After picking up some flowers to bring to Felicia’s commencement at the Jubilee, I stepped down to the food court at the City Centre Mall looking for a quick bite to eat before the ceremony. I headed straight to Thai Express, tucked beside Good Buddy just underneath the stairs. I noticed it a few months ago, and thought it looked exactly like a place I visited while in Vancouver last year. Turns out, Thai Express has locations all over Canada – I had no idea.

Between the curries, the soups, and the stir-fried rice and noodles, I decided to opt for my standard order of Pad Thai ($5.59 for the vegetable option). Being the only one in line had its advantages – my dish was freshly prepared in under three minutes, and absolutely smoking hot when I opened the box at the table. The staff were super-friendly, and as a peanut lover, I appreciated the container of crushed peanuts available to customers to self-garnish their orders.

Though I adore the Chinese take-out box packaging, I think it is meant more for things like dry ribs or fried rice – dishes where it isn’t necessary to thoroughly mix the dish first; it was a bit challenging to ensure that all of my noodles were evenly coated with sauce which had accumulated at the bottom of the box. Unlike Wok Box though, where I find the vegetables included to be quite sparse, this serving was chock full of bean sprouts, green and red peppers, onions, broccoli, carrots, and baby corn.

So for the price, the portion size, and the efficiency at which my order was processed, I’d visit Thai Express over Wok Box again any day, even sans coupon.

Freshly made-to-order

Boxed and ready to eat!

Pad Thai topped with peanuts