Kin Kao Thai Kitchen

First time here, came for a business lunch — everything was *at least* good and often excellent. All five of us got something different, and all were really impressed; in particular, don’t miss the pork ribs. Food was light and flavorful; and the vinegar soda with honey was summery af. Looking forward to coming back; already looking like one of my favorite places on the Drive.

I came here with low expectations and have to say was pleasantly surprised!
The location is quite central and décor nice and rustic. Our server was quite nice and friendly so bonus points for that.
The ambiance is hippy meets chic so definitely a nice place to just hang out for drinks.
I started off by ordering the Pad Thai which was nicely done. The sauce was not too sweet or salty and the portion was quite generous. I even had enough food for my lunch the next day.
Overall I was quite happy and will be back to try out more of the menu.

Had the red curry this time as well as pad Thai.
The red curry was amazing but wasn’t impressed with the pad Thai. Very dark looking and didn’t taste very good.

I wouldn’t say it is the best Thai in Vancouver, but it is pretty decent. Fusion not traditional, worthy trying if you are in the neiberhood.

Depends on what you’re looking for; fusion or authentic? this review is going to be similar to Anh + Chi lol.
Came here last year, and can’t even remember what I ordered, nothing memorable, obviously lol.
Sat at the bar during the evening rush.
Can say it’s a modern/​industrial feel, so a nice place to bring friends or out of town, as long as it’s not bigger than a group of 4. Big lineups back then. Different than a typical Thai place.
I wouldn’t wait more than 15 min. but for this northern stretch of Commercial Drive, this is the only Thai. And a more artistic menu too, so that’s a plus. Certainly pricier too.
One negative is they work with Foodee, who jacks up their prices by at least 10% so best to order from the restaurant directly.

Melanie G brought me here a few weeks ago, and I was pretty happy with the food!
We started off with a papaya salad (pretty standard), and the grilled pork collar skewers. While the collar meat was tasty, the best part really was this JAEW dipping sauce (I’ve googled it and will be trying to recreate it to go with grilled meats — delicious)
For the main, we shared, the red curry with duck, and the heat slowly builds up, so ended up being a bit spicier (which was still nice). We also had clams (a few were closed, and some were pretty sandy).
The only thing I wasn’t that impressed with was the iced tea. I felt it was a bit mellow compared to others I’ve had. The menu said it uses half and half, but other places use condensed milk which gives it a nicer flavour.
All in all, I’d come back here.

Came back with a group of friends. All dishes were great, as usual, except for one. We ordered sour cured pork ribs, pork collar, paneng chicken currey, eggplant stirfry, and the steak salad. The steak salad was great when I had it the first time because the steak was shaved so thinly, but this time, they were thinker chunks and were too chewy. Flavour was delicious however. All other dishes and drinks were ¹⁰⁄₁₀.

We tried out this great restaurant based on Unilocal reviews. We arrived and my husband was so surprised to see a simple, clean and white aesthetic in the restaurant as he was expecting an old-​fashioned mom and pop joint. Never mind the ambiance (which is great and the music playing was an awesome, super eclectic mix), the food was really tasty. We ordered three dishes to share: the pork stir-​fry, yellow chicken curry and «phat» Thai with prawns. The pork stir fry was really flavourful — savoury and a hint of sweetness. The yellow chicken curry sauce was really smooth, creamy and flavourful. The «phat» Thai was good and served with a generous portion of prawns. They have some beer on tap, too. My only caution is that I ordered all three dishes medium-​spicy and I found the pork stir fry and curry a little too far on the hot scale for my preferred taste. Delicious, nevertheless, but I’ll order mild next time now that I know how they spice. I’d compare this place to Bob Likes Thai Food, one of our favourites, in terms of the tastiness, food, price point, etc. We’d definitely come back and we love the Commercial Drive neighbourhood. Plenty of parking nearby.

Came here a second time. Got takeout since we didn’t want to wait super long to be seated.
We ordered the same as last time; I got the Phat Thai and he got the Panaeng Curry. We expected similar quality as the first time and were sorely disappointed.
The Phat Thai was super dry and tasted like it had been sitting on a warmer for awhile. I could’ve gotten this quality of food at a cheaper place for $ 10 less.
The Panaeng Curry was almost inedible. There was so much goddamn fish sauce in it that after a few bites your mouth and stomach felt like you’d ingested the ocean with all of it’s fish crap. We both tried it and had to throw it out after three bites. What a waste of $ 16.
Probably won’t come here again. Just too pricey to risk having a garbage meal again.

