Location:

 

187 Cross Avenue Oakville, ON

 

Cost: buffet $11.95

 

www.thaisatayandmore.com

 

"What's the 'more' in Thai Satay and More?"

 

That's the question I was asking on Sunday when we discovered that TS&M was one of the only few places open for dinner on a Sunday evening in the Ville. Stoney's was closed.

 

The buffet at TS&M seemed quite scarce...so I asked whether the stainless steel containers would be refilled. The answer was yes, so we thought we'd give it a try since our options were limited anyhow.

 

 

My vegetarian friend pointed out that the restaurant was authentic because of the paintings of Thai royalty on the walls. She also wanted to order off the regular menu seeing as most of the items in the buffet had eggs in it. The owner (I believe) came up to us and told her that she could have the same items from the buffet made to order without eggs instead of her ordering from the menu. On the one hand, it seemed nice and personal of him to offer to cook the items sans eggs, yet on the other hand (and as my veg friend pointed out) it was perhaps a bit lazy of them to not want to cook anything off the menu.

 

I don't think we could really taste the authenticity from the buffet - the mango salad was good - probably the most fresh tasting of the items. The eggplant that my veg friend received wasn't terrible but at the same time lacked any real flavour. (As usual, I had to douse it in hot sauce). We were reminded of how good Flip, Toss & Thai is!

 

 

The pad thai in the buffet was stuck together in a dry heap and the little morsels of chicken dish I tasted (although peppery and good) did not get refilled until we were done eating (!).

 

 

The pad thai my veg friend got was better than the one in the buffet...

 

but by then we'd filled up on the scraps....like chicken wings, veg fried rice and spring rolls.

 

 

Overall, there was nothing really authentic about the whole dinner. And the dessert of fried bananas and fruit (if you can call one small square slice of cantaloupe - cut into four to share (!) and a few slices of oranges, fruit) did nothing for us.

 

As my other friend retorted as we left, perhaps the "more" in Thai Satay & More is the personal touch we were given although it certainly would be far better if there were "more" food in the buffet, instead.

 

I may give this place another try and order off the menu next time.