Restaurant review | Pichai: Thailand as if we were there

Through the good shots and, sometimes, the not so good, our restaurant critics tell you about their experience, introduce the team in the dining room and in the kitchen, while explaining what motivated the choice of the restaurant. This week: the bewitching tastes of Pichai.

Eve Dumas
The Press

Why talk about it?

The Pichai team first built a loyal clientele with the Pumpui grocery store, a Thai food counter on rue Saint-Zotique, in Little Italy. But in the kitchen, we sometimes regretted not being able to put certain specialties that were a little more “exotic” on the menu, for fear of upsetting Quebecers. There are strong flavors that wouldn’t go down well here, like some pickled fish. Thus was born Pichai (which means “big brother”), a restaurant where you take the time to settle down, sip a drink or two and let yourself be disoriented by flavors different from those to which the first wave of Thai restaurants in the metropolis has accustomed us. Since opening last spring, after many Covid delays, the new address has been very popular with a wide variety of customers. This is made up of both native Thais and travelers seeking to rediscover the tastes that are so characteristic of there, as well as amateurs who have only visited the Southeast Asian country through the stomach.

Who are they ?

Originally from Alberta, Jesse Mulder made several long trips to Thailand, starting in 2003, and even lived there for a few years. He learned the language, the culture, the manners… and the cooking! Self-taught, he trained with friends, their mothers and their grandmothers, then by observing the cooks of the bouis-bouis of Bangkok. Montrealers first became addicted to his Thai dishes a decade ago when Mulder offered the weekly Chak Wow bike delivery menu. There are two other Jesse in the story, partner Jesse Massumi, room manager, and then head chef Jesse Grasso. Xavier Cloutier, co-owner of Pumpui, is also in on the adventure, working mostly in the shadows.

Our experience

First, a confession: I was not completely incognito at the Pichai. Not only had the team seen my chard many times since the Chak Wow days, but I had brought along a surprise guest. My friend Sana met Jesse Mulder in Burma in 2009. A former muay-thai athlete and trainer, among others, he made around thirty more or less long stays (up to a year) in Thailand, between 1998 and the pandemic. Then the two men met by chance in the Montreal metro, years later.

I’m a bit lost as they chat in Thai. It allows me to plunge my nose into the menu, which bears no resemblance to the one to which the Thai restaurants of the metropolis like Thailand and the late Chao Phraya had accustomed us. “Salad of marinated and grilled mushrooms” (hed nam tok), “jasmine rice with roasted shrimp paste, caramelized pork belly, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, omelet, green mango” (khao kluk gapi), “grilled pork neck, sauce nam jim jaew, yu choy » (kor moo yang), etc

Tofu thoke talk to us. It is made not with soy, but with chickpea flour, we are told. This specialty from Burma, served here in large cubes, is therefore between tofu and polenta, with a soft texture inside. The soy, tamarind and lime-based sauce punctuates well with its acidity, while the peanuts and fried shallot are cracking! With the well-spiced long bean salad, but tempered by a perfectly creamy egg yolk, it’s a mouth-watering start to a meal.

Jesse Mulder, who, exceptionally, was in the kitchen the evening of our visit (his chef Jesse Grasso being on vacation in the sun), decided that we absolutely had to taste the mussels in green curry. And he was right! It’s impressive how plump and chewy the bivalves of Salt Spring Island, British Columbia are. Then, as a counterpoint to this sweetness: the intensity of green curry, which owes its color and flavor to coriander, basil and kaffir lime leaves. It’s a change from chicken!

We also opted for the red curry, which coats a nice piece of swordfish. Beneath its generous garnish of fried basil leaves and julienned bell peppers, the fish is supple and absorbs the taste of the scarlet sauce.

Finally, as a last dish, Sana insisted on ordering the Quebec beef tab salad (yum new), a must-have that will establish once and for all whether the cuisine has mastered its classics. There is no doubt, the power and acidity that characterize the dish are there. Unfortunately, there is a surplus of salt. It’s probably the fault of the padaek, the fish sauce typical of the Isan region, which shares a border with Laos. They bring us lime wedges to thin it out a bit. It does it. Just like the bites of sticky rice that you take between two slices of beef.

One of Pichai’s signature desserts, since it opened, mimics Italian tiramisu, but with Thai tea, a strong infusion of orange pekoe with condensed milk and sugar. The huge square of orange mascarpone is topped with a mountain of toasted coconut. The idea is great, but the tea lacks the aromatic presence of coffee. It lacks a bit of contrast. Ice cream sundaes, on the other hand, are easy to devour, especially the banana and peanut one.

In our glass

This is rarely the case in Thai restaurants, but at Pichai, there is a wide choice of liquids to match dishes with a very strong personality. If you swear only by beer, there are a few brews to discover, some of which are collaborative and exclusive to the two addresses of the “group”, such as the Chak Wow NEIPA, from Pumpui and Ma Brasserie, then the Mousson Saison au riz at jasmine, made with the Dunham brewery. There are also natural ciders and, above all, a marvelously well adapted wine list put together by sommelier Élisabeth Racine. You need juices that are strong enough to match the aromatic load of the kitchen. As a first glass, Sébastien Riffault’s Sancerre Akmèniné 2018, served from a magnum, has the perfect acidity to accompany salads. For the second glass, we move on to a deep maceration of Tuscan trebbiano. This “orange” wine is almost brown as it has spent so much time on the skins. Its tannins and body prevent the wine from being overwhelmed by the stubborn aromas of curries. About sixty artisanal cuvées are offered by the bottle, with a majority of bubbles, whites, macerations and rosés. The reds are in the minority.

Good to know

Average Quebec taste buds don’t get very high on the Scoville scale! Also, Jesse Mulder’s cooking had a reputation for “snapping”, at least during the Chak Wow era. At Pichai, we don’t remember having wanted to swallow a liter of ice cream to put out the fire. The kitchen seems to have resigned itself to using peppers a little more sparingly. Several vegan options are on the menu. They may not always appear as such, but can become so, on request.

Price

The price of the dishes varies a lot depending on their basic ingredient. A Quebec beef tab salad ($29) naturally costs more than a bean salad ($14). A grilled swordfish ($32) is easily worth double a plate of tofu ($16). In short, be vegetarian and it will cost you less! On the wine side, there are few bottles under $50, $60, or even $70. Drinking well pays off and everyone is snapping up the vintages at low prices, in restaurants.

Pichai is open from Wednesday to Sunday evening, at 5985, rue Saint-Hubert, in Montreal.