Thai Cuisine by Montri
2585 West Broadway
604-221-9599
ThaiCuisineByMontri.com
Open for dinner Tuesday-Sunday from 5:00pm.
If you’ve been around the local restaurant scene long enough, you may remember the original Montri’s, which was one of the first Asian restaurants in Vancouver to actually have a serious wine list and employ a full-time sommelier to run it. Owner/chef Montri Rattanaraj was legendary for both his hospitality and his cuisine, and was a big reason for the eventual mainstream success of Thai food in Vancouver.
Part of his success may have been the five years he spent in Copenhagen before moving to Canada, learning about the fine-dining hospitality trade and perfecting his technique. He opened the original Montri’s here in 1990 and had a great run for four years, before a family tragedy called him back to Thailand in 1994. He sold the business to Antonio Corsi, who went on to open the Quattro restaurants. In Thailand, he then helped open the Four Seasons in Bangkok while wrapping up his family affairs, running their food and beverage program, before returning to Vancouver a year later. He then re-opened Montri’s on Broadway and Alma, and successfully ran it for 11 years, until retirement beckoned in ’06.
After almost a decade of travelling between Thailand and Vancouver, it turned out retirement was a bit tame, and the third incarnation of Montri’s was born earlier this year, taking over the short-lived Salt Tasting Room space on West Broadway.
The wine list is still as strong, and as varied. A healthy selection of reasonably-priced by-the-glass options and bottles with minimal mark-ups heavily favour white varietals. One stunner was the Kanazawa 2013 Nomu from the Okanagan, a blend of Viognier, Semillon, and Orange Muscat.
It’s a list that’s designed to balance out the blend of fundamental elements that make up most Thai food: sweet, spicy, salty, sour and bitter. Most of the dishes hover between the $10 and $14-mark, and though these are great for sharing, I wouldn’t call most of them small. A starter of Thai fish cakes (normally made with white fish like basa or cod), are here made entirely from prawn, seasoned with curry paste and studded with finely chopped green beans. Sided with a sweet chili sauce loaded with fresh cucumber, it’s a fun dish, although one could wish for the provenance of the prawns to be as clear as that of the salmon (the latter is local and wild-caught).
Shoo-shee pla (salmon in red curry and coconut sauce) is delectable and worth the $19 price tag. The fish is beautifully cooked, moist flesh with a crisped skin, and the sauce is thick and fragrant. Spoon the remnants over the coconut rice so as not to waste. One of the bigger dishes – and definitely meant for a group of at least three or four – is the pla lard prig, a whole fish, usually perch or seabass, deep-fried and laden with Montri’s secret sauce, Thai basil, ginger and kaffir. It’s market price, but count on around $28-$38 depending on the size. A group of us fought over the cheeks and licked the bones clean. This is also one of the few places I’d recommend the gai-yang, a half-chicken marinated in coconut milk, chargrilled and sliced.
The kitchen is run by Krisana Onsamer, and Montri himself handles the wine and front of house. It’s a small, bright room that seems constantly busy, so think about reservations, although there do seem to regularly be seats for walk-ins.
Food: ***1/2
Service: ****
Ambiance: ***
Value: ****
Overall: ***1/2
All ratings out of five stars.
*: Okay, nothing memorable.
**: Good, shows promise.
***: Very good, occasionally excellent.
****: Excellent, consistently above average.
*****: Awe-inspiring, practically perfect in every way.
Anya Levykh is a freelance food and travel writer who covers all things ingestible. She has a regular segment every Monday on CBC Radio One’s On the Coast and is a judge for the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Find her on Twitter @foodgirlfriday and Facebook.com/FoodGirlFriday.
