Thai Station

 

I got to go out to dinner with one of my girlfriends recently (thank you science!) and I was super excited to go regardless, but then she suggested a place I had never been, and I was doubly happy. Thai Station is just up the road from my house too, so I had high hopes (and I learned a new cookie place is going in right by it, so that also seemed like a good sign).

It’s a strip mall location and I didn’t expect a lot atmosphere-wise, but it was actually very cute—lots of wood and several booths and a banquet of tables. They do a good job of only seating every other table and have sanitizer on every table that they do use. There were only a few tables that were seated while we were there, but they had a very steady stream of take out orders. They also have a cute little bar area and a decent wine selection for a small place. They served one of my favorite less expensive roses, and that is what I ordered. Nice glasses too. They are definitely making you feel like you are getting a true “out to eat” dining experience.

The menu is very large and quite appealing. They have a lot of interesting-sounding things. We ordered the crispy wontons ($6.99), mostly because we were curious about what they would be.  They were little wontons stuffed with lightly seasoned chicken and deep fried. They were served with that clear vinegar-based, slightly sweet Thai dipping sauce. The chicken was maybe a little bland on its own, but they were pretty tasty, especially with the sauce drizzled on them. 

For my entrée, I ordered my classic Thai dish—sauteed eggplant with meat and veggie. Here it is #34 and called “Eggplant Lover” ($11.99). It was so good. One of the best versions I have had in town—everything was cooked just right—the eggplant was still bright in color, but cooked soft and with the rich Thai brown sauce all absorbed into it. The chicken was thinly sliced and tender. There were also green peppers, thinly sliced carrots and basil. Oh, and of course white rice. The sauce was super delicious and plentiful so that you could really make your rice pretty well coated and get the flavor in every bite. I loved how bright and colorful the dish was and everything seemed really fresh. 

My friend got the (#33)($14.99) garlic and pepper preparation with shrimp. This was shrimp stir-fried with a garlic pepper sauce all on top of sliced cabbage, cilantro and green onions. I just had a bite of the veggies with the sauce and the sauce was really good—lots of garlic. We both ordered our dishes medium spice level and I think it was just right. Definitely some heat, but not crazy.

This may become one of our new go-to carry out places. There is a ton of stuff on the menu, including various fried rice versions and noodle dishes and I know everyone in the house will find stuff they like. I can’t wait to try more stuff. If you have been here, let me know what you like. 

Thai Station

3317 E. 86^th Street

Indy. 46240

317/929-1983

Pho Real

Pho places seem to be springing up everywhere…well, at least more of them are becoming more central to my location, which I appreciate. There are two or three new places I have been waiting to try and this was one of them. The BFF and I headed over there for lunch and laughed because we knew this strip mall from our very young days, as we grew up nearby. Don’t let the scary dark wood/slightly run down vibe of the outside scare you away; they have done a nice job on the inside of this place. It’s cute and very clean. The menu is big and has Thai and Laotian food as well as Vietnamese.

But, when your name is “Pho Real,” you kinda have to try the pho right? At least on your first visit. But since it was a new place, and we were kinda in the mood, we also ordered some appetizers. We ordered the dumplings ($7.75) and the fried tofu ($5.95). I really liked the fried tofu. It had a nice firm, yet crispy crust that you had to break through to get to a very silky (and hot!) interior. It was served with a very mild sauce to dip in, but it had a slight acidic flavor and I liked it. I also ended up dropping them last piece or two into my pho and that was really good too. They kept their shape even in the broth. The dumplings were pretty tasty too. They were stuffed with pork and a bit of shrimp and served with that vinegar/soy sauce. Maybe not as tender as I would like—the filling was pretty dense—but they had a good flavor.

