Siam Square - Revisit

Had a chance to meet up with a friend the other day for lunch downtown, and we decided on Siam Square. Neither of us had been in ages, and I was craving some ginger. Seemed like a good choice. 

At lunch they offer a good deal—they don’t have all their entrées offered here, but many of them are offered in a reduced size, with soup and an eggroll and most, if not all are priced at $8.99 (+$2 if you want shrimp as your protein). The place was bustling, but we got seated right away.

The spring roll is pretty good, as they go. It’s filled with veggies—cabbage, carrots, etc. and is fried nice and crisp. There’s no sauce served with them, but they were good dipped in the soup that came with it. The soup was Thom Yum and it had some heat to it. It’s a thin broth; with flavors of lemongrass-but also some heat as I mentioned--maybe chili oil? There were chunks of mushrooms in it (in this case). It’s definitely not your average bland free starter soup, that’s for sure. Not a lot of stuff in it, but still a lot of flavor.

I had the “Siam Ginger” dish, with chicken as my protein. This dish is sautéed chicken slices with carrots, celery, mushrooms and lots of julienned pieces of ginger. Exactly what I was in the mood for. Like I said, I wanted ginger, and this dish is full of it.  It’s sauced with what tastes like a light soy-based sauce, but again, the real flavor that comes through is the ginger. You also get a scoop of rice to eat with it. I really enjoyed this. In the past, I have occasionally had problems getting the spice level right here, but I ordered this medium, and it was just how I wanted it. A bit of heat, but you could still taste the food. And the ginger has its own kind of heat as well, so I had all I needed.

My friend’s pad seuw with beef added was also quite tasty. This is one of hubby’s favorite dishes as well. There are nice wide rice noodles stir-fried with the meat, broccoli and bok choy. It has a nice garlic flavor and has some egg mixed in as well, giving it a creamy sauce. No rice with this one (duh, noodles), but it’s just as filling—maybe even more so. It was also medium, and it was just the right amount of spicy.

All in all, Siam Square is always a great option in the Fountain Square area, and if you’re like me and get strange cravings for ginger-heavy food, this is your place (well, at least for this dish!).

(P.S. What’s up with Naisa? They never seem to be open when I think of going—I’ve heard it's closed indefinitely. Anyone know what’s up?)

Siam Square

936 Virginia Ave

Indy 46203

317/636-8424

www.siamsquareindy.com 

Siam Square - Revisit

Hubby and I wanted to go see a friend’s exhibit opening on First Friday this month (and you should go check it out, it runs through November 16th. It’s a cool exhibit about my friend’s grandfather who was an influential, impressive architect.)  We decided with so many options in Fountain Square, we’d just grab dinner somewhere close by. The first place we stopped into was Mama Irma’s and it was completely packed with a wait. It was nice to see and we put it on our mental list to return (hubby has never been).

We just walked a little further and decided to try Siam Square. I think it’s been 2-3 years since I have been there (hard to believe). It was also quite crowded but we lucked into the last 2-top. Our server was very friendly and attentive and quickly brought drinks. After looking back at our last visits on my blog, we settled on the veggie tempura appetizer ($5.95)(last time we wished we had gotten the all veggie version because we liked them better than the seafood). I love that they use more interesting veggies like eggplant and green beans, and I also love that they use broccoli, which is one of my favorite tempura items. What I wasn’t a fan of was the “breading” on the tempura. I sort of expect tempura to be a light batter-type of breading and this had a more grainy texture to it.  They served it with a classic Thai slightly sweet fish sauce-type sauce. I can’t say you could taste the sauce that much with the flavor of the veggies and the somewhat heavy batter. I probably would have preferred a more traditional tempura sauce-something with a little soy. 

Hubby flat out refused to try something new (as I usually try to convince him to do when I am writing a post about a meal) and got the pad seuw ($11.95), which he has had before and really liked. The dish was just as good ingredients-wise—wide, fresh tasting noodles with broccoli, bok choy, garlic, egg and pork in a brown soy-based sauce. Sadly, this time, he ordered this dish “medium” in spiciness level and it was not spicy at all. It tasted like there were no chilies in there—which unfortunately made it a little bland. 

