Looking to try a new place near the Four Seasons Centre, we tried Tha Phae Tavern, a newish venture by Nuit Regular. The cocktails were generally excellent, emphasizing Thai and other tropical flavours. The food menu includes a number of standard Thai dishes, fairly well executed, and some bar food options that (supposedly) have some Thai twists.
We tried 4 cocktails:
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Mamuang (mango) Slush: a non-alcoholic mix of mango purée, pandan, cinnamon, coconut-sticky rice horchata, to which we added some white rum. This was a fantastic dessert of a drink, the best of the bunch.
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Chaati No. 9: Captain Morgan spiced rum, pandan liqueur, coconut milk, strawberry yoghurt, guava purée, salak syrup, Thai mint - served in a cat-shaped container and quite delicious.
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Sex on the Mountain: Smirnoff vodka, mango rum, umeshu, guava, lime, pineapple, hibiscus grenadine, mint bitters - great and tangy.
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The Siamese Swizzle: peaflower-infused white rum, St-Germain, lychee, lemon, coconut water, hibiscus grenadine - a bit sweet, but otherwise very fun.
We started with Crispy Morning Glory Salad with Minced Chicken (ยำผักบุ้งกรอบ), which included cold deep-fried morning glory, tossed with minced chicken, Thai herbs, and a very sour fish sauce-based dressing. Not bad, although it was a bit odd having something deep fried and cold.
The Boat Noodles (ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือ) had a nice beef blood and bone broth, although it seemed to lack the aromatics and richness of other versions we have had. It was served with tender braised beef shank, beef balls, chewy rice noodles, morning glory, bean sprouts, fresh coriander, green onions, and crispy fried garlic.
Chef Nuit’s Pad Thai Sen Lek (ผัดไทยเส้นเล็ก) came with satisfyingly chewy rice noodles in a very tangy tamarind-palm sugar sauce, with bean sprouts, tofu, egg, chives, shredded cabbage, fresh lime, house-roasted peanuts, with the addition of our selection of chicken. A good rendition.
We tried some of the bar food options: Khao Soi Poutine (ข้าวซอยปูทีน). This seemed like a good idea, but missed a bit in execution. The fries were crisp and enjoyable enough, but were topped with too little golden coconut curry sauce and cheese curds. There was also a side of pickled cucumbers and onions. More sauce would have made this dish more interesting and distinctive.
We also tried Tha Phae Fried Chicken (ไก่ทอดทำแพ), supposedly marinated in Thai herbs and spices and served with sweet Thai chilli-garlic plum sauce and garlic-chilli vinegar sauce. While the frying was well done (crispy coating and moist meat), any Thai flavours were in absentia.
Thai-Style Papaya Salad (ตำไทย) had very green papaya, salted purple crab in the shell (very funky), and a great sour dressing. The promised peanuts were MIA.
Green curry fried rice (ข้าวผัดแกงเขียวหวาน) was fairly straightforward, with some hints of shrimp paste and fish sauce, with a few chunks of fried bean curd. Enjoyable.
We tried only Mango Sticky Rice (ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง) for dessert. Sweet ripe mango topped creamy coconut sticky rice.
Not sure we would go back specifically for the food, but we would definitely go back for the cocktails and the food is good enough to fill up on with the drinks.
