The Chef Thai Cuisine

Delicious authentic food that you may not find in an average Thai restaurant in the Us. Good portion for decent price. The presentation of dishes is also beautiful. Not many ppl on a rainy Thursday evening. Will definitely be back to try more from the special menu and boat noodle soup.
We two ordered 3 dishes and had leftover for 1 meal to go. Highly recommend their special menu, we had the following:
1. Pad Ka Pao w/ crispy pork belly, favorite dish, ordered spicy and is just right for us, pork is crispy with fresh basil scent, this dish just has the right amount of sweet, spicy and herb flavor with some crunchiness, it’s our favorite dish.
7. Tom Leng, which is a pork chop soup medium spicy, which is only a hint of spicy for us, this soup has sweet, sour, spicy and cilantro flavor. It’s a bit too sweet for me to drink the soup but the pork in it taste just right. Can be a little tricky to eat due to the bone.
13. Kao Soi Kai, egg noodle soup in red curry with chicken drumsticks and mung beans, tastes good and good amount of protein, we also like it though it doesn’t stand out in the dishes we ordered.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Honestly didn’t know what to expect. I came to Vancouver for work and saw this spot for lunch and was intrigued so I walked in. What a gem! I do wish the jeow sauce was more spicy luckily they had a Thai chilli vinaigrette which provided the heat I needed. One of my favorite meals I had on this vacay!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I love that in Vancouver has this restaurant. I can find a variety of this Thai food without going to Portland and it's delicious. And the restaurant is also an expert in Thai desserts that is not only Mango sticky rice!! They cured my homesickness. Very recommend!!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I recently ordered here for the first time and was impressed. I’ve been going to many Thai restaurants in the Vancouver area and nothing really ever stood out until I tried this restaurant.

I have been passionate in finding the perfect som tum. I don’t know why it is so hard to find good papaya salad (som tum) but I think I finally found it! Upon opening my container, I was surprised to see how much sauce/dressing was in the container. Other places barely have any, making the papaya salad taste bland. I held back a bit on the excitement of seeing a generous amount of sauce/dressing to see how it would taste. Y’all!!! I have never had papaya salad this flavorful. The dressing/sauce coating the papaya salad packed a punch. You taste the lime but it’s not sour. It has great crunch as well. The papaya itself is great. Some places I have been to have theirs tasting too earthy, like it has not been properly washed. But no issues here! The perfect amount of som tum for me. Not too much but not too little either. I like that they used lettuce and not cabbage in their papaya salad. Even the amount of cherry tomatoes caught my eye. Other places give you like a measly 3 cherry tomatoes purely for decoration. Here, I could get a cherry tomato with nearly every bite of my som tum.

I also got the pineapple fried rice and I wish there was a little bit more pineapples! I got maybe 4 or 5 pieces. I really had to dig around to find them. The taste was good. I have had pineapple fried rice in many Thai restaurants and they all relatively taste the same, however this spot made theirs differently. I’m not sure what seasoning/ingredient was used, but it smelled different from previous ones I’ve tried. A good smell, but one I can’t figure out.

Lastly I got the crying tiger. A great amount of beef, wish there was more of a bed of lettuce underneath or even cucumbers, so I can get some extra crunch and breather from all the beef. The Nam Jim Jaew was delicious as well. It’s got great, bold flavors without being overly salty. My only con besides wanting some fresh greens with the crying tiger, is that I wish we could choose how we want to the steak prepared. There’s no option in DoorDash and I would have preferred medium rare. Not sure if that’s something they would have done had I called, but I was unable to at the time. Even though the crying tiger came to me as medium/medium-well I still found it to be tender and delicious. I will say, even though the steak cook times weren’t available on DoorDash, they have many options for proteins and even vegan options on nearly all their dishes. That makes it simple so I don’t need to call every time for dietary restrictions.

All in all, I’m very impressed so far as a first time customer. Hope it wasn’t a fluke. Will be ordering again soon! I don’t know much about Thai cuisine and what makes it truly authentic, but a lot of dishes I see on here I haven’t seen anywhere else. It doesn’t seem like they try to sweeten their dishes to appeal to the western palate. Some places I have tried tend to be too sweet. Here, so far I find they have been able to balance all the notes perfectly. You can clearly distinguish the different tastes in sweet, salty, tangy, etc. Excited to get the papaya salad again as well as trying new dishes.

