Siam Le Bien Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Burnaby

Siam Le Bien is a relatively new Thai restaurant that opened up a few months ago in Burnaby Heights. Always on the hunt for new Thai restaurants, we stopped by for some take-out in January (they do have dine-in service available).

First off was the Tom Yum Prawn ($13). Thai cuisine is known for the mix of spicy and sour flavours and hot and sour soup is the perfect example.

Next up was the Red Duck Curry ($18) made with tomatoes, pineapple, lychee, bell peppers, bamboo shoots and Thai basil. I always make sure to order this if I see it on a menu as I love how the sweetness of the lychee plays with the spicy curry flavour. I would have liked to see a couple of more pieces of lychee (I think I counted 3-4 lychees) but the creamy curry sauce was on point.

One of my favourite dishes here was the Stuffed Chicken Wings ($9). It seems like so much work… stuffing boneless chicken wings with a mixture of minced chicken, black fungus and bean vermicelli and then deep-frying it. But it’s well worth it once you bite into one of these.

The Crispy Spring Rolls ($7) is a fairly similar appy… having mixed veggies and bean vermicelli stuffed inside crispy spring roll wrappers.

No Thai meal would be complete without Pad Thai ($14 with Prawns). I like that they use a tamarind sauce with the rice noodles instead of ketchup. It’s all mixed up with tofu, egg, shallots, bean sprouts, chives and ground peanuts which can make this dish a whole meal.

Last up was the Pad Prink Jalapeño ($13) which is a stir-fried dish mixed up with onions, jalapeño, bell peppers, and carrots. This goes best with some type of carb to soak up the sauce.

I did make a return because I wanted to try their Yum Won Sen Traditional Thai Salad ($14.50 on Skip the Dishes). Their online menu describes this as the “Siam Magic” Traditional Thai Salad and there’s a good reason why… one look at the translucent blue mung bean noodles instantly makes this dish look magical (thinking they use something like butterfly pea flower to add that bluish hue to the noodles). Served warm, the salad is a mix of mung bean vermicelli, shrimp, minced chicken, tomatoes, celery, roasted peanuts, lime juice, chili, cilantro, and green onions. The colours are quite vibrant and the freshness of the ingredients stands out. I did think the minced chicken was a tad on the dry side but I probably needed to use a bit more dressing.

I dropped by for lunch in March and tried their Lunch Special Green Curry Chicken ($11.50) with a Lime Soda ($4.50). The lunch special comes with a side salad and crisp spring roll while the curry had tender eggplant, red and orange peppers, and basil. This was a pretty good version and a nice price point for lunch. The medium-spiced curry sauce had a nice heat level that you really didn’t feel until afterwards. Wish this place was a little bit closer to where we live.

Overall, the food was pretty good. If you find that their dishes aren’t spicy enough, make sure to ask them to kick up the spice level. I thought their “medium” was okay if you’re not looking for anything overly spicy.

Update Feb 2025: Returned for lunch and ordered the Pad Thai ($21), Chicken Satay ($13.5), Shrimp Cakes ($12), Red Curry Duck ($28), Thai Iced Tea with milk/lime...

This restaurant serves authentic, excellent, and delicious Thai delicacies. It stands out from other Thai restaurants, and even other restaurants in general, through the owners' and chefs' passion and dedication to continuous learning and improvement made to its authentic, traditional Thai recipes to give its customers' a truly Thai cuisine experience, that makes you feel like you're in Siam/Thailand! The entire team also gives excellent, friendly, and prompt service, without having the customer ask for it. That's truly commendable! This place also offers a comfortable seating area, with a very safe space for physical distancing amongst other patrons.

NOW, on to the DELICIOUS FOOD!! I've tasted the following dishes, and they're all absolutely enjoyable!:

1. Tom Yum Prawns - The Tom Yum soup was a perfect re-creation of what my tastebuds' memory of it was, when I visited Asia. Not to mention that the prawns stayed succulent, juicy, and flavourful for a broth that's been simmered down for some time. No need to get your hands dirty with removing the shells or heads either!
2. Siam Magic (Traditional Thai Salad) - The staff explained that the vivid blue colour of its vermicelli noodles (which turns to a delightful purple when the accompanying sauce is added to it) were from "Butterfly Pea Flower"; a natural food-colouring and food-safe ingredient preciously extracted from Thailand to land locally, on our plates to our palates. All of the flavours were in harmony, and they certainly sang a symphony in my mouth!
3. Pad Thai - How many times have I tasted it locally, and there's just not a place that screams original! Well, I can proudly attest that THIS PLACE SERVES GENUINE PAD THAI PERIOD. The blend of seasonings is just right, along with the aroma of the charred noodles you can taste AND SMELL, you know that even the TECHNIQUE is right!
4. Pad Cha - All of the seafood on this plate, the Basa filets, prawns, and squid were succulent and had a savory profile that complemented the other dishes' sweet, sour, and spicy notes extremely well! It also shares the same charred taste and aroma that the Pad Thai carried, so there's definitely consistency in the culinary techniques and skills! Another fun fact shared by its knowledgeable staff - the peppercorn is also specifically flown in from Thailand to add some authentic punch to this dish!
5. Thai Iced Tea - Last but not least, this drink is also a big favourite! It's refreshing, and it tastes unique, unlike any other Asian (milk) teas you've tried! It's a must-have when you're there!

*They're all in generous portions, come in a group to taste all the different authentic Thai dishes you set your mind to, so you can really feast your heart out! :)

Loving every bit of this place, from its food, to its service, to its professional staff, to its inviting ambience and decor, and even to its great/convenient location (accessible via R5).

Enough said, I'm hungry for...

*2023 update food is delicious! Service is still great! The pricing has went up but it is a given since inflation. The only thing is our waitress didn't really know the difference between vegetarian and vegan. We told her we are vegetarian and she asked us if chicken broth is okay. Chicken broth is not okay. So we said we don't eat chicken broth and she said so you don't eat animal products, that means you're vegan. But we're not vegan, we eat eggs though. So I think the waitresses need to know the differences between vegetarian and vegan. But other than that it was really great.

• 2021 Sept update** the food is still delicious!! The service is still excellent. But the wait time has increased. They are super duper busy with take out orders so the sit in customers waiting are even waiting LONGER than before. If you are hungry, I can't recommend here on a weekend when it's busy.. I do hope they can prioritize the sit in customers since for take out they can arrange the pick up times to be longer so the take out but sit in customers need to sit and wait. Also sit in customers pay tips, so it will be great if the food service can come at a reasonable time.

We came in for lunch the other day. Their lunch meal is a great deal especially since it comes with spring roll and salad. Their pad thai is really delicious. We ordered a pad siew and fried rice to go and the pad siew was very good, I can totally tell the food is extremely authentic and the chef must be as well. There are lots of thai places but this place is pretty delicious and the service is excellent. I originally was going to only give it 4 stars because it really took very long for our food to come. However, the waitress acknowledge that it was taking a long time and gave us drinks on the house. They were busy since it was Saturday and they had tons of take out orders. I definitely recommend this place for yummy thai food! Just be aware that there might be a while for food to come if you come during...