I’ve been spending a lot more time out of the city visiting friends and eating at new places. One rainy afternoon was spent in New Westminster at a restaurant with two different names. Confused yet? I wasn’t until I tried to find the name of it online to do my review!
Located at the corner of Braid and Columbia is Go Thai (or Koh Thai) Update: It’s official name is Koh Thai. The inside of the restaurant reminds me of the popular kitschy nature of many mom n pop Thai places (and Vietnamese places).
Since Nickie and I were there during lunch time, we took advantage of their lunch combos. We ordered the Pad Thai & Salad ($9.95) and Curry with Rice & Salad ($10.95). We also ordered a bowl of Tom Yum Gai and Tom Ka Gai to start us off as well.
When we ordered, we were asked how spicy we’d like our food – Nickie being the spice fiend that she is ordered it hot. I think I ordered the Pad Thai medium. The server warned us that hot was really hot, but it’s really hard to tell what’s going to be making you feel like a fire-breathing dragon or something that is mildly hot when you go to restaurants, so we decided to take the chance and get it hot anyway.
It’s kind of an annoyance that there are so many inconsistencies on spice/heat when you go to Thai places, but I get where they’re coming from – they’re trying to cater to a broad range of tastes and for the 95% of people out there who can’t handle their spice but are adventurous a hot set on a 8/10 dial might be just the thing. That being said, I enjoy spicy food – probably not as heat-resistant as my bestie, but I do enjoy it to a certain degree. I think it’s only enjoyable when it adds to the flavour to a dish. Spicy food should never be so damn spicy that you can’t enjoy your dish over all.
Anyway, getting back to the review. Our Tom Yum and Tom Ka come first and they’re both nice and fragrant. There’s just something about Tom Yum that just makes my mouth drool. Maybe it’s the mixture of heat and sour that just gets my palate going. In any case, this one is good, not the best I’ve had but better than most Thai places that barely put any filling in the soup.
Our combos come. At first glance, I thought that this might not be enough food but pretty typical for lunch fare – however, I was completely wrong about that. This is a very good amount of food and very filling over all. The combos come with salad and a spring roll.
The salad is your basic shredded red cabbage with carrot over iceberg lettuce but the dressing is different than most places I’ve been to. It’s a mix of ginger, garlic and sweetness. It’s very garlicky, so prepare to bust out the breath mints after your lunch.
The spring roll is large and crispy, the inside is good, not much flavour but crunchy overall.
My pad thai is made with chicken and has a good amount of heat to it – I’d say a perfect amount. The noodles are a little overdone but still has nice snap to them. Beansprouts still kept it’s crunchiness even though cooked.
The curry is packed with lots of vegetables including red and green bell peppers, eggplant and chicken. It’s also served with a bowl of rice. The curry is good, but man was it spicy. Nickie finished most of it, but it was just way too spicy to have more than one serving for me. The heat only affects you while you’re eating the dish, after our meal I was completely fine.
Overall, Koh Thai is a great spot for lunch. It wasn’t too busy when we arrived, so the service was quick. I’d go again if I were in the area.
Food: 3.5
The food was good, very similar quality you would get at most Thai places.
Service: 3.5
The service was good too, but we were one of the few people in the restaurant at the time.
Value: 3.5
The price point for lunch is pretty standard.
Ambiance: 2.5
It’s a little kitschy and dated, but overall the dining area is clean.
OVERALL: 3.5
Check out their website here: https://www.kohthai.ca/
