Restaurant Pichai centers its culinary focus on the vibrant and bold traditions of Thai cuisine, prioritizing the integration of intense aromatics and precise heat levels. The kitchen specializes in authentic grill preparations that highlight the natural qualities of fresh seafood and premium fish cuts. Patrons encounter a direct approach to flavor where fermented seasonings and fresh herbs define each prepared dish. This establishment emphasizes a straightforward engagement with regional Thai cooking methods to deliver complex profiles in every bite. The environment remains dedicated to the delivery of these high-impact ingredients through traditional wood-fired grilling techniques. By maintaining strict standards for ingredient sourcing, the menu ensures that the specific textures and pungent profiles essential to this culinary style remain consistently represented in every portion served.
Restaurant Pichai is located at 5985 Rue St-Hubert, Montreal, H2S 2L8. in the neighborhood of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie. (located inside Plaza Saint-Hubert).
Online ordering is not directly available on this page for Restaurant Pichai. You can call (514) 419-1606 and see if the restaurant takes orders by phone.
Does Restaurant Pichai have a menu available?
While a dedicated menu isn't hosted directly on this profile, you can visit their official website to view current offerings.
Restaurant Pichai offers an exceptional and memorable dining experience, characterized by inventive, flavorful, and authentic Thai-inspired cuisine that stands out for its bold, complex, and spicy profiles. Guests frequently praise standout dishes like the raw scallops, grilled pork collar, mushroom salad, and the signature Thai tea tiramisu, noting the high quality and freshness of the ingredients. The atmosphere is vibrant, cozy, and intimate, creating a lively setting perfect for sharing plates with friends. While the popularity of the restaurant necessitates reservations well in advance, many diners appreciate the warm, knowledgeable, and attentive service provided by the staff, who are often highlighted for their ability to guide guests through the curated, rotating menu.
My wife & I were looking for a unique place to have our 45th anniversary dinner & she spotted Pichai when reading through a magazine that listed the 100 best restaurants in Canada. It had an intriguing & tasty-looking menu, wasn't overly far away from our home in southwestern Ontario, & appeared to be one of the few that wouldn't cost us our first-born child just to eat there!
We started off sharing a sup pak vegetable salad from the specials list, featuring broccoli & thinly sliced mushrooms among other things. The combination of textures & flavour were amazing! We've never had anything quite like it.
For mains, we shared two dishes from the regular menu. The first was laab ped, a salad made with ground duck meat & grilled duck hearts. It was served with pieces of cabbage leaves into which you put some of the salad along with some sticky rice, then folded it & ate it. Wow! It was soooo good! Also somewhat spicy, which I liked just fine.
The second was naem moo yang, which featured fermented & grilled slices of pork, roasted peanuts, & lemongrass. This dish also came with pieces of cabbage onto which you could put a chunk of meat & some sticky rice, fold it, & eat it. My wife especially loved this dish, claiming it was one of the best dishes she has ever had. We've eaten in many ethnic restaurants in our lifetime so far, so this is really saying something!
For dessert, we shared a Thai tea tiramisu. A delicious way to end our meal!
Drinks were a mocktail & a glass of wine. Along with a tip, our bill came to just under $150, which we thought was a great price for such a nice dining experience. The restaurant is cozy inside & has a very lively atmosphere! Tables are close together & between the music playing & other voices raised in conversation, it was challenging to talk to each other at times. Not the place for a quiet, intimate dinner! But if you want to try some unique Thai fusion food in a happening place, we would highly recommend this restaurant! Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time. As you can imagine, it's a popular restaurant & is always busy! But so worth the effort!
We came to this restaurant based on a friend's recommendation. I also looked it up online beforehand & saw that it had been ranked quite highly among Canada's 100 Best Restaurants, so since we don't visit Montreal often, I thought this would be a restaurant we absolutely had to try. Unfortunately, we left very disappointed.
The service overall was fine, & our server was good at making recommendations, but the problem was that I simply didn't find the food very enjoyable.
The biggest issue for us was how salty almost everything was - seriously, extremely salty.
One of the dishes came with chili oil. Since we had children with us, I asked whether they could leave it out. The server told me they couldn't, but assured me that the chili oil wasn't spicy. It definitely was spicy. Please keep in mind that what an adult considers'not spicy' can be very different from what a child can tolerate.
Later, my mother wanted some vegetables, so we ordered an additional vegetable dish. Since we already found the other dishes very salty, I specifically asked for the sauce on the side. I was told that wasn't possible, but that they could use less sauce instead. Unfortunately, it was still very salty.