I ordered the rare beef pho  (Pho #1) ($9.99), which is my classic choice. It’s a deep beef broth with thin rice noodles, cilantro, scallions and it was seasoned with some black pepper it seemed. Oh, and the rare beef of course. I always squeeze my lime in there too from the fresh side plate, as well as throwing in a couple of the slices of jalapeno to steep and spice up the broth. Then I put in the basil and bean sprouts for a bit more flavor and texture. I tend to add a bit of chili sauce—here the only choice was Sriracha, so that’s what I used. I put a bit of soy in as well. Anyhow, that’s how pho is—you kind of doctor it up to your taste. But the thing that makes or breaks pho (or puts it on the just ok list anyway) is the broth. And this broth was very good. It had a very deep flavor and this is up there with my favorite bowls of pho in town so far. Mine also had nice, tender thin slices of beef that seemed a little more flavorful than many, even my favorite, Pho Tasty. Like I said, I also liked throwing my tofu in there as well. 

My BFF had the veggie pho ($8.99) and she seemed to really like it. I was too busy eating all of mine to even try it, but she said it was definitely one of the better vegetarian broths she has had in town. She didn’t love the big hunks of bok choy, because they were almost impossible to eat. If you don’t have a knife, I do believe food should be in bite-sized pieces.

Overall though, this was a great find. And they have lots of great sounding Thai dishes I would be interested to try as well. They also have beer and wine.

Pho Real

9611 N. College Ave

Indy 46280

317/853-8046

www.phorealindy.com 

Old Favorites: Café Patachou and Jasmine Thai

Since I have been back in the country after being away for a month, and because the kids are back in school and for about a minute I have more time on my hands to go to lunch (until I start school-oy!), and I have been missing my favorite stand-bys, here’s a couple of the places I visited in one week. (Seriously, you have no idea how much you dream of Asian food and American sandwiches after three weeks in Italy and one in Greece).

First stop: Café Patachou. And while I sometimes vary my order, I knew exactly what I was going to get—my ultimate comfort food sandwich—egg salad on toasted sourdough with chips and an extra pickle (it’s about $10). Everything was going great until the server informed me they have stopped serving the pickles. Devastating. Apparently, they are composting a lot more these days and realized how much they are throwing away and didn’t like how many pickles they throw out (how could you not eat these pickles?). They have also stopped automatically serving the tomato and cucumber unless you ask as well. So, I think they should do the same with the pickles—only if you ask for them. Bring back the pickles!

Anyway, the sandwich was just as good as always (except I really like a bite of pickles mixed with every couple bites of sandwich). I also tend to eat my sandwich open-faced because I like a larger salad-to-bread ratio. Their egg salad is simple—eggs, mayo, salt and pepper, but they do it just right and it is delicious. Still, bring back the pickles! (please?).

Next stop a couple days later-- Jasmine Thai for my favorite sautéed eggplant with basil (and I add chicken—it’s normally a vegetarian dish) (also around $10). I normally like food a little spicy, but here I order this dish mild. First, they are serious about heat at Jasmine and second, when this particular dish is spicy at all, it seems to me it loses a little bit of the rich basil flavor—the heat just overpowers it. 

The eggplant is nice and tender and the chicken is sliced thin and mixed it—I wish they would give just a little more chicken because I like a bit of chicken and a bit of eggplant in each bite for the texture variation, but other than that, this is one of my favorite dishes. And Asian flavors, because they are so different from what I had been eating were one of my top cravings in Europe (we did manage to get sushi twice in Italy, but that’s it).

Anyhow, those are just a couple of the favorites I have been in the last week or so…. I am sure I will be hitting up a few more here soon.

Café Patachou

8697 River Crossing Blvd

Indy  46240

317/815-0765

http://cafepatachou.com/

Jasmine Thai Restaurant

4825 East 96^th Street

Indy  46240

317/848-8950

www.jasminethaiindy.com

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 

Bangkok Restaurant and Jazz Bar

I met my friend @wibia for lunch the other day at Bangkok. It’s been on my list forever, but I haven’t been able to get there and I have heard pretty good things about it. They offer a lunch buffet ($9.99), and again, even though I generally pass on buffets, I thought it might be a good way to try lots of things. I feel kind of mixed on it—I am glad I tried several things because there were several things I didn’t really care for and I would have been bummed if I had ordered a whole dish of them. There were several dishes I liked, so I think I could make a more ideal single choice on a future visit.

