James L.
Yelp
I frequent the Brookfield Plaza shopping mall where Thai Ghang Waan is located, since it is a microcosm of the diversity of the NOVA dining scene. Within this seemingly nondescript strip mall you will find the following cuisines:
* Japanese
* Korean
* Pakistani
* Peruvian style rotisserie chicken
* Pizza
* Sandwiches and subs
* Gyros
* Indian
* Wings
* Asian hot pot
* Indian and Halal grocery stores
I usually pop by to grab a boba at the Kung Fu tea, but I FINALLY made my way to Thai Ghang Waan since several Yelp as well as other friends said this place serves up some of the best Thai food around...and they were right!
Thai Ghang Waan is one of those family joints I love to support. Walk into the "cozy" (i.e. small) dining room, and there will usually be a flurry of activity with family members busily moving about providing great service to the diners.
On their website, they recommend reservations during the evenings, and I would heed their advice. My party of three arrived on a Friday night around 6:30pm, and the place was packed; if you stop by during the lunch hour, it's usually not as bad.
We started off with the Som Tum (papaya salad) and it was delicious! Similar to other Thai restaurants, the texture of the young green papaya salad was super fresh and crisp. But what differentiates this version was the "dressing" of Fish Sauce, lime juice, bird's eye chili, and fresh garlic. It had the right amount of umami, acidity, and saltiness to really bring out the flavor of the other ingredients which were the dried shrimp, peanuts, tomatoes and long beans. The other appetizer was the spicy calamari. Mmm...again, super tasty. Fried calamari was perfectly deep fried without being to greasy, and then sauteed in garlic and scallion served with sweet and sour sauce. Heck, we were almost full on just these two starters!
My main was that most mainstay of noodle dishes, the Pad See Ew. In Chinese cooking, there is this concept of "wok hei" which literally translates into "Wok fire or heat" and it's where the heat from a high BTU burner in the kitchen imparts that char and deep rich smoky flavor from the wok into the food. The tender slices of pork, the sliced Chinese Broccoli, and most importantly, the wide rice noodles definitely had that "wok fire" infused into each bite; also appreciate that Thai Ghang Waan doesn't feel the need to make their food overly sweet, but had allowed the natural flavors come through. But if you want more spice in your food, just ask for the supplemental spice rack which had the customary chili infused fish sauce, vinegar, etc.
We were all too hungry so I forget to take pics of their dishes, but trust me when I say it was sooo good, that no one had doggie bags to take home.
Since my initial visit, I've been here on an almost weekly basis going through their menu since everything I've tried has been excellent. Do yourself a favor, either come early for lunch, or make a reservation for dinner to enjoy some terrific Thai cuisine.