Review: Rice Paper Viet Thai Cuisine

[nwriter]

Rice Paper Viet-Thai Cuisine: Just Say Pho!

Rice Paper is a Viet-Thai restaurant that I nearly gave up on, but that I’ve come to appreciate ever since I discovered their delicious beef noodle soup also known as Pho.

Years ago it was the site of a screaming four-alarm crazy Chinese restaurant that featured odd French items on the menu (yes, FRENCH!) and a french name Café L’Arc with the Arc de Triomphe as decor (a bizarre sight in a completely Chinese plaza!). Thankfully, this borderline insane, mal-conceived attempt at high French cuisine was taken over by more sensible restauranteurs and made almost fully Asian ('cept for that doggone pesky rack of lamb at the bottom of the menu, which appears to be a holdover from the previous owners). But I digest, er, digress ...

The restaurant itself is vibrant, bright, colourful and open concept, and the hanging dividers are colourful but let light shine through, as do the big windows on the side. The staff are all fairly young, but impressively mature, attentive and friendly. Servers bring you hot tea as you arrive, served, oddly enough, in a glass. In this restaurant, a great deal is see-through (though, hopefully not your date’s dress!). Ahem.

In all honesty, most of their various meat and seafood dishes I would rate as average, some with too much rice and too little meat. But that's not why I'm here. Not ever since my wife tried a soup and got us hooked like two hopeless addicts!

Rice Paper has an interesting selection of soups, including a very spicy and salty Tom Yum soup (not recommended, unless you really need to clear your sinuses) that I tried. The best Tom Yum soup hails from a different restaurant and that deserves to be written about in a future review.

In fact, it’s the salivatory-gland exciting rare beef noodle soup (dirt cheap at $5.99) that keeps me and my wife coming back for more like the helpless wanton soup gluttons we are! (No, not 'wonton', I clearly said wanton! Now, who wants one?)

The beef noodle soup broth itself is extremely aromatic and deliciously seasoned - and comes in a large bowl, even if you order SMALL. No, this is not a joke they play on Westerners. They're just that generous.

But this isn’t some quickly prepared watery production at a food court. No sir. And one thing I have to say is that they use a really choice quality cut of fresh (not frozen or freezer burned) beef. And it’s probably the best beef I’ve had in a Pho in Toronto – very tender and soft. Full of flavour. And the noodles make this a very hearty meal for not much money. In fact, there are a lot of dishes under $8. Many come with your choice of drink – even hot ovaltine, which I recommend, as an option.

And these days healthy, delicious, cheap dining is a great comfort to us all!

101 Ravel Road, North York, ON M2H1T1
in between Finch & Rameau
(Leslie and Finch)
Phone: (416) 498-9800

[nwriter]

It's pronounced F-OH or FAUX. (And yet it's real!)