Thai By Thai (Scott Road)

Okay, I must profess that I was too lazy to take an updated photo of Thai By Thai and am using my old one from 2014.  Now nothing on the outside has actually changed other than grand opening banner.  You may notice the banner advertising $7.50 lunch specials.  New flash, they are now like $15.00 and hey I don't blame the restaurant.  Things have gone up a lot due to inflation.  So essentially it has doubled in less than 10 years.  However, our paycheques have not followed suit!  Anyways, we returned to see if the food was still as good as we remembered.

Starting off the meal, we had the Thai Spring Rolls as well as the Vegetable Thai Salad Roll.  Nothing out of the ordinary here with crispy spring rolls with vibrant and crunchy veggies inside.  In terms of aesthetics, the rolls could've been fried more aggressively so it would be darker.  However, it didn't affect the texture or taste.  The salad roll was pretty basic and filled with rice noodles and veggies. The rice paper was soaked properly having an appealingly chewy, yet moist texture.

Another appie we had was the Thai Chicken Wings served with a spiced fish sauce.  These giant mid-wings (or flats) were super juicy and well-brined.  They were starch-coated and fried until they had a good colour and were lightly crunchy.  Due to the brine, the wings had good inherent flavour already, but it was even better after the soaking it with the spicy and garlicky fish sauce.

Of course we had to be defaultish and get the Pad Thai.  Well it was a huge portion that is a half size bigger than most other places.  Although this had plenty of tanginess from tamarind, I found it to be on the sweeter side.  Noodles were chewy, but a bit clumpy.  We asked for our dishes to be medium and this was more or less that.  Overall, this was a respectable Pad Thai and worth ordering.

Next we went with 2 curries including the Chicken Green Curry.  Again, this was a huge portion consisting of the usual ingredients including peppers and eggplant.  We found the green curry to be flavourful but would've enjoyed a bit more brininess.  It was aromatic and lightly creamy from the coconut milk. The best part was the chicken, it was shockingly tender and juicy (possibly from being tenderized).  Sure, it isn't traditionally tenderized, but hey, we liked it more than dry white meat.

We also went for the Beef Red Curry with peppers and bamboo shoots.  Again, this was creamy and fairly flavourful with some spiciness.  This one seemed to be richer than the green curry.  As you can see, this was the same portion size as the green curry, so you must order enough rice to compliment.  Similar to the chicken, the beef had been tenderized and it was tender and moist.  I didn't mind it as it still retained a meaty texture.  Some might argue against it, but I say get over it, it still ate really well.

Lastly, we got the Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables.  Typically, this dish employs a mushroom "oyster" sauce, but there did not appear to be any in this one.  Despite that, the veggies were vibrant and crunchy while being completely seasoned.  There was a quite a bit of moisture at the bottom of the plate though.  Overall, the food at Thai By Thai was decent and well-portioned.  I've always thought it was one of the better Thai options along the Scott Road corridor (not that there is that much competition).  This most recent visit affirms this.  

The Good:
- Decent eats
- Good portions
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Love that there is a parking lot, but it is a bit tight to maneuver when full
- Some creative license over the food to make it more palatable to the area