Lunch Tuesday: Sukho Thai

During a week like the last one, a walk to the Distillery District for lunch seemed like a reasonable decision.

The sun was shining, birds were chirping, grown men in T-shirts were playing hackey sack on the red brick walkways…

Of course, last week, the sun was shining.

This week, that didn’t happen.

That meant for the section of Parliament Street that runs from Carlton nearly all the way to the lakefront, I’d have to stick a little closer to home.

Goodbye, Mill Street Bakery and your roasted beef and caramelized onion sandwich ($7.50). Farewell, too, to the slightly spicy braised lamb with chili-apricot sauce ($8). And an extremely sad adieu to the spicy mayan hot chocolate ($3.50 – $4.19) at Soma.

Now that it’s raining (and cold), home-style is exactly what I’m looking for.

Sukho Thai (274 Parliament St.) feels like I’ve wandered in to someone’s extremely narrow living room: photos of Thailand and clippings about the restaurant line the walls.

“It’s pretty small,” co-owner Myrna Regular admits.

“A lot of people say, oh you have to make it bigger. The thing is, sometimes they come here, and it’s small, so you have to wait a little bit. But they like it so much, they like the place, they feel like they’re at home, and they don’t mind waiting. And at the same time, they stay too!”

Myrna’s son, Jeff, and his wife Nuit are also owners. The restaurant opened just over two years ago and Nuit does most of the cooking.

“She’s from Thailand and they used to own a restaurant in Thailand and they decided to open one here.”

It’s a family business and Regular is there every day, dealing with customers and whatever else happens to come up (when we speak on the phone, she first asks if I’m calling about the freezer).

The first time I ate at Sukho Thai, it was on the recommendation of a friend. I had the Nua Gra Teaum ($8.35), stir-fried beef with a fried egg on a bed of rice; and tapioca with coconut milk ($1.99) for dessert.

Described as street food on the menu, the beef dish was slightly sweet. There was no “slightly” about the dessert. It was warm and gelatinous and incredibly comforting and yes, very sweet.

The second time, it was for spring rolls ($3.49), sukhothai pad thai ($9.39), and gaeng panang with beef ($7.49).

Everything was delicious – it tasted fresh, and layered, and nothing (well, except from the dessert), was drowned in an overwhelming sea of coconut milk.

I’m anxious to try more.

“The most popular dish is pad thai and the khao soi, which a lot of people, once they’ve tasted it, they love it,” Regular advised.

For herself, she likes the green curry. And it seems her customers like it too.

“Our advertising comes from word of mouth – we don’t have to. That’s what we notice, the friends tell their friends.

“A lot of people eat in, especially at night. We do have 20 or 25 per cent delivery, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But most come in,” Regular said.

And soon, there just may be more room:

“We’re trying to expand, maybe right now we’d go upstairs or an extension down in the basement, but that’s eventually,” Regular said with a laugh.

erin.criger@citynews.rogers.com

Sukho Thai

274 Parliament St
416-913-8846
Mon-Thurs: 11:30am – 9pm
Fri and Sat: 11:30am – 10pm
Closed Sundays