We happened to be driving north on the Garden State Parkway, when I suggested that we stop for…read morelunch. I knew Red Bank was a cute, bustling town, so I figured that it would be a good spot to find an appealing dining destination. As we were approaching the main street, I noticed Siam Paradise in the corner of an industrial building. We decided to give it a shot, but, as I pulled into the parking lot, we noticed that we barely had any cell service. I was able to see that the restaurant had only a 3.3 rating on Yelp, but I did not have a strong enough connection to dig deeper into why that was the case. I was a bit hesitant to go into the restaurant at that point, but we were already there and parked, so I decided to just try it. Well, I was so happy that I did!
The restaurant was elaborately decorated with authentic, traditional adornments, which really added a level of credibility to the potential of the meal. The place was completely empty, which was a bit odd, and the air conditioner was barely perceptible. A ceiling fan helped a bit, but it was definitely on the warmer side, a fact that became increasingly challenging when we started eating our spicy food.
Our server was a delight, and the menu offered a substantial variety of sauteed meals. I went with the Eggplant Garlic dish, which included basil leaves, bell peppers, eggplant, string beans, carrots, onions and mushrooms in their Siam Paradise chili paste and a basil garlic sauce. Instead of a protein, I just asked for Mixed Vegetables, which basically only added broccoli to the already veg-forward plate. I also asked to substitute brown rice for the included steamed white rice. My main course was fantastic! The vegetables were all very fresh and perfectly cooked, while the rich sauce was bold, spicy, and delicious. The brown rice was good as well. I also took a bite of my companion's Pad Khi Mau stir-fried flat noodles with bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, string beans, basil leaves, broccoli, and onions in that same Siam Paradise chili paste, but without the basil garlic sauce. It was a similarly tasty dish, but with a bit more heat and less marinade.
We were very pleasantly surprised by our lunch at Siam Paradise and would gladly return. However, we would probably do so for dinner, as the food was pretty expensive for lunch.