Thai food – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Kumain Kitchen, Kezy Doner, Salad King

Published on October 19, 2025October 19, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Chicken Inasal at Kumain Kitchen

Kumain Kitchen is a “Filipino inspired pop-up” that was in the pop-up space in the Food District at Square One last year (yeah, I have a bit of a backlog). I tried the chicken inasal (“grilled lemongrass chicken served with garlic rice and cucumber salad”) and mostly, it was quite tasty. The chicken was slightly on the dry side, but it was so well seasoned and absolutely crammed with vibrant flavours that this wasn’t a big deal. I really enjoyed it. But I guess they ran out of garlic rice, because it came with plain old rice instead, which was a shame. As for the cucumber salad, it was actually just undressed cucumbers, radishes and tomatoes, along with pickled onion. I actually Googled this to see if that’s just a Filipino thing, but nope — Filipino cucumber and tomato salad is called ensaladang pipino, and it’s definitely supposed to be dressed. Still, that chicken was delicious enough to make up for everything else.

Chicken Wrap at Kezy Doner

The chicken wrap from Kezy Doner was thoroughly okay. Did anything about it stand out? No, not even remotely. But it came up to exactly ten bucks with tax, came crammed with a healthy amount of relatively juicy chicken, and was satisfying enough for what it was. It’s not something you should go out of your way for, but if you’re in the area and you don’t feel like spending too much money, sure, why not? This place is in a food court right near the OCAD campus, and I can definitely see it being popular with broke students.

Lime Leaf Chicken at Salad King

Speaking of restaurants with (relatively) cheap eats that are popular with students… Salad King. This is a Toronto institution (it’s been around since 1981) that I’ve somehow never tried. I got the lime leaf chicken (“Chicken breast slices, snap peas, red pepper, lime leaf, & carrot in a spicy chili sauce with Thai herbs”) and it was perfectly fine. The chicken was a bit dry, but otherwise it was flavourful and satisfying. I’m not exactly going to be dreaming about the place, but I can see why it’s so popular. They are also, famously, not kidding around with the spice here, and yeah. I chose 10 out of 20 on their spice-scale, and it was thoroughly fiery.

Unique Thai Brunch at Kiin

Published on November 3, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 326 Adelaide Street West, Toronto
Website: http://www.kiintoronto.com/

I initially tried Kiin in 2018 and I found it tasty, but a bit overpriced. Since then, they’ve been featured in the Michelin Guide, and they’ve started serving brunch. I figured another visit was probably in order.

After visit two, I’m still more on the “like” than the “love” side of the fence, but it was a tasty meal and a pretty solid value.

I ordered the jhok: “Thai rice porridge, housemade chicken meatballs, sous vide egg, crispy vermicelli noodles, ginger, green onion, coriander, Thai cruller.”

This was a hearty bowl, with a generous amount of tender meatballs and tasty sausage (which wasn’t mentioned on the menu), a nice textural counterpoint from the crispy noodles, and pops of freshness and heat from the coriander and the sliced peppers.

And the porridge itself was creamy and comforting, with a satisfying savoury flavour. The silky sous vide egg complements the porridge quite well, adding extra richness and oomph.

It might have been too rich, however; it was crying out for a vinegary hot sauce or something with some brightness to cut the heaviness a bit.

I also tried the bua loy for dessert: “sticky rice flour balls, sweetened coconut milk, pandan, sesame, young coconut.” This was thoroughly tasty, with a bunch of pleasantly springy mochi-esque balls swimming in a sweet, flavourful coconut milk concoction. I was expecting this to be cold and was a bit shocked when my first mouthful was quite hot, but once I got used to the temperature, it was a great dessert.

Bonus: unlike my last visit, the prices seemed quite reasonable. The jhok was $18, and considering how crammed with tasty stuff it was, it’s impossible to argue that it’s overpriced (the dessert was $15, which is a bit less of a steal, but it was delicious enough that I won’t get too worked up about it).

Delicious Thai Food at Thammada Thai Cuisine

Published on October 25, 2023October 31, 2023 by Michael Nusair2 Comments

Location: 2888 Lake Shore Boulevard West, Etobicoke
Website: https://thammada.meemup.com/

I visited Thammada Thai Cuisine on a recent Sunday for lunch; the place was completely deserted for the entire time I was there, which is a damn shame because all of the food was very, very good.