Food: 5

Glad we discovered this hidden gem! The restaurant owners were really kind. The food was delicious and very authentic with great portion sizes. We are definitely comeback!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

A flavorful experience overall. The tom yum soap was bright and aromatic, a little too rich for me, but it paired really well with the pork belly. The crying tiger was definitely the highlight of the meal, easily our favorite dish -- perfectly grilled. The calamari was solid 4.3/5. Mongo sticky rice was very fresh, but the rice could've been softer. Thai tea was a bit sweet for me. Thedecor inside was amazing. Lots of beautiful flowers.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

A wonderful spot for authentic and delicious Thai food! Service and food were all on point, and the Mango Sticky Rice is to die for!!! The seafood pad see-ew was also wonderful!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I had the kuai jub noodle soup and it was amazing. Especially the pork belly. The chicken larb was great as well. This place has dishes that are not regularly seen at Thai restaurants. I’m really looking forward to trying their hoy tod.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The Chef is our go-to Thai restaurant in the Vancouver area. One main reason is their food is quite flavorful. We have tried other Thai restaurants and I have been disappointed with the lack of flavor there compared to this restaurant. Also, when requesting something specific or a modification to my order, it is always spot on. Another reason I love The Chef and will drive further to come here, even passing other Thai places on the way. The presentation of the food on the serving plates is really nice too. I find the atmosphere to be festive, it’s a cozy environment. The owners are most welcoming and pleasant and you can sense the care put into the food preparation. It takes a little bit for food but not too long, it’s that it is prepared on the spot fresh and hot. Many times we have picked up food to take home and it has been well packaged to keep its warmth. Beer and wine are options if you like as well. And in this time with rising food costs, you will be pleasantly surprised…not only are serving sizes completely adequate but the prices are reasonable. I’ve noticed that restaurants with larger lease space seem to be charging quite a bit more and also being stingier. While I get lease space is expensive, ingredients in dishes are not so different to justify $4-10 more expensive for the same dish at one restaurant over another. The Chef will continue to get our patronage!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I’ve been here a few times now and every dish I’ve gotten has been delicious! The ingredients are fresh and everything is delicious. The service is also good. I love this place!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My second time eating here. This restaurant is a Hidden Gem whimsically decorated with silk flowers cascading everywhere. Some of the best Thai food I've ever had. My 2 dining companions had various curries which they adored. Highly recommend and we will definitely be back. They do a large take out business but I highly recommend eating in!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My husband and I enjoyed lunch here today. The service was great. I love their personalized dishes. I had the chicken pad thai thay was super good and my husband had Goong Ob Woonsen which was flavorful and good.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

I've enjoyed unique variations of Thai food where ever I've traveled in the world. Was even all over Thailand for 2 years, and hand's-up, hands down, the unpretentious Chef Thai Cuisine served the most delicious lemongrass soup w/coconut, mixed veggies, generous plump shrimp & cashews EVER! Got a side of the fabulous pineapple fried rice w/firm tofu, which together with d'soup, was perhaps the most gastronomically over-the-top meal of m'life. Really, explodeing with flavor! SUPER fairly priced! HAPPY SONGKRAN!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Pineapple Fried Rice, Tom Kha

We ordered a total of 4 items and all of them were quite delicious! My favorite one was Hoi Tod - super crispy and flavorful and tasted even better with the sweet spicy sauce on the side. The beef steak in Crying Tiger was also very tender and not dry at all. Thai Fried Rice and Drunken Noodles were great too. I personally preferred the former; the latter was a little bit too sweet for me…I’d recommend to add some spiciness to ‘neutralize it 😂 (but it’s not bad at all)

The staff was very friendly, the dining environment was also pretty nice and cozy. I was quite surprise that this restaurant was not full of customers when we came in, considering the food, service, and atmosphere were all top-tier. I’ll definitely come back again to try other items on the menu! 😋

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Hoi Tod

First time I ordered from here, I got their mussaman curry and it was delicious (highly recommend). My spouse and I enjoyed it so much that we drove a long ways to come back but to order something different—crab fried rice 🤤. I was disappointed bc it was extremely salty—and honestly, tough to consume.

I do hope they relax on the soy sauce and salt a tad bit since crab is already high in sodium. Great flavors, and the cucumbers did help cut out the sodium but I couldn’t imagine spending $20 again for this.

Would definitely come back and dine-in for a legitimate experience. Crab puffs was a 7/10 for me.

Food: 3