Out & About #129 | Touhenboku + Khao San Road Impressions

In addition to serving ramen, Touhenboku is also known to offer housemade desserts such as tiramisu, chiffon cake, cream puffs, and mille crepe cakes. One unnecessarily humid day, I made my way over to Queen St. W just after lunchtime to get my hands on one of these sweets treats.

(I apologize in advance if the term "mille crêpe" has been appearing on this space in excess recently. It's a type of dessert that requires time, skill, and a great deal of attention to detail to properly execute, thus I can't help but scour each district (and subdistrict) to attest the coordinates of the best crepe cake shop.)

Although the lunch rush has passed, many of the tables were still occupied. One small table remained, but not for long, as a small family entered in through the double doors a few minutes later.Three girls were working the floor - with one in the kitchen and the other two frantically running around delivering orders. It took approximately six minutes for my crepe cake to be removed from the refrigerator at the back of the store, placed into a Styrofoam box, and then into a bag with napkins and utensils. Judging that many customers had already received their meals and were busily slurping away, I deemed their actions to be on the less efficient side.

The crepe cake was revealed some time later that day to consist of abnormally thick layers of cream sandwiched between crepes of medium density, and topped generously with yuzu jam. While the hint of citrus was an undeniably nice touch to the otherwise rich cake, the amount of cream slathered on top and within was too much for my liking. Approximately half of the cake was cream, resulting in a rather disproportionate texture ratio. The vanilla flavour wasn't particularly pleasing either, nor were the crepes fitting in consistency.

At this point, it is important to make aware that Touhenboku is not a dessert shop, but a ramen house. My expectations for this crepe cake were probably higher than they should have been, even with the related reviews and comments I've read. Nonetheless, I do not think I will be repurchasing this particular item; its price tag was severely unjustified.


The next day, I decided to give a go at Khao San Road's Thai Iced Tea.

Given that a sapling is situated directly in front of the restaurant sign, I nearly walked completely past it before realizing.

With every nearing step, the noise level grew: Khao San Road was fully packed for lunch.

A bitter-looking waitress stopped me as soon as I entered.
Looking at her directly, I proceeded to address my purpose. "I'd like to - "

"YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE HOSTESS."
She cut me off as I began to open my mouth.


Over the intense background noise and multitude of ongoing conversations between diners, I was near shouting when I attempted to voice my concern once again. "But I just want to - "

"NO, YOU STILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE HOSTESS."


The bubbles started to boil. "I just want to order takeout!"


"Oh." Came the reply. "You can head to the back."

At this point, I couldn't wait to turn away from her. I proceeded to descend the stairs, speechless at the abomination of a customer service rep I had just encountered.

Things took a turn for the better once I reached the back to place my takeout order of two Thai Iced Teas. The girl who took my order was extremely pleasant, and even managed to make small talk with me despite the overall chaos. In less than five minutes, I had paid and was out the door carrying a tray of two plastic cups of saturated orange liquid. Both cups had been filled to the brim, which is especially nice when restaurants tend to utilize a 1:1 ratio of ice and liquid in most cases.

The Thai Iced Teas were as concentrated and full-bodied as their degree of orange hue; the drink burst with a complex flavour only associated with authentic Thai Tea. It wasn't the cloying concoction that many Yelp users had described the beverage to be, but that may have been due to the amount of ice. When melted, the drink did tend to be on sweeter side, but the effect could be easily reversed by simply adding in more ice.

Khao San Road ensured that you received the quality and amount that you paid for, at least in the case of these Thai Iced Teas anyway. I've also had a friend recently pop by the Thai restaurant, and inform me of its gastronomical superiority. Thus, a spot has been secured on my go-to mission list. I believe the only downside is that they do not accept reservations.