Thai goodness: take out from Chiang Rai Thai Kitchen and Bar

 

Chiang Rai at Kennedy

We had passed by Chiang Rai a few times on our way to the garden centre. I made a mental note to check them out sometime as Thai restaurants are not so prolific in Markham. So, when the craving hit for some Thai food, I ordered at Chiang Rai for pick up. Their pick-up system was so convenient as they had a table set up right at the door—and you didn’t have to go inside the actual restaurant to pick up your order.

When I opened the paper bag at home, I was delighted to see that the containers were made of paper vs styro or plastic! A few brownie points can be deducted though for including plastic cutlery. But I forgive them since they included some personalized lovely notes written on the take-out boxes. What a nice touch and this certainly put in me a positive mood right before diving into our order, with the beautiful aromas wafting out of the bowls.

Panang Curry, Pad Thai, Tom Yum fried rice and Fish Cakes @Chiang Rai

We started with their homemade fish cake. Marinated in red curry paste and served sweet chilli sauce, it was delicious!

For our mains, we got chicken Panang curry: homemade Thai red curry paste with coconut milk, roasted peanuts, red pepper, long green beans, lime leaf and comes with Jasmine rice. We just got medium spicy but now I wonder if getting Thai Spicy would take me back to the streets of Bangkok (which, I know is quite far from Chiang Rai) where I vividly recall practically burning my tongue with the spiciness of the curry! I had to take sips of pop with every.single.bite. I will save this adventure for next time.

The rest of our orders, I chickened out with the spice level and just got mild. I will have to step it up a bit next time. These were all very good, though!

We got their Pad Thai with chicken. It was a decent serving and packed with egg, tofu, and generous amount of chicken. It was pretty good. One of the better Pad Thais around.

The Tom Yum Fried Rice caught my eye when I was perusing the menu. So, I got this with shrimp. It was Yum-my indeed! The stir-fried rice with tom yum sauce was very savoury with just the right amount of sweet and spice!

The fam and I absolutely loved their dishes! The drive to Kennedy road was totally worth it and will do it all over again—maybe next month? 😊 until then…

Doing the Impossible: Whopper, that is

Burger King Whopper and Impossible Whopper

I joined a Green Challenge and one of the items was to eat plant-based meals. Now, we have tried plant-based proteins before, and they practically tasted like cardboard. Plus, when you look at how much sodium and preservatives are in the ingredient list, you would think twice about this being a better option to meat. These plant-based proteins are also highly processed—in the attempt to make it look and taste like meat. Add these to the fact that our family is essentially composed of carnivores, we have not fully embraced plant-based protein. Now, having said that, I had to get my points for this Green Challenge. So, when I saw that Burger King had the Impossible Whopper, I took it as an opportunity! 

Burger King Impossible Whopper

The family did not commiserate with me and ordered the regular beef Whopper. Only I had the Impossible Whopper. And I do have to say, it tasted good! As I was hyperaware of the fact that it was not the usual beef patty, I can detect that it did not have the same mouthfeel and grilled tasted of the regular burger. But it was not bad at all! It offered the same taste and almost quite the satisfaction (unless one had a serious craving for a Whopper—which we do get sometimes) of the regular Whopper. 

 The Impossible Whopper does have fewer calories and less fat, but the difference is not very significant. It is also packed with Sodium (3x more than Whopper) but a winner on cholesterol (with the Whopper having 9x more). Guess you just have to pick your evil. 

nutritional facts from Burger King website

Overall, it kept me full, made me happy, and I will have it again, if I had to select a plant-based option.