Sala Thai

Sala Thai a brand new Thai restaurant open last year on the upper west side, 74th and Amsterdam. As I was researching on Sala Thai one of the things that kept popping was the excellent Thai food and the design of the place. There were many excellent and great reviews of Sala Thai, I was ready to try it for myself. The moment I walk in the restaurant I was pleasant surprise, shock by the design of the place and the feel of it. From the outside you think it would look small and compact but once go inside there was a lot of room in the back and had a bar in the front of the bar. The space in the front was very cram a narrow entryway to go to your table and waiting for your table. Once we sat down, the reminiscence of Thailand was very clear with the paintings on the wall, the gold decorated light bulb, handcraft walls, and a beautiful mural in the back. The design really brought me back to Thailand, and handcraft wall and painting are very authentic to Thailand There was no music in the background which gave a more interaction dinner casual. The service was great our waitress was helpful to see which dishes to recommend, very kind and welcoming.  

The menu layout was not the best with no pictures of any of the dishes, the organization of the menu was not the best with having two set of appetizers. One being a classic appetizers and the other being a chef special choice of appetizers. The chef special appetizers was on the other side of the menu confusing me the placement of it. But the menu choices were very wide and diverse of Thai dishes. The menu had a lot of Thai speciality dishes from Duck salad, to a Thai omelette and stir fried chicken with rice.  It meet all the criteria of the menu item having a appetizer, salad, curry, noodle/fried rice, entree, and a local Thai street food. Each description of the dish were concise and simple. There were some dishes that were unclear or I was not sure what the dish was. The price of food were standard, a little more expensive than I expected. The appetizer were around the same but the entree were couple dollars extra than I expected.

For appetizers I ate Chicken Pandan leaves. A fried marinated chicken wrapped around Pandan leaves serve with a soy sauce. I enjoy this dish very much. The chicken did not taste fried but taste more like a steam chicken. The flavor was very nice not bland, the pandan leaves gave a nice aroma. I could have order 10 of this dish and would not grow tired of eating it. The presentation was neat having all the chicken pandan leaves the same in thickness and uniformity definitely and it was prepare with high skill technique with the wrapping of Pandan leaves. The presentation with the flavor and technique of the food reminded me of authentic Thai food.

For entrees I order a Kao Hor Bai Bua, which is lotus leaf wrapped in fried rice. The fried rice consist of sea scallops, shrimp, chicken, fried sausage, shiitake mushrooms. The ecstatic of the lotus leaf was beautiful to see wrap around the rice. When I peel open the lotus leaf the smell of the leaf and the rice gave a pleasant aroma that I would eat The taste of the rice was seasonal well but the what made the dish stand out was all the different things that were in it. All of the extra items were cook well nothing extraordinary about the dish beside the lotus leaf wrap.

Dessert I order a Kao Tom Mud, which is a coconut ice cream pair with sticky rice with banana on the side with coconut milk. A delicious dessert with the balance of cold and hot. The coldness of the ice cream and the hot sticky rice gave a nice smooth texture in my mouth. On top of that there was a coconut milk that gave the rice more of flavor with the coconut ice cream.

All together the food and the design of the place is very much authentic Thai food and the culture. I would recommend Sala Thai as a place on the upper west side for Thai food. It’s a hidden gem of Thai culture food.

Thai Villa

Thai Villa located on 19th street between 5th ave and Broadway. Sala Thai and Thai Villa are brought by the same owners having a very similar design of the place and having identical menu design. Thai Villa is dazzling restaurant every inch of the place is gorgeous. The ambiance alone is worth being there and the food is equally as amazing. From the moment I walk in the front door, I felt like I was not in New York City anymore, I have been transport to modern luxurious Thailand restaurant. The main dining room on the first floor is one large open space with a mix of tables and booths. Both are made of golden-brown wood and the backs of the booths are beautifully hand carved with intricate designs. The booths are to represent small houses of Thai royalty during the summer time in early 1960s. The walls have exposed brown and red brick. The most spectacular of all is the enormous, luminescent, amber, gold, colored chandelier, hanging above the tables. The service was great love the people there. Answer all of my questions about the decoration of the place and were very pleasant people to talk to. The food was brought very quickly and I did not have to wait for a long time.

The menu has a lot of the Thai standard dishes from Pad Thai, Tom Yum, and curry dishes. Even though they serve the classic dish what Thai Villa does differently from other Thai restaurant is the sophisticated Thai food that is not as well known as other food such as Shrung Wa Goong and Kaeny Run Juan that have been serve to Thai royalty in generations past. The layout of the menu was very confusing having to look for appetizers and entrees section. There were just too many options to choose from. The menu did not look organized from having three section of appetizers and two sets of entrees. I found it way too hard to navigate through the menu taking me a long time to order my food. But the menu has all the items needed from appetizers, entrees and dessert. In the menu it has variety of food from vegetarian to seafood, to curry, to noodles/soup and rice dishes. If you are worried that the menu does not have your particular dish there are many other dish to choose from.

