Thursday, February 2

Thida's special sauce


With so many different Asian restaurants popping up all over Winnipeg, how does one stand out from the rest? In the case of Thida’s Thai Restaurant, it’s their homemade peanut sauce.


Donn Eccles, restaurant manager and son-in-law of owner Sunee Inthon, plans on patenting their widely popular peanut sauce and selling it on supermarket shelves. “Who knows, it might be the next Frank’s Red Hot Sauce!” he jokes.

Thida’s is located at the corner of Donald and Broadway, tucked behind the The Fyxx Espresso Bar. Inthon decided to take on the business in 2006, shortly after her family immigrated from Thailand. They moved the restaurant from its previous location on Fife Street, but decided to keep the name Thida meaning “daughters” in Thai – a fitting title, considering her daughters and son help her run the business.


All walks of downtown patrons come flooding into the restaurant during the lunch hour rush. The deceptively small entrance leads into a beautifully decorated space with traditional Thai trimmings, numerous tables and booths, as well as a large flat-panel television mounted on the soothing red walls.

“It’s nice downtown. A few of our regulars work at nearby hotels. When people come from out of town and ask where to eat, they tell them if they want great food to come here,” says Eccles. “The people are great, and everyone that comes down here loves the food. I know half of the clientele by their first name.”


Thida’s prides themselves in using the freshest ingredients and cooking dishes that taste just how they would back in Thailand. Customer favourites include their garlic pork, mango salad with shrimp and basa fish.

“There’s a lot of Thai restaurants, but out of 10, maybe only three are owned and operated by Thai people,” says Eccles. “The customer can really taste the difference in the cooking.”


Business profile written for the Downtown BIZ

Thida's Thai Restaurant on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. I vote that is the next CreComm lunch field trip spot that we hit up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a must. Add it to the dock list!

    ReplyDelete