DINNER AT WHITE ELEPHANT THAI CUISINE - Northeast

Located just off 16th Ave and on 19th Street in the NE beside Denny's, in a sketchy hotel - The Airport Traveler's Inn, this little hole-in-the-wall, family-run, gem was a hidden treasure in the neighbourhood until all the local magazines started raving about it. Just check out all the accolades and mentions outside the restaurant door. This is good because I love reading success stories. This place is very close to my house, and I sometimes wonder why I don't come here often. Maybe it is the walking through the lobby and past the front desk in a sketchy hotel. I just feel bad that I'm not here for the hotel but for the restaurant in the hotel. The hotel is currently going through renovations, and there is a new entrance for the White Elephant on the side of the hotel facing Denny's.

This restaurant is very small and cozy and don't take reservations. It hasn't for a while now. The service is inconsistent which I ignore/can forgive because here it is all about the food. If the food is wonderfully delicious, the service doesn't matter to me as long as I get all the food I order. I've only eaten in the restaurant once. All the other times it was for take out. I love Thai milk tea. I'm very sad that the White Elephant don't do take out on their Thai Milk Tea. I should learn to make it to save money. This trip, my sister and her husband was coming over, so we all decided to get take-out from here. I went a little overboard and ordered a lot. I ordered everything with medium heat - you get a choice of heat. I forgot to order rice so I quickly made coconut rice when I got home - yay, money saver.

Thai Golden Tofu $5.50

This homemade deep-fried tofu appie comes in 8 pieces with handmade Thai sweet and sour sauce. I got two sauces with this. The sweet and sour and sweet and sour with peanuts and basil. I noticed with this and the Pad Thai that they package the peanuts separately which I guess due to potential allergies. As I mentioned before, I love deep-fried tofu, and these are one of the best. The tofu is thick and smooth. If you eat them right away, the skin is crisp. If you wait for a little bit, the skin gets soggy but it is still good with the sauce. The sauce is a little spicy, and you can also taste the sweet and sour too. The sauce with peanuts and basil taste the same as the plain one. The peanuts only gave the tofu a little crunch.

Pad Thai (Pork) $14.00

This is the best Pad Thai I have had so far but that isn't saying much since I've only been to three Thai restaurants. I have to check out the other Thai places around the city. The Pad Thai (and most of the other dishes) comes with your choice of protein - beef, pork, chicken, tofu, and prawns - with the tofu being cheaper and prawn the more expensive option. I usually get tofu, but I decided to get a variety of protein dishes this time. The Pad Thai had chive, cilantro, egg, and bean sprouts. There was not a lot of pork but that was okay since the star of the dish were the noodle and the sauce. I don't know what they have in the sauce the noodles were coated in but yum. I think that is the essence of Pad Thai.

Pad Gra Pow (Basil Beef and Veggie) $15.50

I wanted a veggie dish, but it ended up being a beef dish. They give you a lot of beef and little veggies. I have no complaints here. Veggies included carrot, bell peppers, broccoli, onions, and green onions. The dish was very favourful. You can taste the basil, and it wasn't overwhelming at all. I could see whole basil leaves in dish. The beef was very tender and not over-cooked at all.

Thai Red Curry with Bamboo Shoots and Chicken $16

This is my other favourite dish here but I should try the potato curry next time. The curry was so flavourful! I could taste the coconut milk and the lime leaves. There was a lot of chicken in the dish. I can just eat the curry sauce with plain rice all day every day. The bamboo shoots also adds a crunchiness to the dish. The bamboo shoots look fresh. They don't look like the ones you get in the can or from frozen. I was afraid that I couldn't handle the medium heat, but it was fine. My mouth was burning a little. Maybe I'm getting use to the heat, or it was the milk I was drinking with the meal.

Overall, the new entrance will probably encourage me to order here more often since I don't have to past through the watchful eye of the front desk. The hours at the White Elephant is very limited. They are open 5pm - 8 or 9pm (9pm on their website) from Monday to Saturday. They are closed on Sundays. There was no hours sign by the door. I missed it when it use to open for lunch but that has been a long time ago. This place takes cash and debit card only.

White Elephant Thai Cuisine
1808 19th Street N.E.
403-457-1172