Axia Restaurant & Bar

Location:

A-5045 Plantation Pl., Mississauga

If it weren't for the "Restaurant & Bar" in the name...you'd think Axia were a club. 

You did, didn't you?

Well, it's not.  I don't know why they named it that, 'cause the inside of it looks like some sort of vacation package hotel....cane chairs upholstered in tropical fabric, hanging plants, palm trees, hanging lanterns and Christmas lights.  

Then again, the outside looks like some sort of Iron Chef set. 

Listen, don't try to figure it out...just enjoy the eats.










You'd be hard pressed to walk in there without a reservation...it's consistantly packed with plenty of wait time...yep, just like a club.

TRAVEL: New Hampshire, Thon Khao

Location:

427 Amherst St., Nashua, NH

Who knew such a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, strip-mall restaurant could rival some of my fave Thai restos in Toronto!



For the  $8.95 Lunch special, the Green curry chicken, salad & pork dumplings and the Chicken with cashews, salad & pork dumplings were special, indeed.

As always, I could have done without the side salad, but the portions were generous and the flavours were authentic.

And who doesn't like their rice shaped into something fancy?

Sukhothai

Location:

274 Parliament Street, Toronto

www.sukhothaifood.com

So it's in a shady location, what does it matter when you can get real, authentic Thai food?

Sukhothai, which sounds wonderful when chanted (su-kho-THAI! su-kho-THAI!) as my friend did in anticipation of our visit, is a tiny Thai resto in Corktown.

We got there at a decent hour when most of the tables were free and we could have our pick (so we picked a table for four for two of us), but soon it filled up and there was a massive line-up.

It must be pointed out, that we weren't ever rushed to leave because of the large line.  It brought to mind the awful Mildred Pierce in Liberty Village where filling seats was more important than food and service.

It should be pointed out also, that we ordered enough food for six and needed that table for all the dishes!

Since I am pointing things out, I could also point out that I don't like soup, and you would already know this if you're a regular reader of this blog, but if not, I'm telling you that I only partake in soup when a) I am sick b) it's home-made FOR me c) it's the dead of Winter and everyone else is going for soup and I don't have a lunch.

That said, the coconut, chicken soup at Sukothai is to die for.  I hate when reviews use words like 'bursting with flavour' but I am at a loss of words to describe it in any other way!

(dish descriptions from Sukhothai website menu)

Tom Kha Gai :
a creamy coconut, chicken soup, overflowing with fresh cut herbs. Galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, coriander, onions and tomatoes.  Served with rice (starter portion also available)

Coconut soup

We had the starter portion and shared it. Even after trying all the other dishes, we still came back to this one, in awe. It's eye-googling good. I'm coining this the word for when you taste something so good that you look at another person with such incredulity on your face with eyes open wide. Eye-googling. That's how good it is.  Something Derek Zoolander would say.  Eye-gog-a-ling.

Spring rolls:
Crispy vegetarian rolls with glass noodles, mushrooms, carrots and beansprouts.  Served with our home-made, sweet and sour, garlic sauce.

Spring Rolls

We pounced on our rolls right away and they were steaming hot.  S o much so that we couldn't really taste much after oohing the hot air out of our mouths.

Spring Rolls

So the last of the three rolls we left to cool down completely before trying again and then realized it tasted a bit funny.  Spoiled or perhaps just a distinct flavour of sourness?  Couldn't tell so we left it at that.  It didn't ruin the rest of the meal for us that's for bloody sure.

Sukhothai Pad Thai: Our “Sukh’ed up”, Northern Thai version of the Pad Thai is a must to try.  You will find a slightly different take on Pad Thai depending on where you are in Thailand.  This is a taste of our Chef’s hometown goodness.  Extras:  made with peanuts, more herbs and a small-town, northern-style, authentic-Thai twist.

Sukhothai Pad Thai

Sukhothai Pad Thai

Nyum nyum....didn't blow us out of the water upon first try.  At home, as leftovers though, incredible!!

Khao Soi:
Yellow noodles in curry gravy with green onions, coriander and a light, crispy noodle topping.  Choice of chicken or beef.  A specialty from Northern Thailand, it’s got a lot of texture and even more flavour.

They suggested this would be better with beef, but I don't do beef too much, so chicken it was.  We both agreed it was good, but the overpowering curry taste did us in.  The crispy noodles on top were perfect with the soft noodles below.  I don't like anything to be too gravy-ied so the gravy was  a bit much for me.   Good with rice as a curry dish, and definitely quite heavy.  Great for sharing and as left-overs!