I ordered the Siam Ginger dinner ($11.95) and unfortunately made the mistake of asking for it between mild and medium because in the past, the food had been so hot, even at medium. And it suffered more than hubby’s because it was even milder. The dish inherently was good—it was tender sliced chicken in a ginger sauce with lots of red onions, scallions, celery, cute little carrot flowers, and some mushrooms.  I enjoyed the ginger flavor, which is currently one of my favorite things, but the dish needed some heat. I guess it depends on the day and who is cooking, but I certainly wouldn’t order anything less than medium. I would rather it be a little too hot than too bland.

At hubby’s absolute insistence (and it wasn’t difficult to convince me), we also ordered the Roti rolls ($8.95) for dessert again. They are basically puff pastry wrapped around some cream with lots and lots of butter and sugar. How can you really go wrong? It is really sweet, but I love the slight crunch from the pastry. 

We enjoyed ourselves, and our server was great. I only wish the flavor of the food shined a little more (or should I say burned a little more).  First Friday was fun too, although walking through the studios in the Murphy building reminded me a bit of just how old I am getting (since I think 80% of the people were in their 20s in the place).

So let’s talk Fountain Square and/or First Friday. What are your favorite restaurants in Fountain Square? And what’s your favorite area to hang out for First Fridays?

Siam Square

936 Virginia Ave

Indy 46203

317/636-8424

www.siamsquareindy.com 

Siam Square- Revisit

We have been wanting to go back to Siam Square since our first visit for lunch several months ago.  We headed over there for dinner the other night to explore the menu a little deeper.  For lunch they have nice selections, but the regular menu is much larger than the lunch selections (although you can order off the regular menu anytime I think, it is just more expensive).  And they have beer and wine as well.

We wanted to get an appetizer and I was first drawn to the veggie tempura because it included broccoli and eggplant, two of my favorite veggies to be deep fried, but which you rarely see on a menu as a tempura selection—at least around here.  But then as we looked further, and I saw my favorite eggplant stir fry dish as a dinner option, we veered away from getting eggplant in two courses.  We shifted to the seafood tempura instead which included calamari, shrimp and broccoli.  The shrimp was quite good and I was impressed at the size and quality of it.  They weren’t overcooked and the tempura was light.  I also really liked the broccoli—the florets were cut into just the right size that the broccoli was cooked through, but not too much (although there were only two pieces of broccoli).  The calamari was the most disappointing part of this dish (and was unfortunately the most plentiful as well).  It suffered from the all too frequent problem of being overcooked and thus, rubbery.  I really like the Thai sauce provided with fried food, which I believe is made with vinegar, chili sauce and a bit of sugar. Slightly sweet, slightly tangy and slightly hot.

As I mentioned, for my main dish, I ordered the stir fried eggplant with chicken (you can choose your meat).  It was stir fried with red bell peppers, basil and onions.  As for my spice level, I ordered it medium.  This dish was really good.  The ingredients are super fresh and perfectly cooked.  The eggplant was cut into large slices and the chicken was all white meat, sliced thinly, and not overcooked.  This is one of my favorite dishes and this is one of the best versions of it I have had in Indy (the other probably being Jasmine).  It was nice and spicy and I would say properly “medium” as far as I was concerned.

Hubby ordered the chicken Pad Thai which is thin rice noodles that are quickly fried with egg, scallions, bean sprouts and a little pile of crushed peanuts to the side of the dish.  This is kind of a classic Thai dish, and I really liked this version of it, even though there seemed to be perhaps more noodles than anything else.  The bean sprouts were mixed in with the noodles and gave a nice crunch among the softness of the noodles. I like the way the bean sprouts are similar in size but surprise you with the little fresh crispy bites.  I liked the peanuts sprinkled on top as well for the same reason (texture variation) as well as for a little nutty flavor.  Hubby isn’t as big a fan of the nuts on top (and was happy they were to the side), and overall preferred my dish to his (and preferred his Pad Seuw from the first time as well). 

We also had a dessert which was really good—it was called Roti Rolls and was pastry (they call it flatbread), topped in cream sauce and sugar and rolled up.  It was light and flaky and quite delicious.  Normally I am not a huge fan of desserts at Asian restaurants, but this was yummy—and certainly enough to share.  Hubby claimed it was his favorite part of the meal.

