Noodle dishes at Khao Thai hit the right note

It was back to another beloved restaurant in Ottawa’s Thai food scene. Khao Thai in the ByWard Market.

In the past, I would stop in on my visits back to Ottawa and always left feeling satisfied. Then, two years ago, I had an experience of a different sort.

In the mood for Thai, as I often am, I thought I might do a review. I popped in shy of an hour before the lunchtime closing and was immediately made to feel unwelcome. 

Unfortunately, the servers were visibly irritated that I’d walked in. There were a few others finishing their lunches, and I would soon be on the receiving end of the frostiest service in memory. 

I couldn’t, in good conscience, commit myself to reviewing this experience.

Now, with a different lunchtime service team, my meal had a more welcome feel. 

With lunch, you are given a clear chicken broth with a few bits of vegetables as a starter. It was simple and pleasant.

Khao Thai spring rolls are as good as those at many other Thai restaurants. Unusually, I ordered shrimp rolls, and they were perfectly fine. To my mind, Thai shrimp rolls are never a value. You get one shrimp wrapped and deep fried. That’s it. Nothing else.

The vegetable spring rolls were fresh and reasonably seasoned but were simply unmemorable. My take away is that the oil was, at the very least, clean.

I can’t eat Thai without trying each restaurant's version of the national dish – Pad Thai.

Without needing to ask them to make it without ketchup, it arrived in its traditional sauce of tamarind, fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar. 

It had sufficient seasoning, which kept it moist, and the noodles were al dente with enough spring to them that eating was a pleasure. The accompanying shrimp were large and sweet. A very good expression of a classic.

Stir-fried rice dishes from the Thai kitchen can be an absolute treat. This was not one of them.

The presentation was anemic and not at all a representation of what’s shown on the website. It was more like a long-abandoned biryani. 

The buried scallops, shrimp and squid tasted fine, but the rice felt old, and the amount of red curry seasoning gave the whole dish a suspiciously sour taste. 

Honestly, I should have sent it back, but I just couldn’t go through the bother of getting it replaced. Also, out of an abundance of caution, I never accept replacement dishes. 

The final dish of Pad Khee Mao (Drunken Noodles) was the star of the afternoon. As with the Pad Thai, the wider rice noodles were toothsome and delightful.

I’d ordered this dish with beef and, miraculously, this kitchen had velvetized the meat. That’s not so common. It was properly tender, and the dish had that nice wok-seasoned taste. 

The vegetables were also on point with good colour, and honestly, they could have added a few more florets of broccoli. It was just that tasty.

Pad Khee Mao is typically one of the spicier noodle dishes, but this was on the milder end of the spectrum.

On a Friday afternoon, Khao Thai was well visited, and it’s understandable. After more than 20 years, it still delivers quality Thai food.

There were certainly inconsistencies, but my experience showed they’re capable of very good execution of recipes, and you’ll enjoy an inviting, nicely decorated space.