Showing posts with label tom yum koong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tom yum koong. Show all posts

Sukhothai (Ottawa)


According to Wikipedia, Sukhothai was once a thriving Kingdom in central Thailand and translates to "dawn of happiness".  There’s something wishful about using that name for a restaurant: hoping to bring happiness to all your customers. By no means am I implying this is why the Ottawa owners chose this name, it’s simply my own romantic notion.

Tomato and red spices are left out of the restaurant’s tom yum goong ($5.50) so the broth remains clear … rather deceiving … until you take a sip. Instantly, the spicy, sour, salty and even mildly sweet flavours flood the mouth – how is such an innocent looking soup so powerful? Even without the red spices the soup has a nice heat level and lemongrass essence. As a warning, it’s a tad salty so this goes best with rice.


Green curries are one of my favourite Thai dishes and Sukhothai’s doesn’t disappoint. The gang keaw warn ($16.95) has great rich flavours and the sauce light enough to spoon liberally over rice. The mixture of crunchy vegetables (bell pepper, carrot, bamboo shoot and baby corn) kept it fresh and the drizzle of extra coconut milk on top an additional creaminess. I’d caution against ordering the beef as it was a tad chewy, I still enjoy this dish best with chicken, shrimp or simply in its vegetarian form.


If you can’t handle spicy curries, the gang khua sap pa rod ($18.95) is a safer alternative. Coconut milk, tomatoes and curry are combined with shrimp and chunks of pineapple. The sweetness from the fruit mellows everything, making the dish a mild approachable curry. The shrimp's texture is different: not the crunchy consistency found in other dishes; something about the acid makes it meaty and tender but not rubbery.


If you thinking the gai pad med ma muang ($15.95) is like kung pao chicken, then you’re correct. This Thai dish is said to be derived from the popular Sichuan version, except substituting the creamier cashew for peanuts and incorporating a stronger heat. Overall, the cashew chicken has a decent spiciness but not overwhelming.  


During the warmer months, a lighter cold dish such as the yum-pla ($17.95) is ideal. Despite the menu noting this Thai salad is generally served as a hors d’oeurve, it’s so substantial that you should consider it a main. A large piece of grilled trout is topped with green mango salad and cashews for crunch.  


Sukhothai’s pad Thai ($15.95) was the first I’ve had that grinds their peanuts into fine pieces so you experience its texture without too much crunch. Overall, a good rendition of the popular dish: the stir-fried rice noodles were springy and well covered in spices without becoming too wet; the chicken and shrimp not over cooked; and the bean sprouts and red cabbage served on the side so you can customize the amount of crunchy raw vegetables.


To end, we were treated with a dessert typically only served on special occasions. The thong ek, which translates to “gold prime”, is meant to bring wealth and advancement with a person’s career.  The dessert is generally carved into a flower shape; at Sukhothai, they’re simplified into a leaf beautifully adorned with a piece of gold foil. Made with sugar, coconut milk reduction and egg yolk, the thong ek reminds me of Chinese New Year cake, except softer and stickier.


Sukhothai, being the last restaurant we went to that day, was a great ending. Not exactly the “dawn of happiness”, but I certainly departed in good spirits having enjoyed a lovely indulgent meal with a group of great people.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10
Disclaimer: The above meal was complimentary. Rest assured, as noted in my mission statement, I will always provide an honest opinion.


How To Find Them
 Location: Ottawa, Canada
 Address: 134 Robertson Road

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Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!


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Sukhothai Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato


The Siam Heritage サイアムヘリテイジ東京 (Tokyo)

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Address: 1-5-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda (Shin-Marunouchi Building, 6th floor)

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-SIAM-Heritage-TOKYO/181142475342972
Type of Meal: Dinner
 


Located in the Shin-Marunouchi Building, The Siam Heritage specializes in Thai cuisine offering crowd favourites done with traditional ingredients. Price points are on the higher end, but dishes are fairly sized and meant to be shared. If you wish to try a number of items, there is a set menu available, which may be a better option for parties of two or fewer.

My husband and I ended up ordering way too much food, so what’s listed below could easily feed three people. Before our starters arrived, the waitress brought over a collection of ingredients (from what I can recall - peanuts, lemon grass, dried shrimp, shallot, lime peel) where she made us each a leaf wrap topped with a sweet sauce. Despite some of the ingredients sounding hard and unpleasant tasting (i.e. lime peel), everything actually went well together and the wrap was an interesting start to the meal.


A shrimp rice paper roll (¥600 for two rolls, only one shown below) arrived adorned with a pretty flower. It was much fresher than what I’ve typically had at pho places, where the wrapper was moist and springy and didn’t break apart.  It could be improved by putting more shrimp in it as I found the roll predominantly took on the lettuce, carrot and sweet & spicy dipping sauce flavours.


We had to order tom yum koong (¥2,400), a traditional spicy and sour soup. Siam’s version definitely had a kick to it and was as strong as the ones I’ve had in Thailand. At first, we were wondering why a bowl of soup would be so expensive, but upon seeing the portion size realized the reason – we each were able to have two smaller bowls and in hind sight I guess we should have asked. Complete with prawns, lemon grass and mushrooms the ingredients were typical and decent. Pieces of chilies also came with the broth so you really had to be careful to not eat them, unless you wanted your tongue to burn even more. Overall, a good soup but very powerful so is better suited for parties of three or more.


Luckily, the green papaya salad (¥1,800) arrived next and cooled down our scorching mouths. It had a really nice medley of sweet, sour and salty flavours with the green papaya being a little crisper than mango. Even this dish had some small red chili pepper pieces tossed throughout but at least in a bearable volume. I did find the wedge of lettuce a bit strange so we ended up leaving it untouched; Siam should consider serving the salad in larger lettuce leaves which would make the dish look more attractive and allow patrons to easily eat the lettuce.


Siam’s chicken in green curry (¥2,300) was wonderfully fragrant and not just from the typical coconut milk – likely a plethora of ingredients that I couldn’t decipher but gave the curry a bit more depth and wasn’t as heavy. Additionally, the use of Japanese eggplant in the dish was great as they soaked up the sauce and were deliciously tender and flavourful. With it came all-you-can-eat rice, with the waitress bringing over a container at the beginning and spooning individual portions onto our plates. But, she diligently came back throughout the meal to offer us refills.  


Lastly, came the pad thai (¥1,800) where it contained a pretty heavy dose of fish sauce but also some sweetness and heat balancing it out. Although some tamarind must have been used (on account of the colour and slight sourness), it was used in moderation so didn’t become overpowering. Throughout the noodles were very tiny dried shrimp (pictured in the second photo) adding a further depth to the pad thai. Despite being stuffed I still had a portion of the noodles as it delicious and one of the best I’ve eaten.



Siam offers a nice atmosphere with plush linen covered tables and comfortable chairs. Service was outstanding and I had a delightful time conversing with our waitress who was so helpful and extremely friendly. I also commend the restaurant from a diversity and inclusion perspective, for its almost all female staff and employing a person with disabilities; up until this point, most restaurants we ate in had a predominantly young male workforce. All in all, Siam lives up to higher price points as it was one of my better experiences with Thai food.

Overall mark - 7 out of 10

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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System

  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!