Savana Café

$$

My best friend and I went out for dinner at one of our regular spots last night, Savana Café. It's close to home, has a great little patio in the summer, and a colourful, inviting interior perfect for escaping the winter blahs of slush and snow in the winter. They serve unique dishes of tropical cuisine and the best Pad Thai in Ottawa. On other occasions i've ordered other dishes from the menu, which have all been fabulous, such as the Tofu Red Curry Bowl – vegetables, red coconut curry and roasted cashews; the Aqua Lemon Soba Noodles with shrimp, squid, fish, mussels, vegetables, tomato, lemongrass and sake broth; or even just a few starters for a meal like their Fresh Spring Rolls made with chicken, shrimp, peanuts, sprouts, mint, basil and cilantro and served with an apricot black bean sauce, and Grilled Chicken Satay with a Thai peanut sauce. But last night I opted for the Pad Thai. They serve a few dishes with bananas in them, like the Cubana Chicken which is stuffed with bananas, coconut milk and cilantro that i've always wanted to try, but staring at the Pad Thai on the menu, I weaken and 9 times out of 10 go with that. It's your typical rice noodles, chicken, shrimp, egg, tofu, peanuts and sprouts, but so much better than the Pad Thai from other places. The sauce has a lovely tang to it and just the right spice (I ordered medium). And for this reason Teresa ordered the exact same thing. We started off with some Shrimp Chips, these fabulous chips melt in your mouth and have a wonderful light and airy texture. The best part though, is they are served with this amazing Thai peanut sauce. Last night we found the service to be a bit less welcoming than usual, but when they offered to refill our peanut sauce, they redeemed themselves! For dessert, and I don't normally order dessert, I had the Savana Apple Mango Crisp, which was very yummy, but the real winner was Teresa's, the Chocolat Paté. If you have any wine left in your bottle, order this, the two together is magical. This rich paté is a flourless Belgian chocolate torte, drizzled with a crème anglaise sauce. Meals are very reasonably priced, starters range from $4 to $10 and mains from $15 to $25. They also have a great lunch menu and a decent wine list. I'll definitely be back again and again, and maybe, hopefully, try another dish.

www.savanacafe.com