The service started out efficient and friendly, but as the place filled up, it took a bit of a turn.  We waited awhile for drinks and quite awhile for our dessert to be served (it was eventually served by one of the hostesses).  Most of the beer and wine appears to be kept in the basement too, so it meant a bit of a delay when something to drink was ordered. 

Although I still think Siam Square is my favorite Thai place in Indy, I think hubby is slightly less convinced.  And you guys have been giving me some good ideas for new Thai places to try—I am going to have to get out there and see.  And if you haven’t already told me (or even if you have), will you let me know what are your faves? 

Siam Square
936 Virginia Ave
Indy 46203
317/636-8424
http://www.siamsquareindy.com/

Siam Square - Lunch

Wow, this place is really good. It has been on the list for awhile and since an out of towner recently emailed me asking for suggestions on places to eat downtown and I recommended it to him (I did tell him I hadn’t been) I figured I needed to get in there so I could know about what I speak!

We got there probably around 11:45 for lunch and the place was nearly full. This place is hopping with people at lunchtime. After we sat down, there was pretty much a wait for a table (and a lot of people waiting at that) for the entire duration of our lunch. The interior is modern and spare with nice glass block windows along side. The servers are courteous and fairly prompt, considering the crowd. The one annoyance is there is no parking lot at lunchtime, just street parking, and depending on the crowd, it can be difficult. I had to circle a bit to find one nearby.

For lunch they have several specials which I assume are smaller portions of several of their regular entrees that also come with a cup of soup and a spring roll. We decided to share one rice entrée and one noodle entrée and get the lay of the land. They brought the soup and spring roll out fairly quickly. The spring roll was excellent and crunchy, and hubby declared one of the best he has had. They were veggie and did have the stingy carrot/cabbage problem that spring rolls often do (you take a bite and all those strings of veggies are hanging out of your mouth) but they were really tasty. The soup was the Thom Yum, I believe, a brothy, spicy, yet slightly sour soup flavored with lemongrass, tomatoes, scallions and cilantro and with a couple of mushrooms floating around in there. It was great to dip the spring rolls into. And it had a bit of heat to it. (The little squares in the soup are a reflection of the glass blocks—I thought it looked sort of cool.)

We shared the chicken Kapow and the Pad Seuw. The chicken Kapow is a rice plate including steamed rice and a stir fry mix with chicken, peppers, basil, onions, mushrooms, and scallions. I really liked the flavor on this dish—had the heat of Thai food with the slight underlying tanginess of what I assume to be lemongrass. We were asked what temperature we wanted the dishes and we told him medium for both. They certainly had a lot of spiciness and I would not be up for hot for sure. This was the perfect amount—it built over time and left your lips tingling just a bit, but didn’t ruin the other flavors of the dish. The sauce on the dish was great. If I could change anything, it would be that the pieces of onion and scallion were a little big and because of that were a little too crunchy. The smaller pieces of onion were really good with the mix though. And the chicken was white meat, pleasantly tender and fairly plentiful.

The pad seuw was outstanding. I really liked both dishes a lot, but this one, the noodle dish, probably inched the other one out slightly for the simple reason that I would eat every bite of everything in the mix. There was the right amount of everything, and in the appropriate sizes (for example, I left quite a pile of the onions from the dish above just because they were so big and so plentiful). This was a wide noodle dish stir fried with various greens (baby bok choy and broccoli are the two that jump to mind), garlic, egg and chicken. It was really really good. There were some larger pieces of chicken as well as some finer dices and the flavors combined to make a lovely brown sauce over the dish. I think we would be hard pressed not to get this one again.

Hubby was happy with his Thai beer to go along with his lunch, and by the end of the meal determined it was worthy of a dinner visit. I am excited to go back and try a few of the menu items that aren’t offered as a lunch special.

It looks to me like Fountain Square is really coming into its own with some really great restaurants. So tell me, I have done Naisa and Siam Square, and have been impressed with both. What are your other faves in this neighborhood?

Siam Square
936 Virginia Ave
Indy 46203
317/636-8424
http://www.siamsquareindy.com/