1119 Hamilton St
604-408-7788
1am - 10:30pm M-F

Sometimes it’s daunting to go out for a nice Asian meal alone or as a couple. You find yourself staring into a huge plate of food, complete with a serving spoon. Or being forced into choosing a single dish — should you choose a meat dish with no vegetables? A vegetable dish with no meat? Even being able to get a quick lunch without having to restrict yourself to fast food can be challenging, particularly in Yaletown, where the gap between fast food and sit-down service is particularly empty.

Urban Thai Bistro has come up with an answer to this: an unlimited tapas-style fixed-price lunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

They market the weekend special as an “All You Can Eat” arrangement, but given the quality and freshness of the food, I think they may be doing themselves a disservice with the word choice. This isn’t stale buffet food or a free-for-all gluttonfest — rather a tasteful and generous sit-down lunch for a great price.

Options include crispy fried spring rolls, Thai-style calamari (some of the most flavourful and tender I’ve ever had), Tom Kha soup, chili garlic beef, green curry chicken, black bean chicken, garlic pork or beef on spinach, pad thai noodles — not to mention about ten other dishes I can’t recall at the moment. Check out their website for the complete menu. All servings were fairly small, allowing even a single diner to sample a significant number of the choices. Top this off with a bowl of rich coconutty black rice pudding, and you have a nice and well-rounded lunch for only $11.95 a person.

Service was prompt, and all orders were served within two or three minutes regardless of whether they were part of an original order or a followup request, and all were fresh and hot.

If you find yourself in the Yaletown area on a Saturday or Sunday and are looking for a great lunch that won’t eat up your whole afternoon or your wallet, give this one a try.