5 Best Places for Pad Thai in Toronto

Thai • Toronto

A strong fit for spicy with a $ spend and a room that feels aligned with the guide.

Thai • Toronto

A strong fit for spicy with a $ spend and a room that feels aligned with the guide.

Thai • Toronto

Nuit Regular's PAI on Duncan Street is the city's most serious take on regional Thai cooking — a restaurant that treats the cuisine with the same rigour that Toronto's best Italian and Japanese rooms bring to theirs, and produces results that recalibrate what Thai food can mean for anyone who has been eating it only at the diluted Canadian-Thai restaurant standard. The boat noodles have the depth that comes from pork blood and herbs building a broth over time — a preparation that requires the kitchen to commit to the technique rather than approximating it without the ingredients that make it work. The khao soi is coconut-rich, properly spiced, and served with the full accompaniment of pickled mustard greens, fried shallots, and lime that the dish requires to taste like itself. The pad Thai is the version that makes you recalibrate: cooked in the wok with actual heat, the eggs incorporated correctly, the flavour balance achieved through technique rather than sauce. The weekend brunch menu adds another reason to visit: Thai breakfast dishes that aren't commonly available in the city and that reflect a kitchen willing to serve the food that the culinary tradition actually contains. The room is busy and energetic — arrive at open or book ahead for dinner.