I read about this restaurant and have been dying to try it! I went with 2 other friends and we ordered the mango papaya salad to start and my friends ordered the vegetarian pad thai and I had the red chicken curry! Beware if you order something spicy IT IS spicy! I usually can usually handle the spice but this was really spicy! LOL, it was a good portion control tactic as it was so spicy I couldn’t eat it all and had enough for lunch the next day! :) I also ordered a thai iced tea which was super tasty! I can’t wait to go again! I LOVE noodles and want to try their other dishes!

Great Thai food. So happy that my friend took me here to try it out. It’s a small cozy restaurant located on the Drive. We had their Thai iced tea and iced lemongrass. Hands down we loved the Thai iced tea the most. For food we ordered these to share between two people: papaya salad, green chicken curry, & tofu pad see ew. Our favourite was the green chicken curry. I can just eat one all by myself. It was so creamy and rich with so many flavours that you just want more and more. The papaya salad was a bit spicy than what I’m used to but I didn’t mind it. The pad see ew is a rice noodle dish with broccoli and egg. That dish was a bit too salty for me to just eat one all by myself.
I will definitely come back again for their curry and I would love to drip in on a Sunday to try their congee brunch.

I’ll be real, I think most of the reason I’m loving this place is that it’s almost literally across the street from me. I walk by it almost every day and I see lineups out the door most nights, but it was so nice to come here for lunch right when it was opening for the day.
The tables by the window are lovely, and I love how much natural light comes in. The whole place feels very clean and bright with light wood furniture and accents. At first glance, the chairs looked like they might be stiff and uncomfortable, but they were super supportive. This is a thing I think about, because when I sit down to gorge myself on delicious Thai food I want to be able to sink right into my chair and relish in my own gluttony. I’m happy to report that I was able to do this with alacrity.
Ahem, I had the chicken curry fried rice, and loved every bite.
The staff are enthusiastic about the food and give great recommendations. I will definitely be returning for dinner! Solid hundy p want to try their Thai iced sodas next time.

Not bad :) what a nice addition to commercial drive. Their pricing is reasonable just like their portions. Tasty healthy food (for those who are health conscious) and tasty enough to leave you satisfied.
I’d recommend the papaya salad (yes it is what it sounds like but it’s sweet and tasty), the phat Thai and the green curry chicken. Legit my tummy is growling thinking about these.

Blown away.
The wife and I came here on the recommends of a fellow Unilocaler and was treated to some of the best Thai food that I’ve had in Vancouver. We opted to share the som tam (papaya salad) and also the duck red curry (which is not on their online menu, so it is possibly a new dish that they’ve just added). The dishes were fresh, bold, insanely flavourful and the spice level: EPIC.
Let’s just say that if you aren’t a spice lover, get mild or not spicy. I love my spice, but even I was sweating buckets, but it was so good I couldn’t stop eating! My wife was very impressed with the food and commented that the som tam reminded her of her days travelling in Thailand (though apparently it is even spicier over there, yikes!). The duck red curry had a wonderful balance between sweet and spicy, and the duck was perfectly cooked and very tender.
The overall décor is very white, very contemporary and not something you generally see at a Thai restaurant. Signage is also subtle as we almost missed the store location walking down Commercial Drive.
I am definitely coming back!

What the h&ll is happening on the ‘Drive’ cause I’m so excited about the food scenery there. Whhhhatttt delicious Thai? YES!
I loved this place, from its food to the clean contemporary feel of the room and friendly staff.
Prawn pad Thai, fish cakes and chicken skewers– all delicious.
The lemongrass water was delicious and refreshing (although too sweet for my palette) but I’d order again a asking if they could cut down on the sweetness.
Defiantly will be going back!