The thing I liked the best was probably the “Ginger lover’s pork.”  It had a great ginger flavor and stood out to me from all the other things on my plate. Not sure I would order the pork with it, but I would be tempted to get the “Ginger lovers” version with chicken or shrimp (when you order the entrées on the menu, you can choose whatever protein you like, including tofu).

The green curry chicken was probably the spiciest dish, and I appreciated that considering it was a buffet and it seems like restaurants often turn down the heat under those circumstances. This one had a fair amount (although it was the only very spicy thing that I tried). It had a distinct coconut flavor and had bamboo shoots, bell pepper and basil mixed in.

The pad see ew is often one of my favorite things at Thai places and this one wasn’t bad, but a tad bland. These are wide noodles mixed with carrots, broccoli, cabbage and egg. This one was featuring tofu. I like tofu, but these bits were stir fried pretty hard and didn’t have that underlying velvety texture that I like.

The little fried things—the spring roll and crab Rangoon were good. They maintained a good crispness even after sitting on the buffet. As always, I like a bit of crunch to balance out all the other things. The tom yum (lemongrass) soup was a nice break from all the different flavors and gave you a little heat and a little brightness from the lemongrass.

There was also a stir-fried beef dish (I think it was the “Thai Spicy Basil”) that was also fine, but I am usually not a person who orders beef in stir-fry type dishes, just because it gets kind of tough. 

My least favorite thing was the pad thai. This one featured chicken. Generally, I really enjoy pad thai, but this one had a very distinctive funky taste—(maybe a lot of fish sauce?) that just sort of put me off. I am glad to know that they prepare the dish this way because I would not order it as an entrée, which I might have done before trying it.

For lunch I think I would try a full entrée of the garlic lovers, or I might splurge and get the dinner entrée of sautéed “Eggplant Thailand” with bell peppers and basil. That’s a dish I often love and would be interested to try their version. Actually, the dinner menu has a lot more entrée options that sound more interesting than the more straightforward, classic Thai entrées available as lunch specials.

As for the buffet concept, I would pass on it next time. I’m glad I did it once to try several things, but honestly, it is hard for me to appreciate the nuances of all the dishes with so many flavors on my plate. Plus, we both noticed the food, while it was constantly refreshed while we were there, was not super warm. The service was extremely friendly and attentive, and the place has a nice interior—worthy of a dinner visit, unlike many smaller Thai places. They do a very good business for lunch though, which is always a good thing in a buffet-based model. I would say a majority of people were eating from it as well. My guess is it’s a welcome change for central downtown business diners.

Has anyone else been? What about at dinner? I wonder what the crowd is like with the “Jazz Bar” part of the restaurant’s name.

Bangkok Restaurant and Jazz Bar

225 East Ohio Street

Indy  46204

317/632-9000

www.bangkokrestaurantandjazzbar.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 

Thai Spice

Hey, Southsiders! Look, I’m doing a southside post!  I know, I don’t do that many, but it is a long drive for me after all.  But vacation meant we had a little extra time so we decided to try Thai Spice finally.  Every time I write about Thai food, several people always mention Thai Spice. But believe me, driving right by Brozinni’s was a test of my will power.

So the restaurant is set in what looks like an old bank, you know those ones that look sort of like schoolhouses or something?  And the interior is pretty cute.  They have spent some money on it and they have lots of cute glass lotus light fixtures. I liked them.  (Check out my shot of the bathroom sink too.)  I was a little annoyed that they sat another couple right next to us when there were many other tables available, but that’s just one of my pet peeves.