After being told twice that dishes couldn't be adjusted even slightly, I honestly started wondering whether some of the components were already prepared or mixed in advance, because otherwise I don't quite understand why such small requests couldn't be accommodated.
One thing to note is that this restaurant may not be ideal for solo diners. The shaved ice dessert, for example, was enormous & definitely seemed designed for sharing.
Overall, considering the restaurant's reputation & ranking, I expected much more. I only had a limited number of special meals to enjoy while visiting Montreal, I would personally choose to spend that dining experience somewhere else.
Prenez le temps de lire ça vaut le coup!
A Montréal & dans ce quartier depuis 15 ans, Pichai, on connaît très bien.nous étions 3 & nous fréquentons l établissement depuis son ouverture. On est des bons clients, pas avare & même plutôt généreux dans la commande. Exemple ce soir, sans compter sur le dessert & 3 digestifs j ai réglé pour 430$ tip inclus.
Rdv a 18h45, on attend 25 minutes pour accéder à table en buvant un verre d eau pétillante d une bouteille qui nous a été facturée. On gagne notre table, le repas se déroule bien, c est bon.
Bien que les assortiments de certains plats méritent à mon avis d être accompagnés de sauce, ou de vinaigrette afin de se marier avec un riz gluant plutôt collant que gluant.
Aussi, je constate qu aucune réflexion particulière n est apportée sur l'ordre des plats, on finit sur un poulet pimenté très agressif accompagné de grains de maïs, je n ai pas compris le rôle du maïs mélangé aux asperges. Mais bref l ensemble des différents plats est plutôt bon avec des goûts marqués...
A quel moment dans la tête de celui qui gère la salle est née l idée de génie qui me conduit à écrire cet avis, moi qui n en écrit qu' exceptionnellement.
J explique.
Comme on a démarré en retard, des gens comme nous auparavant se retrouve à attendre aussi afin de récupérer notre table.
C est alors qu au moment du dessert, alors que nous avions mangé les plats normalement au rythme auquel on nous les avait servies, on se voit proposer, présenté comme une faveur consentie, une place en terrasse afin de finir notre repas. Donc le dessert.
Nous, pas chiant, nous demandons si ça les arrange, le serveur répond que des gens attendent pour la table...
Bon, nous décidons de bouger en terrasse pour faciliter les choses, la température est clémente, on prendra le dessert la bas!
Toutefois on se dit tout de même que nous avions nous même attendus 25 minutes pour notre table & qu'on ressent un peu le fait d être les bonnes poires de services.
Toujours sympathique comme ressentiment alors qu on est client des premiers jours.
La considération pour les clients fidèles est vite oubliée, ma grand mère disait d ailleurs: un morceau avalé n a plus de goût !
Nous prenons la direction de la terrasse donc. C est pas si grave :)
Je suis le dernier à sortir, je pointe le nez dehors, je ne vois pas mes 2 amis en terrasse. Je jette alors un coup d'oeil à gauche, sur le trottoir, à l'extérieur de la zone du restaurant, littéralement sur le trottoir devant la maison d a côté, j ai envie de dire lol, je distingue 2 tabourets, sur lesquels on avait disposé 2 serviettes de table, une bougie, plus c est gros plus ça passe. 3 chaises autour. Mes ami(e)s étaient là. Nous étions punis.
C est bourré d ingéniosité, ça sent le système D mûrement éprouvé, nul doute que la stratégie a été pensée & validée auparavant:
' Pour la 6 la, c est bon je leur ai vendu la terrasse, dressez vite notre table magique avec les tabourets sur le trottoir d à côté ! C est tout bon j envoie le dessert !'
Lol.
Mais enfin, qui a eu cette idée grotesque & offensante?
& a quel moment cette décision est prise dans la tête d un gestionnaire ?
Ça dépasse l'entendement.
Eh bien pour ma part c est un gros non.
Non je ne paie pas 430$ pour me retrouver puni sur un trottoir a finir mon repas. Même les gens qui sortaient du restos nous regardaient avec dans leurs yeux un mélange de tristesse, de dédain & de cynisme, le tout à la fois.
Moi aussi je me serais marré à leur place!
Bref on s'en souviendra, on a passé une bonne soirée car on a suffisamment d auto derision pour en rire.
Mais si j avais été avec juste ma copine ou une date, c était le gros malaise assuré.
Je précise tout de même que le dessert & les digestifs ont été offerts. C était la moindre, vraiment la moindre des choses.
Sans dessert & digestif, 430 a 3, c est pas si mal déjà.