Khao Soi

Crispy noodles, Khao Soi

Gaeng Panang:
Panang curry with kaffir lime leaves, basil leaves, red and green pepers and coconut milk. Choice of chicken, beef or tofu and served with rice.  Richer than the others and more about the meat.

Gaeng Panang: All about the meat, indeed

Gaeng Panang

This was a lovely dish, really fresh ingredients.  The kaffir lime leaves - goodness!! Absolutely delightful with rice.  I can see this one being a hit with my Moms.

They gave us our dessert on the house.  <3!!!

Tapioca with coconut milk:
Tapioca doused in sweet coconut milk.


Tapioca with coconut milk

Neither of us are fans of tapioca....especially when it's in bubble tea, but this...was insanely good!

Exceptional service and the dishes are just outstanding!!!  If I were to flip a coin between  Sukhothai and Flip, Toss and Thai...well, it would have to be a toss-up between these two.  Sukhothai might have a bit of a lead because of the actual dining space and ambiance which FTT lacks.

But yes, Sukhothai also has a chili scale..just let 'em know how hot you like it.

Can't wait to go back and take everyone I know with me.  Who's in?

Grand Opening: Compass Lakeside Grill & Lounge

Location:

2340 Ontario Street, Oakville

So I was invited to attend the VIP Grand Opening of the latest waterfront resto in Bronte's Harbour:  Compass Lakeside Grill & Lounge.



When we arrived just after 8pm, Compass was out of food so I can't make any judgments on that however I can comment on the drinks and service.

At the bar, after waiting for quite some time, I requested a glass of Cookoothama wine and was told that it wasn't being served that night but two seconds later it was served to someone else! Awesome.



Then we asked for a regular coke and a rye & coke. What we received was a watered down coke (so much so that it didn't taste like coke at all) and a scotch and coke. They served us Grant's Whisky (scotch) instead of Canadian Club (rye) which was the brand of rye we specifically asked for. Thanks.

The view from the restaurant is amazing, overlooking the Bronte Harbour.



Likewise, the patio is quite nice with the large windows giving a clear view of the interior of the restaurant from outside.



So much so that we witnessed the martini guy conjuring up the martinis by dipping his bare hands into the jar of olives. Classy.



After a few perfunctory photographs of the dull blue and brown interior we were out of there.



Time?

8:20pm.

Where did we go eat after?

Thai Senses.

Where we got some actual food and attentive service.

Salad King

For this review of Salad King, I've invited one part of the wonderful couple (and fellow bloggers) I dined with at SK, to contribute her take on this restaurant which will be up soon.

~~

A couple of the neon lights in the "Salad King" sign were out when we went - so it read "SAD KING" ...which is absolutely APT for this dump of a restaurant that 275 of you on Urbanspoon claim is the best Thai resto in Toronto.

Are you kidding me?  Where else are you people eating that this has become the place to go for Thai??!

To start, we ordered the Papaya Salad (which boasted "dried shrimps"...the salad that came to our table had non-existent dried shrimp (must have been so dry that it shriveled away?) and a garnish that had black spots on it.  Good start, right?







 

Our "medium" heat Shrimp Delight ($8.95 - Shrimps, bell peppers, onions, yellow bean sauce, chilli sauce, lime juice, steamed rice) arrived with neither heat NOR shrimp (nor delight for that matter!) and plenty of accompanying liquid "spicy" water. We weren't aware we'd ordered soups?





 

The Spicy Fish dish ($8.95 - Red cod fillet, lime leaf, carrots, onions, bell peppers chilli, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, steamed rice) came with hardly any fish although what was there certainly was still swimming..in a pool of oily liquid!

 





 

 

And the Evil Jungle Prince ($6.75 - Egg plant, baby corn, peas, carrots, onions, chilli sauce, lemon grass, bamboo shoots and steam rice) which was supposed to contain eggplant and veggies came with one tiny piece of eggplant, plenty of frozen peas and a generous portion of WATER!



How disgusting.

I asked the server whether the dishes were always that watery - to which she replied 'yes that's how they are made'.  I told her it was a disappointing meal to which she shrugged and moved along to serve the next table of assembly line patrons.

Salad King will forever be SAD KING to me - it's the worst thai food I've ever had and I'm really sorry that so many of you think that that's what Thai is supposed to taste like!  I'd really love to see where else the 275 of you are eating and stay the hell away from those places!