Ed eats

Good Thaimes
Gzira Road,
Gżira
Tel: 2767 7002

Food: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 5/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 7/10

A friend of mine came clean about wanting to buy a particular flat in Gżira. He said he loved the property but didn’t know Gżira well enough. I took my approach to delivering reassurance and rattled off the multitude of food options available.

Cuisines around the world are represented with a respectable density. There are options for Indian, Lebanese, Mexican, Chinese, Libyan, Italian, French and many more. And these are just the restaurants. Then there are grocery stores that cater for specific countries or even continents, so if you’re after anything from a squeezy bottle of Sriracha to a can of Moroccan harissa, you’re in business.

The poor guy stared at me. Apparently, there is more to life than food. I was aghast. I really don’t get people.

Now we move to two completely unrelated conversations. One was with another friend of mine who told me about a place in Gżira that served authentic Thai food. He told me what road to take and then to look for the ‘Indjan’ outside a bar.

The other was with my brother who, I know, likes Thai food. I said I’d heard of this place in Gżira and described the road. He asked me if it was the place with an ‘Indjan’ outside. I was mightily confused.

So I planned to call for my brother and go and hunt for this ‘Indjan’ and the Thai food that was purportedly served in the vicinity of this anthropomorphic manifestation of a Native American, bedecked with ceremonial feathers.

It turns out there was a cowboy there instead. We figured that there was once a statue of a Native American warrior but only the cowboy remained. He is just vastly less memorable. If this place served Thai food, not only would I be very surprised, but I’d be able to add a country to the list of places my Gżira-loving friend would soon have in his vicinity. That might reduce his concern about trivial matters such as friendly neighbours and a decent infrastructure.

I manoeuvred my car into a lucky parking spot just outside and hopped into what looked very much like a football club and bar.

We were greeted warmly by a man who sounded German and who was, in fact, German. He welcomed us to the place and asked if it was our first time before presenting us with menus. The menus consist exclusively of Thai food. We had to ask. Later on, while we waited for our lunch, he gave us the full story.

Display cases packed with football trophies coexist in harmony with statues of the Buddha

I won’t go into all the detail. What matters is that this man is lucky enough to be married to an excellent Thai chef and moved to Malta, taking over what used to be a football club and using this unlikely location to serve Thai food, a staggering collection of speciality beers, and plenty of cheer and good humour.

He hasn’t done much to the place so the decor is confusing. Stained-glass windows with supercar emblems in them shed light on display cases packed with football trophies. These coexist in harmony with statues of the Buddha who seems to ignore the large TVs that are there because countries we can’t pin on a map are playing football.

Much more focused is the menu. There is nothing on it that’s an attempt to appease those who wouldn’t like to try Thai. From appetisers to salads, soups, curries, and rice or noodle-based dishes, every item hails from the Thai kitchen. I was praising this level of commitment just last week and here I was again, faced with an untainted menu. Almost every item is available in two sizes. Handy.

I ordered the green curry, served hot, while the brother picked the Pad Thai. He’s spent time in Thailand, Vietnam, India and countries I hadn’t heard of and his love for food makes mine seem like a half-hearted one-night stand. I’d taken quite the judge with me.

For drinks we headed towards the fridges to pick a beer and the choice was a tough one. There is a smattering of Asian beers and a pretty decent selection of German and Belgian beers. We planned a tasting night there and then.

Our food was served quite quickly, a factor that’s particularly important at lunchtime. My curry was served in its own bowl and I had a separate bowl of sticky rice to go with it. The Pad Thai is all served on a single plate. We’d ordered the small portions to test the waters and the portions seemed quite adequate.

The curry is delightful. It isn’t a thick and viscous curry. It is instead bathed in refreshing coconut milk and offering a mild chilli zest, a citrus twist and plenty of coriander. It is packed with fresh courgettes, carrots and cauliflower and has a rather small quantity of tender pork in it.

Think of the salty concoctions you’ve bought in glass jars at the supermarket and forget all about them. This tastes like the wife has just cooked lunch. And the wife happens to be Thai and very talented.

The Pad Thai combines noodles, tender(ised) chicken, omelette, noodles, veg and crushed peanuts. It is a meal on a plate, bringing all food groups together in a tasty combination of simple ingredients.

We tasted each other’s dishes and liked what we tasted. By the end of it all we were perfectly satiated but not feeling stuffed. I could get used to this portion size.

I felt I owed it to myself to taste through the menu over time. By the Saturday I found myself dragging the better half out of the cave and driving to the unimaginatively-named Good Thaimes for second helpings.

This time I picked the dish I’d had so much trouble choosing the curry over. The Panaeng is a thicker curry and a more intense one. This time I ordered it very hot and once again settled for the small portion. The better half went with the Khao Paad, a fried rice dish with chicken. We also ordered a portion of spring rolls just in case our mains wouldn’t suffice.

This time the service was also a little different. A Spanish lady took care of us, and her limitless enthusiasm makes up for the occasional language hurdle. Saturdays also bring a more eclectic patronage, so we didn’t have the same tranquillity my brother and I enjoyed midweek.

Our spring rolls were served reasonably quickly and were really quite lovely. Wrapped in fragile rice paper and packed with glass noodles and fresh vegetables, these are what spring rolls are supposed to be. My curry was good, even if I felt I’d preferred the green curry from a few days before.

The Khao Paad is quite the concoction, with chicken, onions, cucumber, tomato, all stir-fried with fluffy rice. This is where authenticity poses some dangers.

It is a lovely dish we aren’t as familiar with as we are with spring rolls and green curry, for instance. So if you’re expecting the rather intense and less oily approach of the Westernised kitchen, you might be in for an underwhelming experience.

Both times I visited I had coffee at the end of the meal and paid €25 for the lot. That’s really not a lot to pay for the friendly service and the exotic allure of the food. I’m still confused about how it all comes together.

Good Thaimes would be a great bar to hang out with friends who like beer, for instance. It is also a place where the real deal Thai food is served at excellent prices.

I have yet to figure out the synergies but whatever it is that’s keeping the place glued together ought to last, at least until I’ve sampled even more of their menu.

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