Super Bowl Update: Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

Showing posts with label Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis. Show all posts

Thai Spice

5:40 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, kid friendly, Southside Restaurants, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis, 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/

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Thai Café

2:59 AM | Labels: Broad Ripple Restaurants, lunch places, Thai Cafe, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

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

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Sawasdee- Revisit

3:36 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Northside Restaurant, Sawasdee restaurant, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

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

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Siam Square- Revisit

3:32 AM | Labels: Fountain Square Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Siam Square, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

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/

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Thai Taste - Lunch Revisit

3:04 AM | Labels: Castleton Area Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis, Thai Taste

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)

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Jasmine Thai

6:15 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Jasmine, Northside Restaurant, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

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

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Yuki Japanese and Thai

4:45 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Japanese restaurant, Northside Restaurant, sushi, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis, Yuki

****ED NOTE: Yuki is no longer in business******

We had to be in Castleton the other day and were trying to figure out a place near or at the mall that wasn’t a chain. Now this is somewhat difficult in this area, but we settled on Yuki because you can’t get any closer to the mall (it is actually located at the main entrance) and hey, I could review it too.

Honestly, I wasn’t really expecting too much from a mall restaurant, but we were fairly pleasantly surprised, at least with some of it. We shared a couple of things, a bento box and a specialty roll called the “Melting roll” which was actually really good. He promptly proclaimed it one of the best specialty rolls he has had in Indy.

This roll was enormous, and not cheap at $18, but it was quite interesting. At its center, it had a mix of crab (or “krab” as we call the imitation stuff), spicy mayo and crunch. That part was wrapped in seaweed, had the regular layer of rice, then on top a beautiful slice of avocado was covered with an amazing slice of white tuna which was then lightly singed with a kitchen torch. It was then topped with roe and little pieces of scallions and drizzled with more of the spicy mayo. Even I liked it. I really enjoyed the slight smokiness and warmth that the torching of the fish added. And the avocado was perfect and plentiful. Even with the fake crab, it was very tasty.

I had a bento box that came with chicken teriyaki and shrimp tempura as well as some California rolls and a couple of shrimp sui mai. The chicken was a little dry, but the sauce was nice—not too sweet. The tempura was really good, light and crunchy, some of the better tempura I have had in Indy. I also loved that in the mix of veggies included with the tempura, they had a piece of broccoli tempura. I love broccoli tempura and you rarely see it in Indy for some reason. In California, almost all tempura would come with at least a piece of broccoli in it. Not sure why no one does it here. And broccoli seems so Midwestern too. The other little bits were just okay, the sui mai was not bad (little shrimp and pork dumplings) and the California roll was just meh.

No, I would say the real standout was that fancy roll and the tempura. If I went back, I would just probably get an order of tempura or maybe try one of the Thai dishes (they also offer several Thai dishes). Pretty sure hubby would vote for this roll again too if they offer it. But hey, for a place literally in the mall, it is probably one of the best bets. And at least it is independent.

Yuki Sushi & Thai
6020 East 82nd Street, Suite 1406
Indy 46250
317-915-1338
(no website I could find)

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Siam Square - Lunch

4:36 AM | Labels: Fountain Square Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, lunch places, Siam Square, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

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/

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Thai Taste

5:45 AM | Labels: Castleton Area Restaurants, Independent Restaurants, Northside Restaurant, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis, Thai Taste

This evening, we were trying for Vietnamese (will get there yet) but it was raining so hard, we just opted for Thai that was closer to home. We went with some friends who had recommended it, and who have eaten there many times. I have to say, I can’t believe something that was pretty darn tasty was so close by and I hadn’t been there.

Again, since we had more people than just hubby and I, we took advantage and ordered too much food. But it was nice to try lots of things. For appetizers, we tried the Thai dumplings and the calamari with black pepper. They were both not bad, but not the highlight of the meal for me. We also had the Yum Nuea, or beef salad that was pretty tasty and right up my alley.

The Thai dumplings were steamed dumplings filled with ground chicken, potato, carrot, onion, corn and green peas and served with a Thai “special sauce.” The dumpling skins were a bit tough I thought, and the filling a bit dry, but our friends told us usually they are lighter and softer than this, so maybe it was a bad night. The sauce was a soy based sauce with what I would guess was a rice wine vinegar—but that is just my guess. It was nice with the dumplings.

The calamari wasn’t bad, not chewy or anything, but nothing spectacular. It was served with Sriracha (spicy red Asian hot sauce) and a more sweet and sour (but thin, not that bright orange stuff you see at Chinese restaurants) sauce that I really liked with it. The breading was very light, and strangely, the calamari was served with some crinkle cut French fries as well. I didn’t eat any, but they looked like they were from a bag.

The beef salad was by far the best appetizer we had, if you ask me, and it is one thing I would definitely order again. It was sautéed beef served over lettuce and topped with onions and peppers and doused appropriately with lime juice. I really like those tangy flavors and the onions, lime juice and beef went together very nicely. The beef was probably done a little more than I would like, but with all that lime juice, it was still pretty tender.

