, peppers and bamboo in a very, very peppery broth. Sumptuous. I love spicy food, but I'm pretty sure it would be too hot for 80% of Canadians. It had three peppers next to it on the menu, and that means really fiery, so be aware.
Curried Pad Thai: My wife asked for very spicy and she had a hard time with the heat, but she loved the textures and flavours. I wolfed down what she couldn't handle. Again, excellent.
All in all, a fine lunch. Including two pops, tax and a 20% tip it was almost $60, which isn't exactly cheap, but you get what you pay for...usually. I'll be back.
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