9441 Jasper Avenue NW, Edmonton

A few weeks ago I went to Syphay with a few friends. We had a groupon, and decided to go for some Thai food and have a games night. Thai food is one of my favourite cuisines. I love curries, spicy, and fragrant foods, and Syphay is one of my favourite places in Edmonton to go for Thai food.

The name “Syphay comes from the owners, Sye, and Phay Sayaphet. They run both the South location and the Downtown location, along with their three daughters. They are the definition of a family-owned restaurant!

The parking lot at the downtown location is fairly small. We went on a Friday evening and it was completely packed. There is a pay diamond Parking lot adjacent to it, if you wish to pay for parking, but luckily we got a couple spots right as people were leaving.

I’ve done take out from the south location, but have never been inside. I’ve read that the exterior (and interior for that matter) of the south location is not great, but the food is definitely worth it. The downtown location is not bad. Everything is relatively clean. The tables are pretty close together but it’s not too bad. There were four of us and we got a few dishes to share, with some coconut rice of course!

One of my favourite dishes here is the Pad Lao. It’s stir-fry rice noodles in a light soy sauce, eggs, bean sprouts, carrots, chives, and your choice of chicken, beef or shrimp, topped with peanuts and cilantro. We opted to get this with chicken. I personally prefer Pad Lao over Pad Thai. Very similar dishes, but I like the light soy sauce over the chili tamarind sauce. This is a very generous portion and easily shareable. The pieces of chicken were few, but of the pieces, they were pretty thick and hearty. I recommend getting at least one of their noodle dishes.

Another dish that I always recommend of course, is one of their curries. I prefer red curries and pineapple curries because of the hint of sweetness that cuts into the spiciness of the dish. We went with the Pineapple Curry Goong with shrimp. This is a red curry that comes with pineapples, coconut milk, mushrooms, red and green peppers, onions, basil, Kaffir lime leaves, and peanut sauce. Eating this over some coconut rice is one of the highlights of the night. It’s really rich from the coconut milk and all the flavours are enhanced by the coconut rice. There was a generous amount of shrimp in this, and is one of my favourite curries! Again, you should at least try one of their curries with coconut rice!

This occasion, we went with the Pad Bhaa with beef. This comes with mushrooms, green beans, snap peas, red and green peppers, onion, basil leaves, coconut milk, and stir-fried in a spicy herb and red curry paste. This was also very good, but to be honest, it all tastes a bit similar. This is also a red curry, and tasted similar to our Curry Goong. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I’m sure a lot of the curries are very similar. The only difference is that this is a stir-fry, so that’s it’s less heavy on the sauce!

Lastly, we got the Goong Krateum, but subbed crispy squid for the crispy shrimp. This comes with red and green peppers, stir-fried in a garlic pepper sauce. This was also exceptionally good. It’s also the first time that I’ve ever gotten this dish, and as I always say with squid, I always find that it’s hit or miss. It is so very easy to overcook squid, and luckily, this was done perfectly tender. The squid was well seasoned and very good. Also a very good choice!

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Syphay. They’ve always been one of my favourite places to get Thai, and with a groupon, it was no contest. Overall, including the groupon, we had to spent 15 dollars each, and we were stuffed! Great deal with the groupon, but still worth it without. If you’re ever hankering for some Thai, I definitely recommend Syphay! Either locations.

Quality of food: 4.1/5
Service: 3.8/5
Value: 3.7/5 (4.3 with groupon)
Atmosphere: 3.7/5
Expectation: 3.9/5