A Royal Feast
In Toronto, we tried a rare and special kind of cuisine - royal Thai.
I absolutely love Thai food. While in the deep throws of my thesis revisions I'd order red curry at least once a week. I could eat shrimp dumplings by the bucket and slurp pad thai by the pound. But when I searched for Thai food in Toronto, I found something quite different from my usual comfort food. Kiin, a restaurant that described itself as "royal Thai cuisine," stood out. "What's 'royal' about it?" I wondered. Curious, I booked a reservation.
The booths at Kiin are upholstered in lush green fabric. Small glowing candles lend soft light at night.
After flying to Toronto and lugging our bags up to the Airbnb, my mom, sister, and I were totally famished. At Kiin, we kicked off our meal with the dumpling platter.
To me, the definition of "dumpling" is an oily, doughy meat crescent. Very tasty, but uniform in taste. I expected Kiin's dumplings to be some elevated version of this. However, I was completely surprised by what arrived at our table.
These were unlike any dumplings I’d had before. Colorful, delicate, and complicated, these dumplings looked fit for royalty. Our waiter instructed us to eat the treats from left to right like a tasting flight. First came a tiny cup carved of pineapple and topped with a salty peanut ball. It was sweet, tangy, and nutty.
Second, was a dumpling shaped like a delicate blue flower. Made of rice flour and blue dye (derived from butterfly peas) this was by far the most striking design. After all, it's a dumpling... shaped like a flower... what?! The dough contained a salty-sweet mix of coconut, peanut, and pickled radish. It was slightly sweet, very chewy, and nutty.
The blue rice flour dough has an almost jelly-like look.
This butterfly pea flower dyes the dumplings a lovely blue.
Here's the flower after it's been dried and powdered.
Next came a lacey egg crêpe wrapped around a filling made of chicken. Good, but not groundbreaking. The final dumpling was a tiny fried bag filled with ground chicken and shrimp. It was nestled in a cucumber cup, which lent a fresh crunch to the fried flakey topping.
This dish was delightfully unique in terms of its presentation and taste. It completely banished my idea of dumplings as mere doughy meat pockets.
Our next dish was equally surprising and twice as beautiful. A large copper bowl arrived at the table, and I peered inside.
Roses are red, violets are blue. I'm ready to eat, how 'bout you?
A gorgeous array of jasmine rice colored red, yellow, and blue lay artfully arranged next to fresh edible flowers, herbs, chili, onion, pickled radish, lemongrass, pomelo, and cucumber. Our waiter explained that the vibrant rice was achieved thanks to natural dyes; beets color the rice red, tamarind lends yellow, and butterfly flowers give it a blue hue.
Our waiter then tossed the ingredients together, coating the rice and veggies in chili pepper, white turmeric, roasted coconut, and a tamarind-lime dressing.
A large copper bowl makes the salad presentation even fancier.
The finished salad was beautiful, fresh, light and bright, with a just a hint of crunch. Two dishes into the meal, and I was already impressed.
The main dish was simpler but even better. A whole salt-crusted sea bream was delivered to our table and dismantled.
Our waiter removed a salt crust to reveal tender fish inside.
We then scooped the delicate fish flesh onto lettuce leaves topped with a tangle of thin vermicelli noodles, a sliver of red chili pepper, and a single toasted peanut. A spicy green chili sauce topped it all off. The entire dish worked so well together. The fish was salty and succulent, the noodles were soft and delicate, the peanut was nutty and roasted, and the bright green sauce pulled the flavors together.
We topped the leaves with fish and rolled them up into tiny packages. Yum!
After my mom nabbed one of my peanuts >:-( I realized that each ingredient matters a lot. The absence of the roasted nut flavor changed the dish entirely. Who knew one peanut could make a difference? But it did! It reminded me how heavily this style of cuisine relies on super fresh, flavorful ingredients.
No sooner had all three of us devoured the succulent fish and said, “I want more!” than a platter of fruit appeared.
Fresh lychee, rambutan, and sliced mango.
The platter glistened and gleamed with rows of ripe mango, lychee, pomelo, and pineapple. Pink and white dragon fruit and rambutan (which look like large lychee) rounded out the platter.
Normally I’d scoff at fruit for dessert. When you could have a slice of chocolate cake, why eat fruit? But this fresh platter was the perfect end to such a colorful meal. My mom, sister, and I left the restaurant feeling totally full and satisfied yet light and healthy.
I chose Kiin because the food looked like nothing I’d ever eaten before. From the delicate dumplings to the vibrant salad to the fresh fish, Kiin is both outstanding and unusual.
This wasn’t just any Thai food; this was royal Thai food.