J espère qu ils nous ont bien regardé, car ils ne sont plus près de nous voir ! ( Ça aussi ma grand mère le disait )
Great food, but the atmosphere & service fall short of the price point.
I had mixed feelings about my visit here. On the positive side, the food is undeniably delicious-if you are strictly looking for a good meal, it is certainly worth a try.
However, I would not recommend this place for a romantic date or a quiet evening out. The environment is extremely loud; between the music & the high volume of other conversations, combined with tables being placed very close together, it is almost impossible to have an intimate or relaxed conversation.
Furthermore, given the price point of over $100 per person, I expected a higher standard of service & dining experience. The staff seemed overwhelmed by the crowd, which led to significant delays in ordering & receiving our food. We even ordered dessert thinking the meal was finished, only to realize that one of our main courses had never arrived.
Ultimately, while the food is tasty, the overall experience didn't match the cost. It might be suitable for a loud, casual gathering with friends or family, but I don't see myself returning for a date or a relaxed night out.
Thai food that comes default spicy!!!! Lots of herbs just as I was hoping for. Our group of friends greatly enjoyed our meal from beginning to end! My husband enjoyed the draft beer. The dessert ---- shaved ice!!!! Soft & pillowy, with lots of fruit & flavours! It just melts in your mouth. The dessert can be shared by 4 people ... or 2 if you love dessert like me.
De manière générale, j'ai trouvé la nourriture délicieuse. Le tartare de boeuf & les oeufs me sont encore restés en bouche !
Petite attention particulière cependant : la nourriture est particulièrement épicée sur certains plats. Bien que ce soit un restaurant thaïlandais, j'aurais vraiment apprécié un'baromètre de piment' sur le menu, car nous avons carrément dû mettre un plat de côté tellement il était piquant.
Nous n'avions entendu que du bien de cet endroit, mais malheureusement, notre serveuse n'était pas des plus agréables. C'était notre première expérience thaïlandaise & le menu n'est pas le plus intuitif (certains aliments nous étaient totalement inconnus), mais elle ne nous a rien expliqué. Nous avons dû l'appeler à plusieurs reprises pour lui demander comment se mangeaient certains plats ou ce qu'elle recommandait, & nous avions vraiment l'impression de la déranger. Peut-être faudrait-il éviter les places au bar... Ce sont finalement les autres serveurs qui nous ont gentiment aidés.
Le plus grand point positif reste le dessert, pour lequel nous n'avons absolument pas été déçus. Une cuisine de haut niveau, mais un service au bar à revoir !
Tout était délicieux! Nous avons pris le som tum thaï (salade papaye verte), le kor moo yang (collet de porc épicé) & des palourdes avec basilic tulsi frit du le menu éphémère. Le dessert qui ressemblait à un bingsu était énorme!!! L'atmosphère est un peu come un « diner nord-américain » des années 50, très charmant
Dined at Pichai on the last night of our weekend trip to Montreal - it was the highlight of our trip.
The Atmosphere: warm, full our colors, life, & small hidden details wherever you look. Great music & vibe overall.
The Service: we didn't have a reservation & were able to get a seat at the bar for 2. Our primary server (a brunette man wearing a shirt saying'piano') was welcoming, knowledgeable, & gave us great recommendations. He guided us through the menu & continued to make sure everything was perfect throughout our meal. There was ~6 other front of house staff in the restaurant at the time, everyone of which interacted with us at some point in our meal, from water service, refreshing out cutlery & plates, & small quality checks throughout the service made for an amazing dining experience. Big applause to the service staff for their attention to detail.
The Food: no notes whatsoever. We ordered 5 dishes, plus dessert to share amongst 2 people & that was the perfect amount of food. Each dish was perfectly created with a variety of elements that all complemented each other perfectly. We had the scallop crudo, tapioca dumplings, soft boiled egg, pork belly, red curry, & Thai tiramisu.
Thank you to everyone at Pichai, I will be telling everyone I know about this restaurant.
10/10 every single time. Favourite restaurant in Montreal & best Thai in the country! so. much. flavour.
Dishes are to share! You won't find your typical pad Thai, pad see eew or green curry on the menu. If you want to try a bunch of things I recommend doing the chef's choice which includes appetizers, mains & dessert. They send out a variety of items from their regular menu & specials, & can also accommodate dietary restrictions. It's plenty of food - you can expect to be walking out with leftovers & a veryyyyy happy tummy. Favourites are the mushroom salad (omg), chickpea tofu, panang curry, massaman curry & Thai tea tiramisu.
