📍 Koh Lipe Thai Kitchen – 35 Baldwin St, Toronto, ON M5T 1L1
🌍 Country: Thailand
🔥 Must-try dish: Goong Moun
🎭 Dinner guest: American Frenchie, Fraulein Freddy, Johnny Mac, Pornstar Sam & RyHy
🪑 Seating: Indoor seating with a front patio in warmer months.
👍 The high: There are several dishes not commonly seen on Thai menus in Toronto, and are reminiscent of travels in Thailand.
👎 The low: The Pad See Ew only comes with chicken or vegetables – there’s no beef option. 

There are two things you should always be able to rely on at a Thai restaurant – friendly staff and delicious food. Both of which are in excess at Koh Lipe in Baldwin Village. The restaurant is named after a famous island in the southern part of the country referred to as the “Maldives of Thailand”, where tourists take boats to see world class diving sites. It’s also on the island hopping route in the Andaman Sea, close to the Malaysian border. 

Toronto’s Koh Lipe is getting recognition from Thai enthusiasts as one of the best places to get authentic Thai dishes in the city. There are many things on the menu that are popular in Thailand, but less common on menus in Canada, making it a special place to taste a variety of dishes. More regional recipes are scattered across the menu too, which will transport any Thai traveller back to the beaches and temples of this incredible land. 

Although there are many of the classic dishes on Koh Lipe’s menu, stepping out of your Thai comfort zone is best done here. And if nostalgia from a past trip to Thailand is what you’re after, then this is exactly where to go. 

Goong Moun
One of the best dishes in Thailand, and our favourite of the night is the crispy tofu skin wrapped shrimp. There are chillies, vegetables and seasoning to give it depth in flavour, but the main event in the skin itself is the meat tucked inside it. In this recipe, the shrimp pairs well with the carrots and chillies giving more texture with each bite. The tofu skin is a thin layer that keeps all the insides together but the way that it’s cooked leaves it crunchy and flavourful. 

Peek Gai Tom Yum
Does every culture have their own variation of the chicken wing? It would seem so. Peek Gai are Thailand’s response to the international chicken wing craze, with a complex tom yum seasoning to top it off. The chili, lemongrass, and lime flavours on the meat create a distinct savoury, sweet, sour, and spicy profile that’s iconic in Thai cooking. Whether you like wings or not, these are perfect for sharing and are likely some of the most unique wings in the city. 

Moo Tod
These slices of pork belly are a crowd pleaser every time. It’s a simple dish made up of thin pieces of grilled melt-in-your-mouth pork with minimal seasoning that makes the meat flavours shine. It can feel awkward eating just a piece of meat without anything else, but after doing it once, it gets more commonplace and delicious. The meat is juicy and the skins are crispy.

Yum Sapparod
It wouldn’t be an authentic Thai meal without a sweet yet tangy salad to cleanse the palate. It’s impossible to ignore all the colourful salads available in restaurants across Thailand, and they’re especially welcome in the warmer weather. This is a pineapple salad with shrimp and squid, vegetables, chillies, and crushed peanuts. Each bite is a small party that offers flavour bursts and exotic textures, something lacking in most salads. 

Guay Tiew Khaek
If this is difficult to say out loud, then use the term “Islamic Noodles” which is a synonym for this dish. It’s a mix of all the good stuff – beef, chillies, egg, peanuts and red curry sauce with rice noodles. If you’re a noodle lover like us, then this is the way to go at Koh Lipe because you won’t find it anywhere else in Toronto! 

Pad See Ew
One of the greatest dishes of all time – the Pad See Ew is a thick but flattened noodle dish that’s stir-fried with broccoli, egg, and meat (obviously beef is the preference for us) and soy sauce. It’s an excellent first Thai dish that helps a diner understand the complexities of this cuisine in a gradual fashion.

Pad Ka Na
This dish almost feels healthy with the broccoli and pork that are stir-fried with Thai seasoning and sauces, then served alongside rice. Of the protein options, we opted for the crispy pork, which is the most popular and most authentic. It’s also an opportunity to switch up the meat selection. Pork is often underrated and forgotten, so we like to order it whenever we can, and this time it really worked in our favour. 

Ma Sa Man
Opting out of a Thai curry is preposterous! 

The Ma Sa Man curry is always a winner, and despite gaining popularity in North America, it still isn’t on every Thai menu the way that a green or red curry is. What makes this curry special is the warm flavour profile from the cinnamon, cloves, and star anise that are mostly absent in other Thai curries. It can be eaten anytime of the year, but certainly has a wintery vibe in its velvety texture from the coconut milk and the potatoes. Usually there’s a protein in it, and personally, beef is the way to go as it pairs well with the heavier ingredients that make up the stew.  At Koh Lipe, the braised beef for this curry was a no-brainer. 

Over the course of a month-long holiday in Thailand, a guide to the Thai Curry was created to explain the nuances between these various dishes that are so crucial in Thailand’s cuisine. 

Bi Co Moi
Of the two desserts on offer, this one was the favourite because it was new for most of the group, and there was something appealing about the coconut ice cream after a big meal. The black rice is cooked in a creamy coconut milk and sugar then topped with coconut ice cream. Anyone who’s a fan of coconuts will adore this! 

Khao Niew Ma Muang
This is also known as Mango Sticky Rice, and similar to many Thai desserts, the base is rice. It’s one of the most popular desserts on the street and the restaurants of Thailand, and despite it sounding fairly simple, each recipe has its own unique character. The rice is cooked in condensed milk, and depending on the chef, specific seasonings, then topped with ripe, juicy mango slices. How can you go wrong? 

Koh Lipe is open everyday for lunch and dinner, so there are many ways to enjoy a Thai meal there. It’s located in a little house on a quaint street right in Baldwin Village, just out of earshot from all the chaos of Chinatown. The staff is reminiscent of being in Thailand with their big smiles and good humour – something that is often lost in Canadian restaurants. This feels like the real deal, and it’s confirmed with every dish. 

As for the atmosphere once inside, Koh Lipe is a terrific option for date night, dinner with friends, or simply to get your Thai fix. The cocktail menu and beer selection is sophisticated if it feels like that kind of night, but sadly there aren’t any buckets available! 

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)