I order two appetizers both from the special Thai appetizer section. The first one was Mieng Kum a diced ginger, lime, red onion, peanuts, dried shrimp, roasted coconut lake served with betel leaves topped with caramelized palm sugar sauce. It had a weird bite at first eating the betel leaves with all of the ingredients was a little overwhelming. The ingredients did blend together very well highly seasoned and was very delicious. The Mieng Kum is a authentic Thai dish serve in Thailand a comfort Thai home dish. The betel leaves brought out the richness of all the ingredients making it a balance dish. The texture was very delicate soft and consistent with every bite I took. I got to taste every ingredient in the dish with one bite.

Pun Sib Salmon the second appetizer I ate. It is a puff pastry stuffed with minced salmon, garlic, cilantro, and white pepper. The flavor of the puff pastry was soft and crunchy and blended it well with the dry pork. I did not taste the white pepper at all and the salmon felt like it was the star of the dish but more of the dry pork. I enjoyed the puff pastry but not the salmon which was kinda disappointing. The dish was cooked consistently throughout the puff pastry and the dry pork. It had a delicate texture and the size of the food was also consistent. Presentation was mediocre that it came out with 6 pieces of the puff pastry.

Moving on to entree I order a Sen-Mee Poo Nim a newly added dish to the menu. It is a batter fried Soft Shell Crab, Angel hair noodles served with spicy coconut turmeric broth with lump crab meat. At first when the food was presented to me, all of the ingredients were separated and did not seem like a coherent dish. I tasted all of the ingredients separated at first. The noodles were blend had no flavor, the crab meat broth was sweet and spicy great aroma of the touch of basil leaf on top of it, the soft shell crab was excellent cook to perfection a nice crunchy batter. Then when I put all of the ingredients together the dish actually tasted quite nice. The crab meat broth with the angel hair noodles blend together giving the noodles more of a flavor than adding the crunchy soft shell crab that top the dish. The sweetness and spiciness of the crab meat brought out the dish as a whole with soft shell crab and the noodles it complement each other. There was a unbalance portion of the food needing more soft shell crab for the price it was at.

Altogether the experience was quite unforgettable. I love the ambiance and the design of the place and most importantly the food. When you are going to Thai Villa you not only get the experience of great food but you also get feeling of Thai royalty in the restaurant. The food is a little pricey but it is well worth it for the ambiance alone.

Topaz Thai Restaurant

Topaz Thai Authentic restaurant in the center of midtown on 56th street between 6th and 7th ave. I grew up with this restaurant my whole life so Topaz is really like a home to me. Growing up in Topaz I got to taste Thai food everyday making it really special to experience my culture of food everyday. When you head to Topaz you get the basic of Thai food in American way. The place open up in 1994, when Thai food in New York City was very limit. It is always buzzing during lunch time with tons of business worker from the offices. The design of the place is nostalgic, great lighting and looks very attractive. The lighting is perfect setting during the day, a lot of customers coming in and out of the restaurant, to create a more energetic feeling. The place feels very cram, when busy, the tables are a little tight, small not much open room to walk. I had to walk to the restroom and the tables were very cram that I have to squeeze through the walking space. The waiting area is only 3 seats and the door where people come in and out is always tight. The service was great our host sat us straight to our tables and got a very welcoming feeling.

The menu was very creative with pictures of the the best food on the menu and it was very colorful sticking with the theme of yellow for Topaz. It has all the classic Thai food that you can find in any Thai restaurant. There are choices of noodles/soup, sauteed rice dishes, curry, salad, and specials to choose from. The layout of the menu was clear, easy to understand especially with the pictures. I think the description was very concise, simple for me to get sense of the dish. In midtown every restaurant is very expensive and over price but Topaz is a affordable restaurant and for being in its location it’s a steal.  

Because my parents own the restaurant I get the pleasure of eating this restaurant almost everyday knowing the whole menu and my what my favorite dish are. For the appetizers I order Winter Shrimp and Little Mermaid. Winter Shrimp is a shrimp filled with ground pork marinated in Thai herbs wrapped in bacon, then fired with sweet chili sauce. The Winter Shrimp was presented very nicely with compliments of lettuce serve with 4 of those. Plating was done nice with each one separate. The dish was wildly delicious. The fried shrimp goes well with the bacon adding more a crunch, crisp bite to it. Then the ground pork adds nice filling to the fried shrimp making it a complete dish. For it being a fried food it has a lot flavor behind it and gives a aftertaste.

