Coconut Island Thai Restaurant is a little strip mall place, located on Pembina Highway. I first visited when I was heading up to Faith Horizons, a semi annual diocesan conference. This year the conference was held at St. John’s College at the University of Manitoba. The event started on a Friday, which is my usual day off. I decided I would work my way down Pembina Highway stopping for coffee and lunch along the way.
For a more recent Thai review, check out my post on Sukkothai Restaurant.
Coconut Island Hours
| Mon | 11:30am – 10pm |
| Tue | Closed |
| Wed | 11:30am – 10pm |
| Thu | 11:30am – 10pm |
| Fri | 11:30am – 10pm |
| Sat | 4pm – 11pm |
| Sun | 4pm – 11pm |
Visiting While on A Long Walk
My travel plans up to the university were based on walking. I ended up walking from home all the way to St. John’s College. So basically I took most of the day to reach my destination. I ended up at Coconut Island because a couple of the restaurants I was considering were closed over the lunch time. I arrived toward the end of the lunch time and the restaurant wasn’t all that busy.
Entering the restaurant, the tables are set out in a square fashion, with tables along either wall and another set in the middle. The decor is fairly sparse with a few pictures along the wall. There is plenty of window at the front off Pembina Highway giving the room plenty of
I ordered the green curry soup. This is one of my favourite dishes. It’s commonly ordered with rice, but I decided to skip this and just enjoy the sou on it’s own. The restaurant makes a real good green curry soup. When they asked how spicy, i said very spicy, but would say that in this regard, it doesn’t quite live up to the billing. Nonetheless, the portion was very good and left me satisfied as I continue my walking.
Coconut Island Second Visit
On my second time to the restaurant I chose a full meal. I ordered a couple of appetizers and the Pad Thai, I topped it off with a Thai coffee. the restaurant was fuller this time around, but I didn’t have a lot of trouble waiting for service, or for my food to arrive.
On the whole this meal was the least interesting of the three. Neither the rice rolls or the spring rolls particularly stand out. They are quite fresh, but there isn’t a lot of flavour in either of them. The Pad Thai is an improvement. Although, I still am not able to get any real heat in my meal.
I enjoyed my Thai Iced Coffee, but it doesn’t match up to the flavour and quality of the one that they serve at Sabai Thai.
Trying the Lunch Special
Coconut Island is located not far from the Diocesan Offices. So, after a recent meeting with the Bishop and a representative from St. Mark’s parish I headed over to Coconut Island, one more time. This time as I looked through the menu I settled on one of their lunch specials. I chose the Ginger Stir Fry. As a special it comes with a small bowl of soup, and a couple of the spring rolls. Once again I asked for my food to be very spicy.
I really enjoyed the soup that came along with the special. The spring rolls again are rather non-descript. The ginger stir-fry, on the other hand, is quite good. It seems that by my third visit, I’m starting to get some attention paid to my request for very spicy. This is certainly the spiciest of the three dishes I’ve ordered. I’d still like to see it picked up a notch or two, However, on this occasion, the heat is getting up into my sinuses as well as in my mouth.
I’ve been on a bit of a mango kick lately and so I added a mango smoothie to drink with my meal. The smoothie is good and thick, and the thickness lasted throughout my lunch.
This time around I ordered during the peak of the lunch hour. There were several full tables along with a few orders being made for pick up. Yet, the service is still prompt and efficient. The service is also friendly and welcoming. there are quite a few items on the menu which I didn’t try. Give the closeness of the restaurant to the diocesan offices, I think I will be back in the future. I want to see if there are dishes that I’ve missed that really hit the spot.
