The other day I met a friend for lunch at Thai Taste. I hadn’t reviewed it since we had dinner there quite awhile ago, and I thought it might be nice to see how the lunch offerings were. I like that they offer reduced portion lunches at a very reasonable price, but that they are cooked to order (no buffet). I think the entrées are all about $7 and include soup or salad, a spring roll and rum cake for dessert.
I really enjoy Thai flavorings and have been enjoying trying different places around Indy. This one happens to be very close to my house, so it is an easy one to stop into. I chose soup (you had a choice of Tom Yum soup , a rice noodle soup, or salad). I went with the noodle soup since I had decided not to get noodles for my entrée. The soup was nice. It was a mild flavored clear broth with a decent amount of rice noodles in it, and I think the main seasonings were black pepper and a few pieces of cilantro on top. It would likely be too bland to eat an entire order of this soup, but it wasn’t bad.
For my main dish, I had the Garlic chicken. The lunch portions are actually quite large, especially for the price. I have to say though; I was disappointed in the chicken because it was pretty dried out. I enjoyed the flavor of the garlicky, peppery sauce though; it helped make the meat more enjoyable. Unfortunately though, I also didn’t really care for the fact that the meat was piled on a bed of cabbage, because all the sauce soaked in to the cabbage and left the meat even drier. It would have been better if the meat was allowed to sit directly in the sauce so you could get a bit more of it with each bite.
My friend shared her Pud Thai (using their spelling) which was much better than my dish. It was your classic rice noodles with bean sprouts, onions, tofu, egg and green onion and a light, slightly tangy sauce (I think the tanginess comes from tamarind). There were dices of chicken and some crunchy peanuts on top. This dish was much better than mine, because you could really taste the flavor of the sauce and because there were so many different flavors with all the various ingredients. And the chicken, if it was overcooked, was not as noticeable because it was much smaller pieces that were fewer and farther between. Honestly, I didn’t really care for the spring roll that much, or maybe I just get them too much with dishes and am tired of them. There just wasn’t anything about it that made me want to eat the extra calories. It was a little too doughy on the inside. We both skipped the dessert (we couldn’t even finish the entrées) so I can’t speak to the rum cake.
This place does a very good lunch business though, and you are certainly getting a good value for your money. I would rank the food in the middle of the pack as far as Thai places at which I have eaten in Indy. Some things are quite good and other things just okay.
Thai Taste
5353 East 82nd Street
Indy 46250
317/578-9722
(no website I could find)
It is quite challenging finding great authentic Thai food that not only has deep flavor but the delicate balance of sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and hot. I would have to say that the pud thai at Thai Taste is probably my favorite of the Thai restaurants on the Northside. Having said that, Thai is one of those cuisines I usually hold off on having until I make it to Chicago for the day. Once one's been spoiled by great restaurants that have "hidden" special Thai menus and great balance of flavors in even more common dishes such as pad thai, it's hard to settle for much less. The Ameri-Thai restaurants in Indy seem a bit too watered down and at times inconsistent. I would have to say that the former Thai Garden downtown used to be the best of the bunch locally. I did hear that a former staffer there opened Thai Spice in Greenwood, which I'll have to check out if I'm in that area.
ReplyDeleteosF - you mean some place like this one? http://www.tacquick.net/
ReplyDelete:-) :-)
Sorry to hear about the deficient lunch at Thai Taste.
osF - Thai Spice on the southside is handsdown my favorite Thai place in the city - now I find everywhere else (even Siam Square) a bit disappointing.
ReplyDeleteHubby and I just had dinner at there tonight, and it was very good.
ReplyDeleteI started with the tom yum soup with chicken. They didn't ask for a spice preference - and I didn't think to ask for a soup - and holy crap it was spicy! Tasty, though, with lots of cilantro, mushrooms and thin strips of chicken. I don't eat Thai enough to know if tom yum is supposed to be spicy?
I had an entree of red curry with eggplant and beef, and it was the best curry I've ever had. The broth was rich and sweet balanced with spicy (I requested mild after that soup!). The beef was tender and nicely seasoned, the eggplant and other veggies were cooked just right (not mushy, just a little past al dente). Husband had the pad thai with shrimp. He really enjoyed his meal, with bright flavors and large, properly cooked shrimp.
We'll definitely be back, but I think I'll have to order the silver noodle soup next time.