The second appetizer little mermaid is a marinated shrimp in Thai herbs wrapped with rice paper dipping in house sweet palm sauce. Little Mermaid was presented to in a cocktail glass, which was beautiful with some pineapples on the sidel. This dish is very similar to the Winter Shrimp instead of shrimp wrapped in bacon it’s wrapped in rice paper. It has that nice light fried shrimp contrast to the Winter Shrimp I had earlier. The rice paper being fried brought out the richness of the shrimp and the sweet palm sauce gave a sweet and spicy taste.

For my entree I got the Swimming Duck, roasted crispy duck in red curry with pineapples, tomatoes, onion, peppers and basil leaves. The presentation came in with multiple slices of the duck and with the red curry around it with a side of white rice. The duck was both crispy skin and tender meat on a bed of veggies with a rich coconut curry. The Massaman curry was just the right balance of spice, richness, salty, and sweet. Both the duck and the curry go hand to hand with each other giving both a nice balance of flavors. Without the rice a starch to the curry, the curry would have been too overwhelming to eat alone. I would definitely recommend this dish to anyone because it’s my favorite dish in restaurant hands down.

Topaz Thai definitely is one of my favorite Thai restaurant in the city has great food that is only special to this restaurant. The restaurant has been since 1994 so it is clearly a spot in midtown for Thai food. Definitely worth trying for if you are midtown and is looking for Thai food that is affordable Topaz is the place to go.  

Kitchen 79

Kitchen 79 a favorite dining place in the Elmhurst neighborhood. A popular place in the neighborhood #1 in Thai friendly community. It is located on the block on 79th street and Roosevelt Ave. The restaurant has this very friendly vibe. It is one of the first restaurants in New York to concentrate on southern Thai food. There is a collection of unusual regional dishes on Kitchen 79’s menu. The lighting is perfect with the white tiles on the floor and the black tiles on the wall. The tiles reflect the light making the whole restaurant more lively. The color of the tables go very well with the floor and the contrast of color makes it have a interesting design. There is a beautiful idea of the chandlers hanging over the table and during dinner time it truly a pleasant place to sit in. The tables are not crammed at all giving a decent amount of room between each table. Even the chairs have are very comfortable to sit in and have the same style of color throughout the restaurant. The service was great very friendly, knew what was I going to order. It was very quiet during the evening so I got my food very quickly than normal. Kitchen 79 menu is probably the best menu I have seen so far throughout my visit to Thai restaurants. I don’t think I could have asked of a better menu than this. It has pictures of there most popular dishes. The layout of the menu is great with appetizers first than soup, salad and then to the main courses. The main courses consist of noodles, sauteed, fried rice and curry dishes. There were a couple of dishes that just stood to me was Kau Kling Moo/ Nuea/ Gai, which is a traditional curry pasty with either ground pork, chicken or beef. And the See Khong Moo Aob a oven baked baby back ribs topped with chefs special sauce and steamed mixed vegetables.

The appetizer I order was Geoy Hor Cheese and Roti Panang Nuea. Geoy Hor cheese crab meat, cream cheese in crispy wonton served with sweet chill sauce.The crab meat cream cheese just tastes like regular cream cheese but with the addition of crab meat. The texture of the cream cheese is just perfect and is still has all the flavor after being fried. The flavor of the cream cheese and the fried wonton has a nice contrast of crunchiness but the soft texture of the cream cheese.

And the Roti Panang Nuea is a Panang Thai style served with Indian pancake. The Indian pancake is this little pastry of bread lightly fried. The Panang curry is a red curry paste with nuts to add more flavor to the Panang. You are supposed to eat it all together with the Roti and the Panang; both of the individual’s ingredients complement each other. I really like the slow cook of the beef but the standout of the dish was the Roti without it the whole dish collapse. It is also a nice small number of Roti so it makes you satisfy.

For the main course, I had to order the See Khong Moo Aob an oven baked baby back ribs topped with chefs special sauce and steamed mixed vegetables. Even though this dish does not sound like a traditional Thai dish it is a fusion of classic American rib and specialty sauce cover over it. The ribs were perfectly cooked and nicely seasoned. The sauce over is a sweet chill sauce covering the whole rib. I had to say the sauce was okay it wasn’t something that totally blew my mind away. It was a average sauce and the random vegetables that came with it were in huge chunks not in small bites. If you are going for this dish it is mostly for the rib. The ribs were outstanding but the rest of the dish was average or below average. For me, I would not order this dish again instead I would probably order something like the Pla Sam Rod a steam whole fish topped with mango salad.