July 20th, 2011 by Dawn Becker

All you have to do is walk by Khao San Road on any given night and try to get a seat – without reservations – and you’ll know this restaurant is doing more than okay. The line-ups are testament to the popularity of this downtown Thai spot located in the entertainment district at 326 Adelaide Street West. I used to think that dubbing yourself the “Best Thai Food in Toronto” was just rhetoric but Khao San Road has created a good case for using the title.

While the decor has a bit of a student cafeteria feel and there is a severe need for some sound baffling – the low ceiling creates strange acoustics and it can become very hard to talk to anyone across the table when it gets packed as it usually does – they have made me a Thai food convert. Sort of. (Pad Thai Sam Roas shown below.)

I have to come clean and say that I am not a fan of Thai food. Many of my friends have been singing the praises of Khao San Road and making what looked like dubious status updates about how awesome the food is. Meh, I thought. How good can Thai be in Toronto?

Usually it’s a set up for cloyingly sweet sauces, gloppy over-cooked stir-fried noodles, sticky tables and bad service. Too harsh? Well, after all the accolades and at the behest of my cousin, Casey, we met there for dinner. I brought my high expectations. He brought his empty wallet.

My first trip to Khao San Road was not the triumph I was hoping for but of course I came back for another try as every restaurant deserves if you’re actually going to write about them. True, the service is hit or miss and there can be a wait for a table and then your food, but that’s because they’re ridiculously busy. Did you notice the line-up at the door? Everyone wants to eat here and people are obviously willing to wait for it. And as it is for any business, it can be hard to keep up with hyper growth. Give them time to catch up to their own success and you’ll probably be pleased you did.

I sampled the Gra Bong, fried battered squash fritters. Here they could use a little consistency. Above you’ll see two shots from separate visits and you can easily see that, while the left one was shot with an iPhone, the fritters are denser and more heavily battered. Not so good. The Gra Bong pictured on the right were outstanding. I could easily eat these all night long, with what looks like a Szechaun-style chili pepper oil, that you can get by request. They were light, delicate and crisp and a serious crowd-pleaser.

My favourite appetizer has to be the Tao Hoo Taud Samoon Prai otherwise known as Garlic Tofu described on the menu as nuggets of fried tofu breaded in a crispy garlic and kaffir lime coating. These were so delightful it was like eating hot little morsels of pillowy tofu. Drool-worthy.

A lot of fuss was made over the Khao Soi, our version being egg noodles with braised beef in a coconut milk enriched curry (chicken is also available). My friends raved that this was bar none the best dish on the menu. On my first try the sauce was luscious and velvety and very worthy but the braised beef was dry and tough. When I asked about it, one of the owners, Monte, explained that they were so busy that they ran out of the braised beef and had to make some more on the fly. The term “braise” means to sear the meat and then simmer slowly in some liquid, emphasis on slooowwwlly. I sincerely appreciated the honesty and when I came back I tried the Khao Soi with braised beef again and very happily found the meat meltingly tender as so many had described. This is why the high praise and I’m happy I gave it a second chance.

I tried the various curry dishes (green and red curry shown below) which are available with chicken, beef and for some with tofu or shrimp as indicated on the menu. I found all of the curry options to be soul satisfying and spot on. These curries all have a coconut base which generally tend to feel very rich. I can’t each too much of any Thai curry but I do find the Khao San Road curries tempt me to have one more scoop on my rice.

Three simple options for noodles. My favourite being the Pad Kee Mao mostly because I’m not a fan of things sweet, like my noodles. There is just enough basil stir-fried into this dish that makes these noodles sing. Sadly my photo below doesn’t do it justice. Disregard photo and consider this a must-order item.

Pad Thai Sam Roas (shown at the top of this post) and Pad Thai Street Style, shown below were both exemplary. Perfectly dressed, noodles still bouyant, with a light hand on the tamarind-based sauce so as not to be too sweet. Yum and yum.

Khao San Road doesn’t need me to vouch for them but I am doing it here. This time the line-up is no mistake. This place is worth the wait. But do yourself and your date a favour and call to reserve ahead.