One place I’ve been meaning to check out for a long time now is Long Tail Kitchen. As a sister restaurant of one of my favourite places in Vancouver, Maenam, it has been high on my list to eat. Longtail Kitchen is located in the New Westminster Quay, on the bottom floor where the food court is. The quick food service spot has some seating, but I can see it filling up pretty quickly during peak hours. Longtail Kitchen focuses on popular street food from Thailand using local ingredients and interesting twists.
This visit, I wanted to focus on more of the staple items rather than trying some of their specialities. The dishes we tried were the Famous chicken wings with tamarind sauce ($9), Pad thai with prawns ($12) and Curry with prawns ($12) and Roti (not sure how much this was).
Chicken Wings – I love me a good chicken wing place, I enjoy a variety of different flavours but I have to say that when it comes to Asian wings, it just can’t be beat. Particularly Thai wings. It’s not just the chicken wings (which are fried to perfection with a crispy exterior and juicy, meaty interior), but the crowning achievement is really the sauce that accompanies the wings. It’s got the right amount of brightness, tartness and slight sweetness that really elevates the flavour. This was my favourite dish of our experience.
Pad Thai – Our pad thai was good, the noodles were cooked fine and had a nice subtle smoky flavour from the wok. The ingredients on top were fresh and the tamarind flavour was not too overpowering. I felt the dish was a little small for the price, but the ingredients made this a nice contender for one of the best pad thai in the city.
Prawn Curry – Clearly, I was on a warpath against prawns here. Our second dish which was accompanied by rice was a nice nod to Asian street food but with some healthy additions – baby corn and potatoes. The curry was nice and filling and didn’t have too much spice to it, I’d definitely love to add some fresh peppers to this dish to kick it up a notch.
Roti – Finally, we ordered roti. You’ll find this flatbread in many places in Asia but what makes it delicious is it’s dipping sauce. Longtail Kitchen’s take on the sauce is a more heartier version than the liquid you’ll find elsewhere. This added heaviness is supported well on their roti – which is quite crispy but not overly oily with an interesting, mild taste.
Overall, I had a good experience at Longtail Kitchen and I’ve love to come back and try their different dishes (perhaps ones that are seasonal) and of course, order another round of wings. I wonder if they sell that sauce in a bottle, because I would pay good money for it and then proceed to put it on pretty much anything deep fried…
Food: 4
Service: 4.5
Value: 3
Ambiance: 3.5
OVERALL: 4
