32Khao San Road

Continuing this year’s theme of great food in schleppy surroundings, the best Thai food in Toronto comes to us from the hand of chef Nuit Regular from Chieng Mai. Chef Regular challenges herself to steer clear of the goopy coconut cream and deep-fried banalities that afflict so much Thai/Canadian cooking. She makes garlicky chicken sausage to stuff into her cold rolls. She adds red curry, shrimp paste and lemongrass to pumpkin and deep fries it into something as addictive as the best frites. She bathes chunks of chicken in tamarind-spiked toasted peanut sauce. Barely cooked Chinese long beans sing harmony with sweet tender pork, the spicing a glorious burst of wild Thai ginger with holy basil, red curry and lime leaves. But everyone’s favourite Nuit item is khao soi. It’s a soupy stew of juicy chicken in velvety coconut cream, with two kinds of noodle — boiled in the stew, and deep-fried crispy on top. Lose the Thai blahs here.