Little Thailand Restaurant (map, visitor reviews, 1-2335 St Johns Street, Port Moody, BC, Canada, phone: 604-939-9962) is an authentic Thai restaurant on the ground floor of a quaint house-turned eatery overlooking St. John’s street.
My friend A.C. lives in the Port Moody area, and I asked him to give me a before-dinner tour of this quiet suburb of Vancouver. We walked down by the railroad tracks north of the restaurant into Moody Centre, an eclectic and historic shopping district. Many small independent shops and several art galleries can be found, living up to Port Moody’s reputation as a city of arts and culture.
The city is also situated in a beautiful natural environment, perfect for outdoor activities. Visitor information about the city of Port Moody can be found on the official web site, which says:
Port Moody has something for every member of the family. With over 27 kilometres of waterfront, water sports such as boating, sailing and kayaking are popular. We also have trails from easy boardwalk strolls to strenuous mountain hikes.
Little Thailand Restaurant has been getting excellent reviews on the website Dinehere.ca, including mapia who writes (click here to read review):
We started with the fresh lemonade and loved the cool and sweet/tart taste. We ordered spring rolls, a small tom kah gai, and (the main event) chicken and prawn pad thai. Hubby (a pad thai virgin) enjoyed every bite. The soup was spicy and delicious. The spring rolls were crisp and not too greasy. The portions were plentiful enough to feed us both to the brim.
We also ordered the Pad Thai (pictured below, $12.95). It was a generous portion and had a great combination of flavors: sweet (as some sugar is added), spicy (chili pepper), salty (fish sauce), and slightly tart (lime juice). The large prawn placed on top was an appealing way to present the dish.
Another dish we ordered was an Indian-influenced Thai curry with chicken and potatoes ($12.95, pictured below) which went well with a bowl of rice ($2.00). For a refreshing drink, we tried the mango juice ($2.50) – a bit watery, but good nevertheless.
If you are lucky to live in the Port Moody area, I’d definitely recommend checking out Little Thailand Restaurant. But visitors to Greater Vancouver without a vehicle may find it difficult to get out to the area from downtown (it’s about a 30-45 minute drive). It is possible to take transit (via the skytrain to Lougheed Mall station and then the 97 B-Line bus up North Road).
Hopefully our local and provincial governments will make the Evergreen Line a reality. It’s the proposed Skytrain transit line which will link Vancouver and Burnaby with Port Moody and Coquitlam. According to the Provincial Government’s web site:
Construction of the Evergreen Line is anticipated to begin in late 2010 and be completed in 4 years.
The proposed Port Moody station on the Evergreen Line is very close to Little Thailand Restaurant.
Happy travels, and keep enjoying Greater Vancouver’s restaurants!
Jonker St Restaurant (web site, map, 1128 Pacific Blvd, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone 604-688-8565) is a Malaysian cuisine restaurant in Yaletown (downtown Vancouver) that has been getting rave reviews.
Being a ‘peranakan’ and foodie, we were pleasantly surprised that the quality of food at this outlet surpassed that one could find in Singapore or Malaysia particularly, the prawn noodles, roti canai and the chilli crab.Therefore, I would strongly recommend anyone who wishes to relish authetic Malaysian food.
Restaurant is small and affords the staff and owner were very friendly and helpful.
The restaurant’s menu is available on their web site. We were a large group (7 people) and luckily the restaurant had room for us. Below are some pictures of the food we ordered. The first dish pictured is the Nasi Jambori ($14.90) which their menu describes as:
A must try! A merriment of three unique flavours! Sampler of chicken curry, beef rendang, prawn sambal on a platter with egg, side salad, pappadum cracker & jambori rice.
Prices are reasonable, with most dishes in the $9 to $12 range.
For a friend on a Gluten Free diet, the restaurant unfortunately only had one choice on the menu that she could eat. I was really satisfied with my Nasi Jambori.
My coworkers and I agree that the flavors of the dishes were excellent and that we’d like to visit Jonker St. Restaurant again!
Nasi Jambori from Jonker Street Malaysian Restaurant - Sampler of chicken curry, beef rendang, prawn sambal on a platter with egg, side salad, pappadum cracker & jambori rice. $14.90
Food from Jonker Street Malaysian Restaurant in downtown Vancouver
Curry from Jonker Street Malaysian Restaurant in Vancouver.
More Malaysian food.
Malaysian food in Vancouver
Even more Malaysian food
Malaysian Curry from Jonker Street Restaurant, Vancouver
Ridge Gardens Chinese Restaurant (map, previous review, 3113 Arbutus Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada, phone: 604-736-7006, fax: 604-736-5231) offers Chinese food delivery in the Vancouver area, as well as excellent banquet meals for large groups choosing to dine at the restaurant.
My family always goes there for big get-togethers and it is always a marvellous feast that satisfies everyone. This time, I brought my video camera along and took a video of the dishes as they arrived (see player below, or click here to view on Youtube). Because of the low light the video is kind of grainy, but you can get the idea!
Prices are affordable, within the $15 to $25 per person for a large banquet (or slighly more depending on how many crabs and seafood items you order).
Below I’ve also included photos of the crab and chicken hot pot that I took in my previous visit (see Part 1 of my review).
Chinese style hot and spicy crab from Ridge Garden Restaurant in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Chicken and black fungus hot pot from Ridge Garden Chinese restaurant in Vancouver, BC, Canada