Boualouang Lao/Thai Restaurant - Undisputed Best Thai Food in Western Canada
Posted on 06/29/2011
Address: 10569 97 St NW, Edmonton
Two or three years ago during my annual summer visit to Edmonton I ate at Boualouang with my Dad. This Thai/Lao eatery operated out of a tiny space with something like 4 or 5 tables -- and I can remember how good we thought the food was -- absolutely excellent and obviously 100% authentic Thai food. Since then, I have been to Laos and since starting this food blog have grown even more appreciative of good Asian food -- which is why this year I made a point to have a meal at Boualouang at least once.
Nowadays Boualouang operates several doors down in a larger space with about 10 or so tables and the food is still jaw-droppingly amazing in its perfectly authentic balance of flavors, inclusion of hard-to-find foreign spices and carefully crafted preparation from original recipes. I have never actually tasted food in Canadian-Thai restaurants that matches what is available in Thailand itself, which is why I find it so amazing that here, now is an establishment and an owner who manages to get it 100% right. Gratefully the restaurant is not too far from Vancouver so I will be able to dine here now and again.
For a restaurant this good, Boualouang is still too small of an eatery. Of course, should the owners one-day decide to move to Vancouver (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!) they will have no problem in establishing very quickly a massive and constant stream of customers.
The stupendous thing about Boualouang and the Edmonton food-blogger scene is that as good as it is -- it only has one blog entry on urbanspoon.com. Of course, while Edmonton has under 100 bloggers registered and Vancouver has 300+ this might be expected, but should Boualouang ever move to Vancouver there would be an immediate flood of posts reaching into the 30's and 40's within a few months.
Seen-Sa-Vahn -- Laos traditional sweet beef jerky $12.
My memories of this type of beef jerky emanate from my overnight train trip from Hat Yai to Bangkok a couple years ago. This particular version with its slightly sweeter-than-saltier flavor lying just beneath the brown-hued savory beef exterior is a bit different, in a good way, from the dark red, more pungent variety on that train.
Perhaps one might say that a beef jerky served at an eating house must have a lighter, sweeter, more sophisticated taste than its street-food equivalent? At any rate, it is a curiosity finding this dish advertised on the menu and a chance to have a hard-to-find foodstuff that may or may not stay on the menu forever.
Tawt-Muhn-Pa -- Deep fried fish cakes served with hot sweet & sour sauce, cucumbers and peanuts $12.
Unbelievable! With the first bite of these fish cakes I knew with certainty that this Thai restaurant is the best in at least Western Canada (my definition of Western Canada being BC & Alberta ex Sask. & Manitoba -- after all, if it can't be found in the first two richer provinces how can it be found in the latter?).
As I gazed on my wife's rapturous expression as she savoured her way through these perfectly authentic patties of Thai culinary craftsmanship, I was confirmed in my discovery.
Coconut Shrimp -- Deep fried coconut shrimp, served with lettuce and potato $12.
The menu description of this dish simply doesn't do it justice. We felt like the proverbial 'kids in a candy store' when we spotted this listed among the appetizers -- coconut shrimp! Where's the last time you saw coconut shrimp anywhere? True to form, this appetizer dish is a mouth-watering mix of five coconut-rolled prawns deliciously deep fried and sitting on a bed of finely grated long sticks of yam French-fries.If that were not enough, the dipping sauce is absolutely impossibly delicious, smacking of some type of popular-among-Thai/Lao-people-but-relatively-unknown-outside-Thailand sweet, sour and spicy tamarind-based sauce. A sprinkling of freshly toasted crushed peanuts are the icing on the cake...sort of makes the price of $12 seem justified.
Lahp -- Laos style meat salad mixed with mint leaves, lemongrass, shallots, green onions, roasted rice, cilantro and special spices $12.
I always order the meat salad called Lahp as a dish to test a Thai restaurant I am eating at for the first time. That and any Thai curry, usually Matsamun. Boualouang's lahp is moist unlike most Thai versions I've had that are dry -- I think I like it this way. One thing I always look for is how finely ground the roasted rice powder is. There is nothing worse than biting down hard on an overly-large piece of raw rice and suffering a glancing blow off the teeth or getting it lodged deeply into a tooth recess -- ouch! This has happened far too many times at various Thai restaurants around Vancouver. I believe that in the 'Land of Refinement' the rice powder is supposed to be ground down into an (almost) imperceptibly fine powder adding a taste and texture that adds so much subtlety. Boualouang gets an A+ for their lahp rice powder fineness, which not surprisingly is typical of this restauranteur's care and consideration in making her dishes.
As far as the overall taste and impression of Boualouang's lahp: a perfectly mixed combination of chile & herb laced beef lahp gracefully laid on a piece of fresh lettuce and surrounded elegantly by cucumber slices and radish carvings.
Gaeng-Kiew-Vahn -- Green curry and coconut milk with mushrooms, zucchini, sweet basil and Laos eggplant (in season). Served with steamed rice & choice of meat $17.
As this blog posting wanders on, my choice of superlatives wears thin. Suffice it to say that were one blindfolded and not to know if they were in Thailand or Canada (ridiculous I know...) they would not be able to tell from this green pork curry. So exactly like the native country is this one that I almost felt like I couldn't take any more, both figuratively and literally (by now we were both beginning to get stuffed!). I did however find a fault with this curry dish that in fairness could be explained as a Thai-restaurant-industry norm -- there were too few "Lao eggplant" and too much zucchini. It is obvious the restauranteur is trying to save money on the expensive small size eggplants by stuffing the dish with cheap local vegetable, but for $17 and for the sake of restaurant pride one would think Boualouang would throw a couple more of these small-size beauties into curry in a flourish of food grace. Only 2 ways to go here: the high road or the low road and Boualouang took the low one
That aside, the quality of curry is top notch and unsurpassed at any Thai restaurant I've been to in Vancouver.
Pad-Ka-Pow -- Straw mushrooms, long green beans, hot basil and red chillies. Served with steamed rice and choice of meat $17.
Already stuffed but with the view to a takeout, we pressed ahead and ordered an item from the "Specialty Dishes" section of the menu, the chicken pad ka pow. One of my favorite dishes in Thailand is bai-kra-pow, a fried minced meat dish laden with Thai basil and yummy beyond belief! So when we saw pad-da-pow we assumed it was a variant of the aformentioned pile of Siamese goodness and ordered away, secure in the knowledge that whatever we couldn't finish at table could be taken home and had for dinner the next day (or breakfast!).
To top off this amazing Thai meal with a plate of one of my favorite dishes from Thailand is probably the only summary needed for this post. The dish was of course cooked lip-smackingly well-prepared in the manner proper to this dish and ended a glorious experience of Thailand/Laos eating in Edmonton!
Long live Boualouang Thai/Lao Restaurant! (and when are you opening in Vancouver?)