Koh Lipe Thai Kitchen Scarborough — Restaurant in Toronto

Omg, had the best Thai experience of my life (including all of the authentic experiences in NYC, Washington DC, Virginia, etc)!!

Walking into the unassuming Chinese mall sits Koh Lipe's Scarborough location. Tried the Toronto downtown location 2 days prior for the first time and was stunned at how good it was that i had to take the family to the more spacious Scarborough location.

Ample parking, better decor that's fun, amazing service, more spacious, amazing culturally authentic food, reasonable pricing for the quality that comes out. These type of places are gems of the dining scene of any city. Can't ask for more.

Right off the bat, our server Tony was fantastic. Great with the kids, clear with guiding us through the menu as well as the policy when the restaurant gets super busy. He even took great pictures of our family when all the food came out. He also came by to see if we needed additional packing boxes while we were putting together our leftovers (we ordered a lot lol). 5 stars.

The food (if spicy, we got them at medium heat -can adjust to your liking when ordering):

-Fried pork belly with chilli lime sauce: it's so good... there's something with this sauce that's magic. A lot of cultures have fried pork belly with skin. The one they serve here gives the heavy food much needed balance that ends up being an addiction. They hands down beat out how it's done elsewhere. Highly recommend checking this out. One of the highlights.

-Stir fried pineapple curry chicken with coconut sticky rice: man, this was great. This is a southern Thai dish. It's somewhat similar to green curry but next level. The sweet and acidic pineapple is a great balance of the creamy curry that accompanies the slices of chicken. Our other highlight.

-Coconut curry with pork jowl, thai acacia, baby eggplant, betel leaves: wow, another standout. Pork jowl was crunchy on outside with a slight pleasant sweetness, which matched amazingly well to the spicy curry. We really loved this dish. Amazing dish.

-Pad Thai: when i first tried this at Koh Lipe, i was thinking that I've had Pad Thai thousands of times. How different could it be? Apparently I've been having a completely different version of Pad Thai all my life so far lol. This was better. Tamarind sauce comes into play here. Great balance in the sauce. Very enjoyable. High marks!

-Dried chicken curry with coconut rice, with shrimp, dried anchovies, egg, homemade chilli tamarind paste in a stone bowl: umami bomb lol. Looks like a Korean stone bowl bibimbap at first but it's clearly different. The dried chicken curry and chilli tamarind paste really brings all the seafood together. Can't say anything negative about it but all the dishes mentioned prior tops it. If you don't like things somewhat fishy, may not enjoy this one but we liked it.

-Blue crab curry with vermicelli, shrimp paste, chilli, and betel leaf: I having had blue crab in Maryland fresh on many occasion, I can see what this would've been like if it was made with freshly caught crab. I was excited about trying the dish but it just wasn't that interesting in terms of taste and flavor. The bland noodles took away a lot of the punch. Maybe it's just me but certain things like lobster and crab are best when cooking without adding texture and flavor. A good steamed crab or lobster i feel are best. They can't all be winners but I'm glad i got to try it to understand what it was. Scratched a major curiosity itch lol

We genuinely can't wait to come back, see Tony again for the next set of dishes to try as we will likely go through the entire menu at one point lol

Thank you very much for...

Koh Lipe serves some seriously delicious food. The goong moun ($13.95) is a can't miss appetizer. A flavourful but light shrimp paste (studded with carrot, chilli, and betel leaf) is wrapped in crispy tofu sheets that's like a spring roll but better. It's tasty on its own or with a splash of the savoury and sour Arjard vinaigrette.

Koh Lipe synthesizes the sour, salty, and umami elements of tom yum into a powder that covers the chicken wings or peek gai tom yum ($13.95). Given it’s a dry rub, the batter on the wings remains crunchy, a great contrast against the juicy meat.

Their pad Thai with shrimp ($22.95) has the requisite elements needed for success: chewy noodles, enough sauce to cover the noodles without making them soggy, and crispy elements to add texture. I’m glad the chef was restrained in his use of tamarind, so the pad Thai wasn’t too sour, the flavours were perfectly balanced.

My first experience with guey tiew khaek or Islamic noodles ($17.95 for the veggies and tofu version) was not a success. Using the same rice noodles as pad Thai, they’re covered with an overly sweet red curry, which really needed a spicier element to create harmony. If anything, the best part of the dish was the onsen egg, the molten yolk adding a creaminess to the curry noodles.

For something spicy, the prik gaeng moo krob ($23.95) packs a punch and had me downing two glasses of water. A blistering hot curry paste covers fried and then stir-fried pork belly, soaking into the meat. While tasty, given the sauce was already oily, using pork belly as the protein made the dish too heavy, chicken and/or shrimp would be better.

For a flavourful curry, I prefer the khao neow gaeng ($22.95). Slices of chicken and fresh pineapple are covered in a heat-filled yellow curry that's spicy but bearable. The sticky coconut rice sitting in the pineapple gets covered in the sauce but is not saturated and goes wonderfully with the chicken.

Our table was impressed with the pad gra prao ($18.95), a plate of steamed rice topped with ample amounts of minced chicken flavoured with basil, onion, and chili. All at once spicy, salty, and sweet, it blends into one as the thick yolk oozes out of the fried egg. While the dish has a similar taste to the prik gaeng moo krob, the sweet element helps make this a more palatable dish.

Despite having leftovers, we ordered the khao neow ma muang ($12.95) to share. One bite of the slightly salty mango coconut sticky rice and we were hooked. The sauce was warm and thin, so it coats the sticky rice so well. It’s paired with soft mango slices that adds enough sweetness to remind you...

I went to this restaurant today to spend the day off with my wife.

The place is very clean, spacious, and well decorated, which I liked. However, it is located inside the Chinese mall, which made me think that this is definitely not the place for date night. It was also very crowded despite the fact I went 11:30-12:00.

Parking is free and spacious. Again, it is located inside the small Chinese mall.

Staff are very friendly and provided an excellent service. They constantly checked our table to clean the empty dishes and ask if we needed anything else with a smile on their face.

The food is, unfortunately, somewhat disappointing. Maybe it is because I had higher expectations for Michelin Star Restaurant. We ordered Shrimp Pad Thai, Goong Moun(fried tofu skin with stuffing side, which is made of shrimp and other vegetables), and Guey Tiew Khaek (Isalamic Noodle). First and most, what I expect from a good Pad Thai is that smoky flavor. Unfortunately, this Pad Thai didn't have that feature. I wouldn't say it is a bad Pad Thai dish, but if it made me think that BKK Pad Thai is better than Michelin Star Restaurant Pad Thai, it is just sad. The spice level was alright, but it was salty.

Isalamic noodles were very salty. If the purpose of this salty dish was to make people order extra rice, then very well played. It was recommended dish from many Google reviews, but I would think twice if I were you.

Goong Moun was interesting dish. My wife didn't like it, but it was definitely intriguing dish for me with its unique texture. You may expect an alternate version of spring roll, but it is definitely different. Please give it a try, but keep in mind that this dish is med to high spicy(depends on people, I guess)

Overall, the food was rather disappointing for Michelin Star Restaurant. If you want the best Pad Thai, I think you should go to "Pai" instead.

Summary Pro: spacious parking, clean and well decorated restaurant with friendly staffs. Many photo spots

Cons: Food is all right but not what you expect from Michelin restaurant. It is located inside the Chinese mall, not for date night place. Maybe family dinner to experience Michelin restaurant.

*Again, this is all my subjective options. But I always try to be honest with my own experience and not flow with what others say...