Sandar’s Thai Garden Restaurant

Restaurant: Sandar’s Thai Garden
Cuisine: Thai/Asian
Last visited: November 13, 2010
Location: Surrey, BC (Surrey/Newton)
Address: Unit 105 – 7500 120th St.
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5
Service: 5
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 4
Additional comments:

• Family owned/operated
• Halal chicken
• Thai cuisine
• Some other Asian dishes
• Made upon order
• Generous portions
• Home made food
• Family style
• Friendly service
• Clean
• No MSG
• Lunch: Tues-Sat: 11:30am-2:30pm
• Dinner: Tues-Sun: 5pm-9pm

**Recommendations: Green Thai Curry, Pad See Lew

I love supporting local and family owned businesses, especially when they put the the care and effort into their food. That’s how I felt at Sandar’s Thai Garden Restaurant in Surrey, BC. Mind you, it’s probably the only Thai restaurant around, however they don’t bank on this to survive. The food is actually fresh, made upon order and quite authentic with decent portions and price.

The owners are from Burma and they’re either Burmese or Chinese, so the food was slightly different than traditional Thai food, although still good. It’s a mom and pop restaurant with the wife cooking in the kitchen and I have to say that I was definitely impressed, although my expectations weren’t set high (especially when I saw “Teriyaki Special” on the menu).

From the outside it looks a bit dodgy, but the inside is clean and you can tell the family is really trying their best. Which is more than I can say for other family run restaurants in the suburbs like Five Corners Bistro. (Please see follow up comments for that post) From what I tried, the food at Sandar’s Thai Garden Restaurant was served and prepared very home style so it was generally not greasy, well flavoured and overall a good value.

On the table:

**Pad See Lew – 4/6

• Stir-fried broad noodles with soy sauce, broccoli, cabbage, bean sprouts and egg. Choice of chicken, beef or pork $10.99
• This was the owners recommendation and it was a very Chinese style stir-fried noodle dish made with thick rice noodles. The flavour was not Chinese and more Thai style so it was different in flavour.
• It was an ample portion of dry fried noodles, but it wasn’t dry or greasy. It was very well sauced and the pork was well marinated although a bit dry at times.
• It was savoury and slightly sweet with a tad of spice and the noodles almost tasted peanutty, but there were no actual peanuts in it.
• The vegetables were a bit lacking and the bean sprouts were MIA, but overall it was tasty and I really enjoyed it.

Swimming Angels – 2.5/6

• Your choice of meat sliced and served on a bed of fast cooked spinach and topped with homemade peanut sauce $10.99
• I’ve never had this before, but “Swimming Angels” is actually a legit and authentic Thai dish. I rarely see it on the menu, so I had to give it a try.
• I have nothing to compare to but it was almost like the Thai version of Japanese Gomaae (spinach salad with sesame sauce).
• I don’t know if this is what it’s supposed to be like, but it seemed a bit lacking in effort although it’s a generous portion that tastes pretty good.
• It was a hot dish and it’s a bed of wilted spinach topped with a generous amount of white meat chicken (my choice), and then generously topped with a thick and creamy peanut sauce.
• The peanut sauce was very creamy, thick, and sticky and a bit too sweet for my liking. It was enjoyable but it was almost too much honey or something, but maybe it’s supposed to be like that. It is savoury and slightly tangy, but overall a tad too sweet. There wasn’t any crunchy peanuts in it, and it seemed more like a dip than a sauce.
• Mixed with the chicken and spinach it all went together and was good eaten alone or with the rice. I probably wouldn’t order it again though.

Gaeng Kiaw Waan (Green Curry) – 3.5/6

• Sweet and spicy hot green curry with egg plants, peas, peppers in coconut milk and basil leaves. Your choice of meat chicken, beef or pork $10.99. Prawns $12.99. Vegetarian $9.99
• I rarely see the eggplant sliced in rounds and it’s usually in long strips for this dish.
• It was a big portion and there was lots of chicken and tender vegetables and there was so much sauce it could have been a soup.
• It was actually very good and a great balance of sweet, savoury and spicy. I could taste the lemongrass and basil and I really think the green Thai curry paste is made in house too. It’s very aromatic with a nice kick.

Kao Pad Supparod – 2.5/6

• Fried rice with pork or chicken, pineapple, egg, shrimp, cashews and raisins $9.99
• The portion is huge!
• The rice was very standard fried rice and when I order this I usually expect it to come out in half the pineapple shell. Taking into consideration the type of restaurant I’ll let it go.
• I did want fresh pineapples and more cashews and raisins though. There wasn’t much of it so it became very standard for what it should have been.
• I also think there was some dried fish or pork in there to enhance the flavour of the rice. It was well flavoured, not greasy, but also basic.

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