Located in River Market at New Westminster, longtail kitchen is the 2nd location opened by Maenam‘s celebrity chef, Angus An. A bistro that serves Thai comfort food, longtail kitchen serves up some delicious noodles, stirfry, and curry dishes east of Vancouver for those who don’t want to venture out too far to find quality Thai cuisine.

As a recommendation from my cousin, I went along with 3 others to River Market for a late lunch recently. Curious about longtail kitchen, I decided to order more than enough dishes to share between 4 people and still have leftovers to take home as the others ended up ordering some other food from other restaurants in the market.

I ended up ordering their famous chicken wings with tamarind sauce, pad thai with prawns, gailan with pork belly on rice, and a papaya salad that was on special.

Best dish of the 4 was the famous chicken wings with tamarind sauce. I can understand why they are famous! Crispy, deep fried, very flavorful and with the tamarind sauce to dip on the side, gave it enough kick and tang. It’s different than Phnom Penh’s fried chicken wings since their dipping sauce is a lemon pepper dip, whereas this one has more Thai spices.

The papaya salad was freshly made, however I found it to be too watery and was quite spicy. However for those who like spice, I think this salad would be up your alley.

The pad thai was fresh, flavorful, and had the right mixture of fish oil, spices, and tamarind sauce in the mix. The prawns were large and cooked nicely. It appeared small, but in the end, I had some leftover to take home with me. It also has a slight kick to it, so for those who want it non-spicy, make sure to request that ahead of time.

The gailan with pork belly on rice was flavorful, however since it’s similar to a Chinese dish I can make at home, I didn’t find it as exciting as some of the other dishes. However the gailan was cooked perfectly – not too soft and with the right amount of crunch to it. The stirfry sauce and crispy pork belly was a little salty, however combined with the rice makes for a great meal.

Overall I’d come back again, especially for the chicken wings and a Thai beer on a nice day sitting on their patio. They also sell a lot of Thai ingredients if you want to try your hand at making your own dishes at home. Come check out longtail kitchen if you are at River Market, and make sure to also pick up a delicious jar of Earnest ice cream on your way home at Donald’s Market.