After seeing some tantalizing mentions of Kin Kao on blogs and Instagram, I finally went to give it a try. The restaurant is a bit hard to find if you don’t know exactly where it is (on the west side of Commercial near Venables, next to Deserts), but once you do you’ll find a bright, open, and intimate space. My friend and I arrived on a Thursday night just before 8pm and waited around 20 – 30 minutes for a table. The dishes looked so tempting as we were waiting on the bench outside!
Once we got a seat, I was pleased to find a perfectly sized menu – variety without an overwhelming amount of choices (yay!) – and vegetarian options as well. We shared the phat thai with prawns and the green chicken curry with rice. Both were delicious but a bit spicy (particularly the phat thai which we got with medium spice). I would recommend starting with mild for your first visit just in case. The portions were generous. The two of us were hungry and we still had half of each left to take home. For dessert, I had the mango coconut sticky rice and had enough for leftovers as well. Yum!
Drinks-​wise, they have beer, one red, and one white wine, as well as a few Thai non-​alcoholic drinks. I tried the iced lemongrass and thought it was nice for a sunny day. The service was friendly and attentive.
I really enjoyed my meal at Kin Kao and am excited to return. I’d love to try the duck curry next and have some more of that green chicken curry! Highly recommended.

Bestie and I were hunting for take out for girl’s night and after all the amazing things I’d heard about Kin Kao we decided to try it out!
I called to order, and it was a super easy experience. The woman was clear and chatty as we ordered the Phat Thai and the Red Curry with Squash. We walked down to get it and as we stepped into the room I immediately wished we’d got our food to stay! It’s a lovely space — very small, but kitted out in modern Vancouver hipster style with very clean lines, lots of white and bleached furniture, and a really chill, sunny vibe.
We got both dishes mild, but despite that I could still taste a bit of spice, and Bestie was initially a little concerned about the heat (it worked out just fine in the end!) So do bear that in mind if you have a low spice tolerance. The food is very flavourful, though, and super fresh. We loved both dishes, and I wouldn’t hesitate to get them again.
I’m really looking forward to coming back to eat in here! I had such a delicious experience with take out, but I think eating in will be a real treat.

Came here with high expectations from all the good news I’ve been hearing and I was not disappointed!
The place isn’t the most convenient location wise but it’s not bad if you have plans downtown since you can hop on and off the 20 :)
We ordered the pad thai with chicken, medium spicy and the thai basil chicken with rice. The portions were big and the salad that comes with the meals is so good. The soup they gave us was very good as well.
Service was excellent and the atmosphere was nice. The place kind of seems like a cool coffee joint rather than your typical thai place.
Kin Kao is on the small and cozy side, so bigger groups might want to call ahead or something.

* Bad luck, or??? *
I assumed I visited on an off-​day (or perhaps their lunchtime chef is not the same?) considering the wonderful experiences some other people had during their visits. So I revisited a 2^nd time (lunchtime again) and had a similarly disappointing experience.
Again I wasn’t wowed at all. I ordered the exact same dish (pad kra pao gai) to see if it had just been an off day for them last time. This time the soup was extremely bland, and the main had undercooked onions, a lack of Thai basil, and too much fish sauce making it overly salty. The rice was also undercooked this time.
So either I have had really bad luck, their weekday lunch chef is different, or???

5 stars for brunch! Definitely need to check this place out. It’s one of my favorite spots on The Drive.
The brunch menu is simple by offering two dishes. I honestly can’t recall the name of the them now, but one is a BBQ pork noodle soup. Think of BBQ phở, complete with fish balls and red chillies in a clear broth.
The second dish is a wet/​brothy rice bowl (congee) that comes with pork or prawns, and we went with the prawns. It was prepared beautifully, and was just warm enough to keep our stomach all snuggled up on a cold overcast day.
The décor of the Kin Kao is sleek, minimalistic, and modern. It’s a step in the right direction, and stands out compared to the convenience store next door. One wish — that they add something to the stainless steel wall. While I’m all for blank walls, I feel there needs to be some sort of decoration on it, even if it’s just fridge magnets. That lack of ornamentation makes the space feel incomplete, like they just moved in.
Service was astounding. We were able to talk with the owner and discuss what we loved and didn’t love about our dishes, and I know he takes it into consideration when preparing the dishes next time. It also wasn’t super busy, and the personal attention was quite nice.
And for such amazing taste, smell, décor, and service, the price is cheap! Just as any hole-​in-​the-​wall Thai joint, but goes above and beyond.
As Simon K. said in his review, I dare people to try going to other Thai places that provide the same level of quality and service for this price. Yeah, I can go to Maanam and have a fantastically fancy dinner, but i’ll be paying the price for those quality dishes.
I’m just SO HAPPY Kin Kao is in walking distance from my house.