Chili Garden

I’ve been here about 4 times already and I never get sick of their curry dishes! My favorite one would have to be the red curry. It’s just soooo good! And usually when I eat pad thai in other places I feel a bit unpleasant when I eat too much of it especially when there’s too many peanut butter in the dish… but for some reason the pad thai here tastes just right!
The restaurant in there has a nice feel in there too and it’s pretty comfortable.

Decent food but not mind-​blowing. Or maybe it was what we ordered — I was persuaded to deviate from my standards by my friend who said we should try something new. We had the beef gata, which is in a tomato-​y sauce and is served on a sizzling metal plate; the crispy fish, which is battered and served with sauteed vegetables; a tom ka soup; and some spring rolls. Everything tasted good, it just didn’t blow me away.
The restaurant itself is comfortable and the service is good. There was a miscommunication over one of our dishes and they sorted it out instantly with no fuss whatsoever. They seated the two of us a at 4-​seater table, even though there were people waiting, and never made us feel rushed. Water was refilled frequently and there were smiles on all the servers’ faces at all times.
The prices are not bad. Many of the dishes are around $ 10. For all the food we got, the total bill was $ 50 incl tax and tip — but we ordered expensive items and had appetizers.

Good, fast, and cheap. Just the way I like it.
The roti is amazing, and so is the Tom Yum soup.
My favorite Thai place in the neighborhood!

Thai and Malaysian restaurant. Hmm, I’m guessing right off the bat this place can’t be that authentic on either side.
We kept it simple and went with staples: tom yum soup and pad thai. The tom yum hot pot was pretty entertaining as the server lit the cauldron and volcano-​like flames ensued. After waiting for the flames to die down, we scooped out the goods. Not bad rendition although the damn lime leaves were a pain to pick out while eating. Not exactly the best thing to chew.
Pad thai was huge portion for $ 9 but definitely did not taste the traditional way. I’m pretty sure they were missing certain key ingredients.
Bonus star for value.

Good, fast thai/​malaysian food. I’m not sure the Pad Thai is up to par, but I haven’t had much in Vancouver so it’ll be my jumping off point. The Roti was completely delish.

I’ve been to Chili Garden a few times for dinner with friends. I’ve never been disappointed. I love, love, love both Malaysian and Thai food, and the fusion is good here. All dishes we’ve tried have been excellent, fresh and tasty. There definitely is a bit of a spice transfer and cooking method fusion between the two types of food, but it’s a refreshing change for sure and they do it well.
This week we ordered for delivery — gorgeous Roti with spicy dipping sauce (Malay), pad thai, green curry with chicken and an order of coconut rice for 2 (all Thai dishes). Delivery was fast, everything was fresh and really yummy — and it all came to only $ 25! It was enough to feed 2 of us for 2 days. Amazingly $ 10 cheaper than our favourite Thai delivery place for an appy, noodle dish and curry with rice — and compared to other Thai delivery places, we got much more generous portions!

* Non-​specialists scare me *
Ok, during Car Free Days on Main we craved Hawker’s Delight. Trekked to the end of the car free zone and were reminded that they are closed on Sundays. Argh! Looked across the street to where Sandy’s Filipino used to be and saw the word «Malaysian» and got drawn in like moths to a flame.
Conveniently ignored the sign that said «Thai and Malaysian.» While Thailand and Malaysia do border each other and everything the cuisines are really distinctive so the fusion aspect was a little scary.
I like places that specialize in a single type of cuisine. Or better yet — in a single dish! (Give me a good laksa hawker stand or a mamak roti canai any day over a large menu!) But I digress…
Figured I should pay homage to both sides of the menu just to be fair and sampled the roti (which seemed would be Malaysian style based on the menu), pad see ew, and pad thai.
I got a little concerned when I heard the beeping of the microwave and then the waitress appeared with my roti a minute later.
Hm…Sure enough the roti had definitely been microwaved. Sigh… It was not greasy at all though, but got a little bit rubbery from the reheating. The curry was not the type I normally have had with roti before — but closer to a Thai coconut curry. It was flavourful, and they had a decent amount of spice to round out the complex flavours. The curry was the highlight (although an unexpected version).
The pad see ew was a decent version (although not amazing). The beef was a bit overcooked, but well seasoned. The noodles had a good bit of char as they should. The veggies were still crunchy. The dish overall was slightly overly salted, but a decent Canadian style version of the dish.
The pad thai. Oy… No tamarind. Ketchup. Ugh.
Service was very friendly, but then got a bit overwhelmed when they got slammed with a bunch of folks wandering in.
Overall I wouldn’t rush back, wouldn’t make a special trip, but if I forget about Hawker’s delight being closed on Sundays again I may cross the street.
But wouldn’t it be lovely if every restaurant in Vancouver stopped trying to be all things to all people and specialized to become really good at signature dishes?
Stop the generalists! Give me the specialists!