Genuine Food & Travel Review

This branch of Eat BKK (Annex) is located at 513 Bloor St. W. Toronto. It is q close walking distance from Bathurst TTC station. Eat BKK is a successful Thai restaurant chain with 5 locations in Toronto. I have ordered from Eat BKK in other locations that have already been rebranded, but this is my first time at this location. Per my research, I have found that each location offered a slightly different menu. Again, I am also Thai so I might be slightly biased on certain tastes but will try my best to give the best perspective.

Historical Context

I could write an entire blog about various aspects of Thai dishes (I promised there would be more posts about Thai dishes). So for this post, I would like to give a high-level history of “Bangkok” that everybody now knows as the current capital of Thailand. For Thai people, we actually refer to Bangkok as “Krung Thep Mahanakorn” or in short “Krung Thep”, Bangkok is not commonly used in the local Thai language to refer to this capital city.

Without going too much further back in Thai history, Thailand’s former brief capital before Bangkok was Thonburi. In 1782, King Rama I took over the throne after the previous king Taksin, and then established now Bangkok region as the new capital. Later in 1971, the previous capital Thonburi became part of the district as the Bangkok province.

Fun fact about “Bangkok”: As mentioned Thai people don’t really say Bangkok but “Krung Thep” so if you want to impress the locals maybe start referring it to Krung Thep too. However, Krung Thep is actually the short name of the full name of “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.” Don’t worry you don’t need to remember the long version as I’m guessing that many Thai people may also not know the full name without looking it up.

Value & Vibe

Price: The price is pretty standard for downtown. To give a perspective for a typical noodle dish like Pad Thai, Pad See Ew or Pad Kaprao its about $18. The appetizers are cheaper but also smaller in portions. Therefore, it is not a cheap eats per say but in line with the typical price in downtown restaurant.

Vibe: Great atmosphere! Super friendly server and the restaurant was nice to sit in. We came in the afternoon. It was well lit and well decorated. The decoration style is modern with colorful decorations giving out a tropical vacation theme.

Taste

First, we didn’t really order many typical entrees that you may get. There were a few items that looks really interesting so we decided to order more appetizers to try with rice instead. Looking back it seems like all the dishes that we got had some “larb” flavor except the Tom Kha chicken soup.

The first one is on a special menu which is fried larb. I haven’t had it in a long time so I couldn’t resist to eat one before taking the photo! But it was a taste that I definitely missed. For those who are familiar with larb, it has a sour and salty taste typically mixed with other meat. But in this case, it is fried therefore giving it more of a fried texture although not overly crispy.

The second one is Larb Salmon. Not the most traditional Thai dish using raw salmon but I thought it was a good combination between raw salmon and sourness and spices of larb flavor.

The next one that we got is Chicken Wings Zaab which is fried chicken with larb flavor. As you can tell by now, I may have a personal bias on larb flavor dishes… The chicken is well-cooked and seasoned.

The next dish is Tom Kha Chicken. We got the small size. This soup is light and creamy which I think goes really well with the rest of the meal as the other dishes had a stronger taste. I personally like this lighter “soup” dish for this meal as it complements the other larb dishes which are sour in taste.

Overall I would say it may not be a fair comparison to the other Thai restaurants that I have done as we mainly got appetizers and “larb” flavored dish. The downside of eating just appetizers is that you may not get the quantity as much as you might have if you order entree dishes. But overall pleasant experience with the taste, the atmosphere and a friendly service.

Score

Atmosphere: 8.5/10 (Friendly staff also helped because my friend knew the server!)
Price: 7/10 (Decent but I got mainly appetizers this time)
Taste: 8.5/10 (I would like to try more non larb flavor dishes next time!)