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2007 Voted Best by Echo Readers

Best Thai Cuisine

Best Vietnamese Cuisine

Best Pan Asian Cuisine

Best Pad Thai

Best Bubble Tea

Best Take Out

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By TREVOR CHARLES
For Nightlife, THE RECORD of Kitchener

Old Favourite Reborn

In my opinion (and that's what I write about), this region would benefit from a few good, authentic Thai restaurants. Fortunately, there's no shortage of wonderful Vietnamese eateries. And, due to the countries' geographic proximity, the two cultures often cross over in the kitchen.

Perhaps the best example of this melding of flavours can be found at Ben Thanh, which is primarily Vietnamese with some strong Thai influences, and still one of my favourite Asian restaurants.

Owner Tony Phung first opened Ben Thanh in 1993 at the corner of King and Cedar streets in Kitchener. After 10 successful years, Phung was one of the last holdouts in the city's plan to reclaim the block for redevelopment. The original restaurant was always jam-packed, so I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was sorry to see it close up shop. But luckily, it didn't move too far away. A new Cambridge location opened in July as part of Phung's expansion plan that may soon include Waterloo. And Phung hopes to return to Kitchener in a new location in the future.

The new Cambridge restaurant occupies a large, semi-circular space with windows that wrap around the main dining room. The decor is a familiar casual Asian motif with tropical plants reaching up to a vibrant blue ceiling inset with neon-style lighting and tiny stars. In addition to seating for 140 in the restaurant, Ben Thanh offers a VIP room for gatherings of up to 40. If there's one thing you can always expect from Vietnamese cuisine, it's variety. At Ben Thanh there are literally hundreds of dishes to choose from, with a full selection of meats, fish and vegetable combinations, all numbered for easy ordering.

Noodles are a mainstay of the Vietnamese diet, and they're most commonly served in aromatic soups known as "pho." The noodle soups here come in small, large and extra-large bowls for sharing. (The small portions are usually enough for two.) Options include duck leg with egg noodle, barbecued chicken with rice noodle, sate beef with egg noodle and mixed seafood with transparent noodle.

For starters, there are fresh shrimp rolls with veggies wrapped in rice paper and served with peanut-infused dipping sauce. Or try the deep-fried variety that are handmade with minced pork and julienne veggies in a crispy coating with fish sauce. We ordered the chicken wings as an appetizer, a plate of 10 wings, fried to a golden crisp and served with daikon (pickled white radish) and shredded salad greens with peanuts sprinkled on top. They were delicious.

Pad thai is the signature dish of Thailand, and it has become a favourite across North America. I've had the opportunity to sample this spicy noodle dish from coast to coast, and it's true what they say: there's a different recipe for every cook. The good news is that Ben Thanh makes one of the best seafood pad thai dishes I've had. It's a tangle of golden rice noodles, stir-fried with jumbo shrimps, curly calamari, tofu and bean sprouts, topped with green onions and chopped peanuts. Next came a dish of plump tiger shrimps tossed with peppers and ginger in a rich, tangy tamarind sauce that was quite sweet but had a nice kick to it. And completing the meal was a bubbling cauldron of boneless chicken with long green beans in a coconut curry broth.

The complex flavours of the dishes blended together perfectly for a very enjoyable meal that was easy on the wallet, too. Ben Thanh gets its name from the historic Ho Chi Minh City marketplace, which pre-dates the 1850s' French invasion. The huge, bustling market attracts thousands of locals and tourists to the centre of the city each day, making it one of the most famous landmarks in the former Saigon. While still in its first year, I expect Ben Thanh will soon become a landmark dining destination in Cambridge.