We were there at lunch, and they have a more limited menu, and each lunch came with soup, a fried spring roll and what I think was a little slice of fried banana with a honey sauce on top (all lunches are $7.80). I am thinking it was lemongrass soup—and there were bits of onion, cilantro, tomato and mushrooms in it, and a touch of chili oil, but honestly, it didn’t have a lot of flavor.  Sometimes I really like the little freebie Thai soups and sometimes they are just ok, this one was just ok.  The two fried items were pretty good, although not very hot, like maybe they make them up in batches and keep them warm.  But a nice assortment of stuff to try before your meal.

Hubby and I shared a couple of things—his all time favorite, the Padd Seuw which is the wide Thai noodles stir fried with Chinese broccoli, bok choy and protein of your choice.  He actually asked for pork, but got chicken, but it was still really really good. The chicken was tender and the dish had a great garlic flavor—a tiny bit of sweetness, a little acid, and some saltiness from soy as well. The rice noodles were fresh and so good—we both wished for more of them.  I would get this again in a second.

The other dish we tried was the Padd Ped which was a rice dish with stir fried chicken (again, your choice of protein) with eggplant, green beans and basil and bamboo shoots in a red chili paste sauce.  Neither one of us cared for this one.  This was a new (and unfamiliar) dish for me (trying new things you know) and there was coconut milk in it, and I am not a big fan of coconut milk.  If it had been listed, I wouldn’t  have ordered it.  Also, the eggplant was the little round green Thai eggplant and honestly, I am not sure I have ever had them before, but they were kind of hard as a rock.  Not sure if they were just not cooked enough, but I did not care for them. Live and learn. We left most of this dish.

The service was very friendly and fairly fast, and I was impressed when the lady chased us to the door asking us if she could make us something else that we might like better.  She was quite distressed that we didn’t like the Padd Ped.  I thought that was nice.  And honestly, if hubby weren’t in such a rush, I might have just taken her up on it.  Of course, she could have just taken it off the bill, but I wouldn’t expect that just because I ordered something I didn’t really like. 

Anyway, I can see why people like this place, and if it were nearby, I would certainly add it into my rotation.

Thai Spice

2220 East County Line Rd

Indy 46227

317/881-2243

http://www.thaispiceindy.com/

Thai Café

I like Thai food.  I am not exceptionally versed in it, but I certainly have my favorites and my not so favorites in town.  I wanted to try something new, and this one is in Broad Ripple, so it would be very convenient if I liked it.  I took the BFF with me to get us out of our usual Taste rut (where we almost always seem to end up, but we just love it so). 

So the décor of this place is a little strange.  The tables are pretty close together (although there were not a lot of other people there) and there was a strange blue hue over the back half of the restaurant which is where they first seated us, until I asked to be moved into natural light near the windows (high maintenance right?).  But seriously, it’s all part of the experience and the blueness is sort of strange.  Not sure if it was from the big TV or what, but it was kind of off-putting (you can still sort of see it in the pictures).

The first thing they brought us was the soup that came with our lunches.  I actually quite liked it.  It was really just a broth—there was no actual pieces of anything in it (ok, maybe some cilantro)—but it had a slight sour taste (lime maybe?) and quite a bit of spiciness to it. You could see little bits of chili oil on top. Especially with the little fried noodles they served on the side thrown in. It was a tasty little combo and cleared the sinuses quite well.  I don’t think BFF was as impressed though, she thought it was sort of boring.

We wanted to get an appetizer just to try something more than our lunch plates so we went with the Tao Hoo Tod, or deep fried tofu served with homemade peanut sauce ($6.95).  This dish was a disappointment for me.  I actually tend to like tofu, but it was so dry, and while it was described as deep fried, there was no discernable flavor in the barely crisp edges at all.  The peanut sauce wasn’t bad—it was sorely needed with that tofu, although later I saw that they also offer an option of a sweet chili sauce, which I wish I had known about, even though I don’t think it would have really saved it.  This dish would be a skip for me next time.  I will say, it was quite plentiful and would be very easy to share with several people.

