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Photo by apanatchi from Flickr.
Usually considered a street-stall food, pad thai is not available in Toronto a la cart due to some stringent law in our fair city about hot dogs and their superiority. That having been said, there is still oodles of great pad thai on offer in Toronto, for sit-in, take-out and, as chosen for our challenge, delivery.
Please note we used the word "oodles" because it rhymes with "noodles." You know where we're going with this.
The Contestants
- Spring Rolls. With 8 locations across the GTA, Spring Rolls has been described as the "best takeout," "a pan-Asian winner," and, according to the Toronto Star, serves up the "Best Pad Thai in the city." We'll see about that.
- Bangkok Paradise. Bangkok Paradise, located on Queen West, deems their fare to be Authentic Thai. Their website includes the following "testimony": ".........My friends laugh when I order Thai food....... but when their mouth explodes with tastes........of lemony flavours, chilli peppers, exotic spices and a combination of natural herbs.......they can’t wait to order again." Intriguing.
- Urban Thai. Based out of Little Italy, Urban Thai is a favourite of many Torontonians for their distinctly non-Italian dishes.
- The Friendly Thai. Award-winning and in possession of three locations, The Friendly Thai is open until midnight and is considered by some to be the most successful Toronto-based Asian restaurant chain.
Photo of Bangkok Paradise's Pad Thai by Julie Reitsma; Bangkok Paradise exterior photo by Kevin Steele from Flickr.
The Criteria
- Visuals. Pad Thai involves so many distinct ingredients that when you look at it you want to see all these different components. It should not be all one colour or have many indiscernible bits.
- Ingredients. Are all the necessary elements there? For example the tofu, shrimp, chicken, egg, lime, green onions, peanuts, tamarind, sprouts, and so on? Are they skimping on the pricier ingredients or is it plentiful?
- Freshness/Quality. Fresh and quality proteins are key to a good Pad Thai, as are fresh veggies.
- Noodle. Are the noodles cooked properly? Nothing brings a pad thai down quicker than smooshy or uber crunchy noodles.
- Flavour. Does it taste like pad thai? Or does it taste like noodles with PB or ketchup on them? Are all the distinct flavours there?
Additional Criteria
There was little variance in the cost of the dishes. All four of the contestants charged about $9.00 for their pad thai. It should be noted, however, that as these were delivery sometimes we had to order extras so that the minimum was met.
Spring Rolls (minimum $20.00 order as we live West of Bathurst); The Friendly Thai (minimum $15.00 order); Urban Thai (minimum $15.00 order or they will add $2.00 on to your order as a fee); Bangkok Paradise (minimum $15.00 order or they will add $2.00 on to your order as a fee).
The Friendly Thai sign photo by forester401 from Flickr; photo of The Friendly Thai's Pad Thai by Julie Reitsma.
Results
- Visuals. Spring Rolls—14/15. Spring Rolls' offering came in the best container, with a nice clear lid and no squish factor. It also had a nice lemon wedge, green onions and a peanut pile that added colour and flavour.
- Ingredients. Spring Rolls—11/15. There was maxi-plenty with a clear no-skimp on the ingredients in this pad thai.
- Freshness/Quality. Urban Thai—11.5/15. All of the components present in this contestant were fresh and well cooked. Thank goodness for that too, 'cause we had had it up to here with the chewy tofu.
- Noodle. Urban Thai—13/15. Perfectly cooked, a nice thickness, and though some minor stick-togetherness, no real clumping.
- Flavour. Urban Thai—13/15. Nice level of sauce and seasoning. Tasted like neither ketchup or peanut butter.
Conclusions
Torontoist would not, much like a certain pumpkin tart previously judged, accept Bangkok Paradise's pad thai as a gift. First of all, before we even opened the styrofoam container it arrived in, we noticed that said container had begun to melt. Upon the opening of this delivery-style Pandora's box we knew that something had gone seriously wrong. Due to the unfortunate state of the container, the pad thai was left with a molten chemically residue type flavour. The dish was light brown in colour with no sign of tamarind anywhere and was topped with the saddest looking twig of cilantro we have ever seen. Though this was the only entrant with egg, we were able to choose only one meat and so we were shrimpless. This pad thai was bland, food-court quality at best and looked like it had been left, with its container, in the sun for much too long. As one judge so eloquently stated, "if this is authentic Thai, then I don't want to go to Thailand."
The Friendly Thai came up next in our Challenge. Though it was relatively nice looking, with a wee peanut pile and a lemon wedge, the meats were quite dry and the shrimp were scarce making it quite noodle-dense. The flavour wasn't bad, though it seemed a bit hard to place for one judge who described it as having a crazy "gypsy" after-taste. On a whole, we gave The Friendly Thai's offering a score of "meh."
Spring Rolls exterior photo by wvs from Flickr; photo of Spring Rolls' Pad Thai by Julie Reitsma.