I had read about this place in the Toronto Star, so of course I had to try the main dish they recommended, which is a whole fried fish that you can either order with fried garlic or nam chim sauce. I went with the latter, which is a delightfully zesty, zippy sauce that complements the crispy fried fish perfectly.

The fish looks like it’s going to be one of those dishes you have to eat very carefully, with a minefield of tiny little bones, but it’s actually completely deboned aside from the tail and the head. It’s all edible and it’s all delicious, with a perfectly crisp exterior and flaky meat within.

I also sampled the tried-and-true pad thai, which was just as good as the fish. I sometimes find this dish to be a bit cloying, but the version here had a really great balance of flavours, perfectly chewy noodles, and a mild smokiness from the blazing hot wok. It was probably one of the better versions of pad thai that I’ve ever had.

Mediocre Khao Soi at Imm Thai Kitchen

Published on March 5, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 651 College Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Immthaikitchen/

Khao soi is one of those dishes I have a hard time resisting. The combo of the creamy and vibrant curry soup, the chewy noodles in the bowl, and the crispy fried ones on top add up to a dynamite mix of flavours and textures.

At Imm Thai, I tried a few of the starters before I got to the soup: spring rolls, fresh rolls, and fried sweet potato. The two types of rolls were both about what you’d expect, but the sweet potato really stood out. The thin strands of potato were crunchy and addictive — they were basically like a freshly-fried version of Hickory Sticks, and I couldn’t get enough of them.

The khao soi, on the other hand — i.e. the reason I wanted to visit the restaurant in the first place — wasn’t the best. It was fine; I certainly didn’t dislike eating it, but it is absolutely, positively not in the same league as the best bowls of this particular dish.

The “soup” itself is the biggest issue. And yes, in this case, the word soup definitely needs to be in quotes — the thick, sludgy liquid here was at the consistency of a particularly hearty gravy.

Of course, the broth in a bowl of khao soi is supposed to be a little bit richer than a typical bowl of soup, but this version took that two or three (or four or five) steps too far.

The flavour, too, was a bit one-note, with none of the delightful complexity that makes the best bowls of khao soi really sing. The crispy noodles on top were nice, if not quite as abundant as you’d like, and the pieces of chicken (you can also pick tofu, shrimp, or lobster) were all dry, personality-free chunks of white meat.

Unique Desserts at Patchmon’s Thai Desserts

Published on January 5, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2463 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.thaidesserts.ca/

I mentioned recently that Asian desserts have a tendency to be an acquired taste. That is absolutely, positively the case with Patchmon’s Thai Desserts.

But that’s part of the appeal — how often do you get a chance to try something that’s entirely unlike anything you’ve ever eaten before? There’s something thrilling about that, especially when the thing you’re eating is also delicious.

I tried three desserts, and the biggest “whoa, that’s new” was easily the Thai taro custard. For the most part, it’s not all that unusual — it kind of tastes like a much denser, richer version of creme caramel, with an almost cakey consistency.

It’s also topped with caramelized shallots.

It’s weird. The shallots aren’t just a topping — the whole thing is perfumed with their flavour. It sounds like it should be off-putting, but oddly enough, it works.

There’s no doubt that it’s unusual, though. It’s one of those things I ate with a perpetually furrowed brow. I’ll also admit that I didn’t finish it. It sat in my fridge for about a week until I finally threw it out. As much as I liked it, I never particularly felt like reliving that odd sensation of eating dessert that’s also a little bit oniony.

The next thing I tried was the Thai coconut layer cake. Despite the name, it’s actually more of a jelly, which the woman behind the counter explained is made with tapioca rather than gelatin, and which is flavoured with pandan leaves.

This was my favourite of the three. The texture was denser and creamier than your typical gelatin (it was somewhere between mochi and Jell-o), and the flavour was great, if a bit hard to describe. It’s vaguely nutty and almost malty. It’s quite good.

The third item was the ta-goe (sweet tapioca with coconut cream). I didn’t particularly enjoy this one. The texture — featuring a creamy top layer and a tapioca-infused bottom layer — was quite nice. But it had a sharply salty, almost sour flavour that I found to be a bit overwhelming. I have no doubt that it’s an authentic version of that particular dessert, but I think it’s an acquired taste that I haven’t yet acquired.