Review: Basil Canteen

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If you’re craving Thai food in San Francisco, then you’ve come to the right place! Basil Canteen offers some of the best Thai dishes in the city, and here you’ll find both your typical Thai favorites as well as a number of creative, unique dishes. We came here on a Friday evening with no reservations, and were able to grab a table easily.

Every meal starts off with some complimentary Salty Roasted Peanuts. They’re a great welcome gift and transition to the meal.

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Basil Canteen offers a number of non-alcoholic drinks, and I ordered the Thai Iced Tea. It costs 50 cents extra to add coconut milk, but I thought regular half and half would have been fine. The drink itself wasn’t as sweet as I would have liked it and was a bit bland overall, so I’d probably recommend skipping over this one.

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The appetizer selection at Basil Canteen is quite extensive – from fresh spring rolls to chili-glazed baby back ribs, it was pretty hard to decide on just one! We ended up choosing the Kang Kiow Wan Roti (Pan-Fried Indian Bread with Grilled Skirt Steak and Green Curry Dipping). Even though the roti was a bit greasy, it was also amazingly crispy and indulgent, and went perfectly with the steak and curry sauce. The sauce itself was very flavorful, and we saved the leftover curry for our coconut rice later on. 

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One of the best rotis we’ve ever had – just wish there were more pieces!

Our first main entree was the Praram Rong Song (Grilled Marinated Skirt Steak with Curried Peanut Sauce and Green Beans) with a side of Coconut Rice. The meat was perfectly cooked, and the peanut sauce was absolutely essential. The green beans felt a bit boring, but without it, the dish probably would have seemed really unbalanced. The coconut rice felt a bit overpriced given the portion size, so we wouldn’t order it again.

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We also ordered a Pad Ke Mao (Stir-Fried Wide Rice Noodles with Yard Long Beans, Egg, Skirt Steak, Thai Basil and Chili). The dish was very fragrant and well-prepared but wasn’t that different from the other pad ke maos we’ve had at other Thai restaurants. Also, given that we had just finished a plate of skirt steak and green beans, this dish felt a little repetitive in its ingredients.

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Overall, the food at Basil Canteen was very satisfying and tasty, and did feel significantly less unhealthy than your typical neighborhood Thai place. While there were a few items that we would probably skip over next time, we left happy and full, and would recommend this place to all Thai-food lovers!

Final Rating: ★★★★

Price: $$

Basil Canteen
1489 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 552-3963
Mon-Fri, 11:30am-2:30pm, Mon-Sun, 5:30-10pm
www.basilthai.com/bc/