This is a review of a restaurant recommended by Rachel Bee. Rachel, who we had never met, sent us an email of a few of her favourite restaurants almost 2 months ago. We appreciate these recommendations because Rachel takes time to write to us about them — not everyone does that. Of the four of her favourite, we decided to check out something we don’t normally go for … Thai.

The Thai Kitchen is located in the strip mall on the corner of No 2 Road and Blundell. Rachel told us of their amazing Lunch Specials ($6.95 with 35 different choices and includes spring roll). However, we were there for dinner instead. One thing that we really appreciate seeing in the restaurants we visit these days is “No MSG”. They boldly reminded their customers that.

They have a steady stream of customers. And one thing we noticed is that their customers are almost all white. I had never seen so many white customers in an Asian restaurant and that leads me to think that Thai food somehow appeals to whites more. Actually, I do know that Thai restaurants are the more popular Asian restaurants in Bellingham and Seattle (read Mae Phim) too. You think my observation is just coincidence or do you think it’s true?

Anyway, Thai Kitchen do have a lot of take out customers. During the time we were there, there was easily ten separate customers coming in to pick up take-out food.

The interior is painted in a warm pinkish-red and orange.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvP8_OdhdM&w=600]

Thai Kitchen looks like it’s owned and operated by Chinese as we heard them speaking in Mandarin. Moreover, they play Chinese oldies in the restaurant — including one of Suanne’s favourites … Teresa Teng’s The Moon Represents My Heart.

Credit: Toronto Pianist, Gordon Murray

For more, check http://www.youtube.com/user/loosewrists1

We wanted to try their Spicy Prawns Soup. It is actually Tom Yum soup but Thai Kitchen chooses to leave out unfamiliar non-English names. Tom Yum is a hot and sour soup and is probably the most well known Thai dish besides Pad Thai.

This is $8.25 and comes in a big bowl with more than enough serving for two. We love the heat from the soup … it is so spicy hot that it could make one giddy from the heat! The prawns were a bit too skinny but otherwise, it is delicious. Suanne thought that the Tom Yum was a bit salty … I thought it was alright.

We also ordered the Eggplant with Basil Leaves ($11). This could be better called Broccoli with Eggplant — there were more broccoli than eggplant. It’s not that we mind the Brocolli (it was great) but our mind was set on eating eggplant, not broccoli. So, we were disappointed in that sense. Otherwise, this dish has a very strong aromatic basil flavour which we like a lot.

Curry is a must for Thai food. At Thai Kitchen, they have seven types of curries with combination of either chicken, beef, pork, vegetable or prawns. Ah … at that time I realize what they meant by “25 different entrees to choose from” on their Lunch Special.

We opted for the Masaman Curry with Chicken which costs $10. We choose this because the wait staff told us this one has five spices — sounds great to us. The curry was rich and creamy but not spicy at all. As a matter of fact it was quite sweet. Maybe they choose to tone down the heat level to cater to their main customers. The serving was not big and is good for one person. As you probably notice too that they have quite a bit of onions, red and green peppers.

The bill came up to almost $35 before tips. You would have noticed that rice is extra. That was $3.50 for two servings of coconut milk rice.

Thai Kitchen takes credit card as payment but they asked that we pay at the counter because of security reasons. They have free home delivery for up to 5km on a minimum of $20 order.