LOFT Thai Eatery

One of my favourite cuisines is Thai cuisine so when I learned that there was a new addition to the Thai food scene in Edmonton, I knew I wanted to try it ASAP! I had yet to see a bad review about LOFT Thai Eatery so I had certain expectations going in. Coincidentally, the day that I was planning to go, the owner, Tony also hit me up to introduce LOFT, sharing some details about the business and inviting me to come check it out for myself sometime. The good reviews and Tony’s hospitality gave me a good impression before I even came to eat.

So let’s start this off by saying that LOFT Thai Eatery is not meant to be just any Thai restaurant. Alongside some of the traditional Thai dishes, they also offer elevated and modern fusion dishes that set them apart from other places in the city. My short review – tasty dishes, large portions and great service. The prices for the dinner menu are a bit higher but I think it’s comparable to other quality Thai restaurants in the city. I was very satisfied with my meal here!

Their location on 75th st, off of Roper Road seems to cater towards the lunch crowd for those who work around the area. The space itself is modern and cozy but it is quite small. There’s no more than 10 tables probably and I can see it feeling more intimate if it gets busy. Another thing to note – they have selective hours, being open open for either lunch (11 AM – 2 PM) and/or dinner service (4 – 9 PM).

The lunch and dinner menu do differ from each other. I came for dinner so I had a larger selection to choose from. LOFT offers appis, soups + salads, à la carte and entrées. The à la carte menu can be ordered at any time but the portions and price differ depending on the time of day. The entrées at LOFT are only available during dinner. There are also feature dishes that change from time to time.

Some notable things about the dishes at LOFT – the presentation of each dish is beautiful! Although the atmosphere of LOFT feels more casual and contemporary, the dishes definitely create a fine dining experience. Secondly, the dinner portions are huge – especially for the à la carte menu. I definitely recommend sharing the dishes.. or be prepared for some good leftovers. Lastly, you might be surprised at some of the dishes offered here as they don’t seem like the traditional Thai meal… but that’s the whole point. The chefs/owners of LOFT wanted to create something that set them apart from other Thai restaurants and they’ve done just that!

Let’s get to our actual meal – we ordered Thai Iced Tea and the LOFT Thai Arancini to start. Thai Tea ($2.50) is one of my favourite drinks and the one at LOFT is perfect! It’s creamy and refreshing and not overly sweet.. if only they had free refills.

On the other hand, the Thai Arancini ($9.50) consisted of 3 deep fried rice balls that were filled with Thai spiced pork and coated with bread crumbs. The balls were topped with a ginger cilantro aioli sauce and paired with a fresh salad as well.

I really enjoyed this dish and liked the Asian flavours, which were definitely different compared to my past experiences with Arancini. My only complaint is that there seemed to be a lot of rice and very little bits of pork… still liked it though. I did enjoy the sauce which complimented the rice balls perfectly.

The bf and I decided to share main dishes so that we could try more than one dish. Clearly our eyes are bigger than our stomachs because we ordered enough food to feed a family of 4.. As Thai food lovers, we stuck to the basics and ordered Thai Green curry and Pad-Thai. We also noticed Loft Thai Mac ‘N Cheese on the menu and decided to give it a try too.

We had the Thai Green Curry ($15) with chicken and Coconut Rice (+$1). The curry was lighter and less creamy than I expected but it was still really flavourful. The portion size is also really large so you get tons of meat and veggies. Paired with the coconut rice, it was delicious. However, I’d consider trying the red curry next!

The Pad-Thai ($16) was maybe my favourite dish. I don’t know what to say about this dish other than stating that it was really, really good. I’d order it again and it’d probably be that one dish that I’d want to order every time I come. The noodles were cooked perfectly; it had lots of flavour with some heat and best of all, it was still just as delicious when I reheated it as leftovers the next day! I may be a little biased here because I also just really love Pad Thai…

The Loft Thai Mac ‘N Cheese ($16) was an elevated version of Mac n Cheese with distinct Thai flavours – pretty unique. It was serpentini pasta that was stirfried with tomatoes, pineapples and onion. It had a sweet and sour sauce and the pasta was also topped with cheese. When Tony explained that this dish was inspired by his childhood favourite of sweet and sour macaroni – a Thai thing, apparently! – I was reminded of my own mom’s maccaroni dishes. It was definitely something different with nostalgic flavours but I’m not sure if I’d order it again as it didn’t quite hit the spot for me.

On top of all these dishes, owner Tony presented us with the Braised Duck Confit Curry ($23), compliments of the chef. He wanted us to try a signature dish and this was so incredibly kind of them! Aside from being a picturesque dish, the duck was so tender and fell off the bone – I was told that the duck was slow roasted for 48 hours! According to the menu, it’s served with “aromatic Thai curry… tropical fruit pineapple, lychee, longans, poppy seed, and seasonal vegetables”. At first, I thought warm lychee/longan would be weird but I ended up really liking it. The sweetness complimented the seasoning on the duck and the heat in the curry sauce very well. This dish was tasty and I’d recommend it if you like duck, but because I’m not a big duck fan, I would probably opt for another cut of meat next time.

We finished off our meal with dessert, of course. Originally I was hoping to try the LOFT Thai Iced Tea Panna Cotta, which I saw on their online menu. Unfortunately for me, they sold out… maybe suggesting that it must be really good? Since they sold out, I chose the Ice-Cream-O-Rotee ($9) instead. This dessert consisted of (as the name states) ice cream and roti. I always love desserts that have a hot and cold component together and this was just that. The coconut ice cream was super delicious and together with the roti, was even better. I basically ate it like a panookie.

Overall, I had a great meal at LOFT Thai Eatery. The service was great and our server was very attentive and friendly. I highly recommend checking the place out and experiencing Thai food differently with modern and elevated fusion dishes. It was a real pleasure to meet owner Tony and chef Chon, who’ve created a menu of amazing dishes made with fresh and local ingredients which are tasty and beautifully presented.

They’re certainly a welcome addition to the Thai food scene here in #YEG and especially, South Side Edmonton (aka home). I can’t wait to come back and try more of the menu but in the mean time, I wish them all the best as they continue business!

---

LOFT Thai Eatery
5324 75 St, Edmonton

---

Disclaimer: This blog post is not sponsored in any way, I chose to came to LOFT Thai Eatery as a customer and personally decided to review them 🙂