The Spice House

Pisco has always wondered where to get Thai street food in Hong Kong. There are plenty of higher-end restaurants (Tuk Tuk, Ayuthaiya) and some highly authentic places (the sadly now-defunct Lime), but where to go for a quick roadside pad thai?

The Spice House is your answer. It’s a very small restaurant in the back of a Thai food store in Wan Chai. Located on a small street filled with open market stalls, it is surrounded by other Thai and Philippine groceries.

I visited with a friend, and we ordered three dishes: pad thai, som tam, and pork over rice. The pad thai was light, filled with scrambled eggs and the occasional shrimp – delicious. Both the som tam and the pork were authentically spicy – the blow-your-head off kind, even though we asked that they tone it down. The som tam brought me back to Thailand, the papaya and peanuts giving good texture while you waited for the occasional chili to explode, sending you to the rice for comfort.

The kitchen is in back, and you can see a glass counter where they keep fish and some other foodstuffs. We asked if we could try something wrapped in a leaf on that counter, but our server, a friendly Thai woman, simply smiled and shook her head. We took it to mean “it’s so spicy, don’t even bother”, so we dropped the subject.

Three dishes and two sodas ran around 160 HKD.

They close around 8pm, so go early and enjoy. Pick up some Thai supplies at the store when you are finished.

To find the restaurant, walk about halfway down the block (walking south) and it will be on your right, in a store with a lot of bags for sale in front. The sign over the shop will read “The Spice House”.