Rice and noodle

On a cold winter night, Grayson and I decided to go downtown because we hadn’t been for ages. We came across a new restaurant while we were walking along Robson street in the heart of downtown Vancouver. Rice and noodle is a new Korean-owned, Thai restaurant. We got to Rice and noodle around 6:30pm and the restaurant was already half full. By the time we left at 7:30pm, the tables were packed.

Rice and noodle interior

The thing that’s different about this Thai restaurant is that it’s layout is similar to a fast food restaurant. You order at the counter by choosing your rice or noodle base, the level of spiciness you want and your protein. You can then add on extra toppings or sides if you like.

From the interior of the restaurant, you never would of guessed that this was an order at the counter style restaurant. The interior was modern and they had both booths and a bar table. Upon ordering you bring your number to where you’re sitting and they’ll bring it right over when they’re ready with it.

Tom yum noodle soup

★★★★

I decided to go with the Tom Yum noodle soup because if you don’t have a good Tom Yum, how do you call yourself a Thai restaurant? I decided to go with 5/10 on the spicy scale and goodness I could taste the heat. At first I could handle it but by the end of my meal, my mouth was numb from the spiciness. The soup was strong in lemongrass flavor and had tomatoes and mushrooms inside. The portion was good for the $10 price it was but it definitely didn’t beat the one from Bai Bui Thai in flavor. It wasn’t a creamy style of Tom Yum either.

Thai red curry

★★★★

Grayson decided to go with the Thai red curry. It was supposed to be spicy but they allowed him to order it without the heat. The portion was much smaller than mine. It came with cauliflower, sweet potato, thai basil and chicken. He expected there to be more to it than the few pieces of chicken he had on the plate. The taste of this one reminded me of the one from Thai cafe. It had underlying heat but wasn’t spicy by any means. If we were to come again, he would go with one of the noodle dishes since they have bigger portions.