In second place, with a win in two categories, was Spring Rolls. Torontoist would like mention before going into our analysis, that we'd been warned that the pad thai at Spring Rolls was not worth ordering. On the other hand, as stated above, Spring Rolls has been declared by at least one major daily to have the best pad thai in the city. So how did they fare? Not bad at all! Though it was a touch on the "pink" side, it was still quite nice visually. There was lots of shrimp, chicken and tofu which meant that we didn't have to go on any shrimp-searches. The smell, though not a criteria, was also enticing. While the chicken had a great taste, the rest of the dish was lacking in real punch-you-in-the-face flavour and unfortunately, due to some cilantro that had managed to intertwine itself with the noodlage, lost points with one phobic judge.
Urban Thai was our clear winner and we will definitely order from their fine establishment again. Urban's offering came with a wee container of very potent self-spice that pleased our judges, but wasn't necessary for anything other than heat—the flavour of this pad thai didn't require any extras, was the most enjoyable and seemed to be the most authentic. Though it was a bit scanty on the shrimp, all the components were cooked perfectly and the overall effect was top notch. As they say on the corner of College and Grace, "Questo pad tailandese è fantastico!"
Urban Thai exterior photo by experttorontogirl from Flickr; photo of Urban Thai's Pad Thai by Julie Reitsma.
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Please. Enough of the " GREAT " Torontoist Challenges.
I don't mind the challenges at all. But to always preface it with " GREAT " is tiresome and tedious. The Great Canadian Beef Company. The Great Canadian Bagel Company. The Great Canadian Soup Company. The Great Torontoist Hamburger Challenge. The Great Torontoist Grill Cheese Challenge.
I'm so tired of the use of the word GREAT. It started in the late 70's and for the life of me, I can't imagine why it still gets used today.
The Torontist Pad Tai Challenge would suffice.
Loose the Great. It's late.
That should be " Lose the Great. " Someone slipped an anti-spell check pill in my coffee.
On to the actual Pad Thai...
I've tried several restaurants around the city (though none of those rated in this great challenge) and my favourite by far is from Sue's Thai Food at Roncesvalles and Howard Park, just south of the Ronces/Dundas split. Delicious food, good prices, friendly people, more delicious food.
Sue's also has an awesome fish and chips menu, though small compared to the Thai menu.
Wow, that guy hates "Great." But on to the actual Pad Thai...
While it's probably not available for delivery, the pad thai at the Hungary Thai in Kensington is the worst thing to happen to food, ever. Also, when I sent the dish back because the noodles were uncooked, the scary Hungarian owner came over and verbally berated me.
Do not eat it!
You judge a Thai restaurant by its cashew chicken, not by its phad thai.
t-rex - i'm judging pad thai, not thai food in general. with that in mind, my challenge would be pretty ineffectual if it was the pad thai challenge where all i ate was cashew chicken.
oh yeah and spastic anti-great guy - i never did a grilled cheese challenge.
get on the ball, people!
One place I'd like to see compared to these places is Princess Thai, which I consistently rate above all other Thai places in Toronto.
I've eaten at a couple of different Spring Rolls, and their Pad Thai has consistently been terrible: very obviously made with ketchup.
Spring rolls? Seriously? What? Why?
That is pan-asian food for white people.
It's the least authentic place in the city for asian food.
It sucks large.
Why didn't you go to Salad King!?!?!?
You might as well have gotten one of those frozen pad-thais from the grocery store.
Yeah, I have to suspect that Spring Rolls pad thai was made from ketchup from that eerie pink tinge.
Also, I'm pretty sure I was served a wheat noodle in my Spring Rolls tom yum soup rather than a rice noodle. What the shit is the deal with that?
I do not understand the Spring Rolls love. Their pad thai is horrific. It used to taste more authentic, but for some ungodly reason they changed the recipe a few years back. Pad thai is suppose to be dry and light; not swimming in ketchup sauce, with a whole damn onion cut-up into it.
(This goes the same for their sister restaurant, "East".)
There's a new Thai restaurant at the south-east corner of Church and Lombard called Ivory Thailand (there was a Thai restaurant there once before but it has been completely remodeled).
I've had their Pad Thai there twice now at dinner (tonight I had the chicken version) and it is absolutely done to perfection. In fairness, I haven't tried the take out or delivery (as per the challenge), though, always ate there.
Visually appealing, abundant ingredients, incredible freshness (i.e. every ingredient has the right consistency and a rich and distinct flavour), noodles cooked properly, and portion was generous.
