‘Toronto diners are curious’: Inside Pai chef’s new Chiang Mai-themed bar, Tha Phae Tavern | Canada Voices

When I walk into Tha Phae Tavern in Toronto, I enter a world of controlled chaos. A man is scaling a ladder as an adorable pug waddles by. Another man is programming four toy-filled claw machines and a bartender is shaking up cocktails, including one destined for a pink ceramic cat tiki mug.

But at the centre of it all are chef Nuit Regular and her partner, Jeff Regular, calmly setting about launching their latest love letter to Thailand. The couple behind the Thai street-food-inspired celebrity magnet Pai have been winning over Toronto diners for nearly 20 years.

This time, they’re serving a slice of Chiang Mai – the backpacker vibes, the fun nightlife – at the corner of Richmond and Duncan streets. The bar, opening April 3, emulates the colour-burst and cacophony of humanity, shops, music, people and aromas found at the famous Tha Phae Gate in Northern Thailand.

“In Chiang Mai, you have foreigners who have been living there for 30 years, backpackers who are in and out in a couple of days and, of course, there are the locals,” says Jeff, who first visited the city in his early 20s. What he loved most were the people, the food, the fun and the sense of community. “I think right now, Toronto needs that too.”

At Tha Phae Tavern, you can hang out with friends in a Thai-style gazebo with a corrugated tin roof. Or sip colourful cocktails and nibble on shared plates at the weathered-look bar. And if you want a little extra fun, you can rent one of the two karaoke rooms and enjoy your bao and banh mi in-between songs.

“It’s all about choice,” Jeff says. “I want people to get up and walk around. Bring that Chiang Mai energy.”

In Thailand, the old city is surrounded by brick walls; the gate at the entrance welcomes all to the international gathering spot. Likewise, when you cross through Tha Phae Tavern’s brick “gate” into the main dining room, which seats around 130, you’re meant to feel as if you’ve entered another world.

Strings of bright flags and paper lanterns set the vibe; walls layered with posters, and benches with patterned cushions, provide a visual pop. At the back is an authentic songthaew – one of the small red pickup trucks with benches used for public transportation in Chiang Mai – sawn in half.

The whimsical night-market feeling shows up on the menu, too.

Each of the Regular’s 12 restaurants takes a different approach – for example, grab-and-go market food at Chaiyo, and elaborate Royal Thai cuisine at Kiin. For Tha Phae Tavern, they partnered with Oliver Geddes, Ben Geddes and Janet Zuccarini (Zuccarini has been a partner and trusted mentor of the Regulars since Pai opened in 2014) and came up with a threefold concept.

As I grab a seat at a long wooden table, a smiling chef Nuit emerges from the kitchen with pillowy bao and explains: The focus here is on Westernized snacks (tom yum fries), authentic Thai dishes and a secret late-night menu with dishes such as a Thai omelette. “Sometimes when you drink too much you want something simple like an omelette with minced pork over rice,” she says.

I try the bao, which are filled with five-spice braised pork belly and pair perfectly with an icy cocktail made with gin, Thai blue cream soda syrup, Luxardo, a homemade pandan liqueur, orange and lime juice.

Next out of the kitchen is a crusty banh mi, stuffed with beef brisket, massaman curry sauce, the crunch of chayote squash, cilantro, deep-fried shallots, provolone, cheddar and sriracha mayo. It’s incredible.

“During the pandemic, this dish was created because we couldn’t run the normal Kiin menu as takeout,” Nuit says. “I decided to do the massaman beef and we braised it with five spice.”

A flurry of flavours arrives at the table. Plump shrimp and roasted peanuts are tossed together in a gorgeous glass noodle salad. Each spoonful of steaming hot-and-sour soup delights with surprises, from coagulated blood to crispy wontons. A giant sharing platter wows with fried pork, fish ball skewers, chicken wings, grilled chicken cartilage and more.

“Toronto diners are curious, and I’m curious too,” Nuit says. “This gives us the opportunity to explore. I want to be able to educate and explain my culture. And I’m very proud to do so.”

Nuit says Jeff has been begging her to put fried chicken on one of their menus for more than a decade, and he’s finally getting his wish.

But before we dig in, Nuit takes some coconut-scented sticky rice from a basket and shows me how to make a rice ball to eat with the chicken, which is deeply marinated, crunchy and juicy. I cannot shove it into my mouth fast enough.

When she presents the papaya salad, Nuit warns that it’s “Thai people spicy.” (And it truly is.) The dish will be made in front of guests, tableside: “Our take on the Caesar salad,” she says. I take a bite and am instantly transported to my backpacking days in Chiang Mai almost 25 years ago. So many tastes, textures – and memories. Steamed chicken sausage, fermented pork and fish, pickled mustard greens, crispy deep-fried fish, bamboo shoots, farmed snails and special Thai hog plums are incorporated into the spicy, funky dressing.

When I finally pull myself away from the table, Nuit insists I play the claw machine before I leave. She gives me two coins to operate it. And then two more. And then two more. Then she tries it herself, screaming and laughing all the while.

“The first time I saw a claw machine, we were at a night market in Chiang Mai, sitting on plastic stools, having bowls of noodles,” Jeff says. “And I saw people across the street in front of a closed shop, playing one of them. It was just something for random fun.”

Nuit says it’s my turn again, and this time I snag a Pikachu, making it the first stuffy snatched from the freshly installed machines. I hand it over and make her keep it for good luck. Not that they’re going to need it.