For my lunch, I had the lunch special of drunken noodles ($7.95).  These were long flat rice noodles stir fried with lots of veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, onions, bean sprouts, carrots,  and pea shoots), meat (I had chicken), eggs, sweet soy sauce and basil.  This is the kind of flavor combo I like about Thai food—the slightly sweet soy with a fairly decent basil flavoring and just a bit of lime.  Unfortunately, the chicken bits suffered the fate of so many Asian stir fries and were a bit tough.  There was actually at least as much, if not more, of the veggies then there were of the noodles which was interesting as well.   I would put it in the middle of the pack as far as Thai noodle dishes I have had.   You certainly are getting a good portion of veggies with this dish though, if that is what you are looking for.

The service was fine.  But I wouldn’t call it overly friendly. And there never was more than one other table in there while we were there, although there were a few carry outs being picked up. I did like the way they asked you to tell them how hot you wanted your food on a scale of 1-10, and they seemed to do a decent job of meeting my expectation of my requested spice level—seems like “medium” at a lot of Thai restaurants can be shockingly spicy.   But since it has been awhile since I have done a Thai review, I am throwing the question out there, which restaurant has the best Thai food in town?

Thai Café

1041 Broad Ripple Avenue

Indy  46220

317/722-1008

www.indythaicafe.com

Sawasdee- Revisit

Recently I had dinner with retired local food blogger, braingirl.  She convinced me it was time to give Sawasdee another shot after my first visit was underwhelming (and looking back at it, what a crappily written post).  Anyway, I have been meaning to go back and jumped on the opportunity to go with someone who knew the highs and lows of the menu.

So we decided to get lots of stuff so we could try several flavors and figured we would just take the extra home.  She suggested the Thai toast (#3 for those of you following along) for a starter.  These were little slices of deep fried crunchy bread with some bits of pork.  They were served with a sort of cucumber salad—almost like a cucumber salsa.  I really enjoyed the Thai toast—they were nice and crispy on the outside edges but with just a little hint of chewiness from the bread.  The cucumber salad gave a fresh bright snap with the flavors and was also just a little sweet and sour.  I really liked them.

Each entrée comes with soup and a spring roll as well.  The soup was their Thom Yum (or hot and sour).  It had a nice kick to it—spicy without being so spicy it choked you on the way down.  A deep peppery flavor though.  The spring roll was fine. I don’t know, I think I am getting burned out on spring rolls. Everyone serves them and rarely are they anything super exciting.  This one was no exception.

We shared three different things—the Drunken Noodles with pork, the Massaman Curry with chicken and a special of the day—crispy tilapia with 3 layer sauce (I think I have that name right).  Overall, the Drunken Noodles were my favorite.  Their noodles are really wide—so wide at first you don’t even think it is a noodle and was mixed with the little pieces of stir fried pork, and various veggies—onions, peppers, and tomatoes (ok, that’s a fruit, but still).  There was a fair amount of basil as well giving the dish a nice aromatic basil flavor.  The sauce was slightly sweet but with soy and plenty of pepper as well.  A bit of spice, but really more a light tangy flavor.  The pork added a nice richness.  There is a lot going on in these noodles, but it all came together as a tasty dish.

The Massaman curry was not bad.  I have to admit a lot of curries aren’t my favorite because sometimes the coconut milk flavor turns the whole thing a little too sweet, but this one was pretty well balanced.  Pleasantly spicy –the curry paste usually includes things like peanuts, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, shallots, lots of spices (coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, etc) as well as the chilies.  The paste is mixed with the coconut milk, potato and more peanuts and you get a deep richly flavored almost stew like consistency.  We had it with chicken—the pieces of chicken were tender as were the potato chunks.  You could taste the sweetness of the coconut milk, but it did not overwhelm the other flavors too much and worked pretty well together.  While it was pretty good, I still preferred the bright flavors of the noodles.

