Sherman's Food Adventures: Lhy Thai

Lhy Thai

*This post is 3 years old, apparently things have changed, take it with a grain of salt*

A bright, warm and beautiful sunny day; it inspires us to be happy and relaxed. For me, it inspires me to go find somewhere to eat. Wait, I don't think the weather has anything to do with it. I'm always inspired to eat! Even when I was badly stricken with the stomach flu back in March, I still continued eating (including cream puffs!) Well, today was a nice day and I was in search of eats. I briefly considered Hon's, but I regained my senses and decided on something else. No offense to Hon's but there are better choices. My choice today was Lhy Thai on Edmonds in Burnaby. If you've never heard about this place, I don't blame you. I drove right past it without noticing it. I had to look up the address again on Urbanspoon with my Blackberry (what a plug!).

Seating arrangements at Lhy Thai are a bit tight to say the least. The people next to us were having a conversation and I felt like I was a part of it. In fact, the gentleman next to me was raving about a Greek restaurant on Davie that served large portions at low prices; but he couldn't remember the name. I couldn't help myself and blurted out,"Stepho's". I'm not sure if he was appreciative or creeped out by my sudden interjection into their conversation. Sheepishly, I continued looking at the menu. With much excitement, Viv and I were impressed with the prices. Nothing was over $6.95; in fact, looking at the dinner menu later, only 2 items are over $10.00.

Viv ended up choosing Combo #2 (Green Curry) for her meal and I went for the Combo #3 (Red Curry). No, there was no Combo #5 like the time at Kam Wah. We added a Phat Thai Gai (Chicken Pad Thai) for good measure. Included in our combos were rice, spring roll and pork satay (Viv's)/fish cake (mine). First and foremost, the veggies in the curries were fresh, crisp and aesthetically pleasing. Flavour-wise, the curries were well-balanced with the red curry being a bit sweeter than the green curry. The spring rolls were crunchy and light tasting; but a bit on the oily side. The satay and fish cake were pretty standard, nothing much to say about them.

Everything was quite good until we got to the Phat Thai... It was fabulous! One of the most flavourful Pad Thai's I've ever had. The al dente rice noodles were caressed (nice word eh?) by sweet tamarind and spicy chili. The picture doesn't do it justice. The colour of the dish was a deep red, rather than the neon red you'd find on run-of-the-mill versions of Pad Thai. The flavours were both intense and rich. Furthermore, the dish was packed with dried tofu, preserved turnip, green onion, sprouts, egg and crushed peanuts.

I've read some comments regarding Lhy Thai and they have been quite negative concerning their portion sizes. Well, first of all, look at the prices, I think the portions are fair for the dollar value. Moreover, much like pasta sauce or curries, you don't need a tonne of it for your rice. You only need enough. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Lhy Thai and the service was friendly and attentive. I would categorize this place as definitely a hidden gem.

The Good:
- Authentic Thai Food, they even have a certificate proving it!
- Excellent prices
- Friendly staff

The Bad:
- Seating is a bit cramped

Lhy Thai on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

Jared Cohee said...

Coming to Vancouver later this year... would you consider this the best Thai restaurant in the city? Would love to check it out, thanks!

Sherman Chan said...

Hi Jared,

I would say that Lhy Thai qualifies as a good bang for the buck Thai restaurant. It would be hard to say which one is the "best". It's a matter of personal opinion. I haven't visited all the Thai restaurants in town, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. The following are some good choices:

Maenam
Papaya Hut
Charm

Then again, all of the above are much more expensive than Lhy Thai, yet offer better ambiance etc... It really depends what you want.

I hope this helps.

Jared Cohee said...

I'm not a fancy person, so I think it will be fine. Ambience is the least of my concerns :)

I am excited to spend a little time on the west coast, where quality Asian foods are easy to find. Here in NY they are around, but certainly the majority of Thai restaurants are catered to "western" tastes and are very blah. It's been so long since I lived in San Francisco and has such things at my disposal so easily!

Sherman Chan said...

Hi Jared, as a reversal, I envy that you are in NY, because we do not have any good delis here. I miss NYC! I have lots of family in San Fran and there is a good restaurant scene there. However, like you said, Vancouver has an abundance of good quality Asian food.

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