The Chef Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

I recently ordered here for the first time and was impressed. I’ve been going to many Thai restaurants in the Vancouver area and nothing really ever stood out until I tried this restaurant.

I have been passionate in finding the perfect som tum. I don’t know why it is so hard to find good papaya salad (som tum) but I think I finally found it! Upon opening my container, I was surprised to see how much sauce/dressing was in the container. Other places barely have any, making the papaya salad taste bland. I held back a bit on the excitement of seeing a generous amount of sauce/dressing to see how it would taste. Y’all!!! I have never had papaya salad this flavorful. The dressing/sauce coating the papaya salad packed a punch. You taste the lime but it’s not sour. It has great crunch as well. The papaya itself is great. Some places I have been to have theirs tasting too earthy, like it has not been properly washed. But no issues here! The perfect amount of som tum for me. Not too much but not too little either. I like that they used lettuce and not cabbage in their papaya salad. Even the amount of cherry tomatoes caught my eye. Other places give you like a measly 3 cherry tomatoes purely for decoration. Here, I could get a cherry tomato with nearly every bite of my som tum.

I also got the pineapple fried rice and I wish there was a little bit more pineapples! I got maybe 4 or 5 pieces. I really had to dig around to find them. The taste was good. I have had pineapple fried rice in many Thai restaurants and they all relatively taste the same, however this spot made theirs differently. I’m not sure what seasoning/ingredient was used, but it smelled different from previous ones I’ve tried. A good smell, but one I can’t figure out.

Lastly I got the crying tiger. A great amount of beef, wish there was more of a bed of lettuce underneath or even cucumbers, so I can get some extra crunch and breather from all the beef. The Nam Jim Jaew was delicious as well. It’s got great, bold flavors without being overly salty. My only con besides wanting some fresh greens with the crying tiger, is that I wish we could choose how we want to the steak prepared. There’s no option in DoorDash and I would have preferred medium rare. Not sure if that’s something they would have done had I called, but I was unable to at the time. Even though the crying tiger came to me as medium/medium-well I still found it to be tender and delicious. I will say, even though the steak cook times weren’t available on DoorDash, they have many options for proteins and even vegan options on nearly all their dishes. That makes it simple so I don’t need to call every time for dietary restrictions.

All in all, I’m very impressed so far as a first time customer. Hope it wasn’t a fluke. Will be ordering again soon! I don’t know much about Thai cuisine and what makes it truly authentic, but a lot of dishes I see on here I haven’t seen anywhere else. It doesn’t seem like they try to sweeten their dishes to appeal to the western palate. Some places I have tried tend to be too sweet. Here, so far I find they have been able to balance all the notes perfectly. You can clearly distinguish the different tastes in sweet, salty, tangy, etc. Excited to get the papaya salad again as well as...

I am sad to be writing this... I thought I would try a new Thai restaurant, but I will not be going back. I witnessed one of the most blantant food safety violations I have seen. I went into the restaurant at 7:30 (they close at 9) and ordered takeout Tom Kha soup with no onions. When I got home and ate a little bit of it, I noticed 2 other ingredients were missing, so all that was in my soup was chicken, tomato, and mushroom. I took the soup back to the store, got there at 8, and explained what happened. They took my soup into the kitchen, and I watched them unwrap it, boil some cabbage on the side, and drop it into the same soup. Then they took the utensil that they used to transfer the cabbage into my soup and continued to use it in the other food they were cooking. The server who took my soup into the kitchen and opened it did not wash her hands. As someone who works in food service, I found the fact that they took my "old" soup into the kitchen to be very gross. From the restaurant's perspective, they have no idea what I did to the soup. I could have coughed/sneezed all over it. (Of course I didn't, but I COULD have.) And then they touched it with their hands and cooking utensils, and continued cooking. That is a huge food safety violation. Regardless, I did take the soup home again and ate some of it. (I wish I hadn't, but I was too hungry I guess.) Even without the food safety issues, I am disappointed that my food was not remade. The cabbage being added afterwards watered down the soup. It felt like they just tried to get me out of the restaurant as fast...

Excellent thai food with a great selection of lesser known dishes in cute surrounds!

Came in off hours mid Saturday afternoon and stepped into a colorful and clean looking space that was empty. The door was open and the weather was nice outside, though the only added ambiance was that of cars in the parking lot and a cool spring breeze.

The staff were cleaning away and singing in the back. I browsed the to-go menu on the counter, and then rang the bell for service. Someone quickly came out and took my order (hoi tod and a thai tea) and I seated myself.

The rest of my meal had regular service. I was brought my drink, silverware, and a full pitcher of water which i appreciated. They checked on me during my meal and nobody rushed me which was great.

When my hoi tod order came out, it looked great and was served on a wooden plate. Biting into it, the texture of crispy fried pancake contrasted really well with the softness of the mussels. My only issue was that it was a bit awkward to try and eat the bean sprouts along with it using only my fork. It would have been nice if I had a knife, but I didn’t bother to ask. The flavor was wonderful and it was excellent. It came with a sweet chili dripping sauce.

My thai tea was spot on, maybe heavier on the condensed milk than some.

4/5 stars: excellent Thai food that I would recommend, and I’m planning on coming back again...