Pii Nong Thai Yonge - Eatery & Experience — Restaurant in Toronto

Found this place while scrolling through IG and the Thai chef promised “No yummy, no serve” in the clip! Figured it could be serving authentic Thai food. But they actually have a mini market with a lot of Thai snacks, drinks and even outfits! Nice decor and seating and I was tempted to sit on the swings but didn’t want to break anything😅 We were seated at a big booth which was really comfy and nice to the window. They give you a QR code to scan and order from but I asked for a menu. I ordered the cute Bear Thai iced tea that was tasty to the end since they had a frozen tea bear to offset the melting ice cubes. My friend had the canned coffee that was smooth. We started with the Tom Yum soup which was quite hot and spicy but with nice combination of veggies and protein. The grilled skewer platter was different from other restaurants, with beef, chicken, octopus and pork. I think they used pork jowl since it was with the fat and meat with a chewier texture. No dipping sauce with this as the skewers had enough flavour and don’t taste the same across all like most others. The octopus was surprisingly tender, chicken breast wasn’t dried and the beef wasn’t tenderized which meant that good quality meat was used and an attentive grilling, which reminds me of the Japanese Robatayaki. The soft shell crab curry used a homemade yellow curry sauce which tasted different but delicious with the roti. The combination of clam (hoi lai) and shrimp with spaghetti was really tasty with their own chili sauce. I loved the crispy Thai basil and the clams were tender and cleaned thoroughly without any sand. The greens we ordered were flown in from Thailand since it’s not in season. I didn’t know they had the name morning glory! It was the green type which would have grown in soil, not the white type in water. Green type has smaller leaves and stems and supposed to be more tender. However, they stir fried it so that it’s crunchy and tender. You can basically tell that they sorted out the older stems and only used the younger tender parts to cook and serve. I really liked the sauce used for stir-frying it coz it’s really tasty. We finished the meal with the durian roti which was packed with durian inside but the outside is still crispy. It’s good enough without the condensed milk. When going to the washroom upstairs, I noticed that they have a nice party room with great decor and an accessible bathroom in the back. One word of caution is that use the green P parking or paid parking instead of the free street parking which is only limited to 1 hour! And the green onion frequently checks and marks your tires for issuing tickets. Will definitely go back to try other dishes as I wasn’t thirsty after the meal so no MSG used. I heard that they are going to have an authentic Thai massage parlour upstairs and I will keep checking the...

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My partner and I dined at the Yonge and Lawrence location this evening. While the others around us had physical menus, we were told to scan the QR code and place our order online. It took at least another 15-20 minutes later when a server came and offered us physical menus as we sat there taking turns to look at the menu using our phone. The physical menu advises which dishes are spicy, while the digital menu does not.

We ordered two Thai Iced Teas first via the QR code. Only after the server offered us the physical menus, we placed an order for our two entrees (Seafood Fried Rice and the Crying Beef), and a side dish of eggplant.

Dishes arriving at staggered times: After a bit of a wait, my partner’s entree arrived. I told him to eat first as I did not want his meal to get cold.

It took about another 10-15 minutes before the eggplant dish arrived.

Then another 10 minutes for my Crying Beef dish to arrive.

While we ate, my partner found a plastic wrapper from the imitation crab stick that they used in the fried rice, still partially wrapped around a piece of the crab, and partially melted due to the high heat from cooking. He brought this to the server’s attention, and she quickly apologized and took the dish away advising she will replace it.

This time around, my partner sat there watching me eat my entree, while he waited for his entree to be replaced. The server even took away his utensils, so he couldn’t even have any of the shared eggplant dish.

About 20-25 minutes later, when I already finished my entree, and after asking a few different servers about my partner’s replacement entree (and they kept saying they will look into it), it finally arrived.

When the bill arrived, they gave us a mere 10% off our bill. The melted plastic wrapper in my partner’s entree was a pretty egregious issue (see photo)— he was ingesting melted plastic that could impact his health and/or he could have choked on it, and all they offered was 10% off? How about comping that dish? Or offering a free dessert? The 10% off turned out to be about $8-9. His dish was $24, the dessert we ended up...

Walking by Pii Nong Thai, I’m not sure what attracts more people: the comforting emerald environment with table tops laden with food or the bright market right next door. Indeed, the store offers an array of snacks, condiments, and even merchandise. You know what they say about shopping hungry… if you’re stuck waiting for a table, you may end up purchasing a lot of junk food.

It’s a cute and colourful environment that extends into their drinks. The teddy bear Thai milk tea ($8.99) graced many tables. A pitcher of rich and silky tea with a shot of evaporated milk to allow diners to customize its creaminess. The drink is a tad pricy but lasts the entire meal – it’s a generous portion complete with a bear made from tea so it doesn’t dilute the drink as it melts.

The pandan chicken ($18.99) is a great protein packed starter. Essentially a small palm-sized piece of seasoned chicken thigh that’s quickly fried in the leaf. While there wasn’t much pandan flavour, the leaf did add a slight aromatic quality to the chicken.

Same goes for the grilled pork jowl ($18.99) that’s listed as an appetizer but large enough to work as a main. Served with a cylinder of sticky rice, the huge slab of pork is lightly grilled and simply adorned with diced shallots, cilantro, and chilis. It’s served with a tangy tamarind jaew sauce that adds a hit of acid to lighten up the meat.

For something to munch on with beer, the crispy mini crab larb ($17.99) acts like popcorn shrimp but featuring thumb sized crustaceans instead. Almost like soft shell crab but crispier, the fried morsels are dusted with a sweet and salty spice and tossed with herbs and chili.

For the tried and true, their crispy chicken spring roll ($9.99) combines ground chicken, vermicelli, and vegetables to create a dense sausage like filling wrapped in crispy rice paper. It’s crunchy and meaty with a light fish sauce vinaigrette. You’ll get your fill of protein with this as well.

Head to Gastro World for the rest of this...