Sherman's Food Adventures: Ban Chok Dee

Ban Chok Dee

Most people assume chain restaurants and Langley go hand-in-hand like Canadians and the Bellingham Costco.  Hey, check out 200th Street, there is practically every chain restaurant represented.  And let's not forget the only BC location of the Olive Garden.  However, for those who know, there are some gems to be found here if you look hard enough.  Estrella's and Hilltop Cafe are good examples of that.  So when Bluebeard (a fine resident of Langley) saw a Groupon for Ban Chok Dee Thai, he wondered if we wanted to join him and Nikita for dinner.  That we did and planned to watch a movie at Colossus as well.

Before any of our dishes arrived, we were presented with some complimentary Shrimp Chips and spicy peanut dipping sauce.  These were slightly spicy and of course crunchy.  For our actual appies, we started with the Chok Dee Lime Leaves Wrap.  We all loved this dish as there were many layers of flavour starting with the sweetness of palm sugar, lime and basil then a hit of spice, finishing off with the roasted cashews.  There was a nice contrast between the crunchy veggies and the moist chicken.  Next up, we had the Chicken Satay which were made with lean breast meat.  Suffice to say, they were a bit dry.  It did have a good char though and was properly seasoned.

Onto some mains, we tried the Pad Thai, which was mostly sweet in need of more tang.  The chicken could've stood to be less chewy as well.  We liked how it wasn't wet nor too dry and also it wasn't the ketchupy type either.  Overall, it was still pretty good.  As for the Beef Penang Curry, it was not our favourite.  There was nothing particularly wrong with the flavours per se.  There was a fishy, salty, sweet and spicy thing going on and it went well with our rice.  The biggest issue was the beef - it was dry and hard.  It took considerable effort to chew.  We realize that Thai cooking doesn't employ a tenderizer to the meat, but maybe they should've used a more tender cut.

Moving along, we had the Chicken Green Curry which was generous in portion size.  The curry was definitely coconutty with balanced flavours.  Despite this, we would've liked to see just a bit more punch with the flavours.  We asked for medium and it was not overly spicy.  Lastly, we had the Cashew Chicken and this was not devoid of flavour.  There was a good mix of sweet and savoury while the dish exhibited a good wok fry.  This was a nice end to a relatively enjoyable meal.  The food was generally pretty good while our surroundings comfortable with attentive service (even though we had a Groupon too).


The Good:
- Solid eats
- Clean and comfortable environment
- Decent service

The Bad:
- Some of the proteins could've been less dry and chewy

Ban Chok Dee Thai Cuisine on Urbanspoon



1 comments:

LotusRapper said...

There's an Olive Garden in Langley ???

[runs off to grab coat ......]

J/K ;-P

Search this Site