This Parkdale restaurant specializes in a unique Thai street food called boat noodles

Metro Morning's food guide, Suresh Doss, joins us every week to discuss one of the many great GTA eateries he's discovered.

This week, he talked to host Ismaila Alfa about a spot specializing in Thai boat noodles in Toronto. 

Suresh Doss: Bangkok is one of the greatest street food cities in the world. It is this sprawling megaplex where you have so many different markets. Daytime markets, nighttime markets, markets on land, floating markets on rivers where there is just such a vast array of dishes, many regionally specific to the part of the city you're in. 

If you spend any considerable time eating through the markets, there are some dishes that will keep coming up — like boat noodles, which is known to have originated in the floating markets years ago. Typically, you find it at street stalls or small restaurants, and because of the small portion size, you would always order at least a few stacks.

I want you to picture a table covered in bowls of various boat noodle dishes and at the end of the meal, you have a sky high stack of empty bowls.

Ismaila Alfa:  Sounds like this dish is common in parts of Thailand, but not so much here?

Suresh Doss: Not really, even though we have a vast selection of Thai and now regional Thai restaurants. There are still some dishes that are rare, like the boat noodle soup. One of the owners of Paddler Thai Boat Noodles, Chanon Luewetwanich, tells me they wanted to do something different to honour Thai cuisine. They opened the restaurant a year ago and the main focus here is the few variations of the boat noodle soup. But before we get to that, let me introduce you to some appetizers.

Ismaila Alfa: What are we getting first?

Suresh Doss: The boat noodle soup is not the only rare dish here. There is also another dish that I remember having in small restaurants in Bangkok for breakfast. It is simply referred to as Thai rice soup. It's like rice porridge, or congee.
They have it on the menu here for lunch. It's rice cooked in a flavoured broth, but still wet and soupy. You can choose the proteins you want, I had it with some shredded chicken, squid and shrimp. It is wonderfully accented by ginger and scallions and then perfumed by pieces of fried garlic and galanga. It's comforting and nostalgic. Are you a fan of Pad Thai? 

Ismaila Alfa: Yes, but I have to admit I've never had it in Thailand, only in Canada. 

Suresh Doss: Luewetwanich's parents still run a restaurant in Bangkok, where their specialty is this Pad Thai they made with fried river prawns. Large prawns that are coated in a sambar and cooked on very high heat in a wok. Mom's recipe is in play here, and the Pad Thai really has this wonderful "wok hei" — the kiss of the wok —  with that smoky quality that comes when you cook over open flame. Its subdued and complemented by this slightly sweet tamarind sauce that coats everything from the noodles to the egg, tofu and shallots.  There's a lot of Pad Thai in this city, and its a dish that is often a miss for me. I think this is my favourite version here. 

Ismaila Alfa: Alright, now let's talk about these boat noodles. 

Suresh Doss: Yes, the main event. The restaurant version is a slightly larger serving. In the wet version, the noodles and protein of choice arrive enveloped in this really dark liquid; the broth, which is made by using pig or cow blood, and dark soy sauce. That is what makes the boat noodle soup, the use of those two key ingredients, which may sound heavy but its actually very well balanced with some coconut milk and also chili oil in the base, and then the accent of Thai herbs; sprouts, cilantro and fried garlic. There is a dusting of dried chili peppers that bring it altogether.

Ismaila Alfa: And if you're not in the mood for soup?

Suresh Doss: Get the dry boat noodles, which is also very traditional. So here you have the noodles with some protein and it is brought together by chili oil and dried chilies, some sawtooth cilantro to heighten it and give it some aromatics, and there's also some dried coconut to give it a little sweetness.