All About Thai
670 Osborne St.

I’m just the right amount of stuffed after eating at South Osborne’s new All About Thai restaurant.

You may be familiar with the location, because it’s housed in the former digs of Woo’s Café, infamous for its legendary $1.99 breakfasts.

All About Thai has already been adopted into its neighbourhood, and since this cute spot has only five tables, and seats a maximum of 16 people, you’ll want to get there early if you plan to go on a weekend.

The restaurant is cozy, clean, casual and anyone critical of the décor likely never dined at Woo’s.

Service is attentive, friendly and profusely apologetic if your order isn’t out in a snap.

From her new, shiny kitchen, owner and chef Panita Pirompak performs flavourful magic.

Her perfectly prepared Thai dishes are the real attraction here, and it’s safe to say that this is now one of the best Thai eateries in Winnipeg.

After ordering a Singha beer, get your party an appetizer.

For $6 to $8 you’ll crunch on impeccably wrapped vegetable spring rolls, or devour crispy vegetable dumplings dipped in a sauce that is sour, spicy and sweet.

Or, delve into an apple, peanut and cashew salad that manages to make your taste buds jump for joy by combining cilantro, the most divisive herb of all, and chili as a dressing for the salad.

Regardless of what you order for an appetizer, you won’t be disappointed.

All About Thai’s strength seems to lie in its curries, which, along with all of its entrées, range from $10 to $12. (Although, another strength is the piano renditions of all your favourite Disney songs playing softly through the speakers, which is free).

The mat saman was thick and potatoey, and had just the right amount of coconut milk.

The kang karee, yellow curry, was much the same as the mat saman but with a different kind of chicken.

Though the pad thai was good, and avoided the soy sauce that some restaurants douse it in, it was fairly non-descript, aside from its large shrimp.

From what I’ve heard, pad thai is to Thailand what the chicken ball is to China: not all that common for locals to eat.

If this is true, pad thai is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the other food.

Dessert is $6 to $7 and is a must have.

Seriously, if you feel yourself starting to get full part way through your main course, just stop eating so you can save room for dessert.

The vanilla honey toast is essentially a half loaf of bread hollowed out and soaked in warm honey, squirted with chocolate sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream.

It takes them about 20 minutes to soak and toast it, which is great, since it gives you extra time to make room in your stomach.

Thai food is all about flavour and texture combinations that are pleasing to the senses - All About Thai has those down pat.

Try it - you’ll see.

Published in Volume 67, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 21, 2012)