For entrees, I ordered the Pud Makua (#2), or sautéed chicken with eggplant with sweet basil and Thai sauce (you can get any type of meat—pork, beef, or chicken or shrimp or vegetarian). I tell you, I would be hard pressed to not get this again (in fact, I am thinking it would be good carry out right now). I really like the slightly tangy sauce with the chicken, and the eggplant was served in large dices with skin removed. The basil also added a nice subtle flavor. It reminded me of this Vietnamese dish I used to get at a lunch place in Oakland, which is funny because I started out wanting Vietnamese anyway.

Oh wait, before I forget, I have to tell you, they served each of us a little dish of steamed rice in the shape of a heart. This seemed to demonstrate the mood of the service. The staff was very friendly and attentive and helpful when we asked a few questions. They also seemed to take great pride in what they are making and in the way dishes were presented. I appreciate this is a little place like this that probably doesn’t have a big kitchen staff.

The table also ordered the Pla Sarm Ross (#42) which was a deep fried whole tilapia topped with fresh pepper, garlic, onion and cilantro. It also had a nice tangy broth under the fish which added a nice flavor. The fish wasn’t bad—a bit of work with all those bones, and a touch dry (overcooked I think), but a nice presentation and combination of flavors.

Finally (I told you we ordered too much), we also had the Guay Teow Gai Sub (#54) which was pan fried rice noodles topped with ground chicken, onion and curry powder. These were really nice as well, and would likely be on my re-order list. I really like the lightness of rice noodles, and the way they seem to really absorb the flavors of the sauce they are cooked in, and the various toppings added a nice variation in texture.

All in all, I really enjoyed this meal and will definitely add it to my list of places for a quick, close bite (and certainly to the carry out rotation). It is one of those places located in a strip mall (the same one as Trader Joe’s and Penzey’s, how convenient) but I really appreciate the way they have added semi-sheer curtains over the windows so that you aren’t just staring out at a parking lot, but light still filters in. They have done a nice job making the interior feel pretty homey, and I have to say, for a Tuesday night, they were doing a better business than a lot of places these days.

There are certainly lots of things to try (the entrée portion of the menu numbers to 58 items, and that doesn’t include the appetizers, of which I think I counted about 30) so there is something for lots of different tastes. The prices are reasonable and the people who run it seem to really care. I can’t believe it was right there, and I missed it for so long.

Thai Taste
5353 East 82nd Street
Indy 46250
317-578-9722
(no website I could find)

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Sawasdee Restaurant

5:18 AM | Labels: Independent Restaurants, Sawasdee restaurant, Shanghai Lil, Thai Restaurants in Indianapolis

Again, I am behind. Why is summer so busy? Anyway, I went on a recent trip with girlfriends to Sawasdee Thai restaurant after being told by many folks how good it is (and reading the same in many places). For those who might be curious, "Sawasdee" is a word for a bowed Thai greeting.

The restaurant, I have been told, has recently expanded in its strip mall location, and must have been quite small before. It is nicely sized now and was quite full for a Tuesday night. (And I might add, quite warm! For someone who usually brings a sweater to restaurants in this City in the summer due to the crazy air conditioning, I was flushed by the time I left Sawasdee).

So I ordered something off the menu that seems to be as large as the phone book (the menu, not what I ordered). OK, I am not going to be able to remember what its official name is, but it boiled down to chicken (on a side note, I was interested to see how many different ways "chicken" was spelled on this menu--when people are writing menus, do they forget all about spell check?) with garlic and black pepper sauce and seemed to have some crushed peanuts on top. (Another side note, as a Mom of a child with peanut and tree nut allergies, I would NOT take such children here since it appears that out of the 4 meals on the table, 3 of them contained peanuts and/or cashews--ok, one of them was "cashew chicken," but still). Once you finally narrow down what you are going to order, you then need to choose your meat, which could be chicken, beef, pork, shrimp and even sometimes squid. It takes AWHILE to get through this menu. I think I now know the true reason people just always order their favorite here. It is so much easier! If it were my restaurant, I would try to get it onto a couple of larger pages and make certain dishes with the ingredients that might benefit the most from the accompaniments. But that's just me.

Anyway, as for the food, it was good (I also tried the drunken noodles). They brought you soup and an spring roll to start. The spring roll was really crispy which is how I really like my spring rolls. The soup was sort of nondescript. Since I generally don't like sweet sauces in which to dip my spring roll (or anything else) I used the soup to dip in. It was pretty good. The entrees came with steamed rice (except the drunken noodles) and my entree was also pretty good. It wasn't amazing and the chicken was a little overcooked I thought. The sauce sort of had that eggy consistency to it that a lot of Asian restaurant meals have. None of it was super flavorful, but I probably should have gotten it spicier (oh yeah, that was yet another choice. Once you picked your entree, you chose between mild, medium, spicy and Thai hot). By that time I was overwhelmed and just said "mild" which may have been a mistake.

The service was quite nice and at one point when we ordered a second glass of wine, the manager?/owner? came to our table, opened the bottle and let us taste it, even when we only ordered a glass. Also, one of the other big benefits of this place is the cost. Dinners were only around $10, and they included the spring roll and soup (or Thai salad). All in all, for an Asian-type meal, Shanghai Lil's is still my fave, but it is significantly more expensive, so there you go.

1222 West 86th Street
Indy 46260
317-844-9451

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