Lastly, we had the tilapia with the 3 layer sauce.  Our very friendly and helpful server explained that this meant layers of sweet, sour and I think maybe the last one was spicy?  Anyway, this dish was a disappointment (and braingirl agreed).  Our server had told us that the dish was very popular (which probably should have been a tip off) and that it was deep fried tilapia with the sauce on top.  First, the fish was not deep fried, more like pan fried, and it was not very crispy—more like oily.  But the real problem for me was how fishy it tasted.  I only ate a couple of bites before giving up on this one.  The sauce on top was a little more one layer to me-- that being sweet.  So honestly, even if the fish had been really good, I don’t know how much I could’ve eaten.  That was the only dish of which we did not take home the leftovers.

The service was spot on (other than that recommendation for the fish) and extremely attentive.  The place wasn’t very busy but it was fairly early in the evening midweek.  They are quite efficient and the food arrived without delay. 

I would say my overall feelings have become more positive toward Sawasdee, but still not sure I would place it as my top choice for Thai in Indy.  What do you guys think about this place?  It used to always be the first place you heard about when people talked about Thai around here, but I don’t hear it as much anymore. 

Sawasdee

1222 West 86^th Street

Indy 46260

317/844-9451

www.sawasdeeindy.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/

Thai Taste - Lunch Revisit

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)

Jasmine Thai

I’ve been craving Thai for awhile and this place is very near my parents’ house, so I see it all the time. I was surprised by the crowd in there when we walked in even though it wasn’t yet noon. I also spied the specials board on my way in had a special of sautéed eggplant in a basil ginger sauce, which when chicken is added, tends to be one of my favorite things. So I asked our friendly, if not a bit harried, server if I could add chicken and he said yes for an additional charge. So that is exactly what I did.

Lunch specials at Jasmine come with either a fried spring roll or soup, so hubby got the spring roll and I got the soup. The spring roll was fine, nothing unique really. Pleasantly crispy with that slightly sweet, slightly tangy, slightly spicy sauce that Thai restaurants usually serve with fried items (which I should note I really like better than that thick, overly sweet, overly pink sauce you get at most Chinese places with fried things.) The soup was also very basic—a chicken broth with a few veggies—carrots and potatoes I think, and a bit of cilantro and some big hunks of black pepper. Nothing complicated about it, but it was fine.

What I didn’t realize, was that the eggplant dish was a special, but not a lunch special, so it was larger and more expensive than the lunch combos, but after eating it I didn’t care. I really liked this dish a lot. The eggplant was cut into nice bite sized pieces, which were nice and soft, and all thoroughly coated in the basil flavored sauce. I asked for it medium as far as spiciness, but I would say it was hotter than medium, but not totally over the top. The chicken in my dish, as well as hubby’s, was perfectly cooked and while extremely thin pieces of chicken breast, they were not tough or chewy at all. On a subsequent visit (which I had a week later because I couldn’t stop craving this dish), the quality of ingredients were just as good, although this time when I ordered it “medium,” it was slightly underspiced. So I guess that part just may be the luck of the draw. However, obviously, what the server told me was true, and this must be a common special because they had it both times.

Hubby had the Pad See-Eiw. This is one of his perennial favorite Thai dishes. This was not bad, but not as good as many we have had. It is flat rice noodles stir fried with eggs, chicken, and various veggies, including cabbage and broccoli. The sauce is described as a Thai soy sauce. To me, even though he also ordered it medium, all you could taste in the dish was the heat. It was too spicy to really taste any other flavor. The cabbage was nice, although I thought the broccoli was undercooked. Again, the chicken was perfectly cooked.

All in all, while I might not order what hubby got again, I really enjoyed my dish. I would happily order any of the dishes with a variation of the basil sauce that was on that eggplant. But if they keep having this dish as a special the next time I go, I can tell you, I’ll probably have to order it yet again.

Jasmine Thai Restaurant
4825 East 96th Street
Indy 46240
317/848-8950
www.jasminethaiindy.com