Bangkok Garden (Thai)

Mishy and I had Remembrance Day off which fell on a weekday this year, thus a are non-holiday weekday, thus a perfect time to revisit a place only open for weekday lunch buffet! Thus, time for a Bangkok Garden revisit.

Sadly, there was no more DIY soup station which is unfortunate as this was one of my favorites, certainly with the tastiness of the results. Yellow chicken curry was excellent. Lemon chicken with mushrooms soup was a wonderful flavor mix. Spring rolls were good and not oily or stale. Veg. nuggets were delicious and just as good as chicken. Chicken wings were crisp and nicely spiced. Veg. Pad thai was quite good and not too hot... I can't say the same for the cashew chicken which had red chilies embedded in it that kept me in agony for 15 or 20 minutes. Mishy said that was my fault for not being careful what was in it. Red curry veg. was happily not so hot, and very tasty. Mixed veg. had a nice sauce, although Mishy is not a fan of the baby corn. Eggplant was quite good for eggplant at least, though Mishy is not a fan of cilantro.

Veg. fried rice was delicious and had a nice sauce. Glass noodle salad was tangy and tasty. For dessert cassava cake was nice with coconut flavour, and Thai jello was quite good though again Mishy was not a fan. Weekday lunch buffet is $23.99, but $5 for tea is ridiculous considering it’s just a teabag in hot water. We still had an enjoyable lunch especially as a warm respite from a chilly, rainy day and would return.

Rating: 7.5 - 8 / 10

Original review:

Update: 2022-Sept.-23 - Happy to welcome Bangkok Garden back to the list, as there is certainly not an excess of Thai AYCEs! Unfortunately no weekend, but the Mon.-Fri. noon to three lunch buffet is on again. It's up to $24 of course, what with everything food-related having gone up in price these days.

Bangkok Garden is located at 18 Elm Street, in downtown Toronto just northwest of Dundas subway station, so is very transit-accessible. Bangkok Garden has a gorgeous wonderfully decorated interior, with a high ceiling, with plenty of customers. There is unfortunately only weekday lunch buffet, no dinner or weekend. Chopsticks are reusable.

There is a build-your-own soup station with many ingredients which are mixed into broth by a server. I opted for chicken broth, chicken breast, fish cake, egg noodles, cilantro, garlic, green onions, and chilis in vinegar. The results were fantastic. The second soup from the station was vegetable broth, bird chili, fish balls, shrimp balls, beef balls, coriander, garlic, peanuts, fish sauce, and rice noodles... basically everything I had not Included the first time. Of course due to this, I preferred the first soup, but the second was good nonetheless.

Red curry chicken was fantastic, just enough heat and plenty of flavor, probably the best I've had of this. Green curry fish was similarly excellent, the sauce bursting with flavor, very well spiced. Ginger beef was good, although it could have been a bit more savory, but the spicing was nice. Mango chicken was very good, very tasty. Stir-fried vegetables and noodles were quite good with a nice mild flavor. As would be expected from a specialty Thai place, the vegetable Pad Thai was excellent and I wished that Mishy wasn't working that day and could enjoy it with me. Yellow curried vegetables were good, although the sauce could have been a little more expressive. Palace Garden is another vegetable medley and was also good with a nice sauce. Jade Green is the Thai version of Chinese greens and was my favorite vegetable dish as the sauce was delicious.

Chicken wings, while plain, were good and not dried out. Veggie bites were tasty fried fritters. Thai spring rolls had nice spicing different from others I have had. Noodle salad was quite good with a nice unique flavor. Mango salad was very tasty and also probably very healthy, good mixture of veg flavors.

For dessert, cassava cake was delicious with a mild flavor reminiscent of coconut. Taro cake was similar, although contained actual shredded coconut, so no reminiscences were required. It also reminded me a bit more of banana flavor. Banana and sweet potato fritters were quite tasty, especially with the nearby honey. Fresh rambutan fruit I have never had before, and although the flavor is described as being a combination of mangosteen, lychee and kiwi, I thought it most resembled mandarin orange. Kudos to Bangkok Garden for providing this. Weekday lunch was $17.99 and it was definitely worth this; it was a very well-done authentic Thai dining experience, and not available as AYCE anywhere else in the GTA that I am aware of.

Rating: 9/10