Preface: I was asked to translate this post into English so more people knows what I am talking about. Therefore, here you go, my very first review written in English.
You got to have some guts to open up a restaurant in this 4th and Burrard neighbourhood. For one, there are already too many good restaurants in this area, and if you do not keep up your game, you will disappear like the two restaurants that previously occupies this space.
I was quite skeptical when I see this restaurant opening, partly because I am not so keen on the idea of Asian Fusion (after seeing too many failed attempts). However, the pronunciation of the restaurant did caught my eye a little, so I decided to give this restaurant a try anyways.
I really like their interior; clean and simple. I especially like how they just write a big "Thai One" on the wall.
By the way, if you are sharp you may catch the Bubble World logo somewhere in the restaurant, as well as the bubble tea straws. By no means though, is this the same level as Bubble World.
Chef Special Spring Roll is packed, PACKED, with seaweed, shrimp, and chicken. It reminds me of traditional Taiwanese chicken roll, but replacing the outer skin with spring roll skins. It is one of my favourite dishes for tonight.
Moon Shrimp Cake, something that anyone who claims to be Taiwanese Thai Fusion needs to have. This dish, whom many Taiwanese people thought is a common Thai dish, actually originated from Taiwan, but somehow mistaken as Thai.
It is also very flavourful, full of the taste of the shrimp, and with the special Thai sauce, it was one of the fastest dishes to disappear in front of our eyes.
This
seared raw beef, I would put it somewhere between the Japanese beef tataki and the Phnom Penh butter beef. It has the tenderness of Beef Tataki, but how Chef prepared the dressings et al is what you are more likely to see in a restaurant that claims to serve Southeast Asian cuisine.
Masala Fried Rice was the toughest to take picture of, as it smelled so good that I can barely hold on to my camera. It is again very flavourful, despite how the server said this was the lighter option over other fried rice (which was Basil Beef by the way.) We were told that the chef spend a lot of time before perfecting the taste of the dish.
Of course, if you are not into fried rice, there's always white rice.
Lemon Pork Jowl was perfectly done, even for a self-proclaimed Pork Jowl enthusiast like myself. The sauce was the icing on the cake; it removes the oily taste that some people love and hate when they enjoy pork meat, and in turn you forget how many pieces you have eaten.
Green Curry Chicken was very creamy and filled with lots of contents, as you can see in the picture. What got us was that we could not figure out what that breadstick-looking side dish was, and forgot to ask because we ate it.
Here comes something that we were all curious about, the
Eggplant Lasagna. Despite its name, only the look resembles an actual lasagna. Beneath the cheese was eggplants, and there are meats that taste like
"Kra Prao Moo"from Thailand,and the base is sticky rice cake. What seem like impossible combinations did manage to come together, and as you eat it you taste many elements of flavour in the same bite, which was an interesting feeling.
One thing though, this is rather heavy in terms of taste, even with the rice cake on the bottom.
本日最期待的一道菜，Eggplant Lasagna。
Their soup menu currently features the Tom Yum soup and the
Laska soup (pictured). The laksa was very spicy, which was no problem for me but could be problematic for some.
Overall, it was a lot better than I expected, and I see this restaurant surviving at the very least, making a case to stay in this area. Their dishes have a price range around 12-20 dollars, which is rather acceptable, even slightly cheaper compared to what's right across from their restaurant.
For those who perfers to dine with a lighter taste, you may want to talk to the servers before you order, because chances are 9/10 of the items are either salty or spicy. (they do have chili symbol telling you which one is spicy, but I felt it was a bit inconsistent as some 1 chili items were a lot more spicy than others. It did leave me with quite a good first impression, and I will at least return sometime soon just to try out other dishes.
Thai One Vancouver
1947 West 4th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 558-1237
https://www.facebook.com/thaionevancouver
As a closing remark, for those of you who are reading my very first English review, I would appreciate any feedback from you. For example, if there's any specific restaurant that I have covered that you would like to see an English review, let me know. ( I don't think I can do all though...) If you think I might as well start an English only blog and leave this place with Chinese-only content, please voice out too. Thanks a bunch!
