I love the accomplished Thai cooking in a casual atmosphere that Longtail Kitchen excels at. We went for a late lunch/early dinner on a Sunday afternoon. Since we got there around 3:00pm, we thought why not try their Chef’s Menu?
(See previous Longtail Kitchen posts here.)
Longtail Kitchen just won the Vancouver Magazine Silver Award for Best Thai. Their parent restaurant, Maenam (on West 4th), won Gold. Well deserved!
We heard that they might be taking the set menu dinners off the menu for the summer, so get there soon if you want to experience a Thai multi-course meal!
They’ve got a few Thai beers but they’re all light lagers. They do the job nicely but for beer geeks it can get a little boring. But I can’t have it all! That is, until true BYOB comes to BC…chances of which are ZERO.
If you ever get Thai takeout, I’d recommend pairing it with a saison (Four Winds Saison, Driftwood Farmhand Ale, or anything by Upright Brewing), Belgian witbier (Hoegaarden), German hefeweizen, pale ale (Brassneck Passive Aggressive), or if you’re really adventurous, a gose or a Belgian tripel (Unibroue La Fin Du Monde, Chimay White or Four Winds Triplicity)…now THAT would be super fun and interesting.
Speaking of Four Winds Triplicity:
Probably the best BC-made tripel I’ve had so far! Sorry Townsite 🙁 For me, the best tripels are noticeably sweet but are balanced by the yeast, carbonation, aroma, etc that it becomes super drinkable and not cloying at all. Alcohol content, while high, should be well-masked. Triplicity is a great tripel that measures up to the Belgians.
Well, back to Longtail and the food!
This is how casual it is at Longtail. I don’t mind one bit!
It was a 10° day in late April and it was HAILING. Very strange spring weather for BC.
Starter course! L-R: chicken wings, chicken satay, oysters. Green papaya salad too.
I had these deep fried oysters the very first time I went to Longtail and was blown away. The dipping sauce is killer. Salty, sour, sweet, spicy, tangy…
Awesomely crunchy on the outside but juicy and meaty on the inside. Plenty of that oyster flavour that happens when you cook oysters. YUM!
White meat chicken satay with peanut sauce.
Longtail’s famous chicken wings with another salty/sweet/sour dipping sauce.
I have no idea what’s in the batter but I’m guessing some rice flour cuz the coating is really crunchy/crispy while the inside stays juicy and hot. I wish I had a bucket of these and a bong.
Spicy, crunchy, sweat-inducing green papaya salad. Love those crunchy long green beans. Did I mention this was spicy? Wilhelmina was fine but I started sweating buckets from the capsaicin reaction I was having.
If you want more pain, you can always add their wicked Thai dried chili flakes. I didn’t need to even touch the stuff 😛
Some sort of Thai soup that uses evaporated milk instead of coconut milk. Strong, spicy, sour, punchy. My scalp and face was sweating from this. You could probably order this mild if you’re wimpy, but I was really enjoying the rush. Chock-full of lemongrass, galangal, lime leaf, basil, oyster mushrooms and prawns. If you think Thai food in BC is wimpy and toned-down, drink this soup.
Stir-fried beef with baby corn, green peppercorns, holy basil, long green beans, lime leaf and what we think were thin strips of pickled galangal. Another strong and tasty dish best eaten with copious amounts of rice.
Another shot of the beef dish showing the green peppercorns. We enjoyed nibbling on the peppercorns as we ate.
Thai green curry mussels. The broth had tons of depth and flavour but wasn’t too spicy. We saw at least a couple different kinds of eggplant: Japanese eggplant and small pea-sized eggplant. The pea eggplant were a little tart and bitter. The broth was so good poured on rice 🙂
Banana roti with condensed milk. Crispy layer of roti on the outside, chewy roti inside, with soft and sweet banana in the centre. I’m usually not a dessert person, but after all the strong, punchy, spicy flavours of the previous courses, this sweet/crunchy/gooey treat was a nice way to end the meal.
Highly recommended!
