Fine Asian food and a high-flying visit from Winnie the Pooh
Mark Laba
Province
Wanchawee Thongdee of Thida Thai with an assortment of dishes. Photograph by : Jon Murray, The Province
THIDA THAI
Where: 1193 Davie St., Vancouver; website: www.thidathairestaurant.com
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-669-3588
Drinks: Fully licensed.
Hours: Mon.-Fri., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sat.-Sun., noon-10 p.m.
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If pigs had wings, they would fly, and if Winnie the Pooh had wings, well, he’d be flying an F-16, strafing beehives for honey. At least according to one of the crazier offshoots of character toys I’ve encountered in my lifetime. Most restaurants have some defining piece of décor in their environs and this under-sung Thai restaurant has a little shrine of toys fronting a wooden welcome sign.
Centre stage is innocent old Winnie the Pooh, tucked snugly into the cockpit of an F-16 fighter plane, that honey-eating grin painted permanently across his fat bear face. The rest of the restaurant, with its light pink walls and a large mirror for illusionary space, abounds with typical Thai-style artwork but it’s the shrine that caught my eye. And it was the food that caught my taste buds by surprise.
Paid a visit with The Law and Texas Slim for a little reconnaissance mission, gathering information for headquarters, which consisted of Peaches and Small Fry Eli watching twins and waiting for takeout. When I spotted Pooh Bear in his plane, I thought I was in for a dog-fight but all I walked away with was an excellent doggie bag. Texas Slim, being a meat-and-potatoes man, is sort of the litmus test for Asian foods and just being back from his tour of great bowling alleys of the Prairies, this man had worked up an appetite.
So we began with three appetizers just for good measure. It’s said the measure of a man is whether he double-dips his spring rolls — I believe this quote is attributed to Plato — and I kept an eye on both Tex and The Law to see if I could catch them at it. They were on the up and up but I double-dipped when they weren’t looking. The spring rolls ($5.45) by the way, were excellent. No grease factor, perfectly crisp carapace and wonderful mixed veggie and vermicelli innards.
The chicken satay ($6.95) with homemade peanut sauce was equally inspiring and the ghiaw grab ($5.45), which means grab as many of these crunchy ground chicken filled wontons as you can while you distract your dining companions with a sock puppet you keep in your back pocket just for these occasions, were delicious, especially with the sweet-and-sour dipping sauce.
We moved on to both a yellow curry with beef and a panang curry with poultry (both $8.95). The yellow curry was much creamier than many I’ve tried, a true coconut-milk lullaby. The panang curry offered up myriad flavours with less of a coconut-milk effect but an invigorating hit of curry paste along with underlying current of basil and lime. Bell peppers added colourful accent to this already colourful dish.
Undaunted by the parade of dishes, we dove into Swimming Rama ($10.50) and Pad Thai noodles ($8.95), both classics that lived up to their culinary pedigree, the poultry and broccoli swimming in a great peanut sauce in the first and the Pad Thai showing a deft and delicate touch with the ingredients and spicing.
Indicative of all the dishes here, from the deep-fried fish with sweet and sour chili sauce to the multitude of stir-fries, you’re guaranteed to bump into a few menu items you may not have encountered before. And should you feel as you bend to the trough a pair of eyes burning into the back of your neck never fear, it’s just a Pooh Bear setting his sights on the long flight back from Bangkok.
THE BOTTOM LINE: A veritable kaleidoscope of exotic flavours.
RATINGS: Food: A-; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B
