Taste of Yaletown 2016 Preview – Urban Thai Bistro

Gear up everyone and loosen your waistbands! Taste of Yaletown is back for it’s 12th year to bring you the foodie festival that you all know and love. If you enjoy Dine Out Vancouver but can’t wait till end of Jan, you should definitely check it out. This year, it runs from October 13th – 27th with over 30 participating restaurants.

Every year, they have a media tasting at one of the participating restaurants and I was lucky enough to be invited. The restaurant I was chosen to dine at was the Urban Thai Bistro on Hamilton Street, which I later found out is part of the same group of restaurants as Thai House and Pink Elephant Thai.

During this festival, Urban Thai Bistro will be offering their $25 tasting menu consisting of a fruit salad to start, an appetizer, entree, and dessert ($+3). This is the fruit salad that comes with every meal, and it has strawberries, mangoes, cucumbers, dragonfruit, mixed greens, apples, etc. It’s an eclectic mix of fruits and veggies but it seems unique and refreshing. Not my favourite salad though.

This is the Tod Man Gai which are Thai style chicken nuggets. It comes with the traditional spicy thai chicken sauce which I love. All in all, very well executed.

I’ve definitely had flakier roti elsewhere but this was a good attempt. The homemade peanut sauce was also lovely, though I normally enjoy the sauce better with meat.

These drinks are not included in the menu but this one is the famous Thai Iced Tea. I can’t comment on it because I didn’t try it but it looked super good and everyone said it tasted delicious.

I don’t know what this is called but this Lychee and Coconut Milk slush was amazingggggggg! So refreshing. In the summertime, just give me one of these, a beach, and I’ll be in paradise.

The Keang Sapparod Tofu which consisted of yellow curry with coconut milk, diced pineapple, onion, and bell pepper served in a pineapple bowl was pretty good. The flavours were very mild and you can tell it is catered to less adventurous palates (though, nothing wrong with that!). Over some steamed rice, this makes a pretty hearty meal.

My favourite item of the night however was this. The Suki Hank Prawns. It was a blend of vermicelli and mixed vegetables with their chef’s special sauce. The plump prawns were what won me over though. I’m always a sucker for delicious buoyant prawns. 😀

Last but not least is the dessert. For three dollars extra, you can get a hot Pumpkin and Taro in Coconut Milk soup. For most people, a hot soup for dessert sounds strange and unappetizing, but it’s quite popular in Asian cuisine to have hot sweet soup after the entree.

All in all, Urban Thai Bistro offers some unique items for people looking to enjoy some Thai fusion fare for a reasonable price. I wouldn’t say this is authentic Thai though so don’t expect it coming in. Items I’d recommend: Suki Hank Prawns, Tod Man Gai, and their Lychee Coconut Milk Slush drink.

Happy Eating!