Mar. 02, 2011 - Issue #802 : Education 2011
Where to eat
Numchok Wilai offers worthy fare at a decent price
I hadn't even known it existed. That simply wouldn't do.
We walked in knowing we wanted to try the vegetarian spring rolls ($4.95) and the fresh spring rolls with shrimp ($6.50), and since Thai beer just seems to go with Thai food, we decided that Singhas ($5.25 each) were the required drink of the night.
Out came the spring rolls—one plate full of the gloriously deep-fried and slightly greasy variety, the other sporting the more virtuous rice-paper wrapped bundles. I'm usually partial to the lighter, fresher rice-paper rolls, but these ones just didn't work for me. Two of the four were missing the promised shrimp and the all-important dipping sauce turned out to be a thick blob that looked—and tasted—exactly like peanut butter. It had no complexity to it at all and, frankly, if I'm going to eat peanut butter, I'd rather spread it on toast. We battled over the deep-fried ones—which were yummy. I especially appreciated the bursts of sweetness added by the unexpected nuggets of corn.
Those plates were cleared, and our other dishes started coming fast and furious. Steamed rice ($1.50), coconut rice ($1.95) and sticky rice ($2.50) all found a spot on the table along with nuer nam mun hoy ($10.95), moo pad preaw wan ($10.95), stir fried gai lan ($7.95) and a last-minute addition, Pad Thai ($10.95). We had to order the rad na chicken—a noodle dish with chicken, broccoli and Thai-style gravy—but our friendly waiter told us very firmly we really didn't want to do that. Evidently it's supposed to taste okay, but you have to get past the smell first. We heeded his advice.
Part of what I love about Thai cooking is that, when it's done well, all the meat is impossibly tender and the array of delectable sauces imparts a whole new dimension of flavour to the perfectly cooked rice and veggies. For the most part, Numchok Wilai got this right. Beef, chicken, pork and shrimp all showed up in one dish or another and everything was admirably tender, even the shrimp that came nestled in the Pad Thai.
Nuer nam mun hoy—essentially beef and broccoli with cauliflower, carrots and mushrooms—turned out to be the overwhelming favourite at our table. The veggies were crisp but tender, the perfect combo to maximize their sauce-soaking-up ability. And the sauce was definitely worth soaking up. The veggies tasted so divine they disappeared in no time. Luckily the stir fried gai lan (Chinese broccoli), swimming in a soy and garlic sauce, helped to ease my longing for more veggies.
From there I moved onto the Pad Thai. The chicken and shrimp were deliciously tender, but the noodles bordered on gummy and weighed the dish down. I sampled the moo pad preaw wan, a classic take on sweet and sour pork, even though that has never been my thing. The sweet and sour fan at our table thoroughly enjoyed it, though.
I opted to indulge in something sweet without the sour instead: deep-fried banana and ice cream ($4.50). Warm bananas topped by copious amounts of ice cream are always good, but when you wrap them in a crispy spring roll wrap, add a large dollop of whipped cream and then drizzle everything with chocolate sauce, well, yum.
That was my introduction to Numchok Wilai. It didn't wow me enough to supplant any of my favourite Thai haunts, but it does offer up worthy fare at a decent price. V
Mon – Fri (11:30 am – 2:30 pm & 4:30 pm – 10 pm); Sat & Sun (4 pm – 10 pm)
Numchok Wilai
10623 - 124 St, 780.488.7897
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