Si Lom Thai Bistro – 534 Church St, Toronto, ON M4Y 2E1
Country: Thailand
Must-try dish: Pad Thai Soft Shell Crab
Dinner guests: Dancing Queen & Pornstar Sam
Seating: Indoor seating with a very small patio.
The high: The extensive menu offers up some classic Thai dishes while including new favourites such as the Pad Hoy Lai (Stir-Fried Clams).
The low: It’s a small space and you can’t make a reservation so plan accordingly if you’re a bigger group.

Nearing the end of Pride Month, we found a popular spot in Toronto’s Village “Gay Village” that offers arguably the best Thai food in the city. Thailand is a country in South East Asia that’s known for their fantastic cuisine and is one of Asia’s most Queer friendly countries, despite still having a ways to go for perfect equality.

Si Lom Thai Bistro is decorated with a myriad of pride flags throughout the dining room and even several images of Thai boxers – likely paying homage to Thailand’s national sport of Muay Thai. They specialize in Thai curries and noodle dishes, but their vast menu had us ordering a few more unique dishes which ended up being favoured by all.

The Pad Hoy Lai was the most exciting dish ordered, consisting of stir-fried clams, red and green long chili, Thai basil, with shrimp chili paste. Not only was it the most distinctive dish of the evening, but it was the first time anyone in our group had ever ordered a clam stir-fry dish at a Thai restaurant. The flavours in the dish were strong, with a subtle taste of fishiness from the shrimp chili paste and a pleasing level of spice without creating too long of a lasting burning sensation in your mouth. We highly recommend ordering this dish especially for those of you that tend to steer towards the same dishes everytime you go out for Thai food.

No Thai meal is complete without the addition of a curry. The Panang Curry with chicken was our choice for the evening. For those of you that may not know, Panang curries are made with red curry paste with the main differences between a more traditional red curry being that Panang curries use less paste and include peanuts. This allows for a richer, usually less spicy and slightly sweet curry.

Although Pad Thai is a very common dish in most people’s Thai food repertoire, we opted for a slightly more adventurous version that had us get the Pad Thai Soft Shell Crab. The crab was fried and perfectly flaky, and sat atop the stir-fried noodles, which included radishes, tofu, chives, bean sprouts, peanuts, and strips of mango. Although pad thai isn’t typically an adventurous order, the addition of the soft shell crab and the slight sweetness offered up by the mango made this dish the must-try of the evening.

The Tom Yum Fried Rice with Shrimp was the last addition to our order, it was described as fried rice with egg and spicy lemongrass sauce. It was the only dish of the night that offered up debate between the group. This being said, it was still completely consumed and the plate was sent back with not even a grain of rice left in sight. The sauce was not overly spicy and the lemongrass sauce gave it that classic tom yum flavour profile. 

Whether you’re a part of the Queer community or not, this place is worth a visit to the village. 

Happy Pride to everyone and may you always follow your heart.

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Gay Mat & Andrea)