It's a higher end restaurant but the food is very much worth it. Very authentic ingredients which is rare in this city -- no ketchup :-)
Ahh yes, I am told that Ivory Thailand is where Young Thailand used to be. Maybe they should rename that location the Thai Embassy...the only place in town you can get authentic pad thai!
where oh where did i say we loved spring rolls? i believe i said it was "not bad". hmm. not quite the same thing. and this particular time—it wasn't too bad. it sure as shit didn't win though.
why did we choose spring rolls? a few reasons: it's one of the bigger chains in toronto, it claims to have the best pad thai in the city and yet i had been told it was horrid.
in regards to all the other places that are serving up fabulous pad thai—i know they're out there, however due to budgetary reasons (i.e. what's in my pocket) i can't afford to order from 8 places. as well, i live in an area that isn't in the delivery zone for many great places.
hope that clears things up for you all. i really do appreciate the comments, whether positive or chock full of consternation.
I work right by the Yonge & Bloor Spring Rolls, and there's a lineup outside the door every day at lunch, so they're doing something right, even if it may not be the most authentic thing in the world.
I've had authentic Italian food in my family all my life, but I still often like the crappy Italian food from regular chain restaurants that was probably thrown together by some mangiacake high school student.
I only started to like Pad Thai after becoming a vegetarian. Most Thai food uses fish sauce though, so Pad Thai isn't actually vegetarian.
My favourite vegetarian Pad Thai is at Cafe 668. It's awesome.
I was told Salad King burned down! It didn't! Oh joy!
Salad King's great (sorry, warmflash!), but I have no idea if the pad thai is any good or not. Being the most generic of dishes and easiest to make, I wouldn't bother ordering it from a restaurant. (For you fine Torontoist ladies out there, come by and try my "bachelor pad thai" sometime. Grrrrwwwl!)
But yeah, Salad King..."You truly ahhh the King of Salads."
/Charlton Heston
Wow. I didn't mean to imply you loved Spring Rolls, Julia. My comment was referring to their numerous "best of" awards, that you had mentioned. And yes, I can see that it "sure as shit" didn't win overall, because I can read.
I'll try to direct my consternation more aptly, next time.
elledriver—i think we have misunderstood each other. tone definitely doesn't always translate. apologies *bow*
Ben - what kind of goodies do they put into the veg-o-matic pad thai? Please don't say lots and lots of tofu or nothing, but it's served in a hollowed-out eggplant because that might make me cry a little bit.
Anyhow, I think it's key that nobody's brought up the "fact" that arts students deserve to eat nothing but artificially-flavoured pasta since they aren't co-op students at Waterloo. I was worried that that might be a pasta-centric comment after the mac & cheese chaos.
ThatGuyJeff, Cafe 668 has some weird mock meat that tastes like licorice in their pad thai. It might be the best part; you probably have to be into that sort of thing to appreciate it.
Of course there is also tofu, chopped peanuts, lots of veggies, a few bean sprouts, a sprig of something, and slices of orange, lime and lemon.
I am getting pretty hungry just thinking about it. It's probably bad form to write a detailed description of one of your favourite meals after having eaten nothing but a bagel and a no name burrito all day.
Hey, McDonald's has served over 99 billion ... doesn't mean their food is good. It means people don't have tastebuds, or have eaten so terribly all their lives that they don't know it isn't supposed to be that way.
I'm half-kidding. I get your point, Marc, about liking "crappy" food; I have my own favourites. But popularity is a weak indicator of quality.
(Ok, MickeyD's fries are so weirdly addictive I think they put crack in it.)
Thanks Ben. Gotta say, that licorice-meat sounds pretty much like the worst thing ever, and I once drank an Aloe soda... with bits in it. Go Japan!
a little late getting to this one obviously, but I just wanted to add that one place must absolutely be in any pad thai challege: 'Lee's Thai Spring Roll'. it's at queen and lansdowne, so if you can get take out from Urban Thai, you can get it from Lee's.
and their stuff is just better. on a good day, better than Salad King.
great post!
The thing about Salad King - and why I'm saddened you didn't include it - is that it continuously wins awards for best Thai Food in the city. It would have been a top tier entry, the one place I would have liked to see match up against others.
I mean, I don't actually get the pad-thai when I'm there because there is indeed a whole wide delicious world of Thai food out there beyond it, but still.
And Marc, I am aware of, but mystified by, Spring Rolls popularity. Frankly. Italian food is quite a different matter as "bad" Italian food, is usually just American-Italian style food and is really a whole different cultural/gastronomical ball-game that isn't necessarily worse than "real" Italian food - just different.
I mean, I love Terroni, but I also love The Spaghetti Factory on occasion. Although I also have to say that as peoples get more and more awareness of "real" Italian food, places like The Spaghetti Factory are dying out (which I find rather sad).
Meanwhile, Spring Rolls is serving up teensy portions of flavourless mock Pan-Asian cuisine - flavourless so as to not insult the un-discerning, un-adventurous palates of its white-bread, suburban customers.
hey beth - does salad king deliver? i did consider it, but everything i checked indicated that they only had dine-in and take-out... could have been incorrect info but that was why they weren't included...