Wok Stars has created quite the buzz in Nanaimo, with their pad thai being one of their most popular dishes. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW).

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

wok and roll

Signature Dish: Wok Stars’ Chicken Pad Thai

May 6, 2022 | 10:59 AM

NANAIMO — They have only been open for a couple of months, but a restaurant specializing in wok cuisine is already a popular local spot.

Wok Stars, located inside Country Club Centre, is a vision from head chef and owner Paul Smoljanovic who describes his dishes as “Asian fusion street food with a North American pallet”.

Without a doubt, one of their most popular dishes is their pad thai.

“It’s a tamarind glaze on rice noodles with tofu, egg ribbon, peppers, onions, and your choice of protein between chicken, pulled pork, velveted beef or tofu. We sear it at a hot temperature and it’s a delicious dish finished with king sprouts and crispy green onions. We love it.”

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He takes pride in the sauce he prepares for the dish.

“It’s very important for the Pad Thai sauce to be balanced and the way we do that is with a salt and fish component that we make sure is well balanced and wok-seared and it gives off that special Pad Thai flavour.”

Smoljanovic has been perfecting his wok skills for the past five years.

A big fan of this style of Thai food, he wanted to put his own spin on some of his favourite dishes.

“The wok style of cooking excites me the most. It takes a lot of technique, it takes a lot of balance, and it’s something that you are not able to master overnight, it does take time and practice. I’ve made a lot of good pad thai but not before I made a couple of bad ones.”

Still relatively new to the local dining scene, Smoljanovic tries to source as many local ingredients as he can, with some of his stuff coming from China and other parts of southeast Asia, which helps give it a more authentic taste.

He credits the support he’s gotten from his staff, which includes his sister and fellow chef/business partner for helping put their location on the map in such a short time.

“We’re going to put our hearts and minds into growing our business, listening to our customers and increasing our menu and just adding more delicious favourites as we move forward.”

He’s currently working on a chocolate-filled bao as a dessert feature, which he hopes will be on the menu shortly.

Smoljanovic came up with the restaurant name himself and said he thought it was a cool name that also reflects how the star of most of their dishes is the wok.

“In order to cook this style of food it does require a certain level of talent and ability, which in my opinion, when you’re very good at it, you are a Wok Star.”

So far, his customers seem to really appreciate his effort, with business being much busier than they expected.

“We really feel like the business is about to pop off and we’re super excited about that. We just want to keep our heads down, work hard, and make sure at the end of the day the customers are getting a delicious dish.”

Wok Stars is open from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. every day of the week except Friday, where they are open until 7, with dine-in and take-out currently the only available options.

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