We had a delicious meal of fresh, authentic Thai food last week. It was surprisingly but pleasantly busy for a new restaurant on a Saturday evening.
The 4 members of my family who all live out of town are familiar with Thai food so it was fun to introduce new flavors to the 2 elderly members in our party who live locally.
We started out with Crispy Rolls and Summer Rolls with Chicken. Followed by Tom Kha Gai (chicken coconut soup) and Som Tom with no shrimp.
Wow! The Crispy Rolls were flavorful and not greasy with a sweet & sour sauce. The Summer Rolls were tender and delicious and served with the same delicious sauce (we are used to a peanut based sauce in NJ, but this kept them lighter and more refreshing).
The Tom Kha Gai was rich and savory with a hint of sour from the lime. It was a fantastic balance. My only negative about this is that for the price, I was expecting a much larger portion. It was a tiny bowl for $7.50. I have been to restaurants where that same soup is served in a small cauldron with a ladle to share at that price.
The next dish was Som Tom which is a Thai salad/ slaw made with shredded green papaya and other things with a tangy/ sweet/ salty sauce. This was the first dish that had an asterisk indicating 'spicy' and we could choose the heat level on a scale from 1 - 5. We chose a 1 but should have asked if it was available as a ZERO.
The flavor was fantastic, but it was too spicy (from chilis) for 4 of the 6 people at the table.
We then had 2 orders of Pad Thai, Massaman Curry (spice level 2) and a Green Curry with NO bell peppers and a ZERO spice level (there was no red asterisk as a warning) all with chicken as the protein, delivered to the table. Cashew Chicken, too.
The aroma was intoxicating. You could smell the smokiness from a hot wok as well as the citrus from the limes. The Pad Thai was a big hit with those new to Thai food. It did seem as if each order was made separately as one had more sauce than the other. The noodles were slightly firmer than what we are accustomed to, but they were great.
The Cashew Chicken did not have a red asterisk on the menu but we asked for a ZERO anyway due to Tamarind Chili Sauce being listed on the menu. The combination of chicken, cashews, onions, bell peppers, baby corn, carrots, broccoli, celery, and pineapple made this dish something exotic and spectacular, although a touch too spicy.
The Massaman Curry was sweet and savory with coconut milk, potatoes, and onions, carrots and pineapple in that rich curry sauce combined with the chicken and topped with crispy fried onions. The person who ordered it at a level two spice level was a bit overwhelmed, but ate all of it with lots of rice.
The green curry which is made with Coconut milk, green curry paste, eggplant, Makrut (AKA Kaffir) lime leaves, string beans and Thai basil leaves did not arrive as ordered. The aromatic bowl was full of multicolored bell peppers and the green curry sauce was VERY spicy.
The server came by to see how everything came out and we mentioned the error with the peppers. She was immediately apologetic and offered to have another made ASAP. We asked if we could get an order of Pad See Ew with chicken instead and were told, of course! She apologized again for the error.
The Pad See Ew (no red asterisk) is fresh Thai rice noodles which are stir fried with eggs, broccoli, onions, snow peas and some other veggies in a smoky brown sauce. It came out pretty quickly and this dish was well received at the table and was very tasty. The chicken was plentiful and tender which was a nice contrast to the smokiness of the stirfried veggies and the soft noodles.
When asked, the server mentioned that they had only been open for 4 weeks. We thought it was great that there were 2 tables with Asian families speaking to the staff in their native language when we arrived. That is always a great sign when looking for authentic International cuisine!
As the weather is starting to get colder in the Southern Tier, I hope that the owners will consider adding a vestibule or some way to protect diners from the outside elements every time the front door is opened. Some kind of room divider or barricade would be helpful.
Looking forward to stopping in again on our next visit! read more