Lotus Thai - A Taste of [Downtown] St. Thomas

8/1/2021

The local food scene has been expanding lately, which is incredibly exciting. While I can't wait to share more about some of these new spots - it's time we celebrated a fifteen-year downtown St. Thomas restaurant. Lotus Thai is one of the early editions to the rapidly evolving offerings in our community for authentic cultural food experiences.

Pom Quangvan-Montague is the owner, head-chef creative mastermind behind all the recipes and sauces you can enjoy when you visit Lotus Thai in the West End of Downtown St. Thomas.

Pom's authentic recipes take inspiration from her family roots in Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. She comes from a family of twelve children and grew up as a middle child and the first girl in three generations of extended family.

She learned to forage and cook from a very young age helping her grandmother and mother prepare meals for the extended family. With that many mouths to feed, often just finding enough food to then prepare was challenging and all-consuming. Her father, a veteran of the Vietnam War, was a chef at the French Embassy in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. His experience working with the French chefs had a substantial influence on the family kitchen.

Surviving the Mekong River crossing to escape the communist regime of Laos, the family eventually emigrated to Canada through the refugee camps in Thailand. Pom, 15 years old, already fluent in 5 languages, none of which were English, learned the new culture and language and quickly adapted to a new way of life.

The love of food and celebration of family traditions led Pom to cook for friends. She quickly became so busy that it was a natural step to plunge into the restaurant business and officially started Lotus Thai in 2006, where Purely Wicked presently is. After five years of growth, she moved to the present location at 295 Talbot Street, an iconic 150-year-old Doctor's house. In 2016 Pom opened a second Lotus Thai location in Mount Bridges, now operated by her son and daughter-in-law.

Pom loves having her location in St. Thomas because its size and population density enable the team to satisfy the demands while keeping it authentic hand-made, genuine Thai food. The restaurant even has an independent delivery driver able to deliver food all over town and to the surrounding area in a timely fashion because of the ideal size of the community.

Pom and restaurant manager Pete Murphy see the people of St Thomas as welcoming, friendly, and open-minded to new things. They love that they can meet new people almost every day and continue to grow and surprise the newcomers with their great food.

The team has felt the local love throughout the pandemic year as folks have been so very supportive of the independent businesses in town.

"It is a testament to the quality and genuine goodness and caring of our local population. It makes you feel so good that people do care for each other and care about the survival of a small locally owned and operated business." - Pete Murphy.

Pom and her team cook every single meal to order using only fresh local ingredients whenever possible. They will adjust for your food ingredient and spice level preferences, any allergies or gluten sensitivities, and vegan and vegetarian choices. They respect all individual wants and needs and work to accommodate everyone.

This team also makes upwards of 2000 Spring Rolls to satisfy the demand in St. Thomas alone. You can sample the spring rolls as an appetizer before the must-try Drunken Noodles with your choice of shrimp, beef, or chicken or as part of the All-Day Special featuring the fan favourite Pad Thai with Chicken or Cashew Stir Fry with Chicken.

When I placed my order, indoor dining wasn't open yet - but the in-house delivery service was prompt and well within the promised time frame when I placed the order. My go-to dish is the Mango Chicken with Jasmine rice. The sweet mango with full flavour and the subtle heat of the sauce is the perfect combination for me. I finished my sampling with the lotus cookies. Do yourself a favour and add them to your order to take home if you are full!

If you go, you'll be treated to fresh prepared generous portions of authentic Thai food at fair prices with personalized services.