Kin Kao Song has been on my list to try for the longest time, and now that they are a Michelin Bib Gourmand, I knew I had to get here ASAP. It might not be as well-known as the MICHELIN Star but the Bib Gourmand is a value-for-money award proves that great food doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. While I slightly disagree with the “value for money” portion of this, as a dinner at Kin Kao Song will definitely set you back a pretty penny, I do think the food is worth the price. To put it into perspective, the bill for my friend and I came out to slightly over $200 for 2 appetizers, a soup and 2 main dishes. For me, I would firmly put this spot in special occasion territory. Check out my full review of Kin Kao Song below!
Kin Kao Song – Snacks and Starters
To start our meal we had:
- Crispy Tofu ($13.00)
- Grilled Pork Jowl ($23.00)
The Crispy Tofu features light and crisp tofu with a house tamarind sweet chili and peanut sauce. The inside of the tofu was so soft and creamy that it was the perfect contrast to the crisp exterior. I really enjoyed this dish!
The Grilled Pork Jowl features sous vide, marinated & thinly sliced grilled pork cheek, served with our house spicy jaew sauce. While the pork jowl was very tender and went well with the sauce, it wasn’t anything special for me, and I wouldn’t order this dish again.
Kin Kao Song – Mains
For our mains we went with:
- Tom Yum Prawns Soup ($45.00)
- Squash Stir Fry ($25.00)
- Pad Thai ($27.00)
The star of the night was the Tom Yum Prawns Soup. This is a traditional hot & sour Thai soup with tiger prawns, young coconut, shrimp paste, oyster mushrooms served in a Thai hot pot vessel. This soup is life changing. Every single scoop packs such a huge punch of flavour. I could eat this and be happy for dinner. If you dine here, this dish is a must order. It is quite spicy though, so unfortunately if you can’t handle spice I wouldn’t order this dish.
The Squash Stir Fry features grilled organic kabocha squash stir fried with egg in a garlic and mushroom sauce. This dish had a lot of ‘wok hei’ and the squash held it’s shape well. It’s a very flavourful dish, and I definitely recommend pairing it with some rice.
The Pad Thai was our final dish of the evening and it features stir-fried rice noodles, tofu, bean sprouts & our house tamarind sauce. It is topped with dried shrimp. While there is an option to add protein (tiger prawns, pork, tofu etc.) we went with it au naturel. This was my second favourite dish of the night. The noodles had a great texture and like the stir fry, this dish had great wok hei. The dried shrimp isn’t something I’ve seen before on pad thai – and I love it! It joins Siam Le Bien Thai as one of my favourite pad thai’s in the city!
Worth a Try?
Yes! I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Kin Kao Song and I’m still dreaming of that Tom Yum Prawns soup! Ever since their Michelin recognition, this spot has been absolutely bumping. I highly recommend you make your reservations now, because when I went on a Friday night, they were turning away walk-ins. Note that this location is different from Kin Kao on Commercial, and they low-key rebranded this spot as “Song” recently. So, when you google it don’t be alarmed when the Google listing shows up as “Song” – you’re at the right spot.
Kin Kao Song
Address: 317 E Broadway, Vancouver, BC V5T 1W5
Website: https://www.songyvr.com/