Address: 18 Duncan Street
Website: http://www.paitoronto.com/
Type of Meal: Dinner
When Janet Zuccarini and Jeff Regular gets behind the kitchen
and cooks Thai, people follow. I’ve been trying to get a taste of their
original creations for years. From Khao San Road to Sukho Thai, it seems that
every time I finally make it into the restaurant, they sneak away to open yet
another place. This time I did it – I’ve eaten at Pai while the Regulars (as
they are referred to by media) are still in power.
Since Khao San Road, they have realized that there is
nothing wrong with taking reservations. As a person who hates waiting in lines,
I’m thankful for that. And trust me, you’ll want reservations, as even visiting
on a weeknight Pai was packed.
The set-up looks familiar – simple wooden tables packed
close together in a long narrow restaurant. At Pai, there are a couple of cool
features including a tatami sitting area and a rotating wooden barrel at the
bar. Their menu still revolves around starchy Thai comfort foods, but sadly my
beloved garlic shrimp is nowhere to be found.
On this visit, I took the advice of the waitress and ordered
gaeng kiaw wan ($15). The green curry is served in a coconut, with an extra
portion in a bowl on the side. Alas, other than being decorative the coconut
doesn’t add much (I tried scraping the sides for some coconut meat but there was none to be
found), but it sure does look nice.
The curry is chocked full of tender chicken slices, bamboo
shoots and bell peppers, with basil and kaffir lime leaves to provide more
flavour. To be safe, I went with a medium level of spiciness, so there was a
bit of heat. But, the slightly sweet coconut milk was definitely more
pronounced. So, I’d likely up it to the “foreigner spicy” level next time.
Keep in mind the spiciness of each dish really differs. My
friend ordered her khao soi ($14) “mild” and I really didn’t find a noticeable change in heat between her noodle dish and my curry. I’ve had this egg noodles in
golden curry dish at Sukho Thai and they taste similar. But, at Pai the beef
arrives in much larger chunks – not good or bad but requires the eater to try
to break it up with chopsticks.
Although I didn’t try it, the vegetarian pad thai ($14) my
friend had smelled very good.
As a warning, food service is slow – so, you’ll likely not
want to show up starving. The music is also much too loud, so I’d suggest
sticking with a table of four or less if you want a chance of having a conversation.
But, I’m glad for the opportunity to eat at a place Janet and Jeff are still
managing; their creations do not disappoint. Well, may if Pai can add the
crispy garlic shrimp to their menu… than it’d be even better.
Overall mark - 8 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!
